Beth lay awake long after Doug lay sleeping beside her. Their lovemaking had had a kind of fierce desperation to it, as if it were something they must snatch in passing. Nor did she feel that sense of permanence, of security she was accustomed to feeling. The feeling that she had at last found her true safe haven with Doug. It troubled her deeply, and she strained to see his sleeping face more clearly in the semi-dark room—the strong jawline, the tousled hair.
There was a murmur and rustle from the child monitor that she had turned on in case Kayla, in her alcohol-drugged sleep, did not wake up if Adam needed her. Beth was right, for she had to go down twice to attend to the boy herself.
In the morning she had no idea how much sleep she had managed to get. She was only fifty—she shouldn’t be starting the day feeling bone-tired. Fifty-year-old people were in their prime. Weren’t they? But she was dealing with the stress of the Kayla problem.
Doug was already downstairs when she hurried into the kitchen. He was busy with the breakfast preparations, and she joined him.
“You look beat, Beth. Maybe all this is too much.”
“Not at all,” she said, assuming a brisk tone. She wouldn’t mention that Kayla was nowhere to be seen.
He answered her unasked question. “I looked in the bed-sitter. Kayla’s still asleep, and so’s Adam. I’ll go get him in a little while.”
When breakfast had been served and the guests were all at the table, he slipped away. He came back shortly with Adam, looking very cute in one of his new T-shirts, pants and red high-topped shoes.
Kayla didn’t come out until after all the guests were gone. Beth was on her way up to do the bedrooms. Adam followed along contentedly, bringing a bright book from the toy box.
“Hi, Beth,” Kayla said, not meeting her eyes. “I’m so sorry about yesterday,” she added humbly.
“Well, I guess these things happen,” Beth said. She made an effort to be understanding, but couldn’t help but wonder how anyone could lose control of her life as completely as Kayla had. “Why don’t you go and have some coffee and muffins? There’s juice in the fridge. I’m going to do the beds.”
“I’ll…I’ll help you,” Kayla said, starting for the stairs. “I can’t even think of food yet. Okay?” Then she added, “Where’s Dad? I guess he’s going to be furious.”
“He’s going to deliver the Shilshole Bay painting to the bank. I think you’d better at least have some juice and coffee.”
“Okay,” Kayla agreed listlessly.
She joined Beth upstairs a few minutes later. Beth tried to keep up a friendly conversation, but Kayla only answered absently, and finally Beth fell silent. When the last bed was made, Beth felt a rush of relief as she heard the front door shut. Doug was back.
Kayla gave a deep sigh. “I guess I’ll go down and face the music. Was he very mad last night?”
“He was…disappointed,” Beth hedged. “But I guess he does want to talk to you.” When was this bad dream going to end?
Kayla grimaced. “That’s the understatement of the century. Wish me luck.” With dragging steps, she started downstairs, and Adam was pulling at Beth’s skirt, holding out his book. He had waited patiently through the bed making and tidy-ups for her to read to him. With a surge of affection, she couldn’t resist picking him up and hugging him. She chose to read him his story in the big chair in the back bedroom. In case voices were raised again in the bed-sitter, he needn’t be upset about it. There was a feeling of contentment and quiet joy in feeling his little body nestle into her lap, intent on the adventures depicted on the colorful pages. He made a point of being ready to turn the page each time she came to the end of one and paused. When the third story had been read, it was past noon. Beth regretfully shut the book.
“We’d better go downstairs now, Adam.”
“Okay, Gamma Beff.” And he scrambled down from her lap. Had he felt just a little bit heavier this time? Had he perhaps started to gain some weight?
She found Doug in his basement workroom. Kayla was nowhere to be seen.
“Where’s Kayla?” she asked, putting Adam down. He scurried over to Doug, watching him intently. He was becoming more secure with them by the day. Doug finished putting away some leftover bits of framing and brushed his hands together.
“In the bed-sitter,” he said slowly. “She took it rather well. She agreed to talk with Pastor Cooper. I felt like a bully. That ‘tough love’ is tougher to apply than I thought. She seemed so beaten. But I stuck to it.”
