The Protective One

by Shelley Shepard Gray

  Her parents exchanged looks.

  “No one is hurt, or anything like that. But I’m not sure if everything is okay.” Looking like she had just swallowed some bitter medicine, her mother sighed. “David came over.”

  E.A. felt like sighing, too. “What did he want?”

  “To talk to us.”

  “About?”

  “You,” her father said.

  After giving Daed a quelling look, Mamm said softly, “David has been worried about you, E.A.” Crossing her legs, she added, “To be honest, some of the things he was saying were unsettling.”

  Unsettling. She gritted her teeth, already anticipating some of what he’d said. “I’m fine. There’s nothing going on with me that he needs to worry about. He shouldn’t have bothered you.”

  Her mother folded her hands on her lap. “His coming over wasn’t a bother.”

  “But it wasn’t necessary, Mamm.”

  “I know you two broke up, but we just assumed it was a temporary thing,” her father said. “You two have been seeing each other for such a long time, we assumed that you would patch things up.”

  “We’re not going to get back together, Daed.”

  Not. Ever.

  “Are you sure you’re thinking like yourself?” her mother asked as she leaned forward. “We thought David brought up something important.”

  “Which was?”

  “That you might be still traumatized about poor Andy’s death.”

  Just when she thought this conversation couldn’t get worse, it had. “David brought up Andy and you listened to him?” She knew her voice had risen, but she didn’t care one bit. “David never even knew Andy!”

  “Now, don’t get yourself all upset,” Daed said. “David might have overstepped, but he made several good points.”

  “Might have overstepped?”

  “All we’re saying is that we know that Andy’s death made you upset. You might be acting out and perhaps looking for someone to replace him.”

  “David came up with a convoluted story about how I am so upset that one of my best friends committed suicide so I dumped him and fell in love with Will?” E.A. stared at both of her parents. “I don’t know if I’m more appalled with David for conjuring up such a horrible story or with you two for believing it.”

  Her mother’s gaze hardened. “Daughter, based on the way you acted tonight, I can’t deny that David did make a good point.”

  “How did I act?”

  They exchanged looks yet again. “You know, staying out late, kissing in public …” Mamm said.

  “It’s ten at night. And we were kissing. Nothing more.”

  Her mother shrugged. “Jah, but still … it’s worrisome.”

  “What’s worrisome is that David feels comfortable coming over here to talk to you two about me when I’m not here to defend myself.”

  “That’s why we wanted to speak to you.” Daed straightened. “E.A., I think it would be best if you took a step back and spent some time reevaluating your actions.”

  “I don’t even know what you’re talking about. I spent time with a good friend, who I’ve known for years. And I broke up with my boyfriend, who is obviously not pleased about it. That’s it. Neither should have concerned you.”

  “We’re only trying to help you,” her mother coaxed. “You know, every once in a while, we all need a helping hand. Someone who is willing to protect us from ourselves.”

  There was that word again. Protect. But this time, she didn’t think they were offering protection at all. More like confinement. “I’m too old to be grounded.”

  “No one is talking about grounding you.”

  She grit her teeth. “But?”

  “But we are concerned about you.”

  “I am grateful for your love. But I am not going to talk any more about topics that you discussed with David.” Feeling even more sure of herself, she added, “I love you both and I know you love me, too. But I’m not okay with David discussing me in this room and you both siding with him. I may not do everything you wish I would do … but that doesn’t mean I am wrong.”

  “David really cares about you.”

  “Does he? Because right now it sure seems like he cares an awful lot about himself.”

  “Watch your tone, E.A.”

  “I will. I think I’m going to be watching a lot of things from now on,” she muttered as she stood up. Before they could reply, she walked upstairs, grabbed her robe and nightgown, and headed for the shower.

  Turning on the faucet, she kept it far cooler than the usual temperature. She needed to cool off, she decided. In more ways than one.

