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delinquency, Randy with another woman—or two—and Shiloh homeless and forced to work to survive. Shiloh shook her head. This was the twenty-first century—most women she knew were working to survive, making her role as a stay-at-home pastor’s wife somewhat of a luxury these days, not the other way around. When Shiloh no longer heard the shrill tone coming from the receiver, she brought it to her ear again, just in time to hear Mama’s question, “Do you understand what I’m saying, Shiloh? This is important.”
    “Mama, it’s an eight-week substitute teaching gig, not a tour of duty in Afghanistan—really. Everyone will be fine. The boys are sixteen, fourteen, twelve, and nine. No one is in diapers and all of themcan read. They’re capable of helping prepare meals, wash clothes, and whatever else needs to be done if I’m tied up. They need to begin learning how to fend for themselves.
    “Plus,” Shiloh continued, “I’ll be working school hours and should be home by three each afternoon, if not earlier, on some days. That’s plenty of time to oversee homework, cook dinner, and get the younger boys to football practice when Randy and Lem can’t help out. This is a new generation—women work. You know that; two of your daughters go to a job every day.”
    “Uh-huh,” Mama said.
    Shiloh pictured her on the other end of the phone, scowling or pursing her lips.
    “Those other two girls of mine don’t have kids. And they aren’t married to a prominent minister. Your role calls for different choices, Shiloh. You can’t do like everybody else. You have to be Randy’s biggest supporter and his always-available helpmate. That’s the only way your daddy and I have made it all these years. I’ve put his needs before my own.”
    And he put the church’s needs above yours and his daughters.
    That silent retort bubbled forth before Shiloh could staunch it. And Mama wasn’t quite right; Dayna actually was a mother now, given that her stepsons’ biological mother was deceased.
    “Mama?”
    “Yes, Shiloh?”
    “What did you want to do—what were your goals—before you married Daddy? Didn’t you dream of doing something special, something just for you?”
    Mama didn’t respond for so long that Shiloh thought the call had dropped. “Hello?”
    “Well, what kind of question is that? My life is the life I’m living—loving your daddy, loving you girls … taking care of God’sbusiness. That’s what is important. Are you getting your priorities mixed up?”
    Shiloh didn’t have a ready response. Was Mama right? Was she so busy trying to be like her sisters that she was about to mess up a good thing? Shiloh glanced at the clock and was startled by how late it was. She leapt from her comfortable position on the sofa.
    “Gotta run, Mama! I’ve got to get to Bible study—the ladies will be waiting on me. Thanks for sharing your perspective. Pray with me that all will go well, and that none of the terrible things you’re worried about will happen.”
    Shiloh didn’t want to end the call before Mama said goodbye, but the clock was ticking.
Father, please don’t let her launch into another mini-sermon.
    “Tell my grandsons I said hello, okay? It was such a joy to have Lem here this summer. I hope next summer the other boys will come, too.”
    Shiloh smiled. It had been good for Lem to have his grandparents all to himself those two weeks in July. He’d come back talking about them as if they were real people, people he had an interest in spending time with, rather than doing so out of obligation.
    “We’ll have to arrange that, Mama,” Shiloh said. “I’ve gotta run now. Love you.”
    “Love you, too, Shiloh. You take to heart what I said. Don’t go getting all distracted. That’s what cost Dayna her first husband. You keep your eyes on your family—all the rest will come and go.”
    Is that what Mama really thought? Dayna’s first husband, Brent, had cheated on her because Dayna had a life