Vivid (21 page)

"Get lost."

Vivid could feel embarrassment burn her
brown cheeks. "Not usually."

"Well, stop it," he told her
grimly. "Chasing you across the countryside is making me an old man."

"I'm sorry," Vivid replied,
trying not to grin.

"No, you're not," he countered
as he led the way out of the cove.

Magic came running out to meet them as
they emerged from the trees. “Did you get lost, Dr. Lancaster?" she asked,
slipping her hand into her father's.

"Yes, I did, Magic, and your father
found me."

"Good, because everybody's waiting on
you so we can eat ice cream. Are you really going to marry Dr. Lancaster,
Pa?"

Vivid didn't dare look at Nate, who'd
stopped to stare at his daughter as if she had grown two heads. “Where did you
hear that?'' he asked.

"Becky Carpenter."

"Ah, Becky Carpenter," Nate
echoed.

"Who's Becky Carpenter?" Vivid
asked.

"A school friend of Majestic's and
probably the next editor of the
Grayson Gazette.
Magic, Dr. Lancaster
and I are not getting married."

"Why not, Pa? Don't you think she's
pretty?"

Vivid couldn't resist adding fuel to the
fire, and so asked, "Well?"

"Stay out of this," he warned.

Vivid grinned.

"There's more to being married than
having a pretty wife, Majestic. Now let me see how fast you can run back down
the hill to the church."

"I'll be there before you count to
ten, Pa."

"Go!" he yelled, grinning, and
Magic took off at a run.

"You're pretty good," Vivid
mused aloud.

"At what?"

"Distracting your daughter,"
Vivid said, even as her gaze grazed his mouth. She looked back up to his eyes
and found the impassive distance had returned.

He said flatly, "You and I need to
talk later."

She felt deflated. She nodded.
"Fine."

They walked back down the hill in silence.

When Vivid and Nate rejoined the gathering
they were met with a round of applause. Embarrassed, Vivid dropped her eyes to
her shoes in response and smiled as Nate said, "I found her over in the
trees about three hundred yards away." Then he looked at Vivid and stated
with mock seriousness, "I don't know folks, do we really want a doctor who
can get lost within earshot of so many of her neighbors?''

A lot of people raised their voices in
support while others gave the doctor a good old-fashioned ribbing. In the end
they decided she should stay.

Vivid humbly curtsied, saying, "I apologize
for getting lost, and if I haven't said so already, I want to thank you all for
today." Her voice became more serious as she looked out over their kind
faces. "I realize some of you are very skeptical about my abilities, and
that's to be expected; I'm young, I'm a stranger, and I am a woman, but I
promise you I'm going to be the best doctor I can be, so—where's this ice
cream?"

Her short speech was met with cheers. As
the crowd lined up at the ice cream churns, Vivid placed a hand on Nate's arm
to stay him a moment.

"I want to thank you," she said
earnestly. "For what?"

“For finding me, of course. And for saying
these people were my neighbors. People will be more accepting if they believe
you already are."

"Don't read more into it than there
is. I'm remaining neutral. But, you're welcome."

As he walked away, Vivid sighed.

At the table set up by the Women's Club,
Vivid got a dish of ice cream and a wooden spoon. Eating and walking, she
smiled at the people she passed, then stopped at the sound of voices arguing at
a table nearby. She couldn't see the principals because of the small crowd
ringing the space, but the female voice belonged to Abigail Grayson, and the
booming male counterpoint sounded familiar.

Vivid excused herself politely as she
maneuvered through the people standing around the table. When she reached the
front, she smiled. Sure enough, the male voice belonged to Adam Crowley. His
black eyes brushed hers and he smiled. "Ah, finally a female with the
brain of a man. Dr. Lancaster, tell this 'historian' that Benjamin Rush is no
friend to the race."

Vivid looked from Adam Crowley's smiling
eyes to Abigail's flashing ones and said, "Mr. Crowley, before we discuss
Benjamin Rush, I'd like to address another point first, if I may?''

He nodded.

She leaned in close and fairly shouted,
"A female with the brain of a man? Mr. Crowley, you should be ashamed of
yourself."

He chuckled. "Ah, little girl, what a
wife you'd make. If I were twenty years younger, I'd court you whether you
wanted me to or not."

Then he shouted for Nate, who stood a few
feet away talking to a group of farmers, to join them. Nate strolled over,
looking first at Vivid, then at Crowley. "What's wrong, Adam?" he
asked.

"Marry her, Nate, or I swear I'll
truss her up and give her to one of my boys."

Vivid stared. "Mr. Crowley!"

"Look at her, son. She's beautiful,
smart, and has a spine. A man can't ask for more than that."

Vivid could not resist the playfulness in
the big man's manner. She smiled in spite of herself, then said again, "I
am not here to be trussed up and given to anyone, Mr. Crowley."

Vivid wouldn't even look at Nate, so she
had no idea how he was taking this whole conversation.

Abigail came to the rescue. "We were
discussing Benjamin Rush, Adam, not whether my nephew should marry Dr.
Lancaster, though I, too, think that would be a marvelous idea."

"Abigail!" Nate and Vivid
shouted in unison.

Abigail ignored the outbursts, saying,
"I don't often agree with this foolish old man, but, Nathaniel, I think
she would make you a perfect wife. And Viveca, you could do a whole lot worse.
Now tell us your opinion of Benjamin Rush."

Vivid stood there, stunned. Next to her,
Nate removed his spectacles, rubbed his eyes a moment, then said, "I'll
see you folks later," and went back to the farmers.

"Now," Abigail went on as if she
hadn't shocked Vivid to her toes. "Didn't Rush help raise money for
Reverend Allen's Mother Bethel in Philadelphia?"

