[Canadian West 01] - When Calls the Heart (21 page)

On Saturday, Kathleen danced into my room before my
eyes were even properly open. "Dee is coming! Dee is coming!" she cried with glee.

I smiled at her sleepily, thinking, Who is Dee? Then I recalled her long-ago declaration of, "When I grow up, I'm gonna
marry Dee." I yawned and rolled over to look at her. My
thoughts changed to, So, I am to meet Kathleen's marvelous
Dee, the thirtyish bachelor who is a dear-and determined to
stay single.

He sounded harmless enough to me.

"When is Dee coming?" I asked as Kathleen twirled about
my room.

"Tonight-for dinner. Did you meet him yet?"

"No, not yet," I answered rather casually.

"Did you know that I'm gonna marry him when I grow
up?" she asked, not a bit put off by my nonchalance.

"I remember that you told me," I answered her.

She was soon gone again, off to share her good news with
her baby sister-who would be even less impressed than I had
been.

As the day wore on, the anticipation for the evening dinner
party grew. It was obvious that the whole family regarded Dee
highly and were pleased that he was coming.

I dressed carefully for dinner that night, not because of the
unknown Dee but simply because it felt good to soak in a
warm bath and then spend a little more time and effort than
usual on how I looked. It seemed to be such a long time since
our box social and I had reason to dress up. Kathleen came in
to offer suggestions and coaxed me to wear the green velvet. It
was still hanging in the guest room closet, a last-minute decision when I had left for Pine Springs. "I will never need a fussy
thing like that in a country school," I had impulsively declared. "Mary, do you mind if I just leave it hanging here?"
Mary agreed, so I had unwrapped it from its tissues and left it
hanging in the spare bedroom. Now it shimmered in the light
and caught Kathleen's eve. I gave in to her pleading. She
helped me with my buttons, and I retied her hair ribbon so
that we could state that we had helped one another to prepare
for dinner.

She skipped out as I put the finishing touches on my hair,
but she was soon back.

"Dee is here!" she exclaimed excitedly. "Hurry--hurry"'

"I'm coming, dear," I laughed. She grabbed my hand,
eager to drag me off to meet her Dee. I did hope that he wasn't
another Mr. Higgins, but I quickly discarded that idea. I gave
Kathleen credit for better judgment than that.

"Nanna is here, too," she informed me as she led me
through the hallway and down the stairs.

"Nanna?"

"Yes, Nanna. Mamma's grannie. Nanna Smith."

"Oh," I said in surprise. "I didn't know that Nanna was
coming."

"Mamma didn't know, either," Kathleen laughed. "Mamma never knows. Nanna just comes-she likes surprises."

"Oh, I see-like your Aunt Beth did, I guess. She just
popped in."

Kathleen laughed merrily at that.

"You couldn't tell us," she said, having heard the explanation I gave to Mary, "but Nanna could. She lives just over by
the river. She could have telephoned or anything-but she
doesn't. She just comes. She likes surprises. We like it, too.
It's fun."

A few minutes later I was meeting Nanna, an older woman
with a sparkle in her eyes. I could easily imagine that she indeed liked surprises. I had always felt that I liked surprises
myself-until the one I received in the next few minutes.

Kathleen had left me with Nanna and had run to find her
Dee so that I might have the pleasure of making his acquaintance. I stood chatting, my back to the door, until Kathleen
called out merrily, "Here's Dee, Aunt Beth."

I turned slowly around and found myself looking into the
face of Mr. Wynn Delaney.

My face must have blanched.

I could not find my voice; I could only stare. My mind
groped for an answer: how could this dreadful mix-up ever
have taken place? For a moment I thought that I read concern
in his eyes, and I wondered if he feared that I might divulge
something he would rather have left secret.

The color seemed to be returning to my face-in overabundance, I feared; but I felt that perhaps I could move again.

I saw Mr. Delaney advance a step and place an arm around
Kathleen's shoulder. The flash of concern had left his eyes,
and a teasing smile replaced it.

"Your Aunt Beth and I have already met, Moppet."

I remained dumb. "You're-?

"Dee-" he finished for me. "William's two-year-old version of `Delaney'! All of these children have called me that."

"I see ..."

