Lorna Seilstad - [Lake Manawa Summers 03]

by The Ride of Her Life

  “I know. You’d think growing up with you would have taught me all the patience I’d ever need.”

  Marguerite turned to her. “I’m glad you stopped by. I was thinking of you.”

  “Why?” Lilly leaned back in the chair and lifted her feet.

  “The sand castles.” She glanced at the shore where the children continued building their structure and sat on the edge of her chair. “Remember when your mama took us swimming and we made one? You said someday you’d have a home as fancy as the one we made that day.”

  Lilly squeezed Marguerite’s hand in thanks for her ministrations. “I will have that home, but I doubt it will have any turrets.”

  “Maybe Nick likes turrets.” Marguerite leaned back in the deck chair and cracked one eye open toward Lilly.

  “Marguerite Andrews, you are incorrigible.”

  Marguerite sighed. “I prefer to think of it as unsinkable.”

  Lilly rolled her eyes. “You would. Before you get to thinking your life is all peaches and cream, Mrs. Unsinkable, did I mention who Eugenia has her eye on?”

  “Please don’t say it’s—”

  “Your sweet little brother. Only he’s not so little anymore.”

  “And he’s never been all that sweet.” They both laughed. “I’m so glad to see he’s outgrown his impetuous nature.”

  “Gives me hope.” Lilly sighed. “If he could give up his critters and footraces to become a respectable attorney, maybe there’s hope for my Levi.”

  “Your Levi will be as wonderful as his daddy was.” Marguerite turned her head toward Lilly. “Speaking of my brother Mark, Trip and I are having a welcome-home picnic in his honor tomorrow. I’ve already asked Emily, and I want you and Levi to come too.”

  “I’d love to, but I’m afraid I’ll have to decline. I asked Eugenia to attend church services with me and told her we’d grab a bite to eat afterward.”

  “Bring her along.”

  Lilly lifted her brows. “Some welcome home for Mark.”

  “It would serve him right. Payback for all the trouble he was growing up.” Marguerite giggled. “I think it’ll make the day all the more fun.”

  “I believe you have an incurable evil streak.”

  “Really? I hadn’t noticed.” She laughed again. “So you’ll come?”

  “What should I bring?”

  With a flick of her wrist, Marguerite dismissed the thought. “Nothing. This time you’ll have to suffer through my cooking.”

  “So you want me to bring bicarbonate of soda?”

  “And you call me a friend.”

  “Just speaking the truth in love.” Lilly smiled as the words came out of her mouth. Ben used to make jokes about “speaking the truth in love,” and even in the midst of intense discussions, it made her smile every time.

  Glancing at the beach, Lilly spotted Levi again. The tip of his tongue protruded from his mouth as he concentrated on his sand creation. It didn’t look like a castle. Curious, Lilly stood. She took the steps down from the boardwalk, and her shoes sank in the shifting sand of the beach. As she drew closer, a smile tugged at the corners of her mouth. Levi’s creation was the clear beginnings of a roller coaster. Her chest warmed. Nick would like seeing this.

  Nick.

  Only a minute ago she’d been thinking about Ben and how much her son was like him. Guilt rubbed another raw spot on her heart, and she crossed her arms over her chest. Her eyes misted as she looked out over the choppy lake. How had Nick Perrin crept into the lives of her and her son and made them feel like he belonged there?

  But he didn’t belong there. And she’d actually encouraged the man in the last two days. What was she doing? She wasn’t ready to care about anyone.

  She glanced at her son’s sand coaster. For his sake, she needed to put some distance between the two of them and Nick. She needed to think. If it was God’s will, maybe Nick would be too busy to notice her efforts to push him away.

  But what would she do if it wasn’t God’s will?

  23

  After Saturday’s extra-long workday, Nick’s muscles ached. The comfort of the feather ticking and the cool spring morning made crawling out of bed harder than usual. Even the cacophony of birdsong hadn’t bothered him. Nick stretched. Surely the fact that it was Sunday made sitting upright worth the effort.

  It didn’t take Nick long to bathe, dress, and shave. He grabbed his striped tie off the chair. If he didn’t hurry, he would miss the start of church services—and miss seeing Lilly and Levi. Today was the first Sunday that tent services were being offered at the lake. The bright sun filtering through the dotted curtains on the window promised a day he’d not soon forget.

