A Little Bit Engaged

by Teresa Hill

She grabbed her purse and what was left of her sandwich and headed for the door, Gretchen hurrying along behind her.

  “Well…I think you should probably call Joe first, before he hears about the obstetrician’s office from someone else. You wouldn’t want him to get the wrong idea,” Gretchen said. She’d always had a soft spot for Joe.

  Kate turned around, too mad to care about who knew what anymore. Her sisters’ lease was signed. They were committed. They were moving in together.

  “I don’t care if Joe gets the wrong idea,” she said. “He’s in love with someone else.”

  She was still mad when she found Ben’s church, an old monstrosity made of heavy, cut stone, faded with time, and huge, beautiful, stained-glass windows.

  She charged into a room marked office, startling a very stern, disapproving-looking older woman who said imperially, “May I help you, young lady?”

  “Ben Taylor. Where is he?”

  “I’m not sure at the moment. He has an unfortunate habit of wandering away when my back is turned. What’s he done now?”

  Supposedly gotten me pregnant, Kate nearly said, then struggled to hold back a laugh at the expression that was likely to bring to the face of Ben’s taskmaster. It would almost be worth it to say it, just to give Ben a taste of what she’d had to deal with already with Gretchen and what was sure to come, as the gossip spread.

  “I’m sorry. It’s been a bad day. I’m normally never rude. Could you just tell me where he is?” Kate said. “Or…give me your best guess?”

  She could imagine how the man would be hard to keep track of and sympathized completely with the older woman, who looked like somebody’s grandmother. Not the cuddly kind, but the kind people obeyed without question and every now and then, scared them half to death.

  “The sink in the kitchen in the church hall has been acting up. I wouldn’t be surprised if he was trying to fix it himself to save the money a plumber would charge us. He has no sense of decorum.”

  Kate’s lips twitched in amusement once again, then realized that last bit about decorum could have easily been something she said about Ben.

  What she as uptight and humorless as Ben’s secretary?

  “I’m going to find him. Do you want me to give him a message for you, if I do?”

  “Yes, tell him I know he’s not that forgetful and it’s cowardly to sneak out without telling me where he’s going, and there’s no room for cowards in his profession.”

  “Yes, ma’am.” She could enjoy delivering that message.

  She found the church hall, and sure enough, there with his head under the sink, nothing but his jean-clad legs and T-shirt-clad torso sticking out, was, she was sure, Ben Taylor.

  “So,” she said, standing five feet away and glaring at the spot where his head should be in about five seconds, “there’s a rumor going around town that a certain member of the clergy has gotten me with child. You!”

  She heard what she thought was his head thud against something solid, probably a pipe, and he might have said a bad word. She couldn’t be sure, because he bit off the last part with a grimace as his head finally emerged from under the sink.

  “Had to check and make sure who I was?” Kate asked.

  “It would be a miracle along the lines of the immaculate conception for me to have gotten anybody pregnant, so I’m not really worried.”

  “You should be,” she said, because he was grinning again, and she was mad. “It’s not funny!”

  “It is considering how close I’ve gotten to any women in the last two years.”

  “Well, I don’t think it’s funny. Not at all.”

  He sat on the floor wiping his hands on a towel then pushed his tools aside and got to his feet. “I don’t suppose we could discuss this rationally?”

  He was taller than Kate realized, and he wasn’t wearing a T-shirt. It was…maybe an undershirt, but a skimpy one. A most un-clerical one. Torso-hugging and sleeveless, it showed off his shoulders and arms, looked just right with a pair of well-worn, black jeans.

  Kate almost forgot she was mad for a moment.

  “I am completely rational,” she claimed, once she’d managed to stop looking at him that way. “I am never less than rational, not at any time in my life.”

  “Could we discuss this calmly?” he tried.

  “I’m calm, I’m just furious. There’s a difference.”

  “Okay,” he said, good-naturedly. “Who says I knocked you up?”

