Be My Texas Valentine (34 page)

Everyone in the county suspected Hannah and Thurgood Powell were sweet on each other, but no one dared talk about it in front of the pair. The couple seemed to want everyone to think their relationship was purely employer and employee, but few were fooled. The surprise must be something extraordinary to make Hannah delay going to Thurgood’s.

“I’m in the green room, Hannah,” JoEmma called to her from the room filled with a variety of plants and projects she was working on. “Give me just a minute to wipe my hands. I was potting some flowers for Mrs. Kimble. Her joints are acting up again and I told her that I’d get this done and back before she closes up the mercantile.”

She only had a couple more pots to complete so it would be a good time to take a break and see what had caused the excitement in Hannah’s voice.

“Hurry, girl. You’ve got a guest.”

A guest? Some surprise. JoEmma rolled her eyes heavenward and let out a deep sigh. She wasn’t dressed for receiving guests and she didn’t have that much time to offer anyone if she intended to meet Mrs. Kimble’s time request concerning the pots. It would take her a while to maneuver over the rutted road and balance a tray of pots on her lap. “Ask Angelina to come down and hold the fort for me. She’s upstairs trying on her new dress for Belle’s party. I’ll be there as soon as I can.”

Realizing their guest was probably hearing every word, JoEmma decided she needed to offer better manners than the ones she was extending at the moment. “Welcome, whoever you are. You just caught me at an awkward time. I’ll be right there.”

“Angelina, hurry down, honey. There’s a man to see you,” Hannah announced.

A man? That would certainly bring her sister running and would give JoEmma ample time to finish the other two pots. Angelina would appreciate time to flirt and show off the dress.

Instead of hurrying, JoEmma returned to the work at hand and began to whistle as she completed her task.

A trill of birdsong echoed from the parlor, whistling back at her.

Startled, JoEmma whispered, “Gabby?”

Hope leapt in her heart as she pressed her lips together and whistled the special command she had taught the lovebird.

A flurry of rainbow-colored feathers flew toward her, and then the bird roosted on her left shoulder.

“Smch-smch-smch.”

“Funny Feathers! It is you.” JoEmma pressed her cheek against the lovebird. Relief washed through her and threatened to fill her eyes with tears. “Where have you been, little lady? I’ve missed you.”

“I’m afraid she’s been holed up at my house,” a deep voice echoed from behind JoEmma.

JoEmma’s eyes flashed open as she turned to catch sight of Noah Powell standing in the doorway of her workroom. She wasn’t sure if the world suddenly spun around because she’d turned so swiftly or if the sight of his handsome face had somehow set her atilt.

There he stood. Six feet two inches of dark hair, eyes the color of the Texas sky on its clearest day, and a smile that warmed her so deeply that she was grateful she was sitting rather than standing because the heat weakened her knees and raced to the tips of her smallest toes. But it was the image of a boy in overalls that swam before her eyes now. A boy who hadn’t cared that the other boys had laughed at him for picking her up from the school step where she’d fallen and skinned a knee. He’d lifted her up into his ten-year-old arms and carried her home, with the others making fun of him all the way there. Noah Powell had been her hero ever since.

She dusted her hands against her own overalls and realized, for the first time, why she loved wearing the clothes. Because Noah had.

In his hands now, he carried a burlap sack of something that looked like feed and a couple of small toys. “Y-your house?” she stammered, remembering where he said Gabby had been. “I don’t understand.”

Hannah poked at him to move aside and stepped around him, setting a birdcage on the table where JoEmma had been working. Inside the cage, a tiny lovebird half the size of Gabby perched on a makeshift branch.

“Here’s the male. Noah will do all the explaining.” Hannah pointed, indicating where the doctor could set the feed sack down in the corner. “You can put that there,” she told him. “I’ve got to get to Thurgood’s. I’m already late.”

Hannah Lassiter left the house faster than JoEmma could ever recall the rotund housekeeper moving. “What is that all about?” she asked Noah as he freed up his hands. “And why have you brought another bird with you?”

He shrugged one shoulder. “Mrs. Lassiter assumes you’re going to be upset when I tell you how long I think I’ve had your bird and it wasn’t brought home.” He didn’t address the issue of the male.

“Why should I be angry with
her
?”