“I suppose that’s best,” Beth said. “Do you know when she’s going to see him?” A brief flash of light came through the basement window, and they both paused, waiting for the distant roll of thunder to follow. Eventually it did.
“I guess the storm front is moving in before Tuesday,” Doug said, grinning. “Good old Seattle weather. To answer your question, I called Pastor Cooper, and he has an hour free between two and three. So she agreed, and I’ll drive her over to the church. I can keep busy there until they’ve had their talk, and I’ll bring her back.” He didn’t need to add that, after yesterday, he didn’t want to let Kayla go anywhere by herself.
When they left just before two, Kayla looked desperate. Beth couldn’t help feeling sorry for her.
“Bye, bye, baby,” Kayla said to Adam. “Kiss Mommy goodbye and go wave to me from your window.” She bent over to kiss Adam’s upturned little face, after which he ran into the bed-sitter and scrambled up onto the window seat, pushing aside the curtain.
Beth felt a sense of satisfaction. Adam no longer cried and had a tantrum when Kayla left, because he knew she was coming back.
This is good for Adam. Adam has a home. Please, God, let this work out for Adam’s sake, for Doug’s sake, and for Kayla’s sake, too.
Adam seemed content for the time being to kneel on his window seat looking outside at the splashing rain, so Beth decided to catch up on her knitting and went to get her knitting bag. Before Adam and Kayla’s arrival she had spent one afternoon a week with a group of churchwomen called ‘The Pastor’s Aid.’ They knitted, crocheted and sewed baby layettes for sale at the church bazaar each autumn. All the money raised from this went to the Pastor’s Discretionary Fund, so when he needed to spend small amounts of money for this or that charitable purpose, he didn’t need to ask the Elders. She missed the friendly gathering and had promised herself that she’d continue with her knitting at home whenever she could, but it was slow going with the increased demands on her time. She glanced over at the small boy, peering out the rain-streaked window. Adam is worth it. She had to do what she could for him until they left.
Doug and Kayla came home a little after three, and Doug found Beth in the kitchen. Adam was still down for his nap.
She glanced up. “Where’s Kayla?” she asked, then, “How’d it go?”
“In the bed-sitter. I think things went okay. I didn’t sit in, of course. But, coming home, Kayla said he gave her a lot to think about, which could mean anything, I guess. But I’m hoping for the best. He said he’d call me later. Can you get along without me for a while? The bank called me on my cell phone.”
“Doesn’t the bank like the picture of Shilshole?” Beth asked in alarm. She knew Doug already had plans for the large check that he had received. He needed more framing materials and other supplies.
“They loved the picture,” Doug said smugly. “In fact, they loved it so much, they want another one.”
“You’re kidding.” Beth fairly beamed at him. It was almost as it had been in the beginning—just the two of them, before Kayla complicated their lives.
“Nope. The branch manager is retiring, and they have collected money to buy him a retirement gift. The gift committee has now decided that it will get him an original painting of the Pacific Northwest as a memento—since he is retiring to Arizona,” he added.
“Oh, Doug. That’s wonderful!”
“I’m going down to talk to them about possible subjects or places to paint, but don’t get your hopes up too high. It’s a committee, don’t forget, and it may take them ten years of argument to settle on what I’m supposed to paint.”
Laughing, she saw him off.
Kayla must have watched him go from the bed-sitter window, because she came quietly out when he had gone.
“How’d things go, Kayla?” Beth couldn’t resist asking. “Let’s sit down in here,” she said, going into the living room.
“Well, I listened like a good girl to Preacher-man,” Kayla said, sitting down beside Beth on the settee. “I kept reminding myself he’s a preacher, trying not to think of him as the good-looking guy he is.”
“He’s really nice,” Beth said. “I’ve gotten to know him better now.”
“He is very nice,” Kayla agreed somberly. “No fire-and-brimstone. A really nice guy and nobody’s fool. He…he understands a lot. He has an uncanny way of reading between the lines. He’s…” She paused for a long time. “He’s not somebody who can be conned.”
“Well, you wouldn’t try to con him,” Beth said, hoping she was right.