I didn't really. The pieces of this strange puzzle didn't fit
together at all. Something was all wrong here.

"Mr.-De-Delaney," I stammered, knowing even as I
spoke that what I was asking was foolish indeed, "do you happen to have a twin?"

He seemed about to laugh at that, and then realized that
my question had been an honest one. He shook his head, then
looked at me with renewed concern. My bewildered eyes and
flushed face must have made him think that something was
wrong with me, for he gently took my arm and led me to a
nearby chair.

"Are you all right?" he asked in a low voice.

I assured him shakily that I was just fine.

His inbred courtesy prompted him to turn then to speak
with Nanna, whom he seemed to know very well.

I sat numbly, listening to the hum of voices about me. Mr.
Delaney and Nanna chatted like old friends. Suddenly Kathleen, who had been left out of the conversation for what she
felt was too long, announced, "Did you know I'm gonna marry
Dee, Nanna?"

The conversation stopped. Dee reached for Kathleen and
seated her beside him on the lounge where he sat.

"What's this, Moppet?"

"I'm gonna marry you," she said, pointing a finger at his
broad chest. "I'm gonna marry you when I grow up. Right?"

"I don't suppose so." He spoke very slowly, carefully. "You
see, just because one likes someone very much doesn't always
mean that they will get married. People can still be very special to one another-the best friends in the whole world-and
not marry."

Kathleen's face began to cloud.

"Take you now," Mr. Delaney hurried on, "you love your
daddy-very much-but you don't need to marry him to share
that love, do you?"

Kathleen slowly shook her head.

"And you love your mamma, and Nanna, and Baby Elizabeth, and your Aunt Beth and your Teddy-but you aren't going to marry them either, are you?"

Kathleen brightened at the twinkle in his eyes, seeing the
fun that he was having.

He continued, "Well, that's like us. We are very special to
one another, but we don't need to marry each other to stay
special."

Kathleen nodded. Dee had been quite convincing.

Mary called, and Kathleen bounced down from the lounge,
her recently troubled eyes again shining, and ran from the
room.

"You could have humored her a bit," scolded Nanna.

"How?"

"Well, you could have said, `Someday-sure, someday.'

"But it won't be `someday.' "

"Yes, we know that-and Kathleen would know it too, as
she grew older."

"But if she didn't?"

"She's only a child."

"A child who will grow up. Yet she will still be a child for
many years to come. What would happen, Nanna, if I found
someone else to marry before she discovered the truth on her
own?"

"You-marry?" Nanna laughed.

Mr. Delaney smiled slowly as though enjoying his own
joke.

"Or, what if she didn't discover the truth on her own and
went into womanhood expecting this old man to marry her?"

Nanna shrugged and said teasingly, "Maybe the day will
come when you'll be glad to accept her proposal."

Mr. Delaney became serious then. "If ever anyone deserves
the truth, :Manna," he said, "a child does. They can accept
things, even hurtful things, if they are dealt with honestly, in
love. I hope that I'm never guilty of telling a falsehood to a
trusting child."

His words hung about my head, making me angry. How
could he say these things-he who was living a horrible lie. I
excused myself from the room and headed for my bedroom. I
feared that I was going to be sick.

Mary found me a few minutes later.

"Dee was worried about you, Beth. Is something wrong?"

Everything is wrong, I wanted to scream-Everything. Instead I said, "Mary, didn't you tell me that Wynn DelaneyDee-whoever, is unmarried?"

"Yes."

"And didn't you say that he-he wanted to stay that
way?"

She nodded.

"Well, maybe-" I said, blanching white again, "maybe,
the reason that he hasn't taken a Calgary wife is that he already has one."

"Wynn?" Mary used his given name.

"Yes, Wynn."

"That's impossible. We've know Wynn-"

"Well, apparently you don't know him very well."

"Elizabeth, we know-"

"He has a wife-and a son. I've met them."

"You've what?"

"His son, Phillip, is my student."

"Phillip?"

"Yes, Phillip, and I've-"

"Elizabeth, Phillip is Lydia and Phillip's child."

"Whose?"

"Lydia and-"

"Is she divorced?"

"Lydia?" Mary's voice was incredulous.

"She lives with Wynn," I insisted.

"Wynn is the senior Phillip's brother."

