Orchard Hill Volume Two

by Kara Lynn Russell

  The L word, thought Oliver, amazed at how easily Andrew could say it. “You were married before, weren’t you?”

  “Yes. You would have liked my first wife. She was a beautiful person. She liked Faith, so I know she would approve.”

  “Your wife passed away?”

  “Yes, years ago. Didn’t you know?”

  Oliver shook his head. “I thought you were divorced.”

  “Thankfully, that’s one experience I haven’t had. I know they say people can divorce amicably, but I’ve never seen it.”

  You can say that again, thought Oliver. Aloud, he said, “I don’t think I’ll ever get married.”

  “You’re young, don’t give up hope, yet,” Andrew chided him.

  Oliver didn’t say so to Andrew, but he’d given up any hope of marriage a long time ago. That was a trap he wasn’t falling into.

  ****

  “I was mowing my lawn, Mrs. Parker, and I saw yours needed trimming, so I just went ahead and did it. I hope you don’t mind.”

  “Mind? Of course not. It’s very nice of you.”

  Oliver shrugged. “I like working outside. It’s no big deal.”

  “I thought that my son would take over the yard work while he’s here, but he’s been putting in a lot of hours recently. I didn’t think he’d get much business just advertising for odd jobs, but he has more than he can keep up with these days.”

  “That’s good.”

  “How are things going with the softball team?”

  Oliver shifted his feet. He had other things to do today, but his mother would have his hide if she knew he was rude to an elderly lady. Not that she’d ever find out, but her rules were ingrained in him by now. “Softball is fine.”

  “I heard that Hope is having some trouble making it to practices. Is everything all right with her?”

  “I guess so.” Like it was his job to check up on her.

  “I can imagine it’s frustrating when people don’t show up on time.”

  “Yeah.”

  “Maybe she just needs a bit of help,” Pansy suggested.

  “What do you mean?”

  “Wouldn’t it be nice if a teammate picked her up?”

  “I suppose so.”

  “So why don’t you?”

  “Why don’t I what?” He had a bad feeling he knew where this was going. Over the years, he’d learned to pick up on the intentions of certain people to pair up everyone in the known universe.

  “Pick up Hope for the next practice. That way she’d be on time.”

  “Or we’d both be late.”

  “At least you could see why she’s always late.”

  That was an idea, but not one he was going to follow up on.

  “Thank you again for mowing my lawn. Can I get you some lemonade before you go?” she offered.

  “No thanks, Mrs. Parker. I’ve got a few other projects to take care of today.”

  “Goodness, you’re a busy bee, aren’t you? And I’m keeping you standing here with all my chatter.”

  “That’s all right. I don’t mind.” He was finally going to get away. He backed up so she could close the screen door and was just about to step off the porch when he heard her say, “Now don’t forget about picking up Hope next practice.”

  Oliver ground his teeth. “I won’t.”

  There was no way he was going to pick her up, he told himself. It wasn’t his job to make sure she was on time for softball practice. So why did he feel so guilty?

  It must be because Mrs. Parker reminded him of his mother, an older version, but essentially the same lady. He pulled into the parking lot of the field where they practiced and scanned the cars there. Hope’s wasn’t one of them.

  He slammed his head back against the headrest and ran his hand through his hair. Why couldn’t this be the one night when she was early? Now, it was either go pick her up or look at his watch every ten seconds and wonder where she was.

  This was ridiculous. Hope was probably just one of those people who was perpetually late. Chances were she was waiting for her nail polish to dry.

  A few minutes later, he pulled up in front of her house. He knew it was her house because, when he’d first moved into town and found out she was here, he’d looked up her address in the phone book and had driven by one day.

  OK, so normally, it was something only a lovesick teenager or a really creepy person would do, but he was curious. Besides, it would be easier to avoid her if he knew what neighborhood she lived in. He was just renting his house now, but he hoped to buy one soon and settle down. With his luck, he’d end up buying the house next door to Hope.

  Oliver braced himself for seeing her, and then got out and walked up to her front door. He rang the bell and waited. Footsteps sounded on the other side of the door and suddenly it was flung wide open.

  Hope stood there, looking unusually pale and her eyes were wide with—what? Fright? Panic?

  When she saw Oliver she slumped against the door frame and covered her face with her hands. “I thought—I hoped—you were the girls.”

  “What girls? What’s wrong?”

  “I can’t find them anywhere. I’ve looked and looked.”

  Her body was shaking, and when she dropped her hands, he saw she was crying.

  He’d never seen her cry before. Hope was normally up for any challenge, always sure of herself. If Hope was crying, something bad must have happened.

  “Start from the beginning, Hope. Who are you looking for?”

