The Soldier's Sweetheart

by Deb Kastner

  What was she supposed to say?

  “Do you want me to take this?” Will asked when she didn’t immediately offer an explanation.

  She shrugged and glared at him for good measure. He was the reason she was in this position. He might as well be the one to finish the job. Her head was already on the chopping block, and he held the razor-sharp ax above her neck. All he had to do was swing it.

  “Samantha has been receiving aggressive correspondence from Stay-n-Shop,” Will confirmed, his mouth a hard line of disapproval. She wasn’t certain whether his scowl was meant for her, because she’d kept this situation from her family, or for the dire circumstances in general.

  “We’re all aware that they’ve been buying up local grocery stores in the area,” her grandfather said. “Are you sayin’ they’re wanting to do the same to us? Take us out and put up one of theirs?”

  Will’s gaze brushed over her as he nodded grimly. The room erupted as everyone expressed their outrage and disbelief, shouting over one another in order to be heard.

  Confusion mounted until her father put his fingers to his lips and whistled shrilly. He raised one hand in the air to take control over the ruckus. Still murmuring their opinions, the members of her family reluctantly quieted down. Will sat rigidly, his expression neutral. Surely he wasn’t entirely unaware that his words had caused all this commotion. Samantha’s blood boiled.

  At least the guy should feel something after yanking the rug out from under her world. He’d altered the Howell family dynamic, maybe permanently. He’d quite possibly destroyed her parents’ trust in her. Didn’t he care about how she must be feeling right now?

  “So what you are saying is that Stay-n-Shop has made an offer to buy us out,” her father said to Will.

  “Repeatedly,” Samantha replied, but no one seemed to be heeding her words. She might as well not have spoken.

  “Yes, sir,” Will affirmed. “They’re offering for the store. But there’s more.”

  “More?” Her mother’s head snapped up, her voice a good octave higher than usual. “Like what?”

  “I told them I wasn’t interested in selling,” Samantha inserted, seething with frustration that no one appeared to be paying attention to her. It was almost as if they were ignoring her as payback, which she was the first to admit she probably deserved. Still, she had something important to say, and she needed them to listen. She spoke louder, increasing her volume to exceed that of the other folks in the room. “Believe me when I say I firmly declined their offers.”

  “Offers?” her mother parroted. “Plural?”

  “Then why are we having this conversation?” her father asked simultaneously.

  Because Will opened his big mouth.

  “Because Stay-n-Shop wouldn’t take no for an answer,” she clarified. “They’ve acquired a ninety-day option on some property on the south side of town. They indicated that they would prefer to buy us out rather than build a new store, since it would be less of a hassle for them not to have to get new permits and zoning, especially since we already own the land around the store. They plan to use the additional space to build their superstore. However, if I don’t cave in to their demands, they’re fully prepared to move forward with building their own store.”

  “Consequently driving us out of business,” Will finished for her.

  Samantha’s eyebrows hit her hairline. There was that us again. Will spoke as if he were one of them, as if he had a vested interest in Sam’s Grocery beyond just working there. She felt like reminding him that he’d only been employed for a few weeks, and that she had hired him under duress.

  She wondered if any of the rest of the family noticed Will’s inclusive wording—and what they thought if they did.

  “You received repeated legal threats, and yet you didn’t think this was something we should be aware of?” her father asked Samantha in a barely controlled voice. He glowered at her as only a father could do. She didn’t recall ever having seen him as angry as he was right now. His face was flushed, but it was his rhythmic stroking of the white goatee at his chin that made Samantha quake in her boots. Hopefully at least a little of that fury was directed at Stay-n-Shop and not at her. Otherwise, she was in the worst imaginable trouble. She felt like she was four years old again, getting in trouble for coloring on the wall. Only these markers didn’t wash off.

  Samantha took a deep breath and mentally pulled herself together. She’d always known this moment would happen—she’d only hoped it would have been after the issue was resolved. She’d wanted to present this as a closed case, without having to worry them with unnecessary details. But she had to accept that it was what it was.

  “I kept this quiet for your sake.”

  “How do you figure?” her father snapped, thumping the table with his fist.

  Out of the corner of her eye, she thought she saw Will wince at the gesture. But it was Will—he didn’t wince. Not at anything.

  “Honestly? Initially, I didn’t see a reason for you to get involved,” she answered. “Granted, I was a little shaken up when I got their first letter, but I thought if I declined their offer, they would go away.”

  “You should have told us,” her mother scolded.

  Samantha nodded. “I planned to tell you when everything was settled. But then those corporate lawyers came back with a second offer—more money, more pressure. They indicated their intention of securing land in the area should I not agree to their terms.”

  “Seems to me the tension is running a little high in this room,” Grandpa Sampson declared. “Let’s remember we’re all family here.”

  “Samantha has yet to explain herself,” her father said.

  “She was doin’ what she thought was best.” Grandpa Sampson silenced her father with a look that could singe the hair off a human being. “What’s done is done.”

