“Might as well go on.” April dropped her hands and felt compelled to go on with the story, too. Maybe there was something in it that would make more sense to Nessa than it did to her. “It tore up a lot of property around town. Nanny Lucy said that the whole time she and Grandpa were in the cellar, she prayed that God wouldn’t let the tornado ruin their little house that Grandpa had bought for them up by Hope Creek, the very house that we’re living in now. She promised that she would raise her kids up in the church if God would spare hers and Grandpa’s life and their house. He did, and she was faithful in taking her kids to church after that, even though Grandpa wouldn’t go with her. And she was terrified of storms from then on, so every time the wind blew, we had to go to the cellar.”

“Daddy never mentioned that, but he sure gets antsy when it storms. He says that it’s God’s way of showing us He’s still in control.” Nessa turned right and headed toward Paris.

“I always figured tornadoes were spawned by the devil, and that God was turning Lucifer loose with them to punish us for all our sins with tornadoes. That’s the short form of what Nanny Lucy said when she was having one of her days.” April closed her eyes tightly and shivered all the way to her toes when another streak of lightning zigzagged across the sky. “I hate storms to this day.”

Nessa nodded. “Flynn had it easier than we did. He didn’t have to go to church and be scared to death of the devil, or even of God.”

April shivered again when a clap of thunder followed the lightning. “Nanny Lucy used to say that her kids were like little seeds. She planted them all, but at harvest time God got one, and the devil got the other two.”

“I’m not real sure about all that.” Nessa turned the windshield wipers on low when the first drops of rain fell. “If you’d had to live with my father, you might think the devil got all three of the seeds. He preaches a good sermon, but he’s got a hard heart.”

“What about us three?” April asked. “What would she say about us?”

“That I’m bossy. You are a lost soul. And Flynn needs closure,” Nessa answered. “That’s what Jackson told me she said about us.”

“She got it right about us, but what would Flynn need closure about?” April wondered out loud.

“Who knows? Maybe when he trusts us, he’ll tell us what he’s hiding in his heart. What are you hiding?” They passed the exit to Sun Valley, Texas.