Faith (14 page)

Settling Faith on a bench, he said quietly, "Please try to
remember your place."

Faith's eyes focused on the colorfully dressed dancers
whirling around the floor. Her foot automatically tapped to
the beat of the lively music. "My place is to sit here on this
hard bench all evening?"

"That isn't amusing, Miss Kallahan."

"Neither is being the dance wallflower, Mr. Shepherd."

"We're here for you to become better acquainted with
our neighbors, not necessarily to dance." Nicholas straightened. "I'll be nearby if you need me."

Faith didn't doubt that. Between him and Mother Shepherd, she would be watched like a hawk.

Nicholas wandered off as Faith settled her skirts, prepared
to endure a long evening. A quick search of the dance floor
confirmed her suspicions: There were few men her age in
attendance. A lanky youth with a rash of angry-looking
pimples looked her way, but she quickly averted his gaze.
Tonight she was intent on behaving properly. She would
not give Nicholas or Liza one morsel to fault her. She
located Liza conversing with Vera Hicks and two other
ladies gathered around the refreshment table. Jeremiah was
standing to the side, talking to the Reverend. Faith giggled,
wondering if Liza was aware she had an admirer ... no, she
wouldn't be. Having an admirer would border on frivolity,
and no one could accuse Liza Shepherd of having a frivolous bone in her body. Actually she was downright rude to
Jeremiah, and Faith wondered why. Jeremiah was the epitome of politeness. Until recently he could have taken more care with his appearance, but Faith had been taught to look
deeper than the outside. She knew Liza would be horrified
to know how intently Jeremiah's intelligent eyes followed
her around the room.

A small group of men and women stood at the back of
the hall, discussing the needed new church steeple. Their
remarks caught Faith's attention. She strained to hear their
conversation.

"One good wind and it's gonna come down," a stoutlooking man proclaimed.

"We're still hundreds of dollars short from being able to
replace the steeple," his wife said. "Everybody's given all
they can." Eyes swiveled to Liza, who was ladling herself a
cup of punch.

"Looks to me like someone ought to just open up their
moth-eaten pocketbook and donate a new steeple." The
woman's voice dropped to a whisper. "The Shepherds have
all the money they'll ever need. Why Nicholas doesn't put
his foot down with Liza puzzles me. If Abe were alive, it'd
be a different story, I'm here to tell you."

"Now, Geraldine," her husband patted his wife's arm. "If
it weren't for Nicholas, the Brunson family wouldn't have a
roof over their heads. Wasn't he the one who paid to have
their house built back after the fire? As I recall, Liza didn't
like it, but Nicholas did it anyway."

"Yes, and remember Liza paid for Whit Lawson's little
girl's leg braces. Poor little mite would have been a cripple
if Liza hadn't stepped in," a silver-haired woman added.

"Liza was a different woman then. Abe was alive."

"If the Shepherds are so blamed charitable, why don't
they offer to replace the steeple?"

"Well, we all know Liza's a good woman and serves the
Lord. Seems a new steeple isn't high on her list of priorities
these days."

The women looked at each other and tittered. "Doesn't
seem like anything's high on her priorities these days," one
observed.

The woman's statement was met by a round of goodnatured laughter, and Faith wanted to go to them and tell
them to stop whispering about Liza! Faith couldn't imagine
why Liza didn't want to help with the steeple, but maybe
she had her reasons.

Why didn't Liza buy that steeple? Seemed to Faith the
Lord had poured out a blessing on the Shepherd family the
likes of which most common folks had never seen. Papa
would say, "The more God blesses a body, the more
responsibility that person has to use his gifts wisely."

A disturbance drew Faith's attention to the doorway,
where Dan was just coming in. Baby Lilly was screaming at
the top of her lungs. Adam trailed behind Sissy, dragging a
lumpy bag, which Faith assumed contained diapers and
bottles.

Faith started to get up and help the new arrivals but
quickly sank back down to the bench, remembering Nicholas's warning to keep her place. If she disobeyed, he would
be angry.

Dan weaved toward her, holding Adam's hand and
maneuvering Lilly on his right hip. The crowd moved back, allowing the noisy family plenty of leeway, a few shaking
their heads in sympathy. Sissy spotted Faith and started running, dragging Adam along with her. The sightless boy
tripped over his feet, and the bag spilled to the floor. Faith
caught her breath as she heard the sound of breaking glass.