  He grinned as he recalled yesterday’s visitors to the coaster site. Before he’d quit working, Marguerite and Emily had come to invite him to a picnic lunch after services. They’d subtly mentioned that Lilly and Levi would be there. Dangling that particular carrot before him made refusal impossible.

  He wrapped the tie around his neck and knotted it before adding a stiff linen collar. He drew a comb through his thick hair one more time, then slid his arms into the sleeves of his dark gray sack coat. Grabbing his felt hat from the dresser, he said a prayer asking God to bless the day. And if You see fit, Lord, let Lilly open her heart to me. I know she’s holding back, and I don’t want to push her, but would enjoying an afternoon as a little more than friends really do either of us any harm?

  “Brothers and sisters, Jesus was tired.”

  Lilly nodded in agreement toward Brother Hamilton as she stroked Levi’s sandy hair. Jesus wasn’t the only one who was tired. Only minutes into the sermon at the Sunday tent service, Levi had laid his head on her lap and fallen asleep. Last night it had taken him a long time to fall back to sleep after the nightmare, and even now, Brother Hamilton’s rousing sermon had not awakened him.

  “How tired do you have to be to fall asleep in the bottom of a boat during a storm?” Brother Hamilton held out his large, wrinkled hands to his sides in question. “Jesus was physically exhausted. And when his disciples saw the storm, they panicked. They woke the Lord, saying, ‘Jesus, don’t you care that we’re going to die?’ They saw the waves coming over the sides of their boat and felt it rising and plunging and were afraid they were going to drown. Wouldn’t you be?”

  Emily, who was seated on Lilly’s right, touched her arm and motioned to the other side of the tent. When Lilly looked between the outlandish ribbons on Eugenia’s hat, she spotted Nick looking in her direction. He nodded and flashed a rakish smile that tilted her heart. She quickly diverted her attention back to Brother Hamilton and waved a silk fan in front of her flushed cheeks. Did she still feel Nick’s gaze on her, or was it her imagination?

  Brother Hamilton moved to the front of his podium. “The disciples had been with Jesus day after day. They’d seen him heal the sick and give sight to the blind. They’d seen his hands break bread and feed thousands, but in a moment of crisis, their faith evaporated.”

  Lilly stiffened. When Ben died, her whole world had dissolved in an instant. Had her faith gone with it? No, she believed in God. Her faith had been the one thing in life she could count on. She obeyed the Scriptures. She was a good person. She did as God asked. Nothing had changed, had it?

  Brother Hamilton’s gaze swept the believers gathered before him. “Our faith takes a backseat to the storms of life. The disciples questioned the Lord when the storm came, and so do we. But the Lord questioned their faith.”

  A cool breeze snapped the flaps on the tent. Lilly tugged the hem of her yellow bolero jacket more snugly around her waist. Levi stirred on her lap, scratched his nose, and settled again. She laid her hand on his back, trying to ignore the twinge of guilt stirred by the preacher’s words.

  “Brothers and sisters.” The preacher’s voice rose. “I don’t know what storms each of you faces, but I can tell you one thing is for certain. Jesus doesn’t still every storm, but He is in the boat with you.”

  Unab
le to stop herself, Lilly glanced again at Nick. This time he seemed to be listening intently to Brother Hamilton’s words. A Bible lay open on his leg. He’d told her Sean had led him to the Lord and had even been the one to baptize him, but she’d not spoken of his faith with him since then. Although she’d considered it, she wasn’t sure she wanted to. If she asked him questions of that sort, then he’d have the right to do the same, and since Ben’s death, her walk with the Lord hadn’t been an easy one.

  Brother Hamilton paused for several seconds before continuing. “We’re so busy managing our lives for ourselves, we forget that it is God who is in control. His plans for you may include some storms, but He will be with you through them. Have faith. Trust the Lord to still the storms either in the world or in your heart.”

  The congregation rose for the closing hymn, and Lilly tried to shake Levi’s shoulder to awaken him, but he was simply too tuckered out. Remaining in her seat, she softly joined in the singing. An unfamiliar man’s baritone voice seemed to fill the tent. Was it Nick’s?

