As Time Goes By (The Californians 2) (8 page)

"I don't know, Rigg. There's just no figuring him out these days." Kate's voice was weary, and as always her father's face came to mind.

Sometimes it was hard to believe that just a year ago she had been living with her family in Hawaii. A wonderful, almost idyllic life. Her parents had been missionaries. Kate had lived there nearly all her life, and both Sean and Marcail had been born in Hawaii. Now things were so different.

Her parents had surprised her on her twentieth birthday by announcing they would be taking a furlough. They had sailed to California and stayed with her Aunt Maureen Kent, her father's older sister.

The trip had a wonderful beginning but it hadn't taken very long for things to turn for the worse. Almost upon arriving, her mother, Theresa Donovan, was diagnosed with tuberculosis. Mother's last weeks with them had been so brief, and then her father returned to the islands to settle affairs. That had been nearly a year ago. It seemed that every few months something arose to keep Patrick Sean Donovan II separated from his family.

At first the children stayed with their aunt in San Francisco, but that arrangement didn't work. They then headed north to Santa Rosa, where Kaitlin took a teaching position and met Marshall Riggs.

It was love at first sight for Marshall--"Rigg" to friends and family alike. But for Kate, whose world was a painful place with the loss of her mother and absence of her father, their relationship was strained.

But Rigg was not easily discouraged, and he lovingly befriended all three Donovans, eventually winning Kailin's heart. They had been married since October, and now Kate was due in August.

Kaitlin had kept in as close touch with her father as the mails would allow, but at times like this, when Sean was acting up, or on her wedding day, she missed his presence so much that she wanted to sit down and cry. It

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didn't help to be pregnant, teaching school, and in a constant state of fatigue.

"Sit down, Kate," Rigg instructed his wife, who had been standing next to him for a few minutes without saying a word.

"No, I'll get the biscuits ready."

"I've already done that." He led her to a chair and pushed a mug of coffee into her hand. For the first time Kate realized Marcail had set the table. The sisters looked at each other and Marcail smiled uncertainly.

She had never seen her big sister tired like this, and watching her brother grow daily more rebellious was really something new. It was hard to have Father gone, and the nine-year-old missed him a lot, but not like Sean did. In fact, to watch Sean, you'd think that Father was gone just like Mother and not coming back at all! Marcail took great comfort in the fact that he would return some day. If anything was bothering her right now, it was that Kaitlin was so tired and had to see a doctor because she was pregnant. Marcail didn't like doctors.

"Did you see Bobbie again?" Marcail, who had been working at not chattering when her sister was tired, simply nodded.

"You'll have to tell her sometime how much you liked her the very first time you met." Marcail nodded again. May had taken her to school and she had immediately told her sister all about Bobbie Bradford and how nice she had been.

"She wears glasses, Katie, and they make her awful cute. Do I need glasses?" Kate had told her no, even as she wondered about this woman who worked for her father-in-law. She knew that she and Jeff had been in school together and she knew the Bradfords from church, but beyond that Bobbie was a mystery.

Sensing that Marcail needed a hug, Kate reached for her. Marcail stood by her older sister's chair, secure in the embrace while Rigg continued to put supper on. They had just sat down to eat when Sean came in the back door.

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eleven

The night was cold, but Jeff was in no hurry to get home. He had dropped Sylvia off at her sister's house and was taking the long way home. They had parted on good terms even though an hour ago she had been furious with him.

Conversation over supper was light and Jeff had been having a great time until Sylvia asked how work had gone that day.

"It went well. Bobbie is a hard worker and off to a great start."

"Bobbie?"

"Bobbie Bradford. She started work at the office today. I told you about it."

"No, Jeff, you didn't." Sylvia's voice had become very low and Jeff could see she was angry. It always amazed him at how quickly that could happen.

"I must have forgot. Well, anyway, she's doing great." '`i wasn't aware that your father was in the market for a new employee." She was still furious. Jeff, hoping she would calm down, answered carefully.

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"He never advertised, but Mom needed a break, and when he found out that Bobbie was coming back into town and that she was experienced, he scooped her up."

"So you've known for some time that Bobbie was coming back to Santa Rosa?"

Jeff immediately saw his mistake and struggled to find words that would erase the anger from his date's face. "'Sylvia, I'm sorry that I never mentioned Bobbie's re turn. But we don't talk about my job very often and it just never came up. I wasn't trying to hide anything from you."

Sylvia saw his sincerity, and knowing that she was overreaching, she tried to calm herself. She knew that her eyes weren't as pretty when she was angry and she never wanted Jeff to find her unattractive.

With her mass of blonde hair and startling blue eyes, most men did find her attractive. But Sylvia wasn't inter ested in what
most
men thought, just Jeff Taylor. Jeff of course didn't know that, since she did see other men and always let him know about it. But if she stayed with it long enough, she was sure she could bring him around, was sure she would see that spark of jealousy in his eyes that told her he cared. So far it hadn't happened, but Sylvia was patient. She had let him get away once before when they were just 17. It wasn't going to happen again.

An image of Bobbie and the way she looked at the lagoon picnic sprang to mind. "You don't suppose she'd come back beautiful, do you?' Sylvia asked herself and then had to work at not laughing at the thought; it was simply impossible. Ladies did not laugh out loud at the supper table, and besides, she didn't want to explain to Jeff what she was thinking.

Jeff was blissfully ignorant of Sylvia's thoughts as they finished their meal and then parted company an hour or

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so later. Jeff was tired as he climbed the stairs to bed, but a light glowing faintly from beneath Gilbert's door propelled him to his brother's room.

