“I’m man enough for any woman, but what makes you think Katie’d want to marry me?”
Heh, heh. Got him. “I know for a fact Katie would marry up with you. She all but told me so herself.” Or
she would once he explained it to her, but that was just a detail.
“I don’t know…”
“She’s a good woman, fine cook, and can whip up anything you need to fix what ails you.” Grandpa watched Harold’s eyes for a sign of agreement. It was close.
“That
would
come in handy.”
Real close. “What do you say? Are you up to it?”
“If you’re sure she’s willin’…”
He smacked Harold on the back and grinned. “Come on out Saturday, and we’ll set a date.”
Gil Napier knew he wasn’t good with book learning and such, but he also knew he wasn’t a bad sort. Grandma, Grandpa, and sometimes even Katie seemed to forget that fact. Now with Katie fixing to marry up, there was too much of a chance for another to find him lacking…unless Gil found Katie’s husband first.
He had to be a good man, one who would take care of Katie and agree to stay in the cabin to help out. He couldn’t be too smart or too dumb, just somewhere in between, like Gil. And he knew exactly who that man was.
Freddie Powell fit all the guidelines and, as luck would have it, was coming Gil’s way. Granted, he wasn’t much to look at, a little skinny, and his hair did some wild curling, but he was a good kid mostly, and he’d been sweet on Katie for years.
“Freddie?” Gil hiked his pants up, as much as his belly would permit, and sauntered over to talk to his future son-in-law.
“How you doin’, Mr. Napier?”
Gil liked that
mister
part. Showed the boy was respectful. “I’m doin’ good, Freddie.” So much for the polite talk, now it was time to get serious. “I was thinking about you in church this morning, and I wondered if you’re still livin’ with your ma.”
Looking at his feet, Freddie cleared his throat and nodded. “Yeah, I ain’t got nowhere else to go right now. Why?”
“Your ma ain’t too easy to live with, is she?”
Freddie flushed, then grinned. “She can be a bit bossy.”
“You know, what you need to do is get married so you can be your own boss.”
“
Married?
I ain’t even got a girl!”
“A fine feller like you don’t got a girl? You’ve got to be joshing me.”
“No, sir, I ain’t joshin’.”
Rubbing his hand across his chin, Gil frowned real hard to show he was thinking. Then he snapped his fingers. “I got it! Katie’s lookin’ to get married, maybe you could marry up with her.”
“K-Katie?”
Freddie stammered, and for a moment, Gil expected the boy to swoon. “Katie would never marry up with me.”
“I happen to know for a fact she would. She knows what a fine man you are, and I suspect she’s always been sweet on you.”
“Me?”
Freddie gulped. “Are you sure?”
“She ain’t said so right out, but I seen her looking at you.” Sort of.
“Me?”
Freddie was going to have to learn to say more than “me” if he planned on keeping a girl like Katie interested. “Katie knows a good man when she sees one. Why, I’m sure if you’d like to marry her, she’d be pleased as punch.”
“I—I don’t know.”
Gil’d better help the boy out. If Freddie turned any redder, his face might explode. “Katie’s a fine girl and marryin’ her would give you a chance to leave your ma’s and start a family of your own. You want to do that, don’t you?”
“Sure, but
Katie
? I don’t think she’s ever even talked to me.”
“She just don’t like to come across as forward. You know how women are.” Gil nodded and winked a conspiratorial wink. “She’s going to marry up with someone. You gonna let her get away?”
“I don’t want to let her get away.” Freddie didn’t sound real convinced, but Gil knew the boy would cotton up to it soon enough.
“Course you don’t, son.” Gil patted him on the shoulder. “I’ll take care of everything, just come on out Saturday, and we’ll set a date.”
Who would ever have thought Reverend Stoker could preach for two hours? John knew it now and so did his backside. Julia wasn’t as tired, but then, she’d fallen asleep soon after the tit pinching and hadn’t awakened until the last amen. Lucky child. Careful to watch for rot-ation in the church floor, John stepped out into the afternoon sun.
Most of the parishioners stood in the yard, gabbing
about one thing or another. And try though he might, he couldn’t stop his gaze from seeking out Katie, not that it wasn’t easy to find her. She stood surrounded by people, all talking and laughing, and no doubt asking her for medical advice.
A pregnant woman gave Katie a jar of something and another handed her a shawl. Two children tugged on her skirts, impatient for their chance to speak with her, and all the while, John felt invisible. None spoke to him, none smiled his way, and for all the good it’d done to come to church, he might as well have stayed home and adjusted diplomas.
