“I love you, Aunt Louise. What would I do without you?” I breathed thankfully.

“Oh, heck girl. You’d be in a world ‘a hurt, that’s what.” Louise cackled at her own joke. “It’s about time you started caring about how you look. How you gonna ever get someone to notice you if you wear Johnny’s hand me downs for the rest of your life? You’ve got a good little figure and a pretty face, but nobody’d know it the way you hide behind your glasses and your books. What about those contacts we got you a prescription for? You better be wearin’ ’em when I get there -”

“Thanks, Aunt Louise!” I interrupted brightly, sensing that Louise was winding up for a good nag, “I’ll see you at three!”

My dad didn’t seem to like the way I looked when Louise marched me down the narrow stairs from my little attic bedroom and announced that we were ready to go to the church. I was pretty happy with the results, however, and slid self-consciously into the kitchen behind Louise, not wanting to meet my father’s eyes.

“Ah, Louise! What’d you go and do that fer?” My dad grumbled. “She’s just a kid, and you got her lookin’ like she’s twenty-five.”

Twenty-five?!

I giggled into my hand and decided it had definitely been the right move to call my aunt. She’d brought over a V-necked black dress with long sleeves that hugged my curves and swished around my legs when I walked. It had little black buttons from chest to hip, and it fit me perfectly. I had on black hose and high-heeled black pumps. Aunt Louise had pinned my blond curls up on my head, blackened my eyelashes and lightly lined them, and stained my lips and cheekbones with a deep rosy pink. I felt very sophisticated and hoped I could pull it all off without tripping on the way up to the rostrum when it was time to play the piano. I knew for sure I would need to kick the heels off before I began to play. It would be just my luck to have my shoes get stuck on the piano pedals and ruin everything.

“She is not a child anymore, Jim!” Aunt Louise folded her arms crossly and jutted out her chin at my dad. “You can’t ignore the fact that your girl is practically grown! You better be ready to hand over some cash after Christmas is over! That girl has nothing in her closet! Nothing! I am takin’ her shopping and we are gonna throw out all those old tee shirts of Johnny’s and those old Wranglers and scruddy (Louise’s own word) gym shoes she’s been wearin’ for the last eight years since my sister died, and she’s gonna start lookin’ like the young lady she is! It ain’t right Jim!”

“I like the way Josie looks!” My dad almost whined. Any mention of my mother usually was a bad move. I started herding the two of them out the door as the bickering continued.

“That’s because the way she looks is comfortable and safe - just the way a daddy likes it. No siree, not on my watch! Not anymore!” Louise was really warming up now. “It’s high time she got a little woman’s help. I shoulda done it long ago!”

My dad climbed into the cab of the truck with a huff. I moved over next to him on the bench seat, and Louise jumped in behind me, not even breaking her stride. I looked over at my dad and mouthed a silent “sorry Dad.” He just groaned and drove us down the road to the waiting church.

My stomach knotted up as we looked for the closest place to park. The lack of snowfall made parking easier. Usually the drifts ran up and over the sidewalks and poured out into the poorly plowed roads. Tonight it was just cold and still, with plenty of room along the sides of the road for the assorted farm-trucks and family vans that usually lined the church during services.

“It’s gonna snow tonight. Mark my words,” my dad interrupted Louise, who was still chewing him up pretty good over my lack of feminine clothing. “If it does, I’m gonna be gettin’ a call to go in to the plant. It’s just Murphy’s Law. I’ll get called in and Daisy will have her foal....” Dad was worried about his horse who was due to have her baby in the next few days. His pessimism seemed to momentarily silence Aunt Louise who saw Bob and her kids pull in to the church parking lot from across the way.

“Oh, there’s my gang. Gotta go, Josie. Don’t lick your lips! You’ll ruin your lipstick! And try not to slouch. That dress bunches up in the front when you do! You don’t want to make the buttons pucker and give everyone a peek at what’s underneath!” With that she hustled off, still talking, and my dad and I sighed in tandem.

“I really don’t care much for that woman,” my dad mumbled. “She’s nothin’ like yer mother. I don’t see how they even came from the same family tree, let alone the same womb.” He sighed again and then said gruffly, rushing his words to get them out, “You look real pretty, Josie. Louise is right about one thing. Yer all grown up. One of these days your gonna move away and leave your old man. I’m not lookin’ forward to it.”

“Don’t worry Dad, I’ll always take care of you.” I grinned up at him and looped my arm through his as we walked into the church.

The pews were filling up quick and I tried not to look around for Don and Nettie. And Samuel. I wanted to see him almost as much as I didn’t want to see him. I kept my head forward as I tried to spot him peripherally. Everyone always sat in the same place. It just kind of happens. We’re creatures of habit. There were families who sat in the same pew, generation upon generation. If I didn’t know better, I’d think the people of Levan bequeathed their pews in their wills. From what I could see, the Yates’s weren’t there yet. I exhaled in relief and at the same time my heart sank in disappointment.