скачать книгу бесплатно
“Well, if you’re sure…” Miss Winifred waited for dissent, then nodded briskly. “All right, I’ll do it.”
The entire group heaved a collective sigh of relief. No one wanted to tackle a meal of such magnitude, but their busy little baker was exactly the right person to bring order out of chaos.
“It seems the meal is taken care of. Miss Winifred, I thank you for offering and we all pledge to do whatever you need. You just let us know how we can help.” Dani glanced around the group, noticed everyone nodding.
“I’ll do my best.” Miss Winifred sat down, her face wreathed in smiles.
“Well, that’s most of my list. Thank you, all.” Dani scribbled a note to herself, then looked up. “I think we’re about ready to rehearse. As soon as we audition for the main character, that is. We won’t need all of you here for that.” She glanced down at her list, then around. “Could I ask that the various committees please use the Sunday school rooms for your meetings? We need to conduct a read-through out here, so I’m asking for a bit of quiet.”
Amid much chatter, the group broke up. Dani bent to pick up her copy of the play and noticed Dr. Luc inching his way up the aisle. They still needed a main character, and the pastor had insisted that it was up to her to find one. Dr. Luc was perfect. She couldn’t let him get away— But Miss Winifred stopped her from following him.
“I do hope I won’t disappoint, Dani dear,” the baker murmured. “It is such a large job.”
“I know you’ll do fine.” Dani stood on her tiptoes, saw Luc in the foyer. “Miss Winifred, I need another favor.” She explained her difficulty. “He’s the only one who suits the part.” She dropped her voice to a whisper. “I just can’t see Big Ed as an English inspector. Can you?”
“It does rather boggle the mind, doesn’t it.” Miss Blessing wrapped her fingers around Dani’s. “Come along, dear. Time for a little teamwork. Lucas!” Her voice warbled through the sanctuary, carrying like a wind chime in the forest. “Luc, dear. Dani and I must speak with you. Coffee break, actors. Rehearsal in five.”
They caught him entering the young-adult Sunday-school classroom which had been newly designated for use by the set-building committee.
“Luc, we need to talk to you.”
“Oh.” A wary glance passed over them. “I was just about to get in on this meeting for building props. I thought I might help them out.”
“You?” Gray McGonigle stood beside Dani, his eyes huge with disbelief. “What did you ever build?”
“Nothing.” The doctor’s face darkened in a red flush. “But I can learn.”
“Indeed you can, dear. But not tonight. Tonight we need you to think about a higher mission.” Miss Winifred wrapped one arm through Luc’s and drew him next door, into the nursery. She closed the door as soon as Dani was through. “Much higher, my boy.”
“Uh, I see.”
He clearly didn’t. Dani almost giggled at the panicked look crossing the good doctor’s face.
“The inspector,” she reminded him. “Remember? We need someone to play the inspector.”
“But—” He glanced right and left, as if searching for help. “I don’t think I’m your man. I’ve never done any acting. I just wanted to build something, maybe get to know people.”
“Oh, you’ll meet lots of people. Plus you’ll help us raise funds for an orphanage in Honduras. It’s really not that difficult a part, Luc dear. You just have to get the timing right.” Miss Winifred patted his shoulder helpfully.
“No.” He shook his head, his eyes moving from Dani to Miss Blessing and back again in frantic appeal. “No. I can’t do it. I’m sure there must be someone else.”
“But—”
He shook his head, his brown eyes glittering like dark ice as they settled on Dani. “I can’t. That’s all there is to it. I’m sure there’s someone else you can call on.”
Now what? Dani didn’t know what to say.
“You’re right, Luc.” Winifred drooped, her sigh heartfelt. “It’s too much to ask of a newcomer to town.”
“But—”
Dani frowned, half glared at the older woman. To her surprise, Miss Winifred turned her head and winked. Her voice continued in a sad, almost whining tone.
“Why, think of how long it will take to memorize the lines, to come to practice, to find a costume. And you’re such a busy doctor.” She clicked her teeth together, paused a moment, then continued, as if a new thought had just hit. Her twinkling eyes met Dani’s for a fraction of a second, but that was long enough for Dani to glimpse the mischief glittering there.
“I don’t know what in the world I was thinking of, to volunteer for KP, either. Mercy, girl, I own a business, I’m on more committees than I can name, and I have my great-nephew’s daughters to watch out for. There’s no way on earth I can manage the kitchen for this play. No way at all.”
