His Healing Touch

by Loree Lough

  Hugging herself, Kasey slumped to the floor, right there in the foyer, beside the telephone table. If only she could be hugging him, maybe this whole Buddy fiasco would seem less oppressive, more manageable.

  Well, Adam wasn’t there to make everything feel all right. Aleesha would be home from school soon, and Pat from whatever Ladies Auxiliary planning meeting she’d attended today. And as she’d always done, Kasey had to pull herself together, quickly, or be forced to explain why she was a trembling, teary-eyed mess.

  Gathering her strength, she got to her feet and went into the kitchen. She’d start a pot of stew for supper, then head out to the workshop to get busy on those arrangements for the new mall. Losing herself in work, experience had taught her, was the best diversion of all.

  A message awaited her on the office line, too. Pushing the blinking red button, Kasey sat at her desk, pen poised to write down the name and number of the caller.

  “Hey, Kase…”

  Adam.

  Despite the last few Buddy-induced tension-filled hours, she smiled.

  “I left a message at the house. Thought maybe I’d see if you were in the shop, working.” There was a pause, then, “Sorry I missed you.”

  “So am I,” Kasey whispered. “So am I.”

  She slid the pen back into the leather-bound cup Aleesha had made her for Mother’s Day and rolled her desk chair away from the desk. Hand resting on the telephone, she debated about calling him back. She wanted to, but because she wanted it so much, Kasey decided it wasn’t such a good idea. Later, maybe, after she’d knocked off a couple of those arrangements. Or after the supper dishes were done, and Aleesha and her mother had gone to bed.

  After Buddy called back, demanding to know if she’d made up her mind yet about marrying him….

  The thought stopped her cold, and she leaned forward to rest her forehead on the desk blotter. Aw, Dad, she muttered mentally, I sure could use some of your good old-fashioned homespun advice right about now….

  It didn’t matter that more than fifteen years had passed since he’d left them; Kasey knew she’d miss her father ’til she drew her last breath.

  “Enough self-pity,” she said, getting to her feet. And perched on the stool at her workbench, she pulled out a drawer, grabbed a clump of florist’s clay and pressed it to the bottom of a widemouthed ceramic urn. One by one, wildflowers and corkscrewed grapevines mingled with dried thistles and palm leaves. An hour later, with two of the twenty-some mall’s arrangements standing side by side on the table, she assembled the products for a third.

  Headlights panned the wall in front of her. Aleesha’s ride? Or Pat’s return? Kasey wondered. She’d finish this vase, then call it a day. The clock on her desk told her it was nearly suppertime, anyway.

  There was a soft knock. “Come in,” she called.

  “Hi.”

  Kasey swiveled around to face the door. “Adam,” she said, doing her best to control the width of her smile. “I got your messages. I was planning to call you when things settled down for the night.” A nervous laugh punctuated her fib. “But then, around here, that could mean never!”

  Chuckling, he moved closer. “Nice job,” he said, nodding at the flowers.

  “Three down and twenty-one to go.”

  “Wow. That’s quite an order.”

  She shrugged. “Perfect timing, too. The orthodontist says Aleesha’s braces have to stay on a while longer.”

  “So,” he said, and she heard the tentativeness in his voice, “how’ve you been?”

  “Good.” She hopped off the stool. “And you?” Why were they standing there, talking like strangers, she wondered, when three times, locked in one another’s embrace, they’d shared some of the most romantic moments in her life!

  “Fine,” he said, nodding like one of those back-of-the-car doggies. “Fine.”

  “Good,” she said, mirroring the nod. “Good.”

  “So…”

  “Buttons.”

  His brows rose. “Buttons?”

  She grinned. “Sew? Buttons? Get it?”

  “Oh. Yeah.” He chuckled again. “Sew.”

  “So…have you eaten supper?”

  “No.”

  “I made beef stew. If you can hang around ’til I wash up, I’ll whip us up some dumplings.”

  That induced a smile. “I’d like that.”

  Maybe, Kasey hoped, with Pat and Aleesha around, she and Adam would find a way to knock down this…this wall of uncomfortableness that seemed to have built up between them.