"Gil," Jeff opened the door a crack, "are you up?" "Yeah." Gil answered from the bed, where he had lain down with his Bible. He rolled to his side and propped his head on his hand as he watched Jeff drop into the room's only chair.

"Out with Sylvia?"

"Yeah, we had supper at the hotel. Their meat loaf is good." Then Jeff fell ilent, staring at the floor.

"How did it go with you and Bobbie today?"

Jeff stared at his younger brother. Gilbert had always been able to read his mind, and sometimes it was very disconcerting. This time he had understood, without communication, that Jeff was nervous over Bobbie's return.

"'I
was fine as soon as I saw her and saw that
she
was okay. Before that I was sure it was going to be awful."

"She's pretty nice, I'd say, and no one would ever call her lazy." Both men smiled. Before the day was over they had both followed their father's orders and taken large boxes from her or just plain stopped her from lifting one. They were then able to witness a stubborn look cross her face, one that was so cute and determined it made them smile.

"Definitely not lazy." Jeff agreed and once again stared at the floor, causing Gil to wonder what was on his mind.

"What's wrong, Jeff? Did she say something that's bugging you?"

"Do you ever get the feeling that something is going to happen and you're not sure you want it to, but you can't do anything about it?"

"Not really. What do you mean?"

"I'm not sure myself, but I'm really afraid I'm going to hurt Bobbie all over again."

Gilbert was silent until his eyes dropped to the open pages of his Bible. "Can I tell you about what I was just reading, Jeff?"

"Sure." Jeff seemed almost relieved by the distraction. "I'm in the book of Job right now, and I know you're familiar with the story, but I never read this without marveling at all he went through. He loses everything! And, Jeff, he didn't have a clue. I mean, he had no idea any of this was going to happen! In a very short time, however, his wealth is wiped out, all ten of his children die, and he ends up covered with boils.

"And then to make matters worse, his own wife is angry because he's still giving his allegiance to God, and this is what he says to her in chapter 2 verse 10: 'Thou speakest as one of the foolish women speaketh. What? Shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil? In all this did not Job sin with his lips.'

"Do you see what I'm trying to say, Jeff? Job made a choice, a quick decision as to how he was going to react to those trials that are far more difficult than most of us will ever have to handle. He decided
not
to sin and here you are already telling yourself that you might hurt Bobbie.

"I think you should be saying just the oppositemthat no matter what anyone else says or does, you, Jeff Taylor, are going to do the right thing by Roberta Bradford."

Staring at Gil, Jeff thought, not even his pastor was able to touch him as Gil just had. Of course it would help if he spent more time reading his BiblemJeff was well aware of that.

"Thanks, Gilbert," Jeff answered solemnly before going to his own room. He didn't immediately fall asleep. In

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fact, he prayed for a long time about all his brother had said.

The next morning found Bobbie and Gilbert working together in the storeroom. Unclaimed packages were stacked on shelves against one wall. Bill's policy was to go through these shelves every other month and clear them for incoming packages.

At the same time, inventory was done and the sup plies were checked and reordered for the month. Gilbert went from a position on his knees to a step stool, time and again, in order to reach all the shelves and check each box. Bobbie stood beside him making a list of the nearly depleted supplies as Gil called them to her.

At one point, when Gil was high on the stool, his elbow bumped a small box off the shelf. Bobbie never saw or heard a thing and chose that moment to look up and say something. Gil was off the stool in a shot, but the damage was done; Bobbie's glasses were broken.

"Bobbie, are you all right?" Gil was nearly frantic as Bobbie kept her head down, leading him to believe she was seriously hurt.

"Be careful where you step," Bobbie said softly, and it took him a moment to see that she was looking for her glasses. Gilbert found them at her feet and picked them up in two pieces.

"Bobbie, I'm sorry." He placed them in her hands and watched as she brought them nearly to her nose for examination.

"It's just that small hinge in the middle. I'm glad it's just the frames; my dad has a little tool to fix them. Unfortunately I'll have to go home to get it."

"Okay." Gilbert shot out the door to his dad's office. He didn't notice that other than Bobbie turning to watch him go, she stood absolutely still. A few minutes went by

and Bobbie prayed that Gilbert would come back soon so she could explain she needed his help. It crossed her mind that since no one seemed to understand the extent

of her eye problem, she might lose her job over this. "Bobbie?" It was Gilbert's voice. "Oh Gilbert, I'm glad---" "No, it's Jeff."

Bobbie hesitated. For some reason she was reluctant to bother him.

"Jeff, do you know where Gilbert went?"

"Yeah, he's in talking with my dad."

"When he's through, could you tell him I need him?" "Sure."

Bobbie heard the front door open and then Jeff walk ing away. She looked around her. Everything was very blurry. Well, not the shelf beside her, but that was be cause her shoulder was nearly touching it. Bobbie put her hand on the shelf for balance and then slid her foot carefully along the floor. She was afraid to actually take a step because she had no depth perception and every thing looked so fuzzy and distorted.

Picking her way along slowly, Bobbie knew she was running out of shelf. She was also completely unaware of the fact that Gilbert and Bill were standing in the door way watching her. Bill was silent and thoughtful as he watched his son approach Bobbie.

"Did you need me, Bobbie?" Gilbert asked from about two feet in front of her.

"Is that you, Gilbert?"

"It's me."

"Oh, good. I'm sorry I didn't explain---" "You need to go home?'" "Right. But I need--" "I'll take you right now."