The Visitor (42 page)
Richmond
“Are you certain we should leave her?” Lizzy asked Morland as he led her outside to the garden.
“Yes. She might not even be asleep. It’s her way of having a time of quiet.”
Lizzy smiled, not at all surprised that Penelope Long would use such a tactic.
Lizzy had been invited to lunch with Morland and his aunt. She had been glad to accept. The meal was sumptuous and the conversation lively, but when they’d retired to the parlor for coffee, Aunt Penelope lasted only a matter of minutes. Morland had been talking when Lizzy noticed that the old woman’s head had fallen back and she appeared to be sound asleep. After Morland saw it, he signaled to Lizzy, and in minutes they were stepping out into the sun-filled yard and garden.
Morland started a slow walk among the flowers and hedges. At first there was silence, but then Morland spoke his thoughts.
“There’s something we haven’t talked about, Lizzy.”
“Probably many things, but what is on your mind?”
“Children.”
“Our children?” Lizzy asked, using wording that caused hope to burgeon in Morland’s heart.
“Yes. I’ve always pictured myself with many—like your family, not mine. What have you pictured?”
“Many, I think, especially knowing what good friends they can be during all the growing-up years and even into adulthood.”
“Do you know how many times I envied Edward?”
“Did you?”
“Yes.”
For a few minutes they walked in silence. The day was warm, the sun beating on their heads, and the smells from the garden were glorious.
“I also want a large garden,” Morland said, half teasing.
“As do I.”
Morland stopped. “You do?”
“I love flowers, Morland.”
“No, you don’t.”
“Yes, I do. I just don’t enjoy picking and arranging them. I’m happy to leave that to Cassie.”
“You won’t always live with Cassie,” Morland pointed out.
“And a house must be full of flowers?”
“Yes.” Morland just held his smile.
“Well, then,” Lizzy retorted, thinking fast and also fighting a smile, “I shall live close to Cassie, and she can come weekly and fill the house.”
Morland shook his head lovingly and took her hand in his. He continued their walk thinking,
If you’re going to be with me, Lizzy, I think I can agree to just about anything.
“Please don’t miss the example of these people, the significance of the swift repentance of the men of Nineveh,” Pastor Hurst urged on Sunday. “Turn to the book of Matthew, chapter 12, where we’ll see in verse 39 that Jonah is mentioned. I think it’s easy for us to be hard on this man, but he is one of God’s prophets, and God used him in a mighty and powerful way.”
The church building sounded with the rustle of turning pages. When things grew quiet, Frederick Hurst continued.
“What I really want you to center on just now is verse 41. Follow along with me while I read part of this verse. ‘The men of Nineveh shall rise in judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it; because they repented at the preaching of Jonah.’
“Jesus is telling His followers that they are not getting it. We’re so certain that if we could walk and talk with Jesus, it would be easier to believe, but these men had His presence, and it still wasn’t enough. The folks of Nineveh didn’t ask for a sign. They didn’t say, ‘Just show us something special and our hearts will turn.’ No, they knew the end was near and they’d better take this seriously.
“In the book of Jonah, only a man is speaking. God’s prophet, yes, but still a man. In the book of Matthew, it’s God Himself, standing and talking to these dear men, but they still wanted a sign.
“My friends, how seriously do we take God’s Word? The words Jonah spoke were from God. The words we read in Matthew are from God. Do we repent when we know we should, or are we waiting for something special from God?”
Pastor Hurst held up his Bible. “It’s all right here. It’s here for our reading, reproof, instruction, and teaching. It’s here to comfort and command us. It’s here to wonder and wound us. Everything God expects from us, His children, is spelled out here, if we’ll only look and learn.”
Listening to him, Cassandra was only too happy to close her eyes on the final prayer. She had been so flippant that morning when she read her Bible. Her mind had wandered back and forth to Tate a dozen times.
I have a copy of Your precious Word, and I don’t even stop with the wonder of that. I just page through it, knowing I can come back another day. I’m sorry, Father. I’m sorry I haven’t seen it for what it is. Please instruct me and teach me.
The first bars of the last song were being played when Cassandra came to her feet with the rest of the congregation.
“Are you all right?” Edward whispered.
“Yes, thank you.”
He held the book for both of them, and Cassandra castigated herself again. She had so much to be thankful for, and yet she fell into discontentment so easily. Edward was home! Yes, she missed Tate, but Edward was home, and that was reason to rejoice.
Blackburn Manor
“So tell us, Edward,” Mr Walker urged over lunch. “What will you miss the most about Africa?
