Tessa McDermid - Family Stories (3 page)

Eyes narrowed, he fol owed the others up the aisle. She had given him her answer. He had spent his hard-earned money on a suit he could il afford, al for a spoiled country girl who only wanted a bit of amusement.

The noontime sun blinded him as he walked outside, and he shielded his eyes with one hand. "Bright, isn't it?"

said the friendly woman next to him and he nodded.

As he turned to speak to her, his mouth suddenly went dry. Marian stood on the steps, her hand lightly resting on her father's arm. She greeted each person who came out of the building, her voice low and melodious.

Pushed by the people behind him and hindered by the woman in front, Frank had no choice but to stop.

Reverend Cooper held out a hand. "Welcome my son. I don't believe we've met."

Frank swal owed, dragging his eyes away from Marian. The reverend stil held out his hand and Frank belatedly remembered his manners. "Frank Robertson, sir. I was passing through and thought I'd stay for a while."

"Ah, so our fair town has lured yet another visitor." Reverend Cooper's smile was one of proud ownership.

"Many a person has decided to settle in Winston after stopping for only a night."

He glanced around, as if searching for someone, and then tapped Marian on the arm. When she finished her conversation with an older woman, she turned to her father, stil without meeting Frank's eyes. "My dear, I can't find your mother."

"She went home to finish dinner. She knew I wouldn't mind taking her place with you."

Her father nodded and turned back to Frank. "My daughter, Mr. Robertson. Marian, this is Frank Robertson, a visitor to our community."

Marian slid her warm hand into his cold one and smiled. "Welcome, Mr. Robertson. I'm glad you could come today."

The warmth from her fingers remained after she released his hand. He didn't think he'd imagined that slight emphasis on the word you. Aware of her father, he pressed his lips together and swung back to the older man.

He searched his memory, trying to recal what his mother would say when she greeted their minister. "I appreciated your sermon today, sir."

Reverend Cooper beamed. "Thank you, young man. Sometimes it's hard to know how to reach people today.

So many choices pul ing us in every direction."

Marian wrapped her fingers around her father's arm. "Now, Father, church is over. Mr. Robertson doesn't need to hear about this anymore. After al , what could happen in Winston?"

Her father patted her fingers. "The devil is everywhere, Marian. You have to be on guard at al times."

As he watched Marian, the slow rise and fal of her bodice, the slender ankles and calves he could see under the demure dress, Frank knew that her father was right. The thoughts spinning through his brain had nothing to do with the straight and narrow path.

He cleared his throat. "Wel , I should be going, sir. Again, thank you for the warm welcome."

He turned toward Marian, schooling his features into a neutral expression. "And I enjoyed meeting you, Miss Cooper."

Her eyes widened, a beseeching look in their depths. He hesitated, unsure what she was asking. How could he see her again without prompting her father's concern?

The movement was barely noticeable, just a flicker of her fingers. Her father frowned, then leaned his head toward her, his thick gray eyebrows raised in question. "Marian?"

She raised herself on tiptoe so she could whisper in her father's ear. The soft cotton dress tightened around her slender form. Frank jammed his right hand into his pocket and flexed his fingers.

"Of course, my dear." Reverend Cooper clapped Frank on the arm, his relationship to Marian now evident from the sparkle in his eyes. "My daughter has reminded me of my manners. If you'd honor us by coming to dinner, we'd be very pleased. I have to greet the rest of my congregation, but then we'll take you home for some of my wife's delicious cooking."

Frank accepted the invitation and stood at the side of the steps, wondering if he'd caught some sort of summer madness. People stopped to greet him, their faces wreathed in welcoming smiles, and he answered them careful y, always aware of Marian only a few feet away. Several of the women were his former customers and he waited for one of them to denounce him as a traveling salesman, not worth the dirt under their feet.

But they didn't see the door-to-door salesman today. Instead, they favored him with their most charming smiles, one daring young woman even rubbing her hip against his as she sauntered down the steps.