Noah hesitated just long enough not to have to answer. The rustle of petticoats from the parlor warned that Angelina approached and had discovered the identity of their guest. “Dr. Powell, whatever are you doing here?” she asked.

He stepped to one side, making room for her and her buoyant pink dress and layers of petticoats. “Good afternoon, Angelina. My, don’t you look lovely.”

“Why, thank you, Dr. Powell, for saying so.” When she offered her hand, he slightly bowed and pressed a kiss along the tips of her knuckles. “I did want to keep my dress a secret until the Valentine’s dance, but I don’t suppose there’s any harm in showing it to an appreciative gentleman such as yourself.”

JoEmma could have lost her lunch in one of Mrs. Kimble’s pots if it had been closer to her. Angie was laying it on thick with her sweet Southern belle sidetalk, and all JoEmma could think of was the bet her sister had made with the women. Angelina was wasting no time setting her plan into action and blamed if she didn’t look simply beautiful in all the pink bows and lace.

“He found Gabby and returned her,” JoEmma informed her sister, her voice sounding as if she was angry with him and not Angelina. “I’m pleased to say,” she added in a nicer tone.

“Mrs. Lassiter said Gabby belongs to one of you.” Concern etched the doctor’s face. “I knew you’d be worried about her.”

“Why, of course I was,” Angelina hurried to say, stretching her finger toward Gabby to offer a new roosting place.

“Then she’s
yours
?” Noah looked a little surprised when Angelina laid claim to the bird.

“An-gie. Phew!” Gabby squawked and moved closer to JoEmma.

Her older sister glared at JoEmma, daring her to correct the doctor’s presumption. Instead of answering him, she drew attention to the male bird. “I see that you have one yourself.”

“Yes, and that’s why I’m here.” Noah glanced around the room. “You don’t have any open windows in here, do you?”

“No.” JoEmma glared at her sister. “I try to be careful about that. Unfortunately, a guest accidentally opened the door, and that’s how Gabby escaped.”

Noah opened the birdcage’s latch and held out a finger to the smaller bird. It stepped up onto his finger and allowed him to give the women a closer look. “This is Amigo,” he introduced his pet. “I believe he and your Gabby have become great friends and possibly more than that, I suspect. I don’t really know for certain as I’ve been gone for more than a week and found them together only today. All I do know is that she’s apparently been around long enough that she’s made him a lot happier than I’ve been able to accomplish, and his feathers are better since I last saw him. He’s even saying some words now, which tells me she’s been around long enough for her to teach him. He wasn’t talking when I left.”

“That’s not likely,” JoEmma countered. “It takes a while to teach a bird words, whether the teacher is human or bird.”

“Umm ... ah ... yes, that’s very true,” Angelina added. “A week isn’t long enough, in my opinion.”

Who asked you?
JoEmma countered silently but said aloud, “Unless
you’ve
tried to teach him words.” She searched Noah’s face. The handsome features made her heart flutter as surely as if a summer breeze had blown across it.

“I have, but he never said anything until now.”

“He was waiting for someone he
wanted
to talk to.” JoEmma laughed softly at the little bird and held her finger out to him. To her surprise, Gabby pecked at JoEmma’s cheek and flew over to Noah Powell’s finger, where she joined the male on his perch. Funny Feathers was territorial! “We all open up better to someone we think is special.” Then she realized what she had said. “Not that you aren’t special, Dr. Powell.”

Why did her words twist whenever he was near? “I just meant that it’s clear that he’s playing games with you or someone else is. If he could talk in a week or so, he could already talk. Has Hannah known all this time that Gabby was at your house?”

“I’d rather let Hannah answer that question for herself.”

“Like I said, someone is playing games with you, Dr. Powell. It may be your bird and then again he might have had some help in the matter.” JoEmma wouldn’t put it past Hannah to play matchmaker, especially if she knew Gabby was safe all this time.

“Oh, now there you go, Sis. He’ll think we’re ninnies with nothing but bird sense for brains. Doctor, would you care for a glass of tea or some hot coffee perhaps?” Angie linked her arm through his, jolting the hand that held the birds. Gabby flew to a windowpane as if needing escape. Amigo landed on his birdcage near the latch.

“No thank you, Miss Brown.” Noah opened the cage door and watched as Amigo retreated inside to safety. “I really only came to talk over what we might do about the lovebirds; then I need to get back to my practice. A few people saw Mrs. Lassiter and me headed this way, so I’m sure word will get around that I’m back in town. I don’t like to leave the office unmanned too long.”

