Small Town Girl (11 page)

“I hear you gave poor Carl the old heave-ho. His mother ran me down at Mr. Blackwell’s. She says he’s feeling pretty low about leaving for the Navy and other things too, I’m
thinking.” Mike lifted his eyebrows in a kind of unspoken question.

“I’m sure he’ll tell you all about it, and if he doesn’t, plenty of others here in Rosey Corner will be delighted to let you know all about your heartless sister-in-law.” Kate couldn’t keep an edge of bitterness out of her voice.

“Maybe I’d better squeeze out some time for a talk with you too.” Mike had his pastor face full-on.

“I’m fine, Mike.” The last thing Kate wanted to do was talk about her love life or lack of one with her new brother-in-law. “Really.”

“She is, Mike,” Evie said. “And if she needs to talk, I’m here.”

“Me too,” Lorena added, wrapping her arms around Kate’s waist.

“The Merritt sisters. Arms linked, an invincible force against the world.” Mike shook his head as he turned Evie toward the door. “Come on. Jay will think I got lost. Then again, he might not have even noticed. He and your dad were talking H. G. Wells.”

Evie groaned, but Kate hoped they’d keep talking science fiction books. Creatures from the deep or outer space were better than everybody wanting to know about Carl. Or her.

She started on back to the kitchen, but Lorena grabbed her arm and pulled her toward the porch. “You’ve got to say hello. Tanner asked about you as soon as he got here.”

“That he did.” Mike’s smile faded a little as he looked at Kate like he’d just thought of something that was worrying him. Like maybe there might not be enough apple dumplings for everybody.

Kate lifted her chin. She wasn’t afraid to look Jay Tanner in the face again. She had no idea why her throat was feeling tight and her heart was beating up in her ears. She had absolutely no reason to feel nervous. For one thing, she
had no intention of being alone with him again. That way she couldn’t be tempted the way she’d been the day of the wedding. The best way to stay out of trouble was to avoid it. That’s why she’d been doing a disappearing act every time she caught the first glimpse of Jay Tanner all week. That’s why she hadn’t been to see Graham once even though she missed talking to him. That’s why she was plastering a smile across her face now when she couldn’t go out the back door and stay out of sight of his laughing brown eyes. She’d never been around a guy who made her feel so uneasy.

The book talk didn’t keep him from standing and fastening his eyes on her as soon as she stepped through the door. Lorena tugged her across the porch toward him.

“See, Tanner. I told you she was here.” Lorena looked back at Kate. “He thought you might be off on a date or something.”

“Not tonight.” Kate smiled politely as she met his eyes. She couldn’t just stare at the floor all night. “So glad you could come join us for supper, Mr. Tanner.”

“Mr. Tanner?” Mike laughed behind her.

Jay laughed too, but he didn’t shift his eyes from Kate to Mike. “Miss Merritt and I have a very formal relationship. Comes from meeting at a wedding all dressed up in fancy clothes, I suppose. But I did think we’d decided to be on a first-name basis.”

“Just trying to set a good example for Lorena,” Kate said. “She seems to keep forgetting the mister in your name.”

It got too quiet on the porch then. An uneasy quiet that matched the unease inside Kate. Even her father was looking at her like he was noticing something about her he hadn’t ever seen before. The only one who didn’t seem bothered was Lorena. “Daddy says it’s okay if Tanner says it’s okay.”

“Birdie and I have an agreement on names.” Jay flashed a look between Lorena and Mike and then settled his eyes back on Kate.

Lorena giggled. “Evie thought I was talking about a dog when I said Tanner was here.”

Jay laughed, an easy sound that somehow reached out and made the uneasy feeling vanish. “Tanner. That is a good dog’s name. I’ll have to remember that if I ever get an old hound like Poe. Or could be, I’ll get a girl dog and name her Birdie.”

“I wish I had a dog,” Lorena said. “I’d name him Scout.”

“Maybe someday, Lorena,” Daddy said. “If we put up a fence to keep him off the road. Cars go by here too fast.”

