by Lynne Gentry
“What did you say?”
“The only thing I could. ‘I’m on my way.’” He took a heavy breath. “In less than a week, we’d both left the military. Sold everything we owned. I bought an RV and brought her here. To recover on her land. Living together, for the first time in our ten years of marriage, wasn’t easy. We were both so angry at the other’s unwillingness to sacrifice earlier.”
Leona was torn between wanting to say something comforting and holding him, but a small voice in her head was telling her to keep quiet. To listen.
“I was going to start working on the house, but I spent the next two years, driving Claire to Dallas three times a week because of Mt. Hope’s lack of proper medical care. The trips nearly killed her.”
Saul’s watery eyes found Leona’s. “Taking care of my wife, making up for all the years I’d chosen my career over her, was the best thing I’ve ever done.” He drifted back into his memories. “Supporting her. Loving her. All of it changed my life. It was an honor greater than serving my country.” He took a pained breath. “Toward the end, she suffered greatly. When she died, I thought I would be relieved. That I’d sell this house she’d never lived in and I’d never look back. Instead, I was so broken I wanted to jump off the end of the dock.”
“I know the feeling,” Leona whispered.
“I know you do, but you don’t know this.” Saul turned his gaze to the water. “One evening, I was standing with my toes on the very edge of that platform when a larger-than-life man named J.D. Harper motored into my cove.”
“J.D.?” Leona whispered.
Saul nodded. “He must have sensed something was wrong because he asked if he could come ashore and cool off in my shade. The more my gaze drifted toward the water, the more determined he became to stay. Said his wife didn’t like the water, but she was used to his fishing until all hours of the night.” Saul’s demeanor lightened. “J.D. noticed the house, overgrown and neglected. He said, ‘We can fix that. Restore it to something even better than it was before.’ I told him I didn’t have a reason to live here anymore. He said, ‘Well, you can’t sell like this.’ On his days off, he’d show up with his tool box and a fishing pole.”
Leona’s mind ricocheted from Saul’s story to memories of helping J.D. pack his fishing cooler with extra sandwiches and soft drinks. She’d pat his expanding middle and tease him about taking so much food. He just laughed and claimed a man could develop a powerful hunger on the water. It’d never occurred to her that her husband had been rebuilding a house and a broken man. Unable to speak, Leona waited on Saul to finish the story, a story she had to hear.
As if Saul sensed her desperation, he continued, “J.D. loved to laugh, but he never pried. Little by little I began to trust him, to believe he was my friend. Then one day, he told me about another carpenter...one who lived two thousand years ago...the master carpenter whose specialty was restoration.”
The image of J.D. sitting on this very porch, his worn Bible in his calloused hands, a twinkle in his eyes as he walked Saul through the ancient stories that had meant everything to him, cracked the dam holding back Leona’s tears.
“Howard and Maxine can recover from this, Leona.” Saul offered Leona a napkin then refilled their glasses. “I’ll help them salvage their credit, but I won’t help them divorce.”
Leona blew her nose, fully aware that mascara probably ringed her eyes. “Thank you.”
“Thank you?”
“For reminding me.”
“That J.D. was a remarkable man?”
“Yes.”
“There’s not a person in Mt. Hope who would say otherwise.”
“Except for Howard and Maxine.”
Saul snorted surprised agreement. “Except for them.”
Sun-kissed rays outlined dark lavender clouds hovering above the western shore. Leona and Saul sat in silence, soaking in the glorious reminder of God’s presence. When the last of the light faded, the cicadas stirred and the dock lights sputtered to life.
Saul lit the citronella candle on the rugged coffee table. “I can’t offer you a life of saving the world.” His reference to Roy and his African adventure proposal was not lost on her. “But I can do this.” He lifted the corner of the cheese tray and pulled out a business-sized envelope. “Open it.”
“And just when I was beginning to believe you weren’t the man of mystery everyone says you are.”
