Chapter Two
Memories flashed through Miss Georgia’s mind of a boy who had teased her all the way through her growing up years, a boy who lived on a farm just a short way from her family’s home, a boy who left to join the War when he was much too young and who, she had heard, had been killed at Gettysburg.
Monroe Williams grinned and smothered Miss Georgia in a bear hug. That grin told Miss Georgia that Abigail was right. The crooked smile could belong to no one else but Roe Williams, her childhood friend.
“As you can see, Miss Georgia, I surely did not die, although it was nip and tuck for a while. And, here I am, your neighbor. Life is strange, isn’t it?”
“I must sit down,” Georgia whispered. “And you, too, Roe, and Abby. Let’s go to the kitchen. I need a cup of coffee, hot and strong.”
Feeling half in a daze, Miss Georgia poured coffee and took a plate of yesterday’s homemade doughnuts from the pie safe. Turning up her cup, she swigged half of the strong brew before delicately blotting her lips with a napkin and taking a deep breath.
She pointed her finger at the newcomer. “You,” she said, “Monroe Williams, you don’t know how glad I am that those rumors of your death were wrong, but I need some explanations. You talk while I catch my breath.”
Monroe swallowed a huge bite of doughnut and smiled. “If you think you’re surprised, imagine how I felt when I found out the two people I admired most in years gone by were my new neighbors.
“You won’t believe this, knowing my past, but after I recovered from my wounds and the war ended, I studied for the ministry. I was trying to make sense of the senselessness of all the bloodshed and sad things I’d seen. I’ve just retired from a church in Nashville and I’ve come home to spend what remaining years the Good Lord gives me right here in this peaceful little town of my childhood.”
Miss Georgia shook her head at the immensity of it all. The Lord surely did move in wondrous ways.
Abigail laughed. “Peaceful little town? Sometimes appearances are deceiving. Let me tell you about the woman who used to live in your house. She was hardly what I’d call peaceable.”
She was interrupted by a knock on the front door. Miss Georgia excused herself and went to see who her latest early morning visitor could be. Her heart couldn’t take many more shocks like Monroe Williams.
Sheriff Lathe Caldwell stood on the front porch. He removed his broad-brimmed hat as she opened the door. “Miss Georgia, Ma’am, I’m looking for Monroe Williams. Wonder if you’ve seen him?”
Miss Georgia blinked. “Well, surely I’ve seen him, Lathe. In fact, he’s at my kitchen table right now. Come on in and join us in a cup of coffee.”
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