All Roads Lead Home

“Do you think he’s forgotten?” she asked Felicity, after checking the time. “They’re ten minutes late.”

Felicity chuckled. “I’m sure he hasn’t. Give them time.”

“I hope you’re right.” Mariah tugged on a lock of hair.

The fact that Felicity couldn’t know the reason for her trip made this parting more difficult. Mariah had to bury any misgivings and pretend the drive would progress without a hitch, but she knew Gabe was right. A host of problems could derail her effort.

By the time Hendrick parked the Overland in front of the parsonage, her anxiety level had escalated. It got even worse when he unfolded his lean frame from the driver’s seat. The sun accentuated his broad shoulders and muscular arms. She would have to be close to that, to him, every day for the next month.

“Doesn’t Hendrick look handsome?” Felicity said.

Mariah did not need her sister-in-law’s observations. The sight of him made her tremble. “He’s changed.”

Felicity nodded, a knowing smile on her lips. “He studied the last two years and received his high school diploma. Jack Hunter taught him drafting so he could make blueprints for his engine designs. Jack says he’s brilliant and could go far.”

Mariah couldn’t take another minute of Felicity’s glowing accolades. She grabbed her valise. “It’s time to go.”

“I’ll fetch Gabe and Luke.” Felicity headed for the kitchen.

Mariah wished she could leave without the heart-tugging farewells, but Felicity would have none of it. While her sister-in-law vanished into the kitchen, Mariah carried her valise onto the porch.

“Mariah, Mariah!” Anna leaned out the backseat window. “Can you believe we’re actually going? I can hardly wait. Will we see Lake Michigan? And Chicago? Hendrick says it’s a huge city with buildings so tall you can’t see the tops.”

Anna rattled off her questions so quickly that Mariah had no hope of answering, so she nodded and smiled and let Hendrick take her valise. Their hands brushed, and the same electricity coursed through her. Hopefully, he didn’t notice.

“Sis.” Gabe hefted a small crate down the porch steps. “Thought you’d sneak away, did you?”

“What on earth are you carrying?”

“Provisions. Tins of food, matches, a hatchet, everything you’ll need for camping.”

“But I already have supplies and a tent.” Mariah pointed to the half-full backseat. “There’s no room for more.”

“I’ll make it fit.” Hendrick lifted the heavy crate from Gabe’s arms like it weighed no more than a sheet of paper.

My, he was strong. Mariah fanned her suddenly hot face.

Hendrick unpacked the crate and somehow wedged the contents into the backseat without forcing Anna out.

Meanwhile, Gabe pulled her aside. “My prayers go with you.” He held her face in his hands. “Find the truth.”

His eyes looked tired, and the lines around his mouth had deepened.

She hugged him. “I won’t fail you.”

The dreaded round of farewells began when Felicity and Luke joined them in the yard. Mariah managed to say goodbye without shedding a tear.

“When are you coming back, Aunt Mariah?” Luke solemnly asked.

“Soon,” she said, praying that her return would not be to take him west.

Gabe gave her a bear hug. “Godspeed, sis. May He guide your every step.” Though he didn’t say more, both knew where they wanted the Lord to guide her.

“I’ll let you know where you can reach us when we arrive.” She pretended to smile even while choking back tears. “Call or cable if the baby comes early.”

“Of course.”

Then she had to walk away. How she loved them all. They stood together, Gabe’s hand on Luke’s shoulder, confirming to the world that Luke was his son. Felicity waved, and Mariah lifted a hand in response before heading to the driver’s-side door.

She reached for the handle at the same time as Hendrick. Their hands met, generating another jolt of electricity.

“Thank you,” she said stiffly, “but it’s not necessary to open the door for me.”

He flushed. “Uh, I thought…that is, I assumed…”

“Thought what?”

Felicity laughed and motioned her to the passenger seat. Apparently, she wasn’t supposed to drive. But this was her car. She always drove. Why must she turn over control simply because a man was in the car? She started to protest but then decided, in the interest of peace, to relinquish the wheel.

“For now,” she explained. “We will share driving.”

Before Hendrick could protest, she walked around the car to the passenger side, but he’d scrambled to get there before her and, by virtue of his long legs, managed to pull the door open just before she arrived.

