Mother's Promise (10 page)

Due to the length of the surgery, Ben had had to cancel his plans with Sally. Still, he decided to stop by his sister's house. He was bone tired, but even the shower he'd taken in the doctors' locker room had done little to calm him. The intensity of the surgery had left him wired, and he doubted he would be able to settle down to sleep for several hours yet. It was a beautiful night, and sitting around the pool under his sister's screened lanai listening to Sally talk about the upcoming school year would be exactly what he needed.

But when he got to the impressive estate his brother-in-law and sister owned, the bright orange van with the logo for the fruit co-op that Malcolm and Sharon supported and the Steiners managed was parked on the circular drive. Ben wondered if perhaps Malcolm's brother, Zeke, had stopped by.

Zeke worked at the co-op—when he worked at all. He and Malcolm could not have been more different. While Malcolm had taken over the family's multiple business ventures, Zeke had served three tours of duty with the Marines in the Middle East. When he came back the third time, he'd abandoned the comforts of his family's wealth for life on the street. Ben knew that Malcolm had decided to fund the fruit co-op run by Hester and John Steiner in part because it was one way to get Zeke into a situation where he wasn't living hand-to-mouth. Frankly Ben didn't understand Zeke's nonchalance when it came to where he might sleep or get his next meal. Yet Ben couldn't help but admire Zeke—and sometimes he even envied him. After the day he'd had it would be nice to have “no worries,” as Zeke was fond of saying.

“Hello?” Ben called as he walked into the front foyer and kicked off his shoes. His sister had white carpeting in the two main downstairs rooms, and she was adamant about the removal of shoes—especially his.

“I don't know what you've been standing in all day,” she would say with a shudder. “All those germs.”

He had tried pointing out that at the end of the day he always showered and switched to sandals but to no avail. Ever since Sally was first diagnosed with leukemia, his sister had become obsessed with protecting her only child from any danger of infection.

“Hello?” he called out again as he followed the sound of distant conversation through the formal living room with its high ceilings and wall of french doors that opened out onto the expansive deck. For all of Sharon's attempts to make the house and its furnishings formal, there was an open feeling to the place. A lightness that Ben had long ago decided was less about the trappings and more about the people who lived there. Malcolm and Sharon were people who appreciated the many blessings they had received—financially, from Malcolm's father and grandfather as well as his own business astuteness—and they lived by the dedication that with such riches came great responsibility to “share and care,” as his sister said so often.

Ben stepped out onto the lanai that screened the large pool area. Across the yard at the end of the path that wound through Sharon's lush gardens stood a cluster of people—his sister, Malcolm, Hester Steiner—who, he decided, must have driven the van over—and the new chaplain. It was little wonder they had not heard his calls. The four of them were standing outside the guesthouse, deep in conversation.

“But that hardly seems fair,” he heard Rachel Kaufmann say as he followed the path toward them.

Malcolm shrugged. “Take it or leave it,” he said. “It's my final offer.”

Hester Steiner sighed. “You may as well stop trying to bargain with him, Rachel. Once Malcolm makes up his mind, there's no changing it.”

“Besides,” Sharon added, “think of all we stand to gain by having you and your son living here. Justin, is it?”

Rachel nodded. “Ja,
aber
… I mean …”

“Hester's right,” Ben said as he joined the group. “Might as well save yourself some time and give in to whatever they're pushing. My sister and brother-in-law can be two of the most stubborn people I know when it comes to having their way.” He grinned at Sharon. “I should know. I grew up with this one and never could win a debate with her once she'd made up her mind.”

“But for free? No rent?”

“Just for your probationary period,” Malcolm said. “That way if you decide this isn't working out, you and Justin can go back home without obligations tying you down here. And in the meantime, you can check out other possibilities perhaps over in Pinecraft if you think you would be more at home living there. Besides, rules in the neighborhood prohibit us taking in a tenant, so you're saving me some hassle once the neighbors find out you're staying here.”

Ben saw Rachel glance back toward the main house where every room was lit up as if to emphasize its sprawling luxury. He thought he saw a hint of a smile play across her lips—a smile that she suppressed as she turned her attention back to Malcolm.

“Very well,” she said. “But I insist that Justin and I will tend the gardens.”

“Oh Rachel, we have help for that, and you're going to have so much on your plate—work, classes, getting Justin settled.” Sharon looked to Hester for support. “You agree, right?”

Now Rachel's smile blossomed in full. “Those are
my
terms,” she said.

Malcolm laughed and held out his hand for her to shake, sealing the bargain. “Welcome, Rachel,” he said.

“Well, please understand that if things become too difficult, we're right here to help,” Sharon added.

“See what I mean?” Ben grinned and wrapped his arm around his sister. “She always has to have the final word.”

“Stop that,” Sharon said when Ben rubbed her head with his knuckles. “Come on up to the house, Rachel. I have ice cream cake, and I want you to meet our daughter, Sally.”