“Daddy?” Julia tugged his hand. “Did you have fun at church?”
To answer that question properly, he would need words a child her age should not be exposed to, so instead, he glanced down at Julia and shrugged. “I suppose. Did you enjoy it?”
“Oh yes! It was the most fun I’ve had in the longest time, and now I have a new friend!” She bounced with excitement while she giggled. “Can she come over for dinner? Can she please, Daddy?”
Even his own daughter had been enthralled by the ever-popular Katie Napier. “I’m sure Miss Napier is very busy.”
“Oh no, Daddy. She wouldn’t be too busy for me.”
Who would have thought a person with such short legs could move so quickly? In a flash, Julia raced across the churchyard toward Katie and her throng of worshipers.
“Hell,” he mumbled. Now not only would he have to fetch his daughter, but by the time he did, she would
have invited Katie to dinner, if not to move in with them.
He hurried across the yard; the dinner invitation was probably already set, but he might be able to keep the spare room empty.
“Julia?” John used a stern “Father” voice that usually captured his daughter’s attention, but evidently his daughter had gone deaf. Lucky for her, she was already clutching the hand of the great healer.
Katie threw her head back, laughing at something Julia said, and the sound of it stopped John in his tracks just a few feet from his destination. He cleared his throat. “Julia? You mustn’t bother Miss Napier.” He hesitantly closed the distance. “I’m sure she has plenty to do.”
Katie turned to him with eyes sparkling and a smile still wide and inviting. Then quickly her smile lessened, and she lowered her gaze to Julia. “She’s no bother, Dr. Keffer.”
Julia tugged on Katie’s skirt like the other urchins had done. “Can you, Katie? Can you come to dinner?”
An embarrassed expression crossed her features before Katie smiled again. “I can’t today, but thank you for the invitation.”
“But you can come sometime, can’t you?”
John would need to talk to his daughter as soon as they returned home. Though he didn’t know what to say. Don’t be hospitable? Maybe he could inform her that it was wrong to make friends, at least with these people. They were different.
“Well…” Katie’s voice sounded unsure, and now
he knew what to tell Julia. It was wrong to make people feel uncomfortable, especially her father.
John reached for Julia’s hand. “I’m sure Miss Napier has more important things to tend to.”
Julia’s lip trembled as she looked up at Katie. “Are you too busy for me too?”
His heart fell.
Kneeling down to Julia’s level, Katie gave her a hug. “I’m never too busy for a friend.”
“Julia and I would love to have you to dinner sometime, Miss Napier.”
Who said that?
Well, maybe John
couldn’t
blame that on a stranger passing by, but he could and would blame it on temporary insanity…and on his daughter’s trembling lip. If having Katie to the house
once
would make Julia happy, then it could be arranged. Of course if there really were a God, and the jury was still out on that, Katie would be unable to attend, ever.
“Thank you,” Katie said. “That would be nice.”
“Yeay!” Julia clapped her hands. “I’ll tell Mrs. Adkins as soon as we get home. I’ll make the biscuits.”
Katie smiled again as John took Julia’s hand and led her away. He’d intended to take Julia’s hand but not Katie’s smile, yet oddly enough, it stayed with him as he walked down the street toward his home.
As if dying wasn’t bad enough, now it appeared as though Grandma was going to have to endure a visit from Eunice Kopp.
“Well, Mable,” Eunice said, after she plopped her ample bottom into a chair by the bed, “How are you doing today?”
Grandma harrumphed. “I’m dying, Eunice. How do you think I am?” That would shut up a normal person, but Eunice wasn’t normal, so she giggled instead.
“I suppose dying would get tiresome after a while, though of course, I’m envious of you sometimes. My family has gone through so much, I think sometimes dyin’ would be easier than living through all this.”
Oh Lord, now it was time for Eunice to bemoan her family’s ills, as though she were the only one with difficulties to endure. Grandma allowed her mind to wander to more important things, like finding Katie a man. It was going to be hard to do since all this dying made it difficult to get around. If only she had someone to do the legwork for her.
Hmmm. She glanced back at Eunice, still rambling about her infirmed. “Eunice?” Grandma said as soon as Eunice stopped for a breath. “I was wondering if you could help me out.”
Eunice blinked in surprise and leaned closer with intense seriousness. “Of course I would, Mable. You and me go back a ways. What do you need?”
