His Holiday Family

by Margaret Daley

  “Helping to lay gravel for the playground.”

  “Ah, so we’ll be working together. Since Miss Alice’s house, I’ve missed that.”

  For the past two weeks she had been pulling double duty at the hospital, coming home and helping her mother repair what they could or going to the cottage to dig through the debris for anything of hers or her sons’. “I’m almost through with the cleanup at the cottage. The city should be around at the end of the week to pick up the trash.”

  “Where are Jared and Kip?”

  “Coming later with Mom and Miss Alice. They’re contributing lunch for the volunteers.”

  “Good. I’ve arranged for your sons to tour Station Two next Saturday. I want to tell them today, but I want your okay first.”

  “They’ll enjoy it.”

  “How’s Rocky doing?”

  “The second Kip was able to give him a bath he started bugging Mom about letting him come in and stay in his room. I think he’s been counting down the days until Miss Alice goes back to her house. Davidson’s Construction Company will be starting on her home Monday. Do you know Zane is only charging her whatever the insurance company gives her to repair her home? She won’t even have to pay the thousand dollar deductible. When Zane told her that, I thought for a moment Miss Alice was going to do a jig.”

  “Now that I would have liked to see.”

  “I went to school with Zane, and if you had told me he would be doing so much for Hope, I would have scoffed at that.”

  Gideon’s forehead crunched. “Why? Since he returned to Hope, he’s been doing a lot for the town.”

  “When he was in high school, he had quite the reputation of being the bad boy. He rode a motorcycle way too fast and drank. But when I saw him at Miss Alice’s house yesterday, I hardly recognized him.”

  Gideon waved at a tall, black-haired man talking to the driver of the truck.

  “You know him?”

  “Yeah, this past year he’s been coming to this park to play basketball with my youth group.”

  “What’s going to happen to Hope Community Church?” She glanced toward the church across the street from the park. All that remained of the front building was the bell tower. The older original church that had stood behind the newer part was still intact, not having received any water damage because it sat on a rise that had protected it from the flooding.

  “We have plans to restore the worship area in the original church. The pastor hopes to have it complete by Christmas Eve services, even if the rest of the church restoration hasn’t been done. It amazes me how the building built a hundred and fifty years ago withstood the hurricane but not the one built seventy years ago.”

  “Have you ever wondered why certain things happen while others don’t? Like the church or the tree falling on Miss Alice’s house. It could have fallen on Mom’s.”

  “That’s why I’ve always felt being prepared for everything is better.”

  “But you can’t always think of everything. Events occur out of the blue that throw your life into a tail-spin.”

  “Is that what happened when your husband died? He had to be young.”

  She nodded. “Thirty-five. That’s young for a heart attack, but he had been under a great deal of stress. He’d tried to hide the trouble he was in, and it had taken its toll on his body.”

  “What kind of trouble?”

  “Financial. He got himself into debt. He took a second mortgage out on the house. When he died, I couldn’t make the payments. The bank foreclosed on us. I tried to stay in Denver for the boys. So much had changed in their lives, I didn’t want to move away from what they were familiar with. I sank deeper into debt. Finally, I came home.”

  “And now with the hurricane, you’ve lost what you had when you came back to Hope?”

  “Yes. Some pieces of furniture and boxes of possessions were still at Mom’s, but most of what we owned was in the cottage. I hadn’t gotten renter’s insurance yet. All we have from the cottage fits in two boxes.”

  He moved close and took her hands. “But you and your sons are alive.”

  “Yes, and my car was at Mom’s so it wasn’t a total loss.”

  “Many people are in the same predicament. We just have to pull together. One prayer is good, but when it can be many, that’s even better.”

  As before, Gideon’s nearness sent her pulse racing. Her senses became attuned to him, everything else fading into the background. As far as she was concerned, they were alone in the park. The breeze from the Gulf carried the scent of the sea. The warmth of the sun canceled out the slight chill in the wind. It was a perfect day, a day to enjoy a picnic, like when she was a child.

