Bamboo and Lace (41 page)

“Have you decided?”

“Yes. I'll have whatever you're having, or whatever you want to order for me, as long as I can just sit here, look at you, and talk to you.”

“Do you have any idea how much you've changed?”

“Good changes or bad ones?”

“Good. You've gone from a girl who couldn't look anyone but Bailey in the eye to a woman who knows what she wants.”

Lily smiled but still said, “Let's just hope I can keep it up, even when I come face-to-face with Owen Walsh.”

“I'll be pulling for you.”

Lily needed an explanation for that expression. Gabe took care of that before ordering their food and doing what Lily wanted: talking and looking at each other for the remainder of the evening.

Chapter Twenty-Three

For a while it had seemed the weeks were going to last forever, but to Lily's amazement, time had moved on. Having gained definite confirmation from her brother, she had already written to her father about staying two extra weeks. Her return date was now December 15.

But that was not what was on Lily's mind today. Today her thoughts were wholly centered on her brother. He was flying in that afternoon. Lily could hardly stand the wait. She was working on her packing but kept growing distracted as she worked.

“I need to talk to you, Lily Walsh.” Bailey's disgruntled voice could be heard in the hall just before the woman herself appeared in Lily's doorway.

“Okay,” Lily said with a laugh, knowing that her friend wasn't actually angry. Lily turned to Bailey but continued folding the blouse she was working on.

“Now you listen to me, Lily Walsh! You can move back to Jeff's, but before he goes to work in the mornings, he needs to bring you here.”

“He's not going to work for about three weeks.”

Bailey's hands came to her expanding waist.

“Then he can just move out here and stay with us!”

“I've become very bold, Bailey, but I'm not sure I can order my brother to move out here.”

Bailey perked up with a new idea.

“Evan can order him.”

Lily laughed and asked, “But who's going to convince Evan?”

Bailey's look was a tad smug and a little bit provocative.

“Leave that to me.”

Leaving the younger woman shaking her head with amusement, Bailey went in search of her mate. Time had moved on for Bailey and the family as well. Their two months off were gone, and they had guests in all the cottages. Nevertheless, this was a Saturday, and Bailey knew her husband might still be in the vicinity. She was pleased to come down the stairs and find him making a phone call at her desk. She waited until he had hung up and then put her arms around his neck from the back.

“I'm here,” she said into his ear, “to work my female wiles on you.”

Evan held his laughter before saying, “I can hardly wait. What is it that you want?”

Bailey sat in his lap.

“Evan, Jeff comes home today.”

“Right.”

“We can't let him take Lily away from us.”

“What do you want me to do?”

“Order him to move out here until he goes back to work.”

Bailey tried not to smile when Evan hooted with laughter, but it didn't work. Unfortunately for Bailey's plan, the children heard their father's mirth, and a moment later Bailey and Evan weren't alone.

“Will you at least talk to him?” Bailey asked before both children tried to climb into her lap.

“Because you want Lily around even though Jeff is home?”

“Don't you?”

“Yes, but she's waited two months to be with him. I think we'd better let them handle it.”

Bailey sighed.

“And don't forget, Bales, there's someone else's heart involved here too. I have a feeling we'll be seeing plenty of Lily.”

“So what you're saying is that I need to convince Gabe?”

Evan's brows rose. “That's a thought. He probably won't need much persuading at all.”

Looking like a woman on a mission, Bailey asked the children if they wanted to take a walk and visit their Uncle Gabe.

“My sister accosted me in my office this morning,” Gabe said to Lily on the way to the airport.

“What did she do?”

“Well, she started out in a friendly enough fashion but ended up threatening to make my life miserable if I let Jeff take you away.”

“What did you tell her?”

“That I would see what I could do, but even she had to agree that Jeff might wish to have some time with you.”

“So we're taking our cue from Jeff?” Lily asked.

Gabe glanced at her as he realized what she'd just said.

“Lily, would you rather stay at the resort than move back to Jeff's?”

“Certainly. Did you think otherwise?”

“I don't know what I thought. Will you tell Jeff?”

“No.”

Gabe looked at her again. “Because you don't want to hurt him.”

“Correct. Not even wanting to be with you would make me risk hurting Jeff.”

Gabe took her hand.

“We'll take our cue from Jeff,” Gabe agreed, not sounding upset or resigned, just matter-of-fact.

