Leave a Candle Burning (10 page)

Jace’s eyes lit with little flames before he kissed her again.

“Tonight,” he promised, watching his wife smile.

Maddie was still smiling when she turned and started back for the farmhouse.

“How is the soup?” Reese asked, and both men assured her it was delicious. Reese still thought it tasted off but kept her opinion to herself.

“I’ve heard from my daughter,” Troy said, his soup bowl half empty.

“Which one?” Conner asked.

“Eliza. She wants to know if they can all come to visit.”

“Of course,” Conner said with no hesitation.

Troy looked to Reese and then back to Conner. “You agreed rather swiftly. Are you sure Reese is up to it? It’s three adults and two small children.”

“I’m up to it,” Reese put in. “I’ve wanted them to visit for a long time.”

“I’ll write back and tell them. It will probably be for a weekend, Reese. I don’t know if Harris,” Troy spoke of his son-in-law, “can be away during the week.”

“Anytime is fine.”

Not until she said this did Conner catch something in her face and voice. She sounded almost tired or discouraged. He watched her during the rest of the meal and didn’t hear it again, but when dinner was over, he told Troy he would catch up with him.

“Are you all right?” Conner wasted no time asking.

Reese had already started to work in the kitchen. She stopped and looked at her husband.

“I’m fine, why?”

“Is it the family’s coming?” Conner asked, ignoring her declaration of
fine
. “Troy would understand if you don’t want a houseful right now.”

“I want them to come. I was quite sincere about that.”

Conner studied her. Something was wrong, but he could not put his finger on it. Reese was not one to evade questions, so he knew better than to accuse her of keeping something from him, but he could hear in her voice and see in her face that all was not well.

“Conner, what is it?” his wife asked.

“I’m not sure. You just seem a bit low, as though you’re upset about something.”

“I have been feeling like I could cry,” Reese admitted, thinking she was the only one to know this. “But when I can’t figure out what’s bothering me, I just go back to work.”

Conner had to smile. It was such a
Reese
thing to say. She had such amazing energy and drive that it was hard to imagine her being brought low over anything.

“But something is bothering you?”

Reese thought about this. Earlier when she had wanted to cry, she would have said yes, but right now she didn’t know.

“I’m not going to press you,” Conner said when she stayed quiet, but he moved until he could touch her. “I’ll finish early at the bank.”

“I don’t know if I’ll understand my feelings later, Conner. I just can’t tell.”

“Well, either way, I’ll be home early to check on you.”

Reese nodded as Conner put his arms around her. He held her for a moment before bending to kiss her. Not until he was ready to leave did he realize Dannan had never made an appearance for dinner.

“No word from Dannan?” Conner asked from the doorway.

“Not today.”

Conner only nodded and left. Reese went back to work.

“You have something on your mind,” Finn said to Eli as soon as dinner was over and the two were alone.

“What makes you think that?” Eli asked but didn’t deny the statement.

Finn’s brows rose. They both knew that the only person who knew Eli better than himself was Finn.

“Is it something Pastor Muldoon said today, something from his sermon?” Finn asked, not willing to be put off quite yet.

“No,” Eli said but didn’t elaborate.

Finn debated pressing him. He knew he would find out in time, but sometimes his curious nature got the better of him. Eli enjoyed stringing him along, but at the moment Finn realized his employer’s eyes were too serious to tease.

“Let me know when you want to talk about it” were Finn’s parting words, having settled Eli for the night and ready to seek the privacy of his own room.

“Thank you, Finn,” Eli said, his gratitude sincere. He did want to talk about what was on his mind, but not tonight. It had been a full day, and at the moment he was simply too weary.

Sitting on the edge of his bed that night, Dannan thought back on the day. His last stop had been the Randall farm, where he found Cathy Shephard in good shape. He told her to give her wrist a few more days and to ease back into her duties, favoring her wrist until it was completely comfortable. He had seen that she was delighted with this news and also witnessed the same pleasure on Maddie’s face. He knew she got along well with her aunt and wondered what might have been going through her mind.

