His Holiday Family (12 page)

“Don't you dare.” Laughter overtook her as she pictured the words.
Kathleen, you are forgiven. Gideon.
“That would set the tongues wagging in Hope. I probably wouldn't be able to show my face. Of course, it would take everyone's mind off the hurricane.”

“Well, then I'll do that.”

She punched him playfully in the arm. “You'd better not.”

“I won't. I don't want to get on your bad side again.”

A shriek and barking reverberated through the house. Kathleen started for the door. “Kip brought Butch back here?”

“Well, not exactly.”

“I'm not sure I want to hear what you mean by that.”

“That will depend.”

Kathleen opened the door and stepped out into the hallway at the same time a small brown wiry-haired dog ran down it with Cottonballs on its tail. Kip raced after the pair toward the living room.

“
That
is what it depends on?” Kathleen gestured toward the dirty dog.

“Yep. How do you feel about adopting a homeless dog?”

Kip skidded to a stop at the end of the corridor and swept around toward her. “I found him hiding under a bush. He was scared, shaking and whining. He's lost. I had to bring him home.” Then before she could reply, he hurried down the stairs after the fighting animals, drawn no doubt by the racket the mutt and Cottonballs were causing in the living room.

“I'm not sure this is the best time. I never got to have a dog when I was younger. Mom didn't want any pets.” Kathleen entered the living room to the picture of Kip kneeling by the couch and trying to coax the dog out from under it while Cottonballs stood next to him, tail puffed out, teeth bared and giving off a banshee cry that made
her
hair stand up.

Miss Alice, Jared and her mom came into the room from the kitchen.

Kip lifted his head, looked at Kathleen and said, “Mom, he is so scared. Do something,” then went back to trying to soothe the animal.

“Jared, can you get Cottonballs and take him to the laundry room for me?” Miss Alice moved slowly toward the sofa while Jared darted around her and scooped up the cat that continued to hiss and scream as he took him away. Miss Alice trailed after Jared.

Her mom stepped over to the sofa. “What's going on here? What is under there? Another cat?”

Gideon inched closer to Kathleen and whispered, “Kip brought the dog in through the front door and was taking him upstairs when Cottonballs sensed his territory had been invaded and went on the defensive. I didn't have a chance to say anything to your mom.”

Kathleen stooped next to Kip and leaned down until she saw the mutt cowering in the back. On closer inspection the dog appeared underfed. His ribs showed,
and that sight squeezed her heart. “Maybe if we moved the couch, he'll come to you, Kip.”

“What's going on?” Ruth asked again. “What's under there?”

Kip peered up at his grandmother. “I found a dog that needs a home. Can I keep him? Please.”

“I don't know if that is such a good idea. I'm not a pet person.”

“But, Nana, he's homeless. We can't turn him away. We've got Cottonballs here. He's a pet, and Gideon had Butch here during the hurricane. Pretty please.”

“But that's the reason why. We do have Cottonballs here. One pet is enough. Look what nearly happened with Bubbles.”

“No one will know he's here. I'll keep him in my room. Feed him. Bathe him. Walk him. Besides, Miss Alice will be leaving soon when her house is fixed up.”

Her mother sent Kathleen a beseeching look.

“Honey, let's get him out from under the couch first. Gideon, will you help me move it?”

“Sure. Kip, be ready to snatch him if he makes a run for it.”

Kathleen stood on one end of the sofa while Gideon took the other. “One, two, three. Lift.”

Positioned to grab the mutt when the couch was moved, Kip lunged forward and scooped up the medium-size dog, skinny with his ribs showing. “See. He's been homeless for a while and he has no collar.”

“It's dirty.” Her mother wrinkled her nose and backed away. “He needs to be outside. We don't have enough water yet to bathe him.”

“I can't keep him?”

“Certainly not in this house until he is clean. No tell
ing what he's brought in here. Fleas. Ticks.” Her mother folded her arms over her chest.

“I don't have to drink any water. He can have my share.”

Kathleen's gaze fastened onto the dog's sad face as he laid his head on Kip's shoulder. The animal's brown eyes latched on to hers. “Mom, why don't we keep him in the garage for right now? At least for the time being while we decide what to do with him.”

“Please, Nana. I promise he won't be a problem.”

“Fine, for now. But you have to do everything for it. And you have to keep it away from Cottonballs. I thought an animal was dying in here.”

“Thanks. I will. You'll see.”

Gideon scratched the animal behind his ears. “C'mon. I'll help you set up a bed for him. We'll make him feel right at home in the garage.”

Kip rushed past his grandmother as though he was afraid she would change her mind.

Which given a chance, she might. Kathleen closed the gap between her and her mother. “Thanks. This means a lot to Kip.”