Lily agreed with a nod, but she wasn't entirely certain how she felt at the moment.

Lily put a hand to her chest as the first passengers came through the door. He was almost here. Jeff was almost back! Lily knew she was going to cry and didn't even care. Gabe was behind her, able to see over her head. So many people came through the door that Lily wondered if her brother had missed his plane. She was turning to ask Gabe about it when Jeff appeared.

Spotting them almost immediately, Jeff came their way with a huge smile on his face. He wrapped his arms around his sister, who was already getting teary.

“Oh, Lily,” he said when he stepped back to look into her face, his mouth open in surprise. This was not the sister he had left. She was tanned, with a healthy bloom about her that had not been present when he'd left two months earlier. And her eyes! They were sparkling.

Jeff couldn't find any words, so he hugged Gabe and then stood looking at the two of them.

“How was your trip?” Gabe asked, giving Lily a moment to compose herself.

“Good. Everything was on time.”

“And do you have to go back anytime soon?”

“Not for three months, and only then if I'm needed.”

The threesome started walking toward the baggage claim area, but Jeff kept turning to look at Gabe and his sister. And his sister looked back!

“Well, it's a good thing you didn't try to keep your feelings a secret.” Jeff finally said, finding the words he'd been looking for. “I would have known in an instant.”

“Known what?” Lily teased, and Jeff had all he could do not to shake his head. The change in her was remarkable. And he learned a moment later that it wasn't just her appearance. As he watched she took a piece of gum from her pocket, unwrapped it, and popped it into her mouth.

“My sister is chewing a piece of gum,” Jeff commented to Gabe.

“It gets worse,” Gabe informed him. “She's completely addicted.”

They had arrived at the baggage area, so Jeff was able to stop and face his sister. She blew a quick bubble.

“You're addicted to gum?”

“I think I am,” she said brightly. “Want some?”

All Jeff could do was laugh.

A loud buzzer sounded, and Lily stood back while the men went forward to gather Jeff's gear. Lily's heart filled with dozens of emotions as she watched the two men she loved. She couldn't stop smiling as they trooped out to Gabe's car. Gabe opened the trunk and shifted Lily's bag out of the way.

“Lily, why is your bag in here?” her brother asked, loading his gear.

Lily frowned in confusion. “I thought I was coming back to the apartment with you.”

“Well, I plan to sleep in my own bed tonight, but I figured we would live at the resort until I went back to work.”

“Are you certain?”

Jeff's brows rose. “Lily, if I had a choice between having Annika with me or five miles away from me, she would be with me.”

“Bailey will be so pleased” was all Lily said before she climbed into the rear seat of the car so her brother could have the front, suddenly very glad they had taken their cue from Jeff.

“Now, as a lot of you know,” Pastor Stringer said Sunday night as the evening service began, “Jeff Walsh was called away just as his sister arrived from Kashien. But now Jeff's back, and we've gotten to know Lily in his absence. For the next five weeks they've agreed to tell us a little about growing up in Kashien. We're going to start tonight and have just a ten-minute segment with them each week.

“Okay, Jeff and Lily, come on up and get us started.”

Jeff came out of the pew, Lily behind him. She had deliberately dressed in Kashienese garb, bamboo hat and all, and she walked ten paces behind Jeff, head down. Jeff went directly to the podium, but Lily stayed behind and to the side of him.

“What you just watched,” Jeff began, “is the way a Kashienese woman lives her life. To show obeisance and respect to the male head of her household, be it her father, husband, or brother, she walks behind him with her head down. And her eyes must be lowered. She must not look a man in the eye unless she is commanded to do so.”

With that, Lily removed the hat and came to the microphone with her brother.

“You may have noticed that even now Lily sometimes drops her eyes in the presence of the men here at church. It was something she was taught from early childhood. What Pastor has asked us to do now is have a short conversation in Kashienese. Lily is going to be better at this than I am since I've been away so long, and she's always had a better ear for languages.

“What we're going to act out for you is the buying of her hat. Watch the way Lily compliments me with just her stance and attitude, even as she tries to diplomatically dicker me down on the price.”

Pastor Stringer came forward with a separate microphone. Jeff had given him the gist of the conversation, and in between Lily and Jeff's conversation, he “translated.”