“If everyone pitches in, we can have it built before the first snowfall,” she told him enthusiastically. “It’ll give the kids a place to go during the winter months. Just think, we’ll be able to hold dances there. Maybe sing songs and have lectures for the older folks. Why, I can’t think of a single thing that would mean more to the town of Kiley. A few days, Richard. That’s all it would take. Just like an old-fashioned barn raising.”
That soft cajoling note in her voice was almost his undoing. But he steeled himself against it. “No way,” he said, refusing to so much as look at her from his perch atop a ladder in his bedroom. Of all the rooms for Anna Louise to be in, this was the worst. He’d never be able to sleep again without envisioning her here.
Unfortunately, being at the top of a ladder, tangled in wallpaper with a nagging woman down below, put a man in the awkward position of saying yes to her demands or finding himself flat on the floor. Her hands seemed to be tightening their grip on the ladder in an ominous way. Still, he did try to wriggle off her hook.
“Go away, Anna Louise. Now’s not the time for this,” he called down stubbornly.
Her chin jutted up just as stubbornly. The ladder trembled just the teensiest bit. “The town needs this, Richard. All the other men have committed to helping.”
“Is that supposed to persuade me? I’m not like the other men in this town. Just because I helped to save the church from the flood, don’t go getting any ideas. I have no stake here, no kids, no personal commitment.” He meant every word of what he said, but for some reason the declaration lacked his usual fire.
“Maisey’s here,” she reminded him quietly. She allowed that to sink in, then added, “They’re thinking of naming this recreation hall after her.”
Richard sucked in a breath to recover from the direct hit. “They may name it after Maisey? Why?”
“She put up the bulk of the money for the lumber. Luke Hall is over in Charlottesville right now making arrangements for it to be delivered.”
Shock sent his senses reeling. He had to cling to the top of his dresser to keep from tumbling to the floor. “Where the hell...” he began, but his voice trailed off. He suddenly guessed where Maisey had gotten the extra money. He’d been sending it to her since the day he’d left town. He’d known the minute he’d returned and seen the general state of disrepair around the property that she hadn’t spent one dime of it on herself.
Below him, Anna Louise gave a nod of satisfaction. “Exactly,” she said as if she knew what conclusion he’d reached. “It was the money you gave her. She saved every penny.”
“Why would she give it to build a recreation hall?”
“That’s something you’ll have to ask her. Will you help?”
He heaved a massive sigh of resignation. “You knew when you came over here that I would.”
She nodded. “It’s all a matter of knowing which buttons to push, isn’t it?” she said smugly. “See you in the morning?”
“What time?”
“They’re planning to start at sunup, just like an old-fashioned barn raising. Won’t that be fun?”
Fun didn’t begin to cover it, he thought dismally. “I’ll be there.”
“With bells on,” she added cheerfully. “You know the expression, right?”
He glared down at her. “I know the blasted expression. I’ll be there. Let’s just let it go at that.”
Anna Louise apparently chose to ignore his irritability. She shot him a smile that could have melted an iceberg. “Thanks,” she said as if he’d granted her a generous favor instead of grudgingly caving in to her sweetly spoken blackmail.
Before long she’d have him becoming a part of the community. And after that? The blasted woman was likely to have him starting to feel again. What was happening to him? Everybody in the journalism profession knew that Richard Walton had a cold and solid stone in the place where his heart should have been.
He drew in a deep breath and stiffened his resolve. No sweet little preacher was going to ruin him. He’d just have to find some way to prove to Anna Louise once and for all that he was a rotten bet.
“Is he going to help?” Maisey asked when Anna Louise stopped in the kitchen for a cup of tea.
“He sounded a little bit cranky, but in the end he said he would.”
Maisey smiled and pulled her colorful afghan over her knees. “That’s good, dear. Very good.”
Anna Louise toyed with her spoon. “Maisey, why did Richard leave Kiley?”
“Haven’t you asked him that?”
“Not really.”
“He’s the one who should tell you.”
“But you know, don’t you?”
“Of course, I know. There’s very little about my grandson I don’t understand. Leaving Kiley was something he had to do.”
“Did he have a bad case of wanderlust?”
“I wouldn’t say it was that so much. He just felt there was nothing for him here.”
“You were here.”
“And I loved him enough to let him go.” Maisey got a faraway look in her eyes. “Now I wonder if maybe that wasn’t a mistake. He left without ever settling things.”
“Settling what things?”
“Anna Louise, you know I think of you as if you were part of my own family, but I can’t tell you this. You’ll have to ask Richard.” She enfolded Anna Louise’s hand in her own. “If you want him to stay, then you’re going about it
