In God's Own Time

“May I pop in for just a minute?” Sandy Yoder called through the screen. “I’m not here to stay.”

“Sounds like you’re really busy,” Kelsey said, turning her attention. “Tell old Jack and all hello, and my best to your mother. I’ll, uh…I’ll see you tomorrow, Meg. Bye.”

“Yeah, Kels.” She hung up the phone feeling like Kelsey hadn’t given her the real reason for his call.

The plump woman set a huge cherry pie on the kitchen table. “I just knew you’d have need of a little extra something with Jack and the children in the house for a few days.”

“That’s really nice of you, Mrs. Yoder.” Meg picked up the big ivy leaf platter and dished up the pot roast, her mind only half engaged in what she was doing. What had Kelsey really wanted? “Shall we set a plate for you at the dinner table?”

“Oh, no, dear. I’ve had my supper. Don’t like to eat so late, y’know, and I’m on my way to meet with the church building committee.”

“Why don’t you go on in and say hello to Mom, then,” Meg suggested. The next few minutes bustled by as she made gravy from the pan drippings while Kathy finished getting the other food on the table.

“Well, I’ve got to go,” her mother’s friend said, walking back through the kitchen a few minutes later as Meg filled the iced tea glasses. “The committee is meeting at seven-thirty. Was that Kelsey on the phone a moment ago?”

“Mmm…” Meg answered, concentrating.

“Poor man. He hasn’t been the same since Dee Dee died, y’know,” Mrs. Yoder continued, shaking her head. “Too bad he hasn’t any folks to help with that brood he’s got. They need a mother.”

“I suppose so,” Meg answered automatically.

“He should get on with marrying Linda Burroughs and be done with it. Linda’s good at managing a household, y’know, and she’d put some discipline back into those children.”

Kathy made a quick pass through the kitchen, picked up the bowl of corn and basket of bread rolls, slanted Meg a speaking glance and headed once more for the dining room.

“Oh?” Meg murmured. “I didn’t think they were so badly behaved. Just kids.”

“And Linda’s girl—can’t think of the child’s name—but she’s Lissa’s age. They make a matched pair, I’m thinking.”

Meg had forgotten that Linda had a girl Lissa’s age, and she wondered why Lissa hadn’t bothered to mention it on Sunday. If she and the girl were friends, wouldn’t she have said so? But Lissa hadn’t appeared at all eager to go to the Burroughs’s house, Meg thought.

“I hear you’re taking Lissa and Aimee for a day out tomorrow.”

“Yes, I am.” Now how did Sandy Yoder hear that? From her mother, no doubt.

“That’s very sweet of you, Meg. I’m sure Kelsey will appreciate it as much as the girls. But do you…well, do you honestly think it the best thing? You came home to take care of your mother, after all, and you’ve been home only a week.”

Meg almost laughed aloud at both the sweet patronizing and the gentle reproof. Her mother’s friend meant well, but she still thought of Meg as a youngster who needed a guiding hand. Meg guessed that in the face of her mother’s illness, Sandy Yoder thought she should be the one to offer it.

“Thanks for worrying about Mom, Mrs. Yoder.” She went back to stir the bubbling gravy, then turned off the stove. “But Kathy and Jack are staying till Saturday. Mom won’t miss me tomorrow.”

“Well, if you really think so, I suppose. But Meg, dear, don’t let yourself get too, y’know…involved with Kelsey Jamison. He…well, he’s the kind of man who’s totally self-involved, if you know what I mean. And that farm of his needs so much—”

“Mrs. Yoder…” Meg drew a long breath to keep her temper from rising like the simmering gravy. Her thought of Sandy Yoder being sweet in giving her unsolicited advice just burned to a crisp. The woman wasn’t sweet at all, Meg decided—she was just an old-fashioned busybody.

“Sis, we’re ready.” Jack stuck his head around the old-fashioned swinging kitchen door and threw an unrepentant, pointed grin toward Mrs. Yoder. “Are you?”

“Yes. Yes. Everything’s done in here,” Meg answered in gratitude; another moment and she’d have been very rude indeed. Everyone accepted Jack’s occasional mild rudeness with a shrug, but if she’d cut the woman short, her mother never would’ve heard the end of it, and then Meg in turn would’ve had to hear about it for days.

“Oh, dear. Well, you run along. I’ll pop in again in a few days.”