Anna groaned. “I hope you’re not going to be like this the whole way.”

“I can’t imagine what you mean.” Mariah took her seat with regal formality.

“Goodbye,” Felicity called out again as Hendrick got into the car.

At last they were ready to go. Hendrick set the spark and throttle levers in preparation for starting the car.

Mariah pushed the throttle back a bit. “It doesn’t need that much.”

Hendrick glared at her. “I think I know how to start a car.”

She crossed her arms. “I think I know my car better than anyone else.”

Anna groaned again. “What is wrong with you two?”

Neither of them bothered to answer the preposterous question. Hendrick started the car, and Mariah stared straight ahead. His elbow practically butted into her side. No more than six inches separated them on the seat. She couldn’t last two thousand miles that way. At the next stop, she’d drive and insist that Hendrick sit in the back.

She plastered herself against the door and kept her gaze straight ahead while they drove through Pearlman and past Hendrick’s garage. Mrs. Simmons waved to them from her yard.

“Goodbye, Mama,” Anna called out.

“God be with you,” she called back, and Mariah hoped she didn’t know the true reason for their trip.

She glanced at Hendrick. “Does she…?”

He must have understood, because he shook his head.

Soon they left town, driving up the little rise before passing through a tunnel of ancient maples that had somehow missed the lumberman’s ax. On this warm July morning, the dappled shade created an oasis of coolness in the midst of the hot fields.

“Isn’t this wonderful?” Anna mused, her chin on the back of the front seat between Mariah and Hendrick. “Hendrick comes here all the time. It’s his favorite spot in the whole world.”

Anna pointed out every barn and unusual tree. Ordinarily the chatter would have driven Mariah to tears, but today it passed the miles and ensured that she didn’t have to talk to Hendrick. Though they couldn’t go much over thirty miles an hour on the rutted road, within a couple hours they reached the West Michigan Pike, the highway that ran along the shore of Lake Michigan.

“Can we stop to see the lake?” Anna queried from the backseat.

“May we,” Hendrick corrected.

Mariah lifted an eyebrow. Hendrick Simmons correcting grammar?

“May we stop?” Anna sighed.

Mariah hated to waste time on sightseeing, but she couldn’t deny Anna this little pleasure. She asked Hendrick to pull over at the first place he could park. When he finally stopped the car on a grassy spot alongside the beach, the view startled her. Lake Michigan wasn’t like any lake she’d ever seen. Why, it stretched unbroken to the horizon, exactly like the ocean.

“It doesn’t smell like the ocean, though.” She sniffed the air. “No salty odor.”

No one listened to her musings. Anna raced to the shore, where she peeled off her shoes and stockings. Within seconds, she’d waded into the crashing surf. The waves rolled over her feet and dampened the hem of her skirt.

“You’re getting wet,” Mariah called out, but Anna either didn’t hear or didn’t care.

“Sounds good to me.” Hendrick kicked off his shoes and socks and followed his sister.

Anna laughed, running out when each wave ebbed and racing back to shore when the next one arrived. Her giggles were infectious, and, since everyone else was taking a break, Mariah removed her shoes and stockings, too.

The sand blazed beneath her feet, and she gingerly hopped to the water’s edge. The wet sand cooled her blistered soles. When a wave rolled over her feet, the icy water made her shriek. “It’s freezing.”

“It’s wonderful.” Anna ran down the shore, splashing water with every step.

Within minutes, Mariah grew accustomed to the chill water—or perhaps numb to it. She walked a few steps, but the sand gave way beneath her feet, making her stagger. The wash of the waves tugged at her feet, burying them deeper in the soft, pebbly sand.

“It’s like quicksand,” she exclaimed.

Hendrick bent over laughing.

“It’s not funny. My feet keep sinking, and my skirt is getting wet. I can hardly walk.”

“Hold still.” In an instant he swept her off her feet and into his arms. “There, you’re safe now.”

Safe? He was holding her. Holding her. Goodness, he’d lifted her as easily as if she were a child. His heart thudded against her side. His shoulders loomed at eye level. He smelled so masculine that she couldn’t think straight. She wanted to lay her head on his shoulder, to sink into his arms and stay there forever.

“Put me down,” she squawked, terrified at the rush of emotion. She couldn’t fall for him again. She couldn’t.

