At Last (The Idle Point, Maine Stories)(88)
She shrugged and he had the feeling she was almost disappointed to see he could cope with a French braid.
"You know, Soph, your curly hair is so pretty it seems almost a shame to scrape it back into a braid."
"I like braids," she said. "Marla at school wears her hair braided and everybody likes her."
Dangerous parenting territory dead ahead. "I'll bet Marla doesn't bite or kick."
"Maybe she does," Sophie said. "I only met her last month."
"I remember when I was your age. The popular kids never bit anybody."
"That was a long time ago."
"That's true," he said, "but I'll bet it's the same at your school too. I'll bet your friends don't like it when you kick them."
"No," she said. How a five-year-old managed to sound like the Queen Mother was a mystery to him. "I think they like it quite a bit."
Okay, so he wasn't Dr. Spock but it was a start.
#
The first person Gracie saw when she stepped into Rachel's kitchen was Noah. He was sitting at the counter with Sophie on his lap and the two of them were topping and tailing string beans. She pulled Laquita into the alcove. "I thought you said he wasn't supposed to be here."
"He wasn't," Laquita said, looking as surprised as Gracie felt. "Ruth must've changed her mind about going out."
She forced herself to walk over to father and daughter and say hello. "Is this your first Thanksgiving, Sophie?" she asked, making sure she was out of kicking range.
Sophie nodded. "Uh-huh. The Pilgrims bought the turkey from the Indians."
"Or something like that," Noah said.
"I like your dress, " she said to Sophie. "You look very pretty." She looked more than pretty. The child was beautiful with her huge blue eyes and blond curls, both set off perfectly by a sapphire blue velvet jumper and lacy white blouse. Noah's child. The range of emotion she felt made her dizzy.
"Gracie paid you a compliment, Sophie. What do you say?"
Sophie thought about it for a moment. "Thank you."
Rachel motioned to her from across the room. God bless the woman's timing. She offered a fake smile to Noah and his daughter. "Looks like I'm being called to KP duty," she said, then hurried away before either one could say another word.
"Mrs. C. and Noah and Sophie will be joining us for dinner," Rachel said to Gracie. "I don't know why she changed her mind at the last minute, but I'm so pleased she did. She suggested we use the big dining room so we need to move everything from here to there. We could use an extra pair of hands, if you don't mind."
Gracie could have kissed Rachel for giving her something to take her mind off her decision to tell Noah everything. She had never been very good at sitting still, especially not when she was feeling uncomfortable or apprehensive. She gratefully disappeared into the smaller dining room and began to gather up the silver ware in a large soft towel. She was admiring a particularly beautiful serving spoon that looked like it belonged at Windsor Castle when she realized Sophie was standing next to her.
"What are you doing?" Sophie asked. She looked like the poster child for perfect behavior.
"See this spoon?" she asked, handing it to the little girl. "I was thinking that it's so beautiful that it belongs on a queen's table."
"You don't have a queen in America."
"No, we don't," Gracie said, swallowing a few terrible jokes about imperial presidencies. "We have a president."
"Does she eat turkey too?"
"To be honest, Sophie, we've never had a woman president." She told her a little bit about the man in the White House and how every year he pardons the biggest turkey—of the poultry persuasion—in town.
"Papa took me to see the Pilgrims yesterday." She wrinkled her nose. "I don't like cranberries."
What an odd little girl. She could tell you to sod off one moment, then charm you with her almost Victorian manners the next.
"What are you doing?" Sophie asked. "Are you stealing the silverware?"
Gracie laughed out loud. "I'm moving it from Rachel's dining table to your grandmother's table. Here," she said, handing the girl a handful of teaspoons. "You can help me."
Sophie didn't look entirely pleased with the prospect, but to her credit she trooped after Gracie with five teaspoons and a stack of perfectly starched and ironed linen napkins clutched in her hands. I know you, she thought as they arranged the silver at each place. I know all about you. She didn't know all of the details of Sophie's life, but she did know how it was to feel all alone in a very big and scary world, how it felt to wish you fit in. That was why the child struck out the way she did. You didn't need a master's in psychology to figure that one out. Raise a child in chaos and you'll end up with either a people-pleaser like Gracie or little Stands With Fists. The best thing Noah could do was offer her stability and love, both in equal measure. Gramma Del had done that for Gracie and it had made all the difference.