“Sure, Mrs. Yoder. See you then.” Meg decided she would be very busy the next time her mother’s friend called in to say hello. It would be the truth, anyway. On Monday she had to make contact with her office in London; she’d left two clients in the air about investments She just hoped Clive had been watching their accounts. And she’d postponed a decision on recommending a resort compound for the Neels, her firm’s oldest client. Also, she’d turned over to Clive a new client, an important European hotel chain that sought investors. Another wanted her services in expanding their holdings, wanting to include a strategic piece of real estate in Hawaii.

At eight-thirty Meg tucked her tired mother into bed, and Jack and Kathy did the same for their children before sneaking off to the front porch swing. By nine-thirty Meg looked at her watch and wondered what to do with herself for the next hour. She was restless. The house was quiet.

She might as well pull out some work; she hadn’t touched her briefcase since arriving home. At the very least she could review that real estate proposal and the report on the financial stability of the firm making the offer.

Instead, she walked into the kitchen and dialed Kelsey.

It rang five times. Six. He wasn’t there, and neither were the children. Seven. No answering machine, even. She chewed her lip with unreasonable disappointment.

But she shouldn’t feel so, she chastised herself. Kelsey was a busy man. He had a life of his own, and his children—

“Hello.”

The receiver was an inch from the disconnect button when she heard his voice. She yanked it back to her ear.

“Kelsey?”

“Yeah?” He sounded preoccupied. Almost short-tempered. Maybe she shouldn’t have called.

“It’s Meg.”

“Meg?” A curious relief entered his tone. “Oh, hello.”

She relaxed “I called because…” Why had she? She couldn’t very well say she’d phoned simply because she wanted to hear his voice. “I’m sorry, Kels, about earlier. About rushing you off the phone.”

“That’s okay, Meg. I understand. Sometimes things are in total chaos here, too. I should’ve picked a better time to call than suppertime, myself.”

“No, you’re welcome to call anytime.” In the background she heard laughter and what sounded like a bleat. “Now it sounds as if you’re the one who’s busy.”

“Not really. We’re out in the barn. Thad and Phillip have a young Hereford bull they’ve been raising for two-year-old class in 4-H this year. Fair’s coming up, and they’re counting their chances at winning the Grand Champion.”

“Oh. Do they really have one?”

“Mmm. They might.”

“Well, I wish them luck. Did the girls raise anything?”

“Lissa didn’t seem to want to do it this year. Aimee has a lamb she’s babying, but I don’t think she’s put her best into the effort. Too impatient, I guess.” His voice suddenly grew quiet.

Too impatient. Like Dee Dee. Quick, vivacious, passionate-about-life Dee Dee.

Nostalgia waved over Meg, and she wondered if Kelsey’s thoughts centered on remembering, too.

It was almost her undoing.

“I guess I’ll see you in the morning.”

“Yeah. I was about to shoo the kids to bed.”

“No, Daddy,” she heard Heather in the background. “I don’t wanna.”

“Lissa,” she heard Kelsey order in a muffled aside. Lissa answered, but Meg couldn’t hear what was said.

“I’m keeping you,” she said apologetically.

“No, it’s okay. I shouldn’t have let them stay out this late, anyway, since tomorrow’s a big day for ‘em. Lissa can get Heather to bed, and the rest of the kids are on their own.”

Meg frowned. It seemed to her that Lissa was doing a lot of mothering. Did Kelsey depend on her too much? Who did Lissa have to turn to?

“Kelsey, was there something else you wanted when you called earlier? I had the feeling you were about to ask me something when we had to end our conversation.”

“Um, as a matter of fact, I wanted to ask a favor.”

“Ask,” she prompted, when she heard the hesitation in his voice. “I can only bite your head off through the phone lines if I don’t like it. Tearing you limb from limb would have to wait for personal contact. And then again, I might just say yes.”

His rich, deep chuckle shot through her like a sugar high. Oh, how she’d missed hearing it. She craved more.

“You’ve taken to biting off heads while out in the big bad world, have you Meg? Like the Queen of Hearts?”

His amusement delighted her. “That’s it. Cross me, buddy, and I’ll send out my black knights. Now what’s the favor?”

She heard his sigh. Kelsey didn’t like to ask for anything, she recalled.

“Would it be possible for you to take Heather with you tomorrow? I know it’s a lot to ask.”

“No, it’s not. I intended the invitation to include Heather, anyway. I’m sorry if I didn’t make myself clear.”