  “What do you suggest we do then?” After Grandpa Sampson’s admonishment, her father seemed to have calmed down a bit, though a muscle still jerked in his jaw.

  “I think the first order of business is to get our hands on those papers,” Grandpa Sampson suggested. He was in top form tonight, his mind clear. “We all need to read the letters to get up to speed, get a better sense of what’s happening. We can’t support our Samantha if we don’t know exactly what we’re up against. You can get them for us right away, can’t you, Samantha?”

  “I’ll get the file when we’re done talking,” Will offered. “If you all can watch Genevieve a bit longer.”

  “Much obliged,” said her father.

  “It’s no problem,” Will insisted. “I’m glad to do it—to assist you any way that I can.”

  Her father nodded briskly. He understood what Will was offering, and it wasn’t just running to the store to retrieve a file. He was stepping up for the family, just as he’d said he would. She didn’t know whether to be relieved or feel bulldozed by his insistence on meddling in her personal business—or rather, the family business.

  “Before you leave, Will, we should pray about it,” her mother added. “God knows the specifics better than we ever will, with the letters or without them.”

  “I still have questions, Samantha,” her father said. “You have yet to explain why you thought it would be better to keep us in the dark about this whole situation rather than coming to us for help,” he reminded her. “We’ve worked our whole lives in order to bring you the security of the grocery, a legacy you could continue, should you so choose.”

  “Exactly my point,” Samantha said. “You have worked your whole lives to give me Sam’s Grocery, and I appreciate it more than you’ll ever know. It’s become my life’s dream. Most all of what I want to accomplish in life is tied up in that store.”

  “All the more reason for you to have brought us in on this,” her father argued.

  “Or all the
more reason for me not to bring you in at all,” Samantha countered. “You finally have the opportunity to do something you’ve always wanted to do—run the bed-and-breakfast. Now I’ve ruined it for you, and don’t say I haven’t.”

  “How do you figure?” her father demanded, sounding a little bit wounded by her declaration. “You haven’t ruined anything. It’s hardly your fault corporate America is nipping at your heels. What you’re saying doesn’t make any sense.”

  “I don’t think she meant any harm by withholding information,” Will offered. “She really had the best intentions in mind by not telling you.”

  Samantha glanced at Will, surprised by his support. Did he actually understand why she’d not shared the information with her parents?

  She knew she’d hurt a lot of feelings, and she wasn’t sure how to repair the mess she’d made. She continued her explanation, folding and refolding her napkin in perfect lines to give her hands something to do. “I knew exactly what you would do if I told you about the situation with Stay-n-Shop. You would have set aside your own plans in order to help me until this whole mess was resolved. I mean, that’s what you’re going to do, isn’t it?”

  “You’d better believe it,” her mother agreed.

  “Absolutely,” her father said at the same time.

  “But don’t you see? I didn’t want you to do that. I still don’t.”

  “Why not?” Grandpa Sampson asked. “The Good Book says that in a multitude of counselors there is safety.”

  Samantha threw her hands up in surrender. How was she supposed to argue with the Bible?

  “I’ll admit I may have made a tactical error in not bringing this to you sooner. Maybe I do need help. I’m not having any issues keeping Sam’s in the black, but we don’t have enough savings to hire a lawyer—definitely not the kind of lawyer we’d need to fight an enormous corporation like Stay-n-Shop.”

  “Then we’ll have to find another way to win this battle—without a lawyer,” her father stated grimly, and Will nodded in agreement. “It’s up to us to find a way to fight back on our own.”

  Samantha felt oddly comforted now that she had other people by her side to support her. Maybe Will had been right. At the very least, she felt a little less defeated now that her family was with her. Even in their anger, she felt their love.

  “I’m beginning to think I know what David must have felt like facing off against big old Goliath with nothing more than a sling and a few stones,” Samantha admitted.

  Will chuckled.

  Chuckled.

  She wanted to hurl something at him. Like her napkin. Or a brick. He just had to rub it in.

  “Now you all are aware that I’ve never been to Sunday school,” he said wryly. “But if I’m not mistaken, didn’t David win that battle? Seems to me it all worked out well for him in the end, having God on his side and all that.”

  “You’re exactly right, young man,” Grandpa Sampson agreed with a satisfied grunt, as if he’d thought of it himself. “The Good Book says that the Lord our God is with us, the Mighty Warrior who saves. We can rest on that promise.”

  “I just hope we can locate vulnerability in our giant,” Samantha said. “We need to find a chink in Stay-n-Shop’s armor. Otherwise, we won’t be slaying it with a dozen stones.”

  Before she realized what he intended to do, Will reached across the table and grasped her hand. Samantha was cognizant of the way the various members of her family were now staring at her with open curiosity and some amusement. But even more than that, she was ultra-aware of the gentle graze of Will’s hand on hers. It was electric.

  Her mother grinned like the proverbial cat who’d eaten the canary.

  “It’ll happen,” Will assured her in his rich, firm tone. “We’re going to beat these guys. You’ll see.”

  Samantha scoffed. “And how would you know that?”

