“This nonsense about Walker moving in with you when he starts work down here. The rumors can’t be right. You’ve got more sense than that.”
“Walker is not moving in,” she said.
King looked taken aback by her calm reply. “He’s not?”
“No, we concluded it wouldn’t be in my best interests since everyone’s already in an uproar about us without knowing any of the facts. Tommy, however, will go right on staying here.”
“Then why the devil is Walker coming, if he’s not going to take responsibility for the boy?”
“He will, just not right away, not until he can get settled.”
“But if his nephew’s here, then he’ll still be hanging around day and night,” King complained.
“So what if he is? He’ll be going off to his own bed, in his own hotel room every night.” More’s the pity, she thought to herself.
“I don’t like it,” King groused.
“You weren’t so quick to complain about all the time I spent with Billy Inscoe,” she reminded him.
“You were living under my roof then. No one would have dared to suggest the two of you were up to no good. Besides, that was leading up to marriage.”
Daisy lost patience. “Walker and I are trying to do what’s best for Tommy and for my reputation. Our decision is made and it’s final.”
“I don’t think you’ve thought this through the way you should have.”
“Well, that’s just too bad, isn’t it?” she snapped, and stalked inside the house, leaving Anna-Louise to deal with her father’s grumbling.
But after a few minutes, she began to feel guilty about leaving the pastor to handle King. She went back to the porch and met his gaze evenly.
“Daddy, this is going to work out. You’ll see.”
“Having Walker stay at a hotel is like trying to coax the horse back into the barn. It’s too little, too late. People will still believe the worst.”
“Since when do you care what anybody says?” Daisy asked. “Public opinion certainly never stopped you from doing anything you wanted to do.”
“First off, I’m a man.”
“Oh, brother,” Daisy muttered. “Talk about your double standards.”
King scowled. “Second, I don’t give two cents what they say about me,” he retorted impatiently. “We’re talking about you. If your mother were here, she would never allow this.”
“I seem to recall that you and mother lived together your senior year in college and didn’t get married until several months after that.”
“And my folks didn’t like it one bit,” King said unrepentantly. “Now I know how they felt. Besides, your mother and I were in Charlottesville, not right in our own backyard where our parents would have to live it down every single day.”
He turned to the minister. “Anna-Louise, I backed you when the church had doubts about bringing in a woman for the job. Now I expect you to do something.”
Anna-Louise rolled her gaze heavenward. “I knew that was going to come back and haunt me. What is it you think I should do?”
“Fix it. Get her to see reason. Tell her she has to get that boy out from under her roof so Walker won’t have any excuses to be hanging around. Explain what happens to sinners. Give her one of those fancy sermons on morality. Maybe she’ll listen to that.”
Apparently satisfied that he’d made his point, he left.
Daisy sank down into the chair he’d vacated and set it to rocking. Eventually, she turned to Anna-Louise. “Is he right? Is this a mistake, too? I thought for sure not letting Walker stay here would be enough to stop the talk.”
“In a perfect world, it should be.”
“But you don’t think it will do the trick?”
“Like your father said, it could be too late. You have to let your conscience decide what’s right.”
Daisy nodded. “I’ve done that. Keeping Tommy here, at least for the time being, is what’s best for him. He’s thriving. There’s some stability in his life. Having his uncle nearby will only add to that. That’s all that matters. If people can’t understand that, if they want to make something out of Walker’s visits, I can’t stop them.”
“Then it sounds as if you’ve made your decision.”
“I have,” Daisy said emphatically. “I’m sorry if my father and I made you uncomfortable by dragging you into this.”
“Just part of the job.” She leveled a penetrating look at Daisy. “One thing, though. Just a warning.”
“What?”
“I know you and Walker are trying to do what’s best for Tommy, but think long and hard about what’s really right for him, not just short term, but for the long term as well.”
“I don’t understand.”
“Right now, I suspect he’s living a fantasy, thinking of the three of you as a family. What happens if it all falls apart because you and Walker aren’t committed to each other?” She studied Daisy’s face. “Or have I missed something?”
Daisy wanted to talk about her feelings for Walker, about what had happened between them, but though she thought of Anna-Louise as her friend as well as her pastor, she couldn’t bring herself to do it. She was too afraid of whatever judgment she might read in the other woman’s eyes.
“No, we’re not committed to each other,” she said softly, leaving it at that.
“Do you think that could change?”
“Honestly? I don’t know,” Daisy said. More troubling, though, was how desperately she wanted it to.
She thought of little else all night long, weighing her own feelings against what was right for Tommy, what was convenient for Walker and the risks Anna-Louise had been right to raise.
She still hadn’t made a decision when she arrived at school and was immediately called into the principal’s office. Evan Washburn, a gray little man who had been a brilliant teacher but was out of his element in his new capacity, sat behind his desk, his fingertips touching as if he’d been playing that childhood game about a church and steeple. Or maybe he was just praying for guidance, since he’d never been any good at administrative details or confrontation.
He waved to Daisy to shut the door, then waited until she was seated.
