She sighed, a lonely despondent sound that trembled on the air in her office.
Her secretary, Davia, poked her head around the door. "Guess what?"
Anita grimaced. Davia was new, enthusiastic, and completely lacking in business etiquette. As a result, Anita had spent the last week, since the New Year began, lecturing Davia.
If she were not as efficient as Ryan claimed she would have sent her back to Ryan's office, where she worked as an assistant to his secretary.
"What?" she asked Davia, more roughly than she had intended.
"Pastor Vanley is here," Davia squealed, "I just saw him in the building. I love him," she said dreamily, then she realized that she was looking at a less than impressed Anita. She cleared her throat, "And here are the papers you need for the meeting with Dr. Masters."
Anita nodded and took the papers from Davia. "Thank you."
"I go to Pastor Vanley's church you know," Davia was saying, completely overlooking the dismissive thank you. "They introduced him as the new pastor a couple of weeks ago."
Anita frowned. She was trying to discourage a personal relationship with Davia, but the girl was reporting on her favorite secret topic: Vanley. She swallowed her distaste for gossiping with her secretary and looked at Davia with interest.
"That's nice."
Davia nodded excitedly. "I think he likes me. He was looking at me the whole time he was on the podium before he delivered his sermon."
Anita nodded and smiled. She doubted that Vanley had looked at Daviafixatedly for a long period, though she was an attractive girl. She wore her thick natural hair in corkscrew curls, which were now out and framed her animated round face. She had smooth milk chocolate skin, and most importantly, she was in Vanley's age group. She was an appropriate girlfriend for Vanley. The thought had Anita frowning at her secretary darkly.
"Davia, this conversation is highly inappropriate. Remember the rules I emailed to you about office conduct?"
"Oh yes, I know, I know." Davia grinned. "I keep forgetting." She turned to the door and grinned at Anita, a happy grin that annoyed Anita.
What was she so constantly happy about?
Oh to be twenty-one, and naive, she thought when Davia closed the door. She quickly scratched the thought. She was never naive. She had always had several issues to battle with. Whoever said that life would get easier with age was lying.
*****
Vanley approached his uncle's office, all the while looking down the long corridor towards Anita's office. His head and heart were already there. What was the harm in saying hello? he reasoned.
When he entered her suite of offices, he was greeted with a breathy hello from a girl who looked vaguely familiar. "Hello, is Miss Parkinson in?"
"Yes." Davia nodded vigorously. She got up, straightening her wool suit, which was a size larger than she was. "I am Davia Binns, her new secretary."
"Hi, Davia." Vanley smiled. "Can I go in?" he indicated to the door.
"I go to your church," Davia said quickly, "in Bramble; that's where I live."
Vanley smiled and Davia stared at his dimple, dazedly.
"Well, it's good to meet you, and I am sure I will see you at church." Vanley shook her hand firmly and headed toward Anita's door.
He opened the door slowly and stepped inside. He always thought the space was too masculine for Anita; but apparently, she loved it.
She looked up from her computer when he entered and sighed. She rubbed her eyes wearily, an innocent gesture that melted his heart.
"I was in the building," Vanley said. "Decided to stop by and say hello."
Anita nodded. "I heard the conversation just now. My secretary has a thing for you."
Vanley smirked. "I wonder why."
"Because you are tall, dark, and handsome," Anita said softly, and then she cleared her throat. "Happy new year."
Vanley inclined his head. "Happiness for me right now is to be with the woman I love, and she won't let me be with her, even though she compliments me. Happy new year to you too, I guess."
Anita swallowed. She clasped her hands in front of her. "You are so out there with your feelings. It's disconcerting."
"And young." Vanley raised his brow and approached her desk. "Remember you said young last time…young and disconcerting. Oh yes, you also said I was too honest."
Anita smiled sadly. He was in a blue and white striped dress shirt and black dress pants. He looked like a debonair young professional.
"What's the worst thing that could ever happen to you now?" Anita asked Vanley, watching as he sat down and crossed his long legs under her desk.
