She had looked everywhere.

It was then that her bare foot brushed against something under the covers at the foot of her bed.  Olivia threw the covers off and reached for it.  It was dark, so it was hard to tell what it was, but as soon as her fingers touched the object, she knew.  It was her St. Thérèse chaplet!

Could this be St. Thérèse's way of telling Olivia things were going to be okay?  It had to be. She just knew it.  St. Thérèse was telling her she could start fresh tomorrow.  Tomorrow was a new day to please God, a new day to love.

Olivia smiled wide and held it up in the darkness.

"I found it, Mama!  I found it!"

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Olivia managed to follow St. Thérèse's Little Way without anyone fully realizing what she was doing well into the end of October, when the leaves turned from green to gorgeous shades of crimson, orange, and yellow.  Having lived all of her life in Texas, Olivia was astonished to see the trees come alive in such vibrant colors right in front of her very eyes.  They were so much prettier in person than in pictures she had seen. 

Their beauty seemed to inspire her to do even more kind acts.  She raked the leaves when they fell without being asked.  She kept an eye on Lucy even when Mom was trying to cook dinner or take a phone call when she would rather have been reading alone up in her room.

Olivia dusted the living room when Mom wasn't looking.  She picked up Lucy's toys and put them away in the toy box.  Olivia realized that she loved doing these things in secret, nobody seeing her.  She realized that God would approve of her doing these things without making a big show of it.  She remembered that in school last year on Ash Wednesday, her teacher had read a Scripture passage mentioning that very thing:

Take care not to perform righteous deeds in order that people may see them; 

otherwise, you will have no recompense from your heavenly Father…And your Father, who sees in secret, will repay you.

Matthew 6: 1, 4

Still, Olivia had to admit that she enjoyed seeing the puzzled looks on her parents' faces when they noticed that these little things had been done without prodding.  If they asked, she would own up to what she had done.  After all, it wouldn't be right to lie. 

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It didn’t take long for the trio to have their bags bulging with freshly picked apples.

“I’m going to try one,” said Olivia, who began to shine an apple on her shirt.  She took a bite and her mouth instantly became alive with the juicy, tangy taste of an apple fresh from the tree.  She had never tasted an apple so delicious.

“YUM,” she cried.  “Y’all, I never knew apples could taste like this!”

“They’re always better fresh from the tree,” Sabrina said knowingly as she took a bite of her own apple.  “Mmmm…So much better than apples from the grocery store.  They’re all mealy.”

Olivia soon realized what she had been missing in Texas.  Apple juice dripping from her chin, she smiled and tossed the core to the ground.  “Y’all, I think we need more bags!”