  * * *

  The house was dark when Will entered. After grabbing a sleeve of crackers from one of the cabinets and pouring a large glass of water, he walked down the hall to his suite of rooms as quietly as possible.

  He’d taken over his great-uncle’s rooms about three years ago. It consisted of a bedroom, a small sitting room, and his own bathroom. About a year ago Harley had helped him add new cabinets and a better shower and replace some worn-out baseboards. Now, he reckoned it was as nice a place as he’d ever hope to have.

  As he walked in, he felt guilty for wanting more than living at home. Here, he had the best of both worlds: a comfortable, private space where he could still see his family easily, enjoy his mother’s cooking, and not have to pay rent.

  He couldn’t think of anyone who would feel ungrateful to have such a place to live.

  But that, of course, was what he’d been feeling the past couple of weeks.

  “You are ungrateful, Will,” he muttered to himself. “You should be ashamed.”

  “Ashamed of what?” Nan asked from his doorway.

  Will jumped at the sound of his sister’s voice. “Don’t do that to me no more. Knock.”

  Nan raised her eyebrows pointedly at Jake, who was standing next to her. “I didn’t know we were supposed to knock on open doors in this house. Did you?”

  “Nope. It’s news to me.”

  Seeing the look of amusement on his brother’s face, Will knew if he didn’t put a stop to it, their teasing would get worse and worse.

  “Is there a reason you two are standing there, or did you just stop by to give me grief?”

  “Oh, I came for a reason, all right.” Nan smiled as she wandered into his sitting room. “I’m here for information.”

  “About?” Immediately, he started thinking of the rumors that were probably swirling around him and E.A.

  “About what we should do for Mamm and Daed for their anniversary.”

  He was so relieved, his mind went blank. “What about their anniversary? Since when do we start doing something for them?”

  “Since they’ve been married almost thirty years. Their anniversary is in a month, Will. I think that means we’re supposed to throw them a party.”

  Now he was embarrassed. He really should have remembered. “Sorry. You’re right.”

  “I know we are,” Jake said, doing that annoying thing he did where it sounded like they were completing each other’s sentences again. “But we don’t know what to plan. Should it be a surprise party?”

  Will loved his parents and he was mighty happy that they’d had such a long and successful marriage. But he sure didn’t have time to start planning surprise parties.

  “Maybe we should plan something simpler.”

  “Like what? A barbecue?” Nan asked sarcastically.

  “I think that sounds great. Daed likes cheeseburgers.”

  She folded her arms over her chest. “Nee. We are not throwing our parents a cookout to celebrate their thirtieth anniversary, Will.”

  Jake looked smug. “Even I know we can’t do that.”

  “If you two know everything, you shouldn’t have come over to ask me.”

  “You have a point, but we can only do so much,” Jake said. “You’re the oldest.”

  And because he was the oldest, it was his job to help do the planning. “Fine.
I’ll ask around and see what I can do.”

  “Gut,” Jake said as he sat down. Grinning, he said, “Now that that’s taken care of, you can tell us all about your evening with E.A.”

  He started backing out his own door. “No way. I’m taking a shower and you two had better be gone when I get back.”

  Nan sighed. “Fine.”

  Will picked up his towel and walked to his bathroom, thinking that he needed to not only think about party planning but also about planning the rest of his life.

  He felt like he was on the verge of something big—he just wasn’t sure what it could be.

  SEVENTEEN

  “The mice raced down the hall that led toward the gym. And because we felt responsible, we ran after them.”

  TWO DAYS LATER

  Still lingering over the last of her tasty pasta dish, Elizabeth Anne was content to simply listen to her girlfriends’ comments about their meals at Rebecca’s Café. Their comments were as familiar as her favorite quilt. It didn’t matter where they were or what they were eating—Katie, Marie, and Kendra almost always said the same things.

  “We always eat too much whenever we come here for lunch,” Katie complained as she pushed her half-full plate another inch away from her place setting. “I’m stuffed.”

  “And after eating only half of it, too,” Marie teased.

