After Rebecca and Gabriel ordered iced tea minus any slices of pie, Bess sighed and placed her purse carefully on the floor next to her chair. Then she took off her white gloves and laid them beside her fork and napkin, one on top of the other. The waitress returned almost immediately with their orders.
“You know, Rebecca, a piece of pie would fill in a few of those curves. I always found curves draw a man’s attention.”
Rebecca almost choked on her swallow of tea. The liquid went down the wrong way, and she tried to catch her breath. Gabriel pounded on her back. Her eyes watered as she coughed. Slowly she managed to draw air into her lungs.
He leaned close to Rebecca and whispered, “So does nearly choking to death.”
Rebecca sent him a be quiet look and returned her attention to the older woman across from her. “Thanks, I’ll remember that, Bess.” She squeaked the words out in a breathy voice.
“Just trying to help. Those boys of yours need a father, especially Peter. Such a fine boy.”
“But they—”
Bess waved her words away. “Don’t tell me they already have one. Rose told me, and he doesn’t count. He’s never around. Peter told me about his birthday.”
“He did?” Rebecca asked, stunned. Her son wasn’t one to open up to just anyone. She knew Peter had visited Bess several times, but she hadn’t known they’d become confidants.
“Of course, he did. We talk about everything. Your boys need someone right here in Oakview.” Bess cut a large bite of pie, popped it into her mouth and chewed slowly, closing her eyes as though savoring every delicious bit of the dessert. Then she took a sip of tea.
Rebecca heard her stomach rumble. She licked her lips and wished she could enjoy a dessert. But just being in the same room with such a rich pie could add pounds to her body, Rebecca thought with a last wistful look at the near empty plate in front of Bess.
Bess pointed her fork at Gabriel. “And, Chief Stone, you’ve been alone long enough. You’re too good a man to waste. Get back into the thick of things.”
“Bess, I am—”
“No, you aren’t. You still wear your wedding ring. That screams ‘Do not approach, taken,’ to any woman interested.” Bess ate another bite of her dessert, smacking her lips. “This will certainly go right to my hips, but then at my age I don’t have to worry. By the time the fat could kill me, I’ll be dead anyway. One of the advantages to being old.”
Rebecca felt Gabriel’s astonished gaze on her. She was afraid to look at the man. She was sure her face was beet red. Bess had forgotten what the word tact meant.
“So when are you two going out on a date?”
Gabriel nearly spewed his tea all over the table. He managed to recover quicker than Rebecca did, but his eyes were wide and his mouth hung open slightly.
“Chief?” Bess quirked a brow at him. “I never took you to be a foolish man.”
Rebecca glanced at her watch. “Oh, look at the time, Bess. I have to get you back to Shady Oaks.”
“I’m not leaving until I finish this last bite and get an answer to my question.” Bess stared hard at Gabriel.
“Bess, Rebecca and I already have a date.”
“We do?” Rebecca said before she realized Bess would pounce on that comment.
“Remember last weekend when I was building the doghouse and we talked on the patio?”
“When are you going out?”
“Tomorrow night,” Gabriel said.
At the same time Rebecca answered, “Sometime soon.”
Bess arched a brow. “Which is it?”
Rebecca peered at Gabriel and let him get them out of this mess. “Rebecca, will you go out with me tomorrow night?”
“But I haven’t shopped for any of the food I’ll need.”
“Ah, are you going to cook him something to eat? My mother always said the way to a man’s heart was through his stomach, and my Ralph certainly proved her right.”
“I’ll meet you at the grocery store after you take Bess home.”
“Well, in that case, Rebecca, let’s shake a leg. You’ve got plans to make.”
* * *
“We don’t have to go out,” Rebecca said as she walked next to the shopping cart Gabriel pushed down the meat aisle. “We probably need to put our foot down or Bess will think she can manipulate us into doing anything she wants.”
“I’m not arguing with this plan.” He grinned. “I get a home-cooked meal out of it. Why should I disagree.”