He didn’t listen. Instead of setting her on her feet, he carried her toward the car.

“What are you doing?” she cried. “I told you to put me down.”

But he didn’t. He just kept walking, carrying her away from the shore. She had no choice but to hold on.

“I know how to walk.”

“I know, but the sand’s hot,” he explained when they reached her abandoned shoes. He gently set her down and smoothed the collar of her middy shirt before turning to call for his sister. “Anna, it’s time to go.”

Mariah sat, embarrassed by her reaction to him. “I could have walked.”

He sat beside her. “I didn’t want you to burn your feet.”

She grabbed a stocking. “How could they burn when they’re blocks of ice?” To demonstrate that she hadn’t been affected by the way he held her, she tried to pull the stocking over one of her damp, sandy feet. It went nowhere.

“Here, let me help.” He scrunched up the other stocking so it would fit easily over her toes. “Brush off the sand, and I’ll slip this on.”

She yanked it away from him. “I think I can put on my own stockings.” But the gritty sand clung to her feet as if it had been glued on.

“I’d be glad to help,” he said again.

“I don’t need help.” She yanked on the stockings, even though they bunched in the wrong places and she hadn’t gotten all the sand off her feet. She shoved on her shoes and stood. “There, see?” She strode toward the car, the sand rubbing against her toes with every step.

Hendrick hurried after her. “Let me get the door.”

She’d had quite enough of his help. She was an independent, fully capable woman, not an invalid.

“I’m driving,” she stated, whipping open the driver’s-side door.

He halted, either surprised or dismayed.

She didn’t care. They’d had a deal. No romance. He’d broken it. This was the last time she’d let down her guard around Hendrick Simmons.

Didn’t she feel a thing? Hendrick watched Mariah, confused by her reaction. When he first picked her up, she’d clung to him and even laid her head against his shoulder, but then she’d tensed, as if she realized she wasn’t supposed to enjoy being carried by him. Then she got all defensive when he was just trying to help and stomped off to the car, insisting she had to drive. She didn’t even wait for him to open the door.

He would never understand women.

They ate lunch in silence and reached Chicago that afternoon. Anna hung her head out the window and gawked at the buildings.

“That one has ten stories,” Anna cried out as they entered downtown. “And that one, oh, my.” She drank in the traffic signs and policemen at the street corners, the elevated railway and the crowds of people. “Thousands must live here. How do they know each other?”

“They don’t,” Hendrick said. “Cities have lots of people, but they’re all strangers. I’d rather live where everyone knows each other.”

“Like Pearlman,” Mariah said tartly as she slowed the car for an intersection.

“What’s wrong with Pearlman?” Though he planned to move to Garden City if his interview with Curtiss went well, he rose to his hometown’s defense.

“I didn’t say anything was wrong. Pearlman’s a lovely town. Gabe adores living there.”

“It’s a good place to raise a family,” Hendrick said softly.

She visibly tensed.

So that was it. The woman who helped place orphans didn’t want children of her own. Of course. That’s what she’d tried to tell him at the bridge, that her career came first. What a shame. She’d be a wonderful mother. He’d seen her with Luke, especially, but also with Peter and the other orphans she’d placed. She was a natural parent. Maybe she didn’t want children now, but given time, was there any hope she might change her mind?

He’d test his theory. “I definitely want children.”

She hesitated long enough that he knew he’d struck a nerve. “Children are a blessing, but I’m busy with the Society. Those are the children in my life.”

“I want to wait, too,” Anna chimed in.

He’d forgotten that his sister was there or he would never have brought up such a personal subject.

“First I’m going to see the world,” Anna babbled on. “Look at these buildings. They’re monstrous. Now I can tell everyone I’ve been to Chicago. Is New York like this?”

“It is, only bigger,” Mariah said quickly, apparently eager to change the topic.

“Bigger?” Anna cried. “I want to go there.”

Mariah launched into descriptions of streets and buildings and department stores until he wished they’d be quiet.

“Do you go to parties and dances?” Anna asked Mariah.

“Some, but my college studies took most of my time.”

College. Hendrick stewed. Only the rich could afford college. Anna could never attend, so why bring it up?

“What did you study?” Anna said. “I’d do something exciting like classics and explore Greek ruins.”

