Love Inspired January 2016, Box Set 1 of 2

by Carolyne Aarsen

  “Very funny,” Anne mouthed as she patted down her bed head.

  “I thought so,” he said through the glass.

  She put a finger to her lips and pointed to Claire asleep in a tangle of sheets and blankets on a mattress on the floor.

  “What are you doing out there?” she mouthed again, trying not to wake Claire herself.

  He held up a window-glazing tool and grinned.

  Anne struggled with the window sash for a moment before finally remembering how the pulley worked. She opened the double sash enough to allow her to stick her head out and look at him and his position on the ladder. “Oh, my goodness, don’t you have some sort of rope around you so you don’t fall?”

  Matt scoffed. “I’m a professional. I climb ladders all the time.”

  “Well, Mr. Professional, you’ve got the wrong window.”

  “I know. I already fixed the broken pane.” He assessed the window she’d opened. “No screens?”

  “Not in an authentic vintage Victorian.” Anne glanced out at the morning view, her gaze moving past the top of the trees and straight to the mountains. She took a deep breath before she turned to Matt. “How could you fix the glass without coming in the house?”

  “I did come in the house. Through the window. Then I climbed back out.”

  “Okay, but that doesn’t explain what you’re doing out there now.”

  “I figured I’d check the gutters while I was up here.”

  “Wait a minute. Let’s back up a minute. I thought we postponed fixing the window.”

  “You postponed. I was bored. You have my daughter and my dog. I had to do something. Besides, I’ve given you plenty of time to sulk over that town meeting fiasco.”

  She straightened. “Excuse me?”

  “We’re moving on, Anne.”

  “Are we?” A smiled slipped from her lips.

  “Yep. Besides, you’re half asleep right now, when you wake up you’ll be thrilled the window is fixed.”

  “I wasn’t sleeping, either. I got up hours ago and showered.”

  “Sure looked like you were sleeping.”

  “I was merely resting my eyes.”

  Matt started to laugh, the gesture propelling him slightly backward. “Whoa. Whoa.” He swayed again.

  “Matt, be careful. That’s not funny.” Anne grabbed the front of his shirt with two hands and pulled him forward until he crashed against her.

  “Oh” was all she could say as her head rested against his shoulder, and her heart thumped loud enough to echo in her ears.

  “Thanks,” he murmured as his lips grazed her forehead.

  When his mouth moved on to caress the curve of her cheek, she shivered.

  “That’s the second time you’ve caught me before I fell. Think there’s some significance there?” Matt asked softly.

  She swallowed. “Yes. I prefer you in one piece.”

  “Just so long as you prefer me.”

  “I do,” she murmured as she edged away from the dangerous warmth of his touch. He’d terrified her a moment ago and she was still shaking as much from that as from his touch.

  “Why don’t you stop scaring me and get down from that ladder. If you come to the front door, you can join us for breakfast.”

  “Oh, yeah. That’s an offer I can’t refuse.” He paused. “Is your aunt up yet?”

  “I’m sure she’s been up for hours in her room having prayer time.”

  “Good. I want to chat with her.”

  “What about?”

  “Oh, she and I have a project we’re working on.”

  “You and my aunt? Are you kidding me?”

  “Nope. Not kidding. She and I are in cahoots.”

  Anne laughed, but Matt only offered a secretive smile.

  “I smell coffee, so she’s probably down in the kitchen by now. Knock on the back door and you two can have a clandestine meeting while I wake Claire and help her test her glucose. Although, I can’t guarantee the cone of silence or anything.”

  “We’ll work around the lapse in security around here. I’ll put this ladder away and go find her.” He nodded. “Thanks for having Claire. I bet she loved sleeping up in this room.”

  “She did,” Anne said with a smile. “And it was my first slumber party.”

  “Yeah. I remember you said that. You sure led a sheltered life.”

  “Not anymore.” Anne nodded toward Claire. “Unfortunately, it took so much work to get the mattresses up here and then get Aunt Lily back downstairs, that poor Claire didn’t have much time to appreciate her surroundings. Five minutes after we settled in to tell stories, she was asleep. She didn’t even wake when I checked her blood sugar during the night.”

  A slow, knowing smile curved Matt’s lips. “You’d make a good mom, Anne.”

  Anne shrugged. “I’m a nurse. Taking care of people is what I do.”

  “That’s not what I meant. You’d make a good mother.”

  A warmth spread through her at his words, because somehow she knew that he was right. She would make a good mother. And maybe deep down inside the restlessness she’d been feeling was because she wanted more than a career ladder to climb.

  “You’re thinking awful hard, there, Nurse Matson,” Matt said.

  She blinked and shook off the thoughts. “Be careful getting down off that ladder.”

  “I will, but I have to admit it’s nice to know someone cares besides Stanley.”

  Anne ignored him and began to close the window. “See you downstairs.”

  A smile was on her face all the way down the stairs to her own bedroom as she realized that she didn’t mind seeing Matt’s face first thing in the morning.