“What did you have in mind for the birds?” JoEmma whistled for Gabby to return. Instead of flying back to JoEmma’s left shoulder, the female lovebird joined the male inside the cage. Nothing else really needed to be said, as far as JoEmma was concerned. Gabby had made her choice already. She preferred to be with her mate. “We can’t separate them. That would be cruel now that they’ve found each other.”

“My thoughts exactly.” Noah gently moved away from Angelina. “I was hoping we could decide which of us needs to give them a permanent home and allow the other to pay visits. Maybe keep one of the offspring when they come.”

“Offspring?” Angelina frowned. “Do you think they have already ... I mean, how soon do you think that will happen? How many will there be?”

“I don’t know much about the species,” Noah admitted. “I was hoping you did.”

“Me?” Distress flashed across her features until she realized she’d given herself away. “Oh, you know JoEmma, she always takes the care and maintaining of anything living around here as her personal responsibility. And since it’s difficult for her to get out and about, I rely on her completely where Gabriella is concerned. I wouldn’t dream of hurting her feelings by denying her something that fulfills her so completely. She knows best about Gabby.”

Angelina was only half lying. JoEmma supposed Gabby did belong to them both. After all, she had bought the lovebird with part of the trust fund money, the one extravagance she’d allowed herself in two years. But other than cost, Gabby belonged to JoEmma, heart and soul, and she had studied everything she could get her hands on about the rare bird. “If Gabby starts building a nest anytime soon, then she’s getting ready to lay in. She’ll drop three to five eggs and it will take about three and a half weeks for them to hatch. They say, since it’s her first brood, not all of them will live.”

“You seem to know a lot about them,” Noah complimented her.

I take care of what’s mine
, JoEmma wanted to say, but instead she simply stated, “I collect information. It keeps me busy.”

“So they should definitely live here.” Resignation echoed in the doctor’s voice and he bent over the cage. “I’m going to miss you, Amigo,” he whispered.

Amigo’s head cocked to one side as if he understood and he moved to hide himself in Gabby’s protective wing.

“Ahh, little buddy, it’ll be okay,” Noah cooed. “I’ll drop by and see you when I can.”

Not with his schedule, Noah Powell wouldn’t. JoEmma realized that if the birds didn’t live with the doctor, he would seldom have a chance to see them as he hoped. He was gone from home so often that he barely had time to see himself in his own mirror.

JoEmma couldn’t do that to Noah. Take away his one companion. She knew how that felt from these days of missing her own sweet pet. Gabby was apparently very happy at Noah’s. JoEmma could take care of the birds at the doctor’s office. She could go along with Hannah on most days when Hannah cleaned. If they required more frequent visits, he always left his place unlocked, as everybody in town knew. As long as he left her room to get her wheelchair in and out of wherever he kept them, then there was no reason this wouldn’t work. She needed to make the offer of bird-sitting for him. It would get her out of the house and away from anything Angelina might plan for Noah if he showed up at their house.

Telling herself that this plan was the best thing for the birds and the best way to keep Noah from her sister’s schemes made it easier for JoEmma to brace her heart against losing Gabby for the second time. This time forever. She suggested the alternate plan to Noah.

“You sure this is okay with both of you?” Noah looked from one sister to the other.

To JoEmma’s surprise, Angelina’s blond curls bobbed in approval.

“It’s perfectly fine with us, Dr. Powell. I’ll enjoy coming to your home ... to visit about our birds,” Angelina replied. “In fact, I think I’m already looking forward to my first visit.”

And what you plan to wear and whom you plan to see you going into his office all gussied up.
JoEmma knew just how her sister’s mind worked. Instead of ambushing Angelina’s plan, she might have just spurred her into winning the race.

“Well, it sounds like we’re all in agreement.” Noah glanced at the feed sack. “I’ll take the birdcage and toys for now and come back for the sunflower seeds later.”

“No need.” JoEmma eyed her sister and smiled as a devious plan hatched in her mind. “Angelina can carry the birdcage for you and you can get the feed sack. I’ll just roll these pots off to the mercantile a little earlier than I planned. Then I’ll meet you both at your office. You won’t mind doing that, will you, Angie? It will give you a chance to say your good-byes to Gabby.”