Her Heart's Desire (13 page)

“
I should put these in some
water,” she said. “Do you want to come in?”

“
Yes, but I was hoping we
could go for a walk?”

“
Sure, I’d love to. It’s a
perfect day for it.”

She was right. It was, but he figured
any day with her would be perfect. Forcing aside the thought, he
followed her into the house and to the kitchen where her mother and
Jenny were washing dishes.

“
Did I come at a bad time?”
he asked. He thought they’d be done with cleaning up from lunch by
now.

“
No, you’re fine,” her
mother assured him. “We’re almost done.”

As Sally retrieved a vase from one of
the shelves, her mother finished washing the last dish and set the
rag on the edge of a chair to dry. “What’s your favorite dessert,
Rick?”

He shrugged. “I like all desserts,
Mrs. Larson.”

Jenny wiped the dish dry. “While
that’s true, I’m sure there’s one dessert you like more than
others.”

“
Well, if I had to choose
one, I suppose it would be an apple tart, but I don’t want you to
go through any trouble.”

“
Oh, that’s no trouble at
all,” Sally said as she filled the vase with water.

“
And what luck,” Jenny
added. “Sally can make those so no one gets sick.”

Her mother shot her a warning look, so
Jenny offered an apologetic smile and hurried to place the dishes
on the shelves. Sighing, her mother returned her attention to him
and smiled. “We’ll make some apple tarts so you can have one, but
Sally won’t be making them this time.”

“
I appreciate it,” he
replied.

After Sally placed the tulips in the
vase, she showed them to her mother and Jenny. “Aren’t these
lovely?”

“
They are,” her mother
agreed. “Where do you want to put them?”

“
I was thinking the
parlor,” Sally said as she switched a yellow and red tulip around.
“There. That’s better.”

Rick wondered what made the new
arrangement better but figured it was one of those things only
women knew. Besides, the flowers made her happy, and that was the
whole point.

“
Rick and I are going to
take a walk,” Sally told her mother and sister. “We’ll be back
soon.”

He placed his hat back on his head,
nodded a good-bye to them and followed Sally to the parlor. She set
the flowers on the table, stepped away from it to study the
flowers, and moved the vase over about an inch. When she stepped
back and studied the flowers again, his eyebrows furrowed. Just
what was she doing? She moved the vase back to where it was before,
shook her head, and moved it over another inch in the other
direction. She sighed and put it back to where it was the first
time.

“
What are you doing?” he
finally asked.

“
Oh well, I want the
flowers to be in the center of the table.”

“
They are.”

She examined them and shook her head.
“Not quite. They’re a little too far to the left.”

He laughed. “They’re just flowers,
Sally. It doesn’t matter if they’re not exactly at the center of
the table.”

With a grin, she shrugged. “You’re
right. And to the average person, they look like they’re in the
middle, don’t you think?”

“
Yes.” And that was no lie.
To him, they did appear that way.

The storm door opened and Joel entered
the house.

Sally set her hands on her hips. “What
are you doing here? You need to be in the fields helping your
brothers and Pa.”

Joel paused in front of the parlor
doorway and rolled his eyes. “I’m thirsty.”

“
You get thirsty more than
anyone else I know.”

“
That’s because I need more
water than other people,” he replied in a tone that indicated she
wasn’t smart enough to figure it out on her own.

She rolled her eyes. “Maybe if you
took a canteen out there with you, you could do actual
work.”

“
I work plenty.” He glanced
at the table and smirked. “Those flowers aren’t in the middle of
the table.”

“
Why you…” She hurried
toward him so he bolted off down the hall.

Amused, Rick stopped her before she
could follow him to the kitchen. “Let him be. He was only giving
you a hard time about the flowers because he knows it bothers
you.”

She groaned but nodded. “I
know.”

“
The flowers look fine.
Let’s go for a walk.”

Relaxing, she smiled and led him out
of the house. “It is a beautiful day for a walk, isn’t
it?”

“
It is,” he agreed as the
storm door shut behind him. “I’m glad you’ve been able to spend
time with me over the past couple weeks.”

Her cheeks grew pink in a manner he
thought made her especially pleasing to the eye. He rather liked it
when she showed the shy side of her personality. “Why don’t we go
that way today?” He motioned to the area along the property where
the horses grazed.

“
Alright.” She led the way
down the steps and touched her hair which was pinned back into a
bun. “I forgot to bring my bonnet.”

As she turned to head back up the
steps, he asked, “Do you need to wear it?”

“
Well, it’s
sunny.”

“
So?”

“
I thought it would be
appropriate to shield my eyes.”

“
I’ll tell you what,” he
began as he took his hat off and placed it on her head, “you can
borrow mine.”

“
This is silly.”

“
Why?”

She chuckled and touched the hat. “I
can’t wear your hat.”

“
Of course you can.
Besides, if you go back in the house, you might try to get those
flowers in the center of the table again, and I’d rather be
walking.”

“
So they aren’t in the
center?”

Realizing his error, he took her by
the elbow and gently led her away from the house. “That’s not what
I meant. I’d rather be with you, enjoying the nice weather, instead
of being stuck in the house.”

She fell in step beside him and
smiled. “Alright.”

“
I’m glad you were able to
get away so we could talk.”

They walked in silence for a few
moments. He kept his hand on her elbow and wondered if she noticed.
He glanced in her direction and thought she didn’t seem to notice.
Either that, or she didn’t mind. He rather liked the physical
contact, so he kept his hand where it was.