Vanley shrugged. " Right now? This moment? The worst thing would be losing my position as a minister. I really love the ministry."
Anita sighed.
Vanley watched as she looked up into the ceiling.
"That's known to happen when young ministers marry inappropriate people." She looked at him wickedly. "So there, I am doing you a favor by not encouraging this love thing with you."
Vanley chuckled. "I doubt the church organization would care if I marry an older woman. They are more interested in things like character and whether you are a member of the church in good and regular standing, et cetera."
Anita leaned toward her desk. "It's not just age, Vanley. I am not suitable for becoming a minister's wife..."
Vanley squinted his eyes and leaned toward the desk too. "Let me make up my own mind about that Anita. I am not a child; I can cope with whatever skeletons you have stashed in your closet."
Anita chuckled. "No, you can't and why should you? You are young. This thing you claim you have for me should have fizzled out a long time ago."
"Yet it hasn't," Vanley said smugly. "What does that tell you?"
"It tells me that I should probably stop acting so coy and let you be exposed to me for a while. Surely, that worshipful adoration will eventually crash if you get to know me a little better. I am cranky, anal-retentive, a stickler for having things a certain way, I am usually not happy. You'd hate me after a while."
Vanley laughed. "I could never hate you. However, we can test to see if I could. Want to go to singles retreat in St. Ann? It's a church conference thing, and it's at the end of the month: one whole weekend of counseling, lectures and activities for Christian singles."
Anita swallowed. She had had no intention of opening up a part of herself to Vanley. She barely recognized, as her own, the hoarse voice that agreed to go to a singles retreat with Vanley Bancroft.
Vanley grinned; his brown eyes lit up. "Then it's a date." He got up. "I want to catch my uncle before he leaves the office."
Anita nodded numbly. A little part of her was afraid she had just offered to let Vanley in. She could hear the silent squeaking of the proverbial closet door swinging open, and she suddenly felt vulnerable.
*****
"Hey, Vanley," Bancroft greeted his nephew fondly. He was in the conference room that was adjacent to his office. A model for a new branch of the university was spread before him in miniature pieces. The board had decided to follow the current trend in education and open an extension campus. Their first would be in the Dominican Republic. The small university they were building there would be finished in a few months and would heavily use technology and blended learning to complement the offerings on the main campus at Mount Faith.
Bancroft was looking over plans for the new campus. Most of the technology and all the necessary equipment were already acquired, and recruitment was already on in earnest.
"Hey." Vanley looked over his uncle's shoulders at the plan spread before him. He pointed to the church. "That's going to be a small place of worship. Even the gym is larger."
Bancroft nodded. "Well, they are building the place to accommodate just five hundred students, and I think the gym will double as a sports science center."
Vanley nodded and then sighed, "Uncle Ryan. Why is Anita so closed to me? You two are friends; give me some insight."
Bancro
ft slumped his shoulders and sighed so loudly that the papers rustled. "She could be your mother, Vanley. Let this Anita fascination go."
Vanley shook his head. "My mother? That's a stretch."
"No, it's not." Bancroft straightened up and looked at his nephew assessingly. "Your own mother is just five years Anita's senior. Do you realize that Anita is closer to my age?"
Vanley pushed his hand in his pocket. "I have often wondered about that. You two are quite close. Did you two have an affair or something?"
Bancroft leaned his head to one side. "Why? Would that turn you off from her?"
Vanley shrugged. "Anita keeps saying she is not suitable for me, and it's not because of her age. I don't expect her to be pure as the driven snow. After all, she's forty; she must have lived a little."
He sighed, "I'd be disappointed if you were cheating on Aunt Celeste, but I doubt I would stop loving Anita because of that."
"Not even an affair with your own uncle would put you off this woman?" Bancroft threw his hand up in the air.
He walked to the bank of windows and looked out at the school grounds. Students were scurrying to and from classes, most of them shivering in their sweaters. It was the coldest January they had had yet, but then again he tended to think so every year.
