The Barefoot Believers (24 page)

Vince glowered.

Gentry chuckled.

Kate clutched her cane. If he wanted to, Vince could break the tension by laughing himself. Vince always laughed. It was how he dealt with life. She waited.

He remained silent.

Finally Gentry slapped his father on the back and said, “It's just a loan, though, Dad. I got a job working Mondays through Saturdays with overtime. That's why I wasn't there to help with the move and why I couldn't bring groceries over, Kate. I tried to call Moxie back and tell her, but I couldn't get through.”

“Oh.” That explained that but did not smooth out the prickling friction between Vince and herself.

“I was going to tell you, Dad, but I thought you'd…Well, it's in construction and I thought if I told you, you'd do that ‘let me put a good word in' thing you do.”

“You actually know some ‘good' words?” Kate had thought it would sound funnier than it did. Lighten the mood.

Kate was wrong.

“Yeah, I know some good words,” Vince muttered. “How about
respect?
How about
consideration?
How about—”

“I can pay you back for the medicine when I get my first paycheck, Dad.” Another slap on the back. “I put in as much overtime as I could so—”

“You don't have to pay me back for my granddaughter's medicine,” Vince snapped, though he never took his gaze from Kate's.

“But I want to.”

Vince looked at Gentry, clearly surprised by his sudden assertiveness.

Kate felt protective of the boy. After all, she had been the one to kick-start him. “You should really let him do this, Vince.”

“You should really stay out of this.” He turned away from Kate, then said to his son, “I am not going to make you pay me back for something Fabbie needs.”

“It's not a matter of making him.” Kate ignored the message of the man putting his broad back to her, which wasn't easy given the width of his shoulders and the fact that they practically radiated tension, for which she knew she was the source. “It's a matter of
letting
him. Let him be the head of his own household, Vince, let go of him even if it means letting him fail.”

“Don't you lecture me on letting go of anything, Kate Cromwell.” He turned around, his eyes unable to conceal the old wounds of the loss of his wife, Kate's rejection and now the reality that his son was going to grow up and leave him as well. “Don't even presume you know what you're talking about on that score.”

She opened her mouth, about to remind him of the loss of her baby sister. And maybe to tell him how she had grieved over running away from him and Gentry, too.

She didn't get out a single syllable before he narrowed his eyes and said, “You've never allowed yourself to care about anything or anyone enough to know there are some things worth hanging on to.”

He yanked out his wallet and handed some cash to his son. “I'm going over to the rental house to do some work. I'll see you there later.”

And Vince was gone.

A young doctor came out into the waiting area talking with a relaxed and chatty Esperanza, holding her baby, who was waving around a yellow sucker.

Gentry touched Kate on the arm.

It was all the thank-you he offered and all that she needed as she watched him hurry up to the group, take the baby in his arms and give Esperanza a kiss on the cheek.

Kate rubbed her temple. She had a headache. And a footache. And…if she were totally honest with herself?

She looked at Gentry's relieved expression, then at the door where Vince had just stormed out.

She also had a heartache.

“I
still can't believe they just left you there.” Moxie helped Kate around the side of the house. After helping her get out of Moxie's old truck. After helping her get out of a fix when the well-meaning doctor had found herself stranded at the urgent-care clinic.

“They didn't mean to, I'm sure. Dr. Lloyd started asking me questions about my foot and they needed to get the baby those antibiotics.”

“Don't you start making excuses for Gentry, Kate. The kid is a—”

“Man. The ‘kid' is a man and it's time people around here began treating him that way.”

“He left you at the clinic, Kate.”

“So did his father and I don't see anyone in this town going around questioning his maturity.”

“Present company excepted?” Moxie reached the corner of the house and waited for Kate to catch up.

Kate faltered, grimaced.

Moxie extended her hand for support.

Kate swept the gesture aside with one well-aimed swing of her cane and began forward movement again. “I can make my way into the house from here.”

“I was told to get you home and not to leave until I saw you seated, leg up, and checked to make sure you had actually swallowed your meds, not just poked them under your tongue to spit out as soon as no one was looking. Doctor's orders.”

Kate shot her a sly glance. “Why do I think you don't really take orders from the cutie-pie doc unless they are orders you already planned to follow through on?”

“He is cute, isn't he?” Moxie picked her way through the junk in the so-called garden, leading the way for a beleaguered Kate. She wondered why Jo hadn't seen to this mess first, as it would be the easiest thing on the list to clear out by herself.

At the thought of the list, Moxie remembered the offer she had jotted down. She took a second to scan the area for the piece of paper that she had stuffed under a potted plant when she'd come over with her recommendations.

