Sophie's Heart (42 page)

“What do you take to wear?” she now asked.

“Lots of shorts and T-shirts. Swimsuit, towel, thongs for your feet. A straw hat if you have it.”

“It will be hot,” she stated.

“It’s hard to say. It could rain quite a bit. But no matter what, it will be warmer than Wisconsin, so dress accordingly.”

Sophie nodded. Now was the time.

“When I work for Mr. Markham at Tony’s, I would talk to him.”

Alec had no idea where this came from, so he waited.

“I was his employee.”

“Okay,” Alec finally managed.

“When we needed supplies, say napkin or cloth for table, I would say.”

Alec needed less than a heartbeat to understand. “And we need some things?”

“Yes. Children have holes in some clothes, and Craig is grow very fast.”

Alec nodded, and then realized she was blushing.

“Is there more?”

Sophie nodded but didn’t look at him. Again Alec understood.

“I need things, too?”

Sophie nodded swiftly and stood. “I should need to do laundry now,” she mumbled and shot into the laundry room as if the seat of her jeans was on fire. Alec only smiled—a smile of love and tenderness. He could well imagine his own embarrassment if he’d had to tell Sophie that she needed to buy new underclothing. Someday, Lord willing, they would have a relationship where such things were right and good, but not now.

However, Alec’s thoughts led him to wonder if Sophie had any such needs of her own. He knew that this was one area he could not approach without embarrassing her to death. Suddenly, it came to him.
Rita—she is just the one.
Alec decided then and there to shop with Craig and ask Sophie to shop with the girls. When the girls went, he could send some extra money with Rita. Alec’s mind ran with the different ways to handle this. When he finally rose he was certain he had a foolproof plan.

Four days later the plan was put into action. It proved to be a dismal failure. It was Saturday, and Rita and Tory came home from shopping all day with Sophie. They were flushed with the success of their purchases, but Rita was shaking her head over the time with Sophie.

“Didn’t she shop?” Alec wished to know.

“Oh, she shopped all right,” Rita told him when they were alone. “For Craig, for Tory, and even for me, but not for herself. She wouldn’t take even a fraction of the money you sent for her, and what she did take she spent on the rest of us. She just kept saying, ‘Your father is kind enough to include me on this trip. He does not need to buy clothes, too. He will start to think I’m more of a burden than a help.’ I’m sorry, Dad.”

“No, Rita, it’s not your fault. I’ll just have to take care of it.”

She was instantly intrigued. “What will you do?”

Alec couldn’t miss the romantic glint in her eye.

“I’ll probably take her shopping.”

“Oh, Dad, she’ll die,” Rita objected. Then she got a mischievous look in her eye. “On second thought, no she won’t. She’ll just refuse to go.”

Alec’s brows rose, and Rita knew that she had inadvertently challenged him. She knew she wouldn’t be anywhere around, but right now Rita knew she would give her eyeteeth to witness her father’s next move.

Monday morning Sophie was attacking the kitchen floor when Alec came home. She had a cassette in the player and didn’t hear him until he deliberately opened the kitchen door again and slammed it—this time in order to warn her. She looked up from where she was kneeling in the middle of the large expanse of vinyl. Alec had stopped by the counter.

“The floor is dry there. You can walk,” Sophie told him, but he didn’t move.

“How long before you can be ready to go to the mall?”

Sophie looked surprised, but told him 15 minutes.

“Great. I’ll be in my office. Come for me when you’re ready.” With that he walked through the kitchen. Sophie stared after him for a moment before she pushed to her feet. It was odd, but she was used to doing as she was told, no questions asked.

Twenty minutes had actually passed before Sophie appeared in the doorway of Alec’s office, and in that time all he had done was pray. He desperately wanted to help this woman God had placed in their home, but he didn’t want to steamroll over her. If that’s what it took, however, he knew he would do it. With a final plea for wisdom, Alec rose from the desk and Sophie followed him to the truck. They were several blocks from the house before Sophie said a word.

“We are shopping?”

“Yes. I need you to get some things.”

Sophie nodded, and Alec wondered when it would be the right time to tell her for whom she was shopping. They found a parking place quite near the door, so they were halfway down the mall when he realized he was running out of time to break the news to Sophie.

“I sent some money with Rita on Saturday, but she said you didn’t shop for yourself.”

“No,” Sophie told him, suddenly feeling rather bad over the way she had shunned his generosity.

“Did you not need anything?”

Sophie didn’t answer, and Alec came to a sudden halt. She stopped as well and looked up at him. She was taller than average, almost 5' 8", but with Mr. Riley at 6' 2", she still had to tip her head back to see his face.

“Sophie,” he now asked pointedly, “are you in need of some things?”

