A Younger Man (Mount Faith Series: Book 7) (3 page)

Bancroft slumped his shoulders and sighed so loudly that the papers rustled. "She could be your mother, Vanley. Let this Anita fascination go."

Vanley shook his head. "My mother? That's a stretch."

"No, it's not." Bancroft straightened up and looked at his nephew assessingly. "Your own mother is just five years Anita's senior. Do you realize that Anita is closer to my age?"

Vanley pushed his hand in his pocket. "I have often wondered about that. You two are quite close. Did you two have an affair or something?"

Bancroft leaned his head to one side. "Why? Would that turn you off from her?"

Vanley shrugged. "Anita keeps saying she is not suitable for me, and it's not because of her age. I don't expect her to be pure as the driven snow. After all, she's forty; she must have lived a little."

He sighed, "I'd be disappointed if you were cheating on Aunt Celeste, but I doubt I would stop loving Anita because of that."

"Not even an affair with your own uncle would put you off this woman?" Bancroft threw his hand up in the air.

He walked to the bank of windows and looked out at the school grounds. Students were scurrying to and from classes, most of them shivering in their sweaters. It was the coldest January they had had yet, but then again he tended to think so every year.

He cleared his throat and looked back at Vanley. "No, I am not having an affair with Anita. The thought has never crossed my mind... and stayed," he added wryly, "to cheat on your Aunt Celeste with anyone."

"Good to hear." Vanley grinned. "So what is Anita's big secret? I know you know."

Bancroft coughed uncomfortably. "Vanley, if Anita has something to tell you, she will tell you herself."

"Knock, knock." It was the secretary from Anita's office. She had a document in her hand.

"Oh, sorry, Dr. Bancroft didn't know you have company. Your secretary said I should come straight in." She looked at him and then at Vanley and gave him a shy smile. "I have a document for you to sign Sir."

She looked at Vanley again with a healthy dose of hero worship.

Bancroft caught all of this as he took the document and signed with a flourish.

"What's your name, dear?" he asked kindly.

"Davia," The girl said sweetly. "Davia Binns. Pastor Vanley is my pastor."

Bancroft smiled and nodded. "Thank you, Davia." He watched as she walked through the door and peeked at Vanley again.

"That's the kind of girl, you should be pursuing," Bancroft said to Vanley when the door closed.

Vanley shook his head. "No."

"Yes," his uncle said thoughtfully. "Davia Binns: nice girl, nice face, young, and friendly. I bet she's hardly a day over twenty. No baggage and secrets."

"Nice child bearing hips." Vanley sighed exasperatedly. "You are not going to play matchmaker for me Uncle. I know who I want, and I intend to be with her."

Bancroft sat in one of the chairs around the conference table and tapped the table. "I can't tell you Anita's secrets, but they are pretty bad—terrible enough, Vanley, that a man in your position, would surely find it hard to get past them."

Vanley sat in front of him. "Did she kill someone?"

Bancroft raised his eyebrows.

"Are you serious?" Vanley sighed. "So why isn't she in jail or something?"

Bancroft cleared his throat. "I can't say."

Vanley exhaled tremulously. "You are putting me on. You wouldn't have a known killer as your VP of Academic Affairs."

Bancroft shrugged. "I am not putting you on. Just leave her alone."

Vanley shook his head.

"So have you prayed about it?" Bancroft asked gently. "You are always praying about everything. What did God say about this Anita case?"

"He didn't say anything," Vanley said. "Five years ago I prayed and asked the Lord that if she was the one, to make it so that she'd still be single when I have my own church and was ready to get married."

"Five years ago?" Bancroft closed his eyes. He was struggling not to give away Anita's secrets but his nephew's naivety was making it hard. "Look Vanley..."

Vanley leaned back in the black leather chair. His face spoke of his disinterest.

"Okay, okay... I know I sound like a broken record," Bancroft said, "I'll tell you one of Anita's secrets, the big one, if you promise me something."

"What?" Vanley asked, raising his eyebrows in a way that was reminiscent of his father.

It toughened Bancroft's resolve to further protect him from his youthful stupidity whatever the cost. Oliver had been just as young and naive. His older-brother-protectiveness was still present in him for his brother's children.

"Date that girl Davia for three months."

Vanley laughed. "Uncle Ryan, this is ridiculous. Suppose she has a boyfriend or doesn't want to date me?"

Bancroft looked at Vanley with disbelief. "Are you blind, Vanley? That girl was a simpering mess when she came in here a few minutes ago. She likes you."

Vanley shrugged. "It would be cruel to date her; she goes to my church. I don't even like her, and Anita would probably be upset if she hears or sees me going out with her secretary."

"Anita would not be upset," Bancroft said. "I can tell you that right now."

"Anita has feelings for me," Vanley said. "She is just suppressing them. God knows why." He threw his hands up in the air, looking defeated.

Bancroft looked at his nephew and said softly,  "I know why. I will tell you one of Anita's secrets if you date Davia. I promise, and before you scoff at my offer, let me assure you, it is a big secret."

Vanley chewed the thought over in his mind. His curiosity about what was holding back Anita from him could finally be satisfied. He had wanted that for years, and he had long realized that asking Anita was not going to get him anywhere because she wasn't talking.

"Okay." He nodded. "I'll date Davia, starting today. I need to hear this secret the second week in April."

Bancroft nodded. "Good, I'll tell you then. All the best with Davia, and don't juist go through the motions; genuinely try to get to know her, okay."

Vanley shook his head. "Okay. I will. Talk about duress."