“Still there,” she muttered.

“Don't I know it?” Kate agreed.

“You…
know?
” Moxie glanced at the paper again, knowing that wasn't really the topic of this snippet of conversation. Opting to retrieve the offer when she left later today, she turned to the woman behind her and confessed, “I'm sorry. My mind wandered and I think I even started talking to myself.”

“Oh, you are much too young for that route!” Kate chuckled, wobbled, steadied herself with her cane then began picking her way through the land of tacky trinkets once again. When she reached the deck where Moxie stood, she looked up. “How old are you, anyway? If you don't mind my asking?”

“Thirty-one.” Moxie gave a half shrug and waited.

“Thirty-one?” Kate frowned.

Here it comes.

“All these years I pictured the person taking care of this cottage as some sweet dear old thing who took in stray cats and wore aprons and sun hats and high-top sneakers.”

“Who knows, maybe one day that will be me! I like the sound of it, anyway.” She flexed her fingers to keep herself from just reaching out and snagging Kate to steady her as she took the steps. “Oh, and thanks.”

“For what?” Kate took one step then paused to catch her breath.

“Not asking the usual.”

“The usual?” Another step. Another pause.

“Thirty-one? And not married yet?”

Kate rolled her eyes, drew in a deep breath then took the last step. “That would be a bit like the pot…”

Clunk.
Down came her cane on the deck proper at last.

“…the much older pot and so single she doesn't even have a boyfriend, much less an adorable doctor with his own urgent-care clinic…”

Thump.
She swung her cast up and landed it with enough force to make Moxie wince.

“…disparaging the marital status of the kettle.”

Moxie clenched her teeth, knowing to the very core of her being that Kate would not welcome help from her at this point. How did she know that? She just did. Because…And even as the thought occurred to her, it also came to her how odd a comparison it was…because that was how Moxie would feel. She would rather do it herself and fail than have somebody take pity on her and offer unasked-for assistance.

“Well, thank you, anyway.” Moxie stole one last peek to make sure the offer stayed tucked away, then swung open the back door.

Kate nodded her appreciation for the gesture and kept moving along. “How long have you two been together?”

“His dad, ol' Doc Lloyd, was chief of staff at our little hospital forever, so he grew up here.”

“High-school sweethearts?”

“Hardly, I was homeschooled and took my GED when I was sixteen.”

“Really?”

“My mom left then. My dad was a mess. It didn't seem like a great time to suddenly learn how to cope with the public school system.” Why had she told the woman that? Moxie ducked her head slightly and adjusted the simple straw hat she had worn to church this morning. As soon as she got Kate settled, she'd climb into a pair of overalls and comfy clogs and spend the rest of the day…doing exactly what she wanted. Which probably meant working. “Besides, even at sixteen I already knew what I wanted to do.”

“I could tell that about you the first time we met.” Kate reached the doorway and took a moment to lean against it before going on. She didn't seem the least bit put off by Moxie practically sharing her life story. “You just seem to know what you want out of life.”

“Thanks, but it's not such a big deal. I just want what most people do. To be happy. To have a purpose. To be loved.”

“And something tells you that marrying Dr. Lionel Lloyd won't bring you those things?”

“I don't think those things come from other people,” she said softly. “Oh, and thanks yet again.”

“For?”

“Not assuming
he
was the marriage holdout.”

“Him? The man who spent ten minutes chewing me out about not allowing my foot to heal properly then followed it up with an open invitation to move to Santa Sofia and become a partner in his clinic?”

Moxie laughed. “He's also the type who knows what he wants.”

“Yeah, he wants some nights and weekends off for a change so he can try to convince you to marry him. That man is anything but commitment phobic.”

“Commitment phobic? That your professional diagnosis, Doctor, or more along the lines of it takes one to know one?” Moxie couldn't believe her boldness.

Kate did not appear one bit put off by it, though. She gave a wry laugh and a nod. “Hey, I am what I am. But you? I don't really think you are afraid of commitment. Something else is holding you back.”

Moxie nodded. “I keep telling him it's the name.”

“Lionel?” Kate crinkled up her nose.

“No. My name. If I married him I'd have to go through life as Moxie Lloyd.”

“Not so bad.”

Moxie's turn to scrunch up her nose. “It sounds like a chemical ingredient in a fake dietary supplement. ‘Now with moxielloyd for fast-acting results.'”

Kate chuckled.

“The only thing worse is how it sounds with my real name.”

“Real name?”

“Molly. Molly Lloyd.
That
sounds like a fat nodule you have to have removed from some part of the body you don't want to discuss in public.” She rolled her eyes.