“I know I should take offense, but I get to cook a meal—finally.”
“So we both get what we want.”
“Just two happy campers.”
“Right.” Gabriel stopped at the case that held the steaks and carefully inspected each package before placing one in the cart. “I have my part. Where do you want to go?”
“The produce section first.”
As Rebecca strolled next to Gabriel, she couldn’t shake the feeling that their relationship was shifting, whether it was Bess’s doing or not. Yes, friends cooked for each other, but this felt as if they were more than friends. She should put a stop to this date before things got out of hand, before Bess did something else to throw them together. But she wanted to cook for Gabriel. She loved to cook, and Craig never had appreciated her efforts. For some reason she felt Gabriel would be different, and she needed that.
“Well, isn’t this a surprise?” Alicia nearly locked carts with Gabriel when they rounded a corner simultaneously from opposite directions. “Shopping together? Anything I should know about?”
“Not if we don’t want the whole town to know before the sun goes down,” Gabriel replied, stepping to maneuver around Alicia.
“Gabriel Stone, I do not gossip.”
Both Gabriel’s eyebrows shot up. “That’s news to me.”
“Okay, so I like to talk a little. But no one will hear about this from me.” Alicia started down the aisle.
Gabriel watched Alicia disappear. “Don’t count on that, Rebecca. Tomorrow in church, I’m afraid, you’ll be inundated with questions about us.”
“Just me?” She ignored the words about us. It made them sound like a couple.
“No, I’m afraid I will, too.” Gabriel headed for the checkout.
“I keep forgetting how small towns are. Will the gossip bother you?” She wasn’t sure how she felt about being linked with Gabriel romantically. No, that wasn’t quite the truth. She was terrified because she was starting to care a great deal about the man, and she didn’t think he was ready for another commitment. She wasn’t sure she could handle another commitment emotionally after Craig had hurt her so badly. And she was positive she didn’t want her children to suffer anymore.
“I’m a man in the public eye. Gossip follows me.”
“It does? I haven’t heard a word of it.”
“You mean you haven’t heard about Calvin and me? Or Annie and me?”
Rebecca put their items on the checkout counter. “No, what about them?”
“Oh, nothing.” Gabriel took out his wallet to pay the cashier.
Rebecca was aware of the young woman behind the counter listening intently to their conversation. Rebecca refrained from saying another word until they were outside. She followed Gabriel to his Jeep, handing him bags to place inside. He closed the back door, then went to the driver’s side.
Rebecca stopped him with a hand on his arm. “Oh, no, you don’t. You can’t casually mention some little tidbit then not say another word. I’m human and I want to know about Calvin and Annie.”
“It isn’t about Calvin and Annie. It’s about Calvin and me and Annie and me. Two separate stories.” He grinned and slid behind the steering wheel. “Two stories I’ll save until we have dinner tomorrow night.” He started the engine and backed out of the parking space, leaving her standing in front of the grocery store.
Who was Annie? It was all Rebecca could think about as she drove home. When she pulled into her driveway, she was determined to have the an
swers before tomorrow night. No one knew the townspeople better than her grandmother.
* * *
Well, Granny had been able to tell her who Calvin was, but Annie was still a mystery. Rebecca approached Gabriel’s front door. The warm evening air with a hint of mowed grass permeating the light breeze reminded her that summer wasn’t far away. She pushed the bell and listened to it chime, tapping her foot on the wooden porch. Calvin had turned out to be a farmer outside town who had a habit of shooting at anyone who came onto his property—until Gabriel cured him.
But who was Annie?
The door swung open, and Gabriel filled the entryway. “Right on time.” He looked around her. “Did you walk?”
She nodded. “It’s hard to pass up a day like today. Summer will be here all too fast, and with it the heat. I like to take advantage of the nice weather when I can.” She stepped inside his house. “Okay, I’m here. Who is Annie?”
He laughed. “You know about Calvin and me?”
“He could have hurt you.”
