Mrs. English set a plate before Josephine. It was heaped with brown rice and bright green broccoli. In separate dishes on the side were brussel sprouts, spinach, and asparagus.
“How’d you know what I like?” Josephine asked slowly, stunned that all her favorite vegetables were on the table.
“You said you could eat all green vegetables so that’s what I made. I noticed dairy was on the list of list of allergens that have improved but that you haven’t completely out grown. So, I drizzled a little olive oil on the vegetables, instead of using butter. You need some healthy fats in your diet so you can gain some weight eventually.”
Josephine looked down at her plate. She knew she was too skinny.
Mrs. English took notice. “Don’t worry, we’ll focus on a well rounded diet and things will work themselves out. I was as skinny as you when I was your age.” She squeezed Josephine’s shoulder and smiled sweetly.
Josephine smiled back. She felt a little better.
“Thank you and thank you for letting me stay here,” she said.
“You’re part of our family for as long as you’re with us. Please let us know if there’s anything you need or anything we can do for you.”
“What do you mean ‘for as long as I’m with you’? Would I go somewhere else?”
Mr. and Mrs. English exchanged glances—the type of glance that let Josephine know that the answer to her question was “perhaps.”
Josephine started to worry again.
“As long as you’re allowed to stay, we want you here,” Mrs. English said reassuringly.
“Josephine, Is it okay if I prayed for you?” Mr. English asked.
Josephine frowned. No one had ever asked that before. The Zimmerman’s prayed before meals and David prayed after he read the Bible to the family—something of which Marley excluded Josephine from nowadays.
Mr. English must have excused Josephine’s blank stare, as he proceeded in prayer nonetheless.
“Dear Heavenly Father,
I thank you very much for this beautiful young lady. You have given her many gifts and I pray that she will use them to bless others.I also pray that you are with her always and that she will feel your presence. May she see you amidst the storm and receive your comfort. In your name I pray, Amen.”
Mr. and Mrs. English raised their heads and opened their eyes. Josephine hadn’t blinked or moved an inch the whole time they prayed.
Mrs. English heard the kettle whistle on the stove. She got up and poured hot water into a mug with a tea bag already inside. She put it on the table. The prayer had made no sense to Josephine. How could anything be seen in a storm—let alone an invisible God?
She looked around. What she did she was a nice couple. She hadn’t had anyone besides Kamp or Morgan treat her that well in a long time. She saw the table full of her favorite foods. There were grocery bags still on the counter. Mr. and Mrs. English must have gone shopping early this morning. She saw the mug and the bag of black tea. The tea leaves penetrated the hot water as a sweet aroma released into the air. She saw a bowl of sugar beside her cup with a spoon set inside.
“Have as much as you like Josephine,” Mr. English winked.
What she saw was a glimmer of hope in a bleak situation.
