Convince Me (Holton Series #1) (13 page)

“Thanks, Patricia,” Rachel
said.  “With you and Phyllis, that will give me five regular readers and
two extras in case someone can’t make it.  I think that will work out
perfectly.”

Rachel suddenly seemed to realize
that Anna was still there for she quickly turned to her with a twinkle in her
eye.  Anna wasn’t fooled by her innocent expression.  “Oh, Anna, let
me introduce you.  This is Patricia Carson.  Patricia, this is Anna
West.”

Anna found herself presented with a
dazzling smile.  Patricia offered her hand saying, “Hello, Anna.  I
am so very glad to meet you.  I have heard nothing but wonderful things
about you.”

“Thank you,” Anna said somewhat
surprised as she shook Patricia’s hand.  She detected nothing but
sincerity in that statement.  Now that she was finally face to face with
Steven’s mother, she couldn’t think of a single thing to say.  Patricia
did not have that problem.  She pulled a chair over to their table and sat
down.

“You don’t mind if I join you a
moment, do you?”  Both women shook their heads.  Anna looked at
Rachel and saw the laughter on her friend’s face.  She sent Rachel a dirty
look before turning back to Patricia.

“Steven tells me you are from
Mayville, Anna,” Patricia said.

“Yes, ma’am,” Anna said
shyly.  She didn’t know what to say but Patricia didn’t seem to
mind.  She chatted for several minutes asking Anna about how she liked
Holton and how she was settling in.  Patricia was very nice and Anna began
to relax.  Mrs. Dorman brought Patricia’s order to their table.

“Well, I better get this home to
Dan,” she said rising from her chair.  “It was lovely meeting you,
Anna.  I hope you will join us for dinner sometime soon.  I’ll get
Steven to arrange something.”

With a smile and a wave, she left
as quickly as she came and Anna wondered if she had imagined the whole
scene.  Rachel laughed softly.

“See, that wasn’t so bad, was it?”
Rachel asked.

“No,” Anna said quickly.  “It
wasn’t bad at all.  Is she always like that.”

“Oh, yes,” Rachel replied. 
“Tori is even worse or better, depending on your viewpoint.  Personally, I
think they are wonderful but it wears me out just watching them.”

As it was time for them to leave,
they rose from the table and headed to the door.  Just as they reached it,
three men walked in.  Anna didn’t recognize them but one of them spoke to
Rachel.  He was a large, older man, tall and a little overweight. 
His face was coarse and rough and he had beady little eyes.  They skimmed
over Rachel in a suggestive manner before landing on Anna with distaste. 
She shivered but continued walking.

“Howdy, Ms. Lewis,” he said to
Rachel in a slimy voice.

“Mr. Williams,” Rachel said coldly
and followed Anna out the door.

If it hadn’t been for the fact that
the wind held the door open a little too long, Anna would have never heard what
the man said.  In a voice that was loud and obnoxious, he said the words
Anna had hoped to never hear again.

“I can’t believe that Carson boy is
dating some colored girl.  I don’t know what got into him.”

Anna said nothing as she and Rachel
walked down the street toward her office.  She was numb.  She had let
her guard down.  She had felt safe in this small town where everyone
seemed so friendly.  It now came crashing down around her.

“Anna,” Rachel began.

Anna shook her head.  “I guess
I should be grateful he used colored instead of, well, some other not so nice
term.  Rachel, do me a favor, drop it for now.”

Rachel did not say anything else
until they reached her office.  The library was in the other direction and
Anna finally realized Rachel should have gone the other way.  She gave
Rachel a bright smile although she could not look her in the eyes.

“I enjoyed lunch, Rachel, but don’t
you have to get back to the library?”

Her friend said nothing for a
moment then in her soft, firm voice, she said, “Anna, Howard Williams is an
ass.  Don’t pay any attention to anything he said.”

Anna just wanted to be alone. 
She wanted to lick her wounds in private but she had to deal with Rachel
first.  Taking a deep breath, she looked her straight in the eye and said,
“I know, Rachel.  It’s okay.  I’m fine but I do have a lot of work to
do so if you don’t mind…”

Rachel stared at her a moment
longer and then finally took the hint and said goodbye.  After she left,
Anna rushed into the small bathroom and closed the door.  She leaned back
against it and felt the tears fill her eyes but she refused to let them
fall.  She looked in the small mirror and slowly shook her head.