Before the visit to the farm, Dannan had been at a house on the outskirts of town, a location that kept him from joining the folks at the big house for dinner, seeing to the needs of a young girl. She had a rash on the backs of her legs that made walking very painful. Her mother had tried several poultices with no relief. Dannan suspected poison sumac, but when he questioned the mother, she said the little girl had not been out.

Dannan had stood still for a moment, his mind at work. He was almost certain of the diagnosis, but he couldn’t very well argue with the mother when she said the child had been indoors. In Dannan’s favor, the family dog had chosen that moment to come into the room. Dannan had looked down at the big animal as he came to stand by the bed. In obvious affection, the dog had laid his head on the mattress, and the little girl had reached to touch him.

An explanation of where the exposure might have come from was easy to make. The mother hadn’t looked delighted with the idea but took Dannan at his word, and she listened carefully to his suggestions to make her daughter more comfortable.

While Dannan was still sitting on the edge of the bed, his mind finally wandered backward to the beginning of the day. He could easily see Eli Peterson sitting against the headboard of his bed, slightly bent to the side, his face too thin but redeemed by the short, neatly combed beard he wore. Remembering Eli’s eyes as being dark in color and keen with intelligence, Dannan doubted they missed a thing.

He had felt instant warmth from Eli, not just that morning but the day before as well. Dannan didn’t know how much company he had, but he clearly knew how to make visitors feel welcome. And Dannan had been serious in his compliments about the full bookshelves. He’d not seen such a fine collection in many years.

For a moment, Dannan thought about some of the other titles, but without warning, he saw Scottie entering the room. Dannan’s heart did the strangest things when that woman was in view. Dannan had thought he’d prepared his mind to see her, but then there she was, smiling in delight. Her beautiful face had been completely distracting with those light red curls peeking out from the brim of her bonnet.

For several minutes Dannan let his mind slip away. He thought about what his new life in Tucker Mills might have been like if she hadn’t been married. He pictured her smiling up at him and not Eli and felt his pulse quicken.

Dannan shook his head and stood up, knowing that thinking about her was the worst thing he could do; it was also wrong in the eyes of his Savior. He couldn’t remember if he’d left the book he’d borrowed from Eli in the parlor or the kitchen, but it was time to find it. And he did just that, right after he confessed to the Lord yet again that he’d been dreaming about another man’s wife.

“When do your boys come home, Alison?” Reese asked on Tuesday afternoon.

“This Friday.”

“Have you missed them?”

“I can’t tell you how much,” Alison confessed, and every woman in the room smiled at her in understanding.

It happened once a month, sometimes more often. The women of the church family gathered in Alison’s parlor at the time of Jeffrey Muldoon’s nap to visit and share for whatever time their schedules would allow.

Today Maddie was there, the baby in tow. Reese had come, as had Beth Peternell and Ora Weber. Maddie and Beth were regulars, but the other ladies came only when they could. They had been doing this for the past few months, and each time the women grew a little closer.

“How is Cathy doing?” Ora asked of Maddie.

“Physically, very well. I think when Doyle comes tonight for tea, he’ll be taking her home. Dannan gave her leave to return to her life, albeit carefully.”

“Why did you specify physically?” Reese asked, having caught this.

“Because I can’t tell how she’s doing spiritually,” Maddie admitted. “She does a lot of listening, and she does ask the occasional question, but I can’t tell what she’s thinking.”

“She attends services nearly every week,” Beth pointed out.

“And she enjoys them,” Maddie added. “I can tell by the things she says and the way she interacts with everyone, but that’s the way she was at Commons Meetinghouse, so I’m not sure there’s much to hang my hope on.”

“You mean outside of Christ?” Alison asked, smiling graciously.

Maddie’s own mouth stretched into a smile before saying, “I do now.”

The women all laughed together before the next topic of conversation came up. Ora wanted to talk about a verse she’d been learning, and Alison was encouraged to learn that all of these women had been memorizing Scripture. She had been struggling with that herself, admitted as much to the women, and was challenged to get back to work.