Lorena pulled a sad face. “Poe doesn’t get run over.”

“Poe never leaves Graham’s shadow,” Kate said. “You know that.”

“I could teach Scout never to leave mine.” She looked over at Daddy.

Kate noted the beginning of a worried frown on his face. He didn’t like to deny Lorena anything. “Dogs aren’t always that easy to train, but like Daddy says, someday.” She put her hand on the girl’s shoulder. “We’d better go help Mama now.”

Her mother put the extra leaf in the kitchen table to make it bigger, but they were still elbow to elbow as the nine of them sat around the table. Sammy and Tori had been over at Graham’s pond fishing, but showed up in time for supper. They didn’t have enough chairs, but her father brought in a milk can and Lorena perched on its top at the corner of the table right next to Jay Tanner. She was captivated by him. Completely captivated.

Talk and laughter filled the kitchen. Nobody seemed to mind being a little crowded or that the heat from the cookstove lingered in the air. A kind of sparkle of happiness hung over the table. A growing family together. A visitor welcomed. Kate didn’t say much. She simply soaked in the good feel. There’d been times not too long ago when meals weren’t always easy. That was before her father quit drinking.

Kate hardly ever thought about those times anymore. The times when she’d had to help her father into the house and to the couch after he’d been out drinking. She looked at her father at the head of the table now, smiling, proud, sober for good. Her parents had forged a new and stronger partnership of love after they’d taken Lorena into the family. And now they were taking Mike in, and not so far from now, Sammy would be marrying Tori. They were planning on the day after Tori graduated from high school.

Tori would probably beat her to the altar. Maybe Lorena too. In spite of Evie saying that Kate would find the right man to love, Kate had no assurance that would ever happen. Not as long as she stayed in Rosey Corner, and how could she leave? She belonged in this place. She wasn’t someone like Jay Tanner, who could drift from place to place because he had no roots. She had roots. Deep roots.

As if he knew she was thinking about him, his eyes settled on her. Then Lorena was slipping off her makeshift chair and coming around to put her hand on Kate’s arm. “Please, Kate. Say you will. Please.”

Kate had been so deep in her own thoughts that she hadn’t paid attention to what was being said at the table. “Say I will what?”

“Go to the matinee tomorrow. Tanner says he’ll take me, but Mama says I can’t go unless you go too.” Lorena jerked on Kate’s sleeve. “You have to say yes. They’re showing that new movie,
The Maltese Falcon
. You said you wanted to see it and now you don’t have Carl to take you.” Lorena made a little face. “Guess I shouldn’t have said that. But please, Kate. Please, pretty please.”

Kate looked across the table at Jay.

“It’s just a movie.” He shrugged a little.

She could feel the others watching her with some of that same uneasiness that had been out on the porch. She decided
this time she’d be the one to make it go away. “Sure, why not? Sounds like fun.”

Jay smiled and everybody started eating the apple dumplings again. The only one whose smile didn’t come back right away was Mike. He was looking at Jay with the nearest thing to a frown Kate had seen on his face for weeks.

When they finally pushed away from the table and her father and the other guys headed out to the porch, Mike hung back to hand Kate his dirty plate. “Maybe we better have that talk after all, Kate. Think you can show up a few minutes early to church in the morning?”

“I guess.” Kate stacked his plate on the others she was taking off the table. “But Mike, I couldn’t marry Carl. I know everybody feels sorry for him and thinks I led him on, but I didn’t. Not really. I kept telling him we were friends.”

“This isn’t about Carl. There’s something else I need to talk to you about.” He kept his voice low, as though he didn’t want anybody else to overhear them.

“Why can’t we just talk here?” Kate piled some forks and spoons on the plates.

“Some things are easier to talk out when nobody else is around.”

Kate gave in. “All right. I’ll be there.” Kate had been called in for stern lectures and prayers plenty of times while her Grandfather Reece was the preacher, but never before had Mike thought it necessary to pray over her. Then again maybe this was nothing to do with her, but something about Evie. Something he needed to know to keep Evie thinking divine thoughts.

