Noble Pursuits Page 14

  Friendly arguments followed. With everyone having different store priorities, they finally split up into three groups. Craig eyed his sister and his new friend warily. Were they all playing with fire to throw the two together this often?

  “Ok, so, with this plan we can all meet at Grimsby’s for lunch. My treat.” Nolan grinned excitedly. He hadn’t been a part of a Christmas tradition in several years. Christmas was such a special part of his childhood memories, and he was excited to join in the festivities again.

  Grace squealed in delight. “I haven’t been to Grimsby’s in ages! Ok, gimme your lists. Melanie first.”

  The final plans were made over a pick-up dinner. Nolan looked at his watch before suggesting an end to the evening. “Ok, guys, what do you say? Shall we make it an early night? We have to be up at o’ dark thirty.”

  Nolan’s suggestion was readily accepted, and everyone quickly gathered their dishes and piled into their cars. Grace hugged Amber and reassured her that everything was ok. “Your mom will be here in a few minutes, so you can pick up your stuff at my house tomorrow, or I’ll bring it Sunday.”

  “What about Ms. Fran?”

  “Craig will take her home in a little while.”

  “She was nicer today. She played tic-tack-toe with me.” Amber’s voice dropped to a conspiratorial whisper. “I think she likes Mr. Burke.”

  “Well, he’s a likeable kind of guy. I have to go now. Thanks for staying with me. I had fun!” Grace waved at Amber and Melanie as she drove away with Nolan

  Nolan sounded sad as he drove toward their respective homes. Grace picked up on it and asked, “What’s wrong? You seem a bit down.”

  “I just miss days like today. I am feeling very discontent. I want what Craig and Melanie have. I want a wife, a home that is my own, and a baby to snuggle with. I want a Christmas tree and stockings on the fireplace. And, I want someone to want it with me.” He looked at his companion cautiously. “Pathetic?”

  “I think after our conversation earlier today, you know that I don’t think it’s pathetic at all. At least I have Craig, Melanie, and the baby.”

  “Grace, would you like to go get a cup of coffee or something? Someone should be open, don’t you think? I’m not ready for this day to end.”

  Grace nodded. “Where could we go? Who is open today?”

  “I’d offer to make you some at my house, but Mr. Verily would have Craig on the phone before we got the door shut!”

  Laughing with Nolan at the thought of her brother on the receiving end of a call from her back-up protector, Grace wondered where Nolan was taking her. “You know what, Nolan…”

  Nolan finished the thought. “This isn’t a good idea.”

  He passed a tearoom parking lot and continued home. Grace sighed. “I’ve always wanted to see that place. The whole idea is fascinating. A boarding house with the gatekeeper’s house as a tearoom. I’d love to own it.” Grace giggled. “Hey, I’d settle for seeing it someday, and Mrs. Stafford goes to our church!”

  Chapter Sixteen

  “Wait!”

  Nolan slammed his foot onto the brake instinctively. “What? Are you ok?” He was prepared for another child to fly through the air, or at the least, a cat pinned under his tire. What he wasn’t prepared for was her sheepish look.

  “I forgot the lists. It’s too early for me to think. I was in bed before ten, and I feel like I didn’t get any sleep.”

  Sighing, Nolan reached for her keys and got out of the vehicle. “I’ll get them. Where are they?”

  He stumbled through her house looking for the kitchen light switch. As he flipped the light on, he saw a scurrying that unsettled him. What would Grace do if she knew that there was another critter in her house? There were definitely disadvantages to living so close to the nearby fields. He’d killed a few of the varmints in his house the previous week, and he wondered what they were doing bothering them in winter. Hibernation for mice should have been a requirement in Nolan’s opinion.

  After another quick glance toward the pantry, and with memories of a wild woman tearing apart her kitchen, he strode back out to the car. He had no idea how to tell Grace that she had unwanted visitors. Again. If he said anything now she wouldn’t leave. With a slight twinge of guilt, he hurried into his vehicle and drove to the first store.

