of weird. Kind of ridiculous. Maybe even kind of loony.
“I’m going to be out later this afternoon,” Kaylie said to Odelia, telling Stephen with her eyes that this was payback. “Maybe you could check in on him then.”
Even while Stephen glared daggers at Kaylie, Odelia clapped her hands, hanky fluttering. “I have a lovely idea! Perhaps we’ll take tea here with Mr. Gallow this afternoon.”
Jerking, he looked for a moment as if he would spring off the bed and flee. Kaylie indulged in a smirk. As if he could outrun Odelia, even in her flip-flop daffodil shoes. Kaylie did have some pity for him, though. She knew how much he hated tea, and he was recovering from serious wounds, so she let him off the hook.
“I think the tea will have to wait until he’s stronger.”
“Oh, of course. Of course. Poor thing.”
He did look terribly weary.
“I think we ought to let him rest now,” she told her aunt.
“Well, I’ll leave you then,” Odelia said, turning away. “Just sing out if you need anything, Mr. Gallow.”
“Yes, ma’am,” he said. “Thanks. But it’s Stephen, please. Or Steve, if you prefer.”
Looking back at him over her shoulder, Odelia batted her eyelashes at him. “Stephen. Such an elegant name.”
Elegantly named Stephen appeared to have a touch of dyspepsia. Odelia frilled her hanky at him in a coquettish wave and clacked away in her daffodil shoes.
Stephen and Kaylie looked at each other in silence until the clattering faded, at which point Stephen drolly observed, “There’s a word for her in Dutch. It’s ‘kooky.’”
Kaylie flattened her lips in a flat, scolding line to keep from laughing. “That’s not very nice.”
“How about zonderling, then?”
She narrowed her eyes at him. “Meaning?”
“Eccentric.”
Zonderling. Kaylie had to bite her lip to hold back a smile. “Why do you think we call her Auntie Od?” she said softly.
Stephen grinned. “Well, if the name fits…”
“She’s also a complete sweetheart who cares about everyone and everything,” Kaylie hastily defended, “and the reason you’re here, by the way.”
“She’s the reason? How’s that? I thought Dr. Leland arranged this.”
“Brooks asked Aunt Odelia to open Chatam House to you, and she did, but of course he knew she would. That’s why he asked her in particular, I’m sure.”
“And I suppose it had nothing to do with the very generous sum of money we offered,” Stephen retorted.
“Which went to charity,” Kaylie reminded him, leaning a shoulder against the footpost of the bed.
“Right,” he said. “I support a lot of charities.”
Kaylie smiled, strangely delighted to hear it. “Really? Which ones?”
“Whichever ones the team tells me to. It’s in my contract. Pain in the, ah, you-know-what most of the time.” He made a little shrug. “But that’s how it is. Comes with the territory.”
Deflated, Kaylie bowed her head. “That’s nice.” For a moment there, she’d thought she’d stumbled onto something that her father might appreciate about this man. Glancing at her wristwatch again, she saw that she was running late and pushed away from the footpost, saying briskly, “I have to go. Don’t get up unless there’s someone here to help you. All right?”
“Fine,” Stephen muttered resentfully, laying his head back on the pillow.
He let out a gusty sigh. Kaylie paused for an instant, worried that he might be in more pain than she’d supposed, but then his eyes drifted shut and his big body seemed to relax. She realized that he would be asleep within moments.
Tiptoeing from the room, she pulled her keys from the pocket of her smock and headed downstairs. As she slid behind the wheel of her beloved convertible some minutes later, she shook her head. Imagine driving through the walls of a house and into a fireplace. The wonder that was Stephen hadn’t been killed.
She thought of her father, waiting for her at home. No doubt, he would behave as petulantly and spoiled as the man she was leaving behind for his sake. It struck her suddenly how alike the two were. Stephen had survived a horrendous accident and would ultimately be none the worst for wear. Hub had survived a massive heart attack without damage to his heart muscle. Except for the medication that he must take to control his cholesterol and blood pressure, his life should have been little changed. Both had good reason to praise God; yet, both behaved as if God was picking on him. How could it be, she wondered, that two such different men—one of them an elderly retired Christian minister, the other a fierce, young, physical competitor—had so