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person to help.”
    â€œWhy?” Josh asked.
    â€œBecause Amanda’s daddy is William Maxwell,” Cord explained. When Josh shook his head, Cord added, “Big Max is one of the wealthiest men in Charleston. Some folks think Big Max is the one who ought to be helping Amanda, not the church.”
    There was obviously still some critical piece of information that Josh was missing. If getting this woman a place to live were that simple, it would have been done long ago.
    â€œWhy isn’t he?” Josh asked. “I assume there’s a reason.”
    â€œThere’s a lot of bad blood between the two of them,” Cord said succinctly.
    â€œThat’s an understatement and it’s not without reason, at least on Amanda’s part,” Caleb said. “Since you’re involved in this now, you should know what’s going on. Here’s the short version. Big Max disowned Amanda when she got married. He didn’t approve of Bobby O’Leary. He dug in his heels. Amanda refused to cave in to his pressure, so he hasn’t had a thing to do with her for almost ten years now. He’s never even set eyes on his grandkids. I think he regrets all that now, but he’s too stubborn to fix it, and Amanda’s too hurt and has too much pride to turn to him now that she’s in trouble because of Bobby’s mistakes.”
    Josh got the picture. “But some folks think she should swallow her pride and go running to daddy now, instead of taking this opportunity away from some other family, one with no other resources.”
    â€œExactly,” Caleb said.
    â€œI suppose I can see their point, but obviously she doesn’t think she can turn to her father or doesn’t want to after the way he treated her,” Josh said. “I can’t say I blame her.” He could empathize. Even if he discovered tomorrow that his father was rolling in dough, it would be a cold day in hell before he ever turned to the man for help, no matter how dire his own circumstances.
    â€œAs far as Amanda’s concerned, her father burned that bridge,” Caleb said. “She won’t ask him for a dime. So as far as I’m concerned, she’s a struggling single mom who’s as deserving as anyone else. And she’s doing everything she can to get back on her feet. It’s not like she came looking for a handout. People just saw a need and wanted to help. She’s one of our own. We have an opportunity to help her and we’ll all get something out of doing it.”
    â€œSo you want to go ahead, even though it’ll anger some members of your congregation?” Josh asked.
    â€œAbsolutely,” Caleb responded without hesitation. “And it’s really only one member who’s dedicated himself to stirring the pot. He just happens to be wealthy and powerful in his own right. He could complicate things if he switches from talk to action.”
    â€œWhat sort of action?” Josh asked.
    â€œLet’s just say he’s politically well connected and could hold things up,” Caleb replied. “Especially if he thinks he’s doing Big Max a favor in the process.”
    â€œHas he threatened to throw up real roadblocks?” Josh asked.
    Caleb shook his head. “Not yet. Mainly he’s been working to get the congregation on his side. He’s succeeded with some. We expected a larger turnout than this initially.”
    â€œAnd as of this morning, Amanda’s balking,” Cord explained.
    â€œLast night she got wind of the battle that was brewing, and she doesn’t want the congregation divided over this,” Caleb said. “I’ve tried every way I can think of, but I can’t get through to her that it’s only George Winslow flexing his muscles.”
    Silence fell as they all pondered how to break the impasse. It was several minutes before Josh realized that Cord was studying him speculatively.
    â€œYou know,