Michael knew all about duty, and thought again that Evan of all people would have been very aware of that fact. "I don"t know if you remember, but I"ve been by your side these last five years of touring. Don"t even try to pretend that I don"t know a thing or two about making do with what I have."
Evan sighed. "Sorry. I didn"t mean that the way it sounded."
"I know. I also know that you know just as much about duty and accepting responsibility as I do. Listen, I don"t need another mother, Evan. And we"re talking about going to the beach, not hiking in the wilderness."
"I guess I can see your point."
His brother"s statement was so grudgingly said, Michael smiled. "Good. Because the fact is that our family has been to Sarasota four times and we"ve never taken time to go to Siesta Key. I, for one, think that was a mistake. After the surgery, I"m going to be staring at the walls in my room for hours on end. And if I"m going to be doing that, I want some memories to keep me company while I do it."
"Who are you going with?" His voice was quieter now.
"A girl who works here at the hotel."
"Truly?"
Evan sounded both appalled and amused. And that, of course, made Michael frustrated. He was beginning to really regret giving him a call. "Yes, truly."
"Sorry, but I"ve never known you to make friends with hotel staff." He lowered his voice. "Are you sure she is safe?"
This time, he didn"t even try to hide his feelings. He started laughing. "What do you mean by that?"
"Half the girls we meet want to be your wife. They want to tour the world by your side as Mrs. Michael Knoxx."
"Which would be such a treat, because being Michael Knoxx is so exciting," he said sarcastically.
"They think it is. And the other half want to start a rumor about you! Michael, are you sure that this, this maid isn"t going to try to take advantage of you?"
"Pretty sure. She"s a shy girl." Thinking about Penny, the guarded way she talked about herself, and how she"d never been to Siesta Key except by her parents" side, made him think she might need their excursion even more than he did. "Penny isn"t just a maid. She"s a sweet girl who"s given me a lot of her time. And we"re going to the beach, Evan. The beach. Stop making everything into such a big deal. I fear your imagination is starting to get the best of ya."
"I"m going to tell Molly, but I don"t know if I"m going to tell Mamm and Daed. Were you going to?"
"I wasn"t sure," he said sheepishly. "I wanted to let you all know what I was doing, but didn"t want to have this discussion. I"m a grown man, Evan."
"I know."
"And I"m missing the bottom portion of a leg, not my brain."
"I realize that, too." He sighed. "Sorry if I sounded patronizing. It"s just that you are you, and, well, Molly and I see how people look at you. They see you as someone larger than life."
"We both know I am nothing out of the ordinary."
"I know that we"re all proud of you. I know that you have no idea the impact you have on other people. I"m proud to call you my brother."
Evan"s words humbled him. "All I"m doing is going to Siesta Key for the day. That"s it."
"Enjoy yourself. And, just for the record, you"re right. It is a shame that we haven"t taken the time to go to the beach. All this time, we"ve been preaching to folks about taking what the Lord gives us with an open mind and heart and we haven"t even been doing that. I can"t remember the last time we took a few hours to tour the beautiful places we"ve gotten to visit."
"Let"s make a vow to change that habit," Michael said. "We owe it to ourselves."
"We absolutely do."
Glancing at the clock on the wall, Michael knew it was time to wrap things up. "Listen, I"ve got to go. If you want to tell Mamm and Daed about me going to the beach, go ahead, but I won"t be here when they decide to give me grief about it."
He laughed. "Gotcha. Have someone call us tomorrow after your surgery."
"Will do."
"Hey, Michael?"
"Yeah?"
"We"ll be praying for you tomorrow."
"Danke. I appreciate that." He had no doubt that his family"s prayers would see him through even the darkest days.
After all, they already had.
TRICIA WAS STILL HAVING a difficult time getting used to the inn"s routine. After she"d arrived, her aunt Beverly had encouraged her to spend some time making sure she was at peace with her decision to move to Florida.
