03_A Family To Call Her Own (15 page)

“Do what?” Zach asked innocently.

“Put your arm around my shoulders.”

He shrugged, giving her a bewildered look. “It just seemed like a…friendly…thing to do. After all, we are friends, aren’t we? That’s what you told your father.”

She eyed him suspiciously, suspecting an ulterior motive. But he
looked
sincere. “That’s not the way my dad will interpret it. I told you, he jumps to conclusions.”

“Stop worrying, Rebecca,” Zach chided her gently. “Your father seems like a reasonable man. I’m sure his perceptive powers are right on target.”

That’s what she was afraid of, she thought in dismay, as she turned to fold up the bedspread. She wasn’t exactly sure of Zach’s feelings at this point. But she was very sure of her own. She liked this man. A lot. Despite the disastrous end to their date, she was still attracted to him. And she had a feeling her father knew it, whether Zach did or not.

“Are you sure you don’t mind, Rebecca? I hate to ask, but I’m all thumbs with a needle and thread.”

“No problem, Dad.” Rebecca reached for the suit coat and inspected the spot where the lining had come loose. “This will only take a few minutes.”

“Thanks, honey. Listen, Zach, while Rebecca takes care of that, why don’t I give you a tour of my garden?”

“I’d like that,” Zach replied, depositing his lemonade glass on the wicker table and rising to his feet.

Rebecca glanced up from her seat on the porch swing and gave her father a suspicious look. “There’s not much to see yet, Dad.”

“The perennials are all coming up,” he replied promptly. “And Zach strikes me as a man with imagination. I bet he’ll be able to picture what I describe.”

She watched them walk down the porch steps, conversing companionably, and frowned. She fervently hoped her father was talking about flowers.

“So you’re taking charge of a little girl, I hear,” Henry remarked as he led the way toward the rose garden.

“That’s right.”

“Mighty nice thing to do.”

“Josef, her father, is like a brother to me. Considering the situation over there and the loss of his wife, it’s the least I can do.”

“Pretty bad in some of those places, from what I see on the news.”

“I can’t even imagine living like that,” Zach remarked, shaking his head.

They paused on the edge of the rose garden. “I’ve got thirty-two bushes,” Henry said proudly, nodding toward the bed. “Quite a sight in the summer when they’re in full bloom.”

“Must be impressive,” Zach concurred. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen thirty-two bushes all in one place, except at Shaw’s Garden.”

Henry beamed with pride at the comparison to St. Louis’s well-known botanical garden. “Sam was surprised when I told her how many I had, too,” he recalled with a chuckle. “Sam’s my daughter-in-law. Married to my son, Brad. They just had a little girl.”

“So I hear. Which makes you a proud grandpa now, I guess.”

He nodded vigorously, his eyes sparkling with enthusiasm. “Cutest little thing you ever saw. Big blue eyes and a fuzz of the softest reddish hair. Gonna be a carrottop, like Sam, I suspect.”

“They sound like a nice family.”

“They are,” he confirmed. “Course, I never thought it would happen. Brad was married before, you know. First wife died years ago. A real tragedy,” he reflected, shaking his head. “I didn’t figure he’d remarry. You ever been married, Zach?”

Henry didn’t waste any time, Zach thought in amusement, suppressing a chuckle. “No. Never found the time. Or the right woman.”

“Hmm,” Henry ruminated. “Seems to me like you have to
make
time for some things. Course, you can’t be too careful. You sure don’t want to make a mistake, pick the wrong partner. That’s what I always tell Rebecca. Not that she seems to be looking, anyway. Always been kinda prickly around men.”

“I noticed,” Zach admitted. “I wonder why?”

“Can’t say,” Henry replied, shaking his head. “Always wondered about that myself. She’s a fine woman. Make someone a good wife. But seems like she needs special handling. Sort of like a skittish colt. Gotta approach her gentle-like, let her get comfortable around you. No sudden moves to spook her, you know what I mean?”

Zach stifled a smile, not at all sure Rebecca would appreciate being compared to a horse. But he got the drift of Henry’s comment. And it confirmed the conclusion he’d already come to. “I think you’re right. Reminds me of that old saying—good things come to those who wait.”

Henry turned and looked up at Zach, placing a hand on the younger man’s shoulder as he gazed at him appraisingly. “I know waiting can be hard sometimes,” he acknowledged. “I was young once myself. But some things are worth it.” He dropped his hand and nodded back to the porch. “Looks like Rebecca’s done with that jacket. Let’s head on back.”

