Chastity's Angel Page 6

  Chastity gasped as she stared at another likeness of herself, her flyaway fair hair spraying out around her head like a halo against the sky-blue background. Her eyes, which she considered ordinary hazel, blazed a warm dark green. He had given her a shy half smile instead of the sober look of the sketch. She touched the painting, uncertain what to say.

  He paced back and forth. "I returned to the hustling, dirty, crowded city."

  She pulled her thoughts back to his story.

  "I walked up and down the streets looking for something. I didn't know what, but I was sure I'd find it." He stopped in front of her and smiled. "And I did. I saw a man with his camera set up. For a price he was taking pictures of men to send back to their families or to keep for posterity. Even though most of them were broke and defeated, they wanted to prove they had made it.

  "I watched for awhile. The photographer noticed my interest and called me over to help." Adam shrugged. "He taught me the whole business." He looked out the window. "And when he died a few months later, he left me all his equipment."

  Adam fell silent for a moment and then walked to the desk and picked up the tattered sketch of Chastity. "I carried this picture of you in my heart all these years. I hoped you would still be here when I got back."

  Chapter 4

  Chastity's world tilted. She caught flashes of Adam's blue eyes as her gaze darted around the room. Finally she forced her frozen voice to speak. "I don't know what to say."

  "You don't have to say anything. I just wanted to tell you."

  He was smiling and relaxed.

  She couldn't look directly at him.

  One blaring question resounded in her brain. What did his confession mean?

  She hurried toward the door, mumbling something about how much she'd enjoyed seeing his work, and stumbled outside. Emma would be wondering what was taking her so long, but Chastity needed time to think, to let her tumbled thoughts settle. Her steps took her down the residential street, past the big turreted houses toward the white picket fence. As she passed, her eyes sought the arbor enclosing the table and chairs.

  She choked back a sob. Her own father, Simon LaBlanc, had not cared enough to find out who she was. Yet a man she remembered only as a boy in school had carried her picture for ten years. .

  She had told Adam she'd been raised to know she was special—a gift from God. But never had anything made her feel as special as this.

  Later that evening, after her mother was settled and the house was quiet, Chastity went to her little cubicle. It was barely big enough for her narrow bed, the tall wardrobe, and the tiny table she used for a desk; but it was her quiet haven. And how very much she needed to be alone and sort out her thoughts.

  More than once after her return home, Emma had given her a strange look as she repeated a question Chastity had missed.

  "I get the feeling your mind is elsewhere." She had studied

  Chastity carefully. 'Terhaps on a handsome man who has visited recently."

  Chastity pulled up short. "Adam?"

  "Who else? Even Mrs. B, half blind as she is, finds him attractive."

  Chastity laughed. "I'm not denying he's handsome."

  "Nobody would believe you if you did." Emma bent over the pot of potatoes and leaned on the masher. "Don't forget he's also charming, considerate, and interesting."

  Chastity stirred the gravy. "And as likely to settle down in one place as I am to fly."

  Emma straightened to look at her. "What's so wrong with a little adventure in your life?"

  "I'm not opposed to adventure," Chastity protested, trying to marshall her thoughts. "It makes life interesting and fun. But I think we need to be careful of the risks involved." She paused, wondering how to explain. "Take my mother, for instance. She thought she had found a handsome, charming man and decided it would be fun to join his adventure of moving West. Look where it got her."

  Emma's eyes narrowed. "Seems to me she's happy enough with where it got her. She has this boardinghouse and you. I've never heard her complain. Not once."

  "You're right, of course. God turned her mistakes into good. But that doesn't mean it's a good idea to rush headlong into things and hope God will send an angel to rescue you."

  "You make it sound as if you expect Adam to rush off to the North Pole for a dozen years or more."

  Chastity shrugged. "Maybe. After all, he took ten years to go to the Yukon."

  "Yes, but what better time to wander free than as a young man with no responsibilities." Emma dished the potatoes into a large bowl. "I guess he's decided it's time to settle down."