“It has come to my attention—” he cleared his throat, color flaming in his cheeks “—that there is a man living with you.”
So, it had come down to this, after all. How ironic, when she and Walker had already concluded that it was time for him to stay elsewhere. She covered her dismay with indignation. “Excuse me? Why would that be any business of yours?”
“There are a few people—several in fact—who have called to express some dismay that a woman entrusted with schoolchildren would be carrying on in such a way. I don’t have to remind you that you are a role model, and such behavior is hardly suitable when dealing with impressionable teenagers.”
“Perhaps what those teenagers ought to understand is that it is important for all of us to step in and help out when someone needs assistance. Tommy Flanagan needed a home. I provided it. There’s no more to it than that.”
“And that’s all there is to it?” he asked, plainly skeptical.
“Are you asking me if Walker Ames and I are having sex?” Daisy asked bluntly, determined to get the real issue out in the open.
Evan squirmed uncomfortably, clearly hating the situation into which he’d been thrust. Little wonder that he’d been so vehemently opposed to having sex education in school. He blushed at the mention of the word.
“Absolutely not,” he insisted, looking horrified.
“Good, because it wouldn’t be any of your business if we were.” She stood up. “If that’s all, I have a class to teach.”
“Yes, yes, of course.”
She turned back at the door. “Evan, if anyone else calls, why don’t you refer them directly to me?”
“Yes, I’ll be glad to,” he said, clearly relieved. “Let’s see to it that this doesn’t get out of hand. I’m sure things will die down by fall and
it won’t be an issue at all.”
“I’m sure,” Daisy said wryly.
Outside his office, she drew in a deep breath. Though Evan hadn’t said anything directly about her job being at stake, the implication had been there. This whole mess was getting out of hand. She doubted that King was behind the calls to Evan, which meant he’d been right that there were people in the community who thought what she was doing—no matter how well-intentioned—was wrong. Sending Walker to a hotel had clearly been too little, too late to save the day. Or else that particular word just hadn’t spread yet.
She couldn’t let that matter, though. This was the right thing to do. She was convinced of it. She had only to think of how well Tommy was doing to reassure herself that she had no other choice. Her relationship with Walker, whatever it was, wasn’t an issue at all.
Except to her. And somehow, some way, she would manage to keep it in perspective and live with the fact that she was likely to spend the next several months all hot and bothered without doing a blessed thing about it. Because if keeping Walker out of her house and out of her bed was what it took to make the talk die down, then that’s what she would have to do. Not that she thought for a second that people wouldn’t believe whatever they wanted, no matter how much distance she put between herself and Walker.
“What’s wrong?” Walker asked when he called that night.
It still threw her that he could read her so well. Few men had ever taken the trouble to even try.
“Not a thing,” she insisted brightly. “How are things going up there? How did Andy take your news?”
“His biggest complaint is that, thanks to me, it’s going to be harder than ever to keep Gail from wanting to move down there right away to open that store. He’s not ready to retire, which is what he says I’m doing.”
“Is that the way you think of it?” she asked, dismayed because she knew he would never be happy if it was.
“Absolutely not. There are a lot of positive aspects to this. Maybe I’ll finally be someplace where I can really make a difference.”
“You will, especially for Tucker.”
“Leave it to you to see this as a way to keep your brother from working so hard.”
“Well, it’s true. He’s incredibly dedicated and I admire that, but he needs to get a life. He needs to meet someone and have a family. Neither he nor Bobby is getting any younger.”
“This from their big sister,” he teased.
“Okay, the same could be said for me, but I’m content with my life. It’s the one I’ve chosen.”
“Is it, Daisy? Is it the way you would have wanted it to be?”
“Of course,” she insisted. “Why would you think otherwise?”
“Because anyone with so much love to give should have a family of her own.”
She sighed, wishing that were as easy as he made it sound. “Some things just aren’t meant to be. Now, enough of that, when will you be here?”
“Not till next week.”
“Then let me get Tommy. I know he’ll want to talk to you. He’s so excited that you’re going to be here all the time.”
“And you, Daisy? Are you excited?”
She didn’t know how to answer that. There was the honest answer—a resounding yes. Or the safer reply—that she was thrilled for Tommy’s sake.
“Nothing to say to that?” he asked, picking up on her hesitation.
“It’s…complicated,” she said.
“Meaning?”
She forced a laugh. “That it’s too complicated to get into now. I’ll get Tommy.”
“Daisy, wait.”
“What?”
“Don’t think I didn’t notice that you never answered me.”
“About?”
“What’s wrong? Something is. I can hear it in your voice.”
“It’s nothing for you to worry about,” she insisted. “I’ve already handled it.”
“And you don’t want to tell me whatever it is you had to handle?” he asked, clearly as exasperated as the last time she’d tried to keep a secret from him.
“No.”
“I’m a pretty good investigator. I’ll find out.”
“Poking around in things that are none of your concern won’t win you any points, Detective.”
“I’ll win my points the old-fashioned way.”
