CHAPTER ELEVEN
The hall at First Christian Church was crowded with women, their chatter echoing inside the cavernous room where many social functions were held.
The annual June quilting bee was one of Savannah’s favorites. The finished quilts were auctioned later in the year and the money given to local charities. Laredo, Savannah’s husband, joked that quilting bees were just the women’s excuse to visit, and to some extent Savannah thought he was right. These days, she rarely had this much undivided time to spend with her friends.
Amy McMillen, Nell Grant, Jane Patterson and Savannah worked together at one table, cutting pieces for a quilt top, while Caroline, Ellie and other women sewed them together. The sound of their machines hummed pleasantly in the room.
Savannah looked up from her task to note that her group seemed rather solemn compared to the other tables. “Hey, guys,” she said cheerfully, “we should be having fun.”
“I’m having a great time,” Nell insisted with a dour look.
“Me, too,” Amy echoed forlornly. “A really great time.”
“So am I,” Jane added, sounding equally miserable.
Savannah put her scissors down and folded her arms. “All right, what’s wrong?”
“Nothing,” Jane answered. “Not a single solitary thing.”
The truth was, Savannah’s spirits were low, too. Thoughts of Richard weighed her down, despite her best efforts to forget him. Perhaps if she stopped dwelling on her own troubles….
“Amy, you look kind of discouraged. Do you want to talk about it?”
The pastor’s wife met Savannah’s gaze haltingly, but it wasn’t long before she glanced away.
“A burden shared is a burden lightened,” Nell said.
“Exactly,” Jane agreed, then seemed to realize what she’d said and quickly closed her mouth.
“Okay,” Amy finally said. “It’s my mother again. She phoned just so she could tell me that I’m doing a terrible job being a mother to Joey and Sarah.”
Outraged cries echoed around the table, and Amy’s spirits appeared to lift. “I know I’m a good mom and I love my children, but this kind of conversation is typical of my mother. I know I shouldn’t let her get me down—but I can’t help it. She’s always attacking me, making me feel bad about myself. It’s one of the reasons I only invite her to my home once or twice a year. She’s so negative and she can’t let a single conversation pass without making a derogatory comment about me or my family.” She sighed. “I don’t tell Wade all this because he’d just refuse to let my mother visit at all. And tempting as that is, I do feel sorry for her, and I feel…some obligation, I guess.”
Everyone offered words of encouragement to the pastor’s wife, who was much loved by everyone in Promise. Savannah could well imagine what Wade would say if he knew what kinds of things his mother-in-law said about his wife. The thought of his reaction was enough to bring a smile to her face.
“Okay, Nell,” Savannah said, “what about you?”
“Me?” Nell protested. “Oh, all right.” She stiffened her spine and Savannah noticed the way her fingers tightened around the scissors. “Travis’s ex-wife is coming to visit.”
“Here in Promise?”
Her announcement was followed by a chorus of groans.
“That’s not the half of it,” Nell muttered, cutting a piece of yellow floral fabric with determination and speed. “The worst part is I was the one who invited her to stay with us.”
“Why’s she coming?” Amy asked.
Nell shrugged. “I don’t really know—but I think she’s decided she wants Travis back.”
Savannah scoffed at the idea. She’d seen for herself the love in Travis’s eyes every time he looked at Nell. He was crazy about his wife and family and wasn’t afraid to show it.
“You haven’t got a thing to worry about,” she said.
“I know that in my heart, and then I remember the picture I once saw of Val and…well, she’s beautiful.”
“Don’t discount yourself,” Savannah advised her friend. “And remember you’re the one Travis loves.”
Nell smiled and she did seem a little relieved.
“What about you, Savannah?” Jane asked. “You haven’t been yourself all morning.”
“I haven’t?” she said, although she knew Jane was right.
“Yeah, you,” Amy confirmed. “You’re not going to escape this.”
Savannah hesitated, wondering how much to say. “Grady and I recently heard from Richard.”
