The Parson's Waiting
Page 14
Richard grinned, despite his otherwise grim mood. “You know I can’t resist raspberries.” When he had the coffee cake in front of him and had taken his first bite, he inquired casually, “How’s Orville getting along these days?”
“Haven’t you seen him?”
“Only the day of the flood.”
“To tell the truth, he sticks pretty close to home over in Jasper Junction most of the time these days. He knows I don’t approve of this vendetta he has going with Anna Louise.”
“He’s trying to get her thrown out, isn’t he?”
Tucker heaved a sigh of regret. “I’d say he’d have her tarred and feathered if he could. I don’t know how that boy can call himself a man of God and be so intolerant.”
“Does everyone know how he feels?”
“He doesn’t make a secret of it, if that’s what you’re asking.” Tucker’s gaze narrowed. “What is it, Richard? Is somebody giving Anna Louise trouble?”
“She’s had some calls. They’re not from Orville. I’d have recognized his voice. I was thinking, though, that he might know who’s responsible.”
“I’ll get him right over here,” Tucker said, reaching for his phone, his expression as grim now as Richard’s.
“Don’t. I’ll take a drive over to Jasper Junction. I want to catch him off guard.”
Tucker nodded. “If there’s anything I can do, let me know.”
“Just don’t tell Anna Louise I’ve been asking questions. She’s determined to handle this herself and she won’t thank me for interfering.”
“Then you’d better get a move on. She’ll be by for her morning coffee any minute now.”
Richard reached for his wallet, but Tucker waved off the money. “It’s on the house. Just go give that son of mine what-for.”
Richard found Orville in the parsonage over in Jasper Junction. His welcoming smile faded at once, when he caught Richard’s sober expression.
“What is it? Maisey’s okay, isn’t she?”
Richard nodded, studying his old friend. Orville might be a preacher like Anna Louise, but he didn’t have her aura of serenity about him. If anything, he looked uptight as the dickens. Feeling guilty, maybe.
“I wanted to talk to you about Anna Louise,” he said.
Orville’s expression changed, instantly became wary. “I heard you’ve been spending time with her.”
“That’s not the point. Someone’s harassing her. He claims to have a direct line from God telling him she has no business being in the profession she’s chosen.”
“She doesn’t,” Orville said curtly. “If you’d like to take a look at the Bible, I can show you the exact passages—”
“I don’t want to see the Scripture. I’ve heard enough of it from this caller. You have your point of view. She has hers. I don’t even want to say who’s right, because I have no idea. I just know that Anna Louise doesn’t deserve to be tormented this way, not by anyone. It’s certainly not the charitable behavior I’d expect from one claiming such lofty ties.”
His gaze pinned Orville. “I don’t suppose you’d be egging this person on?”
“I would never deliberately do that,” his old friend said, though his voice lacked a certain amount of convincing indignation.
“And if you discovered who did, you’d set ‘em straight, wouldn’t you?”
“You know I would.”
Richard shook his head. “Sorry. I’m not so sure about anything where you’re concerned. Just do what you can to see that this stops.”
Orville nodded. “If the opportunity arises, I surely will.”
Even though the words came from a preacher’s lips, Richard didn’t quite believe him. That made him sorrier than he could say.
* * *
As Richard struggled with his conscience and his heart, knowing that the day was coming when he could no longer remain detached and uninvolved, his grandmother took a turn for the worse. He came back from a long, quiet walk to find her short of breath and having chest pains.
“I’m taking you to the hospital,” he said at once.
“Just call the doctor.”
“Not this time.”
“Please,” she said, clinging to his hand. “If it’s my time, I want to die here.”
Richard’s heart began to thud dully as he contemplated the matter-of-fact statement and its terrible implications. Still, he couldn’t go against her wishes. In her own way, Maisey was every bit as strong-willed as Anna Louise. Maybe Doc Benson would have better luck persuading her that her chances were better in an intensive care unit.
“I’ll get the doctor over here right away,” he said, terrified by the prospect of leaving her side even long enough to make the call. “I’ll be right back. Will you be okay?”
“You’re only going to the parlor,” she said, forcing a smile.
He made the call, listened anxiously to the endless ringing and very nearly panicked. “Where the hell have you been?” he snapped when Jonathan Benson finally answered.
“Coming back from delivering a baby,” he said quietly. “Is it Maisey?”
“She’s having a lot of pain and she can’t catch her breath.”
“And she won’t let you take her to the hospital,” the doctor guessed. “I’m on my way. I’ll call for an ambulance.”
“She says she won’t go.”
“She’ll go this time if I have to knock her out,” Benson vowed so heatedly that Richard had to grin.
“I take it you’ve had this discussion before.”
“Endlessly. I’m on my way.”
An hour later Richard was in the back of the ambulance as it raced toward Charlottesville. Maisey glared at him the entire trip. He tried to tell himself it was a good sign, but all he could think about was how cold and frail her hand felt in his.
“I want to see Anna Louise,” she said as they roared into the emergency entrance.
Richard regarded her worriedly. “You’re going to be okay. Didn’t you hear Doc Benson tell you that?”