  "I doubt it, but it's neither here nor there to me."

  Emma let out her breath. "You're already half in love with him. Not that I blame you."

  Chastity almost dropped the platter of meat. "Emma, I am not. When I fall in love and marry, it will be with someone I know will always be there."

  Emma nodded. "Someone dull and steady and as predictable as the rising of the sun. Michael, I suppose."

  "There's nothing wrong with Michael. He's not dull. He's comfortable and a good friend. Being content to stay in one place doesn't mean you have to be dull."

  Emma had waited until she was halfway through the door to the dining room to mumble, "Maybe Michael's an exception then."

  Now, in the sanctuary of her room, the troubling emotions of the day swept over Chastity.

  She hurried to the little table and sat down, pulled out a sheet of paper and dipped her pen in the ink. She wrote in neat letters across the top of the page: Simon LaBlanc. It was all she knew of her father. Her mother's parents had been dead many years before she married Simon LaBlanc, but Chastity wondered if either of his parents was still alive. Could she have grandparents somewhere, perhaps the grandmother from whom she had inherited her fair coloring?

  She sighed. They wouldn't even know she existed.

  She ran her fingers back and forth across the letters of his name. He could be, and probably was, the worst sort of scoundrel; yet there was something comforting in knowing his name. Finally she folded the paper in half and slipped it between the pages of her Bible.

  She dragged her chair to the wardrobe and reached to the far corner of the top shelf for a box. She carried it to the table and untied the strings. Inside was an assortment of essays and graded papers. About halfway down she found what she was looking for—a piece of heavier, grainier paper. She pulled it out. It was the drawing Adam had made of her. She stared at herself for several seconds and then carried it to the mirror on the door of the wardrobe and held it next to her face.

  She looked from her own image to the reflection of the drawing, trying to see why Adam had found encouragement in remembering her. Had she even thought of Adam in the last ten years? Of course she had wondered at first, like everyone else, how he could leave like that and how long he would be gone. Then she'd forgotten him, except for the occasional reminder when Mrs. Silverhorn mentioned she had received a letter.

  Yet he had thought of her all that time.

  He had carried her in his heart.

  The words fluttered through her along with Emma's announcement: "I think you're already half in love with him." Emma had also warned Chastity that falling in love with Adam would mean excitement and adventure.

  Chastity shook her head. She wasn't opposed to a bit of excitement, but neither was she willing to risk losing the sort of life she had always dreamed of.

  She pushed the drawing back in the box, retied the strings, and returned the box to the top shelf.

  Falling in love with Adam was out of the question. It simply did not fit in with what she wanted for her life.

  She opened her Bible and read a little, then bowed to pray, promising God she would trust Him to guide her future and asking for strength to serve Him in her current situation.

  And keep me from foolishness, she prayed, thinking how handsome Adam looked and how her heart had almost exploded when he said he'd carried her picture in his heart.

&nbs
p; * * *

  Tea was over some time ago. Mr. Elias had gone for his walk. Mother sat in the front room helping Mrs. B with her doily.

  Emma pulled the roaster out of the oven. "I'll check the meat. Then I guess everything is ready. Looks as if we'll have a few minutes to spare today."

  Chastity poured a cup of tea. "I'm going to take this out to the veranda. Join me when you're finished."

  Emma nodded in agreement as Chastity stepped out the back door to one of her favorite spots, the bench at the end of the veranda. A latticed wall provided a feeling of privacy without shutting out the view.

  She had taken a book with her and opened its pages. After a few minutes she discovered she was restless and unable to concentrate and laid it aside.

  "Hello, Miss LaBlanc."

  She lifted her gaze to the sound and met three pairs of eyes over the gate at the bottom of the garden and grinned at the wide-eyed look they each gave her.

  Jack, Adam's younger brother, had greeted her. She addressed him first. "Hello, Jack." Then she turned to Adam and his sister. "Hello, Ellen and Adam. How are you?"