That captured her friends’ attention.
Jane was incredulous. “After all this time?”
Savannah nodded. “Let me tell you, his letter was something of a shock.”
“What did he have to say for himself?” Amy wanted to know, then added, “That is, if you don’t mind talking about it.”
“No, I don’t. Richard said what he always says. He made a lot of sincere-sounding apologies and promises.”
“So what does he want this time?” The skeptical question came from Nell, who unlike most people in town had never been fooled by Richard.
“Nothing, or so he claims. Just that he’s sorry and he’s changed his ways.”
“Don’t you believe it,” Nell insisted.
“Grady and I don’t.”
“So he’s seen the error of his ways, has he?” Jane was no less skeptical.
“Well, it’s what he says.” But Savannah had believed Richard before and paid dearly for her faith in him.
“It must be hard, when you so badly want to believe him,” Amy said. “I’ve been thinking a lot about your brother since you mentioned him and that letter. Both Wade and I’ve been praying about the situation.”
“Thank you,” Savannah said. Forgiving Richard was one thing, but making her family, her friends and herself vulnerable to him was another entirely. Had there been any evidence, something that proved the truth of his claims—like an effort to reach the very people he’d hurt most—she might be inclined to trust him, at least a little. But she knew that wasn’t the case.
“Jane?” Nell looked at her, and to everyone’s surprise Jane’s eyes welled with tears.
“Jane,” Savannah said, taking her hand. “What is it?”
She shook her head, clearly embarrassed by the emotional display. “Cal and I had an argument before I left the house. It was nothing and I’m sure everything will have worked itself out by the time I get home. It’s just that…with the pregnancy and all…”
“You’re more emotional than usual,” Nell said.
Jane nodded and dabbed her eyes with a tissue.
Savannah wasn’t nearly so sure. Usually by the sixth month, a woman’s hormones were more balanced.
“The big dance is next Saturday night,” Amy said. “I say we shake off our worries and kick up our heels.”
“Forget all our troubles,” Nell added.
“Hear, hear,” Jane said between sniffles.
Savannah laughed. “You’re right. We’re going to have the time of our lives.”
* * *
“What’s the matter, Daddy?” Heather asked Lucas as he placed the dinner plates in the dishwasher.
Hollie handed him her silverware and gazed up at him. “Are you sad, Daddy?”
Lucas wasn’t aware his worries were this noticeable to his children. “Mrs. Delaney is moving to Kansas to live with her son,” he told his daughters. The housekeeper had given her notice that night when he got home.
“Yeah, we know,” Heather said. “Mrs. Delaney is going to live with Larry and his wife. She’s real excited about it, too.”
Apparently his children knew more of the details than he did himself. But apparently they hadn’t yet made the connection—if the housekeeper left Promise, she wouldn’t be there to look after them.
“She’s got three grandchildren in Kansas.” Hollie relayed additional facts with all the finesse of a television reporter. “She misses them, too.”
“I know she does.” But not nearly as much as Lucas was going to miss Mrs. Delaney. What on earth would he do now? Especially with school out for the summer.
“We know who we want to be our new housekeeper,” Heather said as she carried her empty milk glass from the table.
This was encouraging news. Perhaps the girls knew about someone he didn’t, a school friend’s mother or older sister. “Who?”
“Annie!” Heather shouted gleefully.
“Annie!” Hollie chorused.
Lucas groaned. This entire situation was impossible. Mrs. Delaney had promised to stay on until he found a replacement, which was a relief, but at the same time he didn’t want to keep the older woman away from her grandchildren. He intended to place an ad in the local paper and start the interviewing process, but he hated the thought of turning his daughters’ care over to strangers.
“We like Annie more than anyone around here,” Hollie said, “and she reads real good. If she was the housekeeper, she could read us a story every day. Not like Mrs. Delaney.”
Lucas was trying to find a way to explain to his daughters why Annie couldn’t be their housekeeper. “Well, Annie has a job, you know, a job that’s very important to her. She runs the bookstore and that means she has to work every day.”