“I want to see her,” she insisted.
His heart thumping unsteadily, he nodded. “I’ll call the minute we get there.” He couldn’t bring himself to admit how badly he wanted Anna Louise there, as well, how much he had come to depend on her commonsense approach, on her laughter, on her quiet strength.
Maisey’s admission was a blur. All he remembered was Doc Benson muttering reassurances as they wheeled her from view. A nurse directed him to a waiting room outside Cardiac Intensive Care, told him where he could find coffee and left him to his frantic thoughts.
He tried to sit and couldn’t. He paced. And cursed. And, finally, he prayed. It was all he could think of to do. Whether his prayers for Maisey were heard, he had no way of knowing, but Anna Louise did appear by his side just when he thought he’d go crazy from the waiting.
“How is she?” she asked, slipping her hand into his and leading him to a chair.
“They haven’t said a thing since we got here. They have this drug now that’s supposed to burst clots, if it’s given soon enough. I read about it. Doc Benson didn’t say anything about a bypass. Do you suppose she has the strength to survive surgery?”
“I think that you’re making yourself nuts with all of this speculating. Let me go see what I can find out.”
“They won’t let you in.”
“Yes, they will,” she said confidently. “I’m a preacher. They won’t deny me the right to be with her.”
As grateful as he was that at least someone dear to Maisey would be with her, Richard couldn’t bear the thought that the only reason Anna Louise might be admitted was because his grandmother was dying.
* * *
Anna Louise’s spirits sank at the sight of Maisey looking so incredibly pale against the white sheets, hooked up to tubes and monitors. She had paid visits to hundreds of patients, comforted their families, but never before with this terrible sense of personal loss crowding her thoughts.
Maisey appeared to be sleeping. Doc Benson
was nowhere in sight, but as she’d expected, the nurses had given their approval for Anna Louise to sit with Maisey for a while. She pulled up a chair and took Maisey’s hand in her own. She wasn’t aware she was crying until a tear splashed against her fingers.
Apparently Maisey felt it, as well, because she opened her eyes. “Anna Louise, you’re here,” she said weakly. “I’m so glad. Just don’t go drowning me with those tears.”
“I wouldn’t be anywhere else. Stop talking now and rest.”
“Richard?”
“He’s in the waiting room.”
“Is he okay?”
“He’s worried about you.”
Maisey dampened her lips and seemed to be struggling to catch her breath. Anna Louise smoothed a hand over her forehead. “Shh. Don’t try to talk.”
“Have to,” Maisey insisted. “Worried.”
“Please don’t worry about anything. Just concentrate on getting well.”
“No. If it’s my time, I’m ready to go. Richard will have a terrible time with that. Please, promise me.”
“Promise you what?”
“That you won’t let him blame himself.”
“Why would he do that?”
“For not coming home sooner. He’s always taken everything so personally. His parents’ deaths, all the world’s problems. He thinks he should be able to change things. You and I know it doesn’t work that way. Help him to see that. Promise.”
Anna Louise drew in a deep breath at the difficult task Maisey had set for her. The past weeks had taught her that even with all of her faith she might not be up to changing his way of thinking. But for Maisey’s sake and, more importantly, for Richard’s, she would try.
“I promise,” she said softly.
Maisey managed a faint smile and squeezed her hand, then closed her eyes and drifted back to sleep.
Before she left the cardiac unit, Anna Louise asked one of the nurses to track down Jonathan Benson. She gazed into his troubled brown eyes and forced herself to ask, “Will she make it?”
“There’s always a chance,” he said. “But I’d say she could use your prayers. They’ll do as much for her now as I can.”
Her spirits low, she forced herself to go back to the waiting room. Richard took one look at her expression and sank into a chair and put his face in his hands.
When he finally lifted his head and met her gaze, he said, “It’s bad, isn’t it?” He sounded numb.
“I believe she can pull through this,” Anna Louise said adamantly. She knelt down in front of him and took his face in her hands. “We have to pray for that.”
“But—”
She refused to hear his arguments. “No, both of us. Please, Richard. For Maisey’s sake.” Without giving him a chance to protest, she began a familiar prayer, repeating the words slowly and quietly, listening desperately for the sound of Richard’s voice joining hers. Finally she heard the first halting words. By the time she said Amen, his voice was stronger. It might not have held conviction, but she was almost positive she heard hope.
It was a start.
* * *
The night seemed endless to Richard. Anna Louise slept curled up in a chair. He’d found a blanket to put over her. He knew it was selfish of him to let her stay on, but he couldn’t bear to face whatever was ahead alone.
They had let him see Maisey twice and each time for only a few minutes. Even after years of reporting from terrible make-shift hospitals in war zones, nothing had prepared him for the shock of seeing her like that. Each time he had left the cardiac intensive care unit, he had prayed a little harder. Not because he believed it did any good, but because he could think of nothing else to do.
It was dawn when Doc Benson came into the waiting room. Anna Louise apparently heard his voice and woke up. She stood up and moved closer to Richard’s side, as if willing him to feel her strength.
