Ours for a Season Read online

  The man held the check gingerly, as if fearful it would shatter. His gaze seemed locked on the amount written in black ink in her meticulous handwriting. She stifled a chortle. She’d seen dozens of businessmen gawk at her handwritten business checks. Why use computer-generated checks if a person wrote legibly? Every one of her purchases culminated in a personally inscribed check—what those in the corporate real estate business world called her trademark. That and her fuchsia suits, always with skirts instead of trousers. In all likelihood, however, the dollar amount on the check held Harvey Miller’s attention.

  She leaned slightly in his direction. “Is it correct?”

  He zipped his gaze to her. His mouth opened and closed several times, like a goldfish releasing air bubbles, and he nodded. “Yes, Miss Spalding. It sure is.” His thick eyebrows rose, and he let out a throaty chuckle. “I sure never thought that chunk of land my father left me would amount to this.”

  Mr. Blackburn cleared his throat. “Of course, you must remember there are fees and agent commissions, as well as escrow costs, title insurance costs, surveyor—”

  Brooke put up her hand, and to her satisfaction the man abruptly ceased talking. “Mr. Blackburn, does Harvey Miller seem like the type of person who would cheat these gentlemen”—she swept her arm to indicate the other men in Armani suits—“out of their agreed-upon payments for their assistance in this transaction?”

  The banker settled back in his chair and harrumphed. “I never intended to intimate—”

  “All fees, commissions, and costs are outlined in the contract Mr. Miller signed.” She maintained a firm tone, but tiredness tugged at her. Usually finalizing a business deal left her too buzzed to sit still. Leapin’ lizards, from where was this weariness coming? And when would the heartburn abate? She’d popped two antacids before the meeting started.

  She folded her hands on the polished tabletop and forced herself to continue. “Everyone will receive their piece of the pie. Allow the man a few minutes to enjoy the fruits of his deal making.”

  Blackburn pursed his lips, irritation sparking in his grayish-green eyes, but he ceased his blather.

  Brooke pushed back her executive chair and rose. Every man around the table rose, too, Blackburn finding his feet last. She slid the thick folder containing Mr. Miller’s copy of the multipage contract to the center of the table, then reached for her briefcase, which she’d left resting against a table leg. Holding her leather case, she made her way around the table and shook each man’s hand, offering a few congratulatory words for his role in the most monumental exchange of her career. She ended with Mr. Miller, and she held the mild-mannered gentleman’s hand rather than offering a brief handshake.

  “Mr. Miller, it truly has been a pleasure to meet you. I don’t believe this ‘windfall,’ as you’ve repeatedly called it, could have come to a nicer individual.”

  The man ducked his head for a moment, chuckling. “Thank you, Miss Spalding.”

  “Now, may I make one suggestion before you begin setting up college funds for your quiverful”—she’d loved the quaint turn of phrase he’d used—“of grandchildren?”

  “What’s that?”

  She gave his hand a squeeze. “Take your wife on a cruise. After forty-five years of marriage, she’s earned it, yes?”

  He chuckled again. “Oh, that she has.”

  Brooke smiled and gently withdrew her hand. “I suggest the Rhine River in Germany.”

  His eyebrows shot up.

  “You can afford it.”

  His gaze drifted to the check. A slow smile curved his lips. Tears winked in his eyes. He turned to look her full in the face. “Thank you, Miss Spalding. We’ll look into it.”

  “Good.” Brooke shifted to send one last glance around the circle of faces. “Gentlemen, I leave you to complete your business.”

  She aimed herself for the door, and Blackburn commandeered her chair at the head of the table. “Yes, let’s finish this up. Harvey, I—” She closed the door on the banker’s voice. She dug in the little pocket on the outside of her briefcase and withdrew the crumpled foil wrapper holding one last antacid. She stuck the white tablet in her mouth, jammed the string of foil into her case, and turned in the direction of the lobby. For a few seconds her shoulders wilted, a dull ache in her lower spine holding her captive. Chewing the chalky tablet, she ground her fist against the achy spot and forced her feet to carry her across the marble tiles leading to the bank’s front doors. Eagerness to bring the day to a close pressed at her. If she didn’t know better, she’d think old age was creeping up on her. She’d certainly felt closer to eighty-six than thirty-six the past few weeks.

