Charity nodded her agreement. Then she said, “Uncle David,” meaning, Sarah supposed, that the dress had come from him. These short bursts of speech were starting to become more common. Sarah thought it meant that Charity was adjusting to her situation. What a shame everything would soon change again.
“Yes, Uncle David picked out that pretty dress. He has good taste, doesn’t he?”
Charity nodded again.
“I guess,” David said, “that I need to make myself look worthy of being seen with you two belles. I’ll be ready in half an hour at most.”
While David got ready, Sarah asked Charity to show her what she’d done today. Charity showed her some pictures she’d colored, and she made the sign for “doll.”
Then, she and Charity started a make believe tea party with several stuffed animal guests. Not long after, she looked up to see David, freshly shaved and showered, standing in the doorway of the living room, watching their party.
He’d put on a well-tailored charcoal gray suit with a royal blue dress shirt. His collar hung open and his tie was draped around his neck. His hair was still damp and a few tendrils curled at his neck. There was a hint of a smile about his lips, revealing the dimple in his cheek. Sarah could smell his aftershave, a clean woodsy scent.
She couldn’t hold back a sigh of longing. He was gorgeous—and when he did decide to settle down, it wouldn’t be with someone like her.
“May I come to your party, Charity?” he asked.
Charity nodded and a few seconds later added, “Yes.”
Sarah tried not to laugh as David struggled to sit on the tiny chair, knees sticking up above the table. “How can you look so natural sitting there,” he asked. “The table isn’t your size either.”
“Experience,” replied Sarah. “Remember, I work at a school.”
Charity handed David a plastic tea cup.
“Thank you, honey,” he said. The cup looked ludicrously tiny in his hand. “This would be like drinking out of a thimble,” David complained. “If there were anything in here to actually drink, that is.”
Sarah gave in and let out the giggles she’d been holding. “Maybe we should go to dinner. I don’t think this tea party is working for Uncle David. Next time we’ll have it at the kitchen table.”
“Certainly not.” He assumed an air of offended dignity that made Sarah giggle again. “In the parlor or perhaps the dining room, but never in the kitchen. Do you think we’re peasants?”
Sarah almost laughed herself right off her miniscule chair. Charity looked back and forth between them with a gravely puzzled expression.
Rising, David said, “Thank you, Charity, for allowing me to attend your tea party. But now it’s time for supper.”
Charity nodded. “Yes.” She was a regular Chatty Cathy tonight. Sarah’s heart swelled with affection and pride.
“I would have asked Robin to stay with Charity tonight,” David whispered to her as they were walking out the door. “But then I realized I’d probably need a chaperone.” He put an arm around her waist and kissed her neck.
“David, behave.” His casual affection unnerved her.
He grinned at her, showing no sign of remorse. “I told you I needed a chaperone.”
TITLE
Orchard Hill: volume Two
Chapter 8
They returned to the Lake View supper club, where they had eaten with Beverly, but this time they were a much happier group. At least they were until they reached the hostess’ stand. Sarah looked past David and suddenly froze. “She’s here.”
David turned to see whom she meant. Beverly Van Huesen and a gentleman of about her age, probably her husband, were sitting at a table across the room.
“What’s she doing here?”
“Beverly and her husband are joining us for supper tonight.”
“What? How did this happen?”
“I called a friend who knew Mr. Van Huesen. He arranged an introduction.”
“Why would you do this?” Sarah felt panic threatening and tried to breathe normally, but she couldn’t seem to get any air into her lungs. He didn’t really expect her to sit down to a meal with the people who wanted to take Charity away from them, did he?
David put an arm around her shoulders. “I wanted to try and settle this outside of court. I thought bringing Beverly’s husband into it may change things a little. I talked to him on the phone and he seemed very reasonable.”
“You have dinner with them. I want to go home.” She would have turned and left then, walked home carrying Charity if she had to, but David had a firm grip on her shoulders and wouldn’t allow her to bolt.
“It’s going to be all right,” he told her. “We can do this, Sarah.”
She was tempted to make a scene and demand to be taken home. But that wouldn’t look very good for them in court, so she allowed David to lead her and Charity to the Van Huesen’s table.
The gentleman rose and extended his hand to David. “I’m John Van Huesen, Beverly’s husband.”
David shook his hand. “I’m David Daniels. Nice to meet you, sir.” He then introduced Charity and Sarah.
