Mother's Promise (42 page)

Darcy frowned. “I really don't understand you, Rachel.” She seemed genuinely mystified.

“My needs are simple enough,” Rachel explained. “It was when I allowed those needs to become more complicated that I lost my way.”

“And what about the children here? Paul cannot do this alone. As the hospital gets busier, he will have to divide his time …”

Rachel understood that Darcy was less concerned about the children—or even Paul—than she was about making a good impression to the board. Admittedly the offer was tempting. Now that she had earned her certification she found that she had a lot more time to call her own—hers and Justin's. There would be no more trips to Tallahassee and no more long nights of study.

And with Paul's approval, Eileen and Mark had worked out a schedule for her that made sure she was home when Justin finished school for the day. And she could not deny that a few more weeks of the wages she received at the hospital would go a long way toward establishing a nest egg that she and Justin might need down the road. But it was too late. She had made her choice, and she was certain that it was the right one.

“I am sorry for your difficulties, Darcy.”

“Stay until the end of the year, then.”

“That's really not possible. My son and I have the opportunity to travel to Central America in two weeks. Our church is sponsoring a relief mission to help rebuild a remote village that was destroyed by last Tuesday's earthquake.”

She stood up and offered Darcy a handshake. Shuffling her stack of files from one arm to the other, Darcy stood as well. She clutched her files to her chest instead of accepting Rachel's offer to shake hands. “As I said before, I don't understand you,” she said.

Rachel smiled. “Then at last we have something in common, for I don't understand you either, but I know that you are a good person, dedicated to your work. I genuinely admire you and I thank you for the opportunity you and the others have given me here. But I need to focus on my son for now. It really is that simple. So I'll say good night, Darcy.”

Outside, she stood for a moment enjoying the cool dry night. The sky was filled with stars, the fronds of the tall, thin palm trees silhouetted by the light of a half moon. As she walked to the bus stop she checked her pager to be sure there were no more emergencies she needed to address before she left for the night. Justin was on an overnight camping trip with the youth group from the church, part of the preparation for the mission trip. Once there he and the other young people would help rebuild housing and a school while she helped out in the mobile medical unit that the Mennonite Disaster Service had set up in the village.

Her heart welled with pleasure when she thought about how excited Justin had been when she'd agreed that joining the mission trip was the perfect way for them to celebrate Christmas. Hester and John were going as well as several other adults and young people from the congregation. They would leave two days after she completed her work at the hospital and return on New Year's Eve.

Across the street, Rachel saw the lights on in the café. She decided to treat herself to a cup of coffee before heading home. Inside the café, she was mildly surprised to see Zeke sitting at the counter. She congratulated him on buying the business, and then she had an idea.

“Have you got a minute to talk?”

“For you? Anytime.” He patted the stool beside him then reached across the counter to retrieve a clean mug and the pot of coffee brewing there. “Regular or decaf?”

“Decaf.”

He filled her mug and refilled his own and then swiveled on his stool to face her. “So, what's up?”

She knew that he was aware of the missions trip, so she told him that she and Justin were going. Hester and John had asked him to manage the co-op while they were gone. “But once we return I'm going to need a job.”

“Go on.”

“Well, I don't know what you have in mind for this place, but I was thinking that maybe if you needed somebody to wait tables …”

Zeke frowned. “Wait tables? You? Why would you give up nursing to wait tables here?”

“Right now I need uncomplicated, Zeke. You of all people must understand that.”

“But when Darcy was in here earlier she said she was going to ask you to stay.”

“She did. I turned her down.”

Zeke grinned. “Bet that blew her mind.”

“She'll find somebody.”

Zeke covered her hand with his. “I get it, Rachel. Sometimes you simply need to sit on the sidelines awhile. It's just that I'll be keeping the waitstaff that's here now.”

“Oh.” Rachel sipped her coffee to hide her disappointment.

Zeke also focused on drinking his coffee. The silence that stretched between them threatened to ruin the good mood Rachel had brought with her into the café. Zeke drummed his fingers on the counter. “Now if you'd be interested in handling the baking—pies, cakes, breads—that position is wide open. And I could probably use a busboy—evenings and weekends—if you think Justin might be interested.”

Rachel smiled. “I'll ask him.”

“And the baking?”

“Count me in.”

After Rachel turned down her offer, Darcy remained seated in the atrium for several long minutes. What was it with that woman? Who in their right mind walked away from a sure thing—with benefits, not to mention the opportunity to someday take charge of the entire spiritual care department? Maybe if Darcy had offered her the two weeks for the mission trip …

She sighed heavily and went to wait for the elevator. The board meeting was scheduled to begin in ten minutes and she still had to figure out how to put the best possible spin on her report. Rachel Kaufmann's leaving wasn't the only bad news she had to deliver tonight. Of even more concern would be the fact that the patient census for the quarter had not lived up to projections.