Could things get any more uncomfortably confusing?

I
should have let Evangeline talk to you.” Mike shifted his eyes away from Kate’s face and ran his fingers over the Bible he was holding.

Kate had shown up early for church the way he’d asked and found him waiting for her out by the rock fence between the church and the cemetery. Not exactly a private spot, but his church members knew not to bother Mike if he was under what they called his praying tree.

Mike had on his pastor face, the one everybody in Rosey Corner loved. A kind face. Not condemning. Concerned. Mike loved his people. Faults and all. He worked hard to help them figure out ways to get past those faults and begin a better Christian walk, but he didn’t make anybody feel that a backward step was going to end any chance of God loving them.

But now standing with her in the shade of the big oak, he seemed at a total loss for words. She’d heard him pray plenty of times, though not usually for her and her alone. His words were generally simple but sincere. Something like Aunt Hattie’s prayers but with a touch of preacher formality in them. Aunt Hattie had a way of raising her eyes toward the sky and
talking to God like she could see him sitting right there on his throne chair, bent down listening.

Kate was beginning to wish Aunt Hattie was standing there in the shade of Mike’s prayer tree with them. She’d get things going. Kate tried to think of what Aunt Hattie might say, what Bible verse she’d pull out to bring the Lord’s words into the conversation, but nothing came to mind. Instead Kate waited while Mike shifted uneasily on his feet and stared out toward the cemetery.

Finally she couldn’t keep from prodding him. “Is it something about Evie? Has she been wanting to buy too much? She’s sometimes not too sensible about money.” Kate was fishing for something.

Mike looked back at her and smiled. “No, no. I don’t care what Evangeline buys. I’d get her the moon if I could.”

“Then what are you wanting to talk to me about? If it’s not Carl and it’s not Evie.” Kate frowned up at him. People were showing up for Sunday school and sending curious glances back their way.

“I should have talked to Jay instead of you.” He let out a long breath. “This is making me feel like a heel.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean that I love Jay like a brother, but that doesn’t mean I’d want my sister to fall for him.” Mike placed his hand on her shoulder and fastened his eyes on her face. “Jay’s not your settling-down kind. I don’t want you to get hurt, Kate, and I think that could happen if you start going out with Jay.”

“The movies weren’t my idea.” Kate didn’t shy away from his look. “That was Mama giving in to Lorena.”

“I know that. Your mother doesn’t know Jay either.”

“What’s so bad about him?” Kate was curious now. Jay had told her Mike was his best friend, but he wasn’t sounding much like any kind of friend. “I could tell right off he was a charmer, and I didn’t figure there was any way he’d
stick around here at all. But then he did. Graham seems to like him well enough.”

“Everybody likes Jay. Well, everybody except the ones who want to punch him in the face the way Carl did.”

“You can’t blame Jay for that. Carl was imagining things that weren’t happening,” Kate said. “Jay didn’t do a thing to provoke him. In fact, he stood there and let Carl sock him without putting up the first bit of fight. Said he was trying to keep the peace the way he knew you would be doing if you were there.”

“You think I’m sounding disloyal to a friend, don’t you?” Mike didn’t wait for her to answer as he pulled his hand off her shoulder and ran it through his hair. He was going to need a comb before he got behind the pulpit. “I guess I am, but my first loyalty, after the Lord, is to Evangeline and my new family. To you and Victoria and Lorena.”

“You didn’t marry us all, Mike. Just Evie.”

“But you’re my sisters now the same as you’re Evangeline’s. Jay has left a string of broken hearts everywhere he’s been. He can’t commit to anybody or anything. It has to do with the way he was raised. Farmed out to an aunt and uncle who thought he was nothing but an obligation. He’s never truly trusted anybody.”

“Not even you?”