  “All to Jesus I surrender; Lord, I give myself to Thee,” the deep voice rang out.

  Glancing back, she saw Nick singing the words from memory. So the voice as smooth as chocolate belonged to him. Of course it did.

  As sweet as her Ben was, he couldn’t sing, nor had he ever sung any hymn with much feeling. His faith had never grown to where he wholly depended on the Lord. He had never needed to. Everything in his life had come easily.

  Nothing in Nick’s had.

  Swallowing the lump in her throat, she attempted to lift her own soprano to join Nick’s strong voice. But the words refused to flow. She simply couldn’t say, “All to Thee, my blessed Savior, I surrender all.”

  After the closing prayer, Lilly coughed to clear her throat. What was wrong with her?

  Emily turned to her. “Are you all right? I didn’t hear you singing, and you have such a lovely voice, I missed it.”

  “I had a frog in my throat.” She offered a reassuring smile first to Emily and then to Eugenia. “Did you enjoy the services?”

  Eugenia nodded, and the bows on her hat bobbed. “Yes, and thank you for inviting me. It feels like a family.”

  “Speaking of family, we’d better get going to the picnic to welcome Marguerite’s brother home.” Lilly looked around. “I think she and Trip have already left.”

  Baby Kate lifted her drowsy head and stared at her mama with round brown eyes.

  “Katie will want to eat before the picnic, so I’m going to hurry back to the cabin and feed her.” Emily brushed a kiss on the top of the baby’s head. “Tell Marguerite I’ll be along shortly.”

  Lilly smoothed Levi’s hair. “I will—as soon as I can figure out how to wake my own sleeping little prince.”

  “I can help with that,” Nick said from behind her.

  Before she knew what was happening, he scooped Levi up. Levi’s eyes flickered open. He looked at Nick, smiled, and tucked his head into the space between Nick’s neck and shoulder.

  Lilly stood and shook the wrinkles from her skirt. “I’ll still need to wake him. We have plans.”

  “I know.” Nick’s smile made his blue eyes light. “With me.”

  “N-no. I have plans with Marguerite and Trip.”

  He grinned. “Well, isn’t that a coincidence. So do I.”

  Lilly was going to wring Marguerite Andrews’s pretty little neck.

  No matter how many times Marguerite told Lilly to sit down and relax, the stubborn woman refused.

  Nick had had enough.

  With Levi awake, Nick again had the use of both arms, so he approached the picnic table in Lake Manawa’s Shady Grove where Lilly attempted to put on the tablecloth against the breeze. He took it from her, snapped it in the air, and let it float down over the table. When it fell into place, he looked at her, only to discover a glare rather than a look of appreciation.

  She placed her hand on the table. “I can do this alone.”

  “I know, but you don’t have to.” He quirked an eyebrow. “Besides, why do you want to?”

  “It’s easier that way.” She reached for the picnic basket she’d set beside the table.

  Even before she touched the handle, Nick picked it up and plopped it on the tablecloth. She reached for the handle to pull it toward her, but Nick held fast, refusing to release the basket. “It may be easier to do it yourself when you’re with some people …” He glanced at Eugenia, who was batting her lashes at Marguerite’s brother. “But with others, you can let them help.”

  She lifted her face to his, appearing ready to retort, but he locked gazes with her. Her jaw was set firm. Hmmm. A battle of wills. Oh, she was a stubborn one, but he’d let her know she’d met her match. Maybe some people might be put off by her tough, I-don’t-need-anyone exterior, but he wasn’t. She was not going to chase him away.

  Lilly Hart needed to realize he was here to stay.

  His gaze dropped to her lips. Her tongue darted out and swept over their ripe fullness. Warmth pooled in his chest and spread until he could barely keep from tasting what she offered.

  “Nick!” Levi pulled on his sleeve. “Come play ball with me and my friend.”

  Lilly blinked and stepped back. Nick cleared his throat and turned toward Levi. “What friend?”

  “Him.” Levi pointed toward an athletically built man wearing a baseball uniform. A mop of dark, curly hair hung from beneath his baseball cap.

  Lilly squealed. “Carter!”