  “Mom!” Jared ran across the parking lot toward her.

  Life intruded. Kathleen tugged her hand from Gideon’s and stepped back, turning toward Jared and smiling. This wasn’t a day to enjoy a picnic. It was a day of work, a day to remember what happened in Denver with her husband. A day to remind herself not to rush into anything, to be cautious.

  “I helped Miss Alice and Nana with the sandwiches. Kip didn’t. He was playing with Rocky.” Jared skidded to a stop in front of her. “Nana told me to tell you her and Miss Alice are setting up over by the bell tower.” Facing Gideon, he stood at attention. “What can I do? I’m here to help. Nana said we have to if we want a playground.”

  Gideon clasped his hand on Jared’s shoulder. “Let’s go see what we can do.”

  She watched her son walking off with Gideon, both with casts on their left arms. The sight thickened her throat. Often when she was working and Gideon was off, her sons spent time with him, helping around his house or a neighbor’s. Butch and Rocky had become “best buddies” according to Kip.

  Jared stopped and whirled around. “Aren’t ya coming?”

  “Yes,” she answered, noticing Kip helping her mother carry the food to the church.

  If she could ignore the damage all around her, she could for a moment see a glimmer of hope. Jared and Kip had settled in at her mother’s. She had a good job, which would help her get back on her feet. She was surrounded by family and friends who cared. But she knew this moment would never last. Worry nibbled at her composure. She kept waiting for the other shoe to fall.

  Zane approached Gideon. “You’re determined to ignore that cast on your arm, aren’t you?”

  He laughed. “I keep trying to get my captain to ignore it.”

  “Obviously desk duty isn’t setting well with you.”

  “Would it with you? You own a large construction company, and yet I see you often working at one of your sites. How come?”

  “I enjoy it. Hard work makes me feel alive.”

  Gideon stared at his friend he’d met while trying to put out a grass fire threatening the pine forest along Interstate 10, all because someone had thrown out a lit cigarette. “It’s scary how alike you and I are.”

  “That’s why I want to know what is going on between you and Kathleen. I knew her in high school. She was a freshman when I was a senior. Nice girl.”

  “She’s a nice woman.”

  Zane cocked an eyebrow. “Don’t tell me you’re abandoning me. I thought we would go into old age as confirmed bachelors.”

  “How did you get nice woman to mean marriage? I think all this hard work is going to your head.”

  “In all the years I’ve known you, I haven’t heard of you dating a woman longer than a couple of weeks. Long-term isn’t in your vocabulary.”

  “And it is in yours?”

  “No,” Zane said with a chuckle.

  “For your information, three years knowing me isn’t that long. I’ve dated women longer than two weeks.”

  “Who?”

  Gideon stuck up his forefinger. “One is Missy Collins, two is…” He could hardly even count Missy because they were more friends than anything else.

  “Two?”

  “Okay, I haven’t found the right one yet.” And most likely wouldn’t since he wasn’t looking for a
ny long-term commitment.

  “So this makes Kathleen special.”

  “Of course she’s special, but we haven’t even gone out on one date.”

  “From what I’ve heard from Pete, you’re always over at her mother’s. He said something about arranging a tour of the station for her sons. I just saw you a while ago having an intense conversation with her. It looks serious to me.”

  Gideon released a frustrated breath. “You’re not going to rile me. Since when have you listened to gossip?”

  “Pete seemed to think it might be something.”

  “Since when have you listened to Pete?”

  “Since high school. Why haven’t you gone out on a date?”

  “Hurricane Naomi. Did you forget about that?”

  “Not all dates are at a restaurant, the movies or something like that.”

  “Now you’re giving me dating advice?”

  Zane clapped him on the back. “Someone’s gotta help you. That’s what a friend is for—giving you unsolicited advice. I’m quite good at it.”