“It stays only as long as it isn't any problem. We don't know what kind of diseases it carries. It's so mangy looking.”

“I think some food will help with that, and I'll have a vet look him over. The dog must have been on his own for some time. Probably before the hurricane. He looks like he hasn't eaten much lately.”

“So what do we feed him? I don't have any dog food here.”

“I'll talk with Gideon. Don't worry.” She hugged her mother then headed toward the garage.

Kip found an old comforter in the Goodwill bag
her mother kept and put it down near the door into the house. When he set the dog on it, he stroked the dirty fur on the animal's back and murmured, “You're all right now. I'm gonna take care of you.”

“How about food?” Kathleen asked as the dog curled into a ball, laying his head on Kip's leg.

“I can get some of Butch's dog food. I stocked up when the hurricane was coming. He'll need a bowl of water, too.”

Kip grinned up at Gideon. “Thanks. He needs a lot of it.”

“I'll find a bowl and fill it with water.” Kathleen snagged Gideon's attention. “May I have a word with you?”

He nodded and backed toward the door into the house.

“Mom, tell Nana it's my share of the water.”

“We'll find a way for everyone to have water, even your dog. I think the water will be restored soon anyway, so we'll be fine.”

“See, I told you everything would be okay.” Kip put his arm around the mutt and rubbed his face against the matted, dirty fur.

Kathleen hurried inside before she threw herself between the dog and her son.
Boys like to get dirty. Boys like to get dirty.

In the kitchen she shifted toward Gideon. “Which vet do you take Butch to? I hope he can see Kip's dog tomorrow.”

“Dr. Anderson. Let me see if his clinic is set up to receive patients. The area of town it's in didn't get hit as hard as some. When are you off work tomorrow?”

“I should be home by four.”

“We can do that, then stop by the beach afterwards.”

“Why?”

“It's not the most ideal bathtub to bathe an animal in, but it's better than nothing.”

“Good thinking.”

“I'll have everything set up tomorrow for the dog. You can go to work and not worry about it.”

As he left the kitchen, Kathleen began searching for a bowl for the water. When pulling down a plastic dish to use, she stopped in midmotion. In a short time she was beginning to depend on Gideon, to turn to him for help with certain problems. She had to put a halt to that or she would fall right back into the role she had in her marriage where she'd let Derek run everything. She really had only herself to blame for the situation she'd found herself in. She'd never insisted to be informed about their finances. Their marriage had never been a partnership, and she just now realized she was partially the reason it hadn't been.

K
athleen surveyed the live oak that remained standing guard near the old white lighthouse on the Point. From what she understood, the historical tree, more than two hundred fifty years old, would live in spite of the fact the hurricane had stripped off all its leaves. Seeing it gave her hope that the town would revive and be better than ever. The Peace Oak, as it had been known through history, had been where a treaty had been signed between the French and the Indians in the area.

Gideon came up behind her and stopped next to her, staring at the lighthouse. “It makes me feel good to see these two landmarks here after the surge of water covered most of the Point.”

The past two weeks she and Gideon had seen each other in passing and a couple of times had stopped to talk but that had been all. With the power and water back on, most of the neighbors had retreated to their own houses to repair what they could. She missed the camaraderie of working on a team. “The lighthouse definitely needs a fresh coat of white.” Four feet up the
structure all the paint was gone and above that band the rest was dull from years of wind and weather.

“That's one of the projects we are tackling today. If we can get the park back into some kind of order, then we'll be able to decorate it for Christmas.”

“So they'll still turn the holiday lights on Thanksgiving evening?”

“Yep, twelve days away. That's why we're here. The powers-that-be want the holidays to be like every other year.”

“Actually, that's a smart move.” Kathleen pointed toward the Peace Oak. “Now if we could glue the leaves back on it, it would be like every other year.”

“Gotta find those leaves first.”

“They're probably somewhere around Jackson.” She turned away from the tree and lighthouse and scanned the beehive of activity all around Broussard Park that was one of the favorite spots for the townspeople. “So what are you doing here today?”

“Helping rebuild the playground. Zane Davidson is donating the new equipment along with some help setting it up.” He nodded toward a large truck pulling into the parking lot. “In fact, he's here with it now. What are you doing?”

“Helping to lay gravel for the playground.”

“Ah, so we'll be working together. Since Miss Alice's house, I've missed that.”

For the past two weeks she had been pulling double duty at the hospital, coming home and helping her mother repair what they could or going to the cottage to dig through the debris for anything of hers or her sons'. “I'm almost through with the cleanup at the cottage. The city should be around at the end of the week to pick up the trash.”

“Where are Jared and Kip?”

“Coming later with Mom and Miss Alice. They're contributing lunch for the volunteers.”