  ~*~*~*~

  “Look! Isn’t it sweet? Graceanna would be so adorable in this!” One look at the price tag and Grace hung the little jumpsuit back on the rack. “I’ll have to make her one.”

  Nolan was having the time of his life. Grace thoroughly enjoyed herself, and watching the process was one of the most delightful things he’d ever experienced. “You can make something that little?”

  “Oh, this age is the best. You can make beautiful outfits with very little fabric. Very inexpensive.”

  A deep rumbling from Nolan’s belly signaled the time to call Craig and Nathan about meeting for lunch. Everyone converged around a table at Grimsby’s a short while later. As they discussed the best entrées, they compared notes on their respective shopping trips. Most of the items on the wish lists had been found, purchased, and were ready for the big wrapping party later.

  As they strolled outside after the meal, Nolan handed Grace his keys. “Why don’t you go ahead and start the car, I need to ask Craig something.”

  Grace took the keys and joined the other women and Nathan on the way to their respective vehicles. Before she was out of earshot, Nolan told Craig about the mouse. “What should we do? You know she’ll flip if she sees another mouse in there. The last one was almost too much for me.”

  He heard the familiar ‘beep, beep’ of his automatic car locking and alarm system, followed by the starting of his vehicle’s engine. Before he knew what was happening, Grace tore out of the parking lot and sped toward home. “Craig! She’ll kill herself driving like that.”

  Craig was already jogging to his car. “Come on, Burke.”

  “But what?” Nolan didn’t like the look of alarm on Craig’s face.

  Before Craig could answer, Melanie came running up to them, panic-stricken. “Craig! Grace just drove out of here!”

  Nolan looked from husband to wife, hoping that someone would enlighten him. “And your point is?”

  Craig turned to Nolan with a grave face. “Grace doesn’t drive, Nolan.”

  “Well, I knew she didn’t have a car, but—”

  “There is a reason she doesn’t have a car. She refuses to drive. I’ll explain later, but we have to go. If she gets pulled over, they could arrest her. She has no license.”

  The scene at Grace’s house exceeded anyone’s imagination or expectation. After hitting every red light in town, Craig pulled up to her house a full ten minutes behind her. The front door stood wide open without regard for the cold assaulting the house. All her hard work keeping out the elements was tossed out the door in the crazed search for a mouse.

  Grace stood over the bathroom toilet sucking the water into a shop-vac. The kitchen had already been apart, and Verily stood in the living room trying to calm her down. Relief washed over his features when the men arrived.

  Craig began explaining to Verily while Nolan went to Grace’s assistance.

  “Grace?” His voice was low and questioning. “What are you doing?” Nolan tried to remain as visibly and audibly calm as possible as he watched her flush the toilet and then suck the water up again into the vacuum.

  “Drowning the little sucker. And don’t sound so nice. You hid him from me!”

  Nolan heard a tremor in her voice and calmly took the hose from her. He led her to the living room and indicated that she should sit before returning to the bathroom to deal with a very soggy rodent. As he carried the canister past Craig, he handed it out in jest and quipped, “Do you need this for evidence, or can I dispose of it?”

  Nolan’s nonchalance seemed to settle Verily’s concerns, and he shuffled toward home, apologizing for being of so little help. Craig’s fury was unleashed on Grace
once their bemused friend walked away. Nolan listened to Craig’s verbal assault on her irrational fear of mice until he couldn’t take it any longer.

  “Craig! Stop. She’s fine, she didn’t hurt anyone, and she doesn’t make a habit of stealing cars and assaulting mice with vacuums. Now settle down, go back to the restaurant, and get your wife. I’ll sit with Grace, and then we can all clean up the kitchen when you get back.”

  Craig seemed to calm down. He walked over to Grace and hugged her before suggesting that she lie down for a little while. As he entered the living room and headed out the front door, he turned to Nolan. “I am not going to pretend that I like this, Burke. Something doesn’t feel right.”

  “Is it because there is a genuine problem, Craig, or is it because you feel threatened?” Nolan debated how far to take the conversation with Grace’s excellent hearing just in the next room.

  “She’s my only sister. I’m all she has.”