  She pushed the revolving door and stepped from cool air-conditioning to cloying humidity and heat. She unbuttoned her jacket with one hand while moving toward her waiting Lexus. Her steps lagged, unlike her usual heel-clicking progress. She huffed, irritated with herself. How tiresome to always be so tired. Maybe she should schedule a checkup. She rolled her eyes. As if she had time.

  Brooke punched the code into the number pad on the car’s door, and the lock released. She slid into the driver’s seat, grimacing as her body connected with the sun-heated cream-colored leather, and swung her legs beneath the steering wheel. Pain shot through her lower back. She sat for a moment, hissing through her teeth until the sharp stab eased into the too-familiar dull throb. Sighing in relief, she tossed her briefcase into the passenger’s seat and started the engine.

  She turned the AC level to high, fastened her seat belt, and twisted to look over her shoulder. Another pain gripped her. She slapped the steering wheel. That was it. Limited time or not, she would schedule a visit to a chiropractor. Her hours hunched over a desk had probably pulled something out of whack. But the appointment would have to wait a day or two. She still had work to do. Now that the land officially belonged to her, she needed to give the go-ahead to reestablish utilities in the abandoned buildings, have a sturdy fence erected to keep out vandals, and secure a reputable construction manager. She knew who she wanted to oversee the rebuilding. If she dangled a plump enough carrot, she could likely coax him from Indiana to northeast Kansas.

  She’d already written a sizable check. When she got home, she’d put her writing hand to crafting a letter.

  2

  Noblesville, Indiana

  Anthony Hirschler

  Anthony plopped his suitcase on the rickety stand at the foot of the bed and unfastened the tarnished latches. He lifted the lid, but instead of removing his clothes from the suitcase, he stood staring at the stacks of folded shirts, trousers, socks, and underwear. Marty might not like it when he left for a job, but she always packed his clothes neatly. So neatly he’d never had to make use of a motel’s iron and ironing board. She took good care of him. She really did.

  He transferred his clothes to the long three-drawer chest centered on the wall across from the bed—socks and underwear in the top drawer, shirts second, trousers at the bottom, the same way Marty organized his clothes at home. He gave the bottom drawer a push with his foot, but it jammed. He crouched and took a closer look. One runner had come loose from the guide. He wriggled it into place and gave the drawer another push. It slid like a child’s feet on ice.

  Standing, he brushed his palms together. “That was easy.” His words seemed to bounce from the walls and smack him on the return. Too bad the things of life couldn’t be fixed with such a simple adjustment. He couldn’t remember the last time something in life had been easy. Not a construction job, because somebody else didn’t honor their part of the deal. Not balancing his bank book, because the money never seemed to stretch as far as he needed it to. Not pleasing Marty, because—

  “You’d rather spend time away from me than with me.”

  He hung his head. The accusation stung as much in remembrance as it had in reality. His conscience pricked. He’d denied it, but he’d lied
. Heaven forgive him, sometimes he did want to be away from her. Away from her melancholy sighs, her flat stomach, her looks of betrayal. As hard and wearying as completing the jobs might be, the most stressful ones were still easier than trying to please Marty.

  His cell phone weighted his shirt pocket. He tapped his fingers on the hard casing. He should call her, let her know he’d arrived safely and had already perused the building site. Frustration tightened his chest. Why hadn’t the local concrete mason followed his specifications? Was it because they’d been given by a Plain man? Some folks saw the members of the Old Order sects as less intelligent. Less worthy. The mind-set aggravated him, but he couldn’t change it.

  Whatever the reason, the foundation was an inch too narrow to support the two-level, thirty-two-by-forty-eight-foot carriage house he’d been hired to build. The mason had done his best to convince Anthony to build on it anyway. “Who would know?” he’d asked while nudging Anthony with his elbow. Then he’d outright laughed when Anthony said they would know and, more importantly, God would know. Only when Anthony warned that the owners of the building would know in time, because the foundation would crack beneath the weight of the structure and both of them would be held accountable, did the man agree to redo it.

