Love Draws Near

by Cynthia Hickey

  She glanced to her left where a barn quickly falling into disrepair stood next to a corral. At least the fence was in good enough shape to keep the horses safely in the paddock. She smiled as Daffy, short for Daffodil, snorted and shook her head. Hopefully, Lou Anne’s best friend would be happy here.

  “Are you deaf? Go away,” Her aunt yelled.

  Maybe Lou Anne should’ve asked the taxi driver to wait. She frowned. Why would her aunt be so hateful after asking her to come? She pressed the doorbell again. Westminster chimes rang out.

  “Aunt Betty? It’s me, Lou Anne.”

  Through the white screen that sported holes, Lou Anne spotted her aunt, a tiny bird of a woman, scurrying toward the door. “Well, gracious, child. Why didn’t you say so? Come on in.” Aunt Betty wiped her hands on a faded apron.

  “You didn’t give me much of a chance.” Lou Anne smiled to take the bite out of her words, then retrieved the second suitcase and stepped back so her aunt could open the door. “Are you expecting somebody else?”

  “Those vultures from the bank are always coming around here. One mean bird in particular. You probably don’t remember Frank Murphy, do you? Anyway, they can’t wait until this place is sold out from under me before getting their greedy paws on the house.” She opened the door which squawked like a stepped-on cat. “They actually said I would do better to move to an assisted living facility. Imagine. Me in an old folk’s home. Why, I never. Not while I still draw breath.”

  Lou Anne set her bags in the foyer and surveyed the inside of the once gorgeous home. The wood floors were desperately in need of a sanding and polish. A few spokes were missing from the stair rail curving to the upstairs. Please, Lord, tell me things aren’t as bad as they seem.

  “Put your things in the blue room. That was always your favorite. Then meet me in the kitchen.” Aunt Betty bustled off, still muttering about how the bank wanted to steal what was hers.

  “I need someone to take care of my horse. It’s in the trailer out front.” Grunting, Lou Anne hefted her bags and trekked upstairs and to the right. Aunt Betty was correct in saying she’d always preferred the blue room. She stepped into a room with faded periwinkle striped wallpaper, a white Battenburg bedspread, and a pine four-poster bed that Lou Anne had always envied. An armoire sat catty-corner opposite the bay window. Lou Anne plunked her cases on the bed and parted the curtains at the window which overlooked an overgrown garden.

  She sighed and turned to head down to join her aunt. She definitely had her work cut out for her if she was going to save the family home.

  Aunt Betty waved toward the retro dining set when Lou Anne entered the kitchen. “Got some milk and cookies for you. Don’t want you to work on an empty stomach.”

  “Aunt Betty, I’m twenty-eight-years old, and too old for milk and cookies.”

  “Hogwash. Sit. You’re too skinny. Don’t think I haven’t noticed.”

  “Well, thank you.” Lou Anne sat and stared at the three massive chocolate chip cookies and glass mug of milk. If her aunt made a habit of this, she’d gain back the roundness she’d lived with during childhood and lost after a long battle.

  Aunt Betty proceeded to hum When The Roll is Called Up Yonder and placed a heavy enamel pan in the oven. “We’re having roast tonight. Can’t you just taste it?”

  Lou Anne shook her head and took a bite of the cookie. Hopefully the amount of work around the place would help her burn off all the calories she’d be eating.

  “Thank you for coming.” Aunt Betty leaned against the counter. “I can’t do the fixing up required by myself and, since you’re a maid and all, well…”

  “I clean foreclosed homes, Auntie, that’s not really a maid.” Lou Anne shoved the plate aside. “If you have to let the place go, why bother fixing the place up?”

  Her aunt’s eyes widened. “I can’t sell it looking like this. I’d be too ashamed. No, the old girl needs restored to her former glory before the bank steals it. I have other help for the heavy work, but even the inside is too much for me.”

  Lou Anne glanced at the worn linoleum under her feet. “I can see that. Well, I still don’t understand your reasoning, and my boss wasn’t very happy when I resigned. With the economy the way it is, there are plenty of people willing to pick up the slack.”

