The Matrimony Plan (13 page)

Felicity heard the passion in his voice. “Then why didn’t you stay?”

A faint smile graced his lips. “Because God called me here.”

His assurance stunned her. To know beyond a doubt what you’re meant to do. She’d never experienced such certainty.

They reached Elm Street and stopped. The parsonage stood to the right, its broad front porch shaded by two stately
elms and framed by bridal veil, which had lost its dusting of white.

“Stay for lunch,” Gabriel blurted out. “We have extra, since Mr. Isaacs won’t be joining us.”

“I should go home,” she said without a great deal of conviction. “Daddy will expect a report on the meeting.”

“Of course.” But his eyes caught hers and melted her to the spot.

“Mariah will be disappointed.” His smile suspended time. “I will be disappointed.”

“You will?” Her heart pattered.

He grinned. “Slinky will be disappointed.”

“Well, if Slinky insists.”

He laughed, and that warm sensation came over her again. He cared—about her of all people.

Felicity followed Gabriel up the porch steps. Somehow it felt both wrong and right to enter the parsonage through the front door.

“It’s too hot to eat inside,” Mariah said the moment they entered. “I fixed a picnic basket. Let’s go to the park.” She bustled across the parlor, blanket in hand. “Hello, Felicity. I’m glad you could join us.”

Gabriel watched his older sister with a smile of bemusement. “Do you mind if Felicity checks Slinky first?”

Mariah waved her into the kitchen. “Check away. He’s been pestering me all morning for some chicken.”

“You didn’t give him any, did you?” Gabriel held the kitchen door for Felicity. “Mariah, I thought we agreed. No more table scraps.”

“It’s hardly table scraps, Gabriel John.”

Gabriel John. Felicity let the syllables run over her tongue. It was a good name, a strong name. She liked it.

Slinky lay on his bed watching the bustle around him.

When she knelt to check his paw, he perked up, lifting his head with its one floppy ear.

The wound was still puffy and red, though the flesh had begun to knit. “Bathe it in hydrogen peroxide morning and night, and don’t take him on walks quite yet.”

“Thank you, Dr. Felicity,” Gabriel said.

She blushed at his teasing. “It’s only common sense.”

Slinky plunked his head on her lap, and she had to give him a few strokes before leaving with Mariah and Gabriel.

They ambled through the woods, which felt so cool that she longed to stay there, but Mariah selected a grassy spot under a maple at the park’s edge.

They weren’t the only picnickers that day. Several mothers had brought their children to the park. For a moment, Felicity wondered what they’d think of her lunching with the minister and his sister, but what did it matter? She liked Gabriel, and judging by the way he looked at her, he liked her, too.

“Too bad Mr. Isaacs couldn’t join us,” Mariah said as she removed the plates and napkins from the basket. “I’m not surprised though.” She cast a mischievous grin at her brother.

He made a face at her. “I can’t imagine what you mean.”

She laughed. “So how did it go? Did your father run the show, Felicity?”

Mariah had pegged Daddy’s character from the start. “He had a business meeting and wasn’t there.”

“Lucky you.”

Felicity supposed it was lucky. If Daddy had been there, she’d never be eating lunch with Gabriel. After they’d feasted on chicken, biscuits, hard-boiled eggs and carrot salad, Gabriel leaned back with a sigh, hands folded across his stomach.

“That was wonderful, sis. I think I’ll take a nap now.” He pulled his straw Panama hat over his eyes.

“A nap?” Mariah swatted him with her napkin. “Is that any way to behave around guests?”

“Guests?” He peered out from under his hat. “We have guests? Oh, you mean Felicity. She’s not a guest. She’s practically part of the family.”

Part of the family. What wonderful words, and as a newly inducted member of this family, she wanted to know more. “Is your father a minister?”

“He might as well be,” Gabriel groaned.

Mariah laughed. “Dad sells motorcars.”

That explained Mariah’s car but not Gabriel’s reaction. “Then why does your brother think he should be a minister?”

Gabriel scraped his hat to the crown of his head. “Because he’s always preaching.”

“Must be where you picked it up,” Mariah joked.

Felicity loved their cheerful teasing. She’d lost that when she left for Highbury. By the time she returned, Blake was getting married. Sure, he’d been thoughtless at times when young, but what child wasn’t? Deep down, she knew he liked her, and if they’d spent more time together, they might have developed a relationship similar to Gabriel and Mariah’s.