Lucas frowned at her. “But you have to. There isn’t anyone else who can do it.”
“Someone will step into the gap,” the baker assured him blithely. “If they don’t, well then, we’ll know God has other plans.”
Winifred’s blue eyes brightened. Dani lifted a hand to smother her giggle, risked a quick look at the doctor.
“But—but that’s ridiculous!” He shook his head. “God can’t accomplish things if people aren’t willing to help.”
“Exactly.” Winifred Blessing’s face glowed with satisfaction. “I’ll be willing to help in the kitchen as long as you’re willing to be the inspector Dani needs. Or are you going to wimp out on us?”
“Wimp—” The doctor straightened as if someone had refused to allow him to treat a patient. “I am not wimping out!”
“Of course you are, dear. And if you can do it, I can do it. After all, I’m older, with years of age-wearing troubles to deal with. Managing a meal this size will tire me for days. I’ve got a weak heart, too.”
“Hah. There’s nothing wrong with your heart. I did your physical last week, remember?” Luc cast Dani a dubious glance, then peered more closely into Miss Blessing’s bland countenance. “This is a con.”
“Is it?” Dani shrugged. “Miss Blessing has never said a thing she didn’t mean in all the years I’ve known her. I don’t think she’s about to start now.”
“But you’ve already got someone. I heard on coffee row that Big Ed said he was going to read for the part.” He dared them to refute it.
“He’s offered.” Dani nodded. “He could memorize the lines, play the part.”
“But?” Luc frowned at them both, chocolate-brown eyes wary. “There is a but, isn’t there.”
“Big Ed is a cowboy. He’s a wonderful man, but we could never make him into an English inspector. We need someone younger, better suited to the part. We want the whole project to succeed beyond expectations. We want to see enough funding come in to rebuild that orphanage. Do you honestly think Big Ed can do that?” Dani fell silent, unable to communicate how deeply this need touched her, how certain she was that the doctor was the man for the part.
“There’s a passage in the Bible,” Miss Winifred murmured. “I forget the exact words, and I’ll have to look up the reference, but the gist of it is that we should strive to do the best we can for God, not offer Him the mediocre.”
“But you don’t even know if I can do this,” Luc challenged, glaring at them.
“I don’t know if I can direct, either,” Dani reminded him. “But I’m willing to step into the gap rather than see the whole project go under. Let’s sink or swim together, shall we, Dr. Duke?” She said it deliberately, hoping to rouse some emotion in the reticent doctor.
“Luc,” he corrected her in a loud voice. “It’s Luc.” He sighed. “If I won’t try out, you won’t help with the meal?” He waited for Miss Blessing’s nod.
Her grin made Winifred look far younger than her age, which, in fact, remained a well-kept secret in Blessing Township.
“That about sums it up, Lucas.”
“So, if I don’t step in, everyone will blame me for the failure of the dinner theater.” He sighed. “That’s blackmail, you know.”
“It is, isn’t it?” Miss Winifred shrugged. “Oh well. Whatever works. When you get to be my age, you’ll have learned that. Among other things.”
Dani waited, holding her breath. Finally Luc tossed up his hands in defeat.
“I’ll read for it,” he said. “But you have to promise that if Big Ed is better, you’ll give him the part. No more shenanigans.”
“Agreed.”
He pulled open the door, waited till they’d walked through.
“I just wanted to nail a few boards,” Dani heard him mumble almost beneath his breath. “Saw something, maybe. Just a little construction work.”
“Well, maybe we can arrange—” Gray McGonigle’s hand on her arm stopped Dani midsentence. “Oh, hi, Gray. Did you want to talk to me?”
“Yes. Now. Please.”
Dani stepped aside to let the others pass, stared at him in confusion.
“What’s wrong?” she asked, half-afraid to hear the answer.
“Dani, I’m not trying to run the show or anything, believe me. I only want the best for this dinner theater, just as you do. So trust me when I ask you to keep Dr. Lucas Lawrence away from any and all construction. No saws, no nails, no hammers.” He winced. “Particularly no hammers.”
Dani frowned at the intensity underlying his words. “May I ask you why?”
“You know that house we rent out?”
She nodded.
“Last week Luc moved in. The other day he decided to hang a picture.”
Dani shrugged, impatient to get on with the job. “So what?”
