Читать книгу Hosea's Bride - Dorothy Clark - Страница 11

“Ball one!”

“Way to go, Angela! That’s the way to read ’em.”

Angela swept off her ball cap, bowed to Leigh who was taking a long lead off first base, then replaced her cap and tugged it low to hide her face. Her gaze lifted to the man on the pitcher’s mound. So much for hiding in the crowd at the church picnic. She should never have come. Four weeks since his arrival, and she was still a nervous wreck. She tugged the cap lower and lifted the bat into position.

Hosea Stevens wound up and pitched the ball.

“Strrrike one!”

Leigh scurried back to first as Phil caught the pitch and threw it to Seth Pickard.

“You’ve got to be faster than that, Phil, this woman of yours runs like a deer!” Leigh waggled her eyebrows at him. Seth laughed, and threw the ball to Hosea.

Leigh inched off base again.

Hosea wound up and pitched it right down the middle.

Crack!

Leigh let out a whoop, and took off running as Angela dropped the bat and dashed for first base.

The ball whizzed out to center field. Bill Stoner scooped it up and threw to Lou Harris at third base. Leigh skidded to a halt, spun around, dashed back to second base, grinned and gave Angela, who had returned to first, a thumbs-up. “Good hit!”

“Thanks.” Angela drew a deep breath and glanced toward home plate. “Come on, Debby, hit us in!” Please hit us in, she begged silently. I want out of here! Her gaze shifted to Hosea Stevens as he began his windup. She pulled her thoughts back to the business at hand and inched her way off base.

Hosea pitched another perfect strike.

Crack!

Debby popped it up, and Angela took off for second base.

Hosea faded back, leaped into the air, caught the ball for out number one, threw it to Lou Harris at third, who tagged a laughing, dodging Leigh for out number two, and threw it to Bart Williams at second.

Angela skidded to a halt, let out a squeal, and spun around to head back to first. She froze in place. Hosea Stevens was standing not ten feet away between her and first base. He caught the ball Bart lobbed to him, grinned, and started a slow advance toward her. She backed up. Hosea’s grin widened. He locked his gaze on hers and took another step toward her. Her stomach jittered.

Not him, Lord. Please, not him!

Angela shoved her hands out toward Hosea, palms foremost, took another step backward, then spun about and almost crashed into Bart who had sneaked up be hind her.

Bart laughed, caught the ball Hosea tossed him and tapped Angela lightly on her shoulder. “Whooeee…triple play! That’s the game, folks! Let’s go eat!”

“Great game, Slider.” Bart slapped Hosea on the shoulder and trotted off to join the rest of the players that were headed toward the shaded tables under the pavilions along the river.

“Slider?” Leigh stopped beside Angela and gaped at Hosea. “You’re Slider Stevens?”

“I used to be.”

“Well, no wonder we lost!”

Hosea laughed.

Phil draped his arm around Leigh’s shoulders and dropped a kiss on top of her head. “That’s my little competitor talking, Pastor.” He laughed down at Leigh. “He went easy on you, sweetheart. Do you think any of you would have gotten a hit if he hadn’t?”

“Judas! You should have told me.” Leigh aimed a playful punch at Phil’s stomach. He caught her hand and kissed it.

Angela smiled at their antics and glanced at Hosea. “I guess I missed something. I don’t understand the significance of Slider Stevens.”

His gaze met hers. “That’s because it has no significance, now. It’s just a name out of my past. I picked it up when I played college ball.”

“Oh.” Angela’s composure unraveled. Had he remembered her other name?

Leigh gave a disdainful snort and ducked out from under Phil’s arm. “‘Played college ball’—hah! That’s an understatement. He was the best, Angela. Don’t you remember all that publicity when he was being wooed by the major league teams?”

Angela shook her head and turned away, too distracted by her thoughts to take part in the conversation.

“Well, I sure do.” Phil looked at Hosea. “You were offered a huge contract, but you never signed. I always wondered why someone with your talent gave up such a fantastic chance.”

“Well, wonder no more. There’s a very simple answer.” Hosea scooped up a ball someone had dropped and stepped over to toss it into a basket full of equipment. “God had a different plan for my life—I went to Bible college.”

“And gave up all those millions? Not to mention the fame, and the adulation of baseball fans everywhere.”

Phil’s incredulous tone penetrated Angela’s preoccupation. She glanced over at Hosea Stevens. Had he done that?

Hosea pulled off his cap and scrubbed his hand through his hair. “I gained far more than I gave up, Phil. It was the best decision I’ve ever made. I gained riches beyond value.” He tugged his cap back on. “Now…I think Bart had the right idea. I know I’ve worked up a healthy appetite. Anyone care to join me at the picnic table?”

“Sounds good to me.”

Phil laughed and draped his arm around Leigh again. “Food always sounds good to you, my sweet.”