Leona lifted the flap, extracted a folded piece of paper, and held it close to the candle’s flame. The letterhead bore a medical symbol and the name Robin Boyer, M.D., Maternal-Fetal Medicine, Dallas, Texas.
“What in the world?” Leona’s eyes devoured the brief contents. By the time she finished the last line she wasn’t breathing. “You convinced Mt. Hope’s medical board to hire a specialist for Amy?”
“Not just for Amy. The plan is to add a bevy of specialists, doctors adept at treating anyone who faces difficult medical circumstances.”
“How did you get her to agree to come?”
“I incorporated your suggestions in the proposal.” He tapped the letter. “You’re missing the most important part. She said yes.”
“Who’s paying for this?”
“Me.”
“You?”
“In keeping with my resolution to be so transparent that you’ll have no choice but to trust me, I’ll confess that J.D. was more than my friend. He was my business partner. I had more cash to invest in his little pharmaceutical adventure, which means my wealth is considerably greater than yours.”
Leona couldn’t contain her surprised laughter.
“What’s so funny?” Saul asked.
She couldn’t tell him David thought he was only interested in her for her money. Especially, since she’d done everything she could to douse his interest. “I can’t let you pay for all of this.”
“Are you afraid the folks of Mt. Hope will discover I have a heart?”
She laughed. “I’m afraid you’ll get the big head and take all the credit for saving the babies and mothers of this county.”
His lips curved into a smile. “You can build the hospital wing.” He was enjoying seeing her drop her guard. “Fair enough?”
“Deal.” She stuck out her hand and he shook it firmly. Before she let him go, she asked, “Is Angus Crouch going to school on a scholarship or did you finance his education?”
Saul burst out laughing, raising his free hand in surrender. “You can buy the kid a car.” He lowered his hand slowly. “Does that make you happy?”
Leona folded the letter and slid it back into the envelope. “You didn’t have to do this.”
“When I saw the terror on your face that day I brought David to the emergency room, the only thing I could think to do for you was step outside and make a few calls. The decision was made and approved by the hospital board before I offered to buy you dinner.”
That he’d picked up the phone and made the very thing she wanted happen quickened her breath. “Since we’re both in such a spending mood, why don’t we build Kendra a new dance studio?”
One brow quirked in amused interest. “Something with a deck over the water?”
Leona leaned closer. “Don’t get carried away.”
“A fountain in the atrium then?”
“She does have all those kids to consider. It would be awful if one fell in.”
“Maybe we should do an enclosed aquarium?”
Leona felt her smile growing with each adjustment to their growing plan. “Better.”
“All anonymously, of course.”
“Of course,” she agreed, her gaze buried in his.
The breaking of a twig drew their attention to the water’s edge. A doe and her fawn stepped into the glow of the dock’s lights. The doe’s ears twitched on high alert.
“I’ve been spreading corn for a year now,” Saul whispered. “She comes every night, but it has taken a long time for her to finally trust me.”
They sat in silence, each afraid to breath
e for fear of sending the deer bounding into the brush. When at last the doe and her fawn had drunk their fill, they turned and quietly disappeared into the thick undergrowth.
Saul stood and offered Leona his hand. “One last dance before you’re off to see the world.”
“Off to see the world?”
“With Roy.” Saul’s smile was tight, and pain-filled, but ripe with nothing but best wishes for her. “Now that Amy has the medical care she needs, I can supervise our construction projects. That’ll leave you free to go and save the world.”
He was right. In one fell swoop, he’d taken care of her all of her reasons, and her excuses, for staying in Mt. Hope.
All except one.
Leona stood. “There’s much to do around the world, that’s true.” She closed the gap between them, her lips only inches from his. “But I know I’ll never achieve anything worthwhile if I leave my heart here.” She wrapped both arms around his neck and kissed him.