“No. I wouldn’t,” Kayla said thoughtfully. She smiled weakly. “It’s just that we, uh, drunks usually try a con first. Then, if that one doesn’t work, we can usually think of another. Anything to put off the fateful day, whatever that is at that particular time. But you’re right. I didn’t try to put him off. I don’t think it would have worked anyhow. Have you ever noticed how…searching his eyes can be? I guess not. You wouldn’t have had occasion to— Is that Adam getting up?” They both paused to listen, but heard nothing more.
“He’s not married, is he?” Kayla resumed.
“No, he’s not,” Beth said cautiously.
“I thought not. He had that way of a single guy on guard, you know what I mean. A single guy who is used to being targeted by lonely single women and doesn’t want to be snagged. He’s probably got great avoidance skills.”
“A pastor is a target. After Cyrus’s wife passed away, it took the single women at church a long time to get the message that he wasn’t going to remarry in the foreseeable future. Do you think Pastor Cooper was helpful about it—your difficulty?” Beth added, trying to be tactful.
“Very,” Kayla said promptly. “He’s done his homework on my particular ‘difficulty,’ as you call it. He sort of laid out everything for me—what I could do, what was available to me, what was needed from me as a person—that was scary—and what my life could become if I made a success of it this time around. I wish…” She fell silent, looking pensively down at the carpet.
“Well, that sounds hopeful.”
Kayla looked up. “It does, doesn’t it? Then he wanted me to talk, and I managed to open up. That’s not ever easy for me. I’ve had a lot of practice keeping things to myself.” She paused and her eyes seemed wet. She ducked her head. “Anyhow, he’s easy to talk to, in a way. I guess he’s had a lot of listening practice. I think he…understood a lot of the things I didn’t have the guts to say. I guess I probably had the same problems other drunks have had. Maybe we all fit into a pattern. He didn’t seem surprised at anything I did say. Anyhow…” Her voice dwindled away. She gave a little shiver. “I think I’ll need to go back into that rehab place. And I’ve got to do it in time so Dad won’t lose all that money he paid out up front.”
“But I thought you’d—” Beth began in surprise.
“You thought I’d be—what’s the term?—counseled by Preacher-man.” Kayla looked up, meeting Beth’s eyes. “No can do, Beth. And I think I’d better level with Dad on this one, too. No way can I keep meeting with your preacher-man like I did today.”
“Why in the world not?” Beth protested. “You hated that rehab center, Kayla. You walked out of it. You just said some very nice things about Pastor Cooper, and I wish you’d stop calling him Preacher-man. You said—”
“Oh, Beth,” Kayla said timidly. “Don’t you get it? I don’t want to see him again. Not because he’s some sort of religious freak, but because I—because to be brutally frank here, he’s too attractive, and it works both ways. I could see that, even if he couldn’t. I’ve already messed up two men’s lives. I messed up Frank’s life. And, well, I guess Mitch was pretty well messed up before we connected. I’m not good for any man. And in Preach— In Pastor Cooper I kept seeing…you know— Stable. Strong. Good. He’s a rock, Beth. And I’m a clinger. I’ll want to depend too much. I need too much. I’m not stable. I’m not good. I’d be nothing but a burden to a man like that. He’s got his hands full with the work he does. When we came out of his office that what’s-her-name, that secretary—”
“Bessie.”
“Yeah, Bessie. She handed him a whole stack of those pink message slips. After he found Dad and saw us out, he was going back into his office to start returning calls. He’s probably still making them, making appointments to help people…and he was so…nice, in a kind of— What can I say?” She stopped, her voice unsteady.
“Yes,” Beth agreed thoughtfully. “But, Kayla, I think he’s had a lot of practice—training, actually—in not getting involved with people he counsels. There’s always the probability that people who need help can become too attached to the person helping. He’ll know that, be prepared for it. A pastor has to walk a kind of tightrope. He has to treat everybody with kindness, consideration, sort of dividing his attention…fairly. But being human, he’s bound to like some people more than others. A pastor may even dislike some of the people he ministers to, but he can never let them know that, either. But you’re right, he has to keep that distance, he has to stay…apart.” Beth tried to keep the disappointment from her voice. She had thought this might be the answer for Kayla. Kayla had left the rehab center once. Could she stick with it if she went back? And, despite herself, she rather admired Kayla’s common sense.
