Refocusing, I walked to the side door with the plan of peeping my head in and announcing the services were canceled. It wasn’t a new idea but an old one that I’d repeated sporadically over the last several years. I caught sight of Foxy and Jinx through the hazy window and wondered why in the world they hadn’t canceled it for me.

Taking a fortifying breath, I cracked the side door open just enough to peer inside. My eyes fastened on the abandoned podium as I offered an excuse. “I’m sorry, but there won’t be any services today. Pa ain’t feeling well.” With butchered arms and a tortured mind, not feeling well wasn’t even close to the truth.

“Wait a minute, honey,” Morty called out before I got the door shut. “We need to have a talk.”

I didn’t like the sound of that, but I closed the umbrella and took a tentative step inside. I looked no further than the worn floorboards where my rubber boots were forming puddles. A dark hand caught mine and sent my gaze to rise.

“Foxy?” I questioned, frowning at her head. It was the first time I’d ever seen the woman without a scarf of some sort covering it. From her right ear to the crown of her head, the dark bald skin was beveled in scars. The black hair on the other side was shorn close to her scalp.

“Today we gonna witness,” Foxy said softly as she rose from her pew and walked to the podium, gesturing for me to stand beside her.

“You okay?” I whispered.

Foxy met my eyes, winking at me before turning to the congregation, but I couldn’t look away from her. “Austin knows firsthand that I steer clear of confrontation. She’s even called me a coward a time or two.” Her hand locked with mine and squeezed to stanch my reaction. “My girl is right to an extent. I’ve been hiding what happened to me back home in Louisiana.” She smoothed her palm over the bald part of her head. “I was twelve years old. Some men thought lighting my hair on fire would make for fine entertainment. I let that hate crime rob me for the better part of thirty years, until Dave Foster took me and my Jinx in and treated us as his equal and showed us our lives mattered to him and his family. A family I consider my own.”

Jinx said, “Amen.”