Angel of the Cove (4 page)

His gaze drifted to the apple in Anna's hand, and for the first time he noticed dark stains on her fingers and around her nails. She glanced up, saw him staring at her fingers, and blushed. “Mama and I picked strawberries and made jam the day before I left home. I tried rubbing vinegar on my hands, but I couldn't get rid of the stains.”

“My mother used to make blackberry jam. She'd always say her stained hands were a sign of hard work for the people she loved the most.”

Anna smiled. “That's a lovely thought.” She paused before continuing. “You speak of her as if she's no longer with you.”

He shook his head. “She died three years ago.” Simon smiled as he thought of her. She'd stood less than five feet tall, but she worked from sunup until long after dark taking care of her family. She'd been the one to read the Bible as they sat at the kitchen table, the oil lamp casting its glow across the pages of the book her parents had passed down to her.

Simon shook his head. This was no time for remembering the past. Lately, though, his memories had come more often. He cleared his throat and picked up another apple. “So, Miss Prentiss, what made you come to Cades Cove?”

A smile pulled at her lips. “Miss Prentiss? How do you expect me to call you Simon if you're going to call me Miss Prentiss?”

He tried to ignore the teasing quality in her voice. He frowned, directed his gaze to the apple, and sliced into it. “I didn't want to take that liberty unless you approved. After all, we just met.”

She laughed, and the tinkle of it sounded like bells chiming in the trees. “We did indeed, but please call me Anna. I hope we're going to be good friends.”

“I do too.” The blade nicked his finger and he dropped the knife. Blood trickled from his finger, and a sharp intake of breath escaped his lips.

Anna set her pan of apples on the ground and reached for his hand. “Let me see.”

She bent closer to look and her fingers curled around his hand. Her hair gleamed in the sunlight, and the urge to touch the spun gold before his eyes welled up in him. Suddenly she straightened. “That doesn't look too bad.” She reached in the pocket of her dress, pulled out a handkerchief, and wrapped it around his finger.

Her action shocked him. He tried to pull away, but she held his hand tight in her grip. “It's bleeding,” he said. “You'll ruin your handkerchief.”

“Don't worry. I have others.” Her long eyelashes flickered as she gazed at him. “I suppose you're my first patient.”

His heart fluttered at the touch of her fingers wrapped around his. He slipped free of her grasp. “Then I'm honored to have your handkerchief wrapped around my wound. I'll testify to all the folks in the Cove that you're going to make a mighty fine nurse.”

She gave the bandage one last inspection before she picked up the pan again. “I have to confess I'm a little scared about meeting everyone. I hope they'll like me.”

He was thankful for the distance she'd put between them. It was hard to think clearly when she was touching him. He took a deep breath and willed his heart to return to its normal beat. “I'm sure they will. The folks around here have a reputation for not accepting outsiders, but they just want strangers to prove themselves first. Show them you're not afraid of hard work and you'll earn their respect. Once they get to know you, they'll open their hearts and homes to you. Especially the women, when they need you.”

Her eyes grew bright. “Then I suppose I should get ready for some hard work.”

Simon tightened the handkerchief on the cut and glanced back at her. “You never did answer my question about why you came to the Cove.”

She hesitated for a moment, a distant look clouding her eyes. Then she let out a long breath. “There's a hospital in New York—Bellevue Hospital—with a nurse training program. My father told me he'd pay for me to attend, so I applied there two years ago but didn't get accepted. This year I reapplied, and I've been accepted for the fall.”

“Congratulations. You must be excited.”

Her frown deepened. “Well, things have changed in the last two years. My father died, and now my brother is head of the family. He doesn't think I have what it takes to make it in a big city like New York, and he won't give me the money for school.”

“So what does that have to do with you coming to Cades Cove?”

“Uncle Charles talked him into letting me spend the summer with Granny to see if she thinks I'll be able to stand up under the pressure of a big city hospital. If she gives me a good report, Robert will give me the money and I'll leave for nursing school.”

For some reason her words saddened him. He pulled up a blade of grass and stuck it in his mouth. “So you're only here for the summer?”

Anna dropped the apple she'd just peeled into the pan. “Yes. Then I'm off to New York. I'm hoping I'll get to see Granny deliver at least one baby while I'm here. And after I graduate, I would love to work in the maternity ward at Bellevue.”

The muscle in Simon's jaw twitched as his fingers tightened around the fruit in his hand. “It seems you have your life planned out.”

Her eyes narrowed as she stared toward the mountains in the distance. “I do. I'm going to show my brother he's wrong about me. I do have what it takes to be a nurse. I've known it ever since I was a little girl.” After a moment, she took a deep breath and directed a smile at him. “And what about you? How long are you going to stay in Cades Cove?”

The question surprised him, but it was the answer that rankled his spirit. “I doubt I'll ever leave.”

She looked at him in surprise. “You don't sound too happy about that.”

His face grew warm, and he directed his attention back to the apple he held. “I didn't mean to sound that way. You couldn't ask for a more beautiful place to live.”

“You're right about that. Where's your home?”

“About a mile from here. My brother and I both have homes on the farm our parents left us. John and his wife live in the house where we grew up, and I live in what was supposed to be John's honeymoon cabin.”

Her eyes grew wide. “Honeymoon cabin? What's that?”

The shocked expression on her face made Simon laugh. “It's been a tradition in the Cove for families to build a cabin near their house for their children to live in when they get married. They're called honeymoon cabins, and Pa had just finished one for my brother when he and Ma died. After John and Martha married, they took the main house and I moved into the cabin. I expect you'll be meeting my brother's wife soon. Granny's been tending her, and her time's coming up in about two months. Maybe you'll get to help when their baby is born.”

