Anna Louise was shocked by the tears she saw gathering in Maisey’s eyes. “Are you okay? I didn’t mean to upset you.”
“You didn’t upset me. Not even the remembering did that. It’s just the thought of all these wasted years.” She pulled a hankie from her pocket and dabbed at her eyes. “Now, enough of that. It doesn’t do a bit of good to shed tears over something that can’t be changed. Tell me about the work you’ll be doing tomorrow. How big will you make the recreation hall?”
Anna Louise gave in to the request reluctantly. She wanted badly to prod Maisey into telling her the whole story, but it wasn’t in her nature to force anyone into revealing things before they were ready. Some in the church would say her patience was a weakness, but she didn’t view it that way. Stirring folks into confessing sins before they’d come to terms with them didn’t accomplish much. A little guilt and contemplation tended to make the eventual confession much more satisfying to the soul.
“If the weather’s fine in the morning, you’ll have to come and watch,” she encouraged Maisey. “After all, this is going to be your recreation hall. You should approve of the way it’s being built.”
“That fancy architect from Charlottesville you sent by showed me the plans. I’m still not sure how you convinced him to volunteer his time to do the drawings.”
Anna Louise grinned. “Maisey, don’t you know by now that any preacher worth her salt has a silver tongue?”
Maisey’s eyebrows lifted. “I thought you were only supposed to use that skill for divine purposes.”
“Sometimes I like to test my limits and maybe broaden the definition of the phrase. Besides, Ted Bennett didn’t require much convincing. I just reminded him about the night he tried to pick me up in a nightclub. He’s been troubled ever since about his chances for getting into Heaven.”
“Excuse me, but what were you doing in a nightclub in the first place?” Maisey teased.
“My best friend from college was getting married and we were holding her bachelorette party there. It was quite a celebration.”
“No wonder this Mr. Bennett thought you were fair game. Any of your other friends planning to get married?”
“Afraid not. I’m the only one left who hasn’t walked down the aisle.”
“Your turn will come,” Maisey told her firmly. Her expression turned mischievous. “And when it does, I think maybe I’ll throw the party myself.”
* * *
Richard was already at the site for the new recreation hall when Anna Louise arrived just after dawn with bags of fresh doughnuts and huge thermos bottles filled with hot coffee. With his hands shoved in his back pockets, he was standing next to Ted Bennett looking over the plans. His expression was skeptical.
Anna Louise handed the two men their coffee and offered them a doughnut. Neither of them took one. In fact, they barely even acknowledged her presence.
“Okay, what’s the problem?” she finally asked. “You two are looking downright gloomy.”
“This looks too damned complicated for a bunch of amateurs,” Richard said.
“I thought you told me you were going to have experienced people on site,” Ted added.
“You’re experienced,” she said to the dark-haired young man whose hands were clamped tightly around his coffee cup as if he needed its warmth.
“I’m an architect, not a contractor.”
“Well, some of the people who’ll be coming have building experience. Luke Hall, for instance.”
“Aside from the shed where he stores his extra canned goods, what has Luke ever built?” Richard inquired.
“He built his own house,” she snapped right back, losing patience with their negative attitudes.
Richard seemed startled by her statement and her tone. “I thought his house had been around for generations.”
“The old one was. It burned down six years ago. I’m surprised Maisey didn’t mention it to you.”
He sighed. “Come to think of it, she might have,” he admitted. “Okay, who else?”
“Hoyt Monroe has worked on a construction crew over in Charlottesville. And Nate Dorsey knows more about electricity than anyone in the whole valley. Nate said he’d bring along a friend who knows all about plumbing.”
“Who’s going to supervise?”
“I asked Billy Joe Hunt. He should be here any minute.”
Richard went absolutely still. Anna Louise looked into his face and saw that his eyes were stone cold. “Do you have a problem with that?” she asked quietly.
“I thought he’d be dead by now.”
“Billy Joe?” she repeated, shocked by his icy tone.
He shrugged. “The old coot deserved to die a long time ago.”
Ted was listening to their exchange with an expression of growing alarm on his face. He looked as if he were ready to bolt. Anna Louise grabbed Richard’s hand and dragged him away.
“Okay, why don’t you tell me what this is all about?”
“It’s past history, Anna Louise. Nothing for you to concern yourself about.”
“If it’s past history, then why did you look that way when I mentioned the man’s name? Now you listen to me, Richard Walton. I don’t know what you have against Billy Joe Hunt, but you bury it for the next forty-eight hours. I will not have some silly old grudge interfering with our ability to get this recreation hall built this weekend. Am I making myself clear?”
Something that might have been amusement flickered briefly in his eyes before he banked it. “You always do, Anna Louise. It must be nice to go through life with such clear-cut priorities.”
With that, he turned his back on her and walked away.
She stared after him. “Now what the dickens was that all about?”
CHAPTER NINE
Richard rounded up Luke Hall and a few others and started work following the architect’s directions. By the time the sun was high in the sky, the sound of nails being pounded echoed over the valley. There was a