“I knew he wouldn’t.”
“How?”
Gabriel shrugged. “Just did.”
“But to keep walking toward him as he shot at you? I’m sure that isn’t in the police chief manual.”
“I wasn’t the police chief at the time, but I think the good people of Oakview felt they had to give me the job after that incident.”
“Yeah, anyone crazy enough to let someone shoot at them must be crazy enough to be a police chief.”
“Right. Someone had to call the old man’s bluff. Besides, he was shooting at the dirt around me.”
Rebecca walked toward the kitchen. “Okay, now that we know about Calvin, what about Annie? Did this involve a gun, too?”
“Oh, no. Annie couldn’t have held a gun if she had wanted to—which I doubt she would have, since she was a cow.”
“A cow!” That certainly wasn’t the picture she had conjured up on the walk to his house. Rebecca pivoted toward Gabriel and saw the amusement deep in his eyes.
“Of course, at the time I knew her she was a calf, and I was her rescuer.” He swept his arm wide. “My kitchen is your kitchen.” He started for the back door.
“Hold it! How did you rescue her?”
Gabriel came to a stop and turned slowly toward Rebecca. “The story would be better on a full stomach.”
She fisted her hands on her hips. “There will be no full stomach if there’s no story.”
“Blackmailing me? The town’s police chief?”
“You bet.”
He lounged against the counter. “There really isn’t much to tell. Annie got stuck in a bog, and I had to get her out. Of course, after she got out, I ended up stuck in the bog up to my thighs and had to wait for help to arrive—three hours later. Not one of my finer moments, if you ask me. I think I was the punch line for a few jokes after that.”
Rebecca pressed her lips together, but the corners of her mouth twitched. Finally she couldn’t contain her laughter any longer. “You mean Annie didn’t go for help?” she asked, wiping the tears from her eyes.
“Actually she did wander back to her owner, but sadly she couldn’t say where she had been.”
Her laughter settled into a huge smile. “Life in a small town is certainly different from a big city. I can’t say I ever heard of that happening to the police chief of Dallas. But then I doubt he got out much.”
“I’m a hands-on type of guy. I wouldn’t want to be stuck behind a desk.”
“As opposed to being stuck in a bog?” The laughter bubbled up again, and she found herself unable to stop. She collapsed into a chair at the table, picturing him with mud up to his thighs, trying to take a step forward and unable to.
He waited until she ceased and said, “I’m glad you find the situation amusing.”
“You don’t?”
A smile cracked the stern expression on his face. “Now I do. Not at the time. All I wanted to do was slink home and not come out for days.”
“Were you able to?”
“No. I had a steady parade of people pay me visits that evening on one pretext after another. The only things they really wanted to know, however, were the gory details.”
“Which you supplied?”
“Yes. It was either me or the person who found me, and I didn’t want her to.”
“Who?”
“Mabel.”
“You’re kidding? That’s rich. She pulled you out?”
“You have to remember she was in the Navy once, and she’s quite strong for a small woman.”
Rebecca held up her hand. “Okay. Okay. I don’t think I want any more details. I’ll just let my imagination work overtime.”
“That’s what I’m afraid you’ll do.” He pushed away from the counter. “Have fun with it. I’m starting the fire.”
When the door closed behind Gabriel, she moved toward the refrigerator to get the ingredients for twice-baked potatoes and broccoli-cheese casserole. While she washed the potatoes, she spied Gabriel on the patio, cleaning the barbecue.
Since she had met him, she had laughed more than in the past few years. He enjoyed life and lived it to the fullest. His faith had sustained him through difficult times and made him a stronger man. As she observed him fill the pit with fresh charcoal, she couldn’t deny her feelings any longer. She was falling in love with Gabriel Stone.
CHAPTER TEN
“You may cook for me anytime. You have a gift.” Gabriel wiped his mouth with his napkin and folded it next to his plate.