  “I’m going to bring the rest home to Harley,” Katie replied. “He will be happy to have such a treat.”

  “At least he won’t be worrying about all the calories,” Marie said with a frown. “I don’t know why I always order Fettucine Alfredo. It’s so fattening.”

  “Only you would complain about such a good meal,” Kendra said with a satisfied look at her plate. “Rebecca’s Café is wonderful. I haven’t had a meal this gut in ages.”

  “You mean a meal this good that you haven’t made yourself,” Marie quipped. “You cook so well, you could be hired as a chef somewhere.”

  Kendra wrinkled her nose. “Slaving over a hot stove all day to make meals for strangers? No thank you.”

  “I wish I could cook half as well as you can,” Katie said. “I can bake a decent orange bread, but not much else.” Brightening, she said, “Hey, want to make a couple of meals for the inn from time to time?”

  “You have Harley’s sister Betty baking for you at the B and B. You don’t need me as well,” Kendra said.

  Katie brightened. “This is true. Betty is a wonderful cook.”

  “I wish I could cook better,” Marie said.

  “Or at all,” Kendra murmured.

  Marie winced. “Poor John. Last night I tried to make meat loaf. It was just terrible. I burned it, too.”

  Swirling her pasta around her fork, E.A. smiled. And so it continued. Each of them able to hold a conversation about food, cooking, and their various successes and failures for hours. She wondered if their ability to play off each other was because they’d known each other for years … or that the Lord had simply placed them together and they were reaping His good judgment. She really wasn’t sure.

  Or, maybe it didn’t really matter. What mattered was that she was feeling a whole lot better about everything, thanks to simply being around these women.

  “E.A., eat,” Katie said. “I’ve been watching you twirl that same pair of noodles around your fork for a full minute.”

  E.A. looked down. And sure enough, Katie hadn’t lied. The two linguini noodles that had once been coated with cheese and cream now looked like bare limp things, barely clinging to her fork. Decidedly unappetizing.

  She put her fork down. “Sorry. I lost my train of thought. I don’t know why.”

  Marie winked at the others. “I do.”

  Alarmed by that sly smile, E.A. said, “I promise, my mind just went walking. That’s all.”

  “I canna help but think that Marie is right. You have things on your mind other than this meal.” Smiling broadly, Katie leaned forward. “Why don’t you tell us how things are going with Will?”

  Will, again. It seemed no one wanted to talk about anything else but him. “Things with us? Well, they’re strange, if you want to know the truth.”

  Marie frowned. “Really? But Will is so easy to get along with.”

  “He is, but things are different now.” E.A. hesitated for a moment, then continued. After all, it wasn’t like anything the two of them were doing was a secret.

  “I don’t know how to act around Will any longer, especially now that my parents have decided to get involved.”

  “Uh-oh. How did that happen?” Kendra asked.

  “David decided to pay them a visit and air his grievances about me.” Still irritated, she added, “And apparently … he did so loudly and in detail.”

  “Ouch,” Katie said.

  “I hope they showed him to the door,” Marie commented. “My mother would have been horrified if an old boyfriend came over to talk about me.”

  “Your mother would have given David a piece of her mind, for sure. My parents? Well, they’re currently mourning the fact that their dream of being related to their best friends through marriage is over.”

  Kendra coughed. “I’m sorry, but that sounds creepy.”

  E.A. chuckled. “I think it sounds creepy, too. They have their own life to manage. And Annie’s life. They don’t need to start telling me who to date, and they really don’t need to be listening to David and taking his side.”

  While the server picked up their dishes and passed out dessert menus, Marie studied E.A. “So what are you going to do?”

  “I don’t know. There’s nothing I can do. Not really, anyway. He’s my neighbor, it’s not like I can do anything to deliberately make things more awkward between us.” Noticing the other girls exchange glances, E.A. sat up straighter. “What? You can’t think I’m wrong.”