“You knew this day was coming,” she
said softly to herself.  “It’s time to let go of the fantasy.  You
can do it.”

Anna knew the words were right but
they didn’t work.  She would have to work on them.  If she couldn’t
convince herself that it was time to let Steven go, then how on earth was she
supposed to convince him?

#

The sound of the door opening and
closing captured Steven’s attention.  He looked up from the case he was
studying to see Julie standing by the door with a worried look on her
face.  He laid down his pen and she took a couple of steps into the room.

“Steve,” she said in a troubled
voice.  “Rachel is here to see you.”

A frown crossed his face. 
“Rachel Lewis?”  At Julie’s nod, the frown deepened.  “Why?’

“I don’t know.  She won’t tell
me.  She just said that if you have the time, she would like to speak with
you.”

Steven rose from his chair and
walked around to the front of his desk and sat on the edge.  He looked at
Julie and grinned.  “Well, I have the time.”

Julie nodded and headed toward the
door.  “Julie” he called stopping her.  He knew what a curious mind
Julie had.  The suspense had to be killing her.  “If I can, I will
tell you after she leaves.”

“I know it’s none of my business,”
she said sheepishly, “but I am curious.”

She left the office and a few
moments later Rachel Lewis walked in.  Steven knew Rachel, had known her
most of his life but she was a couple years younger than he was.  She was
closer to Mitch’s age.  Rachel was nice enough and Steven knew she was
doing a good job at the library.  He had spent some time with her in the
past year since her return to Holton but mainly because Julie would sometimes
include her.  What she could possibly need to see him about was a total
mystery to Steven but he had to admit, like Julie, he was curious.

“Hi Rachel,” he said rising from
the edge of the desk.

“Hi, Steve,” she said softly. 
“Thanks for seeing me.”

“Sure, no problem.  Have a
seat.”  He walked back around his desk.  “Can I get you anything?”

“No, thanks.”  She took a seat
in a chair opposite his desk.  Steven sat also.

“So, Rachel, what can I do for
you?”

For a minute, she looked confused
as if she wasn’t sure really why she was there either.  She took a deep
breath and then rose from the chair and walked over to the window.  Steven
was beginning to become alarmed.  From everything he knew about Rachel,
she was acting totally out of character.

“I’m not sure I should be here,”
she finally said.

“Hey, Rachel, if there is something
that I can help you with, please know that I will and it will go no further
than this office.”  Steven didn’t know what Rachel’s problem was but he
thought it had to be very serious until suddenly she grinned.

“Sorry, Steve, I’m not handling
this very well.  Okay,” she took another deep breath.  “I am here
because of Anna.”

Steven sat straight up in his
chair.  This wasn’t what he had been expecting at all.  “Anna?”

Rachel nodded.  “Anna and I
have become friends.  I really like her and don’t want her to be hurt but
something happened a few minutes ago that I think you should know about and I
know she won’t tell you.”

Steven rose from the chair and
walked over to Rachel.  He sat on the wide windowsill and looked at
her.  He could see that Rachel was torn in two.  She and Anna had
become friends.  Anna had mentioned Rachel several times and Steven knew
she genuinely liked the other woman.  He didn’t want Rachel to give away
any confidences but if she was worried enough to come to him, then Steven
wanted to know why.

“Rachel,” he said choosing his
words carefully.  “I’m in love with Anna and I will do everything in my
power to keep her from being hurt.”

Rachel studied him a moment and
made her decision.  She walked back across the room and then turned back
to face him.  “I may be blowing this totally out of proportion but here
goes.  We were having lunch at Mabel’s and just as we were leaving Howard
Williams and a couple of his friends walked in.”

Steven automatically
stiffened.  Howard Williams was not the type of man he wanted anywhere
near Anna.  Anywhere near any woman for that matter.  He was lewd
around women and more than one complaint had been filed against him.  He
was an alcoholic and had been in out of jail several times.  Recently,
they handled his wife’s divorce case.  Nora Williams had come to them a
terrified woman saying her husband had beaten her and she had the bruises to
prove it.  Andrew and Steven had gotten her to a shelter and then filed
the divorce papers.  They got a restraining order as well.  Williams
had threatened them both but nothing had ever happened and the final divorce
hearing had been several weeks ago.  Mrs. Williams was safe in some new
town far from Holton.  Steven had thought it was the last they would see
of Howard Williams.  He might have been wrong.