  Who was Carter, and why did Lilly’s face light like fireworks on the Fourth of July when she saw him?

  The next twenty minutes blurred with hugs and shouts and tears. Lilly stepped back and watched Carter run his finger along his wife’s cheek and kiss her tenderly. A deep ache balled in her stomach. She missed intimate moments like that when she knew she was the most important person in the world to someone.

  Baby Kate lay nestled in the crook of Carter’s arm. Lilly doubted the baby girl would be more than two inches from her daddy’s side for days.

  She glanced at Nick and smiled. Relief seemed to wash over his face. How odd. What was he thinking?

  “That’s Carter Stockton—Emily’s husband?”

  Lilly glanced at the couple. “Yes, of course it is. Who did you think it was?”

  “I didn’t know.” Nick released a long breath. “He’s a baseball player?”

  “Was. He and Emily own and manage a Bloomer Girls team now. You know, an all-women’s team that competes from town to town.”

  Nick nodded. “But since Emily had the baby—”

  “They thought she and Kate would be better off here for the summer, rather than traveling all the time.” Lilly glanced at the couple. “Emily’s been missing Carter something fierce.”

  Nick opened the picnic basket. “A husband and wife should be together.”

  How often had she thought the same thing? But after Levi was born, things had changed. When Ben had to leave on business, she could no longer join him. They had a child to consider. “Even if one of them has a job that requires travel?”

  “Even then.” Nick lifted a covered glass dish of potato salad from the basket and set it on the picnic table. “I understand the choice they made, but I want my family where I can take care of them.”

  “You can’t take care of everything.”

  He grinned, but a serious note clung to his voice. “I can try.”

  Lilly’s heart skipped. The hidden promise in his words scared the daylights out of her, but it also created a thrill she dared not admit.

  She shook her head. She was imagining things where they didn’t belong. Seeing Carter and Emily together had simply addled her thinking more than she realized.

  Forcing her mind to think quieted her errant heart. Nick could never be there for her. It wasn’t possible. His job made him travel around the country. She wanted a house—a home to call her own. And Nick was too much of a dreamer to realize he couldn’t have it all.

  Wo
rking silently, they unloaded the remainder of the basket’s contents. When Marguerite directed them to sit, Lilly wasn’t surprised to find her friend had seated her beside Nick, but she was caught off guard when Trip asked Nick to say grace.

  After he removed his hat, Nick bowed his head. Beneath the table, he took Lilly’s hand in his own. “Dear heavenly Father, thank You for bringing Carter home to his family safe and sound. Thank You for each of the new friends I’ve made here.” He squeezed Lilly’s hand. “And thank You for being with us in each and every storm. Give us courage to face them. Bless the hands that prepared this meal and the souls that are going to consume it. In Jesus’ name.”

  When the whole group joined in the “amen,” Nick released her hand. Those gathered began to pass the picnic fare, and Lilly glanced at Eugenia. She couldn’t believe Marguerite had seated the girl across from Mark. That poor man was going to suffer her moony eyes and twittering giggle for the entire afternoon.

  Carter regaled them with stories from their travels with the team. Crowds came to watch their team, and Emily always made sure they got an earful about suffrage as well. “And did Emily tell you she’s speaking at the next National Suffrage Association meeting in Washington, D.C.?” He beamed at his wife.

  Her cheeks bloomed pink. “I haven’t said yes yet, Carter, and I’ll probably trip walking to the podium.”

  He kissed her cheek. “If you do, it’ll only make your speech more memorable.”

  Nick nudged Lilly’s arm and leaned close to her ear. “Your buns are better.”

  Choking on a bite of fried chicken, Lilly reached for her lemonade. “Thank you, but don’t let Marguerite hear that.”

  “Hear what?” Marguerite, who sat across the table from them, passed the basket of buns to her right.

  Lilly dabbed her lips with a checkered cloth napkin. “Nick was telling me how much he enjoys my cooking.”

  “In comparison to mine?” Marguerite wagged her fork in Nick’s direction. “Shame on you, and here I was on your side.”

  Lilly’s cheeks flamed.

  “The food is wonderful, Mrs. Andrews.” Nick picked up his piece of fried chicken and offered a weak smile.