  “Of course, I’ll pay you from the proceeds of the sale. That’s right. I’ll sell before Frank Murphy gets his hands on this place.” Auntie pointed an index finger at her. “Don’t think I won’t. It ought to be a good amount.”

  Lou Anne smiled. “I know, Auntie.” At first, she’d refused, but her aunt had been adamant about her niece not working for free. Said she wouldn’t take charity from anybody, even family. “What’s first on the agenda?”

  “You need to take a good look around, don’t you? Then come up with a plan. You’ve barely visited in ten years. You’re the expert. I’ll follow your lead.”

  “I’m hardly an expert.” Lou Anne stood. “I say we start in one room and go from there.”

  “Wonderful. We’ll start with one of the unused bedrooms upstairs. Unless you want to begin with the barn out back? Ain’t been anything living in there, except mice, for years. Maybe I ought to get a cat.”

  Lou Anne shivered. Ugh. Mice, and probably spiders. She glanced down at her jeans. Good thing she’d thought to bring the overalls she worked in. “Let me get changed, and I’ll take a look around outside. We can work out there while there’s light and on the inside in the evenings.”

  “Okay, but I go to bed mighty early. And we won’t be working on Sundays. That’s the Lord’s day. You still go to church, right? The big city hasn’t ruined you, has it?” Her aunt’s eyes narrowed.

  “No ma’am. I still attend regularly.” Lou Anne hurried upstairs, changed her clothes, then headed down the separate staircase once intended for servants. While her aunt fussed with supper, she’d check out the barn, and pray no wild things had taken up residence.

  The once rusty red barn had now faded to a dull rose color. Its doors hung from loose hinges and groaned when Lou Anne forced them open. The mustiness of old hay and stale air greeted her. She sneezed.

  More than moldy hay bales occupied the cavernous space. Unused farm tools lined the walls, cobwebs decorated the rafters, and a bird’s nest sat high in one corner. Goodness, this would take days all on its own.

  She stepped further inside, pleased to see Daffy secure in a stall. A mouse dashed from a hole in one of the stalls and across Lou Ann’s foot which was covered only by a plastic flip flop. She screamed and turned to dash outside. Her nose collided with a chest. Her gaze moved from scarred boots, up faded jeans and a holey tee shirt to meet with sparkling hazel eyes. Oh, no. Her childhood nemesis, Stetson Maxwell. A man with a movie star name and looks to match.

  ~

  “Hello, little Lou Lou.” Stetson chuckled. “You’ve grown up. Barely.” Her dark head almost reached his chin. The same startling turquoise eyes glared at him from a porcelain face. The chubbiness was gone, to be replaced by a sprite that a big gust of wind would blow away. And the freckles that once dusted her nose had faded.

  She shoved against his chest. “Don’t call me that.”

  “Should I save you?”

  “From what?” She planted fists on denim covered hips.

  “That.” Stetson pointed to the mouse who watched them with a twitching nose.

  Lou Anne shrieked again and hid behind him. “Please.”

  Stetson unclutched her fingers from the back of his shirt and grabbed a tin pail from a nail on the wall. He trapped the harmless rodent. “I’ll take care of him later. Betty said you were coming. It’s good to see you.” Never in a million years would he have thought roly-poly Lou Anne Burgess would turn into the vision in front of him.

  “I suppose you’re the helper for the heavy work.”

  “I come for a couple of hours every day after work.”

  “Huh.”

  “I work in construction.”

 
; “I didn’t ask.”

  He laughed. “Haven’t changed much. Still have a sharp tongue.”

  “You tormented me all through childhood, Stetson. Did you really expect me to be overjoyed to see you?”

  He shrugged. “Well, yeah. I did take you to the prom.”

  “Don’t remind me. It was mortifying to go with someone three years older because none of the high school boys would ask me.” She plopped onto a bale of hay. “It was a pity date, and you know it. Besides, my mom asked you to do it. She probably paid you.”

  “True, she did ask, but I didn’t get any money for it.” He grinned. “I bet the boys would eat their hats to see you now. You’ve really turned into something else, Lou Lou.”

  She studied him. “You haven’t changed much. Probably still have all the local girls drooling over you.”