He gritted his teeth. Maybe, if Curtiss offered enough for his engine design, he could afford to send her to teacher’s college, but no point in a degree for something frivolous, like classics.

“We should fill the fuel tank and get oil before leaving the city,” he said to change the topic.

Some blocks later, Mariah pulled the car into a filling station. The hulking attendant smirked when he saw Mariah in the driver’s seat. Humiliation coiled in Hendrick’s gut and spread quickly to his fists. Just because he wasn’t driving didn’t make him less of a man.

“Please fill the tank,” Mariah told the attendant, oblivious to the slight.

“Yes, ma’am.” The man spoke politely to her, but he snickered when he stepped to the fuel pump.

Hendrick sprang out of the car, unable to take any more of this. “I’ll check the oil.” He slammed the door and whipped the hood open.

“What’s wrong with you?” Mariah followed him. “The attendant can do that.”

He would not dignify her question with a reply. “You’re low a quart.”

“You don’t have to snap at me.”

She didn’t understand. For a woman who worked with people all the time, she should realize that a man needed to be a man. Instead, she always had to be in charge. He grabbed a rag from the car and wiped his hands.

“I’m a mechanic,” he stated to the smirking attendant.

Mariah followed his gaze, and her confident smile fell. “Oh, I see,” said the attendant.

Her demeanor softened, became more open, the way she’d been at the Founder’s Day picnic two years ago. That day she’d laughed and chattered and eagerly taken in every word he said. That day he’d thought she cared for him. They grew closer and closer over the following months until the day of Felicity and Gabriel’s wedding. Then suddenly, a wall went up between them and she only wanted to be friends.

Apparently, that’s all she’d ever want.

He reached for the passenger-side door, but she stopped him with an electric touch to the arm.

“Thank you, Hendrick, for letting me practice driving, but I think you’d better take over now.”

The knot in his gut loosened when he spotted the attendant and realized she’d said that for his sake. Maybe, somewhere deep, deep inside, she still cared for him.

She rummaged in her bag and shoved a roll of bills into his hand. He stared at the thick wad. It must total fifty dollars.

“Take it,” she whispered as the attendant approached.

He didn’t have time to protest.

“That’s $1.40.” The burly attendant looked from him to Mariah.

She smiled and returned to the passenger seat.

Fine, rather than make a fuss, he’d pay, but not from her funds. He withdrew the $1.40 from his wallet, leaving a little over $15 for the trip. Once the attendant left, he stuck Mariah’s bills into his pants pocket where they couldn’t fall out. As soon as they were alone, he’d give it back.

Chapter Five

Tourist parks proved few and far between on their route, so Hendrick selected a flat, grassy spot between cornfields to camp. The women weren’t sure the area afforded enough privacy, since the corn wasn’t yet waist high, but a little exploration of the area yielded a more secluded spot where a creek trickled under drooping willows.

“This will do,” Mariah stated.

Hendrick eyed the terrain. He’d maneuvered the car between the cultivated fields on a rutted old path, but there wasn’t room to turn the car around. He’d have to back it out.

“Hope it doesn’t rain,” he said as he put down the top.

“Me, too.” Mariah grabbed the topmost bag from the backseat. “I haven’t tested the tent for watertightness.”

She strained under the weight of the canvas bag, so Hendrick tried to relieve her of the burden. “I’ll unload. You ladies rest.”

“Rest?” Mariah refused to let go. “All we’ve done is rest.” She carried the bag to the tree and set it down. “Where’s Anna?”

Hendrick heaved a sigh. “I’d better go find her.” It was just like his sister to run off when there was work to be done.

Mariah’s throaty chuckle eased the tension. “Give her some time. It’s not as if she could go that far.”

True, but the cornfields and hayfields weren’t tall enough to hide someone. The only place to disappear was down by the creek. “She should have told us where she was going.”

Mariah smiled softly. “She’s just excited to be on her first trip away from home.”

It was his first trip, too, but he didn’t go running off at the first opportunity. Besides, Anna was his responsibility. If anything happened, Ma would never recover. She doted on Anna. Since they couldn’t afford new clothes very often, Ma got the old fabric and scraps of lace from Mrs. Fox’s dressmaking shop to make Anna’s dresses. In his opinion, his sister was spoiled, but Ma said she deserved a few niceties in life.