“Maybe a few, but—”

She was not given a chance to finish. Alec took her arm and started her toward the large department store at which they had stopped. He dropped his hand after just a few steps, but Sophie stayed at his side. She showed every sign of cooperating until Alec moved purposely through the store and stopped before the lingerie department. Sophie’s eyes widened, and she turned with every intention of bolting, but Alec’s hand to her arm brought her back to his side. Sophie stood, poker-stiff, arms at her side, eyes straight ahead, thinking she would die.

“You’re going to start in this department,” Alec said softly, bending to catch her ear. “I’m going to take a walk and check on you later. Get whatever you need.”

Sophie’s head was shaking in denial, so Alec moved closer.

“You need things and we’re starting in this section. Now here are some bills,” he pressed them into her palm and closed her fingers around them. “I want you to get what you need, and I’ll leave you to do it if you’ll tell me now that you
will
take care of it.”

Sophie couldn’t speak. She was dying right on the spot, and no words would come.

“Do you understand what I want, Sophie?”

She was silent.

“Answer me, Sophia.” When he should have been out of patience, his voice turned into a caress, and she finally looked at him.

“Do you understand what I want you to do?” he asked again, his eyes tender.

“Yes,” she whispered.

“Good. I’ll check on you in a while, and if I don’t find you, I’ll assume you’re still busy in here. When you’re through, go to that bench down the way and wait for me.”

Sophie managed to nod, and Alec took off. For the space of many heartbeats she could not move an inch. Her lips had gone utterly dry, and her head pounded with the pressure of holding her body so stiff. She began to reason quietly with herself, and after a few minutes became very calm.

He has made you like part of his family, Sophie. How would you expect him to act? He just wants to see to your needs. You should be thankful. It’s obvious that he sees you like a daughter. He smiles sweetly at you just like he does the children, and that’s because he cares and thinks of you as a treasured family member.

Sophie’s little speech to herself did the trick. Her chest heaved with relief and, after a few more minutes, she took a step forward into the department. She
did
need a few undergarments—namely, a slip and some panties. Her nightgown was rather threadbare as well.

Alec, who had gone across the way so he could watch her from a distance, smiled when she moved toward the racks. He wasn’t entirely sure if she would try to escape and hadn’t wanted to miss her if she left. He now felt free to go on to the men’s department.

“Okay, now I think the only thing left is some shoes. We do a lot of walking while we’re in Florida, so you need some good walking shoes.”

Sophie had learned just to nod. They were laden with packages, and she was in a near state of shock. She had new tops, slacks, shorts, summer dresses, two skirts, a lightweight sweater, socks, a nightgown, panties, a new slip, a purse, and now they were headed to buy shoes. He had been like a man possessed. Grabbing clothes from the rack, he would send Sophie into the changing rooms for fittings. She had thought she would get one outfit, maybe two. She had never experienced such a thing in her life. It would take forever to pay him back.

The shoes were found in good time. They were white leather and very comfortable. With the shoes in yet another bag, Alec suggested they get a bite to eat. Sophie didn’t think she could eat a thing. But when they arrived at the food court, they found a table for four, piled their bags on the two empty chairs, and sat across from each other. Alec had been ignoring the strain on Sophie’s face, but now it was time to talk.

“I need to know total, Mr. Riley, so I can pay you my debt.”

This was the last thing Alec expected, and everything he had planned to say flew out of his head. Instead he began to explain himself to Sophie. He still didn’t know her very well, but would eventually learn that it was the best thing he could do.

“It must have been about four, maybe five years ago now that David Ring and I attended a men’s seminar together.”

Sophie didn’t know what this had to do with clothes, but she remained silent, her eyes on her employer’s face.

“It was a weekend deal, down in Rockford, Illinois, and we had a great time. The speakers were good and David and I are pretty close, so we roomed together and had lots of laughs. I remember one speaker in particular. He’s a popular author on finances, and he gave us some figures on what it would cost for us to hire someone to do what our wives do every day. Cooking, cleaning, laundry, baby-sitting—you name it, he had a figure for it. And his figures were on the low end. He said it would probably cost substantially more than what he named. Even at that, David and I were pretty shocked over how much we’d taken Janet and Vanessa’s work for granted.

“This speaker then urged us to buy life insurance for our wives. After talking it over, that’s exactly what David and I did. David needed to update his own policy, and we both purchased substantial policies for our wives.

“I have to be honest with you, Sophie, and admit that the very act made me think she would be around until we were gray with age, but that didn’t happen. I don’t think any man plans to lose his wife before 50 or 60, let alone 40, but that’s what happened. And here I was with three kids to care for while I was trying to run a business.

“I’ll admit to you also, the first thing I said to Janet when she called about you was how could I afford it. She was the one to remind me of Vanessa’s settlement. I’d received the check and stuck it in the bank and forgotten all about it. Then you came on the scene, and I honestly didn’t think it would work. I mean, you were the first person we’d interviewed, and it just seemed like such a huge task. But it worked out so well that I never even noticed when that month’s trial period came and went.