"Yes, he did," Adam Crowley
stated. "And so did Thomas Jefferson. Are slave owners now friends of the
race, too?"

"Of course not," Abigail
countered. "One only has to look back at Jefferson's writings to know
Jefferson was no friend. And that poor Sally Hemings and the children she bore
him," Abigail said sadly. "However, Mr. Rush should be judged in a
different light"

Adam Crowley glanced over at Vivid and
said, "Will you please talk to this woman who calls herself a historian?
Tell her the esteemed Dr. Rush's theory on why our race has black skin."

Vivid stared at him wonder. "Mr.
Crowley, how do you know that?" Vivid had learned about Rush in medical
school.

"Tell her."

Vivid spoke to Abigail but continued to
stare at Adam Crowley, amazed that he knew of Rush's theory. "Dr. Rush
believed we suffer from a form of leprosy, Abigail." Vivid had been taught
not to stare but she couldn't help herself. "Mr. Crowley—"

He seemed intent upon ignoring Vivid's
questions as he asked his opponent, "Did you hear that, Abigail? Leprosy.
What kind of learned 'friend' is that? Leprosy." He then turned to Vivid.
"Thank you, Dr. Lancaster, I believe I can handle things from here."

Vivid gave him a measured look for
refusing to satisfy her curiosity, but she made a mental note to pay a visit to
the Crowley home as soon as time allowed. He owed her some answers.

Leaving the two older people to their
historical wranglings, Vivid slid her way back through the crowd and resumed
eating her ice cream. She saw Eli Grayson talking with Jewel Crowley. The young
woman was smiling and appeared to be in much better health.

As it got closer to dusk, folks began to
gather up their belongings for the ride home. Children were called in from the
surrounding fields. Neighbors hugged in parting and the men in the horseshoe
pits and those seated at the domino tables began to wind down their respective
competitions.

"You ready to head back?"

Vivid turned at the sound of Nate's voice.
She looked up into his eyes and felt her senses humming. “Um, yes, as soon as I
find Abigail."

Vivid sought to remain as politely distant
as possible.

“Abigail has decided to go back into town
with Miss Edna," he told her. "She and Magic will be back later
tonight. Miss Edna says you're welcome, too, if you care to join them."

"No. I think I'll go on home, I have
some journals to read."

"Well I'm going back, so you can ride
with me. I'll get the wagon."

Their short ride home started off in
silence. Vivid looked at the beautiful surroundings, fascinated by all she saw,
while a grim Nate sat fascinated by the beauty at his side.

"Your aunt and Mr. Crowley are quite
the pair," Vivid said to break the mounting tension.

"Yes, they are," he replied.
"If anyone should be thinking about marrying up, it's those two."

“Why on earth do you think that? Your aunt
seemed very angry at Mr. Crowley."

"You're probably right. She and Adam
lock horns over just about everything."

"Then why suggest they marry?"

He looked at her and said, "Because
Adam's in love with my Aunt Gail. Has been for most of his life."

Vivid's jaw dropped open.

"Close your mouth before something
flies inside," Nate teased gently.

Vivid found her voice and asked,
"Does Abigail return his feelings?"

"I'm certain she does, but she's as
stubborn as a post. I'm afraid she's going to go to her grave denying it, which
will be a pity, because I believe Adam can make her happy."

They rode the remainder of the way in
silence.

Nate drove the wagon around to the barn
and unhitched the horses. Vivid helped him remove the tack. He showed her the
hooks on the walls, then watched as she hung it.

Vivid, very aware of his perusal, glanced
around the large barn. There were enough stalls for six animals though only a
few were being used. Viewing the aged plows and other old equipment stacked
neatly in one corner, she assumed, at one time the Graysons must have farmed. A
large stone fireplace encompassed one of the walls. She'd never seen a
fireplace in a barn before. She then walked slowly over to some objects hanging
on the wall at the barn's far end. "Do you play tennis around here?"
she asked Nate.

He chuckled. “Those are snowshoes.''

Embarrassment scalded her cheeks as she
returned the shoe to its nail in the wall.

"Don't be embarrassed," he
offered gently. "You wouldn't have any knowledge of bear claws."

"Why are they called bear
claws?"

"They resemble a bear track in the
earth."

She took them down again and peered
closely at their construction. On closer look, she felt even more foolish.
"Why are these turned up at the toe?" she asked. He was standing too
close behind her, his heat penetrating her senses.

"The turned-up toe makes it easier to
walk in snow where there are a lot of trees. This pair with the flat round toe
is for walking in open spaces where there are no trees."

"You just strap them on and
walk?"

"Basically, yes, but it takes a bit
of practice to move in them comfortably."

Amazed, Vivid rehung the shoes.

"I'll give you lessons when the snow
falls, if you're still here," he added.

Vivid turned to him and asked,
"If
I'm
still here?"

"Yes. If."

Vivid thought about the back-breaking work
she'd done all week and found his remark offensive and disappointing. What
would it take to make him see how seriously she took her position here?

She showed him her hands and asked calmly,
"Do these look like the hands of a dilettante, Mr. Grayson?''

Nate could not hide his shock; her palms
and fingers were raw, red, and cracked.

Vivid continued, "As you undoubtedly
know, lye does this to human flesh when you scrub for a living. That's what
I've been doing all week, scrubbing so I can make my living. But you don't
believe I will stay, so fine. Continue to lie and claim to be neutral, just
stay out of my way."

Angry, disappointed, and hurt, Vivid
walked to the door of the barn. But she had one more thing to say. "And
keep your kisses to yourself from now on."

Then she was gone.

Nate sighed. He hadn't meant to set her
off, but on one hand he had gotten the result he'd desired. There would be no
more kissing according to her, and that suited him just fine. She could go on
about her business and he could take care of his without being further tempted to
complicate an already explosive situation.