Raspberries and Vinegar (A Farm Fresh Romance Book 1) (24 page)

Her neighbor settled into the wicker rocker. “It’s coming along. Feels good to get my hands in the dirt again.” She grinned. “Or at least my gloves. Your garden is doing well, too.”

She was simply being kind. The girls had been too busy on the house-building site to do more than plant a few seeds yet. Jo had tried to keep up with the weeding, but not all the weeds could be managed with one hand. “You mean for someone who doesn’t know what they’re doing?”

They laughed together. “Something like that.” They sat in companionable silence for a few minutes then Rosemary set her glass down. “Was there something on your mind, Jo?”

Besides Zach? At least she’d timed her visit for when she knew he’d be at work. Once he left the farm at seven, he rarely returned before five. “I’m just a little bored these days.” She waved her hand toward the garden. “I should have remembered you’d be too busy this time of year.”

Rosemary leaned forward. “I have an idea. Why don’t you ride with me to the city tomorrow? You must be due for an excursion. I need to stop by the fabric store and pick up supplies for my next projects. You could help me select some. Maybe once you’re out of the cast, you’d like to try your hand at it, too.”

Jo shook her head. “I don’t think I’d have the patience to quilt.” But a trip to the city? Normally that wouldn’t be much of a draw, but... “ I should probably stay home and help out where I can, anyway.”

Her neighbor grinned. “You just finished telling me there wasn’t anything you could do. Come on, you don’t have to rationalize everything. Everyone deserves a day off now and then. It’s okay to have a little fun.”

“Well, I, uh...”

“It’s not like we’re making an extra trip. I need to pick up Steve.”

Rosemary must have heard about the Green Acres’ energy conservation mandate. Her face turned pensive, and Jo tried to imagine one’s long time spouse being so changed by an illness. “Are you sure I won’t be intruding on your reunion?”

“No, it’s fine. We’ll have lots of time.” Her voice caught. “A few weeks ago I thought we might be out, but God gave us a reprieve. I’m thankful for every minute we have together now.” She looked Jo square in the face. “It’s hard seeing him weak as a newborn kitten.”

***

An attendant steered Steve’s wheelchair across the hospital parking lot, while Rosemary walked alongside. Jo jumped out of the car to help out.

“Steve, I’d like you to meet Josephine. Jo, this is my husband, Steve.”

“Josephine! Good to finally meet you.” Steve clasped Jo’s hand.

No doubt he’d once had a firm grip. Exhaustion wreathed his face,
yet he hadn’t been out of
the
hospital for more than five minutes.

“Likewise. I’ve heard so much about you.”

“All of it good, I hope.” Steve struggled out of his wheelchair and into the car’s front passenger seat with the help of the aide.

Jo exchanged a glance with Rosemary. Her smile looked as feeble as her husband’s handshake. Jo clambered into the back seat then patted Steve’s shoulder. “Of course. You must be glad to be heading home.”

“It’ll be good to get back to the farm.” He leaned against the headrest as Rosemary thanked the attendant and rounded the car. “So good,” he added in little more than a whisper.

“There’s no place like it, that’s for sure. Galena Landing is a world removed from Kootenai Health Unit. Or Wynnton Hospital, for that matter.”

Rosemary returned, started the car and pulled out to navigate the immense parking lot.

Steve twisted toward Jo. “I see you hurt yourself some. Rumor has it you fell out of Zachary’s old tree house?”

Heat flushed Jo’s face. “Yeah. It was raining and I wasn’t being careful. I slipped on the deck and crashed into the railing, which broke. Over I went.”

“I should get Zachary to take that tree house down.”

“Oh, that’s not necessary.” She may have answered a bit too hurriedly. “Once I’m out of the cast and have some time, I’ll climb up to repair it. I kind of like having it there.”

“Your call. It’s your property now, after all.” His eyelids drooped from the effort of being upright.

Rosemary glanced at Jo in the rearview mirror. All Jo could see were her mischievous eyes. “Perhaps now would be a good time to ask what you think of our son, Jo.”

Steve’s eyes sprang open as he straightened. “What’s this?”

Jo fought to keep her voice casual and even. “Oh, nothing to get excited about. Zach’s a nice enough guy, but we don’t really have much in common.”