  She led the way to the door, and when he joined her, she snapped off the lights and locked up. “So,” she said as they walked toward the house, “how’s your patient?”

  “Turned out it was one of Wade’s patients.” He explained how the woman’s agitation had caused all kinds of internal damage, gave her a quick rundown of how he’d repaired things.

  “Must be a good feeling,” she said, once they were in the kitchen, “knowing that what you do for a living makes real differences in people’s lives, that what you do actually saves lives.”

  “Sometimes,” he said, helping himself to a glass of water, “and sometimes not.”

  Win a few, lose a few? she wondered. That couldn’t be easy to cope with.

  “Sometimes,” he continued, sitting at the table, “it’s just tough, because, let’s face it, sometimes, doctors are just plain powerless.”

  Kasey got out a mixing bowl, started assembling the ingredients to make dumplings. “You’re not invincible,” she said matter-of-factly. “No one expects perfection all the time.”

  “I expect it.”

  She could tell by his tone that he meant it. “But Adam,” Kasey said, stirring the batter, “that’s impossible. Nobody is perfect.”

  He nodded. “I know,” he said quietly. “But confound it, doctors oughta be. People put all their faith, all their trust, in us. We’re supposed to know things, supposed to have the education and the experience to fix things, y’know?”

  As he nodded, Kasey sighed. She wondered what else had happened at the hospital to upset him. “That’s a terrible burden.” She glanced over her shoulder. “Must be why they pay you the big bucks.” She smiled to make sure he knew she’d only been teasing.

  Adam smiled back. “Yeah. Big bucks.”

  Something told her he hadn’t become a cardiologist for the money. Maybe someday, he’d tell her why he had.

  “Remind me when you leave that I still have Thanksgiving leftovers to give you.”

  “Great,” he said, grinning, “I just got here and already you’re planning my departure.”

  Kasey blushed. “I didn’t mean it that way!”

  He nodded. “I know. Just pullin’ your leg, is all.”

  She dropped the dumpling mix onto the bubbling stew, one tablespoon at a time.

  “Can’t recall the last time I’ve had stew ’n’ dumplin’s.”

  “Nice rib-stickin’ meat meal, eh?” she said, hoping to remind him he’d suggested meat at their Mi Casa lunch.

  “So,” he said, leaning back in the chair, “where’s Aleesha and Pat?”

  She glanced at the clock. “They’ll be home soon. Aleesha had play rehearsal after school, and Mom is working on the White Elephant sale for the church.” She paused. “It’s this Saturday, you know. Wanna come?”

  Adam shrugged. “Hmm,” he said, “I’m afraid I have one too many white elephants already.”

  Laughing, Kasey put the lid on the stew pot. “So have I. But I’m going, anyway. Other people’s junk fascinates me. And sometimes, I find things that work in my arrangements.”

  “Cool.”

  “Yeah. Cool beans.”

  He took a gulp of the water. “So, what’ve you been up to?”

  What would he say? she wondered, if she said something like, Oh, nothing much…just turning down marriage proposals, mostly. Kasey looked at the bare ring finger of her left hand and thought it had never looked better.

  “
Seen Buddy lately?”

  Her heart thudded. Had Adam read her mind? “As a matter of fact, I saw him this afternoon.”

  His smile vanished. “Is that so?”

  “Yup. He wanted to show me the property he’s going to buy. Someplace way out in horse country. Twenty-five acres and a mansion that makes the White House look like a cottage.”

  Adam whistled. “Well, that’s Buddy for ya—if you’re gonna do a thing, do it big.”

  She pictured the diamond, thinking If only you knew!

  “If I was a betting man,” Adam began, “which I’m not—I’d bet ole Buddy hasn’t given up on you.”

  Really? she thought. Buddy’s proposal echoed in her mind. The other day, she’d considered giving Aleesha the Understatement of the Year award. Maybe, she thought, Adam deserved it more.

  “Can’t think of any other reason he’d want to show off a grand estate to you.”

  I can think of one, was Kasey’s silent response, He wants me to be lady of the manor.

  Heart pounding, she forced the idea from her head.