  And he looked like a guy completely capable of knocking up a woman, which wasn’t helping her mood at all.

  “Probably half the town by now. They saw us in Dr. Russell’s office, and since Shannon didn’t want to be seen with us, we sat there by ourselves looking like a couple.” A bickering couple, if she recalled correctly. She hadn’t been happy there, either, because of the delay and…well, she wasn’t sure what. The prospect of living alone, maybe, for the first time in her life—assuming she could get Shannon out—and being seen in public with Ben and Shannon in full-dress black, plus having an ex-fiancé who was in love with someone else was enough to put any woman in a bad mood.

  “So, we can’t be seen in public without people thinking I got you pregnant?” Ben tried.

  “Not in an obstetrician’s office! And not when any friend of Melanie Mann is present.”

  “Oh. She is getting to be a problem. I don’t suppose it occurred to you that I’m really not responsible for every piece of gossip that floats around this town?”

  “When it comes to gossip about me, you seem to be.” It was unfair, Kate knew, but she was still mad, and the idea of her, smart, responsible Kate, getting herself pregnant by a minister, while she was engaged to Joe, it was ludicrous!

  “Well, what would you like me to do? I guess I could make an announcement from the pulpit on Sunday and swear that you’re not pregnant, and that even if you were, it couldn’t be my baby.”

  Kate’s mouth dropped open, fury leaving her absolutely speechless.

  “Okay, you’re right,” he said. “That’s not going to work. Plus, it makes me look like a cad. And I may be many things, but not that. If you were pregnant, I would stand by you every minute of the way.”

  Kate might have screamed at him herself, but from somewhere behind her she heard a gasp.

  They both whirled around to see a delivery person holding an overnight envelope and a clipboard, glancing back and forth from Kate to Ben, finally sticking with Ben and saying, “Pastor Taylor?”

  Ben nodded.

  “Next-day letter for you. Could I get you to sign?”

  “Sure.” Ben signed, took the letter and thanked the man, then looked to Kate. “I guess you know him, too?”

  Kate felt about a thousand years old. Everything just kept getting worse, no matter what she did. It just got worse.

  “I think that guy played football at the high school when I was there. I think he’s one of Melanie’s old boyfriends.”

  Perfect.

  “So…that probably didn’t do our situation any good, huh?”

  Kate shook her head. She was sure, if they looked out into the parking lot, the guy would be on his cell phone right then, calling Melanie.

  “I think I’ll go back to work now,” Kate said.

  She had appointments, she thought. Honestly, she couldn’t remember. And she’d long since lost her list. What was she supposed to do today? A few important things, she knew. She just couldn’t recall what they were.

  But the phone would be ringing off the hook from the gossip. Gretchen would be hyperventilating, and Kate really needed to be there, to figure out what she was going to say. People would be staring at her tummy for months, wondering, despite anything she said on the subject. And it would just get worse, once the news was out that she and Joe weren’t engaged anymore. They’d all think it was because of her, because she’d gone and gotten pregnant by another man.

  “I don’t think I can do this anymore,” she said, then frowned up at the man she’d stil
l like to blame for all her problems.

  “Do what?” he asked, too kindly for the way she’d attacked him.

  “Anything.” She feared she sounded like someone who’d just woken up from a three-year nap. Or a coma, maybe. What day was it? What had happened to her nice, safe, predictable life? “I can’t seem to fix anything anymore.”

  “Well, what do you really need to fix today?”

  Kate looked at him as though he’d absolutely lost his mind. “Oh, I don’t know. Just about everything in my life!”

  “No, you don’t. You just need to go back to work. Take a few phone calls from busybodies. Say you’ve taken a pregnant teenager into your house and are just trying to get her a checkup. That you and I are working together to help her, not seeing each other socially. And then…go home. Take it easy. Take a bath or something. See a movie. Relax.”

  “I don’t have time to relax! I don’t have time for a movie!”

  “Sure you do. You don’t have to fix everything, Kate. You couldn’t, even if you wanted to.”