She wished Zeke Shepherd was going to be at this meeting rather than his brother Malcolm. Zeke had a way of looking at things that helped calm her. Admittedly at first his “no worries” philosophy had driven her to distraction. But ever since Thanksgiving when they'd shared pie at the café and stayed there talking well into the morning, she had realized that Zeke Shepherd was the one person she didn't have to impress or prove herself to. He liked her. He'd said as much when he kissed her lightly on the lips as she'd dropped him off to pick up the co-op's van early that Friday morning. And she had carried the memory of that kiss with her now for an entire week.

The elevator doors slid open, and Ben stepped out. “Hi.” He held the door for her. “You look like you're running off to something. Don't you ever take a break from this place?”

“Board meeting,” she replied as she stepped onto the elevator.

“How about I meet you, say, in an hour at the café?”

“Can't. I promised … I have another …” The elevator doors slid shut. Now why hadn't she simply said that she was meeting Zeke at the café once the board meeting ended? And why not invite Ben to join them?

Because it's not Ben you want to be with. It's Zeke.

Chapter 25

T
his is going to be the best Christmas ever,” Justin exclaimed as he pressed close to the window of the plane that was carrying the relief team to Costa Rica.

Rachel could not disagree. For the first time since leaving the farm in Ohio she finally felt some certainty that she was traveling the path that God had set for her and Justin. In only a matter of days after they moved to Pinecraft and he had enrolled in the Mennonite school there, Justin's whole outlook had changed.

She could actually see signs of the talkative, inquisitive boy he'd been before his father died. Suddenly he was interested in everything about life in Florida. And the few other boys and girls living in the community seemed to accept him into their circle without question.

Going on the trip had been Justin's idea. He'd argued that the ten days of relief that they would provide for the devastated inhabitants of the mountain village of Kingstown was the perfect way to spend Christmas.

And Rachel had agreed. This trip was more than a chance for her to spend time with Justin. It was also exactly what she had needed to let go of any regrets she had held about leaving her job at the hospital.

Once they arrived at the main airport in San Jose they transferred to a much smaller plane for the last leg of their journey to reach the devastated village.

“Mom, look,” Justin said in an awed whisper. Everyone on the plane grew silent as they all looked out the tiny windows and saw for the first time the havoc left in the wake of the earthquake. Whole villages were underwater. Piles of rubble that had once been buildings dotted the landscape. Here and there a decapitated palm tree stood sentry over the devastation. A couple of small boats moved slowly over the water that probably had not been there before.

“Search parties from the government,” Pastor Detlef—Hester's father—guessed. “Hopefully they've found everyone by now.”

There was more dry land but no less destruction as their plane approached a short runway surrounded on all sides by trucks and a couple of other small planes. The tower that had served the airport was tilted at an odd angle, and if there had been a terminal, it was gone.

As the plane landed and taxied, every member of the team prayed silently, and once it stopped the band of rescue workers gathered their belongings and filed off in silence. They were ready to get to work.

After a short but harrowing ride in the canvas-covered back of a military truck to what was left of the village they had come to help, Rachel was pressed into service almost immediately in the large tent that served as a hospital for the area. She soon learned that there were no doctors, only Mary Palmer, a nurse practitioner from the area who had taken charge.

“Where do you need me?” Rachel asked, sliding the straps of her backpack from her shoulders and glancing around at the cots filled with patients.

“Everywhere,” Mary said wearily. “You're both trained nurses?” she asked, including Hester in her question.

“Yes,” they said as one.

“Good. Why don't the two of you start triaging those folks waiting out there?” She nodded toward a small gathering of children and adults huddled together as if it were below freezing instead of almost eighty degrees outside.

“We don't speak Spanish,” Hester admitted.

“Fortunately, most of them speak enough English to understand and be understood. If you need help, there's an interpreter—Juan Carlos. Just shout out for him if you need him.”

John and the other men took charge of the teen volunteers and headed off to assess the damage to the school that had once been the largest and most stable building in the village. An engineer had told them that if they could repair the roof on the school, they would be able to provide better shelter for the wounded and displaced. Once that was accomplished they could go to work repairing other buildings that could be used to shelter the earthquake victims. Hester's father, Pastor Detlef, had assured the engineer that there was much that could be accomplished in the ten days they had. The engineer had looked skeptical but then he'd apparently never seen what a group of Mennonite relief workers could accomplish in short order.