Ben frowned as he followed the others through the garden. He had assumed that his niece was outside with the others, but Sharon's comment made him realize that Sally had been in the house all along. The fact that she had not come running at the sound of his call raised an alarm for him, and he had to wonder if any of them would ever get past that knee-jerk instinct to imagine the worst when it came to Sally's health.

He fell into step with Malcolm as the women went on ahead of them. “How's Sally doing?”

Malcolm glanced toward the house. “Better every day. She's upstairs now—something about needing to get ready for school.” He paused for a moment and gazed across the yard at the inviting golden light spilling from the house onto the lawn streaked with the shadows of twilight. “Do you think it's a good idea to send her back to school? I mean, maybe we should wait until second semester—give her a few more months.”

Sally's worst fear was that her parents would do exactly what Malcolm was suggesting. “I just want a little normal,” she'd moaned one day. “After everything I've been through, is that too much to ask?”

“You can always take her out of school if necessary,” Ben reminded Malcolm. “Right now I think it's really important to let her start the school year, be back with her friends and teachers, let others see how well she's doing.”

“I know you're right.” Malcolm drew in a long breath, and Ben realized that his brother-in-law had been fighting his emotions. “We've operated so long in what Sally calls
sick mode
that it's hard to believe things are better.”

“Now that the new hospital is up and running, what are your plans for her medical needs?”

“Well of course, she'll continue to go back to Tampa for anything connected to her bone marrow transplant.”

Ben nodded. “I can understand that, but I'll be finishing up at Memorial by the end of the month and well, selfishly I'd like to keep an eye on things where Sally is concerned.”

“You mean once you move over to Gulf Coast full-time? Let me talk to Sharon,” Malcolm said.

“Ask Sally,” Ben added. “It should be her choice.”

“We'll go where she can get whatever it takes to keep her healthy, Ben.”

“Of course.” They had reached the house. The women were already inside. Ben could hear Sharon conducting the grand tour. He noticed that his sister had not asked Rachel or Hester to remove their shoes.

“Uncle Ben!”

Ben turned toward the foyer and saw his niece coming quickly down the stairs. He couldn't help remembering all the weeks and months when merely walking across her hospital room had been exhausting for the child. Now her blue eyes sparkled with delight as she effortlessly descended the curved staircase. She was wearing shorts and a T-shirt with a baseball cap covering her short hair. After the chemo, her hair had grown back in brown tufts highlighted with red instead of the honey blond it had been before she got sick.

“Is it true? Did that boy really get attacked by a shark? It's all over the news. They interviewed Dr. Wilson on national television.”

“First, a hug for your weary uncle, then we can talk shark attacks.” Ben held out his arms to her.

She threw her arms around his neck and held on. As he released her he fingered the earplugs from her MP3 player dangling around her neck. “So this is why you didn't hear me call out when I first got here. You are going to seriously damage your hearing, turning that stuff you think passes for music up so loud.”

“I'll have you know I was listening to a book,” she replied, with a quirk in her smile.

Ben tousled her short hair. “Well …,” he said, “there may be hope for you yet.”

The phone rang, and Malcolm went to answer it. Sally squeezed Ben's hand and lowered her voice, her eyes darting toward the kitchen. “Did you hear? We're taking in boarders,” she whispered.

“I heard.”

“They're Amish,” Sally whispered.

“Mennonite like Mr. and Mrs. Steiner,” Ben corrected. “Problem?”

Sally looked doubtful. “I don't know. Do you think Dad's got money problems? I mean my friend down the block? They're selling their house because her dad—”

Ben gave her another hug. “Nothing's wrong. It's your mom and dad doing what they always do—helping others. Ms. Kaufmann started a job at the new hospital today. She needs a place to stay until she can get settled.” He released her and added, “She's got a son—Justin. I think he's around your age.”

She smiled, her eyes dancing with excitement. “Does he play baseball?”

“I don't know. How about we check with his mom?”

Chapter 6

B
y the time Rachel returned to Hester's house, she was bone weary. Justin was waiting for her, his blue eyes so like his father's mirroring a dozen unspoken questions. And yet when Rachel had climbed into the paneled orange van after completing her first full day of work, Justin had not been in the backseat as she had expected.

“John took him fishing,” Hester explained. Then she sighed. “It was pretty obvious that he didn't want to come see the cottage,” she admitted quietly, “and it seemed like maybe …”

“It's all right,” Rachel assured her. “I've asked a lot of him, and he's still struggling with everything—and there's more he has yet to face.”

In two days he would start classes at the public middle school near the hospital, the same school that Sally Shepherd attended. And even though they had talked about all the reasons why this was the best choice at least for the time being, Rachel knew that Justin was extremely nervous. And why not? It was a large school with children he did not know. These children lived in ways that would be so very different for Justin.

“What was it like?” Justin asked when the two of them were alone in the room they were sharing at the Steiners'. Rachel saw his curiosity as the opening she'd been looking for to begin to help him adjust to their new life.

“I think you might like it, Justin,” she said as she busied herself turning down the twin beds while he got into his pajamas. “There's a park nearby and the Shepherds have a swimming pool and—”

“Why can't we stay here? I could help John at the packinghouse.”