“I think she could pull through,” the doctor said with cautious optimism.
“Are you sure?” Richard said, not daring to believe it was possible.
“There are no certainties,” the doctor warned. “But she seems a little stronger this morning. The medicine has regulated her heartbeat. Her color is better. She’s asking to see you both.”
“Can we go in?”
“Give the nurses a few minutes to finish up their shift-change reports, then go on in. Just don’t stay too long.”
“Thank you for staying the night,” Richard said. “Not many doctors would have done that.”
“That’s why I chose to practice in a place like Kiley. It allows me to be where I’m needed. I’m going home for a shower and a change of clothes now. I’ll see you both later.”
When he was gone, Richard drew Anna Louise into his arms. “She’s going to make it. I believe that now with all my heart.”
“Our prayers were answered,” she said with absolute conviction.
Richard couldn’t help but wonder if this time, anyway, she might be right. Perhaps God had heard the prayers of one wayward, lonely reporter, after all. Or maybe having someone who believed as strongly as Anna Louise did by his side had made all the difference.
“How did your faith get to be so strong?” he asked for the second time in recent days, still unclear about what drove her to be so open to other people’s needs and demands in the face of their sometimes thankless responses. “Why did you choose such a difficult path?”
“It was no choice, at all. It was what I had to do,” she said with quiet simplicity.
The answer brought him no real satisfaction. He needed something specific that would help him to understand the woman who had come to mean more and more to him with each day that passed. At his prodding, she finally tried to elaborate.
“I felt I had a calling to share my faith with others. I believed I was living proof that miracles can happen and I had an obligation to repay that miracle that God granted me by letting me live against all the odds.”
“Wasn’t there another way you could have demonstrated your gratitude?”
“You’re accusing me of being ambitious, of not knowing my place.”
Richard shook his head. “I’m not accusing you of anything. I’m just trying to understand you.”
“Why?”
“Because...” His words faltered. “Because you matter to Maisey,” he said finally, because he wasn’t ready to admit just how much she had come to mean to him. If he admitted what he knew in his heart was true—that he was falling in love with her—then he’d have to find a way to reconcile his lifestyle and hers. He wasn’t ready to do that just yet.
What he was ready to admit was that he wanted to find the same kind of peace inside himself that radiated from her, that he was almost ready to stop running from a past that had eaten at him every day of the past nine years.
While they waited out the minutes until they could go to see Maisey, Richard held Anna Louise in his arms, drawing comfort from her nearness. He wondered as that increasingly familiar contentment stole through him, if he wasn’t starting to experience that miracle Anna Louis believed in, after all.
He heard her sharp intake of breath, then felt her pulling away.
“What is it?” he asked, looking down into her troubled eyes.
“Millicent,” she said curtly, nodding toward the open doorway.
“Millicent Rawlings? Why is that so terrible? She’s probably heard about Maisey and come to check on her.”
“And found me in your arms.”
“Is comforting a member of your flock off-limits?”
“That won’t be the interpretation she puts on it,” Anna Louise said.
Richard heard the genuine concern in her voice. He wanted to contradict her, but she, better than anyone, knew the likelihood that she was right.
One thing at a time, he warned himself. See that Maisey got well and then he could take on all the people of Kiley, if he had to, to see that Anna Louise’s happiness there was assured.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
“I do hate to bring this up, Anna Louise,” she began with a prim little smile that didn’t show much evidence of regret. If anything, she looked suspiciously gleeful.
Anna Louise braced herself. She had seen Millicent’s startled expression when she had spotted Anna Louise in Richard’s arms outside Maisey’s hospital room the day before. She’d been expecting a confrontation ever since, despite Richard’s reassurances that there was nothing to be upset about. Finding Millicent on her doorstep at 9:00 a.m. hadn’t surprised Anna Louise in the slightest. If anything, she’d expected her sooner.
“What is it, Millicent?”
The older woman pushed past her, oblivious to the fact that Anna Louise hadn’t invited her inside. “Well, I’m not one to gossip...” She paused expectantly.
“No, of course not,” Anna Louise said dutifully.
“It’s just that you have been spending a great deal of time lately with a certain young man...”
“Richard Walton,” Anna Louise supplied helpfully, determined to hang on to her temper as long as she possibly could. Unfortunately, it was already simmering. And Millicent’s coy approach to the issue wasn’t helping. Why couldn’t she just say whatever was on her mind and be done with it? “That is who you mean, isn’t it?”
“Yes. Richard Walton,” she said grimly.
Millicent drew herself up until she reminded Anna Louise of a puffed-up, self-important hen.
“This has been a matter of concern for some time now, but after yesterday morning, well, I just knew the time had come when I had to say something.”
“What happened yesterday morning?” Anna Louise inquired. A saint couldn’t have sounded more innocent, she decided proudly.
“It was what I saw with my own eyes at the hospital. I can’t begin to tell you how upsetting I found it.”
“What exactly do you think you saw?” Anna Louise asked coldly, finally recognizing that she was going to have to pry every word out of the woman.