Heart Of A Husband. Kathryn Alexander

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СКАЧАТЬ The tenderness in his gaze only deepened her sense of loneliness.

      “I’m sorry, Jo,” he offered gently. Sorry most of all that he had unwittingly let this lovely young woman find a way into the heart he’d kept cold and silent all those years. His father’s sorrows had taught him well. How not to trust. Not to love. But with Joanna… Nothing made sense anymore.

      Biting her lip, Joanna looked away. “It wasn’t something I couldn’t get over,” she lied as her pulse pounded with guilt. She wasn’t going to let him know how badly it had hurt, how badly it still hurt—even now. Maybe God would forgive her this little lie, this one indiscretion.

      “There’s no need to be afraid that—”

      “I’m not afraid,” Joanna stated. Indiscretion number two. She was afraid. Of them. Of all they would never be together.

      Jake studied her thoughtfully before transferring his gaze to the setting sun in the distance. If she didn’t agree to go, then this would be the end of it. He couldn’t go through this again. Seeing her sad. Lovely. And so alone.

      A silence fell between them momentarily that hung heavy like a cloud. When Jake spoke again, his words were gentle. “Come home with me, Jo.”

      Joanna swallowed hard, feeling as if her heart had jumped into her throat. What should she do? What was the right choice? What would the Lord expect of her? Only one thing was certain. If she didn’t go with him, she might never see Aunt Mae again. Never.

      “Are you sure about this, Jake? Absolutely sure it’s…the right thing…to do?” She was stalling, she knew. Waiting, wanting something more from him than she’d seen.

      “Yes,” he responded with a confidence he didn’t feel. “It’s what Mae wants, and it’s what I want.” But the thin, straight line of his mouth offered no hint of the emotions storming inside him.

      Joanna shivered, although the damp air was not cool enough to justify it. If she was going to make this journey, she’d need God’s guidance every step of the way. Otherwise, it would be a huge mistake. A journey she’d get lost in. One she’d regret. There’d be no relying on herself this time. She took a quiet breath as her mind raced with a crazy blend of hope and fear.

      “All right,” she told him. She’d go. A risk taker wasn’t something Joanna had considered herself to be, but people could change. Especially in the face of great loss. Couldn’t they?

      Jake nodded. A mixture of feelings surged through him, none of which he could voice. Everything from the satisfaction of winning an argument to the uneasiness of facing the truth of what he’d just lost. A chance to walk away from this woman who haunted his dreams. Was that what he’d wanted?

      “Let’s go inside,” Jake said. They stepped off the veranda and walked back through the double doors of the hospital. “I’ll be leaving with Mae at seven.”

      “But, Jake, I can’t be ready by then. There are things I need to do, people I need to call. I’ll have to notify the day care center where I work.” Excuses poured from Joanna.

      “I understand,” Jake conceded. “I guess that would be a lot to ask. I’ll see about getting you a flight on another day.”

      “All right,” she agreed. “I’ll get everything taken care of as quickly as I can.”

      “I’ll ask my housekeeper to call you later with your flight information. That is, unless you don’t want to fly,” Jake began and then hesitated, searching Joanna’s face for the truth he expected. “I know that your parents died in a plane crash. If you’d rather not fly, I’ll make other arrangements.”

      “No,” Joanna replied. “I don’t mind. I flew several times with my adoptive parents when I was a child.”

      “You’re sure?” he asked.

      She nodded her head.

      “Okay, then, I’ll make the necessary arrangements to move Mae tonight.”

      “And you’ll go with her? I mean, be right there, with her? The whole time?”

      “Yes. She’ll be comfortable,” Jake explained. “Don’t worry, Jo. I’ll be right beside her bed the entire trip. You’ll see her again soon.”

      “You’ll take good care of her?”

      “I will,” he promised as they continued walking down the corridor. “Trust me.”

      Joanna turned her head to glance into eyes she used to trust. Did she have reason to trust them no longer?

      They were nearing Mae’s hospital room when Dr. Eden appeared in the hallway again, needing Dr. Barnes’s opinion on some matter. Something crucial, Joanna thought unkindly, like whether he would be staying to have dinner with her tonight, maybe? If Dr. Eden didn’t want to marry Jake Barnes when she had the opportunity, why was she now so obviously delighted to see him? A change of heart, probably, just as Joanna had always expected. The only surprise was that it had been so long in coming.

      Joanna slipped into the silent hospital room to say good-night to her aunt before heading home. There was so much to do in preparation for leaving, she barely knew where to begin. But she had to start somewhere, so upon her arrival at the small house she shared with Mae, Joanna hauled her suitcases out of a bedroom closet. What a place to start, she thought as she sat down on the edge of her bed.

      “Lord, what am I doing?” She sat staring at the suitcases Jake had given her when she’d been practically a stranger to him. Was she really going to fill them with clothes and get on that plane? To meet Jake in some strange city in a state she’d never seen? To move into his house? Had she lost all rational thinking?

      “Probably,” she whispered. Reason seemed to have disappeared somewhere behind the shadows of her heart.

       Chapter Two

       “J oanna? Joanna Meccord, is that you?”

      Joanna turned from the baggage claim area toward the direction of the voice and found the question coming from a plump, silver-haired lady.

      “I’m Joanna Meccord,” she confirmed.

      “I thought so. Dr. Barnes gave a very good description.”

      Joanna smiled. Jake describing her to someone. Now, there was something she’d have been interested in hearing. “So, you must be Jake’s housekeeper?” she asked.

      “Yes, I’m Ina Marsh. Second generation housekeeper as a matter of fact. I worked for Dr. Barnes, Sr., for several years until he passed away. And now I work for Jake. He’d planned to meet you here himself, but an emergency came up at the hospital and he couldn’t get away. So I offered to pick you up,” the woman with the friendly smile and kind hazel eyes explained. She reached to take one of Joanna’s suitcases.

      “No, you don’t. I’ll carry these, Ina, you just lead the way out of this airport.”

      “Right over there, dear,” Ina said, and they started through the lobby. After a few long minutes, they found their way to a sea of cars in the parking lot. Ina stopped behind a small blue sedan.

      “How СКАЧАТЬ