But though her aunt imagined Tricia might be having second thoughts, she hadn"t had a single one. She wanted a new life. She was ready to give the Lord her burdens and move forward. Of course, she wasn"t sure what she wanted her new life to look like.
Therefore, in the meantime, she was determined to be as helpful to her aunt as she possibly could. It was simply too bad that so far Tricia felt she was as out of place in the Florida inn as a grove of blue spruces. Obviously it was going to take some time to adjust. That was the only explanation she could give herself as she rushed into the kitchen and practically ran over one of the guests.
"Hey, now," a man said, holding out a hand to steady her.
Or maybe it was to steady himself? He was holding himself up on crutches . . . and he was missing part of one of his legs! "I"m so sorry," she blurted. "I don"t know what-"
He interrupted her. "It"s all right." Little by little, his expression eased. "No harm done."
"Thank goodness. I really am sorry." She smiled at him. Then, when he smiled back at her, she got a little fl.u.s.tered. Okay, a lot fl.u.s.tered. He was a very handsome man. "Are you a guest?" It was obvious he was, but her mind had suddenly gone blank.
"I am. You?"
"Nee. I mean, I"m staying here, but I"m not really a guest. Beverly Overholt is my aunt."
"Ah. Well, nice to meet you." Now that he"d regained his balance, he hopped forward. "Have a good morning," he said as he obviously prepared to leave.
"My name"s Tricia," she said quickly.
"I"m Michael."
She felt her cheeks flush as he edged away, almost like he couldn"t get away from her fast enough. Gosh, what had she done wrong? But just as he stepped forward, the door swung open again, forcing him to hop backward on his crutches. The moment he did so, he winced.
Now it was obvious that he wasn"t okay. Concerned, Tricia reached for his arm. If she could guide him to the kitchen table, she might be able to see how she could help him.
Just then, Penny, Aunt Beverly"s shy new employee, rushed to the man"s side. "Oh, Michael! Are you all right? I didn"t knock into ya, did I? I didn"t see you there."
"Don"t fret, Penny. I"m learning this doorway is a particularly bad place to take a break."
Without a glance in Tricia"s direction, Penny wrapped an arm around Michael"s waist and helped him to a chair. The moment he sat, she pulled up a chair next to him and stared at him intently. "Now, please be honest. Are you okay?"
"I"ll be fine," he replied.
Tricia raised her eyebrows at that. He"d knocked into a door, not fallen off a cliff. And he was a grown man, not a boy. Why was Penny acting that way?
Still ignoring Tricia, the girl said, "Do you want some ice?"
"I"ll be fine," he said again, his voice warm and kind. "What I want to do is get on our way. Were you able to pack a lunch for us?"
"I did." She smiled sweetly as one brow arched. "Were you worried about that? I promised you I would."
"I wasn"t worried." Tricia noticed that his eyes warmed for a moment before he adopted a far more friendly expression. With a grunt, he got to his feet. "So, are you ready? If so, let"s get out of here."
"Do you mind if I first tell Miss Beverly that I"m going?"
"Of course not."
Tricia was thinking that maybe it was time to say something. Since, well, it was becoming pretty obvious that both of them had forgotten she was in the room. "Um, I can tell Beverly that you left."
Penny turned to her. "That would be mighty kind of you, Tricia."
"It"s no trouble."
Her cheeks flushed. "I"m sorry. I think I walked right by you without even a h.e.l.lo."
"Don"t worry about it. You two looked kind of busy." Tricia smiled. "Anyway, I"ll be happy to tell my aunt that you two left."
"That would be wonderful-gut. Danke. Oh! I didn"t even ask if you two have met. Michael, this is Tricia Overholt, Tricia this is Michael-"
He cut her off. "Everything"s okay, Penny. We"ve met."
"Oh, okay."
"Bye, Tricia," Michael said as they walked out.