  Gideon gestured toward a worker. “I think one of your men needs your unsolicited advice.”

  “I think I’ve treaded on a touchy subject.”

  “Bye, Zane.”

  His friend’s laughter as he strode toward his worker grated on Gideon’s nerves. Why would he risk getting hurt after Kathleen made it clear she wasn’t interested? But Zane was right. They didn’t have to go to a restaurant for a date, and friends could go out together. Kathleen deserved something special. She’d been working nonstop since the hurricane. Maybe he could do something about that—as a friend.

  “Hey, Gideon, we’re taking a break. Wanna shoot some hoops?” Kip approached him with a basketball under his arm. “I got this from the church. Nana said it would be all right to take it so long as I put it back.”

  “Sure. Let’s see if we can get some other boys and maybe a couple of dads.”

  Kip turned in a slow circle, going from one father and son to another. A frown creased his forehead.

  It didn’t take much for Gideon to figure that Kip was missing his dad. He could remember the first few times after his dad had died and he’d seen a father and son together how much it had hurt him to realize he would never have that. He’d gotten really good at avoiding situations where that might take place. The hurt had faded but never totally went away.

  “Trust me,” Gideon said the next Friday and turned Kathleen away from him. “Close your eyes. I’m putting a blindfold on you.”

  “Blindfold? Why?”

  “It’s a surprise and I don’t trust you will keep your eyes closed.”

  “Do you hear yourself? You ask me to trust you and yet—” The feel of the cloth over her eyes interrupted her train of thought. Actually it was more the close proximity of Gideon and the lime-scented aftershave she smelled that affected her thinking.

  He leaned near her ear and whispered, “And yet I don’t trust you to keep your eyes closed? Sometimes life doesn’t make sense.”

  “More like you don’t make sense,” she said in response to him but was amazed she managed to utter those words when she still felt the tickle of his breath on her neck. She pictured him nibbling on her lobe and nearly melted into her mother’s front lawn.

  He chuckled. “I’ve been told that before. Now quit complaining and relax. You’ve been working too much lately.”

  “And you haven’t?” He took her hand and led her to his Jeep.

  “I have called in a few favors to pull this together so I want you to sufficiently appreciate my efforts.”

  “But there is so much to do.”

  “I agree and it will be there tomorrow. Have you taken any time for yourself in the past three weeks since the hurricane?”

  “Are you kidding? With the cleanup and the demands at the hospital? Just yesterday a man came in who was trying to repair his own roof and fell off. He broke several ribs, and one punctured his lung.” She relaxed back against the seat while he pulled out of the driveway.

  “When the power came back on, we had several electrical-caused fires. It’s bound to happen with all the damage.”

  “We take for granted electricity until we lose it. So much of what we use is run by electricity and without it, we become lost.”

  “One good thing was the hurricane was late in the season and the temperature wasn’t as unbearable as it can get in the summer.”

  “Or cold like in Denver, even in November.”

  Gideon slowed down then made a right turn. Kathleen tried to figure out by the direction he drove where he was taking her, but she wasn’t as familiar with Hope as she had been growing up and with the hurricane, detours were necessary in some places. Sections of the road along the coast were still closed off because of extensive damage to the pavement.

  When he stopped, he opened the door and said, “Stay right there. Don’t take off the blindfold. I’m coming around to lead you to my surprise.”

  She was tempted to peek but then decided to give in to what Gideon was doing. He’d gone to some trouble to do this, and she didn’t want to disappoint him. He’d done a lot for her family. Jared and Kip were constantly making excuses to go down and see Gideon. She’d even found herself trying to come up with one, especially since the day at Broussard Park. Seeing Gideon playing basketball with her sons made her realize how much anger she still had toward Derek. It should have been him, but he’d chosen a destructive path. He’d wanted possessions over his family.