  “My nieces, Dori, Lucy and Belle.”

  “The Terrible Trio are your nieces?” Even at school they were famous—or infamous—for their bad behavior.

  “D—Don’t…call…them that.”

  “Let’s go inside where you can sit down. You have to calm down before I can help you.”

  They entered into the living room, and Oliver sat her on the sofa and then stepped back, resisting the urge to hold her. Hope had grabbed a box of tissues from an end table and wiped her eyes. She took a few deep breaths and, with visible effort, brought her emotions under control. “The girls were with me today. Mostly they live with Joseph, but I try to take them as much as I can. They were playing in the yard. They promised they wouldn’t leave the yard.”

  “All right. Then what happened.”

  “I was getting ready for softball practice. I was going to drop the girls off at Joseph’s house, pick up Abby and then go to the field. But when I went outside, I couldn’t find them. I must have called them a hundred times, and they didn’t answer.”

  “Have you checked inside the house?”

  “I checked every room—twice. I even looked under the beds and in the closets. And before you ask, I’ve checked at the neighbors’ houses, too.”

  Oliver thought about what he knew about the triplets. They had started late in the year at Orchard Hill elementary so he hadn’t gotten the chance to know them well. One thing he did know was that the teachers complained about the children’s talent for sidestepping rules without really breaking them.

  “Where’s the door into the back yard, Hope?”

  “Through the kitchen.” She waved her hand in a general direction.

  He made his way through the house and into the back yard. Standing on the deck, he surveyed the area. They must be in the yard, because they promised they would stay here.

  Could they have crawled under the deck? No, he was sure Hope would have thought of that. There were lots of flower beds filled with colorful summer blooms but there was nothing big enough to conceal three little girls. In one corner of the yard stood a large, leafy maple tree. Hmmm.

  Oliver jogged across the lawn and over to the tree. He looked up into the branches. Nothing. But something told him this was the right spot.

  Standing under the tree, he said in a loud voice. “Hope was going to take the girls for ice cream, but she can’t find them. I wonder where they could be? Oh well, we can just go without them. I’ll have to eat their ice cream.”

 
Silence. Just when he was about to give up, a little voice said, “Is there really ice cream?”

  “Belle, shut up,” hissed another voice.

  “I don’t care,” said the first girl, apparently Belle. “I’m tired of sitting in this stupid tree and besides, I have to go to the bathroom.”

  Branches shook and soon a pair of feet came into view. Belle climbed down to where Oliver could reach her, and he swung her down from the tree.

  “There isn’t really any ice cream, is there?”

  “Nope, sorry. That was just a trick to get you down here.”

  “I figured.” The little girl kicked at the dirt beneath the tree.

  That was quite a bit of cynicism from a six year old. “You tricked your Aunt Hope, and she’s very worried about you. She’s in the house crying.”

  “She is?” Belle looked surprised.

  “Yes. I think you’d better go inside and apologize.”

  “I will,” Belle promised, “just as soon as I use the bathroom.”

  Oliver watched her until he was sure she was going into the house and not taking off to hide somewhere else. Then, he called back up into the branches above, “Come on down. You’ve been discovered.”

  “Belle ruins everything,” grumbled a voice. In a few seconds a body to match the voice came down the tree, with the last triplet close behind.

  “I meant what I said about scaring your aunt,” he told the girls in a firm voice. “She was very upset. You need to apologize to her.”

  “We did what she said,” one girl sassed back to him. “We stayed in the yard.”

  “But you didn’t come in when you were called,” Oliver reminded her. “That’s breaking the rules even if climbing the tree isn’t.”

  The little girl didn’t have an answer for that. She turned on her heel and stomped across the yard, into the house.

  Oliver regarded the last triplet.

  “Belle was right. It was boring in that dumb tree. I’m glad she gave us away.”

  “Then let’s go apologize to your aunt.” He wished he’d learned to tell the triplets apart before the end of the school year. He took a guess, “Lucy.”

  Apparently he was right because she didn’t correct him. The other two thirds of the trio met him on the deck.

  “Lucy,” said Belle, “we really did make Aunt Hope cry.”

  Lucy’s eyes widened. “No way.”

  “Uh huh. Her face is all red and everything,” said the last triplet, who must be Dori.

  “Did either of you apologize yet?” asked Oliver.

  Dori shook her head. “When we saw she was crying we were afraid to go in. Aunt Hope never cries.”

  Oliver knelt down so he was at eye level with the girls. “When she knows that you three are all right, she’ll stop crying. So let’s go in and tell her.”

  The girls nodded solemnly, and he rose to lead them into the house. Belle—at least he thought it was Belle—grabbed his hand and looked up at him with big brown eyes that reminded him of Hope’s. “You’ll come with us, won’t you?”

