While Chloe soaked in a hot bubble bath, Lia dug through the grocery bags piled near the front door, searching for the girl’s pajamas. Isabel suspected a diversion was in order and announced they were having an indoor picnic. She stacked peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and a plate of veggie slices on a tray, and then poured hot chocolate for herself and Chloe. For Lia she fixed a cup of a calming herbal tea. The woman was a mess—rightly so—though she hadn’t shed a tear yet. Her dark eyes were wide and she trembled. Once Chloe emerged from the bathroom she could scarcely stop hugging her, and her conversation was almost incoherent.
Chloe helped Isabel carry the meal into the front room where they had pulled out the hide-a-bed. Isabel set drinks on the end tables and spread a tablecloth over the bed. They all sat cross-legged around it and said grace as the wind still howled outside.
Isabel grabbed a sandwich. It was late. The last she had eaten was long before Tony… She smiled inwardly. Tony… She tucked that thought away, but it left her feeling somewhat lightheaded. “Okay, Chloe, you go first. Tell us all about your adventure.”
“Aunt Lia will kill me.”
“I won’t, sweetpea.”
“You yelled at me when Cal brought me home.”
“That was just because I was so scared.”
Isabel patted Chloe’s hand. “It’s what parents do when they’re upset.” 335
Lia replied, “Cal’s not a parent.”
“Well, he’s almost like my dad. He’s better than my dad. He said my dad’s pretty sick and will have to stay in the hospital for a long time.”
That’s one way to put it, Isabel thought. She had heard about Mitch’s confession and Nelson being picked up right outside her door.
Chloe was still talking. “Cal said we have a standing date for Sunday school. He’s picking me up tomorrow. What’s a standing date?”
Isabel jumped in before Lia could sputter whatever was on the tip of her tongue. “It means it happens regularly. I’m glad I wasn’t here when you ran off. Otherwise your aunt and I both would have been yelling at you when you got home. Where did you run off to anyway?”
“The tree behind Mandy’s house.” She told them about her favorite place, a climbing tree down in a meadow. “I wanted to come home. It was so cold! But Soot was being naughty. She kept climbing higher. Cal came and he climbed higher than she was, so he got her. Then we got down, except the water was so deep Cal had to carry me. I rode on his shoulders all the way to the hill.”
Lia blanched. “Water? What water?”
“Cal said it was from the creek, but it sure didn’t look like the creek. He said it always floods around the tree when it rains real hard, like today.”
“How…deep was it?”
She shrugged. “Cal said his gun didn’t get wet and that was a good thing. So it wasn’t that deep.”
Not that deep only meant it didn’t come up to his waist. Isabel thought her own eyes must be as wide as Lia’s.
“He had some blankets in his police car, and he wrapped me up in one. I got to sit next to him on the way home.”
Isabel asked, “And he never yelled at you?”
“Nope. But he said if I ever did anything like that again, he was going to wring my neck.” She giggled. “But he wouldn’t really do that.”
Lia clutched her cup of tea. “I know you had a good reason to be mad. It’s okay to get mad, but please, please don’t run off the next time.”
“Aunt Lia, did Cal hug you?”
“What? When?”
“I said you were really going to be mad, and he said oh, he would just hug you and then you’d be all right. Did he?”
“He was wet and cold. He needed to go home so he wouldn’t get sick.”
“He can hug you tomorrow then.”
Isabel glanced at the stack of plastic grocery bags. Lia wasn’t going anywhere tonight, but she seemed determined to run off exactly the way Chloe had. She wouldn’t be sticking around for any hug.
Lia tucked Chloe into her little bed in the spare room. She had hoped her niece would sleep with her on the hide-a-bed. Lia was having a difficult time letting her out of her sight, but evidently Chloe was not affected in the same way. Talk about impressively independent.
She and Isabel tidied the kitchen.
“Lia, was Nelson really arrested in my front yard?”
“I think so. I wasn’t listening too closely when Cal was telling me. We were driving over from the pharmacy. I believe he and Benny waited inside your house. When they saw Nelson walk up to the front door, they got him.” She shivered.
“Too much excitement for one day.”
