by Jodi Thomas
In his hands now, he carried a burlap sack of something that looked like feed and a couple of small toys. “Y-your house?” she stammered, remembering where he said Gabby had been. “I don’t understand.”
Hannah poked at him to move aside and stepped around him, setting a birdcage on the table where JoEmma had been working. Inside the cage, a tiny lovebird half the size of Gabby perched on a makeshift branch.
“Here’s the male. Noah will do all the explaining.” Hannah pointed, indicating where the doctor could set the feed sack down in the corner. “You can put that there,” she told him. “I’ve got to get to Thurgood’s. I’m already late.”
Hannah Lassiter left the house faster than JoEmma could ever recall the rotund housekeeper moving. “What is that all about?” she asked Noah as he freed up his hands. “And why have you brought another bird with you?”
He shrugged one shoulder. “Mrs. Lassiter assumes you’re going to be upset when I tell you how long I think I’ve had your bird and it wasn’t brought home.” He didn’t address the issue of the male.
“Why should I be angry with her?”
Noah hesitated just long enough not to have to answer. The rustle of petticoats from the parlor warned that Angelina approached and had discovered the identity of their guest. “Dr. Powell, whatever are you doing here?” she asked.
He stepped to one side, making room for her and her buoyant pink dress and layers of petticoats. “Good afternoon, Angelina. My, don’t you look lovely.”
“Why, thank you, Dr. Powell, for saying so.” When she offered her hand, he slightly bowed and pressed a kiss along the tips of her knuckles. “I did want to keep my dress a secret until the Valentine’s dance, but I don’t suppose there’s any harm in showing it to an appreciative gentleman such as yourself.”
JoEmma could have lost her lunch in one of Mrs. Kimble’s pots if it had been closer to her. Angie was laying it on thick with her sweet Southern belle sidetalk, and all JoEmma could think of was the bet her sister had made with the women. Angelina was wasting no time setting her plan into action and blamed if she didn’t look simply beautiful in all the pink bows and lace.
“He found Gabby and returned her,” JoEmma informed her sister, her voice sounding as if she was angry with him and not Angelina. “I’m pleased to say,” she added in a nicer tone.
“Mrs. Lassiter said Gabby belongs to one of you.” Concern etched the doctor’s face. “I knew you’d be worried about her.”
“Why, of course I was,” Angelina hurried to say, stretching her finger toward Gabby to offer a new roosting place.
“Then she’s yours?” Noah looked a little surprised when Angelina laid claim to the bird.
“An-gie. Phew!” Gabby squawked and moved closer to JoEmma.
Her older sister glared at JoEmma, daring her to correct the doctor’s presumption. Instead of answering him, she drew attention to the male bird. “I see that you have one yourself.”
“Yes, and that’s why I’m here.” Noah glanced around the room. “You don’t have any open windows in here, do you?”
“No.” JoEmma glared at her sister. “I try to be careful about that. Unfortunately, a guest accidentally opened the door, and that’s how Gabby escaped.”
Noah opened the birdcage’s latch and held out a finger to the smaller bird. It stepped up onto his finger and allowed him to give the women a closer look. “This is Amigo,” he introduced his pet. “I believe he and your Gabby have become great friends and possibly more than that, I suspect. I don’t really know for certain as I’ve been gone for more than a week and found them together only today. All I do know is that she’s apparently been around long enough that she’s made him a lot happier than I’ve been able to accomplish, and his feathers are better since I last saw him. He’s even saying some words now, which tells me she’s been around long enough for her to teach him. He wasn’t talking when I left.”
“That’s not likely,” JoEmma countered. “It takes a while to teach a bird words, whether the teacher is human or bird.”
“Umm ... ah ... yes, that’s very true,” Angelina added. “A week isn’t long enough, in my opinion.”
Who asked you? JoEmma countered silently but said aloud, “Unless you’ve tried to teach him words.” She searched Noah’s face. The handsome features made her heart flutter as surely as if a summer breeze had blown across it.
“I have, but he never said anything until now.”
