| |
FAITH KNEW THAT NICO had a variety of skills from working at his family’s store, but she was still surprised when nothing that came up that day at the shelter was something he couldn’t handle
There was a repair needed on one of the ovens in the kitchen, and then one of their former residents appeared, in distress because there was a leak in the roof of the small, old house she was able to purchase with donated funds.
Nico waved to Faith as he followed the excited woman and her two children away, laughing as the little boy grabbed at his leg.
“He’s very kind, I’ve noticed. So has your uncle.”
Aunt Catherine took Faith’s elbow and led her back inside the building, where a new family was being interviewed by Aunt Sarah, who held a fat baby in her lap as she took notes on a pad of paper.
The baby stared at Aunt Sarah with impossibly wide eyes as he chewed on the end of her braid.
“There are certainly a lot of babies who come into First Steps, aren’t there?”
As soon as the words were out of her mouth, Faith regretted them. How would her mother feel, returning to her usual duties and seeing all of the little ones who showed up in the arms of their worried and often teary mothers?
“Your mother is very strong, but that’s not to say this hasn’t broken her heart. I can’t imagine losing a child, before he or she is born or after.”
Her aunt glanced over at Thomas, who was on the telephone completing requests for donations that Faith’s father would have done if he had been present today.
But Thomas had lost his parents, so why was Aunt Catherine watching him as she spoke of parents losing a child?
“Now, about Nico. Your uncle has spoken with him at length, both before he came to Newport, and now that he’s returned. He wouldn’t have someone in our home who might cause harm or behave inappropriately.”
Faith frowned. Why did her aunt want to talk about Nico? Unless Faith’s feelings were that transparent . . .
“The two of you look at each other in a way that can’t be mistaken, Faith. I don’t know if he’s said anything to you at all, but . . .”
“No! I mean, of course not. He’s much too polite.”
When Faith interrupted her aunt, waving her hands in front of her for emphasis, Aunt Catherine merely raised her eyebrows a little.
There had been quite a bit of talk in town about her aunt and uncle’s courtship, and while Faith didn’t know all of the details, she knew it had been a difficult but definite love match.
The baby on Aunt Sarah’s lap began to wail, and she pressed him close to her shoulder, letting the pencil in her fingers fall to the floor as she focused on him.
For some reason, Aunt Sarah could not have children, so she and Uncle Sam had been blessed with Thomas, who needed a family of his own when his father died. Surely that was the hand of God working.
But where was God when the baby her mother carried died?
She turned away from Aunt Catherine, dismayed by the way her thoughts led her. Both her brother and cousin had only just told her how much they looked to her as a fulfillment of her name, as if she embodied it in her actions.
And she did. She always had.
She always would, and she wasn’t going to allow herself to get carried away by her emotions and question the Lord. It wouldn’t help her, or her mother.
“What if Nico told you he cared for you? I can see that he does, and so can Thomas.”
Her cousin looked busy, but he smiled as he spoke into the telephone, looking more relaxed than he had in over a week.
Since Nico came.
“I don’t see why he would. We haven’t known each other long, so it’s silly to think like that.”
Aunt Catherine slipped her arm through Faith’s and steered her outside, although it was getting too hot to spend much time in one spot with the sun hovering above.
“The first time I saw your Uncle Will I knew he was the one for me. Oh, not with so much clarity, as it was a rather strange situation.”
She laughed a little, and then sighed.
“I know that my brother was taken with your mother the day they met. Now, that was an impossible match if there ever was one, and yet here you are.”
When she pressed her lips together, looking around slowly, Faith knew what she was going to ask next.
“And your brother. Do you have an idea where he might be spending the day?”
Again, Faith felt a wave of guilt over not inviting Johnny to come with them. He never expressed interest in going to Uncle Will’s with her and Thomas, and her thoughts were muddled, full of her mother’s distress, of Nico’s calm smiles . . .
“I wish I knew. He does like to sit on the Cliff Walk outside of our house, just to think.”
She remembered what her brother had told her about asking her mother to go to the beach with him.
“He feels like it’s his fault, because our mother went into the water with him a few days ago. It was his idea, and now he thinks it may have caused this, I’m not sure what to call it.”
“Catherine!”
A woman in a giant hat full of multicolored flowers called out across the lawn, waving her gloved hand frantically. Faith shrunk away a little, wanting to avoid any social interaction, and was relieved when her aunt pushed her gently behind her, letting her return to the building as she greeted the woman, who was talking so fast Faith couldn’t even understand what she was saying.