She tossed him a saucy look over her shoulder and he grinned. She had obviously paid scant attention to the reverend's words that morning. Frank watched her sway down the walkway, her hips inviting him to spend some time with her. He had no doubt of her intentions.

"So, Mr. Robertson, are you ready? "The reverend tugged the church door to be sure it had locked securely.

He joined Frank at the bottom of the steps.

With a last glance at the young woman, Frank made his decision. "Yes, sir. You're sure this won't be an inconvenience for your wife?"

"Of course not. She always plans for some company each Sunday."

The young woman stood poised at the gate, her hand resting on the latch. Frank shrugged, shaking his head at her smile. She spun around and stood toward the vil age, her black curls bouncing in the sun.

"I wonder what's the matter with Flossie." Reverend Cooper clicked the gate shut and turned toward his home.

"She's not happy about something," Marian agreed, a smug inflection in her voice.

Startled, Frank looked at her but the reverend hid her from view. Was she as innocent as she seemed? She did know a lot about the birth of babies. Did she also know as much about how they came to be, what happened between a man and a woman?

His neck grew hot. Her father was talking about the run of warm weather they'd been enjoying and Frank immediately commented on how good the fields looked.

"And what line of work keeps you traveling so much?" Reverend Cooper asked as they neared the house.

Frank hesitated. Many of the people he met saw traveling salesmen as little more than hobos, slamming doors in their faces and ordering them off their property. The women at church hadn't connected the dashing young salesman with the man they'd met on the church steps. Reverend Cooper professed to love al people, but would that love extend to the man walking next to him, even if he was wearing a new suit?

He couldn't take the chance. "I've worked with my father in his store back in Iowa," he offered, staying close to the truth without betraying his current occupation. "I've always been good with words."

A soft snort from the other side of the reverend almost proved his undoing. He could feel his cheeks flush and he stared at the ground. How could she turn him into this blithering fool in only a few short days?

Her father didn't seem to notice anything amiss. He rubbed his chin with one gnarled hand, reminding Frank that this man had waited a long time for his child.

His footsteps lagged as they neared the house and then he straightened his shoulders. I might not live in a fine place, he thought, but I have as much right to walk into his home as anyone. His natural confidence returned; he greeted Marian's mother with a smile and a low bow.

The older woman frowned and Frank realized his error. She bit her lip, glancing at her husband from under lowered lashes. When he introduced Frank to her, she shook his hand gravely, giving everyone the impression that she'd just met the young man.

Relieved that he wouldn't be discovered yet and aware that he could be doing the minister a grave disservice, Frank fol owed Marian and her father into the parlor. Reverend Cooper excused himself at the door, murmuring that he needed to jot down an idea before it left him. Alone with Marian, Frank sank into the soft seat of a tapestry chair and clutched the brim of his hat, studying the carpet.

"That was nicely done," Marian said.

He lifted his head. "What do you mean?"

"My mother. I think you've charmed her. She sets a lot of store by the manners one has."

"She recognized me."

"Mother?" Marian shook her head. "No, you were a traveling salesman the other day. Today, you're a handsome churchgoing young man."

As Frank started to contradict her, Reverend Cooper hurried into the room, apologizing for his urgent departure. "But when an idea comes, I have to capture it as quickly as possible, else it leaves this feebled old brain of mine," he said with a half smile.

Marian sat in a corner of the room, the picture of demure womanhood. When Mrs. Cooper announced that dinner was ready, she let her father escort her into the dining room. Frank held her mother's chair and Marian favored him with a warm look from under thick lashes before resuming her modest demeanor.

The food was simple but plentiful. He complimented Mrs. Cooper on her cooking and had the pleasure of seeing soft color

Hood her wrinkled cheeks. Reverend Cooper talked about the many advantages of their smal vil age, punctuating each comment with a jab of his fork in the air. Marian ate with her head down, the flash of her dimple showing her humor at the conversation.

He'd begun to relax, even enjoy himself, when the reverend suddenly asked, "You don't have a wife somewhere, do you?"