The gentle brush of his mustache against her lips awakened a new and unknown world, a place filled with her heart’s desires. And who would have thought she would find what she’d been looking for in her own backyard?
With cicadas buzzing in her ears, everything, but the taste of a satisfied life, fell away. Joy swelled in her heart.
When at last their lips parted, Leona smiled. She held up her right hand. “Dance with me, Saul Levy.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
A jazz band played on the lighted terrace overlooking the lake. A pleasant autumn breeze fluttered the checkered cloths that draped long tables heaped with barbecued brisket and corn on the cob. From the size of the crowd milling about the property, the entire town of Mt. Hope had turned out to celebrate the wedding of Leona Harper and the county’s toughest lawyer. Maddie stood on the porch watching a man she barely knew twirl her glowing mother around the dock.
Aunt Roxie handed Maddie a glass of spiked lemonade. “Can you believe your momma is dancing on water?”
Maddie choked on the tart irony. “I’ve seen the woman walk on water.”
Roxie raised her glass in agreement. “I’m glad she finally believes she can get herself back to shore.”
Balancing on one foot, Maddie slipped out of her heels and held the straps in the crook of her finger. “Does that mean I’m off the hook if the family car ever careens over a bridge?”
“It’s the freedom you’ve always wanted, right?”
Maddie set her glass on a nearby table. “Right.”
“Then why so glum? I thought you and David had given your mother your blessing.”
“We did.”
“And?”
“We’re glad Momma’s happy.” Maddie’s gaze drifted toward David and Parker at the horseshoe pit. “I just want her to stay happy.”
Roxie’s head turned toward Maddie’s target. “So she’ll leave you alone?”
“Don’t think I don’t know what Momma did.” Maddie watched Parker and David haggle over whose turn it was.
“You mean scheduling her wedding before Parker set off for South America so you could see him one last time?”
“That’s exactly what I mean.”
“We had to hoof it, that’s for sure.”
Maddie glared at Roxie. “You’re evil.”
“Hell’s bells, darlin’. Everybody knows that. If you don’t believe it, just ask Maxine.” She nodded to where Maxine and Howard stood apart from the crowd, their arms crossed and scowls on their faces. “It’s still touch and go with those two.”
Maddie pulled at her maid of honor wrist corsage. “Who wears these things anymore?” She scattered the petals over Saul’s well-manicured lawn.
“He loves me. He loves me not.” Aunt Roxie chanted as the petals floated to the ground.
“I don’t know what to do, Aunt Roxie.”
“Baby, if you don’t want Parker, give him your blessing and let him go.” Roxie gently turned Maddie and pointed her in the direction of the horseshoe game. “Get it done, and I promise it’ll get your momma off your back.”
“If only it was a question of not wanting him.” Maddie handed Roxie her shoes, picked up the small purse Momma claimed went perfectly with her bridal party dress, and stepped off the porch.
The cool grass pressing between her toes was a stark contrast to the fire burning hot inside of her. She’d tried to forget Parker. But he was a complicated equation of goofy smiles, an obsession with botany, and these crazy, irrational dreams of saving the ecosystem of a third-world country, an equation she’d yet to solve. Parker loved small towns. She wanted a life in the city. Parker was laid-back and low-keyed. She was high-strung and adrenaline-driven. Parker wanted a family. She never wanted to be tied down.
She’d moved the variables around and around, but the truth was, there were far too many facts for the combination of Maddie Harper plus Parker Kemp to ever work out. Aunt Roxie was right. Parker deserved to be happy. If she truly loved him, she had to let him go.
Maddie padded barefoot down to the sandpit, the skirt of her maid of honor dress swirling just above her knees. She picked up a stray horseshoe. “Is this a testosterone-only game?”
“You can have my turn, little sister.” David stepped away from the stake. “I need to check on Amy.”
“I saw her at the meat table.”
“Again?” David shook his head. “I’m beginning to worry that our baby is going to be a beef cake.”