Tricia raised her hand to tell them a cheery good-bye, but they were already gone. Their behavior was as puzzling as it was cute, she decided, as she poured herself a cup of coffee. She never would have imagined her aunt Beverly would have permitted her employees to be so friendly with the guests. But who was she to judge? Maybe Penny and Michael had known each other for years. Maybe she had a lot to learn about relationships in general.
When her aunt pa.s.sed through ten minutes later, Tricia was enjoying her second cup.
"Hi, dear," Aunt Beverly said, a dozen neatly folded dish towels in her hands. "How has your morning been?"
"All in all, uneventful." She almost mentioned running into Michael, and then Penny almost running into him, and the pained expression he"d worn, but she was afraid Beverly might remind her that the guests" business was definitely not any of hers. Instead, she merely pa.s.sed on the information she"d been asked to share. "Penny wanted you to know that she took Michael to the beach today."
"I was hoping to touch base with them before they left, but I suppose it"s just as well I didn"t. Michael needs to have a good day, I think." Tricia held her breath, more than ready to hear the story.
But instead, Beverly merely eyed her carefully. "Now that you"ve had a good night"s sleep, do you feel like you"re settling in?"
"Oh, jah. I am yearning to simply relax and try to help you as much as I can."
As if she"d finally gotten the opening she needed, Beverly set down the dishcloths and faced her. "I"m so glad you brought that up. I"ve been wanting to talk to you about why you came to visit me."
She should have known Beverly wasn"t going to allow her to stay very long without an explanation about why she"d shown up in the first place. "I told you . . ."
"You told me nothing." After sighing, Beverly stared hard at her. "And because you"ve told me practically nothing, I called Edward last night."
"You called my daed?" A slow, sinking feeling settled in her, mixing with a dark sense of betrayal. "Aunt Bev, there was no need to get my father involved."
"After speaking to him, I"m glad I did." Her mouth settled into a firm, disapproving line. "He was worried about you. Tricia, he said that you came here without his permission."
"I know."
"And then I had to share that I knew nothing of this visit, either." Her glare deepened. "This little escapade was beyond irresponsible. It borders on sheer stupidity."
"Don"t say that." She sniffed. All the lightness of her morning had faded and now she felt as troubled as she had before she"d gotten on the bus to Sarasota.
"Why not? Your actions were not smart. At all." Holding out a hand, Beverly started listing off reasons, using her long, slim fingers to ill.u.s.trate her points. "You went out of state without telling anyone. You got on that bus without even knowing where I was."
"I knew you would be here in Sarasota, Aunt Bev. Everyone knows you are here working."
But instead of rea.s.suring her, Beverly looked even more irritated. Her voice rose. "What if I hadn"t been home? What if you had run into trouble on the bus? Did you think of that?"
She hadn"t. She"d been too afraid not to count on everything working out. "But you were."
Beverly closed her eyes for a long moment, visibly attempting to maintain her composure. "Tricia, you are a grown woman of twenty-two, not a teenager. It is time to tell me the truth, and it better be the truth, or I will send you back home like the truant child you are being."
Tricia flinched. "You can"t do that. Please don"t."
"Why? What happened?"
She stared down at her mug. "Things I can"t talk about."
"Not telling me isn"t an option."
"Aunt Beverly, please, just trust me-"
"Nee. You haven"t been straight with me. Your father is worried, which means your mother is most likely frantic, and that won"t do. I love my brother, but I also love your mother too much to cause her pain. I"m not going to be the cause of her tears. What happened?"
"It"s embarra.s.sing."
Obviously out of patience, Beverly waved a hand through the air. "Sweetheart, I was left at the altar by my fiance and best friend. That is embarra.s.sing. I doubt you have experienced anything close to the like."
"It was bad."
"What was bad?" When Tricia didn"t immediately reply, Beverly"s eyes flashed. "Spit it out, Tricia. Your parents are waiting to hear-and I"ve got too much to do to wait for you to think of the perfect way to tell me."
"I was being bullied."
Her aunt stilled. "What? By whom?"