“The wildlife. It was spectacular.”
“Were you not afraid, Edward?” Harriet Thorpe asked; they’d only just met.
“Yes, when we camped outside, especially at night with only a tent to separate us from the nocturnal creatures. But most of the time we were at a distance.”
“Tell them about the heat,” Lizzy suggested.
“Ah, yes,” Edward said with a smile, his teeth looking brilliantly white in his tan face. “It was very warm. Our July has nothing on African heat.”
“And what did you do for relief?”
“Find some shade and wait for night to fall.”
“When you could be afraid of being eaten again,” Cassandra commented and everyone laughed.
Edward laughed as well but went on to regale them with his tales and experiences. By the time he was finished, most of the table’s occupants were ready to pack their bags.
“Henry might go with me sometime,” Edward said casually, shocking the room into complete silence.
It stayed that way so long that Edward and Henry exchanged a smile.
“They’re teasing us,” Lizzy said when she saw them.
“No,” Henry said simply, “we’re not.”
The second silence was more comical than the first, but both men knew if they laughed they would never be believed.
“That’s one of the things I most appreciate about you, Henry,” Mr Walker commented with a smile. “Just when I think I know you, I come around another corner and find I don’t.”
Color crept into Henry’s face, but he smiled a little and nodded in Walker’s direction. Taking pity on him, the host diverted the conversation in an effortless manner, and it wasn’t long until the men were headed into the study and the women wandered into the parlor.
They’d only just arrived in that room when Mrs Walker remembered that she had wanted to show to Lizzy a tapestry she was working on. Telling them they would return soon, the two women left Harriet and Cassandra on their own.
“Something about you is different,” Harriet charged Cassandra the moment the other women exited the room. “What is it?”
“Different?” Cassandra hedged at bit, not entirely certain what she was referring to.
“Yes, and I want to know what it is. Not until just now did I realize that you were not yourself that day you came to lunch.”
Cassandra played for a moment with the folds of her dress. Harriet didn’t speak, but the younger woman knew she was waiting.
“Tate didn’t leave in a very good humor,” Cassandra said carefully. “He left me in doubt of his intentions.”
“What did he do?”
“He was very angry and said that everything had changed. I didn’t know what to think. I wasn’t very certain that I would ever see him again.”
“Oh, Cassandra, I’m sorry you had to go through that. Tate was just as upset when he left Pembroke, but I of course have known him years longer. It’s very unusual for him to respond in such a way, and when he does, his repentance is swift and genuine.”
“He did communicate through my brother that he still cares.”
“He didn’t write you directly?”
“He did, but the letter was lost.”
“And you were left here wondering and waiting,” Harriet guessed.
“At times it was awful. I fear I sinned repeatedly with my questioning of God and His motives.”
Harriet took her hand.
“I can’t count how many times I’ve failed God, Cassandra. He’s so good and faithful, but I don’t choose to trust.”
“That explains it very well.”
“But now you know, so you’re doing better.”
“As a matter of fact, I had begun to do better before Henry arrived home, but yes, it’s lovely to know that Tate still cares.”
Harriet smiled. “I could have set your mind at ease.”
Cassandra shook her head. “Edward and Lizzy tried. I didn’t believe them.”
“Why did you believe Henry?”
“He’d seen the letter that was lost. He knew how Tate felt.”
“And Tate loves you.”
Cassandra smiled, her face growing pink. “Yes, it would seem so.”
Harriet’s smile was tender as she observed the sweet curves of Cassie’s profile. Cassandra Steele had the most adorable round button nose and softly rounded chin. It gave her a guileless, childlike demeanor.
“I think you might be staring, Mrs Thorpe,” Cassandra teased her.
“I’m just so pleased that Tate can see how lovely you are.”
“He does like the way I look. I worried about that. It’s more important to me than it should be, but I’m mostly pleased that he loved the inside of me first.”
“That’s a wonderful gift. We all assume we’re going to be young and good-looking forever. If that’s all we marry, it will never last. How nice to know that although you enjoy each other’s features, the real love is built on something much more important.”
“That was nicely put.”
“I manage to find the right words every once in a while.”
Cassandra laughed at her choice of words before noticing the way the shade had moved to the veranda outside.
Cassandra suggested they go out through the double glass doors and sit outside. It was a bit warm, but Harriet liked the idea. When Mrs Walker and Lizzy returned, they joined them. The men were not long in following, and the lively conversation from lunch simply continued out-of-doors.