“You’re lucky,” she sighed.

Gabriel looked surprised. “To have a preachy father?”

“To have a big family. Mine is so small.”

“If half of us weren’t adopted,” Mariah said, “we’d have a small family, too.”

“Adopted?” Felicity stared, openmouthed. So it was true. “You’re adopted?”

“Actually, Gabe and I and our older brother Samuel are Mom and Dad’s biological children, but Charlie and Rudy and Lloyd were adopted.”

“That’s another reason why we’re so close to Mr. Isaacs,”
Gabriel explained. “Every one of us understands how important it is to grow up in a loving Christian home. When we were young, many more orphans were placed with families than today. Things are different now. The asylums have dwindled, and placements are made through government agencies closer to home. The society now works locally to put children in foster homes. I don’t know how much longer it will stay open.”

“I read about some of the controversy, but I can’t believe there aren’t as many orphans now. The war had to leave many fatherless, and then the influenza epidemic took even more. Though Pearlman doesn’t have any orphans, the cities must.”

Gabriel hesitated and glanced at Mariah before proceeding. “Many of the children placed out in the last century weren’t orphans. They were abandoned by parents who couldn’t afford to raise them.”

“It was heartbreaking,” said Mariah. “Our brother Charlie ran away from his drunken father after being beaten nearly to death. Rudy was left at the asylum by parents who couldn’t speak English and therefore couldn’t get a good enough job to support their ten children. Only Lloyd is a real orphan. His parents died in a train wreck.”

Felicity saw why this placement meant so much to Gabriel. “We’ll find the children good homes.”

Gabriel forced a smile. “I know we will.”

The responsibility could crush a person, but these children needed her. She would not let them down.

Mariah began repacking the basket. “I’d better get this leftover chicken into the icebox.”

“And I’d better escort Felicity home,” said Gabriel. “Her father will want a report on the committee meeting.”

Felicity handed her plate to Mariah. “Are you sure you don’t need help?”

Mariah waved her off. “You two go. I can handle this in one minute.”

She was good to her word, packing the basket in record time. After a wave goodbye, Felicity found herself alone with Gabriel. That peculiar hum between them returned, like a taut violin string.

He held out an arm. “Shall we walk through the park?”

She could think of nothing finer. The summer air was fragrant with the smells of mown grass, peonies, sweet alyssum, roses and a thousand growing things. The sky spread out in a quilt of solid blue, unmarred by a single cloud.

“Have you thought about my idea?” Gabriel asked as they strolled in the shade along the river. “You’d be a wonderful veterinarian.”

Morning glories had twined through the bushes, raising their vibrant trumpets to the afternoon sun. Their cheerful blooms seemed to suggest anything was possible, but Felicity wasn’t sure that’s what she wanted to do. Gabriel had heard God’s call. She hadn’t.

“I don’t know. It’s not an occupation open to women.” She matched her step to his, ivory pump aligned with brown shoe.

“Not many women have chosen that path, but it is possible. I did a little checking and found a Dr. Florence Kimball graduated from Cornell in 1910 and opened a small-animal hospital in Massachusetts.”

Felicity sighed. Even if his facts were correct, that wasn’t the problem. Mother wanted her to go to art school and marry well. While Felicity was with Gabriel and Mariah, she forgot all that, but now, heading home, she had to face it.

“It’s not possible for me,” she whispered.

“What do you mean?”

She didn’t quite know how to put it. “You were able to
choose your profession, even if your parents disagreed. That’s not the case for me. My parents would never send me to veterinary college, and I have no money of my own.” She shrugged. “It doesn’t matter. I don’t know what I’m supposed to do with my life anyway.”

They walked in silence until the river path ended. The stream bubbled along below an overlook. Men fished there often, but today the spot was empty. They stood side by side watching the river. Then she felt his hand brush hers, politely inquiring. She reached for him, and he clasped her hand.

“You’ll know,” he said. “God always answers prayer.”

“I hope it’s soon, or Mother will send me to the National Academy.”

“There are worse places to go.”

She sighed. “There are better.”

She felt a tremor run through him. “Are you all right?”

“Hush.” He held a finger to her lips. “Do you hear it?”