Before she thought, she was up, running to help the child.
Milk bubbled out of the sack and pooled in a widening
puddle on the floor.

Dan stooped down to pick up the broken bottle amid
baby Lilly's deafening cries. "Stay back, Sissy! You'll cut
yourself!"

Faith searched the room for Nicholas, relieved to see he'd
barely looked up at the commotion. Taking a deep breath,
she reached for the baby. As long as she didn't have fun,
he'd have no reason to be upset with her. If ever a man
needed help, it was Dan Walters.

Jiggling the baby up and down, Faith tried to calm her
as Dan accepted a towel and mopped up the spilled milk.
Adam and Sissy darted into the crowd, ducking between
unsuspecting legs and creating general havoc.

Faith's heart went out to Dan as he sank down on the
bench, trying to catch his breath. His discouraged thoughts
were reflected in his eyes: The Walters family had been at
the dance for less than five minutes, and the room already
looked as if a cyclone had hit it.

Faith sat down beside him, lifting Lilly to her shoulder.
The baby's cries dwindled to soft mews, and she began to
suck her fist.

"Maybe she's hungry." Faith glanced at Dan. "Do you
have a bottle?"

"Not anymore. They were all in the sack."

"Well, I'm sure we can come up with something." She
smiled. "Raising children isn't easy."

Sighing, Dan leaned back, bracing his head against the
wall. He closed his eyes, and Faith knew he was relishing a
rare quiet moment. "I do the best I can, but they need a

Mary Ellen handed Faith a fresh bottle and smiled. "I
always pack a spare, just for Lilly."

"Thank you, Mary Ellen. I don't know what I'd do without you." Dan grinned sheepishly.

Faith gently cradled Lilly's soft mound of carrot-colored
hair as she fed her. The infant smelled of soured milk. Faith
wished she could give her a good bath and sprinkle cornstarch on the heat rash dotting the baby's face. "You must
miss your wife very much."

Dan laughed softly. "I miss her so much at times that I
don't think I can stand it."

"You had a good marriage?" The question was intensely
personal, and Faith hoped he wouldn't think her brash.
They barely knew one another, certainly not well enough
to confide their personal lives, yet in an odd way, she felt as
if Dan were the only person in Deliverance she could talk
to. The town women were polite, but they kept their distance. Nicholas ignored her, and Liza spoke only to criticize
or reprimand.

"The best," Dan conceded. "Carolyn was real young when we got married ... barely fifteen. We ran off...
Her pa had a fit ... threatened to turn a double-gauge shotgun on me, but Carolyn stood between us and vowed he'd
have to shoot her first." Faith pretended not to notice the
moisture that suddenly filled his eyes. "I surely did love that
woman." He glanced up. "I may be out of place askin', but
what's a pretty lady like you doing marrying a Shepherd?"

"A Shepherd?" Faith frowned. He made it sound worse
than a medieval curse.

"Oh, Nicholas is a good catch, I suppose ... but he's
older than you-"

"Not much. He's thirty-four."

"Thirty-four?" Dan shook his head. "I thought he was
older."

"No," Faith conceded. "He just acts that way." Recognizing her disloyalty, she blushed. "I'm sorry. Sometimes I
speak before I think. Nicholas is just very serious minded
and worried about his mother. He feels a responsibility to
Liza."

Dan snorted. "Surprised Liza is gonna let him get married.
She's kept him on a choke chain since Abe died."

Faith's eyes were drawn back to Nicholas, who was standing at the punch bowl. The pretty brown-haired lady he'd
smiled at earlier had him cornered. Nicholas's laughter
floated to her.

Sitting up straighter, she watched the exchange, amazed
by the difference a smile brought to his face. He lit with
animation as he talked, eyes sparkling. The transformation
was startling.

"Dan, who's Nicholas talking to?"

Dan's eyes traced her gaze. "That's Rachel...."

"Who's Rachel?"

"Rachel ... the woman Nicholas almost married. Hear
tell, folks around here thought they'd tie the knot when
they were younger, but she ended up marrying Joe Lanner." Dan lowered his voice. "Lanner drinks, and he gets
real mean when he's under the influence.... She ought to
leave him, but she won't."