Heather regarded him thoughtfully. “Could Annie be our new mother, then?” she asked.
Hollie’s eyes instantly lit up. “Could she, Daddy, could she?”
“Ah…” Lucas didn’t think he’d ever been so taken aback by any of his daughters’ ideas. “I don’t think so.”
“Why not?” they asked in unison.
“Well, because—”
“We like her better than any lady in the whole world, not including Mommy and Grandma Porter,” Heather said.
“Yes, but—”
“Will you think about it?” Heather asked, pleading with him.
“That won’t do any good.”
“Please, Daddy, oh, please,” Hollie begged, folding her hands prayerfully and looking up at him with an intensity that almost broke his heart.
“Don’t say no,” Heather added, “not until you think about it.”
“This isn’t like getting a toy from the toy store,” he said, wondering why he bothered trying to explain. “Annie has other plans for her life.”
“But we want her,” Hollie said in that matter-of-fact way of hers.
“Promise you’ll think about it, Daddy,” Heather said again. “Please?”
He’d think about it, all right. For two seconds.
* * *
It was the day of the Cattlemen’s Dance, a day that dragged by slowly. Annie hadn’t seen or talked to Lucas since he’d called to invite her. Sometimes she wondered if she’d imagined the entire conversation. But he’d left a message on her answering machine, saying that he’d pick her up at six. He’d sounded…curt. Businesslike.
However, there were plenty of signs that she was on his mind, as he was on hers. Heather and Hollie showed up faithfully each Saturday morning for Story Time, but without Lucas. Caroline Weston always brought them with Maggie.
Both girls were full of excited chatter about their father. The previous Saturday Hollie had whispered to Annie that Lucas had talked about her. The five-year-old hadn’t said anything else, leaving Annie to wonder what Lucas could possibly have said.
The most telling sign, though, she’d learned in a conversation with Jane earlier in the week.
“Lucas was asking about you,” Jane had mentioned in an offhand way.
“About me?” She shouldn’t be this glad.
“Actually, he asked Cal.”
“What did he want to know?” It did seem to Annie that if he had any questions, he should come to her.
“Cal didn’t exactly remember. That’s men for you. It was something about your plans, I think. Or your past.”
Annie wasn’t sure if she should be insulted or excited. “He already knows about the car accident and the divorce. What more is there to say about me?”
Until she came here, her entire world seemed to revolve around the events of the past two years, as if there’d never been anything else in her life. That was one of the reasons she’d moved to Promise—to escape the glances, the unspoken questions, the pity friends leveled at her.
She’d come to Promise to make a fresh start, to escape the past. A past that grew more and more distant as she grew more and more involved in this new life. She hadn’t given Lucas much detail about the accident or the divorce. The woman who’d been in a car crash, whose husband had left her—she didn’t want Lucas or anyone else to define her by those things.
“You like him, don’t you?”
The directness of Jane’s question had caught her off guard. Annie nodded. She did like Lucas, more than she cared to admit. He wanted them to be simply friends, and that was fine with Annie. Since the divorce she’d dated a few times, but she hadn’t been ready for a new relationship. Moving to Promise had sped up the healing process considerably; still, a full-fledged romantic relationship was intimidating. No, she figured being friends was all she could handle for now.
“He’s a good man,” Jane had told her, then gently squeezed Annie’s hand. “He’d never do the things Billy did.”
Intuitively Annie recognized that.
They talked a little longer, and Annie noticed that her friend didn’t seem as energetic as usual, but when she pressed, Jane made excuses and left shortly afterward.
By six o’clock the night of the dance, Annie was eager to see Lucas again.
He rang her bell and smiled when she opened the door. She liked the look in his eyes when he saw her. Her dress was new and expensive, and the way his eyes widened with appreciation made it worth every budget-crushing penny.