  She felt the way she would if someone had told her the world had stopped rotating on its axis. What was wrong with this man? He was infuriating. Although…it did seem like she couldn’t fix anything lately. And the whole idea that she wouldn’t ever be able to again, that her whole life would deteriorate into a condition of complete chaos… God, that was terrifying. How could she live like that? How could anyone?

  She wanted to cry again for about the sixteenth time in forty-eight hours. “I hate this,” she whispered.

  “I know.”

  And then he was right beside her somehow, big and solid and calm as could be. How did he manage that? It wasn’t normal to be so calm or so good-natured, so willing to accept the crazy things that happened in life.

  He pulled her close for a moment, warm and reassuring, kissed her forehead in a way that was sweet… Since when did she like anything that was sweet? She didn’t even like chocolate, not really, not the way most women did.

  And then he backed away, as if he expected her to come buzzing at him like a big, nasty bee and sting him.

  All because he was nice to her.

  Tears flooded her eyes then.

  “I feel just awful,” she said.

  He felt her forehead, smiled a little. “No fever. You don’t sound all stuffed up or like you have a scratchy throat.”

  “Not that way,” she said, but he knew that. He was trying to cheer her up, maybe make her laugh. Why would he care if she laughed on a lousy day like this? “This was supposed to be a good day. A normal one. I had a list. I was going to handle everything.”

  “Yeah, that happens to me all the time. That stuff-not-working-out-as-planned thing. How about this?” he suggested. “Why don’t you let me try to take care of this pregnancy rumor?”

  “I take care of myself,” she insisted.

  “Just give this a try. Let someone else do it. Let me. Think of it as a character-building exercise. You’re very task-oriented. I’m sure you like those.”

  “You’re making fun of me,” she complained.

  “I’m trying to help you, Kate. Do you always make it this hard for people to help you?”

  “Maybe.”

  “Like Shannon. You two are very alike, aside from your fashion sense.”

  “There’s nothing wrong with my fashion sense,” she insisted.

  “I didn’t say there was.”

  “And there’s definitely something wrong with hers. I offered to take her shopping tonight, to pick up a few things for her, and she thought I wanted her to help me with my wardrobe! Like I’m going to start wearing black leather and chains!”

  Ben laughed out loud at that.

  Kate just felt tired. All of a sudden, she was so tired.

  “Go home, Kate.”

  “I can’t. I have to work.”

  “Then go to work. I’ll call you and Shannon tonight and let you know if I’ve made any progress.”

  Which sounded a lot like letting him take care of her, something she’d never let anyone do.

  Ben stood there watching her go. He’d never imagined her so sad. A little uptight, maybe, a little tense, a little too driven, but not sad, not defeated.

  He shook his head. He was supposed to know how to help people, not drive them crazy. He walked back to his office, wondering at the last minute just how much Mrs. Ryan knew about the situation.

  “You got that nice Cassidy girl pregnant?” she said, the minute he walked in.

  “No,” he responded, grabbing his black shirt and putting it on.

  “You’d better not have! Because, I’d have to call someone at the diocese—”

  “I didn’t get her pregnant. I’ve never gotten anybody pregnant. At the rate I’m going, I never will.”

  “You don’t have to shout about it,” she reminded him, turning all prim and librarianish.

  “Sorry. I’m going out for a while.”

  “Oh, no. Do you really think that’s wise?”

  “Probably not, but I’m going anyway.” He put his white collar back on, thinking it might come in handy, and grabbed his keys.

  “Where are you going?”

  “Believe me, you don’t want to know.”

  Chapter Nine

  He stalked over to the Big Brothers/Big Sisters office, contemplating defrockment once again. At least it wasn’t a violation of the law. He wouldn’t go to jail. Mrs. Ryan would get a new boss, maybe one she approved of, and maybe the new guy could actually help some of the people of the parish. That would be a good thing.

  Ben would go hide, far away from anyone, where he couldn’t cause any harm.