“Not enough.” A worried frown wrinkled the skin on Mike’s broad forehead. “He shuts his ears when I tell him about God’s love. He doesn’t want to hear it. He says he doesn’t need the Lord.” Mike’s frown got deeper, more concerned. “You don’t want to tie yourself to a man like that. A man who’s afraid to love God or anybody else.”

“I’m not going to fall for Jay. I’ve made enough mistakes in love already.” Kate wished those last words back, but if Mike had any idea that they might refer to him, he didn’t show it. He had probably forgotten her juvenile confession of love
long ago. She went on quickly to put those words behind her and out of both their minds. “Now, Lorena might be a different matter. I think she’s completely smitten. That’s the only reason I’m going to the movies. To make Lorena happy.” She smiled up at Mike, hoping he would let the whole matter drop.

“You won’t always be able to shield Lorena from unhappiness.” He gave his head a little shake. “But that’s a different sermon for a different day.”

“And you need to go get ready for your sermon for this day. Everybody will be anxious to hear if being married has made you a different preacher,” Kate said lightly.

“Being married makes you a different everything.” Mike smiled, but then his smile faded. “Just be careful who you give your heart to, Kate. I, and Evangeline too, we want you to be happy. The way you want Lorena to be happy.”

“Didn’t you tell us once that the word for ‘blessed’ in the Bible could be translated happy? Happy are the children of God.” Kate felt a little embarrassed. “I don’t know if that’s really in the Bible or not.”

“It’s in there dozens of times in a dozen different ways. The Lord wants to give us the desires of our heart. Evangeline and I will pray that you will find the man the Lord has in mind for you.” He had on his pastor’s face again. “Prayers are answered.”

“But not always as we expect.”

“The Lord knows best.”

Those were words she knew better than to argue with. The Lord did know best, and he had chosen Mike to deliver his message to the people. To her. It always amazed Kate how quickly Mike could change from being just Mike to being Pastor Mike. Even his voice changed, got deeper and fuller when he let the Lord’s truths flow through him out to his Rosey Corner sheep. He knew them all well by now, after five years of standing in their pulpit and putting his feet under
their Sunday dinner tables. He’d prayed by their sick beds and preached the funerals of those who’d crossed the great divide.

Kate knew them all too. In a different way. She’d grown up in the church. Believed and was baptized by her grandfather years ago. She belonged here. But when she and Mike stepped away from the shade of the tree to join the people congregating in the front yard and she saw Carl coming up the walkway with his mother, she wished she could be anywhere but here. Carl was staring straight at her, defiant in his anger. She squared her shoulders and kept walking. Nobody had ever accused Kate Merritt of being a coward. She wasn’t about to let them do so now.

“Will wonders never cease?” Mike whispered under his breath as they moved toward the church steps. “I never expected to see him sitting in a Rosey Corner church pew.”

“Who?” Kate asked, but then knew without him answering.

Jay and Graham were coming up the walk behind Carl. She sent up a quick prayer that Carl wouldn’t spot Jay and start a fight right in the middle of the churchyard. Jay didn’t look worried as he shot an amused smile her way. Rosey Corner was obviously proving very entertaining for him.

“I hope the good Lord gives me the right message,” Mike said, more to himself than to Kate.

“You’d better hope Carl doesn’t forget he’s at church and try to punch Jay again,” Kate said. “He had the crazy idea Jay was the reason I told him I couldn’t marry him.”

“Was he?” Mike had on his pastor face again.

“No. Carl was the reason I couldn’t marry Carl.”

Kate wished she could go on home or, even better, keep walking past her house to Lindell Woods. At least there nobody would be staring at her like she was Delilah betraying Samson. Without waiting for Mike to say anything more, she rushed up the steps and into the church. Maybe she was a coward after all. She wanted no part of whatever might
be going to happen in the churchyard. Instead she’d sit inside and hope Mike was as good at keeping the peace as Jay thought he was.

Kate was glad when her mother slipped into the pew beside her and squeezed her hand. Her mother always understood. It was a gift she had. Lorena scooted in between them—her favorite spot with Mama on one side and Kate on the other.