“What happened?” he asked.

“He made some derogatory remark
about you dating some colored girl.  I would have just blown it off but
Anna seemed really shook up.  She paled and started shaking.  It was
so…”

Steven was halfway to the door when
Rachel stopped him.  “Steve, where are you going?”

“To see Anna,” he said unable to
hide his anger.

“No, Steve, you can’t.”  He
was already at the door when Rachel spoke again.  “Steven, stop!”

The absolute command in her voice
stopped him in his tracks.  He was so surprised that he obeyed without
thinking.  He turned to look at this quiet, unassuming woman with new
eyes.

She walked over to him and pulled
him back into the room.  She directed him to his chair and he sat down.

“Steve, you can’t go rushing to her
aid.  You need to give her space.”

“Rachel, you don’t
understand.  Anna heard remarks like that about her mother when she was
growing up and it really bothered her.  I have to talk to her.”

“Well, that explains a few things
but you can’t go running over there.  It would just embarrass and
humiliate her.”

“What do you mean?’

“Obviously, this is a sore spot for
Anna.  She probably doesn’t want you to know.  I am willing to bet
she doesn’t tell you herself.”

Steven agreed with Rachel.  He
knew Anna wouldn’t tell him.  He sighed, not knowing what to do.

“So, what should I do?” he asked.

“Wait.  Wait and see what she
does.” Rachel advised.  “I’m glad I told you now.  I wasn’t sure I
should interfere.  I know Anna won’t be happy if she finds out we have
been talking about her.”

“Don’t worry, Rachel.  I won’t
tell her.”  Steven was grateful for Rachel’s help and didn’t want to
jeopardize her friendship with Anna.

Rachel gave him a quick smile and
walked to the door.  “I know you won’t but be careful, Steve, Anna is very
vulnerable.”

“Rachel,” Steven stopped her from
opening the door.  “Just one question.  I won’t tell Anna and I won’t
reveal everything but may I tell Julie why you were here?  She is dying of
curiosity.”

Rachel threw her head back and
laughed.  For a moment, Steven got a glimpse of the pretty woman under the
plain exterior.  Rachel grinned at him.  She knew Julie almost as
well as he did.  “Sure, Steve, but you might want to make her work for
it.  I’m sure you can get a home cooked meal out it if you try hard
enough.”

Steven laughed with her and then
grew serious.  He walked over to the door and opened it.  Softly he
said, “Thank you, Rachel.”

“You’re welcome,” she said before
walking out.  Steven saw Julie’s curious face right before he closed the
door and wondered if Rachel would even make it back to the library before Julie
wormed the story out of her.

Now what was he going to do about
Anna?  He walked back to his desk and picked up the phone.  Dialing
her office, Steven hoped his worries were unfounded.  She answered on the
third ring and there was a trace of tears in her voice.  For a moment,
Steven had an incredible urge to hit something, preferably Howard Williams’
face.

“Hi, honey,” he said softly careful
to keep the anger out of his voice.  “How is your day going?’

“Fine.”

“I’d like to see you.  How
about dinner at the King’s Court?”

There was a pause and Steven sent
Rachel a silent thank you.  With clarity of vision, Steven knew Anna was
going to try to end their relationship.  If Rachel hadn’t spoken to him,
he would have been totally unprepared and would not have known how to handle
it.

“I don’t think so, Steve,” she said
after a minute.  “I’m really tired.  I think I will just have an
early night.”

“Okay, that sounds good.  I
have to work a little late tonight so when I finish, I will go pick us up some
burgers and then you can have an early night.  See you about six or
six-thirty.”  Steven quickly hung up the phone before she could answer and
told Julie to hold all his calls.  He even turned off his cell
phone.  If Anna wanted to cancel, she would have to come to him.

He worked steadily all afternoon
and finished just before six.  He picked up the food and headed to
Anna’s.  When he arrived, she greeted him with a tight smile.  Steven
could see the sadness in her eyes and it tugged at his heart.  There was a
bleakness about her.  She was dressed causally in jeans and an over-sized
sweatshirt.  She looked small and scared and he wanted to pull her into
his arms and hold her forever.