  "We're fine," Jack answered for all three. "We're just out for a walk."

  "Would you like to come in?"

  Adam opened the gate before she finished asking, and the three trooped up the walk to the veranda. There weren't enough chairs, but Adam perched on the railing as Ellen sat in the wooden chair facing Chastity.

  Jack plopped down on the veranda floor. "Adam says we deserve a break because we've been working so hard. We got a lot done, didn't we, Adam?"

  Adam ruffled the boy's hair and grinned at him. "We surely did." His gaze sought Chastity's eyes. "We put up the backdrops for portraits, and then we set up the first display of pictures."

  "First display?" Chastity said.

  "I have far too many photos and pictures to hang at once, so I plan to change them every month or two."

  "We did the Klondike this time," Jack added. "But we only used the pictures that showed a broad view of the area."

  Chastity knew he was quoting Adam.

  Jack continued. "I thought he should have shown all those gold rush pictures."

  Adam chuckled. "Maybe another time, Youngster."

  Chastity turned to include Ellen in the conversation and caught the adoring look she gave her older brother. "What did he have you doing, Ellen?"

  The girl lowered her head, hiding her face, and mumbled,

  "I helped him pick out the pictures to hang."

  Remembering the stacks of pictures, Chastity shook her head. "It must have been difficult to choose."

  Ellen looked up at Chastity. "I wanted to show just paintings, but he said I had to choose photos and sketches as well. His paintings are so wonderful." The girl's voice was filled with admiration.

  "Ellen could be a bit prejudiced in her judgment," Adam said with a drawl.

  Ellen spun on him. "Am not. Your paintings are good. You should be proud of yourself."

  Chastity drew in her breath, waiting for Adam's reply.

  He leaned back, his legs crossed at the ankles, his hands resting on the ledge, smiling down at Ellen with an expression that caused Chastity's throat to tighten. "I'm happy with my work. It gives me pleasure. But there's room for improvement."

  "How can you say that?" Ellen demanded.

  Adam shrugged. "There's always room for improvement. If I as an artist, or anyone else for that matter, sit back and accept things as being as good as they'll get, there would be little progress made in this world."

  Ellen drew back. "Well, I think your paintings are perfect."

  Adam gave a low chuckle. "Ellen, thank you for your loyalty."

  Jack suddenly sat up and leaned toward Chastity. "We came to invite you to see the display. It'll be ready Monday, won't it, Adam?"

  Adam nodded.

  Jack rushed on. "Tomorrow Adam is taking us to Sheep Falls. Have you ever been there, Miss LaBlanc?"

  Chastity shook her head. "I hear it's lovely."

  "You should come with us."

  Adam leaned forward. "Good idea, Jack."

  "Yes, do," added Ellen.

  Chastity looked from Jack with his eager face, to Ellen smiling shyly, to Adam. At his dark searching look, her heart stalled.

  "What about it, Chastity?" he asked.

  Her gaze darted away and then returned to Adam's eyes. Just as quickly, she pulled away again, unable to deal with what she saw there. "I couldn't," she murmured, choosing to study her fingers. "I have my work."

  "Couldn't Emma manage for a day?" Adam asked, his low voice pleading gently.

  "I couldn't ask her."

  The back door squealed, then slapped shut, and Emma joined them. "Why is everyone looking at me?" she demanded.

  Jack scooted forward to face her. "We want Miss LaBlanc to go with us tomorrow."

  "Adam's taking us to the falls," Ellen added.

  "But she doesn't think she can leave for the day," said Adam.

  Emma laughed. "And you want me to persuade her it's all right to go and let me run things for the day?"

  Three heads bobbed up and down.

  "It's fine with me." She turned to Chastity. "I can manage. You run along and enjoy yourself."

  Chastity scowled at the knowing grin on Emma's face and the slight emphasis she put on the word "enjoy."

  "It's settled then," Adam said, leaning back.

  "Yeah!" Jack yelled.

  Ellen suddenly lost her restraint. "We'll have a lovely time."

