The Parson's Waiting

by Sherryl Woods

  This time apparently Millicent heard the warning note in her voice. She regarded Anna Louise closely. “Why, I saw you in that man’s arms, right out where all the world could see you. With Maisey Walton on her deathbed not more than a few feet away. I have to admit I was stunned that you would pick such a time to engage in something like that,” she said, giving the word an emphasis that managed to make it sound like Anna Louise and Richard had been making love in plain view. She paused and studied Anna Louise thoughtfully. “Perhaps you, being an outsider and all...”

  “I’ve lived here for five years,” Anna Louise reminded her, then recalled that the people of Kiley had treated Janie Walton as an outsider even after she’d been there for fifteen years.

  “That’s not very long in a town like Kiley,” Millicent said as if she’d read her mind. “And you are in a unique position, one that should be above reproach.”

  Anna Louise leveled her gaze straight at Millicent. “Exactly what is it you think I’ve done?” She wanted Millicent to be very clear about what she was accusing her of doing. That was the only way to nip such irresponsible gossip in the bud. Thank heavens, the woman had come straight to her, rather than talking about what she’d seen with every single person in town except the supposedly guilty parties. Millicent would save her gossip for after this encounter.

  “I’m not saying you’ve done anything,” Millicent reassured her quickly. “It’s just that appearances are so important in a small town, especially for a pastor.”

  “I certainly agree, but what is your point?”

  “You know we all love Maisey...” Another of those expectant pauses.

  When she could see that Millicent actually expected a response, Anna Louise nodded. “Of course.”

  “Maisey is a treasure, but even those of us who try to be charitable have to admit that that grandson of hers is another kettle of fish entirely.”

  “You have a problem with Richard?”

  Millicent apparently missed Anna Louise’s deadly tone. “They say genes do tell, don’t they?”

  Anna Louise tucked her hands firmly under her and sat perfectly still. The temptation to smack the woman was almost irresistible. For a woman who claimed not to be a gossip, Millicent certainly had a very long memory. “Meaning?” she said, as if she had no idea what Millicent was driving at.

  “Well, his mother. Of course, you wouldn’t know about that. It was a long time ago and we don’t talk about it much, in deference to Maisey.”

  Anna Louise was about one breath away from exploding. She was beginning to see why the people of Kiley set Richard’s teeth on edge. “If it was all so long ago and something that’s no longer discussed, then I’m afraid I don’t see your point and I really have things I need to be doing.”

  Millicent wasn’t about to be shut up now. She was clearly on a mission and she intended to see it through. She drew herself up. “Okay, then, let me be blunt. Don’t you think there’s something a little unusual about Richard Walton?”

  Anna Louise regarded her blankly. “Unusual? In what way precisely?”

  “You know.” She actually looked around as if he might be listening nearby, then said in a whisper, “Dangerous.”

  Anna Louise’s expression turned deliberately thoughtful. That certainly described Richard, all right, though she doubted she and Millicent put precisely the same definition to the word. Still, regardless of the interpretation, she didn’t think she ought to be conceding a thing to Millicent.

  “Dangerous?” she said with a puzzled frown. “No, I don’t believe I had noticed that.”

  “Well, it’s something to consider, don’t you think? Especially for a woman in your position. You can’t afford to be too careful about those with whom you choose to associate.”

  It required all of Anna Louise’s self-restraint to keep from telling Millicent to mind her own blasted business. After drawing in a deep breath, she managed to say calmly, “In my position, I’m supposed to be responsible for the souls of the sinners as well as the saints. As a matter of fact, if what you say is true, Richard probably needs me more than some others, don’t you think?”

  The carefully posed question seemed to catch her parishioner off guard.

  “Well, yes, I suppose I can see how you would need to give him a certain amount of attention,” she admitted with obvious reluctance.

  “I was sure you would,” Anna Louise said dryly.

  “But you were in his arms, Anna Louise. Surely you can see how that might be misinterpreted.”