“Great!” The relief in his voice was substantial. “Really great. I have to run up to K. C. to pick up new tractor parts. I’ll take the boys with me, but it’s not the kind of thing the girls—well, you know. Anyway, there’s no need for you to run all the way out here. I’ll drop the girls off on my way, if that’s all right with you?”

“Sure, Kels, that’ll be fine. At ten.”

They said good-night, as longtime friends would, neatly and with the warmth of long association.

She wouldn’t wish for more. No…it would be foolish.

“Boys, stay in the car,” Kelsey instructed as they pulled up in front of the Lawrences’ white two-story house. “We’ll only be a minute.”

Aimee was out of the car before he’d opened his own door, and Lissa quickly followed.

“C’mon, Heather,” Lissa urged.

“I wanna go with Daddy.”

Kelsey held his impatience down. Heather, even though excited to be going on the shopping trip just five minutes before, liked to indulge in possessive streaks. This one had been brewing all morning. He didn’t always know what to do about them; he didn’t remember the other kids acting so dependently. But the other four’d had their mother, too.

“No games this morning, little sprout,” Kelsey said, holding her door wide, insistently. Heather reluctantly unbuckled her seat belt and slid out of the car.

“Why can’t I go with you?”

“You’d be bored in two min—”

Meg stepped out onto the front porch dressed in a black-and-white swingy-skirted outfit that stopped inches above her knees. Kelsey couldn’t help himself. His attention was caught in how attractive her long legs looked—and he looked all the way down her well-shaped calves to her feet, elegantly encased in black sandals, and back up again. The sight of those long limbs hit him squarely in the middle and with a force to equal a tightfisted punch.

It surprised him. A lot.

He yanked his gaze back to her face. Meg’s skirt wasn’t any shorter than most women’s shorts, so it must be the sophisticated combination of garments, he guessed. Meg always did have pretty legs—he just hadn’t imagined those curves would ever cause him such a disturbance.

“All ready?” Meg sang out, aiming her comment toward the girls as she came toward them.

“Oh, yes,” Lissa said, enraptured.

“Uh-huh,” Aimee agreed, already three steps up the drive.

“I wanna go with Daddy,” Heather began again, her eyes tearing.

“Don’t be such a baby,” Lissa said with a long sigh.

“I’m not a baby,” Heather protested, the pooling in her eyes growing by the second. She edged against Kelsey’s leg, locking her knees as though she didn’t plan to budge.

“Heather, we don’t have time for this.” Kelsey held his impatience under a tight lid. He gave in to his youngest child too often, according to Linda, but it was easier sometimes to make life run smoother. “If you don’t want to go with the girls, then just get back into the car. But I don’t want any gripes later. Understand?”

“Troubles?” Meg asked as she came up to them

“Only the usual kind,” he told her in a resigned tone.

“Hmm,” she acknowledged in sympathy.

As Meg crouched down to look into the little girl’s face, her chin-length hair swung forward. Kelsey noticed the honey streaks mingling with the sunny gold and light brown, all shiny like a shampoo ad.

“I’m sorry you don’t want to go with us today, Heather,” Meg said with sincerity. “We’re going to shop and have lunch and shop some more. Who knows, maybe we’ll find the latest Disney video somewhere to bring home.”

Meg glanced up at him, gave him a lightning grin, then pushed a strand of hair behind an ear as she turned back to his youngest child. He thought her actions were designed to lift Heather’s mood. Her smile certainly lightened his own.

“But that’s okay,” Meg continued. “We can pick it out without you.”

Meg rose and turned her back. “C’mon, girls.” She hung an arm around each of the older girls’ shoulders as she steered them toward a late-model brown compact car. “Lissa, I think you’d look fabulous in something green to match your eyes.”

Lissa looked back at him as though to ask, Is it okay to leave Heather? He nodded her on.

Meg captured the exchange, then turned a quizzical gaze his way. The expression smote his conscience; he guessed he did ask too much of his oldest girl. She’d been stuck taking care of Heather for most of the summer.

Meg resumed her escort. “And, Aimee, you’d look darling in one of those denim outfits. The boys, now—What’ll we get the boys?”

Meg tossed her hair and looked at him over her shoulder with a conspiratorial smile. “See you whenever, Kels Don’t expect us early.”

“Bye, Dad,” Lissa barely remembered to say. Aimee didn’t bother to look back at all.

“No-o-o…” Heather cried. “Lissa…don’t leave me.” Heather launched herself forward.

Lissa stopped and turned just in time to catch her little sister. “Dad?”