“He was waiting for someone he wanted to talk to.” JoEmma laughed softly at the little bird and held her finger out to him. To her surprise, Gabby pecked at JoEmma’s cheek and flew over to Noah Powell’s finger, where she joined the male on his perch. Funny Feathers was territorial! “We all open up better to someone we think is special.” Then she realized what she had said. “Not that you aren’t special, Dr. Powell.”
Why did her words twist whenever he was near? “I just meant that it’s clear that he’s playing games with you or someone else is. If he could talk in a week or so, he could already talk. Has Hannah known all this time that Gabby was at your house?”
“I’d rather let Hannah answer that question for herself.”
“Like I said, someone is playing games with you, Dr. Powell. It may be your bird and then again he might have had some help in the matter.” JoEmma wouldn’t put it past Hannah to play matchmaker, especially if she knew Gabby was safe all this time.
“Oh, now there you go, Sis. He’ll think we’re ninnies with nothing but bird sense for brains. Doctor, would you care for a glass of tea or some hot coffee perhaps?” Angie linked her arm through his, jolting the hand that held the birds. Gabby flew to a windowpane as if needing escape. Amigo landed on his birdcage near the latch.
“No thank you, Miss Brown.” Noah opened the cage door and watched as Amigo retreated inside to safety. “I really only came to talk over what we might do about the lovebirds; then I need to get back to my practice. A few people saw Mrs. Lassiter and me headed this way, so I’m sure word will get around that I’m back in town. I don’t like to leave the office unmanned too long.”
“What did you have in mind for the birds?” JoEmma whistled for Gabby to return. Instead of flying back to JoEmma’s left shoulder, the female lovebird joined the male inside the cage. Nothing else really needed to be said, as far as JoEmma was concerned. Gabby had made her choice already. She preferred to be with her mate. “We can’t separate them. That would be cruel now that they’ve found each other.”
“My thoughts exactly.” Noah gently moved away from Angelina. “I was hoping we could decide which of us needs to give them a permanent home and allow the other to pay visits. Maybe keep one of the offspring when they come.”
“Offspring?” Angelina frowned. “Do you think they have already ... I mean, how soon do you think that will happen? How many will there be?”
“I don’t know much about the species,” Noah admitted. “I was hoping you did.”
“Me?” Distress flashed across her features until she realized she’d given herself away. “Oh, you know JoEmma, she always takes the care and maintaining of anything living around here as her personal responsibility. And since it’s difficult for her to get out and about, I rely on her completely where Gabriella is concerned. I wouldn’t dream of hurting her feelings by denying her something that fulfills her so completely. She knows best about Gabby.”
Angelina was only half lying. JoEmma supposed Gabby did belong to them both. After all, she had bought the lovebird with part of the trust fund money, the one extravagance she’d allowed herself in two years. But other than cost, Gabby belonged to JoEmma, heart and soul, and she had studied everything she could get her hands on about the rare bird. “If Gabby starts building a nest anytime soon, then she’s getting ready to lay in. She’ll drop three to five eggs and it will take about three and a half weeks for them to hatch. They say, since it’s her first brood, not all of them will live.”
“You seem to know a lot about them,” Noah complimented her.
I take care of what’s mine, JoEmma wanted to say, but instead she simply stated, “I collect information. It keeps me busy.”
“So they should definitely live here.” Resignation echoed in the doctor’s voice and he bent over the cage. “I’m going to miss you, Amigo,” he whispered.
Amigo’s head cocked to one side as if he understood and he moved to hide himself in Gabby’s protective wing.
“Ahh, little buddy, it’ll be okay,” Noah cooed. “I’ll drop by and see you when I can.”
Not with his schedule, Noah Powell wouldn’t. JoEmma realized that if the birds didn’t live with the doctor, he would seldom have a chance to see them as he hoped. He was gone from home so often that he barely had time to see himself in his own mirror.