He cleared his throat and looked back at Vanley. "No, I am not having an affair with Anita. The thought has never crossed my mind... and stayed," he added wryly, "to cheat on your Aunt Celeste with anyone."
"Good to hear." Vanley grinned. "So what is Anita's big secret? I know you know."
Bancroft coughed uncomfortably. "Vanley, if Anita has something to tell you, she will tell you herself."
"Knock, knock." It was the secretary from Anita's office. She had a document in her hand.
"Oh, sorry, Dr. Bancroft didn't know you have company. Your secretary said I should come straight in." She looked at him and then at Vanley and gave him a shy smile. "I have a document for you to sign Sir."
She looked at Vanley again with a healthy dose of hero worship.
Bancroft caught all of this as he took the document and signed with a flourish.
"What's your name, dear?" he asked kindly.
"Davia," The girl said sweetly. "Davia Binns. Pastor Vanley is my pastor."
Bancroft smiled and nodded. "Thank you, Davia." He watched as she walked through the door and peeked at Vanley again.
"That's the kind of girl, you should be pursuing," Bancroft said to Vanley when the door closed.
Vanley shook his head. "No."
"Yes," his uncle said thoughtfully. "Davia Binns: nice girl, nice face, young, and friendly. I bet she's hardly a day over twenty. No baggage and secrets."
"Nice child bearing hips." Vanley sighed exasperatedly. "You are not going to play matchmaker for me Uncle. I know who I want, and I intend to be with her."
Bancroft sat in one of the chairs around the conference table and tapped the table. "I can't tell you Anita's secrets, but they are pretty bad—terrible enough, Vanley, that a man in your position, would surely find it hard to get past them."
Vanley sat in front of him. "Did she kill someone?"
Bancroft raised his eyebrows.
"Are you serious?" Vanley sighed. "So why isn't she in jail or something?"
Bancroft cleared his throat. "I can't say."
Vanley exhaled tremulously. "You are putting me on. You wouldn't have a known killer as your VP of Academic Affairs."
Bancroft shrugged. "I am not putting you on. Just leave her alone."
Vanley shook his head.
"So have you prayed about it?" Bancroft asked gently. "You are always praying about everything. What did God say about this Anita case?"
"He didn't say anything," Vanley said. "Five years ago I prayed and asked the Lord that if she was the one, to make it so that she'd still be single when I have my own church and was ready to get married."
"Five years ago?" Bancroft closed his eyes. He was struggling not to give away Anita's secrets but his nephew's naivety was making it hard. "Look Vanley..."
Vanley leaned back in the black leather chair. His face spoke of his disinterest.
"Okay, okay... I know I sound like a broken record," Bancroft said, "I'll tell you one of Anita's secrets, the big one, if you promise me something."
"What?" Vanley asked, raising his eyebrows in a way that was reminiscent of his father.
It toughened Bancroft's resolve to further protect him from his youthful stupidity whatever the cost. Oliver had been just as young and naive. His older-brother-protectiveness was still present in him for his brother's children.
"Date that girl Davia for three months."
Vanley laughed. "Uncle Ryan, this is ridiculous. Suppose she has a boyfriend or doesn't want to date me?"
Bancroft looked at Vanley with disbelief. "Are you blind, Vanley? That girl was a simpering mess when she came in here a few minutes ago. She likes you."
Vanley shrugged. "It would be cruel to date her; she goes to my church. I don't even like her, and Anita would probably be upset if she hears or sees me going out with her secretary."
"Anita would not be upset," Bancroft said. "I can tell you that right now."
"Anita has feelings for me," Vanley said. "She is just suppressing them. God knows why." He threw his hands up in the air, looking defeated.
Bancroft looked at his nephew and said softly, "I know why. I will tell you one of Anita's secrets if you date Davia. I promise, and before you scoff at my offer, let me assure you, it is a big secret."