Her gaze entreated him to do something. Kelsey thrust out his chin in guilt. He’d really been careless to let too much responsibility land on Lissa’s shoulders. She was losing her childhood altogether too soon. “Don’t worry, Lissa. Heather can go with me.”

“I wanna go with Lissa,” Heather protested.

“Does that mean you want to go shopping with us?” Meg asked, emphasizing us so the child would understand who was in charge of the outing.

“Uh-huh.”

“All right. We’d love for you to join us.” Meg tipped her head, engaging the child’s full attention. “But, Heather, this is a grown-up girls day. We’re going to have lots of fun, but not the kind of fun that babies like. So what do you think?”

Heather considered her for a long moment. “I’m not a baby!”

“Oh, I’m so glad to hear that. You had me worried there for a minute. I really didn’t want to leave you behind. Shall we go now?”

The girls scrambled to get into the brown compact Meg gave him a last wave. And a wink.

She’d handled his daughter very well—certainly better than he did sometimes. Linda Burroughs would have advocated a spanking with tight-lipped disapproval.

“Okay, I reckon that’s settled,” Kelsey said, hoping his relief was well hidden. Somehow, though, he expected Meg knew all about it. Her smile was too angelic.

Chapter Three

“Where are we going, Aunt Meg?” Lissa asked from the adjoining front seat as they left the outskirts of Sedalia. Heather had been remarkably quiet next to Aimee in the back.

“Well, I hear there’s an outlet mall near Odessa now. Ever been there?”

“Uh-uh,” Lissa replied.

“Let’s check it out, then. Okay?”

“Whoopee,” squealed Aimee. “Sydney Burroughs thinks she’s so cool ‘cause she’s been there three times this year.”

The Burroughs family again. Meg wondered just how close Linda and Kelsey had grown. But if they were, why hadn’t Linda taken Lissa and Aimee along with her sometime?

“Some people like shopping a lot more than others,” Meg commented. “It’s like a hobby. And with only two people in the family, they probably have more time for it. Perhaps Sydney and her mom shop because they haven’t much else to do. Did you ever think that maybe Sydney is really lonely without her Dad? I’m sure her mother is.”

“Yeah, but that’s no excuse for Sydney to act so dorky. We lost our mom…” Lissa’s voice held a well of sadness. “That’s just as bad.”

Meg felt her throat clog, and she reached out to pat Lissa’s hand. “Yes…yes, it is. But Sydney has only herself and her mother. The five of you children are so lucky, so blessed—you have each other. And your dad is super special.”

“D’you really think Dad’s special, Aunt Meg?”

Meg glanced at Lissa. Lissa’s bright gaze held hope and a subdued excitement, wiping out the sadness Meg’d heard in her voice a moment before.

“I certainly do.” Meg was so used to hiding behind a friend-ship-only facade where Kelsey was concerned that the words came naturally. “Why, we’ve been friends for eons, and I missed both your parents a whole bunch when I moved abroad.”

That was the unvarnished truth Meg had missed both Dee Dee and Kelsey like crazy, yet she’d missed Kelsey more. Much, much more. But she’d never confessed her deepest feelings to anyone but God, trusting Him to help her through her heartbreak, and in those first months alone in a foreign country she’d done so regularly. Slowly, she’d felt better knowing she’d made the right choice in leaving her hometown. Leaving behind a love she could never see fulfilled.

Yet even while content that she’d done what she must, the idea of never seeing Kelsey again, even as a friend, had left a hole in her the size of the Grand Canyon. She’d filled that hole with long hours of study and hard work. Her business success had been very rewarding. Still, it had taken her a long time not to yearn after Kelsey daily.

After all this time she felt as though she might be suffering a setback. A huge one. She was in the strange position of comforting Kelsey’s children, and she found the exercise satisfying. Very happily satisfying.

“Anyway, I suspect your friend Sydney is very lonely being an only child,” she told the girls.

“Yeah, and Sydney was really jealous last Christmas when we got your package from England, Aunt Meg,” Aimee said with a touch of glee

Meg cleared her throat of the laughter that threatened. “Aimee, I don’t think we’re aiming to put Sydney’s nose out of joint, are we?”

“I guess not. It’s just that I get tired of Sydney being a pest about how much she gets to do,” Aimee said with a sigh. “Shopping, movies, doing stuff in Kansas City. The lake, too. Her uncle owns a place and invites them down all the time.”

“Well, after today, you can tell her you’ve been to the shopping mall, as well,” Meg remarked by way of consolation.