Sarah studied Beverly’s husband instead of her menu. John Van Huesen was nothing like his wife. His manners were pleasant and informal. He seemed genuinely interested in everyone at the table. Although he made a point of saying hello to Charity and telling her that he was her uncle, he was unconcerned with her lack of response. After asking Sarah a few questions about her job, he and David settled into a conversation about business. While the men were occupied, Beverly spoke to Sarah. “I see you finally got your ring.”
“Yes.” Sarah promised herself that she would say as little as possible to this woman.
“It’s quite…noticeable. Is the stone real?”
She gritted her teeth. “Yes.”
“You know I had doubts that your engagement was real, but I guess there’s been greater mismatches.”
“What do you mean?”
Beverly lifted one shoulder in an elegant shrug. “David’s handsome, outgoing, and obviously moving up through the business world.”
“And how am I a mismatch to that?”
“Well, dear, you are a quiet, small town teacher. Not exactly living life in the fast lane, are we?”
“I’m a speech therapist,” Sarah reminded her.
Beverly waved her hand dismissively and took a sip of her wine. “Whatever. He spends his days rubbing shoulders with captains of industry and you spend yours with grubby little children who don’t talk.”
The intimidation Sarah had first felt when she’d seen Beverly had given way to irritation that was quickly growing to anger. “So I work with children. You spend your days at the beauty parlor and the country club. Which of us is more qualified to raise a child, do you think?”
“I can offer Charity opportunities that you can only dream of—an exclusive private school, lessons in riding or dance or anything she chooses, an entrance into society, and her pick of universities.”
“Which I’m sure you’ll be happy to do as long as she meets your standards and jumps through all the right hoops in front of your friends.”
The women stared at each other for a few moments, and then Beverly returned to her wine. The waitress came to take their orders. Sarah went through the menu options with Charity, as she had the last time they’d been here. After Charity chose, Sarah hardly knew what to order for herself. She didn’t know how she’d force anything down in Beverly’s presence.
David and John seemed to be having a great time. Sarah and Beverly barely said ten words to each other or anyone else. Sarah busied herself with helping Charity and Beverly stared fretfully at her plate. Neither woman ate more than a few bites.
“I know I don’t have a lot of experience with children,” Beverly said softly, breaking their silence. “But Charity is more to me than just a…a trophy to show off. She’s my brother’s child.”
“Your brother doesn’t seem the least bit intereste
d in her,” Sarah pointed out.
“He isn’t the least bit interested in anything other than where the next party is. He drifts from place to place, dodging responsibility like a bullet.” There was no mistaking the bitterness in her voice.
“Why do you really want Charity?” asked Sarah as gently as she could manage.
“My brother is as lost to me as Maggie is to David. Charity would at least be a link to him. You’d never know it now, but we were quite close as children.”
Sarah had nothing to say to that. She could feel a bit of sympathy for this woman, now that she understood her better, but she still couldn’t approve of her adopting Charity. It wouldn’t bring her brother back, and Beverly didn’t seem to have a maternal bone in her body.
Noticing Charity’s head beginning to bob with drowsiness, she took the opportunity to break into the men’s conversation and say to David, “We should get Charity to bed. She’s about to fall asleep in her plate.”
David looked at Charity and then nodded. “I think we should call it a night. Are you finished, Sarah?”
“Yes, I’m ready to go.”
“I’ll take care of the bill,” said John. “You just get the little angel home.”
“That’s very generous of you, sir,” David answered.
“Not at all. I’m glad to have met you all tonight.” He turned to his wife. “Beverly, I believe you have misrepresented these people to me. I know how much you wanted Charity, and if she had no one else to take her, I would surely welcome her into our home. But it seems to me that she already has a family that loves her and takes good care of her. We decided a long time ago, Bev, that we didn’t want children. Do you really think we can change our lifestyle enough to be good parents to Charity?”
“It wouldn’t take that much change,” she protested.
“I think you know it would,” he admonished her. “I’d like to propose a different solution. Let’s drop the case against David. David and Sarah should keep Charity. But Beverly and I don’t want to be completely left out.”
“How would you expect to be involved in Charity’s life?” asked David, and Sarah approved of the note of caution in his voice.
“I think Beverly and I would like to be able to spend some time with our niece on occasion.”
“What were you thinking?” asked David.
“We’d like to be included in the major events of her life such as birthdays, confirmation, piano recitals and that sort of thing. We’d also just like to visit with her occasionally. As Charity is so young, and doesn’t know us well,” John replied, “I think we’d visit her here. When she gets older, perhaps she could visit us in Chicago, maybe during school breaks.”
David glanced at Sarah and to her own surprise, she nodded in agreement. “That sounds reasonable,” he told John. “If you’ll allow us to be present during your visits until Charity is comfortable with you.”
