Isaac glared at her. “This was not a happy home. Mama had bad days, and Matthew seemed to be the one that brought them on. She’d be doing fine, and then he’d make her mad. She’d either start crying and telling us we didn’t appreciate a thing she did for us, or else she’d grab a belt or a length of garden hose, or whatever was at hand, and whale away on both of us.”

“We should have our coffee and leave,” Cora said.

Isaac put up a palm and shifted his glassy stare toward his wife. “No! She wants to know why Matthew and I can’t get along, so I’ll tell her. It’s like Jesus and the devil trying to be friends. They are enemies and never will be friends. That’s the reason.”

“That’s judging,” Nessa reminded him.

“That’s telling the God’s honest truth,” Isaac growled. “If he’d been a better child, Mama would have had more good days than bad ones. It’s his fault that she lost her mind and gave this place to you three kids. I should have inherited it. I gave up everything to live a Christian life like she wanted.”

“That’s ugly,” Cora whispered.

“Yes, it is,” Nessa said, “but it’s past time for us to air out what we’ve got to say like adults. Why did your mother have those kinds of days?” Nessa removed the biscuits from the oven and broke several eggs into a bowl, then whipped them up and put them in a skillet to scramble.

“That’s all I’m saying about that.” Isaac folded his arms over his chest and snapped his mouth shut.

“That’s your choice, but it sounds to me like you and Uncle Matthew both need some counseling. For now, though, April and I are going to have breakfast. We’ve got quilting to do this morning while it’s cool, and then we’ve all got other jobs to do around here. So we’ve got maybe half an hour to visit.”

She and April both piled bacon and eggs onto their plates, added a couple of biscuits, and carried the plates to the table. “I’m not leaving until the end of summer, if at all. You need to understand that, Daddy. Your intervention failed. I haven’t made up my mind about my teaching job for absolute positive yet. That said, now y’all talk while we eat,” she said as she sat down.

“Your mother and I have prayed about this, and we feel that’s a bad decision. This place has done nothing but make you rebellious, and God does not like that in a person,” Isaac said.