  If only things were different, she mused. Right now all she had were regrets and that wasn’t how she wanted to start her day.

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  Lily Gray stood in the doorway of the dining room, leaning on her walker, staring at the tidy stack of collapsed storage boxes. Displeasure was evident in the set of her mouth and her rigid stance as she glanced around the room.

  Anne waited patiently, knowing that a storm was brewing.

  “Where did you get those?” Lily asked.

  “The boxes?” Anne asked from her position on the floor where she sorted through the contents of a drawer.

  “Yes.”

  “Mac at Paradise Hardware special ordered them for me.”

  “I don’t understand what you’re doing.”

  Anne smiled, trying to keep things light. “Spring cleaning.”

  “It’s August.”

  “Then I’m either very late or very early.” She grinned at her aunt.

  “Oh, now you’re being ridiculous. You’re packing, aren’t you? Why?”

  Anne looked up at her aunt. How much should she tell her?

  Eventually she’d have to know the truth.

  “Aunt Lily, we haven’t cleaned out some of these drawers in years. Don’t you think it’s a good idea to downsize, just a little?”

  Lily didn’t wait to answer. “Matt just left. If you wanted to ‘downsize,’ why didn’t you ask him to help?”

  “I don’t need any help. I’m doing perfectly fine by myself.” She stood and cut a piece of tape to seal the next box.

  “By yourself. I taught you that, didn’t I?” Lily clucked her tongue. “I’ve got some repenting to do. I can only hope it’s not too late to fix things.”

  “Fix things? What things need to be fixed?”

  “You, to start with.”

  “What’s wrong with me?” Anne inclined her head, waiting to hear the answer. Her aunt was in unusually rare form today. She wasn’t sure if this was a good thing or not.

  “It’s me who
was wrong, Anne,” Lily said. “I was very wrong. Why I didn’t realize it before now shocks me.” She took a deep breath. “I raised you to be independent, but dependence on Him is what I should have taught you. Can you ever forgive me?”

  “Aunt Lily, there’s nothing to forgive.”

  “I don’t know how. I certainly messed things up.”

  “What are you talking about? Are you feeling okay?”

  “Yes. I am perfectly fine, and I’m talking about you and Matt.”

  “That was a long time ago.”

  “But he still loves you and I know you still love him.”

  “Forgive me, Aunt Lily, but if I really loved him, would I have let you persuade me to leave him? Leave what we had?”

  “Is that what’s keeping you from reaching out to him now that he’s back in your life? You second-guessing the past?” Lily shook her head, growing more and more agitated. “I don’t know the answer to that. The only thing I am sure of is that Matt has forgiven both of us, so why can’t you forgive yourself?”

  “I don’t know. I’m just not there yet.”

  “It’s time for all of us to move on,” her aunt continued.

  “Move on?”

  “Yes.” Lily swept her hand through the air. “There’s no time to waste with the town trying to put a road right through my dining room.”

  As the tape slipped from her fingers, Anne whirled around. “You know about the road?”

  “Of course. When were you going to tell me?”

  “I’m sorry. I didn’t want to worry you.”

  “Worry me. Is that what’s at the bottom of all of this? I’ve gotten so feeble you feel you have to protect me?”

  “No. I...I...” There was nothing she could say that wouldn’t hurt her aunt because, yes, she was protecting her.

  “What’s your strategy?”

  “My plan has been to turn it over to the Lord. I don’t know what else to do.”

  “Humph. Looks to me like you’ve given up.”

  “No, I haven’t given up. I’m being practical. I want to be prepared. Why fight the inevitable?”

  “You’re giving up.” Lily sighed and slowly shook her head. “I’m so disappointed.”

  “Aunt Lily, we don’t have a choice.”

  “Nonsense. That’s what life is all about. Choices.”

  Anne’s head jerked up. “What exactly does that mean?”

  “It means I want you to stop what you’re doing and listen to me for a minute.” Her tone was definitely one-hundred-percent Lily Gray. As her aunt’s condition had grown worse, Anne hadn’t expected to ever hear it again.

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  “I’m trying to tell you that even I recognize that I’m having more and more muddled moments.”

  “I know, Aunt Lily, and I’d hoped we could stay in this house...” Her voice trailed off as she fought back the tears. “I thought it might help if we could stay in familiar surroundings.”

  Lily left her walker and navigated to Anne using the furniture for balance. She put her arm around Anne’s waist.

  “Oh, my dear girl, this house isn’t going to save me. It’s time to let go of the past and make some decisions for the future.”

  “What are you trying to tell me?”

  “I’m ready to move to the retirement village. I’d have access to round-the-clock care. My friends are there.”

  Anne’s chest tightened and her eyes pricked. “If that’s what you want.”

  “It isn’t necessarily what I want, however I can see it’s what I need to do.”

  “I don’t understand. If you want to go to the retirement village, then why are you fighting me about the house? What would be the point of standing up against the entire town for a big old house like this when I’d end up living here all by myself?”