Anna dropped another peeled apple in the pan. “Maybe so. Your family must be excited about the arrival of a new baby. But tell me about your wife.”

Simon swallowed and glanced away. “I don't have one.”

She let out a choked cackle before she dissolved into giggles. He stared into eyes that sparkled with a mischievous glint. “An unmarried
man living alone in a honeymoon cabin? That's the funniest thing I've ever heard.”

A sheepish grin pulled at his lips. “I suppose it is.” He debated on whether to ask the question that had been in his mind since he first saw her. Licking his lips, he spoke. “And you? Is there someone special in your life?”

Anna wiped at the tears of laughter at the corners of her eyes and shook her head. “No. My brother and mother wanted me to marry the boy who lived on the next farm. He practically grew up at our house, but I knew I wasn't cut out to spend my days on another farm. New York is where I want to be. They have electric streetlights and there are people everywhere. I want to be able to choose which store I shop in and which restaurant I eat in. I can't imagine living anywhere else.”

He had never heard such determination in anyone's voice before, and he hoped she would be as happy in the city as she thought she'd be. But experience had taught him reality didn't always live up to expectations. He'd wanted to pastor a church in a city, but God had brought him back to Cades Cove. In so doing, his dream of preaching to large congregations and bringing many souls to God had vanished. “I hope it works out for you.”

Anna opened her mouth to speak, but before she could respond Granny Lawson appeared at the back door. “You two got enough ready so I can cook some pan-fried apples for supper?”

Anna grabbed the pan and jumped to her feet. “Sure, Granny. I'll bring them.”

Simon watched her run toward the house and struggled to calm his racing pulse. A warning to tread carefully where Anna Prentiss was concerned flashed in his mind. He'd just met her, and yet he felt drawn to her like no other woman he'd ever known.

The fact that he was a preacher was probably the reason for this strange feeling that filled him. It was his job to help all the people in the Cove. For the next few months she would be attending his church, and he hoped he could provide her with any spiritual guidance she needed—just as he did for everyone else in the Cove.

But even as he tried to convince himself that his interest in Anna
was related to his calling to serve God, he knew it wasn't true. The feelings she'd stirred in him weren't the same as he'd experienced when helping others in his congregation. He felt something different for Anna Prentiss. Something new.

A
nna scraped the last bite of supper from her plate and popped it in her mouth. Maybe it was the mountain air or the long trip, but the simple food had been better than she could have imagined. Mountain cooking might be different than her mother's, but Granny's meal ranked right up there with the best she'd ever eaten. She laid the fork on her plate and pushed back from the table. “Granny, that was delicious.”

Granny chuckled. “Twarn't nothin' fancy.”

Anna glanced at the empty bowls on the table and smiled. Nothing could have topped the fresh mountain greens Granny had gathered from the surrounding hillsides. The pan-fried apples, sweet corn relish, and greens cooked with hog jowl had made a meal fit for a king. “If this meal is an indication of what you have, then I'm in for a treat this summer.”

Granny pushed to her feet and began to stack their plates. “Well, I reckon we make out all right when it comes to eatin'. The good Lord's done provided us with game to hunt and fish in our streams, and we spend the summer a-layin' up food from our gardens. But them fresh greens shore did taste good after eatin' canned food all winter.”

Across the table from her, Simon leaned back in his chair and patted his stomach. “Granny's one of the best cooks in the Cove. You can always depend on a good meal at her house.”

Granny arched an eyebrow and turned toward the dry sink. “Is
that why you always come a-visitin' late in the afternoon? So's you can eat?”

Simon rose from his chair and gathered up several bowls. He winked at Anna. “I guess she's caught on to me.”

He stopped beside Granny, and she reached up and patted him on the shoulder. “You come anytime you want, preacher boy. I'll share whatever I got.”

Anna studied the two as they joked back and forth. It was plain to see they shared a special relationship. They had kept up a lively conversation throughout supper, no doubt to make her feel welcome, and it had worked. Uncle Charles had been right about this being a peaceful place. The only sounds she'd heard since arriving were the birds that flew into the trees around the cabin and Granny's horse in the ramshackle barn behind her home. With a full stomach and the quiet night surrounding the cabin, she had a feeling she would sleep well.

Anna jumped to her feet, picked up the pitcher from the table, and carried it to Granny. “Let me help wash the dishes.”

Granny turned from the dry sink in the corner of the kitchen and glanced back at the table. “Simon, if you'll bring the rest of the dishes from the table, I'll wash 'em and Anna can dry. Won't take but a few minutes with all of us a-workin'.”

And indeed, it wasn't long before Granny was handing the last pot to her. Anna dried it and set it on the table with the other clean dishes. “If you'll show me where these go, I'll put them up.”

Granny shook her head. “No need for that. Won't take me but a minute to put 'em away. You and Simon take a seat in the other room. I'll be along 'fore you know it.”

Anna glanced at Simon and then headed to the room where the dried herbs hung. As they entered the front room, as Granny called it, Anna noticed the door that had been open when she arrived was now closed. Simon stopped beside her and motioned to one of the chairs. “Have a seat, and I'll see if I can stir the fire up. It may be June, but it still gets cool at night. Our fireplaces will be burning for a few weeks yet.”

“I noticed someone had closed the door.”

He picked up a poker, knelt in front of the fireplace, and began to stir the embers that smoldered there. “In the summertime, the cabin doors are left open during the day to let the air circulate through the house. At night we close them.” He glanced up and grinned. “We don't want any bears walking in while we're sleeping.”