  “And you like it that way.” Nolan was treading difficult territory.

  Craig sank onto the couch. “You’re right. Since she was born, I was taught that she was the most precious thing that God had ever given me and would ever be until God gave me a wife, and I’ve taken that very seriously.”

  With a deep sigh, and his voice heavy with emotion, he looked up at Nolan, who sat in his chair looking uncertain as to how to handle the situation. “Too seriously, huh? Lately anyway. Ever since you came into her life.”

  Nolan shrugged and let the man continue. He seemed compelled to talk, and Nolan was more than willing to listen. “She’s all grown up now, and I forget that. It’s a result of our upbringing. The men in our family take protecting our women very seriously.”

  He couldn’t help a snicker. “Yeah, you said that.”

  Craig rolled his eyes at himself. “I think I went overboard after Dad died, trying to make up for the loss.”

  “It’s possible. I bet she feels loved, though. Every woman needs that.”

  Craig stood. “I have to go get Mel. Thanks for understanding.”

  Nolan began cleaning the kitchen in a slight state of shock. For the first time, he and Craig had discussed Grace without him feeling like a womanizer. Whistling as he scrubbed down shelves, the spirit of the day took over and soon he was singing his own rendition of “Santa Claus is Coming to Town.”

  “You better watch out,

  Or you’re gonna die.

  You better watch out.

  I’m telling you why.

  Gracie’s gonna see that you drown.

  She’s losing her cool;

  To stay you’re a fool.

  Better get out,

  Before a cat drools.

  Gracie’s gonna see that you drown.

  She sees when you are sneaking.

  She don’t think you’re so great.

  She thinks that you are bad, not good,

  So get out for goodness sake.

  You better watch out,

  Or you’re gonna die.

  You better watch out.

  I’m telling you why.

  Gracie’s gonna see that you drooooownnnnn.”

  A muffled giggle brought Nolan out of his musical reverie. He stood in the middle of the kitchen with a broom for a mic and stand. In his opinion, he looked like a fool. Grace’s applause rang throughout the kitchen, and Nolan blushed.

  “I’m calm now. I’d like to help clean up before everyone gets back here.” Grace seemed subdued.

  “Craig said he was taking them home.”

  “He forgot that we’re wrapping here. I have all the paper!”

  They worked in companionable silence. Nolan spent much of his energy trying hard not to laugh at the lengths that she went to avoid the vermin ever touching her food or dishes. She wrapped entire bundles of dishes at the back of her cupboards with Saran Wrap and zip lock bagged her trash bags. Before Nolan could poke fun at her, the rest of the group bustled in from the cold.

  “Come on, Grace; it’s after two. Are you ready to go get the trees? It’s our first year with two trees!” Melanie’s excitement was contagious.

  Grace looked uncertainly at her kitchen. Was she ready to chance that she’d missed some area that the mouse had roamed? Or did she just not want to leave while she and Nolan were enjoying themselves?

  Nolan watched her struggle and couldn’t take it anymore. Bending low, he whispered into her ear. “It’s time to let this rest. You can deal with it tomorrow if you need to.”

  The move appeared quite intimate and personal to the onlookers, but Grace and Nolan were oblivious to the scrutiny. Craig struggled against his fears while Melanie mentally began practicing the wedding march. Paige simply sighed. Nathan looked around at the group with an expression of comical inquiry. “Did I miss something? Aren’t we going to find trees? You know those tall green things that you loop with lights and popcorn and load with ornaments and presents until the thing finally becomes a fire hazard and you cut it up and burn it?”

  The group became “guys against girls” as they piled into segregated cars and caravanned to the Christmas tree farm. The men planned their strategy, while the women discussed how to thwart the men’s tendency to grab the first tree and run. In the end, the result was stereotypical. The men agreed to every tree suggested, and the women found great delight in suggesting almost every tree.

  Melanie found her tree first. It was wide enough to fill the picture window in her dining room. Craig pretended to grouse about having to move around the furniture and things, but it was quite apparent that he was as excited as she was. Grace deliberated between two trees until the decision made her head ache. Seeing her hesitation, Paige mentioned that she’d like the smaller of the two if Grace decided against it. Grace immediately chose the taller tree and motioned for the owner of the farm to come chop them down.