Maddie and Parker exchanged amused glances. Not because what David had said was funny, but because they couldn’t believe how much Amy and this baby meant to the man who couldn’t decide what he wanted in life.
“She’s doing great, David,” Maddie reassured. “I checked her numbers myself before the wedding.”
“You’ll come back when the little guy is born, right?” David asked.
Maddie nodded. “I’ll be on the first plane.”
Parker elbowed Maddie. “Way to make me feel guilty.”
“No guilt, man.” David clapped Parker on the back. “Someone’s got to save the world.” David handed Maddie his horseshoe. “I’m leaving that up to you two.”
Maddie and Parker stood side by side as David jogged up the terrace steps in search of his very pregnant wife.
“I wish ...” Parker paused.
Maddie’s chest squeezed. She turned to him. “Wish what?”
He looked at her, not just at her face, but deep into her soul. “Nothing.”
Maddie started to reach for the coal black curl falling over the tiny scar on his forehead; the one he’d acquired the night he rescued her in a blizzard and his truck spun out. He pulled back slightly and Maddie lowered her hand.
“Momma says you’re leaving tomorrow.”
Parker shifted his horseshoe from hand to hand. “Got the renters settled on my ranch, so I guess I’m ready.”
“Nervous?”
“Excited.”
Parker had dreamed of helping people become proficient in feeding themselves for years.
“Daddy always said a person should follow their calling.”
“I learned a lot about faith from Reverend Harper.” From the glimmer of peace in Parker’s dark eyes, he was doing exactly what he’d been born to do. For her to try to mold him to fit her needs would be like someone asking her to walk away from medicine. She couldn’t do it. Not for anything or anyone.
“I got you a little something.” Maddie fiddled with the clasp on her bag, but her hands were shaking so badly she couldn’t get it open. She thrust her purse at Parker. “It’s inside.”
He dropped his horseshoe on the toe of his boot. As he hopped around, laughing to keep from trying not to howl in pain, Maddie couldn’t help but laugh. Two things in life she could always count on. Parker Kemp would always be clumsy and he would always make her laugh.
“Are you okay?”
When he finally shook off the pain, he looked at the purse she still was asking him to open. “Is something going to jump out at me?”
“That snake trick was so junior high.”
“You haven’t changed that much.” He undid the clasp and hurriedly thrust the purse back at her.
“Chicken.” Maddie opened her bag and pulled out a pocket-sized paperback. When she placed it in his hands, she couldn’t help but remember how those same hands had willingly helped her and others so many times.
He turned the book over and studied the cover. “A plant guide?”
“In Spanish.”
“It’s perfect.” His Adam’s apple bobbed up and down as he tucked it into his shirt pocket and she knew he was swallowing waves of emotion. Same as her. He patted the bulge on his chest as if he was trying to keep his heart from falling out. “Guess this is goodbye then?”
“Guess so.” She bit the corner of her lip and nodded slightly. “Parker ...”
“Yeah?” Hopeful expectation sounded in his whisper.
“Don’t make me come down there and save your butt.”
****
Noooooo! Please tell me it isn’t so! This can’t be goodbye for Maddie and Parker, can it?
It seems reasonable to believe Leona will be so busy enjoying her new life with Saul Levy that she won’t have the time or inclination to continue interfering in David and Maddie’s lives. But then, we all know Leona, don’t we?
Besides the fate of Maddie and Parker, there are so many other questions left unanswered. Does David and Amy’s baby boy arrive safely? Can Howard and Maxine save their failing marriage? What happens to Ruthie after Angus goes off to college? Can the Story sisters Uber forever? And then there’s the new doctor in town. What if Dr. Robin Boyer was not the woman everyone was expecting?
If you can’t leave Mt. Hope without knowing the rest of the story, you’ll be happy to know, you can join thousands of readers who are taking advantage of the happy ending that is just one click away. Grab your copy of BABY SHOES today.