Kate shook her head. “And that's the best reason you can give for not wanting to marry that very nice, very cute Dr. Lloyd?”

“Just trying to keep it light. Nobody listens, anyway.” Moxie raised her shoulders and looked away. “They don't usually believe I'm the holdout. You know, adorable single doctor with more business than he can handle. Why would he want to tie himself down to one girl, especially one like me?”

Kate turned and latched her green-eyed gaze onto Moxie's eyes. “Maybe because he wants what most people want?”

To be happy. To have a purpose. To be loved.

Moxie's words hung in the air unspoken.

She cocked her head. She'd never thought of that. While she had dragged her feet fearing that her mother might prove right about the discontent of marriage and life in Santa Sofia, she'd never thought she might be keeping Lionel from realizing his own dreams and desires. She knew he wanted a family. And a home. “But I just haven't been able to make that leap of faith.”

“Faith?”

“Oh, not ‘faith' faith.” Moxie pointed heavenward. “It's not a God issue. It's a human one. Much as I want to be loved, I don't have a lot of faith in it. I don't have a lot of experience with the people I love hanging in there.” She thought of her mother's note and of the Weatherby family motto. “How can you believe a person will love you for a lifetime if nobody ever has?”

“People are just flawed, Moxie.” Kate touched her shoulder.

“I know. Maybe I expect too much. And I pray a lot about it. Some people think that's corny, I know.”

“Not me.” Kate took a look at the backyard, her eyes squinted but her face serene.

“Yeah?”

“In fact I've given a lot of thought to my spiritual life since I came to Santa Sofia, seeing how much I've neglected it and feeling a strong tug to change that.”

“I'll add you to my prayer list, if you like.”

“I would like that.”

“Consider it done.” Moxie smiled and nodded. “Now, I have doctor's orders to see through. So let's get that foot up.”

She held the door open for Kate, who took one step inside and shouted, “Tell me you did not get up first thing this morning to go shoe shopping!”

“Wow.” Moxie crowded in behind the woman to find a small pyramid of shoe boxes stacked neatly on the kitchen table.

Jo's head popped up above the stack. “I'm not shopping. I'm selling.”

“Really?” Moxie had to take another look. This time, in a pair of inexpensive flip-flops, she marveled at how much Jo's feet resembled her own. Except Jo clearly indulged in regular pedicures and had allowed herself the small luxury of a simple toe ring, something Moxie would never try. “You brought all these shoes down here and now you're willing to part with them in a yard sale? Do you mind if I…?”

“Help yourself. But keep in mind, the money you give for them is going to the Traveler's Wayside Chapel, so don't try to talk me down too low.”

Moxie flipped the lid off the first box.

“I'm going to sit down.” Kate lumbered past.

“I'll help you.” And by
help,
Moxie meant stay out of her way until she got to the couch, where, if she had to, Moxie could easily grab Kate's cane, give her a push and whisk her cast up onto the table before Kate knew what hit her. “Then I'll come back and try these on.”

“Jo, will you get my meds?” Kate called out, not even looking behind her. “And some water.”

Jo hurried to comply.

Kate plopped down, covered her eyes with one hand, then propped her leg up and sighed.

“Here's your water and medication.” Jo set them on the table by Kate's elbow. “Did you eat any breakfast?”

“No. Esperanza came over with the baby before I was even out of bed this morning.”

“Hang on a sec while I make you a peanut-butter sandwich so you'll have some food in your stomach.”

Moxie stood and watched the sisters roll with the moment, each interaction a study in effortless ease that only came with blood ties and a very long history. It made Moxie feel like a fifth wheel. A
third
wheel?

Basically, she felt as if she didn't belong.

She hated that feeling.

“If you're all situated, then, I guess I can go,” she said.

“Wait!” Kate's hand shot out. “I had a key.”

“The extra house key? I brought that over with the paperwork the other day.”

“No, this morning. I found the key to my treasure chest and I had it in my hand when I came down to answer the door.”

“Where did you put it?”

“I don't remember. Would you mind looking around to see if I laid it someplace in here?”

“I'd be glad to.” Moxie looked around in all the obvious places in the room. “Could you have left it in the kitchen?”

“No. I had the baby in my arms by then. But I might have dropped it on the stairs.”

“Okay.” Moxie threw open the door to the enclosed stairway. The midday sun had not begun to shine through the windows in the front room so she couldn't see well. She glanced up at the lone bulb at the top of the staircase and shook her head. It was on the list.
Put new lightbulb in staircase fixture.