  “Of course.”

  “That’s not another trick, is it?”

  “No. I only tricked you the first time because I wasn’t smart enough to figure out another way to tell if you were in the tree.”

  Dori—there was no mistaking that attitude—snorted at him. “You could have just climbed up.”

  “I could have, but it would have been awfully crowded then. And I was in a hurry because I wanted your aunt to stop crying, which she won’t do until she sees that you three are all right.”

  “Let’s just get this over with,” said Lucy, opening the door. “Come on.”

  Oliver followed the little girls into the house and waited while they made their apologies. Hope hugged all three at once and expressed both relief that they were safe and disappointment for their behavior.

  Dori protested that they weren’t the only ones who’d misbehaved. “Mr. Laurence told us we were going for ice cream.”

  “Maybe Mr. Laurence and I can take you for ice cream another time, when you’ve behaved better,” Hope replied with a frown. “He shouldn’t have tricked you, but I think you’d be better off improving your own behavior instead of worrying about his. Now why don’t you three go get washed up and gather your things so I can take you back to Uncle Joseph’s—and no more tricks.”

  The triplets left the room without argument and Oliver again found himself alone with Hope. Her eyes were still red and swollen from crying, which should have cut some of the attraction he felt for her, but instead, increased it. Hope was one of the strongest women he knew. He’d never seen her so vulnerable before, and the urge to take her in his arms and comfort her was strong, but he wouldn’t give in to it.

  “Thank you, Oliver. I should have thought of them being in the tree. It’s just that they’re so...so... wild that I can never guess what they’ll do next. My sister would never forgive me if anything happened to them. I panicked.”

  He wondered why Hope and Joseph were caring for the children in the first place if their mother was still living. But he wasn’t going to ask, because then he would become involved, and that was the last thing he needed. “It’s understandable. I have to go.”

  Her eyes widened as she remembered. “Softball practice. Oh no, now not only am I late, but I’ve made you late, too. I’m sorry.”

  “I’ll just get going then. You can skip tonight if you want. I’ll tell Pastor Isaac what happened.”

  “No, when I drop the girls off I’m supposed to pick up Abby. If I miss then she will, too. I’ll be just a few minutes behind you.”

  Oliver sidled toward the door. “OK. I’ll get going then.”

  She laid her hand on his arm and stopped him dead in his tracks. “Thank you again. I really appreciate the help.”

  He tried to brush her hand away. “It’s nothing.”

  A frown creased her brow. “Why were you here in the first place?”

  Because Pansy Parker is an interfering busybody, he wanted to say. But instead, he told her, “I thought maybe you could use some help getting to practice on time.” That didn’t come out right.

  “Oh.” She looked down at the floor, and he couldn’t tell how she took his comment, then after a moment she looked up again. She had that fabulous smile on her face but Oliver knew it was fake.

  Before he could anticipate what she would do, Hope put her arms around him and hugged him. “I guess it doesn’t matter why you were here. I’m just glad you were.”

  Without thinking, he put his arms around her. For a few seconds he felt the warmth and softness of her body held against his. She smelled like sunshine and flowers. Her cheek rested on his chest, and for just a moment, Oliver considered lifting her chin and discovering the feel of her mouth beneath his. His hand was actually moving up to her face when he suddenly realized what he was doing.

  He took a quick step back, breaking away from her as though she were on fire. “It’s no problem. You’d do the same thing for me. If I had nieces. And I was looking after them. And they were hiding. I’m really going to be late. I have to go.”

  Oliver bolted out the door without so much as a look back.

  ****

  Hope stared as he drove away. Could you die of embarrassment? If so, she’d been mortally wounded. Did Oliver think she was throwing herself at him or was her body just so repugnant to him that he couldn’t stand to touch her?

  They’d been friends once, in college. They were both on the track team and had a lot of their education classes together. She’d never admit it to anyone but herself, but she’d had a crush on him back then. Their friendship seemed to bloom for a while, and just when she had hopes of it turning into something more, Oliver began giving her the cold shoulder. She had no idea what she’d done to offend him. But obviously whatever it was, he hadn’t forgiven her.

  With a sigh she shut the door that Oliver hadn’t taken time to close in his flight, and then went to check on the girls. The
y were, for once, doing as they were told. The bathroom was a mess, with soap bubbles smeared on the mirror, water dripping from the counter and crumpled towels strewn across the floor. But at least they’d washed up as she’d told them to.

  Faith took a few minutes to wash her own face in cold water, hoping it would hide the fact that she’d been crying. There was no point in putting makeup on to cover up the evidence if she would sweat it all off playing ball.