“Is that Adam?”
Both she and Kayla listened, trying to hear above the sound of the wind outside. This was really a storm. They both got up and went into the bed-sitter.
Adam was up, kneeling in his window seat. He had on his cotton briefs and one of his red shoes. He was staring out the window in fascination at the dashing rain and the wind-whipped trees.
“Look!” he said. “Flowers gone!” He was holding back the curtain and pointing to the blossoming tree in the front. The wind had mercilessly torn off all the bright pink blossoms. They lay on the sodden grass or swirled in eddies in the rushing waters in the street that almost came up to the curb.
“I hate it when Doug is out in weather like this,” Beth fumed. “I hope he remembers to keep his headlights on.” They all watched out the window until the lamp in the bed-sitter flickered off and on again, then off.
“Oh, dear, I hope the power doesn’t go,” Beth said, and they waited, but the lights flickered back on again and remained steady.
They saw Doug’s car turn into the drive. The headlights were on. He drove back to the end of the drive, so Beth knew he was coming in the back way. She hurried to the service porch to kiss him hello and help with his wet raincoat. He’d gotten drenched walking from the bank to the parking lot. Little droplets clung to his crisp hair. The moisture had made it curl here and there, the way it always did. She handed him a towel she had picked up in the kitchen, and he wiped off his face after hanging his coat on the wall peg.
“Should have worn fishing boots,” he said, smiling at her. “What a day. I don’t suppose there’s a cup of hot coffee around?”
“Half a minute,” Beth said. “Sit here in the warm kitchen. Did you get the commission?” she asked as she quickly pulled out the two-cup pot.
“Yes, I got the commission. The gift committee has definitely decided. The gift is a picture, and I’m to paint it. They just haven’t decided what it is. I’m going to attend what they call a ‘working lunch’ next week with sketches, Polaroids of some of my other Northwest paintings and suggestions. Opinion is divided, as usual with committees. Some want woodsy. Some want water. Some want city. One is even holding out for a picture of the bank building itself. But something tells me that the manager doesn’t want a picture of the Seattle bank building he worked in for seventeen years hanging in his retirement condo in Scottsdale. And that is the good news— Oh, Beth, that sure smells great. Nothing like the aroma of hot coffee on cold, wet days.”
“It’s almost ready. What’s the bad news?” She got two mugs from the cupboard. She hoped he wouldn’t ask her where Kayla was. Kayla had shaken her head in panic when they had seen Doug’s car come in and had stayed with Adam.
“The bad news, my love, is that the wind has ripped off at least a dozen more shingles from the roof. Some are lying on the lawn, and I saw some on top of the grape arbor. As soon as I fortify myself with some coffee, I’ve got to call that roofing guy.”
“Didn’t his patching hold?”
“I’m sure his patch held. This is probably some non-patched area. And if Jill calls, don’t tell her, because she’ll want to send Greg over, and the life of a CPA in April and early May can be hectic.”
“I know,” Beth said. They had agreed not to call Greg about the ongoing roof problems. Easygoing as he was, he’d want to help. The big IRS push for April fifteenth was past. Now he would be up to his eyes doing taxes for those he had gotten extensions for. It was an old family joke.
“The roof man won’t come in this weather. He can’t work on the roof in the rain,” Beth said, pouring two mugs of coffee.
“He can put on that blue tarp stuff,” Doug said, sniffing his coffee. “He’s done that before. I’ll go up in the attic first to see if there are puddles over any of the bedrooms.”
“The blue tarp is hideous,” Beth said, sitting down.
“It’s better than wet guests. Remember Mrs. Driscoll?” They both laughed.
Only then did he ask about Kayla.
“I…think I’d better let you talk to her,” Beth said carefully. “She says she wants to go back into that rehab center.”
“You’re kidding! I thought maybe just counseling with Pastor Cooper might do it. I have a lot of confidence in him, young as he is.”