  Having to wait for the mason’s team to break up the concrete, haul it off, and pour a new foundation would add at least another week to his time in Noblesville. He’d sent his team home to paint the Brunstetters’ barn—the next project on his list of arranged jobs—but he intended to supervise the replacement so he’d know it was done right. He wasn’t happy about the delay. Marty would be less happy.

  Back in ’06 when he’d started his business, she’d been supportive. Had asked to see his drawings, sympathized with the challenges he faced. She’d pressed her lips to his in celebration when he finished a job, was hired for a job, when the job went well. And when he lost out on a bid or the job didn’t go well, she comforted him and encouraged him and took his mind off the disappointment in ways only a wife could. When had it changed?

  He sank onto the edge of the bed and covered his face with his hands. He knew when. He could name the day. Marty used to tease him about his penchant for forgetting anniversaries and birthdays and other important dates, but this one was embedded in his memory. The day his world collapsed and took her with it. He’d reconciled himself, had learned to be content in his circumstances, the way the apostle Paul was even in a dank prison cell. But Marty would never be content.

  “You’d rather spend time away from me than with me.”

  With a stifled groan, he pushed himself upright, making the bedspring whang in protest. He stalked to the suitcase and yanked out his bag of toiletries. He’d take a shower, go find something to eat, and then call. Or maybe he’d call her tomorrow instead. Yes, tomorrow would be better. Let her spend a night missing him. Then she might be more understanding than resentful about the extra week or so he’d have to stay in Noblesville.

  Pine Hill

  Marty

  “You’ll still come home on the weekend, though, won’t you?” Marty gripped the receiver and waited for Anthony’s reply.

  “Prob’ly will—”

  She closed her eyes, relief flooding her.

  “—unless the mason’s team ends up working Saturday and Sunday. I wanna watch the whole process. Make sure it’s all done the right way this time.”

  Her eyes popped open. “You’ll go to the site…on Sunday?” None of the men in their sect labored on Sunday. The women performed only necessary duties, such as cooking and dish washing. The Lord commanded them to keep the Sabbath day holy. Surely Anthony wouldn’t work on a Sunday even if he was in a community away from home.

  “What choice do I have?” She heard both guilt and defensiveness in his tone. “If the mason puts his men to work Sunday, I’ll need to be there, too. But I won’t labor. I’ll only watch.”

  She wasn’t sure that justified things, but she kept her lips tight against a protest. A good Mennonite wife did not argue with her husband. Even when she thought he was wrong.

  “Once my men come back and we start putting up the structure, though, we’ll have to stay and work through to make up for lost time.”

  Her jaw ached from clenching her teeth so hard. Noblesville was only a little over an hour away. He could come home Saturday after working, spend Sunday with her, and drive back Sunday evening or Monday morning without losing work time. If he wanted to.

  “I’m sorry, Marty. If the team here had done the job right, we’d be ready to build, but they didn’t. I don’t have any control over what other people do.”

  There was no mistaking the anger in his final statement. Anger at the mason or at her? She countered it with calmness, as the Bible advised. “I know. I’m sorry, too.” Sorry about the situation, sorry for Anthony’s frustration, or sorry for her reaction to it? She couldn’t be sure.

  A pause followed, and then a tired sigh came through the line. “Listen, I’m gonna be putting in some long days, so I prob’ly won’t call again unless I end up staying for the weekend. Let me give you the number for the hotel here in case you need to get in touch with me and you can’t get through on the cell—in case there’s an emergency or something.”

  She grabbed the pencil hanging by a string next to the notepad they kept tacked to the bulletin board and recorded the name of the hotel, the phone number, and Anthony’s room number. She dropped the pencil and watched it swing gently back and forth on its dirty string. “I’ve got it.”

  “Once my guys are here, we’ll work sunup to sundown Monday through Saturday, finish as quick as we can. Okay?”

  What else could she do but agree? “All right. Thank you for letting me know about the delay.” She cringed at the way she spoke to him. So formal. So impersonal. So…wrong.

