“Is that the way you think, too?” he asked quietly.
Orville’s expression hardened. “Stay out of it, Richard. You’re just passing through.”
The accusation stung, because until just this moment it had probably been true. Right now, though, he recognized that anywhere Anna Louise Perkins lived was home to him. Like it or not, he’d just have to figure some way to make it work. He regarded Orville—his closest childhood friend—with utter contempt.
“I never thought I’d live to say this,” Richard told the man with whom he’d grown up and attended Sunday services for the first eighteen years of his life, before he’d left Kiley and his faith behind. He cast a regretful look toward Tucker as he spoke, but he could see that Tucker was merely nodding encouragement.
Richard continued, “You’re a fool, Orville, and this is one fight I intend to see that you lose. Before you take on Anna Louise, I’d suggest you go back and take a closer look at some of the Scripture you’re always spouting. I seem to recall quite a bit that you’ve evidently forgotten.”
He cited the pertinent passages, then stood and leaned over until he was in Billy Joe’s face. “As for you, if you so much as dial Anna Louise’s number again, you will have not only me, but the sheriff to deal with.”
He allowed the threat to sink in, then nodded curtly. “Good day, gentlemen.”
Not until he was back outside did he admit to himself what he’d done in Patterson’s Drugstore and Soda Fountain. He’d drawn a battle line in public and placed himself squarely on the same side as Anna Louise. He stood right where he was for a minute and thought about the meaning of that. Slowly a grin spread across his face.
“Well, I’ll be,” he muttered. He wondered if Anna Louise would recognize it for the confession of love it was or if she’d just blast him for interfering.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Anna Louise heard about the argument Richard had had with Orville Patterson from half a dozen people before suppertime the same day. Several people called her at the church. Two more stopped her on the street. Maisey even managed to sneak out of ICU to get to a phone after Millicent reported the astonishing turn of events to her. She was clearly elated.
Even more amazing, Orville Patterson’s daddy repeated every last word the men had spoken when Anna Louise stopped by the drugstore to pick up a prescription before going to call on a member of the congregation who lived alone and was down with the flu. Since Tucker Patterson told her with a grin on his face, she had to assume he’d taken Richard’s side over his own son’s.
At first she’d been alarmed when Tucker mentioned that Billy Joe Hunt had been there, but he’d reassured her that Richard had held his temper firmly in check.
“Did he realize—” She cut herself off, not wanting to get into the harassment issue with him.
“That Billy Joe was the one who’d been making those calls to you?” he asked, surprising her. “Yes, he figured that out straightaway. There was fire in his eyes, I’ll tell you that, but he didn’t strangle the man the way I was tempted to do. He just warned him that one more call would be the end of his sorry hide.”
“Amazing,” Anna Louise murmured, half to herself.
“When are you going to marry that young man and put him out of his misery?” Tucker had asked then.
“He hasn’t asked.”
“He will,” Tucker said confidently. “You going to say yes?”
Anna Louise hadn’t allowed herself to think that far into the future. She’d been trying too hard to convince herself to give up any hope of Richard making a commitment in their lifetimes. “I guess we’ll see when the time comes,” she told Tucker. “If it does.”
When Anna Louise had finished her calls for the afternoon, she went looking for the man who’d stood up for her. Despite Tucker’s interpretation, she wasn’t sure what to make of what he’d done. The only way to understand it was to look him in the eye and ask.
Figuring that the unseasonably warm afternoon would have drawn him outdoors, she looked first out by Willow Creek. There was no sign of him. She finally found him in Maisey’s apple orchard, sitting on a blanket that had been doubled up. He was propped up against a tree, wearing a heavy jacket, an old hat shading his eyes from the setting sun.
“Thank you,” she said softly, dropping down beside him on the blanket that turned out to be scant protection from the cold, hard ground. One day of sixty-degree temperatures was no match for a winter’s worth of icy weather.
“For what?”
“For standing up for me. You didn’t have to, you know. I can fight my own battles. I’ve been doing it a long time now.”
His blue eyes glinted back at her. “Maybe so, but I didn’t see that I had much choice.”
“Oh?”
“Orville was wrong and he was smug about it, to boot. No one I know has worked harder or been more dedicated to their beliefs than you. You don’t just talk your principles, you live them every day of your life. As for Billy Joe, he’s lucky I didn’t strip him of his sorry hide.”
Anna Louise drew in a sharp breath. “You figured it out, then? Tucker guessed you had.”
“Figured out that Billy Joe was the one making the calls? Yes, I figured it out,” he said mildly. “Apparently you did, too. Why didn’t you mention it?”
She shrugged. “I didn’t want to be the one responsible for your stripping him of his sorry hide.”
“How very considerate,” he commented dryly. “Were you thinking of him or me?”
“You, of course. And myself.