  When Gideon opened her door, he clasped her arm and assisted her out of the Jeep. A light breeze blew, carrying the scent of the sea. Only three weeks ago that same water had raged against Hope. The shrieks of the gulls echoed through the air, and the noise of waves washing onto shore soothed her even more. She loved that sound.

  As he led her toward his surprise, she asked, “Can I take off the blindfold now? I know we’re on a pier.”

  “But where is the pier?”

  “On the Gulf. Not too far from Mom’s. It didn’t take us long to get here.”

  “Hope isn’t a huge town and traffic was light.” Finally, he came to a halt and reached behind her to untie her blindfold.

  When the cloth fell away, she faced a twenty-foot sloop, bobbing on the water. “Is this yours?”

  He shook his head. “It’s Zane’s. I learned how to sail when I came here. Zane lets me borrow it when I want to go out on the sea and be truly alone.”

  “How did it survive the hurricane?”

  “Zane took it out of the water.”

  “Do you sail alone often?”

  “I get the hankering about once a month.” He hopped down onto the sloop and held his hand out to help her. “My trip is well overdue.”

  “But if I go, you won’t be alone.” Stepping down onto the craft, she came up against him as the boat rocked.

  He steadied her. “I know, but I thought you could use this time away. I love getting out on the sea, listening to the waves lap against the hull, feeling the sun on my face and the salty breeze powering the sloop to parts unknown. No agenda. Just sailing.”

  “You’ve sold me on it. Let’s go.” She settled herself on the sailboat. “But I’ve got to warn you, although I grew up on the Gulf, I never learned to sail. I went sailing with friends, but never took lessons. Always too busy doing other things.”

  “No worries. I’ve done this many times. This is my gift to you. Enjoy the sun and sea, and don’t think about what has to be done when we get back. Okay?”

  She smiled as he untied the sloop from the dock. “I like that.”

  He steered the sloop away from the pier and headed out into the Gulf. “Are you still trusting me?”

  “Yeah,” she replied slowly, wondering what he was up to.

  “I have a destination in mind.”

  “And you’re going to tell me?”

  “Nope. You’ll figure it out soon enough.” He adjusted the mainsail. “I’m curious. What kept you so busy while you w
ere growing up here that you couldn’t learn to sail?”

  “Two things—dance and cheerleading.”

  “Neither of which I would have guessed.”

  “What do you think I did in high school?”

  “National Honor Society, Science Club.”

  “Why?”

  “Your mom told me you were valedictorian.”

  “What else has my mother told you?” She was going to have a word with her mom when she got back home. Every opportunity she got she invited Gideon to come eat with them. On several occasions Kathleen had caught her mother and Gideon laughing over something, but the second she came into the room they would go quiet.

  “Just that.”

  “I did those, too, but my passion was dance.”

  “Which kind?”

  “Ballet.”

  “Like Swan Lake and the Nutcracker?”

  She nodded. “Have you been to a ballet?”

  “No, there isn’t much opportunity around here.”

  “True. What did you do in high school?”

  “I tried to stay out of trouble.”

  “No wonder you and Zane are friends. That about describes him.”

  “I was an angry teen until my last foster parents dragged me to church. At first I sat in the pew determined not to hear anything the pastor was saying.” He hitched up one corner of his mouth. “That didn’t last long. Once I began listening I realized all that anger at the world was only hurting me. Yeah, I got a raw deal with the death of my parents, but that didn’t have to define who I was. So the spring of my junior year, I went out for football.”

  “You were a jock. That doesn’t surprise me.”

  “Football taught me the importance of being on a team. From there when I graduated from high school, I decided to do something to help others not go through what I did as a child.”

  “So you became a firefighter.”

  “It was a kind of therapy for me. I faced what I had feared for years and came out on top.”

  Had he really? By his own words he kept people at a distance—just like her—afraid to risk getting hurt again.

  “What made you become a nurse?”

  “Actually, I wanted to be a doctor, but I met Derek and not long after we got married, I became pregnant. My plans changed.”