“Tell me something I don’t know,” Caleb said, putting another chunk of cheese on a cracker.
“You’re serious about this? She actually did write to Libby?”
Caleb stared at the cracker and cheese as if it held the secrets of the universe. “I’m not sure, but I suspect as much. She kept after me to do it, and I kept saying no. Knowing my wife, I expect she did it for me.”
“Why would she do that?”
Caleb shrugged. “Come to dinner this evening. We’ll ask her.”
* * *
“I did it because it’s high time the two of you got rid of all those hard feelings you’ve been carrying around all your lives,” Abby confessed that evening as they sat down to eat. “I just wrote introducing myself and telling her about Emily and Betsy and my marriage to Caleb.” Seeing the irritation in Caleb’s eyes, she added tartly, “Well, if my daughter-in-law had died and I had a grandchild, I’d want to know about it.”
“So when did you write this letter?” Caleb asked.
“Last spring sometime,” Abby told them. “I thought there was a chance she’d answer, but she never did. Then when Eli came along, I sent another telling her about him, but I certainly never expected her to come, since she didn’t bother to write back after the first letter.” She sighed. “Are you really so furious with me?”
Caleb’s scowl eased. “Not furious,” he said. “Maybe mildly irritated. I was hoping to get more of a rise out of you, though.”
Abby’s shoulders slumped in relief. She looked from him to Gabe. “For some strange reason, he—” she cut her eyes toward Caleb “—gets a kick out of making me angry.” With her forefinger extended, she made circles near her ear, as if to indicate her husband was a bit crazy.
Gabe laughed. That was one of the strangest things he’d ever heard.
“Seriously,” Abby said, “you both need to see her, look her in the eye and ask her about her side of things.”
Gabe thought of Rachel confessing how easy it had been to put all the blame on him until he’d come back and she was forced to face him. As she’d said, it was easier to stoke the fires of bitterness and hard feelings from a distance.
“Frank told us the truth, so we know that she didn’t leave us out of selfish reasons, like we’d always thought. Gabe and I can live with that,” Caleb said.
“With all due respect to Frank, he only knows what he saw the day she left and what was being bandied all over town.” Again she looked from one brother to the other. “You owe it to yourselves to hear what she has to say. And you owe it to your children to give them a chance to know their grandmother.”
Grandmother. Danny. Gabe didn’t relish the idea of telling Rachel and Danny about Libby’s return. Of course, by now, they’d no doubt heard the news. What would Rachel think about telling Danny he had a brand-new grandmother when he’d just learned he had a father? What would Danny think?
He sighed. He suspected Abby was right, but it didn’t make the idea of meeting Libby any less disturbing. What did you say to a mother you hadn’t set eyes on in nearly a quarter of a century?
* * *
Danny was all agog with excitement when Rachel walked into the house from making her rounds out in the country.
“I have a grandma!” he cried, his smile so wide it threatened to split his freckled face.
Weary, unsuspecting, Rachel set her bag onto the seat of the hall tree and wandered toward the kitchen, where she knew she’d find her father working on supper. “Really?” she said, riffling Danny’s hair as he skipped along beside her. “Just where did this grandma come from?”
“Boston, I think, but she’s not here yet. She’s coming on the train in the morning.”
Rachel shot a confused look at her father, who was peeling potatoes at the table. His smile was overly bright.
“Danny, do you mind playing outside for a few minutes? I need to talk to Pops.”
Danny opened his mouth as if to argue, but she gave him the look, and he mumbled, “Yes, ma’am,” and then he headed for the door.
Feeling the beginnings of a headache coming on, Rachel sat down across from her father. “What was that all about?”
“This, dear readers,” Edward intoned melodramatically, “is the next installment of our serial, ‘The Trials and Tribulations of Dr. Rachel Stone.’”
“What now?” she asked, resting her elbows on the table and massaging her temples.
“It appears that Libby Gentry Granville and two companions will be arriving in our fair city on the morning train from Boston.”
“Libby Gentry Gran...” Rachel’s eyes widened with recognition.
“Exactly,” Edward said. “Caleb and Gabe’s long-lost mother. The one who allegedly left them for another man.”
“Allegedly?” Rachel parroted with raised eyebrows.
“Innocent until proven guilty, my dear,” Edward reminded her. “I never took Libby for a woman who would betray her wedding vows. Of course, it might have been because I was half in love with her myself at the time.”
Rachel’s face turned scarlet. “Daddy! What about Mama?”
“Your mother and I weren’t an item when Libby first came to town, and I think all the young bucks were smitten with her to some degree. As soon as it became apparent that she had eyes only for Lucas—or rather, that he intended to land her—I zeroed in on your mother.”
Rachel smiled. “Thank goodness.”
“Yes,” Edward agreed with a smile, “thank goodness.”
“Why do you think she’s coming back?”
“To try to make things right with her sons, I would imagine.”
“It seems there’s a lot of that going around these days.”
“As well there should be. Life is too short for grudges and hard feelings. I believe God wants us to make amends whenever we can.”
“You’re right,” she agreed with a nod. “Who are these ‘companions’ she’s bringing with her?”