Steve’s shoulders sagged. “He still wants to be a city boy, does he?”

“As far as I know.”

“He might be weakening,” Rosemary volunteered.

Jo met her eyes in the mirror, unable to squelch the leap of her heart. “Of course there’s more to it than that.” Lots more.

Zach’s parents exchanged a look Jo couldn’t read. Their silent communication spoke of years of practice and reminded Jo of her grandparents. Mom and Brad, on the other hand, spelled everything out. Usually at volume.

“Like what?” asked Steve.

“He doesn’t share my environmental values. I’m sure Sierra explained our plans for the farm when you all drew up the papers.”
 

Steve nodded.
 

“And besides, if I ever get married, the guy needs to be passionate about Jesus.”

Rosemary stopped the car at a red light. “Oh, you’ll get married. I wouldn’t worry about that too much if I were you.”

“I’m not
worried
, precisely.” Liar. She’d only been kissed once in her life. Zach Nemesek. And she’d slapped him for it and pushed him away every other time he got too close. But what else could she do? The reasons she’d just cited were true. Valid. Not something she was willing to back down on.

Even if it meant Zach walking out of her life forever? Her heart clenched. A man who truly loved her wouldn’t ask her to give up the things she valued most. He’d share those passions. A niggling at the back of her mind wondered what compromise
she
was willing to give, but she shoved it back. What she was doing was right, no doubt about it.

“I’ve been praying much for Zachary,” Steve said at last. “I know God is working in his heart. We need to remember that God’s plans for Zach might not be the same as what we want.”

Jo didn’t want to think about that.

Rosemary shot a look at Steve. “Meaning what?”

Steve leaned back into the seat and closed his eyes. “Meaning that the Lord may have a purpose for him in Coeur d’Alene. Or maybe some other city.”

“Oh, I don’t think so.” Rosemary shook her head vehemently.

Jo hoped Rosemary was keeping a close eye on traffic.

“We don’t know everything,” Steve murmured. “The farm isn’t that important in the long run. Being right with God is all that really matters.”

Now there was a concept Jo hadn’t considered in a long time. How could the farm not be essential? That’s what God had called her to do. Didn’t he expect her to do everything within her power to make it a success?

A tiny thought pestered at the back of her mind. Maybe He expected her to do everything within
His
power, not hers. Maybe she wasn’t as important as she’d like to think.

Chapter 24

Why, oh why was he here? Zach pulled into the opposite end of the parking lot from Yvette’s red Corvette. He wrapped his arms around the steering wheel and rested his forehead on them.

“God.” He’d been out of the habit of talking to his Heavenly Father for a few years. Somehow, the last forty-eight hours had catapulted praying to the top of his to-do list. Little else had been on his lips the whole drive from Galena Landing. A few curses had tried to bubble up, but Zach’s upbringing had kicked in. He’d always believed in God. Never stopped, though he’d been doing his best to ignore that still small voice. “God, help me.”

Something tapped on his window.

He ended his prayer with
please
and looked up.

Yvette retracted her cherry red fingernails from the glass and tilted her head expectantly.

With a sigh he opened the car door and slid out.
 

She wrapped her arms around him, and he stiffened until she released him. “You said you loved me.” Her full lips pulled into a pout.

He’d been stupid. “I once thought so.” He shoved his hands deep into his jeans pockets and leaned back against the car door.

Yvette’s mascara-laden eyes narrowed. “Well, it doesn’t matter. Love is overrated, don’t you think?”

No way would Josephine Shaw think such a thing, let alone say it. And then there was his mom, so excited to be bringing Dad home today. Was their love all a hype? Not a chance. He wanted what they had, somebody to grow comfortably old with. Not that his folks were old. At least they hadn’t seemed so before Dad’s illness.

Yvette sighed. “Your mind is obviously elsewhere.”

“What do you want from me?”

Her eyes widened. How had he once thought that seductive? “I didn’t think it was fair to you that everyone but you knew you were going to be a father.”

Please, God.
“You know, there’s no way you can prove that. How
can you, when it’s clearly untrue?” He kept his gaze on her face, away from her low-cut neckline and the belly that might — or might not — be swelling. “In fact, a paternity test would back me up and you know it.”