  They said their goodbyes, not bothering with the obligatory I-love-yous, and then she placed the handset on the base as gently as her sister-in-law, Dawna, laid her babies in the Anthony-built cradle. Marty commended herself for her restraint. She really wanted to slam the receiver hard enough to crack the telephone. She rested her hips against a kitchen cabinet and folded her arms over her chest, battling the urge to cry. Or scream. Or throw something. Now instead of only a week looming in front of her, it would be two weeks, maybe more, depending on how quickly the mason’s team worked. Even with the quick-setting concrete, the foundation needed to cure at least three days before Anthony’s men could start framing the building.

  The delay wasn’t his fault, so she shouldn’t be angry at him. Deep down, she wasn’t angry. She was weary. Weary of spending so much time alone. Weary of missing the always smiling, always whistling, always teasing man she’d married sixteen years ago.

  If only she had someone to confide in. Well, besides Brooke. How many letters had she sent to her childhood friend, pouring her loneliness and heartache onto the page? Writing it all down helped, but it didn’t change anything. Brooke didn’t understand Marty’s underlying sadness any better than the women in her community did, but at least she listened. Commiserated. Didn’t quote Scripture meant to stifle the feelings she couldn’t control any more than Anthony could control the Noblesville mason’s choices.

  During Anthony’s last lengthy time away, she’d complained to her sister-in-law, hoping for sympathy. Dawna had chided her that absence should make the heart grow fonder and Marty should use these times of separation to prepare elaborate welcome-home dinners or find some other means of letting Anthony know how much she missed him instead of using the time to mope. Stung by Dawna’s criticism, she’d blurted, “If I had children, I wouldn’t be so lonely when he’s gone.”

  Dawna’s shocked face remained etched in Marty’s memory, and she could still hear her sister-in-law’s aghast response. “You don’t blame Anthony, do you?”

  Of course she didn’t blame him. Of course he couldn’t have
prevented contracting mumps when it spread through the community the second year of their marriage. Of course he couldn’t have kept her from losing the baby who had just begun to grow in her womb shortly before that time. None of it was Anthony’s fault. She didn’t blame Anthony. She blamed—

  She slammed the door on her thoughts and hurried to the kitchen to wash her few breakfast dishes. Only a bowl, spoon, and coffee mug.Shouldn’t take more than a few minutes. Then she’d move on to her regular chores. Or would she? Who would notice if the shelves didn’t get dusted, the floors swept, the bathroom cleaned? Maybe instead she’d do something for herself. Something frivolous. Such as packing a lunch, tucking in a book, and driving to Wildcat Creek. She loved the gentle song of the creek, and the trees offered shade. She might even dip her feet in the water if she found a secluded spot, away from kayakers or other picnickers.

  Her heart tripped in eagerness, but a sudden worry stilled her excitement. Would Anthony disapprove of her going to the creek alone? Maybe she should wait until he returned. Then they could go together. She shook her head and twisted the hot and cold knobs. She needed the excursion now, not two weeks from now. Even then, there was no guarantee he would agree to spend a few idle hours at the creek, anyway. Building his company consumed his attention. He had no time to fritter away an afternoon. If she wanted to go, she’d have to go alone.

  Kansas City

  Brooke

  Brooke stretched herself awake, relishing the way her muscles went from taut to liquidy. She yawned, rolled over, and squinted at her cell phone, which she’d propped up against her bedside lamp before falling asleep last night. The numbers seemed to waver. She rubbed her eyes and looked again. Nine forty-two? With a squawk, she threw back the covers and leaped out of bed.

  Immediately a sharp pain stabbed her lower back. She gasped and flopped sideways onto the mattress, clutching her back with both hands. She gritted her teeth and rocked gently, waiting for the pain to subside. It took a while—at least three minutes—during which time she cursed under her breath and considered herself fortunate that she’d never been forced to endure childbirth. According to her mother, labor pains hurt worse than anything else, ever. When the pain faded to a barely discernible throb, she gingerly pushed herself upright and hobbled to the bathroom, her nerves on edge, waiting for the next stab.