Chapter 18

Harmony

The week that followed turned out to be strangely sublime. Harmony worked each morning at O’Brien’s, then spent the afternoons snuggling with Muffin and exchanging backstories with Virginia as the older woman taught her to work a pair of knitting needles.

She saw Pastor Adam and Abigail more days than not, and with all the folks who now regularly frequented her life, she was beginning to feel a strange sense of belonging. A warmth glowed inside of her at the thought, but fear still shook her to the core.

Alan could still come to find her.

Would still come to find her.

She would have to run again and leave all these good people behind.

Muffin would be all right. He could go back to the church, and maybe in her next town she could adopt a dog in need to be her permanent companion. Because, yes, despite her initial hesitation, the little yapper had grown on her.

She hated the thought of another human in bed with her and had not once let Alan sleep over when they were dating, even though he’d begged on many occasions and even tried to force himself on her once or twice, too. But having Muffin glued to her side throughout the night gave her a special feeling of comfort she’d never quite had before.

For all his craziness and all their years apart, Pastor Adam had known exactly what she needed when he paired her with the spirited Chihuahua. Maybe one day Harmony would take to carrying him with her in a fancy shoulder bag after all.

She felt safer when Muffin was near, too. For one thing, he had a way of barking at even the slightest unexpected sound from outdoors. That meant no one could sneak up and surprise her. And for another, she knew Muffin would always have her side and didn’t even doubt he’d bite a few ankles if he sensed danger.

It was amazing what five pounds of love could do to transform one’s state of mind, or more specifically, her state of mind.

Harmony tied off the final row of stitches on her newly finished handicraft and lifted it triumphantly for Mrs. Clementine to admire. “Ta da, my first scarf!” she cried, feeling really quite proud despite the crooked rows and loose knit of the garment.

“Oh, let me get a picture.” The landlady grabbed her phone and Harmony posed happily with her creation. Yes, life seemed worryingly simple these past several days.

And every day another of her walls crumbled, the people who were near to her moving deeper and deeper into her heart. Was this what God wanted for her? Is that why He’d sent her migrating back to the Holy City? Or was she being foolish to believe that things could ever change for her, especially after so many years of hardship?

It was almost as if she’d stumbled onto a family of her own. If Pastor Adam was her stand-in father, then surely Mrs. Clementine would be her mother and Abigail a sister, even little Owen a nephew. Jolene had become a close friend. As to Nolan, well, she was still deciding where he belonged in her life. Big brother didn’t seem like the right label given their mutual attraction, but she sure as sugar didn’t think of him as a husband, potential or otherwise.