Safe Haven (35 page)

“Because they were contacts for Frau Schneider’s brother-in-law, and more to the point, once the embassy was closed, these men stayed here in America.”

She had given Gordon the names, and a few days later he had located one of the men—at least to the point of knowing he was still living in the United States. But the trail had ended there.

The train slowed, rousing her. She sat up and checked her hair and smoothed the skirt of her dress. “Where are we?”

“Chicago. The train will be here long enough for us to get out and stretch our legs a bit—maybe get something to eat.” He stood in the aisle and stretched.

“How much longer until we reach Milwaukee and get the bus on to Madison?”

“A couple of hours. Come on. I’m starving.”

They ate a snack of peanut butter crackers and cherry Cokes at a newsstand in Union Station that also featured a lunch counter. They talked about the hearings and tried to find clues in the reactions of the congressmen that might offer hints to what would happen next.

“It will be what it will be,” Theo said as they reboarded the train. “Let’s talk about something else besides the war and the folks at the fort.”

“Okay,” she readily agreed, but she could not seem to come up with any other topic of conversation. “So, what should we talk about?”

“Well, tomorrow is Sunday, and my folks will be attending meeting for worship. I told them you were a Friend but I did not mention that you—”

“Of course I will go to the meeting with you and your parents, Theo. It would be rude not to go. I am their guest.”

“Thank you.” His smile reminded her of the first time they had talked and how even then she had been drawn into his eyes as if she were falling into a pool of cool water. He cupped her cheek with his palm. “I mean it. Thank you for everything—for agreeing to come to the farm, for—”

“I wanted to come, Theo. I like your parents, and I’m looking forward to meeting your brother and his family.”

Theo groaned.

“What? I thought you and your brother were close.”

“We are. It’s his wife, Jenny, I’m worried about. She’s a bigger matchmaker than Mom is—the woman has been on a mission to get me married off ever since she and Matthew got married. Don’t get me wrong—there is not a more caring, sweet woman in the world—but when she makes up her mind that something needs doing …”

“Hey, stop worrying. It’s only for a few days, and then we’ll be on our way back to Oswego. You can count on me not to go running into the cornfields because your mother and sister-in-law have your best interests at heart.”

He grinned and took hold of her hand. “Who told you there are cornfields?”

She nodded toward the window. They had left the city behind, and outside the window a moving picture of barns, farmhouses, and fields rushed past. It was beautiful countryside, but Suzanne thought of what many out-of-towners said about New York City:
It’s a nice place to visit, but you wouldn’t want to live there
.

As she looked out at the cows grazing in the fields, she knew that the saying absolutely applied to her feelings about living in Wisconsin. She might have grown up in a small town, but these days she was a city girl who was dangerously close to admitting that she was in love with the country boy next to her. She sure hoped he won that election.

  CHAPTER 18  

T
heo’s parents met them at the bus station in Madison. Theo did not miss the way his mother greeted Suzanne as if she were already a member of the family. She even insisted that they ride in the backseat together “so we can catch up.”

It was Saturday, and they were to take a train back after the parade on Wednesday. Clearly his mom planned to make as much progress as possible during that time toward getting Suzanne and him together on a more permanent basis. He just hoped Suzanne was up for this overdose of family.

“Jim Sawyer called,” his dad said, clenching his unlit pipe between his teeth as he drove. “He wants to see you as soon as possible. I told him to come on by the house tonight.”

“Dad, we just got here, and—”

“Get it out of the way, Son, and then you and Suzie can enjoy your time here. That is, if your mom and sister-in-law don’t take over.” He winked at Theo.

Suzie
. He’d never heard anyone call her anything but Suzanne. She had once told him that her editor liked to shorten her given name, but she suspected that was more because he was a man of few words and always in a hurry.

Theo could not imagine calling her Suzie. It just didn’t fit the woman he had come to know—and love. She was far too serious and intense to be a
Suzie
. He wondered if she would object and made a mental note to ask her about her preference. If she did object, he would have to set his parents straight.

“Matthew and Jenny and the children are coming over for supper,” he heard his mother explaining. “You and Jenny are going to get on like sisters—I just know it.”

“I’m looking forward to meeting them,” Suzanne replied.

“And Jim Sawyer—he’s the one who talked Theo into running for Congress—he’s stopping by later. I told him to bring Ethel, his wife, and come for dessert. I made a peach cobbler, and Jenny is churning up some vanilla ice cream.”

“You make your own ice cream?” Theo heard Suzanne’s voice crack slightly.

“Mom, you’re scaring her.”

“No, not at all,” Suzanne protested. “It’s just that … ice cream from scratch?”

“Well, not every time we eat ice cream, but this is a special occasion and …” Now it was his mom who sounded unsure of herself.

“Trust me, Suzie,” Theo’s dad said, “you have never had ice cream like this. It’ll put some meat on you.”

“Dad’s right,” Theo said. “One scoop of that stuff on top of Mom’s cobbler and you won’t need to eat for a week.”