"And where is this-this other Phillip?"

"Here-in the hospital. That's why Wynn is in Calgary so
often. Lydia and Phillip, Jr, are here now too, staying with her
parents."

My knees felt weak. I groped behind me for the bed and sat
down.

"Beth-are you all right?" Mary asked anxiously.

I honestly didn't know. My head was whirling and my
stomach was in knots.

After a long silence, I whispered, "Mary, are you sure?"

"I'm sure-uerv sure."

Parts of the crazy puzzle began to slip into place. Lydiaher friendliness-her statement that "everything has been so
upset"-her ability to laugh and enjoy the spectacle of the
battle for my box at the social.

"Oh, Mary," I moaned, but I could say no more. I buried
my face in my hands and thought of the times when I had been
rude-inexcusably so, I was now discovering-to Wynn Delaney. How could I ever make him understand? How could I
ever make things right?

"They have good news," Mary continued brightly. "Phillip
can go home on Monday. I talked to Lydia today, and she is
wild with excitement."

"I'm-I'm sure-I'm sure she is," I stammered.

"I must go, Beth. Are you sure you're okay?"

I managed a weak smile. "Sure-I'm fine-just fine. Just
give me a minute or two and I'll be right down. I guess things
just caught up with me all of a sudden. Don't worry. I'm all
right."

Mary left, and I tried hard to find some composure. My
heart thumped so hard I could almost hear it.

Wynn Delaney was not a married man. He was not Lvdia's
husband. He was not anyone's husband. And so many times,
when he had made some small gesture of kindness, I had coldly rebuffed him. How would I ever explain my foolishness?
What must he think of me? Now I knew that I was going to be
sick.

I did appear for dinner. I must have still been pale, and I
felt that my smile looked a little weak; but in the midst of the
chatter and laughter around the table, I hoped that it wasn't
noticed. I was quiet during the meal, but I never had done a
lot of talking, and I was able to respond when I was spoken to.

Kathleen had requested that she sit between her Dee and
her Aunt Beth, and on this occasion her mother saw no harm
in humoring her; after all, she had just been "jilted" by the
man whom she had planned to marry. Dee fussed over her,
perhaps in an effort to show her that he still cared about her
even though the wedding was "off." Kathleen did not act as
one forsaken and forgotten. Her little tongue was constantly
going, telling Dee of her new doll-"show ya right after dinner"; her new green dress-"almost the color of Aunt Beth's";
what she did while Sarah was at school-"helped Mamma";
and how much Baby Elizabeth liked her.

Occasionally Kathleen would say. "Isn't that right, Aunt
Beth?" And I would be obliged to enter into their conversation.

I was glad for the seating arrangement. At least I did not
have to sit opposite Wynn Delaney-Kathleen's Dee-where I
would have to look at him once in a while throughout the
meal. Those sensitive eyes might look right through me and
see my tumbled emotions.

When Jonathan decided that there had been enough children's chatter, he excused them from the table to go to
their rooms for a bit of play before bedtime.

The grown-ups then had a quieter conversation over second cups of coffee. I had preferred the din of the children, for
with their leaving attention suddenly focused uncomfortably
on me. Jon and Mary plied me with questions about my
school, my pupils, my neighbors and my little teacherage. Because I loved them all so much, I imagine that love showed in
my eyes and voice, in spite of the way I was feeling.

"Elizabeth must be very tired," Wynn interjected after a
time, and I looked at him in surprise. For one thing, I had never heard him call me "Elizabeth" before.

"She's been working very hard with her students," he elaborated. "and then she took on the extra load of organizing a
money-raising social for a local family in need."

I had already told Jon and Mary about Andy, and the eyes
around the table softened at the mention of the fund-raising
effort.

I swallowed hard. I still found my heart hurting at the
mention of the dear little fellow.

"The work wasn't too much," I hurried to explain. "If
things had turned out differently-"

Wynn reached across the empty chair that separated us
and gave my hand a sympathetic squeeze. Shocked, I looked
up quickly to catch the expression in the eyes around the table. But no one looked surprised. I presumed they understood
such gestures better than I did-and they also knew the man
better than 1. Mary quickly took charge of the situation. I
think that she was a little afraid that talking of Andy would
have me weeping again.