  “Only by someone who was small-minded, though, don’t you agree?” she said sweetly. “After all, the man was clearly worried sick about his grandmother. Surely, anyone would have offered a little comfort.”

  Unfortunately, before Millicent had time to digest Anna Louise’s lesson in equal opportunity salvation and her implication that Millicent had a dirty, narrow mind, the man in question walked onto the porch, rapped on the door and strolled inside. To an outsider it would definitely look as if he felt a little too much at home. It probably wouldn’t matter, given the current conversation, that almost everyone in Kiley strolled through unlocked doors in much the same way.

  “Richard, I’m so glad you found the time to stop by and fix the...” She stumbled over the fabricated excuse for his untimely presence. If she let on what Millicent was there about, all the diversionary tactics in the world wouldn’t keep Richard’s temper from going straight through the roof. She was determined to avoid that at all costs.

  His brow knit in a puzzled frown. “Fix what?”

  “The faucet,” she said, latching on to the first thing that came to mind.

  He stared at her blankly. “Your faucet’s leaking? Why didn’t you—”

  “Thank you for coming so quickly,” she said, regarding him pointedly. “I know you need to be getting to the hospital to visit Maisey, but that drip really has been driving me crazy. It’ll be a relief to see it fixed.”

  Apparently she finally got through his thick skull. He nodded slowly. “Right. The faucet. I’ll get my tools and see what I can do.”

  Only then did he direct his gaze toward Millicent, who was sitting stiffly on the edge of her chair, her mouth turned down in a disapproving frown. “Morning, Millicent. You’re looking particularly fetching this morning. New dress?”

  Anna Louise watched with amusement as Millicent struggled against being pleased by the flattery.

  “Thank you, young man,” she said finally. “Don’t you think you should be getting those tools now?”

  “Sure,” he said easily, and left Anna Louise alone with Millicent.

  “You needn’t stay,” Anna Louise told her. “I’m sure you have a million things to do. Didn’t I hear you were organizing a group to play bridge at the new recreation hall now that it’s finished?”

  Millicent’s jaw set stubbornly. “Well, of course I’m staying. I will not leave you alone in this house with him. Whatever would people say? The bridge club will just have to wait.”

  Anna Louise lost patience. “People won’t say anything about Richard dropping by to do me a favor, if you don’t stir them up by reporting it to everyone you see.”

  Millicent looked taken aback by the sharp tone and the suggestion that she was a gossip. “I’m just thinking of your reputation, dear,” she protested.

  “And I appreciate your concern. I really do. But let me worry about my reputation, okay? If I’m uncertain of the right path, I’ll pray for guidance.”

  The older woman couldn’t seem to come up with an argument to counter that. Even Millicent would have to concede that God was a higher authority. “Well, if you’re absolutely sure you don’t want me to stay,” she murmured with obvious regret.

  “Really, it’s not the least bit necessary,” Anna Louise reassured her cheerfully. “Richard will be finished and on his way to see Maisey before you know it.”

  Millicent took her own dear sweet time about getting to the door. She lingered long enough to see that R
ichard did indeed have his tools with him when he came back up the walk.

  “You give your grandmother my love,” she told him briskly.

  “I’ll do that, Millicent. I know she appreciated your coming by yesterday, even if you weren’t allowed in to see her.”

  “Well, you tell her I’ll be back again the minute she’s up to having visitors.” She gave Anna Louise a significant look. “Now you be real careful, dear. Remember what I told you.”

  Anna Louise sighed. “I’m not likely to forget it, Millicent.”

  As soon as Millicent had strolled off toward town, Anna Louise muttered a curse that had Richard staring at her in openmouthed astonishment. “Oh, don’t look at me like that,” she snapped. “That woman is infuriating.”

  “What was she doing here, anyway?”

  “She stopped by to give me a little friendly advice.”

  He regarded her warily. “About what?”

  “You, of course.”

  “So that’s why I’m toting these tools around.”