Chapter 2

Reverend Cooper's question startled him, coming in the middle of a diatribe on city life, and he almost dropped the forkful of mashed potatoes that was halfway to his mouth. Seeing only curiosity on the man's face, Frank relaxed and shook his head. "No, I've never felt much desire to settle down."

"Ah, the arrogance of young manhood," Reverend Cooper said, his fork again waving in the air as he talked.

"Wel , let me warn you. Before you know it, you'l be an old man like me, your life almost over. You need to start planning now, so you don't miss any of the important things." He plunked the end of the fork down on the table with a loud clang.

"Now, Father." Marian lightly touched his hand, her head bent toward his graying one. "You mustn't say such things. You're not that old and life definitely hasn't passed you by. You'll give Mr. Robertson an entirely wrong picture of you."

He patted her hand. "You're kind, Marian, always have been. But you're like this young man. Mustn't wait too long or you'll find yourself sitting by the roadside wondering when you got left behind."

Frank could see that her father was in the throes of another sermon. Without conscious thought, only knowing that he had to divert the older man, he blurted, "From everything you've said and what I've seen so far, Winston seems like a good place for a man to settle down. What else can you tel me about the town?"

Marian sent him a startled look, Mrs. Cooper a grateful one. How many times did the reverend spoil a pleasant meal with his moribund conversation? Frank had little time to think about it before Reverend Cooper chuckled.

"You decide to stay here, young man, and you'l have al the mothers of single daughters after you. We don't have many bachelors around. They'll see you as an answer to prayer."

Frank laughed, and the reverend began a story about a young man who came to town one day last summer, expressing a desire to settle in Winston. Once the matchmaking mamas and single women discovered his presence, his life ceased to be his own.

"And then he just up and disappeared," the reverend said, sipping at the cup of coffee his wife had poured for him. "We never heard what happened to him, did we, Mother?"

Mrs. Cooper stood up and stacked the dishes. "I suppose he went searching for another quiet town." She added the empty potato dish to her load. "Marian, will you help, please?"

Marian picked up her own dishes, then leaned over Frank's shoulder for his empty plate. The soft curve of her breast brushed against him and his insides coiled with desire. She scooped up several more dishes before fol owing her mother into the kitchen.

He wiped his hands on his pants and raised his head to find Reverend Cooper watching him closely. He pressed his lips together and hoped his feelings weren't reflected in his eyes.

"Mr. Bates, perhaps."

Frank blinked, "I'm sorry, sir, what?" Did the entire family jump from topic to topic without warning?

"Adam Bates, over at the feed store. He was saying the other day that he needed another hand. His son married a girl he met on the east coast and they're moving back there to be with her family. Can't say I blame them. It's hard on a young woman to be away from her family. But it leaves Adam in a bind."

Reverend Cooper nodded several times. "Yes, Adam Bates. You stay the night and I'll take you over to see him first thing in the morning."

Marian paused in the doorway, a flicker of alarm in her eyes. "Who's going where, Father?"

"I was saying that Adam Bates needs another hand. Young Frank, here, might be just the man." He dug into the piece of pie she set before him with the same intensity he'd given to his sermon. "I invited Frank to stay the night, Mother."

The thought of sleeping in the same house with Marian only a few feet away was almost more than he could take. The apple pie tasted like sawdust and he couldn't look at any of them as he mechanical y chewed and swal owed the flaky pastry, his eyes on his plate.

After dinner, he accompanied Reverend Cooper to the parlor while the women finished clearing the table. The older man withdrew behind his Bible. Frank sat on the edge of the sofa, his fingers silently drumming on the armrest. Did he want a permanent job working in a feed store? Wouldn't have to be forever, he told himself.

There was nothing to tie him to this town.

When the women came into the room, Mrs. Cooper brought out some sewing and settled in a corner. Marian wandered over to the narrow window. She pul ed back the heavy drapes.

"Mother is famous for her garden," Marian said.