Vanley chewed the thought over in his mind. His curiosity about what was holding back Anita from him could finally be satisfied. He had wanted that for years, and he had long realized that asking Anita was not going to get him anywhere because she wasn't talking.
"Okay." He nodded. "I'll date Davia, starting today. I need to hear this secret the second week in April."
Bancroft nodded. "Good, I'll tell you then. All the best with Davia, and don't juist go through the motions; genuinely try to get to know her, okay."
Vanley shook his head. "Okay. I will. Talk about duress."
Chapter Two
Davia Binns. Vanley played the name over in his mind. He was at Sunday night service, and as usual, the church was nearly empty except for a faithful few, maybe ten or so. One of the faithful few was Davia Binns. She was sitting in the front row in an orange maxi dress and a bulky sweater of a darker color thrown over it. He realized that she was always wearing bulky clothes: Davia Binns, the girl with the bulky clothes and crazy hair.
She had smiled with him throughout the service and at one moment, with the promise to his uncle ringing in his ears, he had smiled back at her. He had already given the exhortation on Christian stewardship and the group had held hands and prayed to close the service.
He waited for Brother Nylan, the elderly church caretaker, to finish closing up the church. When they turned off the lights, and he and Brother Nylan went outside, Vanley saw that Davia waiting for him.
She smiled, "I was waiting for you."
Vanley nodded. She was wrapping her hands around herself, and he saw that her teeth were chattering. "You want a lift home?"
"Yes," Davia said excitedly, like he had just offered her some great gift.
Brother Nylan shook his gray head at Davia and laughed softly.
"You want a lift too Brother Nylan?" Vanley asked politely.
"No," Brother Nylan said, brushing him off good-naturedly. "These old bones know these hills like the back of my hand, dark or not."
"Okay, see you on Wednesday night," he said to brother Nylan as he jammed his flat cap on his head and headed up the street.
Vanley turned to Davia. "It's admirable that you came to Sunday night meeting in this weather. Most young people are not really interested in the night meetings."
Davia giggled nervously. "Normally I wouldn't come, but I heard you were going to be here."
Vanley grinned and decided not to say anything.
She was making his uncle's request that he date her for three months quite easy.
"So where do you live?"
Davia bit her lip sheepishly. "I live just five minutes from here. I could have walked with Brother Nylan, but I just wanted to talk to you to get to know you better."
She fiddled with her Bible.
Vanley looked at his watch. It was just ten minutes after eight. "Want me to walk you home instead of drive?"
Davia nodded vigorously, her curls shaking with the vigor with which she nodded. "That would be nice."
"Okay, let's go," Vanley said to her softly.
They headed up the hill that was adjacent to the church. The church was in a little valley but, it had a view of other hills. The area was mostly undulating hills and greenery; at certain points, there were breathtaking views of the Santa Cruz Plains below.
Bramble was a small farming village. The houses were far apart and separated by small cash crop gardens.
He could smell the scent of spices. Most of the farmers had planted ginger for the Christmas season and it seemed as if there was an influx in the market because some persons still had an excess of ginger drying in their farms. He could smell it as they slowly past the fields adjacent to the hill. He could also smell the heady scent of pimento; it wafted on the cool night air as their shoes made little crunching sounds on the pebbly road.
The sky was clear. He looked up to see that it was awash with stars. They appeared to be winking at him.
He said to Davia, "You know, it's only in places like these without the city lights and the fast paced life that you can really appreciate the stars."
She looked up at the stars and laughed. "I grew up here. I barely give it a thought these days. I guess when you grow up in a place you really don't appreciate what you have."
Vanley looked at her gleaming white teeth in the semi-dark. She had one of those infectious laughs. She seemed like a simple uncomplicated person. No drama. No secrets, at least none that he had to wait five years to hear. He wished Anita could be like that. He wished he were walking with Anita now. Then he stopped his disloyal thoughts in their tracks. No good ever came from wishing anything about Anita, it hadn't done him one lick of good in the past and probably wouldn't make a difference now.
A Younger Man (Mount Faith Series: Book 7) Page 2