Rebecca’s hand shook as she picked up her glass and drank cool water. All she had been able to think about during dinner was that she had fallen in love with Gabriel. And she knew neither of them was ready for another commitment. She wanted a total commitment from a man. He had to love her for herself, not the ready-made family she would give him. If Gabriel could commit, would it be for the right reasons?
“I’m glad you liked my food,” she finally murmured after putting the glass on the patio table.
“Especially your dessert. Your chocolate eclairs were wonderful, mouthwatering, rich—”
She chuckled. “I get the picture. You can have the last one.”
He pounced on it, taking his time devouring it, a huge grin on his face. He licked every morsel of chocolate off his fingertips. Transfixed, Rebecca watched. How was she going to protect her heart? She knew it was too late. Gabriel wouldn’t mean to hurt her, but make no mistake, she would be hurt. He was an honorable person who would realize a commitment had to be based on love between the man and woman, not on the fact he wanted a family.
Gabriel stretched his long legs in front of him and relaxed in his chair. “I don’t think I’m gonna be able to move for a while.”
Rebecca looked up and noticed some clouds racing across the moon. She took a deep breath and smelled rain in the air. “I think a storm’s building.”
He rested his head on the cushion and stared at the darkening sky. “That might not be good news for Peepers. Thank goodness she’ll be inside with Bess tonight if it does storm.”
“It’s bound to happen during the daytime. Then what?”
“Pray, and if that doesn’t work, buy a doghouse ready made, which is what I should have done in the first place.”
“But you wanted to spend some time with Peter.”
He raised his head and fixed his gaze on her. “Was I that obvious?”
“No, I don’t think Peter suspected a thing. Even if he did, he loved every minute of you two building that—doghouse.”
“You’re too kind. I’m not sure that’s what I’d call the thing we built.”
“Mothers look at their children’s creations with rose-colored glasses.”
Gabriel laughed. “At least I got some good news out of him while we worked. He told me he wants to join the team as a player and participate in our next game. He wants to start working out with the others at practice. Actually he already has, to some extent.”
“
Now I’m really gonna be nervous when I watch the games. It’s so much easier when your child is the manager. No pressure.”
“But it’s so much more exciting when he hits the ball and gets a run.”
“Do you think he has a chance?”
“Yes. I’m his coach. He’s more than ready. He was from the beginning, but Peter feels he must be perfect in order to be valuable to the team.”
“It’s because of his dad. Craig always pushed Peter to do everything perfectly. If he didn’t, Craig wouldn’t say anything to encourage him, or he would make sure Peter knew everything he had done wrong.”
Gabriel straightened, all casualness gone from his expression. He clenched his jaw, and his hands curled tightly around the arms of the wrought iron chair. “Is that why Peter’s afraid to try anything new?”
Rebecca nodded, afraid to speak for fear her voice would crack.
“I’ve been trying to get him to join the children’s choir. He keeps telling me he doesn’t sing very well, but I’ve heard him. He has a beautiful voice.”
“You’ve gotten him to do more than I thought you would be able to. Give him time. He’ll come around.”
“He has all the time in the world with me. I’m not going anywhere. Some day he’ll realize that.”
But I might have to go somewhere else, especially when it becomes too painful to be around you and not be fully a part of your life. She immediately pushed the thought of moving into the background, not wanting to put a damper on the evening. “I’m glad you care for my son.”
“I care for both your sons, Rebecca. They’re important to me.”
“The family you never had,” she said before she realized the meaning of what she was saying.
Gabriel flinched as though struck.
“I realize you always wanted a large family. With your wife’s death that was taken away from you.” She sat forward, deciding to broach the subject that had been bothering her since she realized her feelings for Gabriel were deepening. “Are you using my sons as a substitute for the family you lost?”
“You don’t pull any punches, do you?”
Rebecca rose, restless. “I try not to anymore. I did once. I’m beginning to care for you as more than a friend.” She pivoted toward him. “I don’t want to be hurt again. I won’t be the only one to suffer. My boys will, too.”
The Power of Love Page 13