Edward shrugged. “Speculation around town ranges from her other children to a couple of high-toned Boston attorneys come to wrest the Gentry farm from Caleb.” Edward’s theatrical tone had returned. He sobered suddenly. “My guess would be her children.”
Frowning, Rachel chewed on her lower lip. “Do you think she’ll want to meet Danny?”
“Of course she will, once she learns about him.”
Rachel swallowed a lump in her throat. “One more person to hear about my ill-fated relationship with Gabe.”
One more person to judge her. Gabe’s mother, no less! How would she ever be able to face Libby Gentry Granville? Even her name sounded intimidating.
She must have spoken her fears aloud, because Edward replied, “Intimidating? Libby?” He laughed. “Believe me, she was never an ogre, my dear. I actually remember her being very nice. Put yourself in her shoes. It can’t be easy for her to come back to a town that has thought of her as an adulterer for two decades and face the children she abandoned.”
Rachel sat up straighter. “I never thought of it that way. I’m sure you’re right. How do you think Gabe and Caleb are taking the news?”
“I’m sure they’re both as upset about it as you are, and no matter how it turns out, I give Libby high marks for having the courage to do it.”
Rachel caught her lower lip between her teeth and considered that. Here she was, worried about more gossip, a rather insignificant problem compared to what Gabe and Caleb were facing. How were they feeling knowing that the mother who’d walked out of their lives was about to return? Did she realize that her arrival would dredge up all the old anguish?
“What do you mean, ‘no matter how it turns out’?”
Edward shrugged. “Caleb and Gabe might refuse to see her or forgive her.”
Concerned only with her own fe
elings, she hadn’t thought of that, either. Would Gabe listen to what his mother had to say? She hoped he would at least hear her out. She knew firsthand how much better she’d felt after they had cleared the air and put their feelings aside to do what was right for Danny.
She glanced at the watch hanging from the chain around her neck. Almost closing time for the mercantile. She looked at her father. “Do you think I should go over and talk to him?”
“It can’t hurt,” Edward said. “And while you’re at it, why not invite him to supper? There’s plenty.”
Rachel paused. The suggestion seemed almost as if Edward were giving his stamp of approval to her forming a more intimate relationship with Gabe.
“You wouldn’t be trying to play matchmaker, would you?”
“There’s no need. Even when you’re fighting him tooth and nail, a blind man could see that the two of you still have feelings for each other...that whatever it was that you felt isn’t over.” Seeing that she was about to object, he continued. “Whether you like it or not.”
“I don’t like it.” There was no reason to deny what he’d said. Edward was too smart, and he knew her far too well. She sighed. “I suppose you think I’m completely barmy to feel anything for him after the way he used and abandoned me,” she said, her voice a shamed whisper.
“I’ve never been a big believer in coincidence,” he said, a thoughtful expression on his still-attractive face. “So what I think is that God is working in both your lives and that He has given you a second chance.”
Her dark eyes held query and a tiny smidgen of hope. “And Gabe? You...you really think he feels something for me?”
Edward winked at her. “If I were a gambling man, I’d make book on it.”
* * *
Edward’s words followed Rachel as she made her way across the railroad tracks, past the hotel to Antioch Street. Was her father right? Did Gabe really care for her? Oh, she knew he was attracted to her and held a certain fondness for her, but was he only being nice so that she would grant him greater access to their son? She didn’t think so. He seemed to enjoy the time they spent together with Danny—more and more time the past couple of weeks, and though he sometimes flirted, never once had he done or said anything inappropriate.
Recalling his peppermint-scented breath against her nape that day in the store and the huskiness of his voice when he’d told her it looked kissable, she felt a little shiver scamper down her spine. She was an educated woman, certainly smart enough to know that was not love, but was it possible that her father was right and Gabe did still care? Was that caring love? The possibility was both thrilling and alarming.
She was just approaching the store when the object of her thoughts stepped through the aperture, key in hand. He smiled, the automatic action bringing the pleasing crinkles at the corners of his eyes into play. “Hello there!” he said. “I was just on my way to your place. Do you need something? I can let you in.”
Rachel took a steadying breath and rammed her hands into the pockets of her dark blue skirt. “No. I just wanted to talk to you.”
He raised his eyebrows. “It must be serious if you’re looking for me.”
“Serious enough,” she said. “What did you need to see me about?”
Did she imagine the shadow that flickered across his face? “Something’s come up. Would you like to go to Ellie’s and get a cup of coffee or a glass of lemonade?”
Where everyone would see them together. That would just add more fuel to the fire! “No, thank you,” she said. “Actually, Pops wanted to know if you’d like to join us for supper.”
Gabe couldn’t hide his surprise, or miss the reluctance in her voice. “Supper doesn’t include a hefty dose of arsenic, does it? Or maybe hemlock?”
“I don’t find that in the least bit funny.”
“I can see that,” he said somberly. “I’ll make a note in my book of Rachel Stone observations.” He turned his palm up and pretended to write with his finger. “Don’t try to tease the great Dr. Stone, since clearly she has no funny bone.” He glanced up, his eyebrows raised in sham surprise. “My, my, I do believe I have the start of a poem.”