JoEmma couldn’t do that to Noah. Take away his one companion. She knew how that felt from these days of missing her own sweet pet. Gabby was apparently very happy at Noah’s. JoEmma could take care of the birds at the doctor’s office. She could go along with Hannah on most days when Hannah cleaned. If they required more frequent visits, he always left his place unlocked, as everybody in town knew. As long as he left her room to get her wheelchair in and out of wherever he kept them, then there was no reason this wouldn’t work. She needed to make the offer of bird-sitting for him. It would get her out of the house and away from anything Angelina might plan for Noah if he showed up at their house.
Telling herself that this plan was the best thing for the birds and the best way to keep Noah from her sister’s schemes made it easier for JoEmma to brace her heart against losing Gabby for the second time. This time forever. She suggested the alternate plan to Noah.
“You sure this is okay with both of you?” Noah looked from one sister to the other.
To JoEmma’s surprise, Angelina’s blond curls bobbed in approval.
“It’s perfectly fine with us, Dr. Powell. I’ll enjoy coming to your home ... to visit about our birds,” Angelina replied. “In fact, I think I’m already looking forward to my first visit.”
And what you plan to wear and whom you plan to see you going into his office all gussied up. JoEmma knew just how her sister’s mind worked. Instead of ambushing Angelina’s plan, she might have just spurred her into winning the race.
“Well, it sounds like we’re all in agreement.” Noah glanced at the feed sack. “I’ll take the birdcage and toys for now and come back for the sunflower seeds later.”
“No need.” JoEmma eyed her sister and smiled as a devious plan hatched in her mind. “Angelina can carry the birdcage for you and you can get the feed sack. I’ll just roll these pots off to the mercantile a little earlier than I planned. Then I’ll meet you both at your office. You won’t mind doing that, will you, Angie? It will give you a chance to say your good-byes to Gabby.”
“I ... um ... but my dress. I’ll need to change so no one sees my Valentine’s dress yet.”
“Oh, we can wait, can’t we, Dr. Powell?” JoEmma ignored the glare radiating from her sister’s green eyes. “He can help me set this tray on my lap so I can put the pots on it for better balance.”
When Noah turned to lift the tray JoEmma indicated, Angelina shook a fist at her sister, spun on her heels, and fled upstairs.
“I didn’t know your sister was so fond of birds.” Noah helped JoEmma arrange the pots on the tray.
“You never know what will strike her fancy. I’m just as surprised as you are that she’s offering to help take care of Gabby. She usually doesn’t like to get dirt under her nails, much less bird poop.”
Noah’s eyes met JoEmma’s.
Suddenly he found something utterly amusing in the prospect of what might lie ahead.
Chapter 5
“Good, it looks like nobody’s here yet,” Noah told Angelina, glancing at the waiting room parlor at his office and nodding toward the curved pole that stood in one corner of the room. “Just hang the birdcage on the hook and take off the cloth. They’ll settle down once they see that they’re home.”
Gabby and Amigo were full of chirps and squawks, clearly upset by the way they were being handled by their carrier. Angelina had huffed and puffed with each step as if the lovebirds and their cage had the weight of an anvil. She’d been quite vocal about how it would have been much wiser to have taken a carriage to his office. Not until he mentioned that the walk would allow him to stop at a couple of places he needed to visit before returning to work did she agree to walk instead of ride.
He almost wished he had listened to her and taken a buggy instead. She had made a point of stopping along the way and telling every woman she passed about where they were headed and that they were sharing parenting responsibilities concerning their pets. It was as if Angelina was making sure everyone knew that she would be spending time with him in days to come.
He had thought JoEmma Brown would be caring for the birds, not her sister. He suspected she would do so quietly and confidently, without trying to infiltrate his life with as much ado as Angelina.
If the elder of the two Browns was Hannah Lassiter’s choice for him, their housekeeper needed to remember that though he looked forward to bird chatter, he also liked covering the cage when he needed silence. Noah wasn’t so sure how he would feel about a too talkative bridal prospect. She might not take to a tablecloth over her head. He’d always considered talking was for sharing words that mattered, not just for the sake of rattling. At least, that’s pretty much what he’d learned from his father. He hoped Mrs. Lassiter would drop her efforts where Angelina was concerned.