She stood in the doorway for a moment, adjusting to the dimness of the hall after being in the sun for the short time she and her aunt had talked.
There were aspects of Nico that she hadn’t considered, if it came down to the idea of courting.
Courting?
That was not a word that needed to enter her mind right now, and as if Thomas could sense where her mind was headed, he was suddenly at her side.
Or perhaps not so suddenly, as she wasn’t quite paying attention.
“We need to talk seriously, now that man will be here in Newport, with us every day.”
Faith felt herself sag as he put his arm around her waist.
“Are you feeling well? Let’s go into the kitchen for a bit.”
The kitchen was the last place she wanted to be on a hot day, but to her surprise, a large metal fan stood in one corner, forcing cool air into the room.
It felt so refreshing that Faith couldn’t help but close her eyes and relax.
“Come, we can sit here. I don’t think Theresa will be returning today to do any more baking, but you know she hardly speaks so I can’t be sure.”
Theresa’s great aunt Grace had worked here as the cook back when First Steps opened, and it was only recently that Theresa had come into town in need of a position. Faith wasn’t sure where she had come from or why she was alone, but it was none of her business.
And she was able to bake and cook well enough to keep the residents at the shelter and plenty of the needy in Newport happy, so that was all anyone needed to know.
She sat down in one of the wooden chairs at the worn table, where she and Johnny had spent many an hour of their childhood icing sugar or gingerbread cookies, or drawing pictures while their parents worked and the volunteers fussed over them.
“Please, Thomas, just tell me why you don’t like him. I know you’re protective of me, and I appreciate it. I feel the same way about you. But I don’t understand why you think badly of him when he’s done nothing wrong.”
He stared at her in surprise, but she was surprised herself. She hadn’t meant to say all of that, and so quickly. It made her think of the woman outside with Aunt Catherine, in a hurry to get what she wanted to say out before anyone could stop her.
“Faith, you’re very trusting, and I know I’ve said that before. It’s a good trait to an extent. But this man comes from the city, born and raised and aware of so much that you are not. I’ll tell you what,” he offered, resting his hands on his knees and shrugging a little as if his shoulders ached.
Maybe he saw how she was growing tired of hearing the same reasons from him, over and over.
“As long as you aren’t alone together, I will do my best to be more civil. But I don’t know him well enough to see if his friendliness is just an act, or if he’s sincere in what he says and how he says it.”
There was really no reason for her to be alone with Nico, that was true. Unless Nico did speak to her, as Aunt Catherine suggested he might?
“Faith?”
Her cousin took her hand, his own warm and familiar. She closed her eyes, focusing on the fan’s breeze as it cooled her damp temples.
“I don’t see why we would be alone, so that shouldn’t be a problem.”
Even as she said the words, she wished there would be a time, even a moment, when they could be alone, and she would find out if he was truly interested in her as she was in him.
And then?
“Don’t lie to me, Faith. Even if you don’t think you are.”
“What?”
She was stunned at his words, even though his tone was calm, even soothing.
Wasn’t he angry, if he thought she was lying?
“You look at him the same way he looks at you. I’m not saying I don’t trust you, either, but you have no experience with these matters.”
When she pulled her hand from his, he frowned, but he seemed more hurt than mad, and she was immediately sorry.
She stood up and began to walk away, unsure how to to continue the conversation.
Until she was.
“Do you mean that you have experience in these matters? Is there something that you aren’t telling me, Thomas?”
She turned around so quickly she almost ran into him, as he was at her heels in an instant.
“That’s not relevant, Faith. It’s different for a man than a woman, and besides, I didn’t really mean that. If I had any romantic notions for a girl, you would be the first person I would tell.”
“Thomas?”
Aunt Sarah was standing in the doorway, and while her voice was concerned in a motherly way, her expression was more than a little upset.
“I’m not sure what is going on between you two, but you’re rather loud, and you’re upsetting the children.”
She pushed past both of them and stood beside the wooden counter, her hand on her hip.
“You’re both too old for this sort of behavior, and cousins, best friends, besides. We don’t bring our personal lives into First Steps, and you know it.”
Faith hung her head, ashamed of the way she was arguing with Thomas, and sorry anyone had to overhear them.
“Why don’t the two of you head to our house when you’re finished here, Thomas? It’s been awhile since you’ve been by, Faith, and perhaps we need to have a talk.”
Without waiting for an answer, Aunt Sarah walked out of the kitchen, her steps even and firm as she pushed by Faith with no apologies.
Thomas stared after his mother, and Faith watched him, wondering what her aunt would have to say to them both that went beyond such a scolding.