A Very Lusty Christmas (17 page)

“Something happened.” She stated it as fact.

“Yeah.” Gerald sighed, and she had the sense that until that moment, he hadn’t relaxed—not fully.

She wanted to stay with them here, in this private place, but daren’t. She didn’t have to tell them, for they well understood the concept of propriety.

“We’ll go have that coffee, sweetheart.” Gerald bent down and placed a very chaste kiss on her lips. “And I’ll tell you about it.”

“Fair enough.”

Kate wasn’t, by nature, a worrier. Yet as she went about the business of brewing a small pot of coffee, and setting out a plate of cookies, she couldn’t help but worry. The men were seated at the kitchen table, legs crossed, hands folded on their laps, looking as if they didn’t have a care in the world.

She set everything out, then poured the coffee. She set the pot back on the stove, turned the burner to low, and then took her place—between them, of course, and she couldn’t help but grin at that.

“There was a slight mishap today at the base,” Gerald said.

Kate sat quietly and listened, and tried very hard not to let her nerves show. While she’d been here, going about her business earlier today, Gerald had fought for his life.

“It did give me a bit of a scare, I won’t lie to you. Colonel Hamilton suggested Patrick and I take forty-eight hours of leave.”

Kate tilted her head. “To recover, or get over your mad?”

Gerald smiled and Patrick laughed.

“The lady has your number, Ger,” Patrick said.

“That suits me just fine.” Though Gerald said that to his brother, his gaze was on Kate. “Yeah, I was beyond mad. I think there’s something wrong with some of those planes. And I resent the hell out of the fact that sometimes we get inferior materials to train with.” Gerald sighed. “It’s not just a problem here, at Goodfellow. It happens all over. I mean, at least I’ve been over there and inflicted my bit of damage to the enemy forces. I can’t imagine the anger some men would have at being denied their chance to do the same because someone else fucked up here at home.”

Kate thought of Captain Somerville, injured in just such a training accident. It had never occurred to her there could be an element of that in his anger. She’d looked at him and seen a wounded hero. But what if, in his heart, he believed that his loss was all for nothing?

“Where did you just go, love?” Patrick reached out and brushed his hand over hers.

“Something you just said got me thinking about one of my patients.” She briefly told them her thoughts, without divulging too much information.

“He saved a man’s life?” Gerald asked.

“He did. I have an idea how to help him, but I’m not sure if it could work…or even, if I should even suggest it.”

“It’s not in you not to reach out to someone, love, if you know they’re hurting, or you think you can help. It’s one of the things we love about you.”

“Thank you. But there might be a fine line between benign concern and interference.”

“So what if there is?” Patrick reached for his coffee cup. “My advice is to always go with your instincts. They rarely will lead you astray.”

Sound advice, Kate thought. She raised her own cup and then, quietly said, “I’ll leave my private door unlocked tonight.”

There was a small porch accessible from her bedroom through a single door. She hadn’t even known it was there until her men had shown her, that one memorable night they’d spent with her in her bedroom.

She’d wondered aloud at the time, as the perspiration from their bodies had dried on her skin. How could they ever manage to be together without raising the eyebrows of the people who would soon be calling this house their home—albeit temporarily?

They’d shown her, and she’d dreamt of them coming to her in the night ever since.

She met first Gerald’s and then Patrick’s heated gaze.

“Good,” Gerald said. “I hope you got a good sleep last night, love. You won’t get much sleep tonight.”

Kate felt everything inside her turn to warm, molten honey. “I’ll take that as a promise,” she said.

* * * *

Patrick loved his family with all his heart. But right at that moment he wished them all someplace else. All he wanted to do was to eat a very quick meal, and get back to Kate. Unfortunately, his grandmothers and his parents, along with four uncles and two aunts, were all happy to see him and Gerald, and seemed as if they would extend the evening meal as long as they possibly could.

One look at his father Samuel’s laughing eyes and he knew his and Gerald’s dilemma had not gone by unnoticed by the men at the table, at least.

Charles sat back so that Mattie could remove his plate. He ran his hand down her back, the kind of affectionate gesture he gave her all the time.

I can hardly wait until we can do that with our Katie.

“I don’t know much about airplanes, son, but if you think something’s amiss there, I believe you,” Charles Benedict said to Gerald. He spared a glance at Patrick, too, and then looked across the table to his brother-in-law, Jeremy Jessop-Kendall. “Is there anything you can do about this?”

Jeremy was Lusty’s sheriff, a position that really was more in name than function, as there wasn’t a whole hell of a lot of crime in town. Uncle Jeremy’s usual role was as a liaison between the families and outside officials like the state police, federal authorities, and sometimes the people who served in the county seat.

Benedict County and the town of Lusty had an arrangement that dated back to the beginning, when his grandparents had set aside land for the town and created the town trust. In those days, the family coffers hadn’t been nearly as full as they were now, but there’d been enough to make arrangements—large donations to the county in return for a “hands-off” policy that so far seemed to be working well and holding.

Point of fact, Lusty was still on private, family land. It also didn’t hurt that Benedicts, Kendalls, and Jessops could be very philanthropic when the need was just and the occasion worthwhile. The rest of the good people of Benedict County appreciated the families’ generosity and were, quite understandably, loath to offend them.

“I can make a phone call to Colonel Hamilton, Charlie. San Angelo is outside my jurisdiction—as would be the base if it was right here in Lusty.” Jeremy frowned. “I know there has been a rash of problems with all sorts of replacement parts as well as ordinance, all over the country. Unfortunately, some people see war as the time for profiteering.” He looked from their dad to them. “Do you boys want me to call him and offer my assistance?”

It used to annoy Patrick that the uncles and their dads—and their granddads, too, when they’d been alive—had always referred to him and his brothers as “boys.” Now, at the ripe old age of thirty, it didn’t bother him nearly quite so much.