  She could avoid it for now, but sooner or later, she knew, Buddy was going to show up and demand an answer. It’d be nice, she mused, if that answer was Sorry, Buddy, but I’ve already agreed to marry Adam.

  Now there’s an idea I can live with, she decided, smiling.

  Aleesha burst through the door, bubbling with information about her school day. Practically on her heels, Pat came into the room and started telling them about the plans for the White Elephant sale.

  They both behaved as if it was perfectly natural, perfectly normal, for Adam to be sitting in the kitchen, nonchalantly sipping water, while Kasey set the table. In fact, they acted like his presence was an expected part of their family ritual.

  Kasey decided right then and there not to wait for Buddy to command a decision. First chance she got, she’d call him, and as delicately—but firmly—as possible, tell him no.

  Because if there was so much as a remote chance for her and Adam to have a future together, she didn’t want anything standing in the way of it.

  Chapter Nine

  Hands on her hips, Pat said, “You haven’t been yourself for weeks. What’s wrong?”

  Kasey continued loading flower baskets into her car. “Nothing’s wrong, Mom. I’m just flustered. You know that Christmas is my busiest time of the year.” She slammed the trunk.

  “Nonsense. You thrive on ‘busy.’ But lately, you’re as nervous as a mouse in a maze, always looking over your shoulder, like you’re a fugitive from the law!”

  Fugitive? Well, she had been running…from facing Buddy. She needed time to sort things out, to pray about what would be best for everyone concerned. As she waited for a sign from God, Kasey tried her best not to jump every time the phone rang, lurch at the sound of the doorbell.

  Pat’s concern was proof she hadn’t tried hard enough.

  If she’d just followed her heart, there on the balcony of that exquisite mansion, she wouldn’t have needed a list of legitimate excuses to dodge Buddy. But for as long as she could remember, she’d sidestepped confrontation—giving up sandbox toys, handing over lunchbox treats, playing games—anything but risk sparking even the most minor dispute. After all he’d done for her family—and she couldn’t think of anyone else it might be—refusing him without giving the question careful, prayerful thought would have been unkind, un-Christian, ungrateful, to say the least. Maybe after the holidays, when things didn’t seem so rush-rush, she’d have the courage to face the issue.

  The thought made her feel a certain kinship with a lion tamer. But at least the khaki-clad circus performer was allowed to bring a whip and a chair for protection against the beast’s rage.

  “Are you listening to a word I’m saying?” Pat asked. “Where is your mind lately! Seriously, Kasey,” her mother said, “you’re beginning to worry me.”

  “Sorry, Mom,” Kasey said into the trunk. “But honest, there’s nothing to worry about. I’m fine. I promise.”

  Pat scowled. “Tell that to the vein in your temple.”

  Instinct made her put a hand to her head. “Vein? What vein?”

  “The one pounding like a bass drum. Ever since you were a toddler, it’s how I could tell when you were trying to hide something.”

  Kasey sat on the car’s rear bumper, rested her palms on her thighs. This was a lose-lose proposition, and she knew it, because once Pat got an idea into her head, she could be like a puppy with a bone: there’d be no peace until Kasey told her what she wanted to hear.

  Pat was as hale and hearty as any seventy-three-year-old. Still, Kasey didn’t like the idea of worrying her mother any more than she looked forward to listening to more of Pat’s enquiries. “Buddy asked me to marry him,” she blurted.

  Pat gasped. “He…he wh—?”

  Nodding, Kasey sighed. “Yup. He bought himself a huge estate in northern Baltimore County. ‘This can all be yours,’ he said.”

  Grabbing Kasey’s hand, Pat started for the back porch. “You’re coming with me, and you’re going to tell me everything. Do you understand?” She shook a warning finger under Kasey’s nose. “And if you dare leave out a single detail,” she said, grinning as they walked along the flagstone path, “you’ll go to bed without supper!”

  “Okay,” Kasey promised, “I’ll give you a blow-by-blow description.”

  In the kitchen, Pat poured them each a cup of coffee, then sat at the table. “Aleesha won’t be home for hours yet.” She pointed at the seat across from hers. “Start talkin’.” She folded her hands on the place mat, waiting.