  “Easy. Because I’ve seen your faith. And the faith of your family,” he added. “If God is going to help anybody here, it’s not going to be some huge, impersonal entity. It’s going to be you.”

  “But you don’t believe in Christ, do you?” she felt obligated to point out.

  “I honestly don’t know what I believe,” Will admitted, shrugging one broad shoulder. “Being around you folks has challenged me to reevaluate. I’m still asking questions. I’m not sure. Not yet. But you are, and as far as I’m concerned, that’s all I need to know.”

  Samantha was astounded, not only by Will’s support, but by his revelation that the Lord was working on his heart. It suddenly occurred to her that maybe there was a higher purpose at work, something larger than just the fight between an enormous bear of a corporation and a tiny ant of a country store.

  That maybe filled her heart with new hope.

  “Sounds to me like this would be a good time to bow our heads in prayer,” her father stated, breaking into her thoughts. The family murmured in agreement.

  Will hadn’t yet withdrawn his hand from hers. Their gazes met and he squeezed her fingers, one side of his mouth creeping upward.

  It had taken a man of no faith to remind her of her own.

  She was not alone in this fight.

  She never had been.

  Chapter Six

  Samantha excused herself from the table just after Will. She wanted to make sure she caught him before he left for the store to retrieve the letters. She had a few things to say to him and wanted to speak to him before she lost all the steam she’d built up.

  Should she be angry or relieved? She didn’t know, but she was certainly eager to find out.

  “Hey, Will.” She caught up with him just after he’d exited the front door. “Wait up a moment. I have a question for you.”

  He turned to her with a frown. Nothing new there. Anyway, she was the one who had something to frown about.

  But now that she was in front of him, she wasn’t sure where to start.

  He arched a brow. “I was under the distinct impression you never wanted to speak to me again. You wanted something?”

  Yeah. An apology.

  “An explanation would do, for starters.”

  Will dropped his gaze and shoved his hands into the front pockets of his jeans. “I guess I owe you that.”

  “You think?” She blurted the words out before she stopped to consider that they were a little harsh. “Sorry. I spoke in haste.”

  “You’re not the one who should be apologizing here. I’m the one who spoke out of turn today.”

  “Perhaps. Why did you tell my family about Stay-n-Shop?”

  “Why wouldn’t I?” He looked up, his gaze challenging.

  “Fair enough.”

  “I had no way of guessing you hadn’t shared the information with your parents. I know now that it wasn’t my story to tell.”

  “No,” she said, her chest weighted. “It wasn’t.”

  “I still think they have a right to know.”

  She swallowed her first defense. He was right, of course, which was probably what galled her most. “Be that as it may, I should have been the one to tell them.”

  “Yes, you should have.” His gaze was compassionate rather than accusatory, which only made her feel worse.

  “I’m worried about you, you know.”

  Her breath hitched in her throat. “Don’t be. I can take care of myself.”

  “Why did I know that was what you were going to say?” He chuckled. “You’re the most self-sufficient woman I’ve ever met. All I’m saying is, you don’t always have to be. Your family loves you, and they want to be there for you. I want to support you, as well.”

  She could no longer hold his gaze. “Yes. Well, thank you for that.”

  He cleared his throat. “I guess I ought to get over to the store and get those papers. Your
folks and your grandpa are waiting.”

  “Sure. Okay.”

  He nodded and walked away.

  “Oh, Will,” she called. “One more thing.”

  He turned back.

  “I’m going over to the church to practice the organ for next week’s services, and I was wondering if Genevieve could tag along. I thought she might enjoy playing around with the keys and hearing how a pipe organ sounded.”

  As the church organist, Samantha tried to spend at least a couple of hours practicing on the actual instrument—plus, there was something exciting about playing an instrument with that much power. She had an electric keyboard at home, and her parents owned a piano, but it wasn’t the same as being surrounded by the glorious, melodic tones of the pipes.

  Will hesitated for a moment. His lips twitched as if he were about to say no, but then he nodded. “I’m sure she would. How does a pipe organ sound, anyway?”

  “Loud,” she teased.

  He was hovering, waiting for something. Samantha guessed he wanted an invitation to come along.

  She hesitated. Perhaps she should invite him. It might be the right thing to do. But right or wrong, she needed space, time to process her thoughts and emotions.

  “I’ll have her back by five.”

  “All right, then.” Once again he headed off toward the store. She watched until he turned the corner at the street’s edge and she could see him no longer. Only then did she let out a long sigh.

  She considered going back inside to spend a little time with her family before heading to the church, but she was still a little shaken up by the day’s events, and she doubted anyone was going to let the Stay-n-Shop issue drop, which was all the more reason for her to make herself scarce. At least until Will came back with the letters and her parents and grandfather had time to read the corporate missives for themselves, pray over the situation, and allow their emotions to cool off a bit.

  They might be angry now, but she knew that their prayers would allow them to come back to the figurative table with level heads. She didn’t blame them for being incensed. Yes, they were Christians, but they were still human, and she knew she’d just disappointed them fiercely.