“That’s for sure. I don’t think I can go to sleep.”
“But you need to. You’re exhausted.”
“I am. However,” she smiled, “I’m awake enough to hear your long story, the one that led up to that kiss!”
Isabel grinned. “Tony showed up at the station. He drove for hours through the storm so he could talk to me face-to-face and convince me not to move to Mexico.”
“And why is that?”
“Because he loves me!” She laughed out loud. “Oh, Lia, it’s as if life is all brand new with him, with us. It would be totally unbelievable if I didn’t know God specializes in the totally unbelievable. And guess what else? The Chicago station sent me a letter. It was at the station. They offered me the job! They need to know by Tuesday.”
“Let me guess. Mexico? Or Tony and Chicago? Rather obvious choice, I’d say.”
“Well, I didn’t think so. I mean, I read the letter, but still, why go to be near him and not be a part of his life? I didn’t know he cared for me. From his article, I assumed he’s turning his life over to Christ, but I didn’t know he felt anything beyond a friendship based on some long-ago past. Oh, Lia. I never thought we could love each other again and in a grown-up way.”
A knot of envy twisted in Lia. I’m sorry, Lord. “That’s wonderful, Isabel.”
“Now, back to you. It sounds like things are pretty serious.” She winked. “Between Chloe and Cal. What do you think?”
“I think he’s turned into a great surrogate father, but we are leaving here. I’m glad you’ll be in Chicago. We won’t be that far from you.”
“Lia, Cal loves you.”
“I don’t know about that, but I do know that I don’t love him.”
“You did until the Tammy thing.”
Lia shrugged. “I’m destined to be a single mother living near Chicago.”
“Why?”
“I don’t know why. That’s God’s area of expertise. I just know I can’t stay here.”
“What makes you think that?”
“Human nature. My experience says Cal will let me down. Tammy was just the wake-up call.”
Lia felt something sandpapery trace lightly along her cheekbone. Fingertips? They must belong to Cal. His were rough like that. You didn’t nab bad guys and climb trees and keep your hands soft.
She kept her eyes shut and snuggled more deeply into the pillow. “It’s too early to get up.”
“It’s time for church.” It was Cal.
“Mmm. But I was still awake when the sun came up.”
“You fret too much, China Doll. Go back to sleep. I’m taking Chloe to Sunday school. We’ll see you later. Come over for lunch. Okay?”
“’Kay.”
Peppermint-scented lips grazed her temple.
When Lia awoke she saw Isabel’s front room curtains. Although they were shut, she could tell that the sun was high in the sky. It must be late. She wore her watch to bed because there wasn’t a clock in the living room, but she didn’t pull her wrist out from the covers. She wasn’t ready yet to let go of the sensation.
It was a peculiar sensation, a cross between a warm bubble bath and eating chocolate. It felt like Christmas morning. It felt a little like being five again and holding her dad’s hand as he walked her to school. It was a little like that dream a few months after Kathy died. In the dream she glimpsed her sister in a crowded room, laughing, calling, “Lia, I’m fine!” It was anticipation…fulfillment…security… and joy. All rolled into one sensation.
What had she been dreaming?
Cal. She dreamt Cal came while she slept, and he said he was taking Chloe to Sunday school.
Cal.
The sensation remained.
Cal. Calhoun Huntington.
“Lord, I’ve made up my mind!”
Imagine having Cal beside her every time she woke up.
Lia sat up. “Lord, don’t make me change my mind!”
Something across the bed caught her eye. On the end table was a single red rose in a crystal bud vase.
She groaned, threw back the covers, and climbed out. Where was Isabel? Lia glanced at her watch. They were very late for church. “Chloe! Isabel!” She hurried down the hallway. The bedrooms were empty. “Chloe! Isabel!” She ran back out into the living room and pulled aside the curtains. Isabel’s car sat there. Cal’s truck was gone. Tony had driven over last night, but his car was gone.
The sensation returned full force, this time with a tickle like floating gossamer brushing her from head to toe. Maybe it hadn’t been a dream.