“Sounds like we should maybe start with dessert,” Suzanne said. Theo’s parents both chuckled, and he saw his mom squeeze Suzanne’s hand. They arrived at the farmhouse minutes later, and Suzanne scrambled from the car and spun slowly around, taking it all in. “Oh Theo, it is like a picture postcard—pure Americana.”

If he could have risked taking her in his arms in that moment without his mother fainting from sheer joy, he would have. Instead he bent and pulled a piece of grass and stuck it in his mouth. “Aw, shucks, miss, that’s just downright kind of you.”

She giggled and took a step toward him, and he instinctively knew that she had been about to hook her arms around his neck as she sometimes did—a gesture that almost always led to them kissing.

His dad cleared his throat as he picked up their suitcases. “Show her around the place, Theo. I’ll just set these at the foot of the stairs.”

“But,” his mom started to protest.

“Come along, Ellie. Give these two some time to get settled in.”

Hand in hand, Theo and Suzanne walked around the farm. He pointed out the outbuildings and explained the purpose of each then described the different crops coming up in the fields. As they stood by a fence and watched the cows lumber across the pasture toward the barn, he finally stopped talking.

“So peaceful,” she murmured after a while.

“Yeah. I’ve always loved this part of the day here.”

“Why this time specifically?”

“I don’t really know. The day is coming to a close, and most likely nothing catastrophic has happened. It’s almost time to sit down to supper and hear everybody talk about their day. In winter once the cows are in and milked and you’re walking back to the house, there’s this glow from the lamps—a kind of welcome and warmth that makes the dark and cold bearable. And the promise of what’s waiting inside—a fire, maybe a second piece of pie and a glass of milk …”

She rested her head against his chest as he wrapped his arm around her. “You do love it here, don’t you?”

“I do. It’s home. It always will be.”

She didn’t say anything for a long moment. “So how are you going to feel about living in a city like Washington? I mean you can always come back for holidays and when Congress isn’t in session, but—”

He tightened his hold on her. “Ah, but living in Washington will have other benefits like getting to see you every day.” He kissed her temple. “Now, how about I show you how to milk a cow?”

“How about you go milk Bessie or Bossy or whatever their names are, and I’ll go see what I can do to help your mom get dinner—supper—on the table?”

“Fine, but don’t think you can spend all this time here and never milk a cow—and by the way, we have classy names for our animals. That—for example—is Ophelia.”

Suzanne laughed and started walking back to the house, and Theo could not help but imagine her making that walk on a regular basis.

Norman Rockwell could have certainly used the scene around the Bridgewaters’ dinner table as one of his covers for the
Saturday Evening Post
. It might be titled “This is why we fought!” Certainly the setting outside the warm and comfortable home had taken her breath away with its cream-colored stone accented by forest-green shutters and a porch lined with rocking chairs. This all set against a backdrop of a vibrant red barn, fields of green and gold crops, and a sky that defined the word
azure
. To think such scenes actually existed beyond some Hollywood set!

But it was the gathering of family and friends around a huge oak pedestal table in a dining room that was larger than her Washington apartment, savoring the unique combination of peach cobbler straight from the oven with a scoop of sweet, creamy, cold vanilla ice cream melting over the crust and fruit that touched her heart.

Matthew and Jenny’s two toddlers had squealed with delight when Jim Sawyer and his wife arrived, bringing their teenaged daughter, Dora, with them.

“Dora often babysits for the children,” Ellie explained. “They adore her, and the feeling is mutual so now we adults can visit in peace.” She handed Suzanne a tray stacked with cups and saucers then wrapped her hand in the skirt of her apron to pick up a pot of coffee as she led the way back to the dining room.

They talked about neighbors and friends who had been asking about Theo, and that led to Theo and Suzanne bringing them up to date on what was happening at the shelter.

“Things are a mess pretty much everywhere since Roosevelt died,” Matthew commented. “Nobody knows what to expect from this Truman.”

“Oh, I don’t know. I think the man is just playing it close to the vest until he’s had time to catch up,” Jim Sawyer said.

“No politics at mealtime,” his wife murmured as she placed her hand on his arm. “Suzanne, where are you from originally?”

She had never liked being the center of attention, even in circumstances like this where she had no doubt that everyone seated around the table seemed intent on liking her. “I … uh … grew up in a small town in Virginia,” she said.

“Near Washington?” Paul asked.

“Dad, Virginia is a big state. Suzanne grew up in the mountains.”

“Blue Ridge?” Sawyer guessed.

“Appa-latch-chian,” Suzanne said softly—aware that in this part of the country it was pronounced as
lay
rather than
latch
.

“I thought those mountains were in New York,” Jenny said.

“The range forms the dividing line between the Eastern Seaboard and the Midwest and includes the Blue Ridge among others. In various ways it runs all the way from Newfoundland into Alabama.” She hoped she didn’t sound argumentative. The truth was that she was exhausted and there were so many people—strangers to her. She wished that she and Theo could have had a quiet dinner with just his parents—at least on this first night of the visit. She realized that she so wanted to make a good impression.