  “Well, I had to say something. She was about to turn that embrace she caught us in at the hospital yesterday into a rip-roaring affair. My reputation would have been mud by dusk, especially with you turning up here first thing this morning.”

  He studied her thoughtfully. “Are you really worried about what Millicent Rawlings could do to your reputation? Everybody knows she’s an old busybody.”

  Anna Louise didn’t like the way he was dismissing the incident so casually. He certainly ought to understand how easy it was to become an outcast in Kiley thanks to unfounded gossip. “To hear her tell it, you’re no better than your mother,” she said, just to prove this was no laughing matter.

  The amusement in his eyes vanished in a heartbeat, replaced by quick anger. “I should have known, damn it. How dare she? By heaven, I will rip that sorry tongue of hers right out of her throat.”

  “That will certainly quiet the talk,” Anna Louise noted.

  He glared at her. “Okay, you’re right. There’s no point in stirring things up.” His gaze narrowed. “You’re not really upset about this, are you? If one word of this spreads beyond Millicent, I promise you I’ll deal with it.”

  “It’s just more ammunition for my opponents, if they get wind of it,” she said wearily. “I guarantee they’ll use any evidence of misconduct on my part to bolster their cause to be rid of me.”

  “That’s absurd. You haven’t done anything. We, haven’t done anything.”

  Suddenly Anna Louise saw the irony in the situation. She started to chuckle, which was a stark contrast to Richard’s thoroughly sober expression.

  “Now what’s so funny?” he asked.

  “I’m about to be labeled some sort of Jezebel and I can’t even get you to do anything more than kiss me,” she said. “If I’m going to have the reputation, I’d at least like the fun of earning it.”

  He shook his head, tolerant amusement written all over his face. “No, you wouldn’t, sweetheart. You only get to be really angry and self-righteous when you’re innocent of all charges. I think that’s what kept my mother from fighting back. Billy Joe had one tiny nugget of truth mixed in with all the innuendo. It was enough to keep her silent.”

  She scowled at him. “I hate it when you make perfect sense.”

  “I know.”

  He plopped his tools in the middle of her foyer and held out his hand. She regarded it with far more wariness than Adam had probably displayed when Eve held out that apple in the Garden of Eden. “What’s that for?”

  “I was just going to take your hand. Almost nobody makes an issue of two people holding hands in public.”

  She stuffed both hands in her pockets. “Millicent would.”

  “Does that mean you don’t even want to be seen riding through town with me?”

  “Riding? Where?”

  “Did you forget why I came over here this morning? We’re supposed to go see Maisey.”

  She gave him a rueful smile. “I suppose I had or I would have told Millicent that in the first place.” She grasped his outstretched hand. “Let’s go see Maisey.”

  * * *

  All the way to Charlottesville, Richard kept sneaking glances at Anna Louise. She seemed oddly put out with him for some reason. He wasn’t sure if she blamed him for the embrace that had stirred Millicent Rawlings up or if she blamed him for not taking advantage of her. Maybe he should have admitted one more time exactly how she tested his willpower.

  “Anna Louise?”

  “Yes.”

  “You’re not mad, are you?”

  “Mad about what?”

  He regarded her with exasperation. “That’s what I’m trying to find out.”

  “No, I’m not angry,” she said in a tone that conveyed exactly the opposite impression.

  Richard fell silent. They were about three miles from a rest area where he could pull off the road and do something about this funk she was in. When he turned into the little roadside park, she regarded him with obvious confusion.

  “What’s wrong? Why are we stopping?”

  Richard didn’t say a word. He pulled into a space, cut the engine, then slowly turned to face her.

  “What?” she said, apparently alerted by something in his expression.

  “Come here.”

  “Richard, what has gotten into you?”

  “The same thing that has gotten into me from the day I found you in Maisey’s orchard. You, my sweet, innocent little preacher, have gotten into me.”

  Her eyes widened, warming the color to the exact shade of brandy. Her mouth slowly curved into a smile. “Honest?”

