Читать книгу Hosea's Bride - Dorothy Clark - Страница 12

What a gorgeous September day! Angela opened the sunroof, lowered the windows, and, on a sudden, strong impulse, turned onto Hillman Boulevard. It would take her a few blocks out of her way, but the drive along the river with the tree-covered hills beyond would be worth it. She had earned a little relaxation.

She glanced over at her purse and smiled. Combined with what she had already saved, the sizable pay she had received from the Jones-Thomas Manufacturing Firm for her research report would enable her to take that European vacation she’d been promising herself. And the large bonus check they had given her for finishing before the deadline would take care of new clothes.

Angela’s smile widened. She could get that lovely, burgundy silk pantsuit she had been admiring, and that delicious sage-green dress with the flowing skirt as well. Pleased at the prospect, she braked at the red light, flicked on her directional signal and followed a blue car, overflowing with children, onto Riverside Parkway. The trunk lid of the car was strapped down over piled-up coolers, lawn chairs and a small rubber raft.

Looks like someone’s going on a last picnic before school starts. Angela smiled. What a lovely idea. She glanced toward the river. She hadn’t anyone to picnic with, but a walk along the path would be nice. And she had time… Why not? She laughed, pulled into a parking spot and climbed from the car.

A bird in the branches above her chirped loudly, swooped down out of the tree and flew straight at her head. She let out a startled squeal and ducked, then laughed and turned to watch the bird fly away toward the river. It flew directly over a young woman sitting on a park bench a short distance away. The teenager looked dejected—and familiar. One of the teen group at church?

Angela pulled off her sunglasses for a better view. It was Cathy Anders. She started over the grass toward the girl. “Cathy?”

The teenager glanced over her shoulder. Her hands lifted and wiped across her cheeks.

“Cathy, what’s wrong?” Angela skimmed an anxious gaze over the girl as she drew near. “Are you hurt?”

“N-no.”

Tears shimmered in the girl’s eyes. Angela sat down on the bench beside her and reached for her hand. “Well, there’s something wrong, Cathy. Why don’t you tell me what it is? Maybe I can help.”

The girl shook her head and looked down at her lap. “No one can help.”

All sorts of dire circumstances flashed through Angela’s mind. She took a deep breath and offered a silent prayer for guidance. “I’d like to try, Cathy—if you’ll let me.”

“Oh, Miss Warren!” The teenager broke into sobs and threw herself into Angela’s arms. “My dad found the money I’d saved for college and he took it. My bus ticket, too. He cashed it in and went to Charlie’s. Now I can’t get there for registration and they’re going to give my scholarship to someone else.”

“Charlie’s? You mean the tavern where they have off-track betting?” The girl’s hair brushed against Angela’s cheek as she nodded. “Oh, Cathy, I’m so sorry.” She tightened her arms around the weeping girl. “Surely, there’s something—” Cathy’s forehead rolled back and forth against her shoulder.

“No. I called. They need my share of the money by four o’clock today or I lose the scholarship.” Cathy took a long, shuddering breath and straightened. “It’s no use talking about it, Miss Warren. I don’t have the money now. And I can’t get there before registration. I can’t get there at all without my ticket.” She swiped at her streaming eyes with a balled-up tissue in her hand. “Even if I had the money, if I don’t register they will close me out of my classes.”

Angela took a deep breath to calm a sudden surge of anger. “Let me understand, Cathy. You say your father found your money. Were you hiding it from him?”

Shame washed over the teenager’s face. She nodded and looked away. “I had a savings account where I banked whatever I could save from my pay after I bought food and stuff. But I had to withdraw the money yesterday so I could buy my ticket and be ready to leave early this morning. I hid it in the bag of books I’m…was…taking with me, and he found it.”

Fresh tears flowed down Cathy’s cheeks. “I know that must sound strange and awful to you, Miss Warren, but—” She glanced at Angela, then looked back down at the wadded tissue in her hands. “But I have to do those things. My dad’s a gambler and…and an alcoholic.”

“I see.” The anger in Angela turned to fury at the pain she saw in the girl’s eyes. The anguish of living with an addicted parent wasn’t strange to her at all. She knew, far too well, the pain and humiliation Cathy was suffering.

“It’s not like you think, Miss Warren.” Cathy’s back straightened, her chin lifted. “My dad would never have taken my money if it wasn’t for the alcohol. That’s why I wanted to go to college. I wanted to do medical research.” Tears spilled from her eyes again. “Maybe I could have found a way to help people like my dad.”

Angela’s eyes filled. Her heart ached for Cathy. The denial, and the vehement protection of the parent were all too familiar to her, too. The same insidious emotions had ensnared her until her dreams were dead and her life destroyed. Well, it was too late for her, but it would not happen to Cathy! Not if she could help it. Who needed a vacation in Europe anyway?

Unable to restrain herself, Angela gave Cathy a fierce hug, then leaped to her feet. “Come on, Cathy!” She grabbed the astonished teenager by the hand and tugged her off the bench, pulling her along as she ran toward her car.

“What are you doing, Miss Warren? Where are we going?” Cathy’s head barely missed the edge of the car roof as Angela all but shoved her into the passenger seat.

“To get you registered for college!” Angela slammed the door behind Cathy, ran around to the driver’s side, hopped in, then made a quick U-turn.

Cathy grabbed for the dash and held on. Her tears dried up as they bore down on a dark-green sedan. “You don’t understand, Miss Warren. I don’t have the money, and—”

“Yes you do, Cathy. I’m going to give it to you.”

“What?” The girl’s mouth gaped open. She stared in wide-eyed astonishment at Angela. “Why?”