As they waved goodbye to Henry a few minutes later and climbed into the van for the trip home, Rebecca turned to Zach curiously. “What did you two talk about, out there in the garden?”

He chuckled. “Let’s just say your dad missed his calling. He’d have made a great investigative reporter.”

Rebecca bit her lip and frowned. That’s what she’d been afraid of.

Chapter Seven

R
ebecca scanned the crowd emerging from the plane’s exit ramp, her heart pounding in her chest, her palms clammy. What on earth had she gotten herself into? she wondered in silent panic. When she’d offered to help Zach with Isabel, her heart had certainly been in the right place. But what did she know about taking care of a child? Especially a child who was not only grieving, but had just been sent to live with strangers in an unfamiliar land! She could be in way over her head here. Suddenly, without even consciously realizing what she was doing, Rebecca reached for Zach’s hand, seeking courage in the strength and comfort of his touch.

He looked down at her in surprise, hesitating for only the briefest second before willingly enfolding her seeking hand in his warm clasp. “This is pretty scary, isn’t it?” he empathized, as if reading her mind.

She looked up at him with a worried frown. “Honestly? Yes.”

He gave her hand an encouraging squeeze. “Well, if it makes you feel any better, I’m just as nervous as you are,” he admitted.

“Zach—I just thought of something!” Rebecca exclaimed in sudden alarm. “Does Isabel speak English?”

He smiled reassuringly. “Yes. That’s one problem we won’t have to deal with. Josef is fluent, and he made sure Isabel was bilingual.”

Relief flooded her eyes. “Thank goodness! I don’t know why I didn’t think about that before!”

“You’ve had a few other things on your mind. Like running a restaurant and decorating a little girl’s room. Quite charmingly, I might add,” he said with a smile.

Rebecca smiled as she thought about the way she’d transformed the bare, sterile bedroom in Zach’s apartment, hanging frilly lace curtains at the window to complement the pale pink eyelet bedspread, decorating the walls with colorful posters from popular animated children’s movies, and attaching fanciful mobiles to the ceiling. She’d even brought along her favorite music box from childhood, a statue of Cinderella that played “Someday My Prince Will Come,” to decorate the top of the dresser. “I just hope she likes it.”

“I can’t imagine any little girl who wouldn’t.”

As the last of the passengers disembarked, a stewardess appeared in the doorway holding the hand of a petite dark-haired child who was clutching a very raggedy Raggedy Ann doll. Zach drew a deep breath and gave Rebecca’s hand another encouraging squeeze. “We’re on,” he said.

In the brief seconds it took to reach the pair, Rebecca studied Isabel. She wore a pink sweater and a pink and beige striped skirt, and her white ankle socks were edged with lace. Rebecca had a feeling that Josef had dressed his daughter in her “Sunday best” for the trip. Her hair was parted in the middle, pulled up and back on each side, and secured with a pink ribbon that had probably started out crisp but now lay limp and bedraggled. She was smaller than Rebecca expected, pale and thin and delicately boned, and she looked bleary-eyed from fatigue, which wasn’t surprising, given the length of her trip and the emotional trauma she had endured.

Isabel watched them approach with large, solemn eyes, looking very much like a little girl who was frightened but trying mightily to be brave, and Rebecca’s heart ached for her. As soon as she reached her side, Rebecca dropped to one knee while Zach talked with the stewardess.

“Hello, Isabel,” she said softly, giving the waiflike little girl a warm smile. “I’m Rebecca. Zach and I are so glad you came to visit us. Is this Raggedy Ann?” She reached over and touched the obviously much-loved doll.

Isabel nodded. “She’s tired now.”

“I’m sure she is,” Rebecca sympathized with a nod. “It was a long trip, wasn’t it?”

“Yes. My papa’s far away now, isn’t he?” A tremor ran through her voice and her eyes filled with tears.

Rebecca’s throat contracted, and she reached over to gently smooth some wayward strands of hair back from the wan little face. “Not if you keep him in your heart,” she replied gently.

“That’s what he said about my mama, too.”

Rebecca swallowed with difficulty. “He’s right. The people we love are always with us in our hearts.”

Zach knelt down beside Rebecca then, and he smiled at Isabel. “I guess you don’t remember me, do you, Isabel?”

Silently she shook her head. “I was just a baby when I saw you the last time,” she pointed out matter-of-factly. “But my papa told me all about you. He and my mama talked about you a lot. And I liked the presents you sent me for my birthdays.”