“
Is there anywhere you want
to go?” she asked.

He shrugged. “I’ve already seen
everything there is to see out here. I figured we’d take our time
and enjoy the day.”

She nodded.

Amused, he lightly squeezed her elbow.
“You’re not usually quiet. Is something on your mind?”

“
Not really. Did you want
to talk about Ethel Mae?”

“
We can if you
want.”

“
I haven’t talked to her in
a week. Did you see her?”

He shook his head. “No.”

“
Why not? I thought you
were going to surprise her with something.”

He wasn’t sure how to talk his way out
of this one. Words weren’t his specialty. He did a better job of
listening and examining the facts. But this whole thing with women
required some talking. After thinking over a good response, he
finally settled for saying, “I’m not sure she’ll appreciate a gift
from me.” And that was true. She’d be better off getting that cameo
from Samuel.

“
Why wouldn’t
she?”

He sighed. Sally didn’t ask easy
questions. “Well, she’s interested in Samuel.”

“
I don’t think she’s
that
interested in
Samuel,” she argued.

“
Yes, I’m sure she is. When
I saw him the other day, he talked about her as if they were
getting along great.”

“
Really?”

He noted the surprise in her voice and
wondered about it. There was something in her tone that suggested
this was the last thing she expected. But that didn’t make any
sense since she was the one who told him about Samuel in the first
place. “You warned me, remember? You said unless I got her jealous
enough, I wasn’t going to win her.”

“
Oh, yes. I did say that,
but I still don’t see how Samuel can claim that he’s getting along
so well with her.”

Curious by the way she
worded the statement, he thought over the possibilities why this
should be something she hadn’t expected. It seemed to him that
something important was missing from the puzzle. Most of the pieces
seemed to be in place, but he suspected something was missing. The
question was
what
.

“
You know what I think?”
she spoke up.

“
What?”

“
I think you’re not
confident enough in yourself.”

“
Oh?”

She stopped walking so she could face
him. Letting go of her elbow, he turned to her and waited for her
to explain what she meant.

“
You’re a handsome man,”
she told him.

Pleased, he smiled. “Thank
you.”

“
But most women aren’t
going to see that.”

His smile faltered.

“
Now don’t get me wrong,”
she quickly added in a manner meant to sooth his feelings. “I saw
it right away, but for women like Ethel Mae, it takes longer. What
Ethel Mae likes is a man who looks like he’s sure of
himself.”

“
I don’t look like I’m sure
of myself?”

“
Well, you do when you’re
talking about your job, but that’s because you’re comfortable
there.” She paused before giving him a smile. “I get the impression
you’re not comfortable around women.”

It was true so he didn’t bother
denying it, though he sure wished she hadn’t made such an
observation. “Is that what you want? A man who’s confident around
women?”

She blinked in surprise.
“Me?”

“
You’re a woman, so you’re
the best person to ask.”

“
I might be a woman, but
that doesn’t mean I like the same thing Ethel Mae does.”

That made sense. She didn’t like
cameos like Ethel Mae did. She preferred flowers. So what other
differences were there?

“
Rick, I’m not Ethel Mae,”
she began with a hesitant tone in her voice. “She and I are good
friends, but we don’t always like the same things.”

“
So do you prefer men who
are confident around women?” he pressed.

She shook her head and then turned to
continue the walk, so he fell into step beside her. Well, that was
good. So she might not mind that he wasn’t as confident as Samuel
was.

“
You’ve seen Samuel?” she
asked.

“
Yes. He’s not just
confident around women. He seems to be confident around
everyone.”

“
Really?” She glanced at
the fields where her family was working before turning her
attention back to him. “And he was with Ethel Mae
recently?”

“
He seems to enjoy her
company.”

“
I need to pay her a visit
this week.”

Clearing his throat, he debated
whether to say what was on his mind. He wanted to tell her that he
was fine with Ethel Mae and Samuel being together, that it wasn’t
necessary for her to pretend that they were courting, or close to
it. But at the same time, he wasn’t sure if he’d have any excuse to
see her if they didn’t talk about her friend. He wished to steer
things away from Ethel Mae but didn’t know how to. Finally, he
ventured, “I’m not sure I want to keep trying to make your friend
think I’m someone I’m not.”

“
We’re not doing
that.”

“
You’re pretending you’re
interested in me?” He intentionally turned his statement into a
question because he hoped to pick up some clue that would tell him
she might not be pretending as much as he thought.

“
It was the plan,” she
replied.

He sighed. Sally was right. He didn’t
understand women, and he wasn’t any good when it came to dealing
with them. As it was, her answer was too vague for him to decide
how he should proceed. Maybe what he needed to do was talk to
Samuel since he seemed to have no problems understanding
women.

Sally turned around and headed back,
so he did likewise, thinking of what else he might say to figure
out how to proceed with her. “I hope I’m not bothering you by
coming out here as much as I am.”

“
No, you’re not bothering
me,” she replied. “It’s been nice.”

“
It’s been nice for me,
too.” Maybe he had a chance with her after all. He certainly hoped
so.

“
I don’t want you to get
the wrong idea when I said you should be more confident. I didn’t
mean you had to make a woman think you’re unobtainable. I just
think you don’t realize what a wonderful man you are. You shouldn’t
sell yourself short because any woman would be lucky to have
you.”