  There, he had a plan.

  Kate would be happy, at least.

  Maybe she’d make him a nice list, step-by-step, explaining everything very carefully, so that even he couldn’t mess it up.

  He trudged down the street, wondering how things had gotten so messed up so quickly. Wasn’t it just three days ago he’d been here, all ready to help Shannon?

  He pulled open the office door to find Melanie at her desk, on the phone, whispering furiously. When she spotted him, she shut up right away, her mouth just falling open, no sound coming out.

  Ben knew exactly what she was up to. He took the phone from her hand, said to the caller, “She’s going to need to call you back,” then hung up before anyone could say anything else.

  Melanie gaped at him. “Is there a problem?”

  “I think you know what the problem is,” he said, making himself as big and intimidating as possible. It wasn’t his best thing—intimidation—but he’d give it his best shot, for Kate’s sake.

  Melanie withered before him, managing to look about ten years old and innocent as could be, though he knew she wasn’t.

  Still…he really wasn’t good at yelling or scaring people. There were more than enough you’re-going-to-hell ministers in the world already. He’d always left it to them to scare people. He was more the can’t-we-all-be-nice-to-one-another guys.

  Okay, he could go with that.

  Melanie wasn’t being nice.

  He sat down on the corner of her desk, made himself comfortable and found his best explain-things-to-little-children voice, since she was working hard to look like one.

  “You know,” he said. “There are people in this world who believe if you put nothing but good into the world, you’ll get a lot of good back. I’m not sure if I’d go that far, because I’ve seen a lot of good people have lousy things happen to them.”

  Melanie nodded, eager to please, it seemed.

  “But who knows? I don’t have all the answers. I don’t think anyone does.”

  “Me, neither,” Melanie whispered.

  “And those people also believe, if you do nothing but hurt people, maybe spread rumors about them and make them cry, there’s a whole, big, blob of hurt, floating around the world with your name on it. That if you put it out there, you’re going to get it back.”

  Melanie
drew back as far as her chair allowed. Her lower lip started to quiver.

  “Like I said, I’m not sure if I believe that entirely, but if I was somebody who acted like that, I think I’d be scared about what was coming to me, you know?”

  “Well…” she began, but Ben was having none of that.

  “And one thing you might have forgotten is that you had a fifteen-year-old girl come here a few days ago, all in black, looking as if she was dressed up for Halloween. Shannon Delaney, remember?”

  “I think so.”

  “Maybe you didn’t realize that I’m the one who got Shannon into this program. Because she came to me, at my church, for help, and I’m trying to help her.”

  “Oh,” Melanie said.

  “You might not know, either, that Kate is Shannon’s big sister now, which means Kate’s trying to help her, too.”

  “Yeah,” Melanie said. “I knew that.”

  “And the biggest thing you might not know is that Shannon happens to be pregnant. She’s been too scared to tell anyone, so she hasn’t seen a doctor at all, which is really not good for her or the baby.”

  “Oh, no. It’s not. I know that.”

  “So, you have two people trying to help Shannon. Doesn’t it seem like one of the first things they’d do,” Ben said, shouting at the end, “is take her to the doctor?”

  Melanie’s eyes got big and round, and as he yelled, she yelped, “Oh!”

  “Yes, ‘oh.’ A doctor whose business is taking care of pregnant women. Maybe…Dr. Russell?”

  Melanie nodded furiously.

  “So, now you know what’s going on. And if anyone came to you with questions about this, you could set them straight, right?”

  “Yes.”

  “Wouldn’t want anyone to get the wrong idea, right?”

  “Right.”

  “In fact, you’d be doing a good thing, if you set a few people straight about this. I mean, if you happened to know people who might be…confused about it?”

  “I could do that,” she said.

  “Good,” he said, altogether pleased with his big, bad, intimidating man routine. “I think that’s what you should do.”

  He picked up the phone he’d grabbed only moments ago, put it in her hand and waited for her to dial.