For hundreds of horrible, painful reasons. Angela’s hands tightened on the steering wheel as she fought back the dark memories. “Let’s just say I’m paying a debt to a lady who once helped me.

“Cathy, it will save time if you’ll let me take you home to get your things.” Angela frowned as the teenager shook her head.

“I’m sorry, Miss Warren. I know you’re trying to help me. And I’m not just being stubborn.” Tears swarmed into Cathy’s red, swollen eyes. “I know time is important. And I want to go to college more than anything! But I just can’t let you go to my house. My dad— Sometimes my dad gets…rough. And Pastor Stevens knows—” Her voice broke on a sob.

Angela put her arm around the girl’s tense shoulders. “Never mind, Cathy. You don’t have to explain. I understand.” She ignored a sudden twinge of nerves and forced a smile. “Why don’t you go splash some cold water on your eyes while I call the church? It will make them feel better.” She pointed to the door that led to the entrance hall. “Go through there and make a right—it’s the door on the right side.”

When Cathy had gone, Angela drew a deep breath, turned to the phone and tapped the memory button for the church. Closing her eyes, she forced herself to pray against her own wishes while the phone on the other end of the line rang. “Please let him be there for Cathy’s sake, Lord. Please let him—”

“Hello. Christian Crossroads—”

“Barbara, this is Angela. Sorry to interrupt, but I need to talk to Pastor Stevens right away. Is he there?”

“Yes. Hold on, Angela.”

“Thanks.” Angela glanced up at the clock. Only six hours until Cathy had to be at Middleton. Subtract four hours of steady driving to get there, and it didn’t leave—”

“Hello, Miss Warren. What can I do for you?”

Angela closed her eyes and gripped the edge of the counter as the deep, full voice came over the line. “Hello, Pastor Stevens. I have a small emergency involving a young lady from the church—Cathy Anders. And I need some help. I’m sorry to bother you, but you’re the only one she will let me call. Would it be possible for you to come—?”

“Where are you?”

“At my house.”

“The address?”

“Twenty-seven South Logan.”

“I’ll be right there.”

The phone went dead. Angela hung up, pushed aside the jittery qualm the thought of seeing Hosea Stevens outside of church caused, grabbed the piece of paper on which she had written the number for the college registrar’s office and punched in the numbers.

“Registrar’s office.”

“Hello. I’d like to speak with someone concerning the registration of a student—Cathy Anders.” Angela smiled, reached into the refrigerator and pulled out a pitcher of lemonade as Cathy walked back into the kitchen.

“I’m sorry, it’s too late to consider a new student. Registration closes at four o’clock this afternoon.”

“Yes, I know.” Angela poured a glassful of the cool liquid, handed it to Cathy, then directed her attention back to the woman on the phone. “I’m calling because a problem with transportation has cropped up and I want to pay what Cathy owes with my credit card right now to secure her scholarship and classes.”

“I’m sorry. That’s against Middleton College policy. The instructions we send upon acceptance of a student clearly state that students must appear in person to register and secure their classes.”

Angela frowned. “But, surely, you must have some sort of contingency plan for emergencies.”

“I’m sorry. But to allow you to pay over the phone would not be fair to those students who have made the effort to be here on time.”

“I see. Very well. Thank you for your time.” Angela refrained from slamming the receiver down, and walked over to put her arm around the teenager who had turned her back to hide her tears.

“Don’t cry, Cathy. It’s going to be all right. It’s just going to be a little more difficult than I thought. But, I promise you this, nothing is impossible with the Lord.”

The front doorbell rang.

Angela’s heart leaped into her throat. She gave the girl’s shoulders an encouraging squeeze. “There’s the pastor now.” She hurried to the front door and yanked it open before she gave in to her urge to run and hide.

“Hello, Pastor Stevens. Thank you for coming so quickly.” Angela stepped out onto the porch and moved aside to make room for Cathy to follow.

Hosea nodded. His gaze swept to the girl’s tense face. “Hello, Cathy, I understand you have a problem.”

The concern and compassion in his voice whisked Angela’s mind back to the night in the Crossroads Church when she had been born again. She said a quick prayer that the situation wouldn’t cause Hosea Stevens’s mind to make that same leap, then, taking a deep breath, she plunged into her request.

“I’m so glad you’re here, Pastor, but I can’t ask you in because time is of the essence. It’s imperative Cathy be at Middleton College before four o’clock this afternoon to save her scholarship and register for classes. It’s a four-hour drive to Middleton and time is getting short.”

She took another breath as Hosea checked his watch. “I’m going to drive her to Middleton—that’s settled. The problem is…well…Cathy won’t let me take her home to get her things.”

She looked up at Hosea with a silent plea in her eyes. “That’s why I called you. If you will be so kind as to take Cathy home so she can get her things, and then bring her back here as quickly as possible so we can be on our way, it will help tremendously. I promise to explain everything to you as soon as I can.”

For a long, moment Hosea Stevens simply looked at her, and then, to her immense relief, he nodded and turned to the teenager. “You’ll have to give me directions to your house, Cathy. I’m not totally familiar with the streets of Harmony just yet.”

Angela relaxed. For a moment, when he had looked at her, she had thought… She shook her head and straightened as Hosea walked Cathy to his car. If he had remembered her past, so be it. At least Cathy would be out of that house and free from the tyranny of her alcoholic father.

Angela blinked sudden moisture from her eyes and went inside to change out of her dress clothes into something more comfortable for the trip as Hosea drove away.

Thirty-five minutes gone. Angela dragged her gaze from the clock, stuffed bananas, apples, a bag of cookies and a container of mixed nuts into a wicker basket, tossed some paper napkins on top, then added a thermos of lemonade and some cups. What else? A jacket. She would need a jacket when it cooled off later.