“Well, she has reservations. As soon as you get the roof problem dealt with, you talk to her.” She let it rest there; he was so touchy about what he seemed to see as her intrusion with Kayla.
“All right,” he said quietly, the pleasure suddenly gone from his face. “I’ll do that.”
The afternoon was hectic. There were several phone calls. Beth had to refuse last-minute reservations from individuals and one from a small hotel that had overbooked and was desperately trying to find extra accommodations. Doug was in and out, dealing with the roof problems. The roofing crew came, and Beth stopped everything to give them cups of hot coffee and warm home-made cinnamon rolls when they finished their wet job with the blue tarp. It was only humane, plus they’d been here before and expected it. At least the guests would stay dry tonight.
The six o’clock arrivals got in at a little after four, due to a misunderstanding, and one had taken ill driving. They were Mr. and Mrs. Jessup, a thirty-something couple who ran a large ranch in Montana. They enjoyed city living and the bright lights in very limited amounts. They took a week’s vacation every spring in some city. This year was Seattle’s turn. They had booked weeks ago but hadn’t counted on Mr. Jessup’s severe attack of flu, from which he hadn’t quite recovered when their vacation time came. Beth did what she had done before in such an emergency. She offered to send up a dinner tray to the room, as the sickee wanted nothing so much as to crawl into a warm bed. Going to dinner in a strange Seattle restaurant in a violent storm was out of the question.
Then Doug made the mistake of trying to convince Adam that the roofers weren’t invading their territory, and took him outside in the rain to see the blue tarp from the side yard. When they came back in, Adam had to be completely dried off and his clothes changed.
“I thought you said you’d wrap him up well,” Beth said testily as she dealt with the shivering, excited little boy. Adam had been thrilled.
“I thought I did,” Doug protested. “Anyhow, he had a good time.”
Beth bit back a sharp retort and tried to listen to Adam’s chatter instead. Kayla was next to useless. She sat in the deep chair in the bed-sitter and watched Beth deal with Adam. Her eyes were red and puffy. Sometime during the hectic afternoon she and Doug had talked. There was a stubborn set to her jaw. Beth knew she shouldn’t ask, but couldn’t resist.
“Did you and Doug decide anything?” she asked when she had attended to Adam.
“I’m going back into rehab. He’s taking me over in the morning. He called the director and they arranged it.”
“And…you’re happy with this arrangement?” Beth asked, sitting on the edge of the sofa bed. She felt a surge of relief that Kayla would be out of the house again.
Kayla shrugged. “Beth, forget happy. Happy disappeared a long time ago, if I ever had it. No, I’m not happy with it. But let’s say I’m less miserable with this arrangement. I’m going to try to stick it out this time. If I can get dry, get in control, I’ll take my kid and you’ll never be bothered with me again. Dad and I get on each other’s nerves. But he’s doing his best.”
Beth felt slightly sick at the thought of Kayla leaving with Adam. That was yet another complication. She was getting too attached to Adam, too protective, too fearful that Kayla could never give him the care he needed.
“Don’t pay any attention to me, Beth. You’ve been great. Better than I deserved. And I can’t thank you enough for stepping in and looking after Adam. I’ve got to make it this time. And I’m really going to try. You…you explain it to Preacher-man. I mean Pastor Cooper. He’s a great guy, but I can see the handwriting on the wall there.”
Beth shook her head. “Kayla, as an unmarried pastor, he’s accustomed to—to not letting himself get involved. Just because you may have felt attracted to him…I mean, you can trust him to know how to handle that—” She stopped, wanting to go on but she decided to stay out of it.
Kayla gave a wan smile. “Don’t sweat it, Beth. Just look after Adam while I’m gone. Okay?”
“You know I will,” Beth said. This she could do, and willingly.
They left it at that, and she went toward the kitchen. There was dinner to start preparing, with two trays to be sent upstairs. The Jessups’ vacation hadn’t started out very well. Mr. Jessup was sleeping soundly, and Mrs. Jessup, who was fortunately a mystery fan, had borrowed two of Doug’s books to read.
In the midst of Beth’s dinner preparations, Kate called, which she never did when she knew her mother was busy. This must mean she was upset about something.