“How’s that?”
“Charm.”
Daisy chuckled. “Awfully sure of yourself, aren’t you?”
She was surprised when he sighed.
“No, Daisy. Lately, I’m not sure of anything at all.”
She was still thinking about that response when Tommy hung up the phone a few minutes later and turned to her, his expression excited.
“It’s gonna be really neat to have Uncle Walker here all the time, isn’t it?”
“You bet,” Daisy agreed.
“It’ll be like having a real family again.” His face clouded over. “I mean, not like having my mom exactly. I know I can’t ever get her back, but this is almost as good, having you and Uncle Walker.”
Daisy’s heart ached for what he had lost, and what he had never known, a father’s love. “I’m glad you’re happy here,” she said softly.
Tommy met her gaze with an earnest look. “Do you think maybe you and Uncle Walker might get married?”
She shouldn’t have been startled by the question, but she was. It was exactly what Anna-Louise had warned her about.
“Oh, sweetie, I don’t think so.”
“Why not? He likes you. I can tell. And you like him at least a little bit, don’t you?”
“Of course, but it’s more complicated than that.” There was that word again. It seemed to sum up her life lately.
“Well, I hope you do,” Tommy said, his face set stubbornly. “The kids at school say I’m nothing but a lousy orphan, that I don’t have anybody who really loves me.”
Daisy was horrified. “That’s absurd. I don’t ever want to hear anyone say something like that. You have a lot of people who love you.”
“It’s not the same,” Tommy said, his shoulders slumped wearily. “I’m going to bed.”
Long after he’d gone, she stared after him. Darkness gathered, but she stayed where she was. Giving Tommy a make-believe family wasn’t the answer, just as Anna-Louise had said. He needed to belong to a real family. Walker was his biological family, so that was where it had to begin. And it was up to Walker to provide him with a mother. As long as she was in the middle of things, that would never happen. It would be too easy to allow things to drift along, because they were convenient and comfortable and because they all got along well enough.
Tommy had to have more than that, and it was up to her to set things in motion.
She was waiting for Walker when he arrived with his things the following week. She met him on the porch and blocked his way inside.
“This isn’t going to work,” she said bluntly.
“What isn’t?”
“Keeping Tommy here. You can stay tonight, but in the morning I want you and Tommy to find your own place.”
Walker dragged her over to a chair, then gestured toward it. “Sit,” he ordered in a tone that normally would have had her refusing. “Tell me what this is all about. You’re not making any sense. I thought this was all settled. I thought you were happy about keeping Tommy with you a little longer.”
“It’s a bad idea.”
“Why?” His gaze narrowed. “This has something to do with whatever was upsetting you last week, doesn’t it?”
She wasn’t going to explain that Tommy wanted them to marry. She wasn’t sure she could do it without letting Walker see how badly she wanted that, too.
“Why doesn’t matter. It’s my decision and it’s final.” Her gaze locked with his and her chin set stubbornly.
She could tell there was a storm brewing in Walker’s eyes, but he finally gave a curt nod.
“Your decision,” he said tightly. “Maybe I’ll just stay at the ho
tel tonight, so I won’t be underfoot while you explain this to Tommy. Or have you told him already?”
She hadn’t. She wasn’t sure she could bear to. “I haven’t said anything. I thought…” She swallowed hard. “I thought we could tell him together.”
Walker shook his head. “I don’t think so, because I don’t know what the hell is going on. This is your show, Daisy. You’ll have to do your own dirty work.”
With that, he whirled around and stomped off the porch, leaving her once again in darkness, her thoughts troubled, her heart aching. She honestly didn’t know what was right anymore. If this was it, though, then why did she feel so blasted lousy?
Walker had no idea what had gotten into Daisy. Nor had he liked the way his stomach had started churning when she’d gazed up at him with those big violet eyes shimmering with tears and told him to go and take Tommy with him.
He’d wanted to argue with her. Hell, he’d flat-out wanted to plead, but pride wouldn’t let him. But he sure as heck intended to find out what had put this particular bee into her bonnet.
Instead of checking into the hotel, he headed straight for the parsonage so he could talk to Anna-Louise and Richard. Between them, they were bound to have answers. Tucker certainly hadn’t had any clue about this turn of events, or he would have said something when Walker had seen him earlier.
He found Anna-Louise and Richard sitting in back of the cozy little parsonage enjoying the breeze off the river and tall glasses of lemonade. The steeple of the white church next door cast a shadow across the yard.
Walker waited impatiently while Anna-Louise fixed a glass for him, then told them what had just happened at Daisy’s.
“She what?” Anna-Louise asked, her expression shocked.
“You don’t have any idea why she would do this?” Walker asked.
“None at all. She told her father to butt out of it when he objected. She all but told me the same thing. Her mind was made up. This is a complete turnaround.”
“I think I might have an idea,” Richard said slowly.
Walker and Anna-Louise stared at him. “You do?” they said simultaneously.
“I got a couple of letters at the paper.”
About That Man Page 26