The Devine Doughnut Shop(91)

“I’m Brock Stephens and this is my daughter, Angela.”

“Daddy, if she’s a sister, does that mean if I take Sarah home that she can be my sister?” Angela asked.

“Remember what I told you.” Brock’s face turned slightly pink. “We can come see Sarah, but we can’t take her home.”

Angela cocked her head at her father. “I prayed and God said I could take her home.”

“Did God say today?” Brock asked.

Angela’s lower lip protruded in what Grace figured was a well-practiced pout.

“No,” the child finally answered, “but maybe she can go to the park with us?”

“We can ask her if she can do that,” Brock replied.

“I would love to,” Sarah said. “We’ve got one here in Devine with swings, but I have to work until noon.”

“We’ve got this place covered,” Grace said. “If Angela is going to the park after she has her doughnuts, then there’s no reason why you can’t go with her. It’s a pleasure to have met y’all, but I hear a car door slamming, so I’d better get back to work.”

“Thank you,” Sarah mouthed.

Grace had barely made it back to the counter when Brother Jimmy came through the door. “Good mornin’,” he called out. “Is Macy . . . oh, I see her . . .” He made an abrupt turn to the left and headed toward her table.

“Can I get you anything?” Grace asked.

“A cup of coffee and maybe two glazed doughnuts,” Brother Jimmy answered. “I’ve been hearing all about how good your pastries are.”

Macy sat up a little straighter and tucked a strand of red hair back behind her ear. “Good mornin’ to you. Are you settling into the parsonage?”

“Yes and no,” Jimmy said. “My furniture hasn’t arrived, so I’m sleeping on a pallet until the end of the week. Miz Beezy sent me to talk to you about helping me with the youth program at the church. She says you’ll be the best person in town.”

Grace took the order to their table and then went back to the counter. She would bet that Beezy had had more than the teenagers at the church on her mind when she had talked to the new pastor. Grace could already hear the rumors that would soon be flying around town. They would say that he had come to Devine because he and Macy had met somewhere in the past and already had a romance going.

Grace’s mama popped into her head. And what about Sarah? The gossip will be that she met Brock in a bar and has broken up his marriage. He did tell Sarah that he and Angela have been on their own since the little girl was a year old. I’m guessing the mother passed away or left them.

Grace loved the times when she could hear her mother’s voice, but before she could say another word, the bell above the door jingled, and Travis’s bright smile greeted her. She looked at Brock and then over at Jimmy. Could it be possible that, on down the road, Macy and Sarah would find someone to make them as happy as she was with Travis? She surely hoped so.

“Good mornin’, lovely lady,” Travis said as he crossed the room. “I am here to buy six dozen doughnuts for the break room at the company, but it looks like I’ll be lucky to take home five.”

“Thank you, and good mornin’ to you. It looks like five is about what I have,” Grace said as she started boxing up his order. “Got time for a cup of coffee or a sweet tea?”

“Always,” Travis answered. “Sweet tea sounds good.”

Grace finished the order, set the boxes on the counter, and ran Travis’s credit card through the reader. “Give me a minute to lock up, and we’ll take our tea to the kitchen.”

Travis looked around at the two tables and raised an eyebrow.

“Macy and Sarah will let them out when they are ready,” she said with a bright smile.

Suddenly, it didn’t matter if the Devine Doughnut Shop came to an end in the next year or lasted on to another generation or two. What really mattered was that there were three very real possibilities for happiness and a future right there in the shop at that moment.

Grace Dalton was as sure about that as she was about her feelings for Travis Butler.





Epilogue


ONE YEAR LATER

Audrey and Raelene had decorated the dining room of the Devine Doughnut Shop with pink and blue balloons and were even more excited than Angela was that morning. She was bouncing around the whole shop, asking so many questions that Sarah couldn’t keep them answered fast enough.

Today was the gender-reveal party for Macy and Brother Jimmy’s first baby, who would arrive in late summer. The due date was the same as their first anniversary.

Grace brought in the cake she had made in the kitchen and set it on one of the tables. It had pink icing on one end and blue on the other. Audrey and Raelene were the only ones who knew the gender and would cut either a pink slice if it was a girl or a blue one if it was a boy, and serve it to Brother Jimmy and Macy.

“Beautiful cake. You did a good job,” Sarah said and gave her sister a hug. “Has Audrey told you if she’ll be cutting pink or blue?”

“Nope, she and Raelene are doing a good job of keeping it a big secret,” Grace answered and waved at Travis, who came in through the kitchen. “We’ve sure come a long way since this time last year, and I kept my promise about waiting a year—not that I can say the same for you and Macy.”