  “Some.” He sat next to her and, placing an arm around her shoulders, pulled her close for a sideways hug. “It sure is good to see you. I’ve missed having a sparring partner.”

  She giggled and blushed. “We always were that.”

  “I’ve missed you, Lou Anne Burgess.” Definitely. When her family moved to Little Rock a couple of weeks after she graduated, they’d left a huge hole in his heart. She might have been a pudgy girl, but he’d seen the beauty beneath the chubbiness even then. Now, ten years later, she’d turned into all he believed she would be.

  “I missed you too. Even though you were mean.” She straightened and punched him in the arm. “Now, I need to get back to seeing the work that needs doing.”

  “Can you do it? I mean…”

  She whirled. “What? Because I’m small you don’t think I’m capable?”

  “That’s not what I meant.”

  They both stood until she glared up at him. “Well, spell it out then.”

  He sighed. “The barn for instance. You’d have to completely clean it out. In fact, it probably needs torn down. Those hay bales are heavy. Plus, you’ll need to use a pitchfork to get the hay down from the loft.” He winked. “There might be more mice.”

  Lou Anne jabbed her index finger into his chest. “Don’t you dare make fun of my phobia. I’m not a weakling, Stetson. You’ll eat those words in a week’s time.” She flounced out of the barn and stormed toward the house.

  He thought his grin would split his face. Oh, yeah. He was glad to see Lou Anne Burgess again, and couldn’t wait to get reacquainted. And he agreed he’d be eating his words. Lou Anne was like a pit bull when she got her teeth into something. Shaking her loose was like fighting a war, and he stirred up a whole lot of fun by teasing her.

  “Don’t I get a welcome kiss?”

  “I’d rather kiss my horse,” she tossed over her shoulder.

  Chapter 2

  A knock sounded on the front door the next morning before Lou Anne had time to finish her first cup of coffee. “Don’t people realize it’s rude to show up before eight a.m.?” She glanced at her aunt.

  Aunt Betty peeked through the curtains. “Saints alive it’s that Frank Murphy. It’s your turn to tell him to go away.”

  “My hair’s in a bandanna and I’m wearing overalls.” Not the way she wanted to look when meeting the formidable banker for the first time.

  “He doesn’t deserve the cleaned-up version.” Aunt Betty made shooing motions with her hands.

  Lou Anne sighed and pushed to her feet. “All I want to do is have a cup of coffee before tackling the upstairs.”

  “Which we will as soon as you get rid of him.”

  Lou Anne opened the door and stepped onto the porch. “May I help you?”

  The man might have been handsome with his dark hair and silver at his temples, but the hard glint in his eyes took away any charm he might have. “Who are you?”

  She offered her hand for a shake. “Lou Anne Burgess. Betty is my aunt.”

  “Frank Murphy, here to take this house and land for nonpayment.”

  No beating around the bush with him. Lou Anne crossed her arms. “How much does she owe?”

  “I cannot give you that information without—”

  “She’s got my permission,” Aunt Betty yelled from inside. “Tell her whatever she wants.”

  “Three thousand, two hundred, ten dollars and thirty-two cents.”

  Lou Anne’s heart threatened to stop beating. How could her aunt have let a house and land that’s been in their family for generations rack up a debt? “I thought the house was paid off.”

  “Betty took out a small loan last year of five thousand dollars to…” he glanced around, “do some repairs. It doesn’t look as if she was very successful. You have thirty days to vacate the premise” He held out an envelope.

  Seriously? Aunt Betty had said she was in trouble, but she hadn’t said immediate trouble. “I can give you two thousand dollars. How long will that extend things until we can come up with the rest?” It would wipe out her small savings account, but Lou Anne could save again. Her old Ford 150 would have to last a couple more years.

  He rubbed his chin. “Three months. Not a day more.”

  “Let me get my checkbook.” She turned.

  “Cashier’s check.”

  She faced him. “I don’t happen to have one on me. Either you take a check in that amount or get the sheriff to kick us out. I grew up here in Serenity, Mr. Murphy, and folks treat each other with a bit more respect than you’re showing.”

