Revival Season by Monica West

Author:Monica West [West, Monica]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Published: 2021-05-25T00:00:00+00:00

NINE

I woke up the next morning with the residue of my words to Dawn still on my lips—I’ll do it. A sleeping Caleb was in a heap in the middle of the floor, and I stepped over him on the way to the hallway. The study door was closed—not how I left it last night. Papa must have come home when I was sleeping.

Muffled words came through the door as I passed. I leaned closer to hear them. “I don’t care what you need to do, but remove him from all positions at the church immediately.”

I’d hoped that he was all bluster last night, that he would have a cooler head when he returned, but he was doubling down.

“Figure it out,” he chimed in again. I assumed he was speaking to Deacon Farrow—the head of the deacon board. Papa would need his support to remove Deacon Johnson from church leadership.

“I don’t want to see him at the church again. End of conversation.”

The phone slammed down on the cradle, and I heard Papa stand up. Before he could reach the study door, I slipped back into the bedroom.

“What’s going on?” Caleb rubbed his eyes and rolled over, blinking me into focus.

“He just fired Deacon Johnson.” As I said it out loud to Caleb, it hit me that firing Deacon Johnson meant that Micah would be gone too. I collapsed onto the edge of my bed and placed my chin in my hands.

“He can’t do that.”

“He can do whatever he wants. I just heard him.”

“Did she tell you?” Caleb rolled over on his back and slid his hands beneath his head.

“Did she tell me what?”

“That she was sick again.”

“What does that have to do with anything?”

“He felt blindsided by it. Deacon Johnson is his best friend. Was.”

“Whose side are you on?”

“There are no sides, Miriam.” Caleb rolled over onto his forearms and released an exasperated sigh. “You always see a problem when there isn’t one.”

“There’s no problem? Did you hear what happened downstairs last night? How he hit Ma?”

“Wait, what?” He shot up to a seated position. Hannah stretched in bed. We both froze, silent for a few moments until she rolled over and resettled into sleep.

“He hit her, just like he hit that man in Bethel,” I lowered my voice.

“How do you know? Did you see it?”

My stomach fell at his accusation. I hadn’t seen what happened with Ma, but how could I tell him that there were other ways of knowing beyond seeing? “Why are you so blind?”

“You don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Why do you think that you know him so much better than I do?”

Caleb massaged his temples. “He’s going through a lot right now. You need to be more understanding.”

“But what about what he’s doing to us? To me?” My voice broke at the end, at the thought of never seeing Micah again.

Caleb reclined on the floor. “Give him time, Miriam. You know that these things blow over. In the meantime, we have to give it to God.

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