  “Not exactly,” Kendra said. “But I think I should point out the obvious.”

  “Which is?”

  “That David isn’t thinking about keeping the peace between your parents. He’s doing whatever he wants.”

  “And getting heard.” Katie nodded.

  “It does seem like he has the advantage,” Marie murmured.

  He did. That knowledge made her uncomfortable, but what could she do? “Until everything with Will gets straightened out, I’m not inclined to do much. I’d rather wait it out.”

  Katie looked sympathetic. “I’d do the same thing. I mean, I actually did that when I was worried about Harley’s ex-girlfriend. It’s easy to ‘say’ one is going to do something big and dramatic in retaliation, but it’s a whole other thing to act on it.”

  “Thank you,” E.A. said with a grateful smile. Picking up the dessert menu, she said, “Is anyone going to get pie? I could split a piece if anyone wants to …”

  “Sorry. I want my own slice of chocolate mousse,” Marie said.

  “And I was going to get cherry, which I know isn’t your favorite,” Katie said.

  “Kendra, what about you?” E.A. asked. Seeing that Kendra was frowning at something across the restaurant, she put her menu down. “Kendra, what is wrong?”

  “Hmm?” When she realized that they were all staring at her, Kendra shook her head. “Sorry. I just, um, well, I just saw this couple walk in.”

  “What about them?” Katie asked, turning to look where Kendra had been staring. “Which ones?”

  “It’s an English couple.” Looking increasingly troubled, Kendra said, “The husband just grabbed his wife’s arm in a way that you could tell pained her but she didn’t say a word. Every once in a while I see something like that and it brings me back to things I try to forget.”

  Now all of them were trying to look over at the couple that Kendra had pointed out.

  “I see what you mean Kendra,” Marie said. “They don’t look very happy together at all.”

  E.A. was at a disadvantage. She couldn’t really see who they were talking about. Though she knew they were all being rude, she knew their minds were probably more o
n Kendra than on the pair of strangers. “I still can’t find them.”

  “It’s the brown-haired lady with the balding husband. She’s in a pale violet sweater,” Marie said. “A strange choice, given that it’s over ninety degrees out.”

  “She’s likely covering up her arms,” Kendra murmured.

  “I wish I wasn’t sitting right here,” E.A. said.

  “Oh, just stand up like you’re getting something from me,” Katie said.

  E.A. stood up, pretended to reach across the table—which probably looked ridiculous and didn’t fool anyone—when she saw a very familiar face looking back at her.

  “Oh, nee,” she whispered as she sat back down quickly.

  “What?”

  Feeling shaken, both by the sight of Marta and the fact she’d been staring at her in fright, E.A. felt her cheeks flush. “I know that woman. She’s been taking sewing lessons from me.”

  Katie raised her eyebrows. “Goodness. Does she always look that worried when she’s with you?”

  “No. Not usually.”

  “She’s afraid of her husband,” Kendra said. “I know it.”

  E.A. was fairly sure Kendra wasn’t wrong. But saying that felt like she was betraying Marta. She nibbled on her bottom lip.

  “Girls, did you decide on dessert?” their server asked.

  “We did,” Marie said. “And I’ll go first.” As she’d said, she ordered the chocolate mousse pie. Next, Katie ordered cherry.

  “E.A., did you want to split a piece?” Kendra asked.

  “Nee. I think I need a whole slice of coconut cream pie to myself.”

  The server chuckled. “I guess you’ll have to have your own then, miss. What will you have?”

  “I’ll have date nut pudding,” Kendra said with a smile. “With fresh cream, please.”

  “Ugh. I should have known you would want that,” Marie said. “You order it every time, Kendra.”

  “I can’t help it. I love it,” she said with a grin. “Besides, we have much to celebrate, right?” She paused then added, “We have gut friends and gut lives. Those are two blessings I never take for granted.”

  “Amen to that,” Katie said.

  “Yes. Amen,” E.A. murmured. They were blessed, indeed.