The Blessing
~~ Part 3 ~~
Lou arrived at the orphanage glad that she had missed most of the storm that was hitting the area. It was causing travel to be almost impossible and she didn't want anything cutting into the time she had to spend with her brother and sister. To make matters worse, there wasn't a hotel room available anywhere in St Joe's. Hopefully Mother Superior wouldn't mind an extra guest while she was visiting with Teresa and Jeremiah.
"Louise?" Mother Superior said stepping out of her office. "It's wonderful to see you," she said as they hugged. "We were so happy when we heard the news, congratulations."
Lou looked puzzled as they went into her office. "How did you know? I haven't been able to tell Teresa or Jeremiah yet, that's why I'm here."
"Why your fiance was just here, you must have missed them by about ten minutes."
"Kid was here?" Mother Superior nodded. "My Kid? Tall, sandy haired..."
Mother Superior looked rather worried. "I do remember who he was from last time he was here. Is there a problem? I thought he had your permission to see the children."
"No that's fine; I just didn't know he was comin'," Lou was furious. She had no problem if Kid wanted to see her brother and sister, but she was angry that this is why he left without talking to her first. "Did he say why he'd come?"
"He said he wanted to talk to them about something important. He came by and is taking them in to town for a nice lunch."
Lou frowned at the thought of Jeremiah being alone with Kid. "I guess I'll try to catch them there. Would you mind if I stayed here during my stay? All of the hotels are full and with this storm movin' in, I don't want to have to make camp."
"Of course dear, you're always welcome here, and I know Teresa will be glad to spend more than a few hours with you. She misses you a lot when you're gone."
"I miss them both too. But hopefully once Kid and I get settled we'll send for them."
Mother Superior nodded, "We'll miss them, but at least God has finally given them a chance at a happy childhood in a well loved home."
~~ ** ~~
At the restaurant Kid knew without a doubt that he should have waited and brought Lou along. Teresa couldn't be happier and continued to talk nonstop. Jeremiah on the other hand hadn't said a word since they left, and he ignored all attempts Kid had made to talk to him.
"So I bet you guys are wonderin' why I came all this way to visit, aren't you?" Both children nodded. "Well, I wanted to ask you somethin' important. Your sister and I have gotten very close and I love her very much."
Teresa giggled. "Are you going to marry her?" Jeremiah finally looked at Kid with interest.
Kid didn't want to let them know that he'd already asked and Lou had accepted... not yet anyway. "I'd like too. Now you both know I'm from the South right? Well, I was always told when I wanted to marry someone I had to ask her father for his permission. Well I can't do that, so Jeremiah, I'd like to ask for your permission."
Jeremiah flew out of his chair. "No! You can't ask our father because you killed him!" All the noise in the restaurant stopped and everyone looked at the trio.
"Jeremiah," Kid said trying to calm him down.
"If it weren't for you, we could be livin' with him and Lou wouldn't have abandoned us again. It's all your fault. You killed our father!"
Teresa started to cry and from behind him, Kid heard a stern "Jeremiah, that man was not our father!"
Kid groaned, "Lou?"
"Not now Kid," She sent him a look telling him to let it drop. Teresa ran to her sister and Lou hugged her and then looked at Jeremiah. "Jeremiah, we've discussed this before and you know better than to have an outburst like that in a nice place like this."
Jeremiah still didn't back down. "I remember more than you think Lou. I may have been young when ma left with us, but I do remember our father. And now you want to marry the man who killed him?"
"Jeremiah, it's not as easy as that. Kid did what he had to do to protect you... to protect us."
"Lou," Kid started. "I'm really sorry, I..."
"I said not now Kid. We'll talk more about this later. Now Jeremiah, apologize to Kid and let's have a nice meal. Afterwards, we'll take you back to the orphanage and after Kid and I talk, we can discuss this more somewhere private."
"I'm sorry Lou," Jeremiah said as he sat back down. He found Lou an extra chair and brought it to the table for her placing it between him and Kid. He still refused to even look at Kid, let alone apologize to him.
For the rest of the meal, everyone remained quiet. Kid kept looking at Lou, hoping to catch her eye, but she wouldn't look his way. He knew she was mad and he couldn't blame her. He just wasn't sure if she was mad at him or at Jeremiah for his outburst.