  As the man began to saw the tree, Grace turned and fled. Her friends looked at each other in bewilderment. Shrugging his shoulders, Craig started to follow, but Nolan stopped him. “May I? Somehow I think I can get her to talk.”

  Grace was silently weeping in the back seat of Paige’s sedan. Seeing Nolan enter on the other side, she quickly tried to hide the evidence of her distress. He brushed away one last tear clinging to the corner of her eye with the back of his hand. “Want to talk about it?”

  Blushing, Grace shook her head. He tried a new approach. “Feel up to twenty questions? Nod or shake your head appropriately?”

  With a sportive grin, she nodded. Nolan fired questions at her. “Are you too tired to mess with the tree?” Grace shook her head.

  “Is it because it’s the first time to have your own tree?” Another shake.

  “Are trees too expensive this year?” Nolan knew the tree wasn’t the issue but continued to discuss shopping and trees and decorations for a time.

  “Does it have to do with driving my car this morning?” Nolan knew that he risked a lot to bring the subject up but also knew that this was likely the problem. If Grace didn’t drive, and yet it was obvious that she knew how to drive, there was likely a reason that she didn’t, particularly since Craig and Melanie had made such an issue of it.

  “Oh, Nolan, I could have destroyed your beautiful car. It wasn’t even legal!” Her tears flowed again.

  “Grace, I wouldn’t care about that, even if you had. We were concerned about you, not the stupid car. Craig said that you don’t drive. Will you tell me about it?”

  She took a deep breath. The tears refused to cease. Unaware that he did, Nolan gathered Grace into his arms and silently prayed as he wiped her tears away and made comforting sounds, as if she was a child. “It’ll be ok. You’re safe. I’m safe. Craig and his little family are safe. No one got hurt but a scurvy little mouse.”

  Nolan smiled at the sound of a weak giggle. She sat up, straightened her sweater, wiped her eyes, and suppressed another sob. “Nolan. I haven’t driven since I was sixteen years old. I can’t believe I remembered how!”

  “Why don’t
you drive? You couldn’t have had your license for long,”

  “I had it for half a year. We went down and I took the test the day after my birthday. I was so excited about it. Then, six months later, Mom and I went to Rockland to do some Christmas shopping. Mom was tired when we got done, so I begged to drive home. I wasn’t used to freeways and things but …”

  “Oh, Grace.” Nolan took her hands. He knew what she was going to say before she could finish the story. He’d read similar stories in the Rockland Gazette for years. The Woodland Park Bridge had been covered with black ice. A car in front of her braked and Grace slammed hard on her brakes, sending them into a skid from which she couldn’t regain control.

  “She didn’t suffer. They told me she died instantly. I was in the hospital over Christmas that year. I’ll never forget the look of shock and concern that came over her face as she woke up when I hit the brakes. She was more worried for me than the fact she was being thrown at a light pole at sixty miles per hour.”

  “She loved you, Grace. It’s what a mother does.”

  They sat in silence for a while. Nolan noticed that the group all stood near the car, wanting very much to know that all was well, but he wouldn’t budge. Grace had fears to deal with, and stuffing them back into a little corner of herself wouldn’t be healthy.

  “Grace. When did you quit driving?” The question was a precarious one.

  “Well, I did try to drive to school in January that year. I was fine until Paige asked for a ride home. They said that I just sat with my hands frozen to the wheel. I wouldn’t budge. They had to call the paramedics to come and get me out. Dad always thought that once I had a break—was a little older and more mature—that I’d feel more comfortable, but I just…”

  Nodding, Nolan wiped the last traces of tears from her eyes. “You didn’t trust yourself. You were fine driving you somewhere, but when it came to someone you loved…”

  “You understand. Most people don’t.”

  “I also understand that it isn’t healthy for you to let this fear overcome you. It is very likely that if your mother had been driving, that you would have died instead. It was one of those things that only the Lord can understand right now.”