  “Very well, but if the check bounces, our arrangement is nil.”

  She shook her head and stormed into the kitchen where her purse sat on the counter. “I can see why you don’t like that man.”

  “You shouldn’t do this, sweetie. That money is your future.” Tears welled in her aunt’s eyes.

  “This house and land is my future, Auntie.” She patted the older woman on the shoulder.

  “You haven’t called me that in years.”

  “I’m sorry I haven’t been home more often.” She pulled out her checkbook and wrote the required amount. “You wait right here, and we’ll have a fresh cup of coffee before we start work.”

  “All right, dear.”

  Lou Anne grabbed a notepad from a drawer in the buffet, then returned to the porch. “I want our agreement in writing, Mr. Murphy.”

  “My word is good.” He stiffened.

  “Not to me, it isn’t.” She held out the pad.

  The man muttered something under his breath about stubborn women, but wrote down their agreement and signed it. “Your signature, please.”

  She scribbled her name, then handed him the check. “Don’t cash until Friday. I need time to transfer the money.”

  His face reddened. “Give a deadbeat woman an inch and she’ll take a mile.”

  “A man with a black soul who preys on old women can never be trusted.” She folded her arms and glared.

  “Betty took out the loan willingly.”

  “I’m sure you charged her an astronomical rate.”

  “Market.”

  She gave a snort. “Good day, Mr. Murphy.”

  “A pleasure, Miss Burgess.”

  She rolled her eyes and watched as he marched to his black Mercedes as if they’d had a pleasant meeting. He folded her check, stuck it in his shirt pocket, then gave a salute before climbing into his car.

  “Well, at least that’s over. Auntie, I managed to—” Lou Anne stepped into the kitchen and froze at the sight of her aunt on the floor. “Auntie?”

  Lou Anne knelt next to her. When her aunt didn’t respond, she screamed for Stetson and called 911.

  ~

  Lou Anne’s scream sent Stetson catapulting over the paddock fence and racing for the house. He barged into the kitchen in time to hear Lou Anne tell someone on the phone to come quick.

  He immediately fell to his knees next to Betty and started chest compressions. “Tell them I’m beginning CPR. How long has she been down?”

  “I don’t know. I was on the porch with Frank Murphy. No more than ten minutes, though.” Tears streamed dow
n her face.

  “Wait outside for the paramedics. I got this.”

  She darted away, still holding the phone.

  “Come on, Betty. Don’t do this now. We have way too much work to do to save this house.”

  Her eyes fluttered open. “Stop before you break my ribs.” She slapped feebly at his hands. “You’re taking liberties.”

  He choked on a laugh. “You were unconscious. You might have had a heart attack.”

  “Well, if I did it’s because of that Frank Murphy. Help me up.”

  He helped her sit, then sat cross-legged next to her. “You gave us a scare, Betty. An ambulance is on its way.”

  “No need. I feel fine. Maybe a little weak from stress.”

  “Regardless, you’re sitting right there until help comes.” He definitely didn’t like the pallor of her skin. He took her hand in his. “How’s your heart?”

  “All a flutter when you hold my hand like that.” She gave a weak smile.

  “Flirting, Auntie?” Lou Anne stepped into the kitchen followed by two paramedics. “You’re definitely feeling better.” She plopped onto a chair.

  Realizing that Betty no longer needed his help, Stetson poured a couple cups of coffee and handed one to Lou Anne. He sat next to her. “You look as if you could use this.”

  “You’re a godsend.” She glanced up. “I’d forgotten how you seem to always know just what a person needs. That’s a real gift from God. Something I lack. I tend toward hysterics.”

  “You called for help, didn’t you?” He bumped her playfully with his shoulder. “Tell me what Murphy said.”

  “I managed to get a three-month extension. Auntie still owes over a thousand dollars, and I’m sure the man will be tacking on more late fees.” She took a sip of her coffee.

  Could she afford it? He cocked his head and studied her face. Betty had said her niece cleaned foreclosed homes and helped organize people’s homes. From the looks of the fifteen-year-old truck hitched to the horse trailer, Lou Anne wasn’t exactly rolling in the dough.