Chapter Two

Davia Binns. Vanley played the name over in his mind. He was at Sunday night service, and as usual, the church was nearly empty except for a faithful few, maybe ten or so. One of the faithful few was Davia Binns. She was sitting in the front row in an orange maxi dress and a bulky sweater of a darker color thrown over it. He realized that she was always wearing bulky clothes: Davia Binns, the girl with the bulky clothes and crazy hair.

She had smiled with him throughout the service and at one moment, with the promise to his uncle ringing in his ears, he had smiled back at her. He had already given the exhortation on Christian stewardship and the group had held hands and prayed to close the service.

He waited for Brother Nylan, the elderly church caretaker, to finish closing up the church. When they turned off the lights, and he and Brother Nylan went outside, Vanley saw that Davia waiting for him.

She smiled, "I was waiting for you."

Vanley nodded. She was wrapping her hands around herself, and he saw that her teeth were chattering. "You want a lift home?"

"Yes," Davia said excitedly, like he had just offered her some great gift.

Brother Nylan shook his gray head at Davia and laughed softly.

"You want a lift too Brother Nylan?" Vanley asked politely.

"No," Brother Nylan said, brushing him off good-naturedly. "These old bones know these hills like the back of my hand, dark or not."

"Okay, see you on Wednesday night," he said to brother Nylan as he jammed his flat cap on his head and headed up the street.

Vanley turned to Davia. "It's admirable that you came to Sunday night meeting in this weather. Most young people are not really interested in the night meetings."

Davia giggled nervously. "Normally I wouldn't come, but I heard you were going to be here."

Vanley grinned and decided not to say anything. She was making his uncle's request that he date her for three months quite easy.

"So where do you live?"

Davia bit her lip sheepishly. "I live just five minutes from here. I could have walked with Brother Nylan, but I just wanted to talk to you to get to know you better."

She fiddled with her Bible.

Vanley looked at his watch. It was just ten minutes after eight. "Want me to walk you home instead of drive?"

Davia nodded vigorously, her curls shaking with the vigor with which she nodded. "That would be nice."

"Okay, let's go," Vanley said to her softly.

They headed up the hill that was adjacent to the church. The church was in a little valley but, it had a view of other hills. The area was mostly undulating hills and greenery; at certain points, there were breathtaking views of the Santa Cruz Plains below.

Bramble was a small farming village. The houses were far apart and separated by small cash crop gardens.

He could smell the scent of spices. Most of the farmers had planted ginger for the Christmas season and it seemed as if there was an influx in the market because some persons still had an excess of ginger drying in their farms. He could smell it as they slowly past the fields adjacent to the hill. He could also smell the heady scent of pimento; it wafted on the cool night air as their shoes made little crunching sounds on the pebbly road.

The sky was clear. He looked up to see that it was awash with stars. They appeared to be winking at him.

He said to Davia, "You know, it's only in places like these without the city lights and the fast paced life that you can really appreciate the stars."

She looked up at the stars and laughed. "I grew up here. I barely give it a thought these days. I guess when you grow up in a place you really don't appreciate what you have."

Vanley looked at her gleaming white teeth in the semi-dark. She had one of those infectious laughs. She seemed like a simple uncomplicated person. No drama. No secrets, at least none that he had to wait five years to hear. He wished Anita could be like that. He wished he were walking with Anita now. Then he stopped his disloyal thoughts in their tracks. No good ever came from wishing anything about Anita, it hadn't done him one lick of good in the past and probably wouldn't make a difference now.

He looked up at the stars again. He had not thought about Anita all evening, which was a record. He concentrated on the person he was with now and watched as her breath made little smoke circles in the frigid night air.

"I grew up in the city of Charleston in West Virginia."

"I detect a slight accent," Davia said. "Didn't you see many stars in West Virginia?"

Vanley chuckled. "Not really. My family lived in an apartment…second floor. We didn't do much camping either. Nature and all of those dirty things wasn't a real priority for my mother. My Mom is afraid of dirt."

"What about your Dad?" Davia asked curiously.

"My Dad died when I was thirteen," Vanley said. "He wasn't interested in nature either."

"But now you have it in spades," Davia said. "This is as rural as Jamaica gets. If it weren't for the university and a few other schools up here in the hills, we'd probably be forgotten."

"I know," Vanley said. "I am sort of dreading being transferred when my four years here is up. In rare cases do pastors spend eight years with the same congregation."

Davia swallowed convulsively. She didn't want him to talk of leaving. "Where would they send you?"

"I have no idea," Vanley said, "but you have four years of me, if you don't move away."

Davia shook her head. "I have no plans to go anywhere. I have no plans to leave now even though all my friends left as soon as they finished school. I like my job at Mount Faith. I had no idea I would get such a good job when I finished college."

"How do you like your new boss?" Vanley asked her, tensing up to hear about Anita. He wanted to hear what sort of boss she was. You could tell a lot about a person when they were in charge. Maybe she was mean and uncaring; that would certainly put a crack in his obsession with her.

"Miss Parkinson is great," Davia said enthusiastically. "Sometimes she is grumpy, but since I started working with her I've learned what makes her grumpy: Joe Masters from the education department, and the other older male deans who probably think that she has a man's job. They resent reporting to her."

Vanley chuckled. Anita was not a bad boss; his obsession was still in tact. "That attitude is so old fashioned of them."

"Yes it is," Davia said. "They drew near a well-lit house in one of those older Victorian designs that was made out of wood and concrete. The front porch had wood latticework in a white trim. It looked like a well-preserved cottage. Vanley wished he had his camera to take a night shot to capture the beautiful effect of the light's battle to penetrate the fog and darkness. It gave him a nostalgic feeling. It was like the old house was saying welcome home.