“I could get Dad to reconsider the job situation.”

Zach held his gaze steady and crossed his arms. “And toss Draper out like last week’s trash? Not interested.” And it was true, to his amazement. She was a viper and the farther away he stayed from this day on, the better off he’d be. “I’m settling in Galena Landing.” The words hanging in the air shocked him, but he didn’t retract them. She didn’t need to know he wasn’t sure.

Yvette shifted from one foot to the other. “You’ve changed.”

He nodded curtly. “Just in time, by the sounds of things. So what do you really want? Why are you trying to lure me back? Tired of Draper already? Maybe this is his kid.”

She narrowed her gaze. “It’s not.”

Zach shrugged. “Well, it’s not mine, either. If you’ve been sleeping around and gotten yourself knocked up, that would be your problem, not mine.” He levered his body off the side of the car and reached for the handle. “Anything else?”

“I can’t believe you’re treating me this way.” Somehow she managed to squeeze out a couple of tears.

Oh man. He hated when women wept. “Yvette, you made your choices. All I can say is I’m grateful you turned me down. You have no idea how much.”

She reached for him, but he grabbed her wrists and held her at a distance. “No. I’m not falling for your story. I have no idea if you’re pregnant or not, but I do know I’m not responsible. Whatever your game is, I’m not playing it. Go back to Coeur d’Alene, go back to the mess you’ve made, and deal with it.”

“I thought you were a man of character.”

And what a character he’d been. “Meaning?”

“I can’t raise a child on my own, Zach. I dropped out of college to work for Dad, and he won’t be impressed. If you don’t come back, I’m going to have to abort. There’s nothing else I can do.”

This wasn’t his child. Not his responsibility. And besides, she was likely bluffing. “I’m sorry you’ve made bad choices, but they’re all yours. Find the baby’s real dad — if you even know who he is — and get help from there. I’m not getting sucked back in.”

Yvette twisted out of his grip and clutched his arms. “It’s on your head, then.”

He pushed her away, but she dodged in. He averted his face before her lips could meet his then wrenched out of her embrace. “No, Yvette. It’s on yours.” The problem being, she was now the one leaning against his car door, making it difficult for him to drive away. “There’s only one other thing you can do.”

She tilted her head and raised her eyebrows.

“Go to church.” He and Gabe used to attend together before Gabe returned to the valley and Zach had transferred to the veterinary college in Pullman. “Pray and ask God’s forgiveness.”

Yvette spat at his shoes. “Now you’ve gone all religious on me.”

Zach shook his head. “I’ve never not been. I just lost sight of it for a while. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have chores to do back home.”

She didn’t move. “Farm boy.”

And she’d thought to win him over? He pressed his key fob and the car door locked, beeping.

Yvette jumped a little and glared at him.

“I’m going for a walk along the river for a few minutes. When I return, you’d better be on your way back to the city. I’m done with you. Forever.”

“Just try and get a job anywhere in North Idaho or Washington. I’ll see to it no one will hire you.”

She’d already done her worst and Albert Warren had been interested anyway. Zach shrugged. “So be it. The world is bigger than your sphere of influence.” He strode away from his car hoping Yvette wouldn’t key it or something in her anger. But she couldn’t be reasoned with. The thought of all the veterinary clinics in the Pacific Northwest being closed to him didn’t bother him as much as it once had. It was all up to God. It always had been.

***

R
osemary turned a worship CD on low when Steve dozed off in the front passenger seat. Jo stared out the window, watching the landscape whiz by. Commercial orchards and vineyards lined the rolling hills as they crisscrossed the Galena River. Fruit trees stood festooned with frothy blossoms, like brides awaiting their weddings.
Jo tried to snap her brain out of that track, but the beauty mesmerized her.
Thank You, Lord. I live in the most beautiful place on earth
.

They drove through Wynnton, stopping at every traffic light. Steve awoke, grimacing.

Rosemary glanced over and turned down the CD player. “You okay?”

“I need a pit stop.”

Jo met Rosemary’s gaze in the mirror and nodded. “I could use a stretch, too.”

“There’s the park here on the outskirts of town. Easy access to the washrooms.” Rosemary slowed the car and flipped on her signal light.