Chapter 12
As Mark pulled up in front of the small, charming, red-brick home, Kate noticed the California license plate on the dark blue Cadillac parked in the driveway.
His parents’ car, she thought, self-consciously patting her hair into place. Why am I so concerned about how I look? Why should I care whether or not they like me? After all, this is just a barbecue.
“Oh, boy, we’re here!” Jason cried, throwing open the door of the well-traveled green Jeep and leaping out from the backseat onto the neatly manicured lawn. Mark had already climbed out from behind the steering wheel and come around to the passenger side to open Kate’s door.
“Hold on, Sport,” Kate called to Jason, grabbing the large bowl of potato salad beside her and stepping out onto the curb. “Let’s all go in together.”
“Here, I’ll carry that,” Mark offered, taking the bowl from her.
“I don’t know if that’s such a good idea,” Kate teased. “Not after what you said the other night about potato salad being your weakness.”
Mark laughed as he led the way into the house, with Jason chattering the whole time. “Wow, what a neat house,” he said as they stepped from the already stifling heat outdoors into the cool, dark haven of a quaint, antique-laden living room. “Where did you get all this great stuff? Is it all yours? Do you live here all alone? Did you bring everything with you from California? Where’s your mom and dad? I thought you said they were going to be here. Have you already started the barbecue?”
“Whoa, hold on there,” Mark said, still laughing. “One question at a time. Yes, this is my house and my stuff. Yes, I live here alone. Yes, I brought this stuff from California. And I imagine my parents are out back on the patio with the barbecue—which, by the way, we’ll start a little later. It stays nice and cool out there; you’ll like it. But first, let me put this potato salad in the refrigerator.”
Kate and Jason followed him from the living room into a tiny kitchen with white wooden shutters on the inside of the windows and an old-fashioned butter churn in the corner.
“Where’s your microwave?” Jason asked, looking around the room.
“I don’t have one,” Mark answered.
Jason’s eyes grew large. “You don’t have one! Why not?”
Mark shrugged. “Never needed one, I guess,” he answered with a grin, winking at Kate from the corner of one eye.
Without thinking, Kate winked back, then flushed with embarrassment. Mark’s easy-going manner was getting to her.
“Come on,” Mark said, nodding toward the back door. “Let’s go on out to the patio.”
The vine-covered arbor that sheltered the large patio was a perfect sun-block and provided an ideal haven for relaxing or barbecuing on a hot summer day. The sweet, aromatic scent of the junipers and pinion pines beyond the patio teased the air, making it seem cooler somehow.
Kate stood on the back step, her eyes focusing on the handsome, middle-aged couple sitting together on the porch swing, holding hands and smiling up at her. Suddenly, a huge ball of golden fur came bounding onto the patio from the backyard. Barking excitedly, her tail wagging madly, she came to a stop right in front of Jason, who squealed with delight.
“A dog!” he cried, reaching out to pet her. “Look, Mom, a dog!”
Just then, four smaller and much fluffier balls of yellow fur came scampering in behind their mother, tripping over their big paws as they ran. When they, too, skidded to a clumsy halt in front of Jason, it was almost more than the boy could stand. Immediately he was on his knees, picking up the puppies and trying to pet them all at once. Still barking and wagging her tail, the mother dog watched as her babies climbed and clamored over Jason, who by this time was rolling on the ground with them, giggling hysterically as the puppies licked his face and arms.
“That’s Lady,” Mark explained to Kate and Jason, although Jason couldn’t hear him over his own giggles or Lady’s barking. “She’s a golden lab. And these, of course, are her puppies.”
“They’re adorable,” Kate said, smiling as she watched her son, still laughing, trying to disentangle himself from the puppies. As Mark reached over to help him, the middle-aged couple rose from the swing and walked over to them.
“Welcome,” the woman said, holding out her hand. “You must be Kate. I’m Laura Thomas.”
Kate took Laura’s hand, amazed at the softness of the woman’s skin, yet the firmness of her handshake. As she looked into Laura’s dazzling blue eyes, there was no doubt that this lovely woman was Mark’s mother. Remembering that Mark had once told Jason he was thirty, Kate knew his mother must be at least close to fifty. I hope I look half that good at her age, she thought. Slim, graceful, silver hair, but not a wrinkle on her skin. Beautiful.
“And I’m Jake,” the balding man next to her said. His tanned face was lined, his body solid and lean. When he smiled, Kate knew exactly what Mark would look like in twenty-five years. Jake’s hand felt rough and strong. A hard-working man, she decided, but kind and gentle. Just what she would have expected Mark’s father to be.
I’m going to like them, she thought. I really am.
“And I’m Jason,” her son announced, wiping his hands on his pants before shaking hands with Jake and Laura. “I love dogs.”
Everyone laughed. “I noticed that, Partner,” Jake said. “And I think it’s safe to say they like you, too. Say, maybe you can talk Mark into letting you have one of those puppies when they’re ready to leave their mama, which should be soon. Right, Son?”
“Another couple of weeks or so,” Mark answered. “But, of course, you’d have to talk to your mother about that, Jason.”
“Oh, Mom, could I?” Jason’s upturned eyes were huge and pleading. “I’ve always wanted a dog; you know I have. Please, Mom? Please?”
“Oh, well, I...I don’t know,” Kate said. “I’d have to think about it. Dogs can be a lot of trouble, you know, and—”
“I’d take care of it, Mom, I promise. I’d feed it and brush it and walk it and everything. Really, I would.”
Kate was relenting, but unwilling yet to make a commitment. “We’ll see,” she said. “We’ll talk it over when we get home this evening.”
Mark smiled apologetically. “Sorry. We didn’t mean to put you on the spot that way. But I wish you would seriously consider it. Dogs are not only wonderful companions, but they can be a great source of protection, as well.”
The reminder of all the recent, unexplained happenings in her life made Kate shiver. For a few brief moments, she had forgotten them entirely, basking in the warmth and love she felt emanating from this family she hardly knew, and yet, for reasons she couldn’t quite explain, felt completely at home with.
Squaring her shoulders and resolving to put her fears behind her, at least for the day, Kate followed Mark’s parents to the porch swing. As Jake and Laura sat back down on the swing and Mark excused himself to go into the house to get some lemonade, Kate eased herself into an old rocker next to Laura. There, on the wrought iron end table between the swing and the rocker, sat a Bible. Laura’s name was engraved on the bottom right corner, and Kate could tell from looking at the cover that the book was not there for decoration. It had been read—many, many times.
She’s just like her son, Kate thought. I’ll bet Jake’s the same way. Probably their whole family is like this. My mom and dad were, too. Why? What is it that the Thomas family—and my parents and so many of those other people from Mark’s church—see in religion? She shook her head and sighed softly. Whatever it is, it sure never helped me any. All God ever did for me was take away everyone I loved—except Jason, of course.
She glanced lovingly at her son. He was once again engrossed in playing with Lady and her four squirming, yapping puppies. He’s all I’ve got, she reminded herself, fighting a sudden urge to cry. Jason Anthony Ames is all I’ve got in this whole world.
“Kate?”
Kate jumped as Laura laid her hand gentl
y on her arm.
“I’m sorry if I startled you,” Laura said. “You looked as if you were lost in another world.”
Another world, Kate thought. My world. Only a few miles from here, but so very, very different from this warm, loving, secure world inhabited by you and your husband and your son and all the others...the others with their strong faith and their prayers and their Bibles.
“Yes,” she answered, her voice almost a whisper. “I suppose that’s exactly where I was.”