He looked to his brother and shrugged, letting Gerald know it was his call.

“I appreciate the sentiment, Dad, Uncle Jeremy, but I don’t see the good it will do,” Gerald said. “Colonel Hamilton was pretty piss…um, upset himself—especially after he went through some of the maintenance logs and realized there were more than the expected number of complaints about airplane performance in the last couple of months. I have every confidence he’ll get to the bottom of the problem.”

“Greed will drive men to do unconscionable things,” Grandmother Sarah said. “Times change, but unfortunately, human nature does not.” Then she looked at them each in turn. “I suppose until your colonel turns up evidence of tampering or malfeasance, those planes are going to continue to be flown.”

“Time is critical, Grandmother,” Patrick said. “We need to turn out pilots as quickly as possible. We only have nine weeks with each batch of recruits as it is.”

“These are indeed perilous times.” His mother came back into the dining room and resumed her seat after placing two pies on the table. “I know I don’t have to tell you to be careful.”

“We’ll do our best,” Patrick said.

“We’ll all pray, not only for you, but for all the brave men training with you,” Grandmother Amanda said. “We’ve all taken time to get to know some of the patients who are staying over at the Home.” She nodded and looked around the table. “It’s given us another way to contribute, beyond the dollars and cents involvement in the place. Kate is very good at what she does, and very good with those wounded warriors.”

“She cares about her patients,” Gerald said. “She isn’t just doing a job. Patrick and I both think she’s very special.”

“As does every member of this family.” Grandmother Sarah reached over and patted his hand.

“We’ve been taking turns, at night, sort of being on hand in case there’s a problem. Gives Kate the opportunity to get a full night’s rest.” His uncle James said that. “Your aunt and I are on the roster for tonight.”

Patrick traded a look with his brother. This was the first they were hearing of this arrangement. They knew there were plenty of volunteers to help Kate manage—the Home did, after all, house twenty-four men. That was a lot of patients for one nurse, even one as capable as Kate. But he hadn’t realized the folks were taking things a step further, and providing what could only be considered chaperoning overnight. Not that he disapproved, because he didn’t. He just wondered what Kate thought of the arrangement.

“Miranda and Kate have become good friends, as well.” Grandmother Sarah smiled. “Which you’ve probably surmised as that’s where your cousin is right now—over having dinner with Kate. I know that at least a few times, Miranda has spent the night with her—although I do believe she’s no longer planning to do so tonight.”

Gerald sat straight in his chair. “Is there something going on that we should know about, Grandmother?”

Patrick hadn’t picked up any undercurrents, but then he didn’t have the same kind of instincts his brother possessed, either.

The women seemed to be trying to decide between them who should speak. His mother finally said, “Kate mentioned to Miranda that her mother was unhappy about her being sent away from home.”

“Yes, she mentioned that to us as well,” Patrick said.

“Mrs. Wesley, apparently, doesn’t have a very high opinion of women choosing to give military service,” his mother continued. “And when she realized that her daughter was responsible for a convalescent home that housed wounded men—that she was, in essence ‘not chaperoned’—the lady was less than charitable in her opinions about that, too. Apparently as far as Mrs. Wesley is concerned, her daughter is now living the life of a loose woman.”

“Miranda came to me, outraged that Kate’s mother had sent her such a letter—though she said Kate seemed resigned to her mother’s opinion.” Grandmother Sarah looked more than a little outraged, herself. “And then, of course, the poor girl felt bad that she’d betrayed Kate’s confidence. Mattie, Amanda, and I put our heads together to try and think if there was anything we could do to smooth this situation over for our Kate, without it appearing that we were doing so.”

Our Kate
. He’d known that first evening when he and Gerald had arrived home unexpectedly to find Kate having dinner here that the family had accepted her completely.

“Thank you for watching out for her,” Patrick said.

“Of course.” His father Charles sat back. “We like her. She’s a sensible woman, with a good heart and a sound spine.”

“We’re delighted you approve of her. We plan to propose to her soon,” Gerald said.

Grandmother Sarah smiled. “Good. The sooner the better, I say. It doesn’t matter to us, mind you. But we don’t like being the cause of an argument between a mother and a daughter, you understand. Family is
very
important.”

Patrick looked at his brother, and it was all he could do to hold back his grin. His grandmother’s words had been polite, and sounded sincere. But both he and his brother knew their grandmother better than that.

She was totally pissed with Mrs. Wesley, and would likely welcome the opportunity to give that woman a sound verbal blistering. In fact, he wouldn’t be at all surprised to learn his grandmothers both had written letters to the woman.

“We’ll head over there around nine,” Uncle James said. “Usually, when we arrive, Kate retires for the evening, as she gets up quite early every day.”

Patrick couldn’t believe he was on the verge of blushing. Here they sat, at the family dinner table, discussing—albeit euphemistically—the time at which he and his brother were to arrive for their assignation with their woman.

Grandmother Sarah smiled, a wide and, yes, mischievous smile. “Now, I do believe we’re all ready for some dessert.”

Patrick just barely stopped himself from rolling his eyes.

Oh hell, I forgot to tell them about the chaperones.

Kate wondered that she could smile and respond politely to James and Rose Benedict, at the same time she began to panic inside.

The couple had just arrived for the night, and although the entire family had claimed they were taking turns “relieving” her so that she could get a good night’s sleep, she understood the truth of what they were doing.

The first time a couple of weeks back when Charlie and Mattie had dropped in around eight thirty in the evening and proclaimed their intention to be “on duty” for the night so that she could get some rest without having to have “one eye open,” she’d been perplexed. Not that she didn’t appreciate the gesture, because she certainly did. She
had
been sleeping lightly, lest anyone of her charges need her in the night.