  * * *

  It was late before Chastity got to bed.

  Because Sunday was traditionally a day of rest with cold meals, it meant preparing twice as much food on Saturday. Chastity felt guilty leaving Emma with the extra work, so she had cooked potatoes and boiled eggs and diced them for potato salad. While the potatoes cooked, she had baked several cakes. Emma would cook the turkey and serve it hot Saturday, slicing the rest for Sunday's cold dinner.

  Although pleasantly tired, Chastity didn't go to sleep at once. Butterflies fluttered in her stomach.

  She looked forward to seeing the falls—the local attraction.

  But, forcing herself to be honest, she admitted she was also deeply curious about the man who said he had thought of her all those years.

  * * *

  The sky shone like a mirror as they made the two-hour journey to the falls.

  "It's a perfect day," Ellen said from her seat behind Chastity.

  "Couldn't ask for better," agreed Adam, glancing at Chastity.

  She suddenly found the passing scenery required her full attention. During the night she had decided to forget he'd thought of her for the past ten years; it was simply some romantic notion born of loneliness and desperation. She would treat him as an old friend, nothing more. But the way his eyes continually sought her, at once compelling and proprietorial, made it difficult to remember her decision.

  "Makes me feel like singing." And to prove her point, Ellen started: "Oh, my darling, oh, my darling, oh, my darling Clementine."

  Glad of the diversion, Chastity relaxed.

  Ellen had a sweet, clear voice, and the others listened as she sang the first verse. As she started the chorus again, Jack's uncertain voice joined hers.

  Adam smiled over his shoulder and then joined his siblings, his deeper voice rounding out the trio. They finished the song and laughed together.

  Chastity sat back, watching Adam with his younger brother and sister, enjoying the way he was at ease with them.

  Ellen started another song.

  "Come on, Chastity." Adam smiled at her. "Sing with us."

  She couldn't resist the twinkling challenge in his eyes, feeling all the while she was being pulled further and further from her decision.

  They sang song after song.

  Ellen and Jack taught them some new choruses they had learned at school.

  "Remember this one?" Adam grinned at Chastity and began a song they had learned in school.

 
"Where did you hear that?" Jack asked.

  "At school." His warm eyes lingered on Chastity's face.

  "It must be really old."

  Both Chastity and Adam laughed. Then Adam reached back to squeeze Jack's knee.

  "Are you calling me an old man?"

  Jack grabbed Adam's arm and pretended to twist it up behind the seat. "You're pretty old all right."

  Adam turned around and half lifted Jack from his seat. "Not too old to handle you, Sprout."

  Jack clung to Adam's fist, giggling. "I'll grow up soon enough, and by then you'll be really old."

  Chastity watched the interplay, knowing Adam had already earned the innocent love of both his sister and brother, and she envied their mutual affection. Life as an only child had often left her wishing for a brother or sister, or both, to share secrets with or simply to enjoy the sort of play she saw here.

  They edged down a narrow trail through the trees. Adam pulled the horses to a stop.

  "Listen. Hear it?"

  Chastity tilted her head, catching the rumble of the falls. She leaned forward, straining for her first glimpse.

  "Relax. It's still a distance before you can see it."

  Jack bounced on the seat, rocking the buggy. "Hurry up, Adam."

  Chuckling, Adam flicked the reins, and they rattled forward.

  Suddenly sunlight flashed on the water, momentarily blinding Chastity. Then she saw the falls, a mane of white water tumbling from the rocks above, crashing to the foaming cauldron before them. Chastity tasted the cool mist on her lips. The roar drowned out all other sound.

  Adam leaned close and yelled in her ear, "We're here!"

  It was such an unnecessary bit of information that she shouted with soundless laughter.

  "I noticed!" she exclaimed, grinning back.

  He shook his head, indicating he couldn't hear, and leaned close. A whiff of spicy shaving soap drifted across her senses. She tasted the moisture on her lips again and tried to satisfy her lungs with the damp air.