“True.” She grinned up at him. “But, I happen to know Angela brought her famous potato salad, and her even more famous strawberry shortcake.”

Phil rolled his eyes and licked his lips. “Say no more—let’s go!” He slid his hand down to catch hold of Leigh’s and took off at a dead run toward the tables.

Hosea laughed. “I guess they’re hungry.”

They were alone! Angela forced a smile. “Yes. Hungry and energetic.” She started walking toward the tables. There was safety in numbers, and if she could just reach the crowd she could get away from him.

“Famous potato salad, and even more famous strawberry shortcake, huh? I’ve got to have some of that.”

Angela’s nerves tingled as Hosea fell into step beside her. She wiped her moist palms against her khaki shorts and stared down at the grass. “Then you’d better know, Pastor Stevens, that ‘famous’ is an exaggeration.”

“I hope not, Miss Warren. But, to be honest, it probably wouldn’t matter at this point. I’m hungry as a bear coming out of hibernation.”

Angela glanced up at him from beneath the brim of her baseball cap and her stomach went all jittery again. She jerked her gaze away from his face and took a deep breath. “Excuse me, Pastor Stevens, I have to get the whipped cream from my car.”

Veering off to the right, she headed for the parking lot to compose herself. She could feel his gaze following her all the way.

Millions of dollars. Had he really given up millions of dollars?

Angela leaned against a tree, sipped her iced tea and watched Hosea Stevens laugh, talk and hand out roasted corn to all comers. He couldn’t be more alien to her if he had suddenly grown fur and a tail. Her stepfather and Tony would have killed for that much money. It was inconceivable to her that this man had willingly given it up to obey the Lord.

Angela frowned and studied Hosea Stevens’s face. What had he answered Phil?…I gained riches beyond value. Did he truly mean that?

“What are you looking so serious, about? Don’t you know this is a picnic?”

Angela jumped and looked up at Alan Curtis, another church member. He smiled down at her.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to startle you. But you looked so solemn—and at least a thousand miles away.”

“No, I’m right here.” Angela gave him a polite smile and pushed away from the tree. “And now, I’m going over there, and try a piece of that coconut cake Emily brought. It looks wonderful.” She headed toward the dessert table.

“I don’t know about the cake—but I can highly recommend the strawberry shortcake.” Alan turned to walk beside her. “What do you do to those biscuits?”

“Ah, that’s a secret.”

“Well it’s a secret worth money.” He smiled again. “You could probably sell the recipe to one of those famous chefs for big bucks.”

“Why, thank you, sir.”

Big bucks. Millions of dollars. Angela lifted her gaze beyond Alan to the bonfire where the corn was roasting—to where Hosea was pulling back the shucks and handing it out to the laughing, chatting members of his congregation. No man willingly gave up millions of dollars. There had to be a reason.

She turned back to the table and gave Alan an absent smile as he handed her a piece of the coconut cake. She would find that reason when she got home. As she’d reminded Leigh, information was her specialty. For now, she’d stay hidden in the crowd at the table. She picked up a napkin and plastic fork and took a seat.

“Come on, Angela! They’re lining up for the water balloon toss, and we need another woman.”

Angela sighed and gave up as Leigh grabbed her hand and tugged her to her feet. There was just no way she could stay lost in the crowd with Leigh around.

“There’s Phil.” Leigh waved her free hand through the air to catch his attention as they trotted forward. “Here we are!”

Angela’s heart sank as she spotted Hosea Stevens lined up beside Phil on the other side of the open field. Leigh. This had her matchmaking fingerprints all over it. She stopped short. “Leigh, I don’t—” The shrill blow of a whistle cut off her protest. Leigh tugged her into place on the line.

“Well…now that we’re all here.” Walter Foster looked pointedly at Leigh and laughed when she grinned and curtsied to him. “Let’s begin.” He glanced around. “You all know the rules. You throw the balloon to your partner. When everyone has thrown their balloon, I’ll blow my whistle and you all take a step backward before your partner throws it back to you. You’re out of the contest as soon as your balloon breaks. Okay?”

There was a chorus of agreement.

“All right. Men…hold up your balloons! Ladies…check the color of your partner’s balloon. We’ve separated them so if somebody throws a wild one at you you’ll know in time to dodge it!” He glanced around to make sure everyone was ready while people laughed and shouted threats at one another. “Okay, last couple on the field wins all the extra balloons!”

He waved the half-empty bag over his head and hurried out of the cleared area to the accompaniment of the good-natured insults called out at the offered prize. When he reached the safety of the sidelines he turned and lifted his hand. Everyone quieted and looked at their partner.

“Ready…set…Go!”

Two dozen multicolored balloons wobbled through the air.

Angela caught the blue one Hosea threw to her, instinctively drawing her hands down and backward to ease the contact.

There was a sharp squeal to Leigh’s left. Another farther down the line.