  “Because it’s our house and it’s a magnificent piece of history.” Lily reached into the pocket of her sweater and pulled out a letter. “This arrived in the mail today. I got historic landmark status tentative approval.”

  “What? How?” She reached for the letter.

  “At my request the committee escalated your application.”

  Anne burst out laughing. “Of course, you did. I forgot you’re Lily Gray.”

  Her aunt gave a satisfied smile.

  “I hope you realize that when I applied the old-fashioned way two weeks ago, they told me three months until the committee meets. How did you even know I filed?”

  “I heard you talking to your friend Manuel. So I called a few friends in high places.”

  “Why didn’t you tell me what you were up to?”

  “Because it’s not going to fix anything, and it isn’t going to stop the town. I pulled a dozen strings or more and, yes, they’re going to approve the house, but it still won’t be final until after the deadline. Even I can only move the red tape of government paperwork so fast.”

  “I’m still pretty impressed.”

  “No need to be...yet.”

  “Excuse me?”

  “Oh, yes, the best is yet to come, Anne. You just have to trust me.”

  Trust her. Isn’t that what Matt had said? And Manny, too, for that matter?

  Everything seemed to be a matter of trust lately.

  Anne rubbed the back of her neck. She didn’t know if she should be worried or excited. At the end of the day she was right back where she started. With a deadline and a dozen decisions looming over her head, right next to a sky-high stack of maybes.

  * * *

  By the time Lily had gone to take a nap, Anne had packed half a dozen boxes and filled another half a dozen with items to donate to charity. She also had a pile of items to ask her aunt about. Who had the sterling-silver baby rattle belonged to? And the staid black-and-white photo of a young couple behind the foggy glass in the picture frame had to be someone in the family tree. But who?

  When the doorbell rang she unfolded herself from the floor and moved to answer it before her aunt heard it and woke up.

  Anne glanced at her watch. “Matt, what are you doing back here?”

  “Not glad to see me?”

  She glanced away from his scrutiny. His words couldn’t be further from the truth. Every time she saw him it was a little bit more like coming home.

  “Always glad to see a friend,” she said. “I simply meant that you only left a few hours ago.”

  “Your aunt called me.”

  “Lily said she was going upstairs to take a nap.”

  “I’m sure she did, after she called me.”

  Anne held the open door for him. “Why did she call you?”

  He chuckled. “She’s your aunt. You’ll have to ask her what she’s up to.”

  “So you’re telling me that you came all the way over here because my aunt told you to and you don’t know why. That makes no sense.”

  He laughed again. “It will shortly. I promise.”

  Matt followed her to the dining room and assessed the disarray. “What are you doing?”

  “Everyone keeps asking me that. I thought it would be obvious.” She held up the tape and pointed to the boxes. “I’m packing.”

  “Okay, packing is good, except that according to the movers you only need to pack your valuables. Everything else can stay right where it is.”

  “What movers were you talking to?”

  He frowned. “I, uh, I was doing research online...”

  “You’re doing moving research for me?”

  He shrugged.

  “What movers only say to pack your valuables? That doesn’t make any sense, either.”

  Matt opened his mouth and then closed it.

  “Are you sure Lily didn’t ask you over to make me stop packing?”<
br />
  “Your aunt was pretty agitated when she called. She said it was time for me to show you something.”

  She cocked her head. “And what could that be?”

  Matt took the tape from her and put it on the table. “Yeah. Have you got time to take a little ride?”

  “Sure. Lily is taking a nap, so I have about an hour.”

  He took her hand and urged her toward the front door. Anne tried to pretend that the gesture meant nothing. Matt taking her hand the way he used to. But it meant everything and, inside, her heart soared.

  “Where’s Claire?” she asked as he unlocked the passenger door of his truck. Anne got in and reached over to unlock his door for him.

  “She’s at Delia’s. They’re planning Manny’s birthday dinner. Claire is making your chicken recipe. She’s pretty excited.”

  “Oh, I’m glad.” She paused. “How old will Manny be?”

  “Don’t ask. He’s old. Really old.”

  “You were roommates. Aren’t you the same age?”

  “Manny has an old spirit.”

  “That’s the funniest thing I ever heard. An old spirit, hmm?”

  “I’m telling you, it’s the truth. He doles out advice like you wouldn’t believe. The annoying part is that ninety-nine percent of the time he’s right.”

  Anne laughed again.

  They left the outskirts of Paradise and continued to drive farther into the valley that surrounded the town. Soon grazing bison could be seen along the rolling hillside.

  “How far out are we?”

  “Only about four miles.”

  “I guess I just don’t remember this side of the hill. Isn’t this part of Elliott Ranch?”

  “The ranch spreads from here to over the next two hills and then some.”

  Matt parked the truck on the top of the crest and got out. Then he came around and helped her out.

  “It’s beautiful,” Anne said. “The wildflowers are still blooming...and look at the mountains. I love this time of year.”

  “There’s more. Listen,” Matt said.

  They stood together quietly with the music of nature around them, until Anne gradually tuned in to the sound of gurgling water.