She listened. “Do you mean the birds?”

He shook his head. “No, deeper.”

She listened harder. The rustle of leaves, the burble of the river, the sigh of the wind. The beating of her heart.

He placed her hand over his heart, and she could feel it, too, the beating that was getting more impatient. She looked into his eyes, not up like Robert’s but at her height.

“What do you see?” he whispered.

Caring and compassion. He liked her. The realization took away her breath. He liked
her,
Felicity Kensington, not her money or social status but who she really was. She saw it in the way he held her, in the way he looked at her, in her reflection in his eyes.

This time, the tremor came from deep inside her. She shivered. He wrapped his arms around her. Sunlight sparkled off the flowing river, but it could not blind her more than his affection.

“I—”

He pressed a finger to her lips then let it slide under her chin as he leaned closer. That wild sensation shot from her head clear through to her feet.

“You are so beautiful.” His voice had roughened and lowered as his thumb stroked her jawline.

Don’t stop. Don’t stop. Every fiber of her being begged him not to stop. His breath joined hers. Sunlight crowned him with a halo of gold. She closed her eyes, and his lips found hers, gentle as a leaf falling to the ground. He touched once and waited, so close she could feel his breath. This wasn’t like Robert’s demanding kiss. Gabriel’s was tender and considerate.

She leaned forward and placed her lips on his. Without hesitation, he truly kissed her, the way a man ought to kiss a woman, showing her she meant everything to him. She could drown in his arms and never feel a thing.

“Pastor Meeks!” Mrs. Grattan’s rebuke sent Felicity flying.

A flustered Gabriel adjusted his hat. “Mrs. Grattan. I didn’t realize you were here.”

Judging by the redness of her face, she’d hurried to catch up to them. She glared at Felicity. “Ms. Kensington. I should have known you’d be here.”

The words turned Felicity’s joy to ice.

Gabriel stepped between her and Mrs. Grattan. “Whatever you have to say to me can be said in front of Felicity.”

“Very well, Pastor. Have it your way, but you need to realize who’s a friend and who’s an enemy. I just came from an emergency meeting of the Church Council.”

Gabriel visibly reeled. “Emergency meeting? Where? There wasn’t a council meeting at the church.”

“We met at my house,” Mrs. Grattan sniffed.

“But I wasn’t there,” Gabriel said. “I wasn’t even informed.”

“They can’t do that.” Felicity edged forward.

“They can when it’s about the pastor.” Mrs. Grattan nodded firmly. “But I want you to know that Dermott Shea and I stood our ground.”

“Stood your ground against what?” Gabriel said.

“Against Eugenia Kensington getting you removed, that’s what.”

This time Felicity reeled. Mother had tried to remove Gabriel from the church? Why?

“Then…?” Gabriel was struggling with this as much as she was.

“Oh, you’re safe for now. The vote was two for removal and three against.”

Felicity mentally counted the votes. Glenn Evans and Ralph Neidecker would have introduced and pressed for acceptance of Mother’s resolution since their wives were her cronies. That meant Daddy had voted to keep Gabriel.

Mrs. Grattan looked straight at her. “Just remember, Pastor, who your enemies are.”

Gabriel had intended to ask Kensington’s permission to court Felicity, but Mrs. Grattan’s news sent that plan spinning away. Eugenia Kensington wanted him fired. He’d never get approval to court her daughter.

He stewed the rest of the day. Felicity confirmed that her mother might want him removed, but she couldn’t or wouldn’t say why. Surely this couldn’t be over that silly stained glass window.

When Mariah asked him why he was skulking about the parsonage all evening, he took a walk. The woods and the river would calm him. If he had a fishing pole, he’d toss in
a line. That had always calmed his thoughts when he was growing up.

He idly picked up a fallen branch and broke off the side shoots to make a walking stick. The park was quiet at this hour when sultry dusk slipped into cool darkness. If any lovers graced the pavilion, they kept their talk to a whisper. Gabriel walked toward the river, to the place where he’d kissed Felicity.

Was that it? Had Felicity’s mother noticed the feelings he had for her? Is that why she tried to remove him? He ran a hand through his hair, tugging against the unseen forces working around him.

The three-quarter moon had moved behind a thick cloud, leaving the woods dark, but Gabriel knew the way by heart now, his steps sure on the leaf-cushioned path.