  “That’s the truth, Anna Louise.” Richard gripped the steering wheel so tightly that his knuckles turned white. It was the only way he could keep from reaching for her. “But sweetheart, getting carried away by passion is the easiest thing in the world. Believe me, I know. But making a decision that is right, making a choice for all the right reasons, that takes something more. It takes something you deserve to have—unconditional love.”

  She sighed softly. Tears glistened in her eyes. “And you don’t love me,” she said flatly, trying her darnedest to sound brave.

  Richard raked a hand through his hair. Now he’d done it. He’d gotten into something he’d never intended. He absolutely could not tell her that he did indeed love her and then follow that up by saying that when the time came he would leave, anyway.

  “I care about you,” he said cautiously. “Enough not to do anything you’d wind up regretting.”

  Anna Louise turned her head away.

  “Look at me,” he insisted. “Please.”

  Slowly she turned back. Tears were tracking down her cheeks. The sight of them made his heart ache. He reached over and brushed away the tears with the tips of his fingers. “Don’t cry, sweetheart. Please don’t cry.”

  “Richard Walton, if you weren’t just about the nicest, most honorable man in the entire universe, I think I’d slug you,” she said, her voice choked.

  A sigh shuddered through Richard then. She would be okay, he reassured himself. Anna Louise might be a preacher, but she was also a hellion. Nothing would get her down for long, not even watching him walk out of her life.

  Too bad he couldn’t hold out the same high hopes for himself. He had a feeling that leaving Anna Louise behind, no matter how firmly he believed that it was the right thing—the only thing—to do, was going to cost him dearly. In fact, he wondered if he’d ever find a way to recover from the loss.

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  “What kept you two?” Maisey demanded the minute Anna Louise and Richard walked into the intensive care unit. She was still being monitored by a lot of equipment, but she was sitting up and looking considerably more chipper than she had when she’d been admitted.

  Before either of them could respond, she peered more closely at Anna Louise. “You’ve been crying.” She scowled at Richard. “What did you do to her?”

  “It’s nothing,”
Anna Louise said hurriedly before Richard’s conscience demanded that he make a full confession on the spot. She wasn’t ready to talk about her feelings for Richard or his lack of feelings for her just yet, not even with the one person on the face of the earth who would understand how complex the situation was.

  Trying to redirect Maisey’s attention, Anna Louise asked cheerfully, “How are you today? You look much better.”

  “That’s because they’re pumping me full of drugs,” Maisey said dryly. “Puts a nice fuzzy glow around everything.” Her expression sobered. “I don’t like it. How’s a person supposed to know how she really feels? I told Doc Benson they’ve given me my last shot of this stuff. I’d rather have a little pain every now and again.”

  “And what did he say?” Anna Louise asked, envisioning that particular confrontation with some amusement.

  “He told me he was the one with the medical degree and I’d do what he said,” Maisey said, practically shaking with indignation. “Can you imagine the nerve of that young man?”

  Richard grinned. “I think I’m liking this doctor better and better.”

  “Don’t go getting any ideas based on the way he treats me,” Maisey warned him. “He might be able to pull rank, but you can’t. In fact, I think you and I need to have a little talk.”

  “When you’re out of here,” he said agreeably.

  “I don’t think so. Now. Anna Louise, will you excuse us for a minute?”

  “No,” she said, and pulled up a chair to emphasize the point.

  Maisey looked startled by her open rebellion. “Why not?”

  “Because you’re supposed to be recuperating, not meddling.”

  “I’d rest a lot easier if I knew things between you two were on track. I might be a little fuzzy-headed this morning, but I’m not blind. Something’s wrong.”

  Anna Louise felt tears welling up in her eyes again. If this kept up she was going to start blubbering for the second time in a single morning. “Richard and I are adults, Maisey. We are capable of handling our own lives.”

  “That’s right,” Richard echoed.

  “Fiddle-faddle. If you were, you’d have a wedding date set by now.”