The Homecoming (20 page)
“Happy to help, sir. Here she is.” Shawn heard a click.
“Major Collins?”
“Katherine, is that you?”
“Yes, we’ve been trying to reach you. Did you get my note?”
“I did, just about an hour ago. How’s my father? Any more news?”
“We went back to see him just a little while ago. Mrs. Fortini is still there. She wanted to stay until visiting hours were over, at about 6:00. I brought Patrick home to get him some dinner.”
“How’s he holding up?”
Katherine didn’t respond.
“Are you okay?”
“I’m sorry, sir. He’s seems to be doing just fine. I’m not so sure I am.”
“What’s wrong?”
“I felt so bad for him. Patrick found him at the foot of the stairs last night. He must have been so scared. But you would have been so proud of him, the way he handled everything.”
Shawn was relieved to hear it. “He bounces back pretty quick.”
“He does,” she said. “Right now, he’s upstairs washing his hands. They’re keeping your dad a few nights, mainly because of his head injury, so we’re keeping Patrick here with us.”
“That’s a good idea.”
“Are you . . . are you coming home?”
Now Shawn hesitated. A wall of emotions welled up inside him. Anger, guilt, fear for his father, some more anger, some more guilt. “They won’t let me,” he said.
“What?”
“I’ve been told since it’s not life threatening, it’s not an emergency. Katherine, I’m . . . I can’t stand being stuck up here right now.”
“I’m sorry, Major. That is just so wrong.”
“It feels wrong to me.”
“Did you call the doctor yet?”
“No, I wanted to call you first . . . see how you all are doing.”
“You want me to get Patrick?”
“No, I’ll call back a little later, when I’m not so upset.”
“He will be so glad.”
“I wish I could be there . . . but I’m glad you are. And Mrs. Fortini. Well, I better go so I can call the doctor.”
“There’s something he’s not telling us about your dad,” she said. “He said he’d only talk about it with you.”
“I’ll call right now, then let you know what’s up when I call Patrick later.”
Before hanging up, Shawn asked Katherine to get a picture of Patrick for him. He dialed the hospital number, and in a few minutes was talking with his father’s physician, Dr. Matthews.
“Thank you, Doctor, for taking my call. Did the operator tell you who I am?”
“She did, Major. Sorry to interrupt you with bad news. Miss Townsend told me about the War Bond tour.”
“Is the news really that bad? She said you wouldn’t tell her or Mrs. Fortini.”
“It’s just hospital policy, especially with news like this.” Dr. Matthews paused. “I haven’t even told your father yet.”
“What is it, what’s wrong?”
“It’s his heart, Major. He didn’t have a heart attack, not exactly. But he’s on the verge of one. I’m still running tests, but my preliminary findings are not good.”
“Is he . . . dying?”
“In a way, yes. Maybe not today or tomorrow, but I don’t think his heart can hold out too much longer. Maybe a year if he behaves, a few months if he won’t.”
After Katherine hung up with Shawn, she felt so much better. At first, she wasn’t sure why, because, really, nothing had changed. She cleaned up the kitchen, replaying the telephone conversation in her mind. Then her mood change became clear.
Several times as they talked, Shawn—Major Collins—had called her by her first name. He hadn’t done that since their conversation back at the Crystal Tea Room in Wanamaker’s, when he’d announced he wanted to keep the relationship strictly professional. But she was certain . . . he had only called her Miss Townsend one time in the conversation. His first words: “Katherine, is that you?”
Oh, you idiot, she thought. Sometimes you are so pathetic. Just then, the telephone rang again. Could it be Shawn calling back? She picked it up quickly.
“Is this the Townsend residence?”
Townsend residence? she thought. “No, this is the Fortini residence. May I ask who’s calling?”
“It’s Al Baker, Captain Albert Baker. Who’s this?”
“I’m Katherine Townsend, but this isn’t my place.” She wondered,
Who is Al Baker?
“Must have gotten my lines crossed. Anyway, Miss Townsend, I don’t know if you remember me. We met at the Crystal Tea Room a little while ago. Shawn introduced us.”
Now it was beginning to click. “I do remember you, Captain.”
“Please, call me Al.”