Cold water spattered Angela’s sun-warmed legs as a balloon burst on the ground beside her. She jumped.

“Sorry, Angela, you got more of that than I did.” Sandra Collins laughed and trotted off the field with the other women whose balloons had broken.

The whistle blew. The remaining players took a step back.

Angela judged the new distance and threw the balloon to Hosea. Water splashed everywhere as wildly thrown balloons broke and spewed their contents on whoever happened to be in the way.

Hosea caught hers, then burst into laughter as another smacked against his shoulder and sprayed him with water. He held the dripping remnant of the wayward balloon out to Lou Harris. “I believe this belongs to you, sir?”

Lou accepted it with a bow.

The crowd laughed.

The whistle blew.

Angela stepped back. Hosea looked at her over the widening space. Thank goodness they were moving farther apart. She felt naked without the baseball cap. Lord, don’t let him remember. Please—

Whap!

Angela gasped as the blue balloon broke against her abdomen and cold water soaked through her cotton shirt and khaki shorts. Idiot! You closed your eyes. She shook her head at her foolishness, and tugged her wet shirt out away from her body. “Woo-hoo! Only three more to go and we win, Phil!” Leigh looked over at her friend and grinned. “Sorry, Angela.”

Angela laughed. “Yeah, I can tell.” She dropped back out of harm’s way and trotted off the field as the whistle sounded again.

Hosea Stevens met her at the edge of the crowd.

She sucked in a breath and pasted a smile on her face. “I’m sorry, Pastor. I cost you a half bag of balloons.”

He grinned down at her. “I think I can manage to live through the disappointment.” His gaze sought hers. “I’m sorry about the soaking.”

Angela turned away to look back at the field. “My fault entirely.” There was a sudden burst of applause. “Besides, it seems to have worked out well for Leigh and Phil.” She gave him a quick glance. “Excuse me, I have to go congratulate them.”

Relieved at the excuse to leave his company, she trotted off to join her friends.

Angela stared at the computer screen. She’d been so eager to check the information on Hosea “Slider” Stevens, she hadn’t even changed out of her picnic clothes, and she’d found nothing questionable. She checked her files, her sources of information again. There was nothing. No illness, injury or family problems. No breath of scandal or unexplained absences for any block of time. All she could find confirmed Hosea’s statement. He had simply walked away from the millions of dollars offered him to play professional ball. And that included a signing bonus in a previously unheard of amount for a rookie.

She shook her head and scanned the copy of the newspaper reports again. There was nothing else to check. Nowhere else to go for information. What he had said was true. But, how could it be? She must have missed something. Men weren’t like that.

Angela closed her eyes, rubbed her temples and rotated her neck. Maybe she was just tired. It had been a long day. She’d check things over again tomorrow. She turned off the computer, climbed the stairs and prepared for bed. The softness of the mattress felt lovely after the physical activity of the day. She sighed, and closed her eyes.

“Thank you, Father, for the blessings of this day. Thank you for the lovely weather and the picnic….”

An image of Hosea Stevens’s face implanted itself on Angela’s mind stopping her words. She popped her eyes open, flopped onto her back and frowned. The man was a torment to her. What was she to do?

“What do You want from me, Lord? What are You after? Why did You bring him here?”

There was no answer to her whispered words. Angela sighed, and turned on the light. The pleasant tiredness of the day was gone. There was only a restless confusion swirling through her brain.

She grabbed her pillows, propped them against the head of the bed and reached for the book she’d left on her nightstand. Reading about the hair-raising adventures of the brooding, dark-haired, brown-eyed espionage agent would not only get her thoughts off her troubles, it would drive the image of the blond, blue-eyed, square-jawed Hosea Stevens out of her mind.

Hosea flipped his baseball cap onto the shelf, laid his glove beside it and closed the closet door. It had been a fun day. And the church picnic had given him a valuable glimpse of the members of his new congregation in a relaxed setting. He was already learning their individual personalities and quirks. Like Leigh Roberts’s love of food. He grinned, stripped off his clothes and tossed them in the laundry basket. The woman ate like a linebacker! How did she stay so thin? Angela Warren on the other hand—she’d merely picked at her food.

Hosea shook his head. He’d tried six years ago to find out what happened to the young woman—if anyone had counseled her after her salvation experience. But when he’d called Pastor Barnes to find out, all the man could tell him was that Angela Warren had left the city. Now, here she was in his church. And judging from what he’d been told and the records he’d seen, she was a valuable, active member. Still, she seemed…uneasy? No. It was something more than that. He just couldn’t quite put his finger on it. Did whatever it was have its roots in her past? “Lord, You know what’s wrong. Please give me wisdom to help Angela. Amen.”

He stood waiting for a moment, but no answer came. “All right, Lord. In Your time.” He grabbed a pair of blue-checked boxer shorts from his dresser drawer and trotted to the shower.