She had an excited gleam in her eyes when she whispered to Kate, “He’s here. Did you see him?”

“I saw him,” Kate said.

“Do you think he’ll come sit with us?”

“You know Graham never sits this close to the front. He likes the back row and Jay will sit with him.”

Lorena looked disappointed for a flash, but then her face was shining with excitement again. “I can’t wait until this afternoon. Can you?”

“Shh, we’re in church.” Kate hushed her to keep from answering. The thing was, she did feel a tremble of excitement when she thought about the movies that afternoon. Something she’d never felt with Carl. Something Mike had just been warning her against feeling. A warning she knew she should take seriously. But at the same time, she couldn’t quite stop thinking about Jay.

She peeked over her shoulder at the other people coming into the church to settle into the pews. Jay was watching her, waiting for her to look his way. Ready to laugh. Refusing to take life seriously in spite of his eye still showing evidence that sometimes life could knock him down. She quickly turned her head around, but not before she saw Carl staring at her from across the church aisle.

She felt sorry for him. In spite of the way he had forced a kiss on her. In spite of the way he had turned her into the villain of the piece. She felt sorry for him the same as everybody else in Rosey Corner. She didn’t want to, but she did.
And now he was going off to who knew where with the war clouds thickening. Why in the world had he decided to join the Navy? German submarines were sinking ships without paying any attention to what flag might be flying on their mast. Navy men were on ships.

Somebody had come in the store a couple of days back and said Carl claimed to want to see the world. Kate knew the words were intended for her. She’d be stuck in Rosey Corner, measuring out beans or slicing cheese and bologna while he’d be seeing the sights. The same places she’d read about and wondered aloud about to him many times. Kate stared down at her hands as Mr. Jackson stepped up behind the podium to announce the number of the first hymn. Sometimes life could throw a left hook that didn’t leave marks on the outside, but bruised plenty on the inside.

The songs ended. The offering plates were passed. Mike stepped up to the pulpit and opened his Bible. For a moment, he looked uneasy, but then he made a joke about being glad to welcome Mrs. Champion to Rosey Corner Baptist Church for the first time. Evie blushed prettily right on cue and a laugh rippled through the church. Mike laughed too and kept smiling as he added how glad he was to see Jay there.

Then without further ado, he switched over to his pastor voice and began preaching about Saul on the road to Damascus. He told the story with power and gentleness both. “That’s how it is with each of us. Every man, woman, child. We begin our journey of life one way and somewhere along that road we are all confronted with the Savior. While we might not be struck physically blind as Saul was, we are all blind in spiritual ways until we open our eyes to Jesus and let him take control of our hearts.”

Kate listened, glad that it was always Pastor Mike she saw behind the pulpit. A man sharing the Word of God. She wondered how Evie saw Mike this morning now that she was
his wife. And Jay. Would he think Mike was preaching the message for him? Wasn’t that how it was supposed to feel when a person was hearing a sermon? Weren’t the preacher’s words supposed to be convicting each heart in whatever way they needed? But according to Mike, Jay had never wanted to hear the gospel. Yet he was sitting in the church now, hearing the gospel preached by his best friend.

Sitting on a church pew didn’t necessarily mean he was hearing the Word. Wasn’t she sitting there wondering about everything except how she should change to be a better Christian? She should have pretended she was sick and headed out for those trees.

She was glad when Mike announced the invitation hymn. She wasn’t as glad when Mrs. Noland stepped out into the aisle on the first verse and grabbed Carl’s arm to pull him along down to the front with her. After a whispered conversation with Carl’s mother, Mike held up his hand to stop the singing.

“Our brother, Carl Noland, will be leaving for the Navy on Tuesday. We all know that while our country is maintaining a neutral stance, things are very dire overseas. As Carl’s church family, we can covenant to pray for him and all the soldiers being drafted into service.” Mike looked very serious. “While Mrs. Taylor continues to play, I know you will want to come up and let Carl know you will be supporting him with your prayers.”