And JoEmma? The thought echoing through his mind surprised Noah. He hadn’t included both sisters in that hopeful wish, and he wasn’t sure why other than he looked forward to JoEmma joining them in a short while.
Maybe it was because he’d always enjoyed JoEmma’s company. Though she seldom stayed around him long enough to learn much about her, he found what little he had discovered about her to be interesting.
“I can’t reach the hook,” Angelina complained, half-heartedly attempting to moor the cage to its station. “Would you mind helping me?” she added in a soft plea.
She was a foot and a half taller than Mrs. Lassiter, and the housekeeper had managed to move the birdcage when needed. Angelina was playing coy. Noah set down the sunflower seed bag and guided her hand to the hook to show Angelina that she could actually do it if she tried.
“Thank you, Dr. Powell.” Her hand lingered a moment too long with his before her eyelashes dipped then opened to flash green with undeniable attraction. “You’re so wonderfully tall.”
“And you are flirting with me, Miss Brown.” Noah liked Angelina well enough as a person. As a boy, he had looked on her as a possible courting companion. She’d been every young boy’s vision of a beautiful girl. There was nothing mean or unflattering about her. He’d simply found her too competitive in collecting beaux, and she had never made him feel that he was anything special to her. Maybe it was nothing more than pure vanity, but he didn’t want to waste time being simply a name with many others on her dance card. “I’m very flattered.”
“Well, why shouldn’t I flirt with you, Dr. Powell?” Angelina swung in a half circle, setting her petticoats to rustling beneath her taffeta skirt. “You have a thriving practice. You’re well respected. You’re the most eligible bachelor in the territory. You haven’t been seen escorting anyone anywhere,” she stressed as if hinting that there were places he could escort her. “Why ... there’s many a woman who wears her heart on her sleeve for you.”
Ahh, she was hinting about the upcoming Valentine’s dance. He’d heard that names would be drawn out of a bowl to match couples up at the dance. Each would choose a heart with a name on it and pin it on their sleeve. Whoever’s heart you drew was your partner for the evening. Everyone knew the name choosing wasn’t always on the fair side of right, but too many women in town liked to play matchmaker. And so far, no man he knew had ever offered to prepare the hearts for any Valentine’s celebration.
Though he appreciated her frankness in why he appealed to her, he knew if he didn’t encourage Angelina to spend her time on better prospects than him, she would waste what little time there was left between now and the party. She would lose her opportunity to snag a man of prestige who would be flattered by her interest.
“I hear the preparations for Belle Whitaker’s dance are well under way.” Noah grabbed the feed sack and started moving out of the parlor and down the hall toward the kitchen. “If you’ll come this way, I’ll show you where I keep the bird food and fresh trays.”
“Is that your bedroom?” The rustle of her petticoats sped up as she moved close enough to get a glimpse at the mess of bedcovers he’d left on the floor.
Noah dropped the sack again, this time just long enough to take a couple of steps to shut the door to his bedroom. “Sorry, I got up in a hurry this morning and didn’t make my bed.”
“But I thought Hannah did your housework,” she said from behind him.
He turned, blocking any further view of his private quarters. It wasn’t that he didn’t trust her, but she might use whatever she saw there as something to gossip about with her friends. Maybe he ought to take back that last thought. He didn’t let anyone near his quarters or in his private life. “I clean my own bedroom. She takes care of everything else.”
Noah grabbed the sunflower seeds again and finally deposited the sack where it truly belonged in the kitchen. Next time he would wait to tote a sack around town until he knew exactly what would be done with it. Admiration for the freight haulers who had to lift such cargo day after day filled him with renewed respect.
“You’ll find the trays in the lower cabinet of the hutch. I keep plenty of eggs, not for the eggs themselves, but because Amigo likes to chew on the shells to sharpen his beak. I give the egg whites and yolks to the stray cat that pays me a morning visit around daylight, if I happen to be up. I usually try to be.”
He didn’t know why he was telling her all this. She’d probably never be around to feed the cat that early, but at least she might save the eggs for him till he could feed his visitor.