Money. It all came down to that. If he sold his engine design to Curtiss and became an aeronautical engineer, he’d be able to afford anything his mother and sister desired. He’d have as much money as…as Mariah. Hendrick stuck a hand in his pocket and encountered the roll of bills. Her bills. He should have given the money back right after they left the filling station. He’d do so now.

Naturally, she refused to take it. “Use it to pay for fuel and oil.”

“But I should be paying.”

She waved that idea away. “I’m on agency business. The Society is paying.”

“Not for Anna and me.”

“You’re here at my request. If you don’t want to handle the money, I will, but I’d prefer you do it.”

She trusted him. Despite their differences, she had faith in him. He ran a thumb over the edge of the bills before sticking them back in his pocket.

Meanwhile, she’d grabbed another bag from the car.

“I’ll take that,” he offered.

She strode past him with a laugh. “Get your own.”

Her joy was infectious, and he smiled as he hefted the next bag onto his shoulder. It rattled and clanked. Must be the pans and tins of food she’d packed. It weighed plenty, more than she could lift. He paraded past her with a grin of triumph.

“Set that one under the tree closest to the stream,” she commanded as she tugged the canvas tent out of its sack.

“Yes, ma’am.” He snapped to attention, imitating the salute used by soldiers who’d returned from the Great War. He’d tried to enlist, but the local board denied his application, saying he had to support his mother and sister.

Mariah waited until he set down the last sack before instructing him to put the car’s roof back up. “It does look like rain.”

Other than a couple puffy clouds, the sky was clear. Apparently, she wanted to keep him busy, and he, the foot soldier, was at her command.

While he refastened the roof, she spread the tent in a nice grassy dip in the ground. If it did rain, he thought, they’d be soaked.

“You might want to pick a different spot.”

“What’s wrong with here?” she snapped, her breathing heavy. She tugged the canvas over the pole. “I happen to like a soft, grassy place to lie down. I suppose you prefer rocks?”

“Fine. Suit yourself.” If the rain arrived, as she suspected, she’d be sorry.

He finished raising the car roof, and she was still struggling with the tent. Only one end would stay up. She’d set one pole, leave it balancing and then race to the other side. By then, the first pole would topple over.

“I can help,” he said.

“Don’t need it.”

Yet over and over her efforts yielded the same result. The scene looked like it came from a Charlie Chaplin film. Hendrick bit his lip to stifle a laugh, but he couldn’t hold back the guffaw forever. When both poles fell down and the whole thing caved in, the laughter erupted, each wave making his sides ache even more.

“Do you think you can do any better?” She threw a pole to the ground in disgust. Hands on hips, she positively glared, but he couldn’t stop laughing. “Well, you’re no help. Where is Anna? Maybe she can hold herself together long enough to get this tent up.”

His sister dropped from the nearby willow and took one of the poles. “What do I do?”

Instead of answering Anna, Mariah focused her wrath on him. “Hendrick, stop laughing and hold up the other pole. I’ll start pounding in the stakes.”

My, she was bossy. He’d always considered her directness a virtue. She knew what needed to be done and did it. But sometimes she could be wrong. The ground outside her little patch of green grass was rock hard. She’d have some time of it trying to pound in those stakes.

Nonetheless, he obediently took up his pole and watched while she pulled the corner line taut and attempted to hammer the stake into the ground. It pierced the soil no more than half an inch when she gave up and moved to the next one. But as soon as she pulled the line tight, the first stake came loose. With a growl of frustration, she mopped her brow with the back of her hand.

“The ground’s so hard,” she muttered. “I can’t get it in.”

Hendrick wanted to help. Perspiration ran down her forehead, and her hair curled around her face in damp little tendrils that begged to be touched. But she would only yell at him and insist that she didn’t need his help. So he watched her try and try without success.

Finally, he couldn’t stand it anymore. “I’d be glad to give it a go.”

Naturally she scowled at him. “Did I ask for your help?”

He wanted to rip the mallet from her hands and get the job done. Why did she have to be so stubborn?

Then Anna giggled. She tried to hold back, so it came out in a snort, but she couldn’t maintain control for long and a second later burst out laughing.