Always With Me

Part 24- Reagan Elliott

I was pressing the word 'blessed' into a silver bracelet when three girls walked into the room. They were all laughing as they opened the door. One girl had long, light blond hair and a small smile, another had chestnut brown, curly hair. The last girl walked behind them. She had long, straight, brown hair and she was pregnant.

"Good morning! Welcome to The Pink Peacock! Let me know if I can help you girls with anything," I said to them. They all looked up at me and smiled.

"Thank you, we are just looking," The curly haired girl said. She had a genuine smile and a soft aura that surrounded her.

"When did you open your store? I haven't seen it until today," The girl with blond hair said. She came up and looked at the jewelry that was on the counter in front of me. The room wasn't fully set up, but I still had enough of my stuff out that I opened today. There has been a steady stream of women through the room, but there was something about these girls that caught my attention.

Talk to them.

"What is it, God? What do you want for me to do?" I thought as they all three stood in front of me.

"Today is the first day! I moved to Amory a few weeks ago, and I have been getting my house and store set up so today is the first official day."

"Where did you move from?" the curly haired girl asked.

"I moved from Jackson. My husband is a Sargent in the army, so he has been gone since January. We decided to move here before he left, so now I am here with my kids," I answered them. Even though I never gave my personal information to customers that I didn't know, I felt like I needed to talk to these girls.

"My boyfriend is going into the army. He leaves in June for basic training," the girl with blond hair says.

"Oh, I am so sorry. I know that's hard. I'm Reagan, by the way."

"I'm Ellie," the girl with curly hair said.

"I'm Dahlia," The pregnant girl said.

"I'm Becca," The girl that I was just talking to said.

"Well, Duke will be gone until September. I miss him like crazy," I admitted, putting down the pliers in my hands to look at the girls as I spoke.

"Zack leaves in June, but he gets back then, also." Becca said. She smiled feebly.

"Well, I will be praying for you while he's gone. I know how tough it is," I said. "So, when are you due?" I asked Dahlia. She looked away from the necklace in front of her to look at me. She had a haunted look in her face, but she carried herself with so much confidence that you couldn't see it until she looked into your eyes. At first I thought that I'd stepped on her toes by asking, but she eventually answered.

"June 28th," she said.

Offer her a job, Reagan.

"But God, I don't even know the girl! What if that offends her?

Reagan, offer her the job.

"I just had a baby, also. Her name is Katie. I have three kids- Abigail, Jase, and Katie," I told them. Ellie and Becca smiled at me, but Dahlia seemed locked in on what I was telling her.

"I don't know what I'm having yet," she said.

"Oh. You know that you can go at five months to find out the sex of the baby," I told her. She looked surprised. She obviously hadn't known that. She didn't seem to know much about having a baby.