Edward

The Truth Hurts

The following morning, Dad and I were preparing to go golfing when the doorbell rang. I answered it.

"Change your clothes, Talmage. You're coming with us to church this morning."

I headed back upstairs.

"Who was at the door?"

"Reuben Whitaker. He told me to change my clothes, because he wants me to join him at church."

"Are you going?"

"Are you still going golfing?"

"I'll change, and go to church."

We walked out the door. Tabitha was sitting in the front passenger seat of their minivan, holding her newborn.

"Good morning, Tabitha. How are you and your new baby?"

"We are doing really well. I'm sorry I've missed the last few weeks of group."

"No worries. Your husband is keeping a close eye on me."

Hannah waved at me from the rear seat, so I waved back. Tabitha put her son in his car seat in the rear seat, and asked dad and I to sit in the middle row.

As we pulled onto the road, I asked, "Did you settle on a name?"

"Samuel Roman Whitaker."

"That is a good, strong name."

Dad asked, "Is today something special?"

Tabitha responded, "It is palm Sunday, but that's not the reason we picked you up. Don't be surprised when you see people carrying palm branches around the church."

Reuben said, "Ed, we picked you up because your sister needs to see you again."

Tabby explained, "Amanda called me last night. You left her with a lot of unanswered questions."

"I got the feeling she didn't want to see me again. Or at least not right away."

Reuben said, "Ed, your sister loves you. She wants to see you – and you, Jeff – become the men you were created to be."

When we parked at the church, dad and I waited as Reuben and Tabitha got the kids out of the rear seat.

"Hannah, my dear, can you help me herd our guests into the church?"

As we walked toward the entrance, Hannah was running in circles around my dad and me.

"Hannah, why are you running around us?"

She smiled up at us.

"I'm herding you."

Reuben led us to seats in the sanctuary. Amanda, Joshua, and Jacob were sitting in the row ahead of us. Reuben tapped Joshua's shoulder. He looked back, and pointed us out to Amanda. She looked back, but didn't say anything.

The service was confusing. Most of the time I had no clue what was going on. There was a lot of theatrics involving people dropping palm branches in the center aisle. They kept saying "hosanna," but it was never explained what that meant.

After the service, Amanda wasn't very talkative.

I asked, "Where are your twins?"

"Helen has them."

"Helen?" Amanda seemed to ignore me.

Joshua said, "Helen is my mom. The girls were being fussy this morning. Amanda wasn't in the mood to deal with them here at church, so we dropped them off with my parents."