“But, John,” cried Beverly. “What about…”
He put a hand on his wife’s shoulder. “You’ll have plenty of time to spoil your niece. Then you can send her back to David and Sarah and let them deal with the temper tantrums, the homework, and eventually, the boy problems. We’ll have the best part of the deal.”
She still looked unconvinced. “I don’t know, John.”
“Once you think about it, you’ll see that I’m right.” To David and Sarah he said, “You’d better get the little lady home. We’ll call you.”
Sarah gathered up Charity, who was now more than half asleep, while David and Mr. Van Huesen shook hands.
“Thank you very much, Mr. Van Huesen,” he said. “I’m sure we can work something out.”
“Call me John. It was nice meeting you, Sarah.”
Sarah felt stunned as they left the restaurant. It was as though she’d walked out of a dream.
“That was quite a surprise,” said David as he opened the car door so that Sarah could slide Charity into her car seat. “I hoped that things would go better, but I didn’t expect to resolve everything tonight.”
“I was just expecting supper. Why didn’t you tell me about this?”
“Because I knew you wouldn’t come.”
He was probably right, so she didn’t say any more.
After buckling in Charity, Sarah backed up. David shut the door, grabbed Sarah around the waist and spun her around. “We’re going to keep Charity.”
He set her down, and then kissed her there in the parking lot, gently and tenderly. Maybe she was still dreaming.
TITLE
Orchard Hill
Volume Two
by
Kara Lynn Russell
TITLE
Orchard Hill: volume Two
Chapter 2
After work that day, Faith stopped at The Green Scene Natural Food Market. She had started coming to Misty’s store years ago, after the doctor had determined that Kevin was allergic to milk. At the time, The Green Scene was the only place that sold soy milk and cheese. Now the local grocery store sold it, too, but Faith had become fond of the organic produce and the herbal teas Misty sold, so she kept shopping here.
“Faith Fielding, where have you been?” Misty called out as she walked into the store. “I haven’t seen you in ages.”
Faith attempted to smile back. “Spring is always busy at the school. Everyone is counting down to summer vacation. And there are all those ‘lasts’.”
“What do you mean ‘lasts’?” asked Misty.
“Oh you know, the last field trip, the last concert, the last art project, and so on and so forth. It keeps the calendar full. I think May is busier than December for us.”
Misty leaned forward and studied Faith’s face. “You look tired. I hope you aren’t letting yourself get run down.”
“No, I’m all right.”
“Well, just in case, you should pick up some of that immune system boosting tea.”
“Thanks, I will.”
“And how is your boss holding out through all this? I hope he’s not leaving you with all the work.”
She shook her head. “No, of course not. Andrew does more than all of us.”
“Hmm, maybe you’d better take some tea for him, too.”
“I’m not his wife. He’ll have to look after himself,” Faith said, a tinge of bitterness in her voice.
“Faith, what’s going on with you?”
“Nothing. Maybe I am tired.”
Misty studied her. “Is Andrew seeing anyone?” she asked.
“As a matter of fact, I believe he made a date with Harmony Solberg today.” Faith hoped she sounded nonchalant.
“Really.”
“I’ll definitely take some of that tea. Can you hold it up here while I look at your produce?”
“Of course, honey. You go look. I’ve got some early strawberries that are absolutely delicious.”
When Faith came back to the counter a little while later, Misty had the box of tea waiting. She placed her other items on the counter and Misty began to ring them up.
“You’ve worked at the school a long time, haven’t you, Faith?”
“Yes, this is my tenth year.”
“Maybe this tiredness isn’t physical,” Misty suggested as she weighed the strawberries.
“What else could it be?”
“Maybe it’s a tiredness of the soul.”
Faith looked at her skeptically.
“You know, maybe what you need is a change of scene, a new challenge.”
“Are you saying I’m in a rut?” she asked.
“Yes, I guess. Do you think so?”
Faith considered as Misty bagged the groceries. There was one thing she was definitely tired of—tired of waiting for something that was never going to happen. And she’d probably never move on while she spent every day with the object of her unrequited affection. “Maybe you’re right, Misty.”
****
That evening Andrew paced in his living room. The television was on, but he wasn’t paying any attention
to it. Finally, he picked up the remote and muted it. Then he took Harmony’s card out of his pocket and looked at it.
She said she’d like to have dinner with him. Why should it be so hard to call and set up the details?
Andrew reviewed what he knew about the woman, which wasn’t much. She’d been the host of a regional cable show, she was writing a cookbook and she didn’t have much experience with kids. She was attractive and pleasant.
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