She really didn’t want to do that. “You and Shawn flew together or something, right?”
“That’s right. I was at the Tea Room visiting some relatives who live in Philly. Anyway, I’m getting shipped back to England soon. But I’m just across the river here in Jersey. I was wondering if you’d like to join me for lunch tomorrow, back at the Tea Room?”
Katherine was not prepared for this. “Tomorrow’s not a good time for me.”
“How about the next day? Or if you’d like, I could pick you up for dinner. You name the place.”
Katherine took a deep breath. “I’m really sorry, Captain Baker. But I’m really not interested in starting a relationship right now. It’s nothing personal.”
“I see. You seeing someone else?”
“No, it’s not that. It’s kind of hard to explain. Maybe when you’re back in the States again, things will be different. But thanks for asking.”
“Not a problem. It was great meeting you, Katherine. Hope we meet again.”
After he hung up, she berated herself for not having the backbone to just say no, plain and simple, without leaving the door open for later. Maybe Captain Al Baker would get stuck in England for a long time.
Long enough to forget all about her.
It was Sunday morning. Katherine was as nervous as she could be. She was going to church, actually escorting Patrick to church per Major Collins’s instructions. Katherine hadn’t set foot in a church since she was a little girl. What few memories she had were not pleasant.
Over the last several days, Shawn’s father had continued to mend, but he was still in the hospital. Now there was the added worry of his heart condition. Katherine had missed Shawn’s call about this, but he’d told Mrs. Fortini what the doctor said. For now, they were to keep Mr. Collins in the dark. No point in upsetting him, and, between the cast and concussion, he couldn’t get into too much trouble.
Shawn had called each day, mostly to talk to Patrick and check on his father. But he did share a few tidbits about his travels. The War Bond tour had already been to Providence, and the crew was now riding the train to somewhere else. Yesterday, he told Mrs. Fortini that Bing Crosby was supposed to join them in New York City. “You better get me that autograph,” she’d said.
Katherine looked at her watch; it was almost time to leave. “Patrick, are you ready?” she called up the stairs.
“Almost, just one more thing.”
She looked at a newspaper on the coffee table. Mrs. Fortini had bought a small stack the day after Shawn’s first big rally in Boston. She’d already given most of them away. This last one was for the scrapbook. Shawn made the front page of the
Philadelphia Inquirer
. It was on the bottom half, but it included his picture.
She walked over and turned the paper upside down. She hated the picture.
It was silly, and she knew it. But there was Shawn, for the whole world to see, with Hedy Lamarr, one of the most beautiful actresses in Hollywood, holding his hands. Beside her stood Bette Davis. Behind them, six beautiful young women wearing feathery costumes, faces all smiley and full of excitement. Shawn was the reason. Katherine counted three of them looking at Shawn that certain way.
She heard Patrick’s footsteps coming downstairs.
“All ready,” he said.
Why is he so excited about going to church? she thought. You’d think he was going to the zoo. “You look very nice.”
“I do?”
“A handsome little man. What’s that book?”
“It’s my children’s Bible. The church I used to go to gave it to me.”
“Your father said the church we’re going to this morning is a lot like your old one. Is everyone supposed to bring a Bible?”
“I think so,” Patrick said. “Don’t you have one?”
“No, but that’s okay. If I need one, I can get one before next Sunday.”
“Want to use mine?” he asked.
She bent down and looked in his eyes. She wanted to hug him but remembered Shawn’s warning about getting too close. “Thank you, Patrick. But you keep it. I’ll be okay.”
“Where’s Mrs. Fortini?”
“She’s already left, to go to her church. We’ll meet back here for lunch, then maybe go visit your grandpa in the hospital.”
“I wished they’d let me see him.”
“I know, Patrick. I wish you could too.”
They put on their coats and hats and headed out the door. It was less than a mile to the church, but it was cold and overcast, so they drove. As they arrived at the intersection where the church stood, Katherine saw dozens of people heading there from all over the neighborhood. With so many walking, she quickly found a parking space a few houses down the street.
“Is this it?” asked Patrick.