About that time Nicholas threw his head back and
laughed uproariously at something Rachel said.

Faith stiffened. "Is he still in love with her?" She had a
sinking feeling he was-he'd never laughed at her remarks
that way. A man didn't look at a woman the way Nicholas
was looking at Rachel if he didn't feel something.

"You'd have to ask him. Story goes Rachel got tired of
waiting for Nicholas to propose, so she up and married
Lanner."

The woman, married or not, was standing rather close to
Nicholas. Where was that Shepherd sense of propriety?

"You didn't answer my question." Dan's voice broke into
her thoughts.

"I'm sorry.... What was the question?" Baby Lilly had
settled down and was now dozing on her shoulder.

Dan was about to repeat the question but winced instead
at the sound of chairs overturning. "Sissy!" he roared, coming to his feet. "Come here!"

The frisky three-year-old darted out the front door and made a beeline for the street. Annabelle Grayson latched on
to the girl's shirttail to thwart the escape.

"I'm doing my best, but I guess I'm not hard enough on
them," Dan confessed, sitting down. "Well, what about my
question?"

She knew the one he meant. The whole town was buzzing about her situation. "It isn't that I wanted to be a mailorder bride, but my sisters and I didn't have a choice." She
briefly explained the circumstances that had brought her to
Deliverance. "Aunt Thalia can't afford to feed three more
mouths forever, and the meager funds I made teaching
school wouldn't support my sisters and me. So we answered
an ad, and very shortly all three of us had offers of mar

"You answered an ad?"

She nodded. "It seemed the only sensible solution."

"I can't picture Nicholas running an ad.... What's the
name of the journal?"

Faith told him, wondering at his sudden interest. "Would
you like the address? I'm sure I have it somewhere...."

Dan shrugged. "I've never heard of running an ad for a
wife.... Cold Water has no eligible men?"

Faith thought about Edsel Martin and shivered. "Not
really."

Dan shook his head in sympathy. "Real shame. A nice
lady like you deserves the love of a good man."

Faith smoothed the baby's hair, silently agreeing. Just then
Nicholas laughed again, and she bristled. Nicholas Shepherd
was seeming less and less the likely candidate.

"Well, you're lucky to have part of Carolyn still with you.
Lilly's a beautiful child."

"Yes, ma'am, she is. Looks exactly like her ma."

Lifting Lilly to her shoulder, Faith gently patted her back.
"You've got your hands full. How do you handle three
children and work every day?"

"Old Man Dickson's real understanding. He lets me bring
the young'uns to work with me on the days I can't find
anyone to look after them. The town ladies have been real
good. Many a night I've come home to find supper waitin'
on the table and the wash ironed and folded."

Adam darted toward the food table, tripping over
Eldorene Hardy's foot. Eldorene's punch went airborne,
landing in Lawrence Hardy's lap. Lawrence sprang up
wide-eyed, muttering under his breath as he gingerly
fanned the wet front of his britches.

Sissy raced to the punch bowl and grabbed the ladle,
wielding it recklessly. Sticky red punch showered the occupants standing close by.

Faith could see the pride fairly oozing out of Dan as he
watched the chaos. "Them kids are sure independent, got
to hand it to 'em. Being blind don't stop Adam from doin'
anything he sets his mind to."

"Yes," Faith agreed faintly. "He's spunky." The community hall was a shambles, chairs overturned, punch staining
the once pristine white tablecloth, cookies ground underfoot, but Adam was independent, all right.

Dan shoved slowly to his feet. "Well, guess I better corral
the young'uns. Can I get you a cup of punch?"

"No, thank you. I'lljust sit here with the baby." Faith
doubted there was a drop left in the bowl anyway.

"Well, much obliged." Dan wandered off in the direction
of the sound of more shattering glass.

As Dan left, Jeremiah excused himself from Reverend
Hicks and walked in Faith's direction. She smiled as he
approached.

"What's a pretty little thing like you doing sitting on the
sidelines?"

Patting the bench beside her, she motioned for him to
join her. "I am behaving myself," she announced. "What's
a handsome gentleman like you doing all alone? I should
think the eligible women would be fawning over you.,,

Jeremiah chuckled, his eyes traveling to Liza. "Do you
think a certain beautiful lady would box my jaw if I asked
her to dance?"