“Three hundred and forty-two dollars and seventy-eight cents, so far. That’s what.”
“Three hundred—” She stared. “How?”
“Looking for a stud, he said.” Gray shuddered. “Made a hole in the drywall, knocked over a floor lamp, which tipped and went through the picture window.”
The giggle just would not be denied. Dani slapped a hand over her mouth to muffle it. “Oh dear.”
“Easy for you to say. I was fool enough to accept his offer to help me fix things.” He held up one hand with a thick bandage around his thumb. “Luc Lawrence is a great doctor and I like him very much, but he couldn’t hit the broad side of a barn door with a sledgehammer. I sure don’t want him touching anything in here.” His eyes rested on the beautiful oak panels the deacons had just ordered installed at the front of the church. “Know what I mean?”
“Yes, I do. Leave it to me, Gray. I’ll think of something.” Dani giggled again before patting his arm. “Poor thing. Maybe you should ask Marissa to kiss your boo-boo better. That seems to work well for your son.”
Ignoring his pained look, she turned and walked back into the hall, aware that Gray followed just a few steps behind. She couldn’t look at him for fear she’d start laughing, so she focused on the doctor. He looked worried. Why was that?
“All right, everyone, let’s start reading.”
The actors scrambled to find their copies and get into character. Everyone except Lucas Lawrence. He stood where he was and glared at her. Miss Winifred perched on the first chair in the first row, arms crossed over her chest, lips pursed. Dani took a deep breath and walked forward.
“What’s the matter now?” she asked, keeping her voice soft so the others wouldn’t hear.
“Luc is being obstreperous.”
“I am not.” He tipped back on his heels, his face rigidly composed. “We’d be wise to look at all the angles. I have a valid concern.”
Dani looked to Winifred, found no help there. She sighed. “Which is?”
“I’m a temporary doctor in this town. What if I leave before the dinner theater is held?”
She frowned. He was too calm. Dani squinted, assessing him. Her daddy would have said the man squirmed just a bit too much.
“Are you planning on leaving Blessing soon, Doc?” she asked.
“No, he’s not.” Winifred shook her head.
“How do you know what I’m planning?”
“I just do.”
Luc frowned at her. “Well, you don’t know about this.”
“You’re not going anywhere.” Miss Blessing swung her foot back and forth, her mouth tipped into a triumphant smile as she winked at Dani. “Otherwise, why did he invite his sister to visit him here at Christmas?”
“Of all the nerve—” He cut off his tirade, fumed silently.
Miss Blessing smiled innocently. “I didn’t deliberately listen in on your conversation, Lucas, but you were standing in my bakery when you said it.”
Defeat dragged his shoulders down. Dani suddenly felt a pang of sympathy for him. They had bulldozed over his objections. Still, he would be good, she just knew it. All he had to do was try.
“Give it a shot,” she encouraged. “Just one read-through. Please?”
“You don’t understand.” He turned his back on Miss Blessing, dropped his voice to a whisper. “I can’t.”
“Why not?”
“Stage fright. I stand up in front of a crowd and my mind goes totally blank.” He shook his head, his thin cheeks flushed. “Speeches, stories, poems—doesn’t matter how well I know them, I simply can’t repeat them in front of a bunch of people. My jaw locks up, my heart starts thudding and I can’t get a word out. I’ve struggled with it for years. As an actor, I’m the bottom of the barrel. Choose someone else. Please?”
“There is no one else, Luc. Just you. Please don’t give up.” Dani offered a smile to bolster his courage, certain it must have been hard for him, a competent doctor, to admit this flaw. “I’ll help. I’m a pretty good director.” I think.
“You’ll need to be.” Seeing the expectant faces around him, Luc sighed, then nodded. “Oh, all right. Just don’t say I didn’t warn you,” he whispered.
“I won’t.”
He lifted his lips in a sickly smile and followed her directions, moving to a seat in the front row. He picked up a copy of the play and read his part. As one of many among the cast, he seemed to lose his nervousness, his confidence growing as he continued through to the end of the play. Dani wondered if he’d been teasing about the stage fright.
“This is very good. Who wrote it?” He turned the sheets over, searching for the author.
Dani smiled, but ignored the question. “I’m glad you like it. I think you’ll make a great inspector.”
Her decision was echoed by the other players, spirits rejuvenated now that someone had finally been found who could read the lines with impact.