“Well, it seems you like that one especially,” he noted, reaching out to touch the Raggedy Ann doll he’d sent her two years ago.

She nodded. “I do.” She tilted her head and looked at him quizzically. “Are you really my uncle?” she asked suddenly.

“Is that what your papa told you?”

She frowned. “He tried to explain it to me. He said you were his friend, but really more like a brother, so that made you my uncle.”

Zach cleared his throat, and when he spoke there was an odd catch in his voice. “That’s right.”

“So should I call you Uncle Zach?”

“That would be fine.”

Isabel turned to Rebecca with a puzzled frown. “But you’re not my aunt, are you?”

“No. I’d like to be your friend, though.”

“Can I call you Rebecca, then?”

“I think that would be just right.”

“Well, why don’t we collect your luggage, and then we can all go home?” Zach suggested, standing up.

Rebecca rose, as well, then reached down and took Isabel’s hand, giving it a reassuring squeeze. “That’s a good idea. Raggedy Ann is tired,” she told Zach with a wink. “It’s past her bedtime.”

By the time they collected Isabel’s two suitcases, made their way to the car and buckled the little girl into the back seat, she was fading fast. Her eyes kept drifting shut, though she was trying hard to stay awake.

As Zach slid behind the wheel he glanced back at his new charge. “Are you hungry, Isabel?” he asked.

“No.”

He looked at Rebecca, raising an eyebrow quizzically.

“How about a hamburger?” Rebecca suggested, with sudden inspiration.

“A hamburger?” Isabel echoed, her interest piqued. “My papa told me about American hamburgers. He said they were good.”

“Well, why don’t we let you decide for yourself?” Zach replied.

Fifteen minutes later, as Isabel polished off the hamburger and fries from the drive-through fast-food restaurant, Zach grinned at Rebecca. “Good idea,” he complimented her in a low voice.

“Sheer luck,” she said with a small smile. “I figured she needed to eat. But actually—” she glanced toward the back seat, in time to catch Isabel yawning hugely “—I think she’s more exhausted than anything else. Talk about a day of emotional overload! She just needs to go to bed.”

“I appreciate your offer to keep her overnight tonight,” Zach said. “I wish I had one more day before school started, but that’s just not how things worked out.”

“I don’t mind,” Rebecca assured him. “I’m off, and it will give us a chance to become acquainted. I’ll get her unpacked and settled in at your place, too, if you like.”

He sent her a grateful look. “That would be great! I’ll give you my spare key before I leave tonight.”

Rebecca glanced out the window, trying to work up the courage to ask her next question. She’d been thinking about it ever since they decided she would keep Isabel the first night. “Um, Zach, I was wondering…since you’ll probably be tired after your first day at school, and not in the mood to cook…well, Isabel does need to have balanced meals, you know, so I…I wondered if you might want to come over for dinner tomorrow night.”

He turned to look at her, but she kept her face averted and he couldn’t discern her expression in the darkness. To say he was surprised at the invitation was an understatement. But he was also immensely pleased—and touched. “That would be wonderful, Rebecca,” he replied, his voice tinged with that husky timbre she found so appealing. “But I feel like I’ve imposed too much already. Besides, the last thing you need to do on your day off is cook.”

“I don’t mind, really,” she assured him quickly. “And it would probably be good for Isabel to sit down to a nice meal with us her first night in town. It would make her feel more at home and welcome than if you two just grab a bite on the run.”

Was concern for Isabel Rebecca’s only motivation for the invitation? Zach suddenly wondered with a frown. He tried to read her expression, but again the darkness was her ally. Whatever her motivation, however, she’d made the offer, and he wasn’t about to look a gift horse in the mouth. “Well, if you’re sure you don’t mind.”

“Not at all.”

“Okay. And thank you. For everything.”

Rebecca felt a tingle run down her spine at the intimate tone in his voice. If he was willing to come for dinner, he must not be holding her bizarre behavior the night of their date against her, she thought in relief, saying a silent prayer of thanks. And a “family” type dinner would be good for Isabel. But Rebecca was honest enough to admit that her motives weren’t entirely altruistic. Deep in her heart she thought the dinner would be good for her, too. It would give her a chance to be with Zach in a safe, comfortable environment, with Isabel acting almost like a chaperone. And maybe, if she got accustomed to being with him in that kind of setting, without all the pressures incumbent on “dating,” she might eventually feel comfortable enough to give a romantic relationship one more try.