“Good. I've arranged for your sons to tour Station Two next Saturday. I want to tell them today, but I want your okay first.”

“They'll enjoy it.”

“How's Rocky doing?”

“The second Kip was able to give him a bath he started bugging Mom about letting him come in and stay in his room. I think he's been counting down the days until Miss Alice goes back to her house. Davidson's Construction Company will be starting on her home Monday. Do you know Zane is only charging her whatever the insurance company gives her to repair her home? She won't even have to pay the thousand dollar deductible. When Zane told her that, I thought for a moment Miss Alice was going to do a jig.”

“Now that I would have liked to see.”

“I went to school with Zane, and if you had told me he would be doing so much for Hope, I would have scoffed at that.”

Gideon's forehead crunched. “Why? Since he returned to Hope, he's been doing a lot for the town.”

“When he was in high school, he had quite the reputation of being the bad boy. He rode a motorcycle way too fast and drank. But when I saw him at Miss Alice's house yesterday, I hardly recognized him.”

Gideon waved at a tall, black-haired man talking to the driver of the truck.

“You know him?”

“Yeah, this past year he's been coming to this park to play basketball with my youth group.”

“What's going to happen to Hope Community
Church?” She glanced toward the church across the street from the park. All that remained of the front building was the bell tower. The older original church that had stood behind the newer part was still intact, not having received any water damage because it sat on a rise that had protected it from the flooding.

“We have plans to restore the worship area in the original church. The pastor hopes to have it complete by Christmas Eve services, even if the rest of the church restoration hasn't been done. It amazes me how the building built a hundred and fifty years ago withstood the hurricane but not the one built seventy years ago.”

“Have you ever wondered why certain things happen while others don't? Like the church or the tree falling on Miss Alice's house. It could have fallen on Mom's.”

“That's why I've always felt being prepared for everything is better.”

“But you can't always think of everything. Events occur out of the blue that throw your life into a tail-spin.”

“Is that what happened when your husband died? He had to be young.”

She nodded. “Thirty-five. That's young for a heart attack, but he had been under a great deal of stress. He'd tried to hide the trouble he was in, and it had taken its toll on his body.”

“What kind of trouble?”

“Financial. He got himself into debt. He took a second mortgage out on the house. When he died, I couldn't make the payments. The bank foreclosed on us. I tried to stay in Denver for the boys. So much had changed in their lives, I didn't want to move away from what they were familiar with. I sank deeper into debt. Finally, I came home.”

“And now with the hurricane, you've lost what you had when you came back to Hope?”

“Yes. Some pieces of furniture and boxes of possessions were still at Mom's, but most of what we owned was in the cottage. I hadn't gotten renter's insurance yet. All we have from the cottage fits in two boxes.”

He moved close and took her hands. “But you and your sons are alive.”

“Yes, and my car was at Mom's so it wasn't a total loss.”

“Many people are in the same predicament. We just have to pull together. One prayer is good, but when it can be many, that's even better.”

As before, Gideon's nearness sent her pulse racing. Her senses became attuned to him, everything else fading into the background. As far as she was concerned, they were alone in the park. The breeze from the Gulf carried the scent of the sea. The warmth of the sun canceled out the slight chill in the wind. It was a perfect day, a day to enjoy a picnic, like when she was a child.

“Mom!” Jared ran across the parking lot toward her.

Life intruded. Kathleen tugged her hand from Gideon's and stepped back, turning toward Jared and smiling. This wasn't a day to enjoy a picnic. It was a day of work, a day to remember what happened in Denver with her husband. A day to remind herself not to rush into anything, to be cautious.

“I helped Miss Alice and Nana with the sandwiches. Kip didn't. He was playing with Rocky.” Jared skidded to a stop in front of her. “Nana told me to tell you her and Miss Alice are setting up over by the bell tower.” Facing Gideon, he stood at attention. “What can I do?
I'm here to help. Nana said we have to if we want a playground.”

Gideon clasped his hand on Jared's shoulder. “Let's go see what we can do.”

She watched her son walking off with Gideon, both with casts on their left arms. The sight thickened her throat. Often when she was working and Gideon was off, her sons spent time with him, helping around his house or a neighbor's. Butch and Rocky had become “best buddies” according to Kip.

Jared stopped and whirled around. “Aren't ya coming?”

“Yes,” she answered, noticing Kip helping her mother carry the food to the church.

If she could ignore the damage all around her, she could for a moment see a glimmer of hope. Jared and Kip had settled in at her mother's. She had a good job, which would help her get back on her feet. She was surrounded by family and friends who cared. But she knew this moment would never last. Worry nibbled at her composure. She kept waiting for the other shoe to fall.

