Feeling stronger and more determined, she finally let herself out of the stall and washed her face. She powdered her nose and touched up her lipstick. She was even able to convince herself that there was no more evidence of the tears she’d shed. She accomplished that by not looking into the mirror for more than the split second it took to fix her makeup.
Unfortunately, all of her good intentions seemed to have been wasted. When she walked back into the intensive care unit, she found Richard’s grandmother alone. Judging from the determined expression on Maisey’s face, Anna Louise wasn’t going to get out of there without answering every single question on her mind.
She considered bolting, then decided that would only postpone the inevitable. “Where’s Richard?”
“I sent him to get me a magazine.”
“Maisey, I left you with a stack of magazines yesterday.”
“He doesn’t know that.”
Anna Louise resigned herself. She sat back down by Maisey’s side. “Okay. What’s on your mind?”
“You and that grandson of mine. It’s plain as day to me how the two of you feel about each other. What’s the holdup?”
If she hadn’t been so exhausted by the whole situation, Anna Louise might have found Maisey’s divide-and-conquer routine amusing. “I think your illness has made your vision a little fuzzy,” she told her. “It’s probably those drugs you mentioned. I mean absolutely nothing to Richard.”
“Fiddle-faddle,” Maisey said emphatically. “Can’t you see the way he looks at you?”
“What way is that?” she inquired, trying to keep the fascinated note from her voice. She was downright pitiful. She was relying on a woman in intensive care to tell her things she should have been able to figure out herself. And she was doing it not five minutes after she’d sworn to walk away from him without a backward glance.
“Oh, for goodness’ sakes, girl, the man is crazy in love with you.”
Anna Louise nodded slowly. “I knew it,” she murmured, grateful to have her own guesswork confirmed even if it meant nothing in the long run.
“What’s that?” Maisey said.
Apparently her hearing was sharper than her vision, Anna Louise thought ruefully. “I said you were imagining things.”
Maisey waved off the criticism. “Don’t tell me I don’t know my own grandson. As for you, you look just as lovesick as he does. Worse, maybe.”
That was hardly a comfort. “Maisey, I appreciate your concern, but I will not discuss this with you. It’s too upsetting.”
“For me or for you?” Maisey inquired pointedly.
Anna Louise leveled a stubborn look straight at her. “Not another word on this subject or I’m out of here.”
“Oh, for heaven’s sake,” Maisey protested, then sighed. “Okay, whatever you say.”
Anna Louise started to sit back and relax, prepared to have a nice, quiet visit during the remaining time she was allowed to stay. It didn’t last.
“The vote is coming soon, isn’t it?” Maisey asked.
Anna Louise couldn’t pretend she didn’t know which vote Maisey had in mind. It was clear she was referring to the local church association’s upcoming ballot on whether Anna Louise had the right to stay on as pastor of her church in Kiley. Orville had been threatening to make it an issue for months now, and the time was fast approaching when the other area pastors would be forced to take a stand. If anything, Maisey looked even more worried about this than she had over whatever was going on between Richard and Anna Louise.
Anna Louise squeezed her hand. “Don’t you worry about it. Everything’s going to be okay. You just concentrate on getting well.”
“We both know I’m not going to get well, not this time. I want to know you’re going to be okay before I die. You deserve to stay on at the church. Those preachers have no right to take it away from you, if you’re the pastor we want.”
Anna Louise sighed. “Unfortunately, they do have the right. That’s the way the church is structured. But I’m not going to go without a fight. I promise you that.”
When she and Richard eventually left Maisey’s hospital room, Anna Louise knew what she had to do. She’d put it off for too long now. She should have confronted Orville Patterson face-to-face months ago.
The minute Richard had dropped her off, she picked up the most recent message tape from her answering machine, one she hadn’t erased. Then she got into her own car and headed straight for Jasper Junction.
She found Orville in a meeting with some of the church elders. The men exchanged looks that might have been amusing if they hadn’t been so telling about their attitudes toward her.
“I doubt the roof will cave in, just because I’ve walked through the door,” she said dryly. “Orville, I need to see you.”
“I’m in the middle of a meeting. Can’t we do it some other time?”
“I don’t think this can wait. If you don’t care to leave your associates here, I’d be happy to have this conversation in front of them.”
The three men seemed to brighten a little at the prospect of a good fight, but Orville stood and said stiffly, “Follow me. We’ll talk in my office. Excuse me, gentlemen. This won’t take long.”
In his office, Orville placed himself squarely behind his desk, leaned back in his swivel chair and regarded her with the smug look of a benevolent dictator. “Ready to throw in the towel, Miss Perkins?”
“Not a chance,” she said adamantly. “But I am wondering if you might not want to reconsider your position.”
“And just why would I do that? You know I am on solid ground in opposing you.”
“I know no such thing,” she shot back. “I’d like you to listen to something, though.”
With obvious wariness, he studied the tape player she