Sighing deeply, Grandma laid her hand against her heart. “I’m worried for my Katie.”
“What’s wrong?”
“Oh, there ain’t nothing wrong with her directly, but she’s turning thirty soon, and she still don’t have a husband. I’m afraid she’s too busy to look, and I can’t get around much to find her one.”
“Is she
wantin’
to get hitched?”
“Of course she does!” Grandma snapped before she remembered she wanted Eunice’s help, not her anger. “She wants younguns,” she added with as much humility as she could muster.
“What do you want me to do?”
“Who are some of the eligible men around here now? I ain’t been out for a while.”
Eunice wrinkled her brow in thought. “Well, I can’t think of too many the right age except my Randy.”
“Randy?”
“My grandson. He just moved back here from Williamson.”
“How old is he?”
“Twenty-six.”
That was close enough. “Is he handsome?” Grandma didn’t want any ugly grandkids.
Eunice giggled. “That’s his biggest problem. All the girls down there set their cap for him and chased him something awful.” She leaned forward to whisper, “A couple of them actually claimed he’d got them with child.” She sat back and shook her head. “Of course,
that’s ridiculous. He wouldn’t do such a thing. They just wanted to force him into marriage.”
“Why didn’t he marry one of them?”
“None of them girls were good enough for him. That’s why he come on home.”
“My Katie is too good for most anybody. I don’t know if she’d want him.”
Eunice bristled. “Randy’s a handsome young man, strong and virile. If Katie’s wantin’ strapping younguns, my Randy can give them to her.”
Strong, good-looking grandkids were appealing, but that would make Eunice family. Grandma glanced askance at Eunice. The woman
was
a fine cook, and if her grandson was as robust as she made him sound, he could do quite a bit of work around the cabin. With any luck at all, Eunice wouldn’t live much longer anyway. She was an old bag and as unhealthy as they come.
“Have him come on out on Saturday, and if I—I mean if
Katie
approves—we’ll get ’em hitched.”
Drumming his fingers on the desktop wasn’t very productive, but he’d adjusted the damn diplomas so many times, there was a danger of wearing holes in the wall.
John shoved away from his desk and paced across the room to the window. The street was just as empty as it had been five minutes ago. He could go to the store again, but he’d been there every day this week since Monday and still no one had come to him for treatment. At this rate he didn’t need a medical degree…he needed a hobby.
His nose caught the whiff of something wonderful drifting from the kitchen. John knew if he went there he’d find Julia elbow deep in biscuit dough and Mrs. Adkins humming while she cooked. Domestic pleasures weren’t important in the large scheme of things, but he
was
a little hungry. Maybe there was a muffin left over from breakfast.
“Tell me about the baby,” Julia was saying, as John stepped into the room.
“What baby?” He only asked the question out of politeness, so why did Mrs. Adkins suddenly seem uncomfortable?
“I have a new grandbaby. He was born just last
night. I was hoping after I got dinner started I could go to Sally’s home to help her tend to him.”
“She lives nearby?”
“Yes.” Mrs. Adkins set a kettle on the stove. “He’s a dandy, but the delivery was tough. Katie had to work real hard…” She froze and the look on her face would have been comical if it had been put there under other circumstances.
“Katie?” Was he doomed to be in that woman’s shadow even in his own home?
“Sally’s known Katie most her life, and I knew you was busy…” Mrs. Adkins continued to work, rattling pans in an attempt to hide her answers. “It was just a baby after all.”
But it wasn’t just a baby. It was the final straw. His own housekeeper’s daughter had gone to Katie instead of him.
He left the kitchen, no longer interested in muffins or domestic bliss. Something had to be done, but what? He couldn’t force the people to come to him any more than he could force Katie to stop tending to them.
Hiding in the bushes to tackle the infirmed as they sought Katie’s help was tempting, though not practical. Perhaps he could tie Katie on the end of a stick, like the proverbial carrot, and dangle her in front of the ill until they followed her to his home.
Shaking his head, he returned to his office in hopes of finding a better solution. There was no way Katie would stay on the end of a stick, leastwise not without paying her.
Then it hit him.
A beautiful solution flashed in his mind, like the
brilliant light of a divine revelation. He smiled, refusing to feel guilty for his planned deception. After all, what harm could come of it? The sick would receive real medical care. Katie would be compensated financially, and as for John?
Well…
Perhaps he would get the chance to finally put his demons to rest.