God changed her mind. Sunlight crystallized the new day, chasing away the fears of recent weeks as it did yesterday’s storm. Chloe was safe today because Cal loved the little girl. He had nurtured their friendship and become privy to secrets such as a favorite place she would run to when upset. And why had he spent all that time with Chloe? Because he had a special passion for children? Hardly. It was because he loved Lia. Pure and simple. To run from that was a slap in the face of her heavenly Father. Pure and simple.
Shaky from the revelation, she tried on three different outfits, unsure what to wear to Cal’s for lunch. Jeans? Slacks? Skirt? She chose black slacks and a red turtleneck sweater.
When she noticed his truck was parked again on the street, she decided to wait a bit for Isabel and Chloe to show up. Anxiety gnawed at that absorbing sensation of bubble baths and chocolate threatening to squish it. Maybe it had been a dream. The rose was for Isabel from Tony. Maybe Cal was just interested in Chloe’s welfare. Maybe he wasn’t interested in pursuing a serious relationship with her. Maybe…
Thirty minutes went by. Chloe and Isabel didn’t show up.
Lia grabbed a jacket, strode out the back door, across the yards, and up to his kitchen door. The crisp air, so clean and calm, bit at her, stealing her breath away. She knocked.
He opened the door. “Come on in. I didn’t know if you’d remember my invitation. You were pretty sleepy. Lunch is almost ready.”
She followed him into his kitchen that smelled of tomato sauce. A soft flannel shirt hung from his broad shoulders and was tucked into blue jeans. She asked, “Where’s Chloe?”
He stood at the stove, stirring. “Tony and Isabel took her out to lunch.”
“I just came for my hug.”
He turned, his clear green eyes questioning.
“Chloe said you had a hug for me last night. I didn’t collect it.”
“I didn’t think you needed it. Do you need it?”
“I’m going to need at least one every day for the rest of my life. Do you have that many?”
He turned back again to the stove. “Hmm. It sounds as if Miss Impressively Independent is back, making decisions.”
“It’s about time, don’t you think?”
“Well, let’s get one thing straight. I’m in charge of making proposals around here.”
“Fine! I just came for a hug.”
He tapped the spoon on the edge of the pot, set it down, and turned. “You sure?”
She nodded.
He smiled and held his big arms wide open.
She stepped into them and took her first normal breath since… Since? Since the fire, weeks ago. He embraced her in a bear hug. “Oh, Cal. I wanted to run so far away from this.”
“But you didn’t. Hey, I seem to remember making a promise to you about when Miss Impressively Independent showed up again.”
She smiled up at him. “Hey, I seem to remember that promise.”
“I’d better keep it. I hear you can’t make a promise to a big girl and then not keep it.”
“It would break her heart.”
He lowered his face and whispered, “I promise I will not break your heart.”
When he kissed her, all the built-up tensions of the past weeks scrambled into oblivion. “Mmm, I think I’m going to need at least one of those every day, too.”
“You got it, China Doll.” He kissed her again. “What is it?”
She hesitated. “Cal, I’m scared.”
“Of what?”
“Trusting you.”
“Listen.” He lifted her chin and lowered his face until those lovely eyes were all she could see. “I am not Nelson Greene. I do not resemble any of the weak ninnies you dated who didn’t know the first thing about commitment. I love you, Lia, and I will never leave you or Chloe.”
Like that rainy night in the alley when he first strode into her life, she sensed his big teddy bear shoulders coming alongside, lifting the burden she carried. He had been doing that ever since. And she had subtly been leaning more and more on his trustworthiness, falling in love.
“I love you, Cal.”
He grinned his big grin, the one that pressed his cheeks into an accordion now hidden behind a beard. “Yeah?”
“Yeah. But I did want to marry a pediatrician.”
“Really?”
“Mm-hmm. I had everything planned out. Then Chloe came along, and now you’ve come along. I don’t know about giving up—”
He rumbled like thunder and kissed her again, this time with an urgency. “Marry me? Soon?”
When she could catch her breath, she asked, “Is that one or two questions?”
His beard scratched her cheek as he murmured, “Mmm, two. Will you marry me?”
“Yes.”
“Soon? Before a pediatrician comes along and sweeps you off your feet?”
She chuckled. “I think you already did that.”