“This is it.” She had no idea what to expect and wished she possessed an inkling of the zeal she saw in Patrick’s eyes. They got out and joined the flow of people walking toward the building. Several of them smiled and greeted them. As they climbed the front steps, a middle-aged woman with a pleasant smile walked right up to them and reached out her hand. “Is this your first Sunday?” she asked.
“Yes,” said Katherine. “This young man is Patrick Collins. I’m Katherine Townsend, his nanny.”
“I’m Sadie Robbins, and I’ve been coming here since I was his age. My husband’s a deacon. He’s already inside.” They shook hands. “How old are you, Patrick?”
“Seven.”
“Miss Townsend, if you’d like, Patrick could stay with you for the service, or he could go to our children’s service.”
“Where is that?”
“It’s here, in another room around the corner. I could take you there and let him see it, then you can decide what you’d like to do.”
“Thank you,” Katherine said. They followed the woman along a sidewalk toward another wing of the church. It looked like a small school.
Patrick tugged her hand. “I want to stay with you,” he whispered.
“If that’s what you want, that’s okay,” she whispered back.
But as soon as they walked through the doorway, Patrick saw about ten children his own age sitting around a large table. One little redheaded boy turned and saw them. His face lit up. “Patrick,” he shouted.
“Tommy?” Patrick shouted back. “You go here?”
Tommy ran over and stopped just inches from them. “Yep. Are you coming here now?”
“Can I?” he asked Katherine. “Tommy’s in my class at school.”
Katherine looked at Mrs. Robbins. “They sing the same hymns we do,” Mrs. Robbins said, “then one of the men in the church teaches them lessons from the Bible they can understand. Their service ends the same time as ours, and no one will release him until you come for him.”
“Is that what you want, Patrick? Because you can stay with me.”
Patrick nodded. “I’ll be okay.” He ran off with Tommy to join the others.
“Thank you, Mrs. Robbins.”
“Well, I’ve got to get back,” she said. “I’ll see you inside.” Katherine watched her walk around the corner toward the front doors. It suddenly dawned on her: she could leave right now and just come back for Patrick when the service ended. Major Collins didn’t say
she
had to go to church, just that she would bring Patrick. At the time, she didn’t know they had a children’s service. She assumed he’d be sitting next to her in the pew, forcing her to sit through the entire thing.
After fumbling her way through the third song from the hymnal, Katherine sat down with the rest of the congregation. She had wrestled with herself in the car for five minutes then snuck in after the service had begun, found plenty of room on the back row. She just didn’t feel right leaving Patrick alone at a strange place. What if he got nervous and came looking for her? He’d be terrified if she wasn’t there. Besides, these people weren’t all that bad. She could already tell they were nothing like the people at the church she’d visited as a child.
For one thing, most of them were smiling.
She’d grown up in a state-run orphanage. Some years, depending on who was in charge, they’d drag the kids to a church down the street. But that church had no special service for children. All she remembered was being scolded and punished for not paying attention or for fidgeting in her seat, while an angry old man up front talked for an hour about things she never understood. The only thing that seemed clear was that God didn’t like people very much and those people didn’t like her.
But already she sensed something different going on here.
Apart from the pronounced joy evident on most of the faces, she had been welcomed and greeted by at least a dozen other people before she’d taken her seat. When they sang, their joyfulness seemed to increase, as though they really believed what they were singing. She knew a little bit about Jesus but didn’t quite understand all the imagery in the lyrics. The cross of Christ, the blood of Christ, Jesus as a Lamb, Christian soldiers marching on. But everyone else sang like it all made perfect sense.
After the singing was over, a man got up and welcomed any first-time guests, then talked a few minutes about things going on in the church that week. He asked people to pray for all the soldiers, especially ones related to people in the church. He mentioned one corporal in particular who had been wounded two weeks ago in Italy. Then some men came up to the front with baskets, and they prayed about money. She suddenly felt very nervous.
They began passing the baskets from aisle to aisle. She tried not to look obvious, but she had no idea how much the service cost. As the men came to the aisle in front of her, she tried to see what others put in but couldn’t tell. She quickly reached in her purse and pulled out three dollars. It was all the cash she had.
As she dropped the money in, she enclosed it in her palm so no one would see. She hoped it was enough.