LITMIR.BIZ

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don’t know. I told her I’d snag you before you left. Let me tell her you’re here.” He picked up the phone and rang the day-care office. When he hung up, he smiled at Morgan. “She’s on her way now.”

      “No measles going around, at least, not that I know of. Maybe she wants me to set up the annual lice check, or…” Morgan trailed off, curious.

      “I’m sure it’s something like that. You know Betty. She’s an exceptional woman, good head on her shoulders. She certainly keeps that day care in line.”

      Morgan nodded. “That she does. And knowing her, she’ll waste no time getting here and coming to the point.” Morgan liked that about Betty.

      As if on cue, they heard Emma in the other room, offering a strawberry-filled cookie to someone and talking about seeing her daughter. “Sounds like Betty is here,” Morgan said.

      Ben stood and moved around his desk. “I’ll give you some privacy.” He laid a gentle hand on Morgan’s shoulder as he passed. Morgan heard the door click and the warm tones of Ben’s voice float to him from the secretary’s office. “Hello, Betty. Morgan is in my office. Go on in. In the meantime, I think I’m going to steal one of Emma’s cookies.”

      “Thank you, Reverend.” Betty’s contralto voice could be heard. A breeze swept in as the door swung wider, and then Betty walked in the office.

      Betty pushed the door closed and stood there, her reddish brown hair hanging straight to her chin. In her fifties, she still had a nice figure. Her no-nonsense clothes showed she’d evidently been doing something physical downstairs at the center. Her flannel shirtsleeves were rolled to her elbows, and her purple jogging pants had dust and debris on them.

      The look in her eye indicated that something was definitely on her mind. As a doctor, Morgan had learned to recognize the signs and do much what a pastor did, which was simply to listen. “Hello, Betty, how can I help you?”

      He stood and put his hands to the back of a chair, offering Betty a seat.

      “Thanks, Morgan.” Betty strode across the room and seated herself. “Sit down. I need to talk to you.” Betty sat on the edge of her seat and leaned forward, facing Morgan as he re-seated himself. Concern furrowed her brow, and her hands clasped around her knees. Morgan had never seen this side of Betty before.

      “Now, you know I’m not one to usually interfere in my children’s lives. Neither Ray nor I were, bless his soul. When I lost him five years ago… Well, let’s just say I’m not sure where I would be now without my kids’ support. But my daughter Rachel…”

      Morgan was more than a little interested when Betty hesitated. “I met her today,” he offered, hoping to put her at ease.

      “Oh?” She studied him. Her gaze was so direct that he had the distinct feeling she was looking right into his soul.

      “Yes, ma’am.”

      “Have you met Lindsay?”

      “Yes. Well, actually, I’ve only seen her. I haven’t had time to talk with her, if that’s what you mean.”

      “She’s almost completely deaf,” Betty said bluntly. “And I think my daughter is so steeped in bitterness over her husband leaving her and then dying on her that she can’t see past that. He left her because of Lindsay, saying he couldn’t handle a damaged child, you know.”

      “Ah,” Morgan said, not having known that at all. So that was why Rachel had acted so prickly. She didn’t trust men. Morgan couldn’t blame her if what Betty had just told him was true. Most of the mothers he knew were very protective of their children and very vulnerable, too. “I’m sure Rachel will work through it and fall in love again.”

      Betty blinked. “Oh, Rachel? Oh, no, Morgan, I wanted to talk to you about my granddaughter. I was just filling you in on Rachel so you’d know where I was coming from. You see, she’s very protective of Lindsay. I think Rachel’s husband killed something in her when he rejected their daughter. Rachel went to a doctor, but the brainless fool suggested she put her child in an institution since her husband had left her. He was not a good man. Why she went to a doctor her husband suggested, I’ll never know. The doctor told Rachel it was a degenerative disease and that Lindsay should be put in an institution where she’d get more stable care than a working mother could give her. Told her that way she’d have someone who knew how to deal with deaf children.”

      Shocked, Morgan stared at Betty. He could see the anger as Betty’s mouth tightened in disgust. He found it hard not to feel a bit disgusted himself. Of course, sometimes family didn’t know the whole story. “Do you know what type of tests they did on Lindsay? What brought the doctor to this conclusion?”

      “Other than the fact that the doctor was a real close friend of Lindsay’s former husband and ran in the same circles he did?” Betty shook her head. “I’m sorry, Morgan. This subject really gets to me.”

      Morgan could see that. “What would you like me to do? I could make an appointment for Lindsay and talk to Rachel—”

      “Oh, no. That won’t work.” Betty sat back in her chair, resting her elbows on the arms. “Rachel has sworn off doctors for her child. She refuses to allow any of them to examine Lindsay anymore. I think, Morgan, she’s afraid that they’ll try to take her child away from her, or call her a bad mother again, or even give her hope where there is none. She worked hard to find someone to see Lindsay, to prove to her husband her child wasn’t damaged. None of it did a bit of good. He left her anyway.”

      Morgan nodded, definitely feeling anger stir in him, anger and painful loss. “I haven’t seen Rachel in church,” Morgan said softly to Betty.

      Hurt flashed in Betty’s eyes. “She wants nothing to do with God. She’s hurting, possibly even blaming God that she had a child that broke up her marriage. I’ve heard her say a couple of times she doesn’t think God takes a real interest in her life.”

      Frowning, Morgan nodded. He’d been through that at one time. He was still going through it in some ways. But he had not turned his back on God. He struggled a lot with believing God had forgiven him for past sins. When someone was hurting, it was the same principle. They looked back at the pain and had trouble letting go. So he could understand where Rachel might still be hurting and hadn’t let go.

      “Well, then, if it’s not an appointment you want, what is it you need?”

      Betty smiled. “I have a plan….”

      Seeing that smile, Morgan wondered if he had just stepped off a cliff and was heading toward imminent disaster on the rocky beach below.

      Chapter Three

      “Why wasn’t he at supper last week if this is such a regular event?”

      Rachel rushed around, picking up clothes, shoes and toys that Lindsay had dragged out. She was unable to believe what her mother was telling her.

      “Because, Rachel,” Betty said, pulling a chicken out of the oven and setting it on the stove, “you were moving in and things were hectic. I often have members of the church over here to eat two or three times a week. However, I didn’t want to invite anyone until you had gotten your things moved in. In addition, he’s single. I feel responsible for him. He needs a good home-cooked meal every once in a while.”

      “He?” Rachel asked, tossing the miscellaneous articles into her bedroom and pulling the door shut. “And why do you feel responsible? Does he have a kid in your day care?”

      Rachel knew her mom loved to mother everyone. All the kids at the day care she thought of as hers. If there was a single father who was having a rough time of it, she wouldn’t be the least bit surprised to find out her mother had adopted him and was having him over for dinner all the time. Rachel’s mind drifted to the appealing man she’d met earlier that day.

      “No. He’s a big help there, though.”

      Scratch

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