 

Zane approached Gideon. “You're determined to ignore that cast on your arm, aren't you?”

He laughed. “I keep trying to get my captain to ignore it.”

“Obviously desk duty isn't setting well with you.”

“Would it with you? You own a large construction company, and yet I see you often working at one of your sites. How come?”

“I enjoy it. Hard work makes me feel alive.”

Gideon stared at his friend he'd met while trying to put out a grass fire threatening the pine forest along
Interstate 10, all because someone had thrown out a lit cigarette. “It's scary how alike you and I are.”

“That's why I want to know what is going on between you and Kathleen. I knew her in high school. She was a freshman when I was a senior. Nice girl.”

“She's a nice woman.”

Zane cocked an eyebrow. “Don't tell me you're abandoning me. I thought we would go into old age as confirmed bachelors.”

“How did you get
nice woman
to mean marriage? I think all this hard work is going to your head.”

“In all the years I've known you, I haven't heard of you dating a woman longer than a couple of weeks. Long-term isn't in your vocabulary.”

“And it is in yours?”

“No,” Zane said with a chuckle.

“For your information, three years knowing me isn't that long. I've dated women longer than two weeks.”

“Who?”

Gideon stuck up his forefinger. “One is Missy Collins, two is…” He could hardly even count Missy because they were more friends than anything else.

“Two?”

“Okay, I haven't found the right one yet.” And most likely wouldn't since he wasn't looking for any long-term commitment.

“So this makes Kathleen special.”

“Of course she's special, but we haven't even gone out on one date.”

“From what I've heard from Pete, you're always over at her mother's. He said something about arranging a tour of the station for her sons. I just saw you a while ago having an intense conversation with her. It looks serious to me.”

Gideon released a frustrated breath. “You're not going to rile me. Since when have you listened to gossip?”

“Pete seemed to think it might be something.”

“Since when have you listened to Pete?”

“Since high school. Why haven't you gone out on a date?”

“Hurricane Naomi. Did you forget about that?”

“Not all dates are at a restaurant, the movies or something like that.”

“Now you're giving me dating advice?”

Zane clapped him on the back. “Someone's gotta help you. That's what a friend is for—giving you unsolicited advice. I'm quite good at it.”

Gideon gestured toward a worker. “I think one of your men needs your unsolicited advice.”

“I think I've treaded on a touchy subject.”

“Bye, Zane.”

His friend's laughter as he strode toward his worker grated on Gideon's nerves. Why would he risk getting hurt after Kathleen made it clear she wasn't interested? But Zane was right. They didn't have to go to a restaurant for a date, and friends could go out together. Kathleen deserved something special. She'd been working nonstop since the hurricane. Maybe he could do something about that—as a friend.

“Hey, Gideon, we're taking a break. Wanna shoot some hoops?” Kip approached him with a basketball under his arm. “I got this from the church. Nana said it would be all right to take it so long as I put it back.”

“Sure. Let's see if we can get some other boys and maybe a couple of dads.”

Kip turned in a slow circle, going from one father and son to another. A frown creased his forehead.

It didn't take much for Gideon to figure that Kip was missing his dad. He could remember the first few times after his dad had died and he'd seen a father and son together how much it had hurt him to realize he would never have that. He'd gotten really good at avoiding situations where that might take place. The hurt had faded but never totally went away.

 

“Trust me,” Gideon said the next Friday and turned Kathleen away from him. “Close your eyes. I'm putting a blindfold on you.”

“Blindfold? Why?”

“It's a surprise and I don't trust you will keep your eyes closed.”

“Do you hear yourself? You ask me to trust you and yet—” The feel of the cloth over her eyes interrupted her train of thought. Actually it was more the close proximity of Gideon and the lime-scented aftershave she smelled that affected her thinking.

He leaned near her ear and whispered, “And yet I don't trust you to keep your eyes closed? Sometimes life doesn't make sense.”

“More like you don't make sense,” she said in response to him but was amazed she managed to utter those words when she still felt the tickle of his breath on her neck. She pictured him nibbling on her lobe and nearly melted into her mother's front lawn.

He chuckled. “I've been told that before. Now quit complaining and relax. You've been working too much lately.”

“And you haven't?” He took her hand and led her to his Jeep.

“I have called in a few favors to pull this together so I want you to sufficiently appreciate my efforts.”

“But there is so much to do.”

“I agree and it will be there tomorrow. Have you taken any time for yourself in the past three weeks since the hurricane?”

“Are you kidding? With the cleanup and the demands at the hospital? Just yesterday a man came in who was trying to repair his own roof and fell off. He broke several ribs, and one punctured his lung.” She relaxed back against the seat while he pulled out of the driveway.