“Guess what?” Kate demanded.
“What?” Beth said, reaching over to turn down a burner on the stove. Now what?
“Raymond came home from school, all upset.”
“Why was he upset?” Beth asked, suddenly all attention. Raymond was Ian’s son from his first marriage, and Raymond and Kate were very close. The boy had been badly affected by his parents’ divorce, and Kate had done wonders for the sensitive child.
“You know he loves those school uniforms. Well, Flippy Philip is considering letting the kids wear anything they want on Fridays. And only wear their uniforms Monday through Thursday. Statistics have proved again and again that students in uniform do better than students not in uniform. Sloppy clothes, sloppy thinking. Cyrus knew that!”
“Are you sure about that? I am finding Pastor Cooper a man of very good sense.” How she wished Kate wouldn’t fume about such things. She was far too protective of Raymond.
“Well, not in this instance. Raymond says some of the kids started a petition, and Pastor Cooper’s considering it.”
“Have you talked to Pastor Cooper about it?”
“I’ve left a message for him,” Kate said grimly. “I will not have Raymond going to school unhappy. He’s doing marvelously well, the way things are. Believe me, I’d be down at the school giving him a piece of my mind, but I can’t—I’ve got to rest about twenty-three hours out of every twenty-four. Can you talk to him about it?”
“I—I can, if you think it would help,” Beth said. Kate must rest, by all means, if she was to have this baby without difficulty. “Yes, I’ll do that,” she added firmly. “Please, Kate, calm down and put it out of your mind. Okay?”
Starting Gilmartin Academy had been Kate’s idea, and she and Cyrus had worked almost a year to get it established. It meant a great deal to her. Okay, one more thing to do. Beth turned back to the stove.
Between dinner tasks Beth made a quick phone call to Bessie at the church. Bessie was just going out the door and her day was over, so Beth spoke rapidly.
“Bessie, just ask Pastor Cooper to give me a call tomorrow, will you? Nothing earth-shaking, but I do need to talk to him for a couple of minutes.”
“Sure,” Bessie said good-naturedly. She’d been a church secretary for a long time. “I’m writing it down on one of his pinks. He’ll get it when he comes back in. Have a nice evening.”
Beth turned back to the stove just in time to snatch off a pan before it boiled over. She continued to worry about Kate. Kate was having a difficult pregnancy and she didn’t need any extra problems. She had enough to deal with. Beth sighed, and tried to put it out of her mind. One thing about motherhood was that no matter how adult your children were, you never stopped worrying about them. Unless you were someone like Kayla. What would it take to make Kayla into a good mother for Adam? Or was that even possible?
That evening as she and Doug were preparing for bed, Beth asked how his talk with Kayla had been. He was buttoning his pajama top over his broad chest.
“All right…I think. I know she doesn’t really want to go back there, but she’s got this bug about Pastor Cooper. I personally think it would have worked out, but she’s dead set against it.” He looked troubled and sat down on the side of the bed. Beth was brushing her still dark hair in front of the mirror. “You’re a beautiful woman, Beth,” he added pensively.
“Which has nothing to do with anything,” she said lightly. “Did you get the feeling Kayla could make it work at the rehab center this time?” She knew she shouldn’t push him about it, but she needed to know.
“I can only hope so,” he said.
In the morning, as soon as the breakfast rush and checking out was over, Doug planned to take Kayla back to rehab, but it wasn’t that easy.
Beth checked up on the Jessups, only to find that Mr. Jessup wasn’t doing very well. Going out in a still-drenching rain wasn’t an option. But Mrs. Jessup proved a very competent guest. As soon as Adam started screaming, she took over the task of carrying their breakfasts upstairs, shutting themselves away and letting their hosts solve domestic problems.
“He saw my suitcase,” Kayla said helplessly. “Shut up, Adam,” she added, turning to the panicky little boy. “See, he knows I’m going again and he wants to come.”
“Me, too! Me, too!” Adam was screaming. “Mommy! Mommy! Don’t go!” He was clinging wildly to Kayla’s skirt. Beth felt sick and Doug looked miserable.