“Are you ever serious?”
“Do you ever have fun?” he countered. “The Bible says there are times to laugh, Rachel—remember?”
“I remember. Are you coming or not?”
“Of course I’m coming. How can I turn down such a gracious invitation?” he mocked. “What time?”
“Come now. We need to talk.”
“So you said. About?”
“Something’s come up,” she said cryptically, tossing his own answer back at him. She turned to walk away, and after making sure the door was locked, Gabe followed. His loose, long-legged stride soon brought him to her side, and they walked down the street together, both with their hands stuffed into their pockets.
At the corner, they passed Mrs. Carmody and her brood of six. The frazzled housewife looked from Rachel to Gabe and actually pulled her skirt aside as if she would somehow be contaminated if she allowed the fabric to brush against Rachel. She did speak, though her mouth was pinched with disapproval, and only after Gabe made it a point to greet her and her children with his customary good manners.
They were in front of the hotel when Meg Thomerson came out, balancing a basket filled with soiled linens on her hip.
“Let me get that, Meg,” Gabe said, taking the basket from the woman whose husband treated her as a sparring partner.
“Thank you, Mr. Gentry,” she said, pushing a stray strand of hair from her astonishing green eyes. “And thank you again for letting me have some more time on my bill at the store.”
“That’s not a problem,” he said gruffly.
What a wonderful thing to do, Rachel thought, trying to meet his eyes. Everyone in town knew that Elton Thomerson was a deadbeat, and there were few people willing to extend him credit. It was up to Meg to take up the slack.
Three years and two children ago, she was considered more than pretty, but the time with Elton had taken its toll. There were premature lines at the corners of her eyes, and barely three months past her latest delivery, she looked far too thin. Even so, her smile seemed never far from the surface.
She beamed at Rachel with her usual friendliness while Gabe deposited the basket into the bed of the buggy alongside three others. Rachel knew she would deliver the sheets and towels the following afternoon all clean and ironed wrinkle free. She didn’t know how the petite woman managed to stay so positive, except that she never failed to make a church service unless she or one of the children was ailing.
“I should have part of my bill when I finish up Millie’s laundry,” she told Gabe before looking at Rachel. “And I should be able to pay off Seth’s sore-throat bill next week.”
“Don’t worry about it, Meg. I’m not hurting for it.”
The woman’s eyes filled with tears. “Thank you, Dr. Rachel. I don’t know what this town would do without you.” She looked from Rachel to Gabe. “And I think it’s so wonderful that the two of you have found each other again after all these years.”
Rachel cast a sideways glance at Gabe, who was rearranging the baskets and giving a good impression of being deaf. She offered Meg a weak smile. Wondering how to reply, she settled for a simple “Thank you.”
Gabe helped Meg into her buggy and they watched her make a left turn at the corner and disappear. Wisely, he chose not to comment and fell into step beside Rachel.
“Giving Meg time to pay her bill is very nice of you.”
“Yep,” he quipped, making light of it. “No doubt they’re casting a bronze statue of me even as we speak.”
“Well, it isn’t that big a thing,” she teased.
“She needs help,” he said, suddenly serious. “I feel sorry for her. And we all need a hand at some
time in our lives.”
Knowing that was all he’d say, they walked in silence for a moment. “What’s come up?” Rachel asked finally, tilting her head to look at him. The heat of the late-afternoon sun coaxed out the red tones hiding in her dark hair.
“Ladies first.”
Looking askance at him, she drew a fortifying breath and plunged. “I hear your mother is coming to town tomorrow.”
“I hear the same thing.” A wry half smile lifted one side of his mouth.
“And?”
“And it’s a bit disconcerting to say the least.”
“You didn’t know she was coming?”
“No. Neither did Caleb.”
“Hmm.” Rachel shot him a frowning glance. “I wonder why she decided to come after so many years.”
“Probably because Abby wrote to her after she married Caleb to tell her about Emily, Betsy and her own marriage to Caleb.”
Rachel lifted a hand to shield her eyes. “Abby knew she was coming, then?”
“Actually, she didn’t,” he said, switching sides with her so he could block her from the sun’s rays. “She never heard a word back, but she wrote Libby again when Eli was born, and it seems that for some reason, Libby has now decided to pay a visit.”
“You call your mother Libby?”
“Caleb and I stopped calling her Mother after she left us.”
There was no need to ask why. “How do you feel about her coming?”
“I have mixed emotions,” he confessed. “Both Caleb and I grew up believing she left us with no backward glance, but we recently found out that Lucas wouldn’t let her take us. That puts a different slant on things, at least for me.” He sighed. “As for how I feel about it, I keep coming back to the notion that maybe I’m feeling a little like Danny must have felt when he found out about me.”
Rachel considered that and thought he could be right. She recalled Danny’s excitement as well as his trepidation and curiosity. As he had, Gabe was no doubt wondering what Libby Gentry Granville would think of the person he’d become. He would be wondering if she loved him, and if they could ever forge a meaningful relationship. Yes, it was easy to see that Gabe and Danny would share parallel feelings.
Wolf Creek Homecoming Page 14