“Would you mind very much if we talked first—before heading over to the dance?” He seemed nervous, almost ill at ease.
“Of course I don’t mind. Come on in.” She held the door for him and wondered if tonight would end in disaster. Perhaps she’d put too much stock in Lucas’s invitation. “Would you like a cup of coffee?” she asked. “Or a glass of wine?”
He shook his head as he walked into her tidy living area, then restlessly paced the room.
“Please—sit down,” she said, motioning toward the furniture.
“Sit down? Sure.” He chose the chair by the end table, where she kept a stack of reading material.
Annie took the sofa, sitting on the edge of the cushion, her hands clenched together. “What’s wrong?” It seemed to her something must be.
“Nothing.” His reassuring smile was all too brief.
Annie waited, puzzled by his mood.
“I have…a question to ask you,” he said at last.
“All right.”
He stood, walked around the room again, then sat back down. “You know, I’m really grateful you’re being this patient with me.”
“Is your question that difficult?”
He snorted a laugh. “As a matter of fact, it is.”
“Ask away. I promise not to bite your head off.”
His face relaxed in a smile. “That’s good because… You might not think that once I…” He hesitated, shook his head. “I wasn’t going to do this. It would’ve been much better to wait until after the dance, but I realized as I was walking up the stairs that I couldn’t. The whole night would be miserable if I didn’t get this off my chest right away.”
“It’s all right, Lucas, really.”
He nodded and seemed to gather his nerve. “I thought maybe you and I—” He stopped cold, a look of horror on his face.
“Thought what?”
“I’ve advertised for a housekeeper.”
“You want me to give up the bookstore and become your housekeeper?”
“No,” he protested. “I can hire someone to clean my house, but I can’t hire anyone to love my children. Not the way you seem to. And they love you. I’ve never seen anything like it. From the moment you moved to town, Heather and Hollie knew.”
“Knew what?” But she thought she’d already figured out the answer. His daughters had recognized that she, too, had been motherless. She understood the empty feeling that invaded a lonely child’s heart.
“Knew they wanted you for their stepmother,” Lucas answered.
Annie’s head snapped up. She was wrong. “They want me for their stepmother?”
“I can only imagine what you must be thinking, and frankly I don’t blame you. I told you I didn’t want anything more than friendship, and I don’t…well, I do, but…” He abandoned that line of thought. “We barely know each other. It’s too soon. I still love Julia and you’ve just come out of a disappointing marriage. People will think we’re both nuts.” He closed his eyes and shook his head, as if he could hardly believe what he was saying.
Annie felt numb. This had to be a joke. “Are you asking me to marry you, Lucas?”
He glanced away. “Pretty pathetic proposal, isn’t it?”
Annie wasn’t going to lie to him. “Yes.” But then, she’d already had romance—all the romance she could handle in this lifetime.
“I apologize, Annie. I don’t have any excuse for approaching you like this.”
Annie stood. “Do you still want to go to the dance?”
He looked up at her and nodded. Slowly Lucas came to his feet. Annie reached for her purse and together they headed for the door. He didn’t speak again until they’d made their way down the stairs at the back of the building and outside, to where he’d parked his truck.
“Naturally it’d be a marriage of convenience,” he said, resuming the conversation.
“Your convenience, you mean.” She wasn’t being rude, only truthful.
He opened the passenger door and paused. “You’re right. But, Annie, I’d do whatever was necessary to make this marriage worthwhile for you, too. My children need a mother and I need…a friend. Someone to come home to in the evenings, someone to talk to at the end of the day. I’m well aware that I have no right to ask you something like this. But we could make it work, I know we could.”
“You mean that? You’d do what you could to make this marriage worthwhile for me?” Annie asked.
“Anything.” His gaze was intense. “Is there something I can do for you, Annie?”
She accepted his hand and climbed into the truck cab. “As a matter of fact, there is.”
He held her look, waiting, wondering.
“I want a baby, Lucas. If you agree to give me a baby, then I’ll marry you.”