“Look, Beth, can you… Can we leave him with you? I told the director I’d bring Kayla in before noon.”
“Yes, of course,” Beth said, trying to pick up the struggling little boy. “Adam, listen! Adam! Mommy’s coming back! She came back before, didn’t she? Listen to me, Adam.”
Finally, Doug just picked up Kayla’s suitcase and they left, while Beth held Adam’s rigid little form. It took her the better part of half an hour to comfort him. She assured him repeatedly that his Mommy would come back. It was the earlier crisis all over again. It broke her heart to look down into his red, tear-streaked little face and feel the heavy sobs that convulsed his thin body. It isn’t fair. It isn’t fair. He shouldn’t be repeatedly hurt like this. How much more can he take, Lord? For a moment she almost hated Kayla for the shambles she had made of her life. And of Adam’s.
She carried him over to the basin behind the screen and washed his flushed face, talking to him soothingly all the while. Finally, he said, “Book,” and she knew he wanted to be read to. It was a small indication that things were returning to normal.
“Fine,” she agreed quickly. “Which book do you want?” And they went over to the toy box.
They got one story read before the door chimes sounded. What now? Beth put Adam off her lap and went to the door. It was Pastor Cooper. He smiled and said, “Hi?” with the slight sound of a question.
“Come in,” she said, knowing she looked blank.
He grinned. “You told Bessie you wanted to talk to me?”
Suddenly she laughed. “Of course. I’d completely forgotten. Please come into the living room. Excuse me just a minute. I’ve got to get my little grandson settled.” She hurried back into the bed-sitter.
“Adam, can you play with the toys awhile? Gramma Beth is busy, okay?”
“Window,” he said, scrambling up onto the window seat and pushing aside the curtain. He pressed his forehead against the streaming glass, looking out into the rain. “Mommy come back?”
“Not right away, but soon,” Beth heard herself saying. She paused a moment, but he seemed to be concentrating on watching, so she went back to her living room, leaving the bed-sitter door open.
When she and the pastor were seated in the living room, she mentioned Kate’s concern about the school uniforms, and Pastor Cooper grinned easily.
“Tell Kate not to worry. I don’t think it’s going to go through. Privately, I’d be inclined to let the kids whoop it up on Fridays in anything they wanted to wear, but you’d be surprised how many kids don’t want to. The principal, Mrs. Lundy, and I are giving them a lesson in democracy. They’re taking a vote on it. Each side is campaigning like mad. Posters. Meetings. They’re getting good practical experience. The whole enchilada.”
Beth laughed in relief. “Well, Kate’s a worrier, not like her sister. Jill takes everything in stride. Kate’s going to have another baby, you know. That delayed her redecorating her house, and she fumes about that.”
“What house?” he asked.
“The little gray frame house next door to where she and Ian live. She lived there before she was widowed. It’s vacant now, and she wanted to fix it up, but that got put on hold.”
There was a pause, then he asked, “Where’s Kayla? I didn’t see her when I came in.”
“Oh, she isn’t here,” Beth said. “She’s decided to go back into rehab.” She didn’t continue because of the disappointment that came and went in his eyes. “Didn’t you think she would?” she asked.
“Let’s say, I hoped she wouldn’t. Do you know why? Actually, I should rephrase that. Are you at liberty to say why?”
“Not exactly,” Beth said uncertainly. “I mean…”
He waited a moment, then said, “I’m more sorry than I can say. I could see in our interview…that there might be complications, but she needn’t have worried. I’ve had some solid training in dealing with dependent people. It would have been okay.”
“I knew it would,” Beth said warmly. “But Kayla is so insecure. She doesn’t trust herself. She said… She said she couldn’t get emotionally involved. She just panicked at the idea.”
“I was afraid of that,” he said slowly. “I could have handled it, but she wasn’t to know that.” His voice held a tinge of sadness, and for a moment, his expressive eyes revealed more than he realized.
Poor Philip. Poor Kayla. She extended her hand to wish him goodbye. She hoped her face didn’t show what she had just realized. Kayla was the last woman in the world Pastor Cooper should be interested in, but only she and Kayla knew it.