  “Well,” Kasey began, hanging her jacket on the back of her chair, “a couple days after Thanksgiving, he asked me to take a ride with him, said he had something to show me. A surprise. We ended up at this twenty-five-acre grand estate that looked like something out of Gone With the Wind. He told me there were just a few minor details to iron out before it would all be his.” Kasey frowned. “And mine…if I’d marry him.”

  “Oh, Kasey.” Pat held her head in her hands.

  “Mom,” she said, forcing a smile, “relax. He proposed, that’s all. Last I heard, it wasn’t a death sentence.”

  She came out of hiding and pursed her lips. Kasey got the distinct feeling that her mother was preparing to tell her that marriage to Buddy was exactly that.

  “So where is this…plantation?” Pat asked, instead.

  Glad to change the subject—and the mood—Kasey said, “Near the Maryland–Pennsylvania line, in a little town off I-83 called Freeland. It used to be exclusively a farming community, but according to Buddy, it’s built up quite a lot in the past few years.” She hesitated. “The house is gorgeous, and more than two hundred years old.”

  Pat sipped her coffee. “And…?”

  “And what?”

  “And what did you tell him?” She looked at Kasey as if to say, Are you trying to drive me crazy?

  “I didn’t tell him anything.”

  The heavy ceramic cup hit the table with a clunk.

  Kasey shrugged.

  “You didn’t say no?”

  Another shrug.

  “Well, you didn’t say yes, did you?”

  “It’s a long, long ride from Freeland to Ellicott City, Mom.”

  Pat didn’t say a word, but Kasey knew that look. When Kasey was a girl, the expression accompanied Pat’s stiff-backed, arms-crossed posture, and was usually the precursor to “I know what you’ve been up to, young lady.”

  “So,” Pat said, “to keep the peace, you let him think you might say yes.”

  Exactly! Kasey thought.

  “Do you think that was wise?”

  “Probably not.”

  “When will you tell him?”

  Kasey sighed. “I don’t know.”

  An exasperated groan prefaced her mother’s question: “You are going to say no, aren’t you?”

  She shrugged, just one shoulder this time.

  “You mean to say you’re
actually thinking of accepting?”

  Actually, it had crossed Kasey’s mind. Half a dozen times, if not more.

  For years, Buddy had been setting the stage to run for public office. In the past year, he’d set his sights on a Senate seat. In a few years, he’d confided, he’d be eligible for the governor’s mansion. “Only thing missing is a house, a wife and two-point-five kids.” If he’d said it once, he’d said it a hundred times. And how many times had she heard, “You’re good for me, Kase. You make me look respectable.”

  The plain and simple truth of the matter was, Buddy needed her. And after all he’d done for her family, Kasey felt she owed it to him to at least give the proposal serious consideration.

  Besides, Pat wasn’t getting any younger. Every couple of months, it seemed, the doctors were prescribing additional medications to control high blood pressure, high cholesterol, hiatal hernia. And Aleesha had a whole laundry list of things wrong with her; only God knew what would crop up next. If Kasey had only herself to take care of, Fleur Élégance would have generated more than enough cash for a comfortable lifestyle. But Aleesha’s ever-changing condition was costly, and insurance usually didn’t cover nearly enough of the medical bills. Kasey would rather die than let even one of the girl’s symptoms go untreated.

  Several times since the adoption, a pile-up of medical emergencies had put their little family in such financial straits that Kasey had started hunting for part-time jobs. But just when all seemed hopeless, she’d find an envelope in the mailbox….

  It wasn’t a great leap, going from “Buddy has been taking care of us” to “Buddy will keep on taking care of us.”

  “If I married Buddy,” she said quietly, picking at a hangnail on her thumb, “we’d never have to worry about money again.”

  When she looked up, Kasey was surprised to see tears swimming in her mother’s eyes.

  “Don’t do it, Kasey. Don’t settle.” She accented the last two words—slap-slap on the tabletop.

  Kasey reached out and blanketed her mother’s hands with her own. “Mom, what choice do I—?”