Charlie’s face fell and he sank into a chair across the desk. “I had no idea. I am so sorry. The poor girl abandoned by her husband in a strange country. The no-good son of a—” He stopped. “Pardon me, Denny, but I’m afraid I’m mad as h———.”

“A couple of weeks later, Sarina got a letter from Zachary saying that it’s not his nature to settle down and that she’s free to do as she likes, return to India, stay here, get divorced, whatever. As you might imagine, she was very upset and was dashing down the road to find Hannah and Max, when she crashed into me in front of the church. We hit the grass together. That, unfortunately, is when Alma walked out of her house. She started this gossip, I’m sure.”

Denny leaned forward, elbows on his desk. “I should have realized what was happening, what was being said, unfounded stories that Alma and others have probably spread. I should have called in a few parishioners and asked what was going on. I assumed that they ignored Sarina because she’s different, being East Indian.”

Charlie nodded. “Yeh, there could be some of that. The gossip mill’s been grinding for weeks.”

“I thought I knew these people. How could they be so cruel, so mean-spirited?”

“People are people, Denny, and it doesn’t take much to get a story going. When they know what’s going on, they’ll want to take that poor woman and her child to their bosoms.”

The hairs on Denny’s arms bristled. “You cannot repeat what I’ve told you.”

“I know that, but I’d like to talk to Max, ask him where his son is. He might tell me. Then it won’t be coming from you, and we can nip this thing and put an end to it.”

Denny lowered his head on his arms on the desk.

“Hey, Denny. It’s gonna be all right. It’s better when folks know the truth. It’s not knowing that drives gossip.”

Denny shook his head. “Pastor Johnson would have handled this so much better than I have.”

“I’m not so sure of that. Pastor Johnson and I went back a long way. When he first arrived, folks were gunshy. The pastor before him seemed to have run out on them. They didn’t trust any pastor. They didn’t know, then, that the man had been fired by the board.”

Denny nodded.