Secrets in the Sand by Carolyn Brown

            “Fair enough. Let’s leave the past in the past, and, honey, if you just want to twist your hair up in one of those bun things this morning, or any morning as far as that goes, I think you’re beautiful with a hairdo like that,” he said.

            “But you mentioned pictures,” she said. “Don’t you want to be proud of the woman standing beside you?”

            “I’d be proud of you if you were wearing a faded red bikini and no makeup,” he told her.

            ***

            Angel knew there would be lots of familiar faces at the church, but she wouldn’t have to make small talk with anyone for more than a few minutes after the services. The reception would be a different matter. Whether she liked it or not, she’d feel just like she did in high school. All those people would realize she was that poor little girl from the wrong side of the tracks, and they’d pity Clancy. She remembered the line from an old country song by Cross Canadian Ragweed, “17.”

            The lyrics talked about always being the same person in a hometown as you were when you were there as a teenager. That a person had made something of themselves didn’t matter a whole lot—folks still remembered them as whatever they were in high school. Maybe that’s why folks who had been popular never left. They didn’t want to lose that feeling of being slightly better than everyone else.

            Angel forced herself not to think about the song. She wasn’t the same girl, and she’d show everyone she was confident and independent. “Are you sure you want pictures of us?”

            “Positive,” he said without hesitation.

            “All right, then,” she said. “Then I’m going to work on my hair a little bit. Granny said that I got this kinky stuff from my father, not my mother. Most days I’d like to give it right back to him.”

            “Honey, I wouldn’t change a single thing about you.” He leaned over and kissed her on the cheek.

            When you get ready to settle down, you find a man who loves you just the way you are and doesn’t want to change you to suit what he wants. Her grandmother’s words came back to her as she finished off her bagel.

            They made it to church just moments before the morning services began. Angel felt many eyes on her as she walked down the aisle holding Clancy’s hand, but she held her head high and her back straight. She had dressed that morning in a bright floral sundress and red sandals and had brought along a lightweight sweater in case it was chilly in the church. Clancy’s eyes told her she was beautiful, so she didn’t give a tiny rat’s hind end what anyone else thought of her.

            That’s my girl! She could almost feel her grandmother hugging her right there in the church.

            “Is that Dillon Williamson?” she whispered when she sat down between Meredith and Clancy. The preacher looked like the guy who graduated with them, but it was hard to imagine that kid ever growing up to be a preacher—not even if she stretched her imagination all the way to the breaking point. Evidently, he wasn’t always seventeen in his hometown.

            “Yes, it is. This is his first year to pastor this church,” Clancy answered.

            Dillon had graduated just a year after Clancy and Angel, and he was the wildest boy in high school. To see him in a three-piece suit up there on the short bench behind the lectern was a shock to say the least. Angel kept staring at him, still not believing her eyes.

            The song leader smiled at everyone, cleared his throat, and said, “Welcome to everyone this mornin’, especially to Tom and Meredith who just got back from their honeymoon and to Clancy and Angel, both of whom went to school with me right here in Tishomingo. Now, please turn to page 181 in your hymnals, and we’ll have congregational singing.”

            Angel could practically hear the buzz of gossip over the top of the singing. Angela Conrad had come back to Tishomingo, and Clancy was sharing a hymnal with her. Why, that was right next door to being engaged!

            After they had finished the song, the preacher stepped up to the lectern and preached from Matthew about the Sermon on the Mount, and Angela could almost feel the heat rising from the pews when he came to the part about judging one’s neighbor. Then she realized that she’d done just that. She had already decided what people’s attitudes toward her would be before she had even talked to them. Granny would be disappointed in her for attending services with a chip on her shoulder.

            Leave all your worries and cares at the door when you go to church. Those had been Granny’s words. God is the only one you have to think about when you’re sitting in his place of worship. What others think, what they’re wearing, or who they’re sitting with is none of your business. You have come to meet with God.