Like Gold Refined Read Free

explain.
    “Yes,” sighed her mother. “It’s been costly.”
    For some reason Virginia felt the need to defend her old friend as she had so often in the past, even though in her heart she knew that no one was more caring, more understanding, concerning Jenny than her own mother.
    “She had a tough start. Her mother running off when she was so young. Her father’s grief driving him to attempt to find solace in drink. Honestly, I sometimes wonder if I could have survived if—”
    “That is true,” agreed her mother, “but you’d think that would make her even more sensitive toward her own child. A person who has gone through such grief should understand what it can do to another. Jenny should know that deserting Mindy could cause her the same trauma.”
    “Well, she didn’t really desert her.”
    Belinda took her chair at the table, tested the brewing tea, and replaced the cozy. “She would have … had not you and Jonathan intervened and taken her. And now … all these years and no word from her. I don’t understand how anyone—even Jenny—can ignore her own child.”
    “I don’t think Jenny thinks of Mindy as her own child. She’s ours. Jenny knows that she is well cared for. Actually, I think it’s better this way. It would be confusing to Mindy to have Jenny bouncing in and out of her life. Jonathan and I have talked of it. We appreciate the fact that Jenny is wise enough—maybe unselfish enough—to stay out of Mindy’s life. It would be more difficult for us if Jenny kept interfering. It’s much easier to raise Mindy in our own way.”
    “You don’t think Jenny will ever want her back?”
    The words hung in the air between them. Virginia didn’t even allow herself to think them, much less express them aloud. She finally answered rather forcefully, “No. Never. She has said that she has no intention of taking on the role of motherhood.”
    “Has she remarried?” Like Gold Refined E Virginia tried to calm herself before answering. “I’ve no idea.”
    “She was a pretty little thing.”
    Virginia let her churning thoughts spin back to her girlhood. Yes, Jenny had been a pretty little thing. All flashing green eyes and tossing bright hair. The entire classroom of girls had vied to be her best friend as the boys stood back and ogled or tried, usually in vain, to win her favor through some male exploit. Jenny, the most popular girl in the school, had chosen Virginia as a soul mate. Virginia had never understood it. Not even now. But the friendship had not been without its ups and downs. They had fought almost as much as they’d been buddies. It was usually Virginia who gave in. That, too, had been costly, getting her into more than one scrape and causing a great deal of friction with her parents.
    Things had changed after Virginia had finally given over her own stubborn will and invited the Lord to take over her life. Then Jenny became a primary concern. Virginia had attempted to save Jenny from a life of destruction and grief, for even in her youth, she could see that her school friend was heading in that direction. But Virginia had failed. Pray as she did, try as she might, she was never able to convince Jenny that her behavior and choices would eventually bring her to harm. Jenny was determined to go her own way. Her way of parties and so-called good times. Of marrying a selfish man. Divorce. Then her ex-husband’s tragic accident and death. Nothing … nothing in life had seemed to work out for Jenny. But Virginia had never ceased praying. Hoping. Surely God, who loved Jenny more deeply than she herself ever could, would not give up. Her sigh seemed to come from someplace deep within her.
    Jamie had lost his rattling measuring spoons, and in the effort to retrieve them tumbled over on the linoleum floor. He rolled harmlessly onto his side and looked up at Virginia with a grin as though to say he had accomplished exactly what he had set out to do. Virginia reached for him, sat him back