“What’s a nose out of—that word—what do you mean?” Heather asked, at last indicating she didn’t plan to sulk all day. Thank goodness, Meg thought.

“Oh, it’s just an old expression my grandmother used to use.” Meg glanced into the rearview mirror at the back seat, but all she could see was the top of the child’s curly hair. “Heather, did you know your mom and I had the same grandmother?”

“You did?”

“Yep. Grandma Hicks. She and Grandpa had a farm, too, when I was little. Dee Dee and I loved visiting her. She always made us laugh.”

During the rest of the drive, Meg told the girls stories about Dee Dee and herself at their age, painting pictures of their mother and other family members long gone. They shopped until very late before driving home, happily tired.

A field of black walnut trees came almost to the edge of the long gravel drive to the farmhouse. Meg recalled that Kelsey had planted them the year Lissa was born, claiming they’d help to pay for college one day. Soybeans occupied the opposite field.

They passed the once-white weathered barn before they reached the old cottage-style house in a small, grassy clearing. Separate garages lined up in the rear, having been built at different times and connected by a roofed enclosure which held the lawn tractor and other tools.

Two dogs ran up barking, as Meg shut off the engine.

“Hush, Charlie Brown,” Lissa instructed what appeared to be a mixed breed as she got out of the car, scolding and pushing the brown nose away. The small golden spaniel investigated Meg’s door.

At the commotion, Thad and Phillip spilled out of the house with Kelsey right behind them.

“Daddy,” Heather called. “See my new sneakers? And I got Sunday shoes, too.”

“Phillip. Thad. Wait till you see what we brought you,” Aimee crowed. “Royal’s shirts and caps. Aunt Meg spent a fortune.”

Lissa gathered two big shopping bags from the back seat. “I’ll take these in and be right back, Aunt Meg.”

“All right, hon.”

Following Aimee into the house, Lissa called, “Heather, come on and put your stuff away right now and change out your new things. I don’t want to see them all stained.”

“Meg, tell me you didn’t!” Kelsey both laughed and protested as he hung an arm over the half-opened driver’s door. “You’ll spoil them for sure.”

“Occasional spoiling won’t hurt them, Kels. Besides, I think the girls were long overdue for a little shopping spree.” She didn’t mention how awed Lissa and Aimee had been at her letting them pick out a whole outfit apiece, including shoes and under things, or that she’d bought Lissa a few cosmetics.

“Well, I hope you didn’t deplete your savings.”

“Hardly.” She smiled into his green eyes and wanted to melt. “And I loved every minute of it.”

“Generous as always.” He straightened, bringing the door completely open, and dropped into a falsely aggrieved tone. “Get out and come in, ma’am. We fellahs cooked up a mess of beans and hot dogs out in the backyard while you girls have been rompin’ through the stores. We’re hot and starved, waitin’ for our women folk to wander on home.”

Meg climbed out, laughing, and matched his tone. “You mean you men folk’ve been slavin’ all day while we was out galavantin’?”

“You got the picture, lady,” he said, in a mock growl. “You’ll stay, won’t you?”

“Please, Aunt Meg,” Lissa urged, returning to the car for the last shopping bag. Then in a near whisper, she said, “I need to talk to you, anyway.”

Kelsey raised a brow at his oldest daughter. “Seems to me you girls have had Meg to yourselves all day. Aren’t you all talked out?”

“But, Dad, that’s different. I wanted. oh, never mind.”

As Lissa turned away, Meg noted the shy mixture of emotions shining from her lowered eyes, her lashes blinking as though to keep sudden tears at bay.

“What is it, Lissa?”

“I just wanted a chance to talk to you alone, Aunt Meg. You know, girl talk. Not kid talk.”

Hadn’t there been anyone at all for the child to share her feelings with? A woman with whom she felt comfortable? Meg remembered all too well her own emotional roller-coaster adolescence and imagined Lissa was facing the usual uncertainties. Without a mother

Meg glanced at Kelsey and caught an expression of arrested curiosity, a glimmer of pain and guilt. And a touch of helplessness.

It was a different side of Kelsey, she’d never seen him helpless before. He glanced her way, drew a deep breath and held it, his lips pursed, before saying low, “Stay…please.”

Meg’s heartstrings definitely felt a tug. More than one, actually, and more like sharp little jerks. “I think we can manage that. Let me call Mom and Kathy and see how things are at home, all right?”

“Super. I’ll be back in a sec, okay, Aunt Meg?”