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He widened his eyes in dismay. “I’m so sorry, Maggie. I’d thought I mentioned it when I introduced myself. I’m the local pastor at the church down the road.”
Chapter Three (#ulink_c08717d1-a6e4-540d-8fb1-0bc2629bc965)
She paled.
He’d seen it before. People oftentimes reacted negatively to his position. He just hadn’t pegged Maggie as that type. Then she glanced down at her stomach, and he saw her problem. “Maggie,” he said, pulling her look back to him by the soft yet authoritative tone in his voice. “I’m still the same person I was ten minutes ago. So are you. I still want you for the job.”
She glanced everywhere before finally, reluctantly, turning her gaze back to him. “If you’re willing to try me out on a trial basis, how can I refuse? What about my car?” she added, pushing her plate away. “Can you tell me if it’s working so I can get there?”
“Didn’t I mention the house?”
“What house?”
Jake ran a hand through his hair. “You’ve disrupted more than my dinner, Maggie.” He was usually so efficient, keeping his mind on the problem at hand. Maggie had the ability to make him forget everything. “There’s a small house next to the church. The rent is very cheap. It’s only a two-bedroom, eight hundred square feet. But it’s roomy enough for one person. My last secretary lived there.”
He named a price that was lower than what she paid here.
Her eyes widened. “You’re not misquoting the amount on purpose, are you?”
“No. Since the job doesn’t pay much above minimum wage, the rent is cut way back. We make just enough to keep up repairs and pay the taxes each year. That way, the secretary, who ends up spending almost as much time as I do at church, will have a place to live that doesn’t cost an arm and a leg.”
“Where do you live?”
He could tell she hadn’t meant to blurt that out. She actually blushed. He couldn’t help but grin. “Well, I don’t live there,” he drawled, and her blush deepened. “The house is yours, if you want it. If not, we’ll rent it out to someone else.”
How could she pass it up? “I guess I agree,” she replied. Staring at the man in front of her, she still found it hard to believe he was a pastor. He was so good-looking and so sweet. He hadn’t condemned her for her condition or questioned her about it. Instead, compassion showed in his eyes as he smiled at her. Not pity. Never pity. She would have thrown him out if he’d given her the look of others. That look of condemnation. The look her parents had given her. No, he simply smiled at her as if she was an actual person, as if he might understand what she was going through.
Of course, that was impossible. Why would he have to worry about what everyone thought of him or be on guard constantly?
Then she realized that was it As a pastor, she imagined many people had the opportunity to dissect him over lunch, just as her parents had done with their own pastor. Maybe he did know something of the humiliation and pain she’d been through because of the way everyone had treated her.
Still, working for a pastor. At a church. She wasn’t sure. She loved God. But she hurt so much. It seemed that everything that could go wrong had gone wrong in the past seven months. And it all evolved around her family and church friends.
She’d blamed God for casting her out.
I will never leave you or forsake you.
That inner voice reminded her of God’s promise. Then why? Why had all this happened to her? Why wasn’t she allowed to have any happiness?
Jake was offering her a chance at peace, if not happiness. And she had just said she would take it. “I’ll be glad to move in then,” she said, and that settled that.
“Good!” He clapped his hands, finished off his spaghetti, then stood. “I need to get going. Listen, is two days from now too soon to move you? That would be Saturday, and I’m sure I can find some men to come over and pack up whatever you want to take. We could get you moved in and unpacked in one day.”
“I don’t have much. The furniture’s not mine. All I have is one suitcase, maybe two.”
He paused, his look probing her. She stiffened, certain the questions would come. Instead, he smiled. “Great. Then we’ll have the house ready for you Saturday. I’ll come by with a couple of the women so we can help you get the house cleaned up for inspection.”
“I don’t need any help.”
Jake rolled his eyes. “Don’t balk, Maggie. Of course you need help. You’re pregnant.”
“I haven’t had any help yet,” she blurted out, then gasped; Maggie clapped a hand over her mouth.
Silence fell, and Jake studied her a minute. He reached out and stroked her cheek with his finger. “You’ve had a tough time of it, haven’t you, Maggie? And it’s hard for you to trust”
Unexpected tears filled her eyes.
He dropped his hand and cleared his throat, stepping back instead of forward the way he wanted to. “Don’t worry. You’ll be welcome at church.”
“But what will people say to you?” she asked, not believing him. “You’re going to catch the very devil for hiring a single pregnant woman.”
There, she’d said it She was single and not married. She couldn’t tell him the rest But that was enough to condemn her in most people’s eyes.
She waited. A slow smile curved his lips, lighting up his face. “‘Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer,’” he quoted from Romans.
“And what do you mean by that?” she asked, not understanding.
He grinned. “Well,” he drawled, “we can hope no one says anything. But if someone does, then we can be patient and pray and allow God to handle the problem.”
She shook her head. “An optimist.”
“God gave us hope when He sent His son, Maggie. Why let someone’s possible actions rob us of that?”
Maggie raised weary eyes to Jake’s. “I’ve learned already that the world isn’t a place of optimism.”
“Look inside yourself. Ask God to restore your joy. Don’t let them,” he said, waving his hand toward the outside, “rob you of it There are always going to be negative people around who can’t stand to see you succeed or be happy. And there are always going to be people to kick you while you’re down. But if I think you’re a good secretary, as I know you’re a good person, then no one is going to tell me who to hire and who to fire.”
“But you don’t know if I’m a good secretary,” she argued, frustrated.
He grinned. “Then don’t disappoint me.”
He went to the door. Pausing on the bottom step, he turned back toward her. “See you Saturday, Maggie-May,” he singsonged.
She couldn’t help the reluctant smile that came to
her lips.
She’d never met anyone like Jake.
Not even her ex-fiancé. Her ex-fiancé. Boy, had that been a mistake. She’d thought he loved her. She’d thought she loved him. But then she’d changed her mind.
She didn’t want to think about the trouble, think about the nightmares it gave her. Instead, she wanted to think about the laughing eyes of the gorgeous man who had just given her a ride home and rescued her from certain poverty.
But she knew better than to think it was only Jake who had rescued her. “Thank you, God, for providing a way when I couldn’t see one. I’m glad about this job. But—” she walked over to the couch and sank onto it “—I don’t know if I can believe in happily ever after again. Every time I think I’ve finally found a job, or a place to live, or something great, it seems the rug is jerked out from under me. Is this going to be any different?”
She got up and went into the kitchen. She could save the spaghetti and have enough to last until Saturday. Then maybe she could make her groceries last until her next paycheck.
And maybe, just maybe, she’d pass Jake’s approval and get to stay at this job longer than a month or two.
Chapter Four (#ulink_e614f3b6-eb21-5622-af2f-fe0cbde1ebd7)
“You didn’t tell me you lived right behind me!” Jake, who had just finished the inner-city work an hour earlier before swinging by to pick up Maggie, smiled, surprised. “Does it matter?”
Maggie frowned warily. “I can only imagine the talk there will be.”
“You’re my secretary, Maggie. My last secretary lived here. The entire church knows it. Don’t worry about it.”
Maggie still didn’t appear convinced. Jake wondered what drove her to be so cautious but didn’t ask. “As you can see,” he said, going on into the house, “here is the living room. The carpet is old but clean. The couch actually folds out into an extra bed if you have company.” Jake wondered if she minded an orange couch and chair. “Shirley had them reupholstered in those colors. You might, uh, try throwing a small blanket across the back.”
Jake heard a chuckle behind him and turned. “Yellow and orange are fine. And yes, I have a small blanket to cut the glare.”
Relieved, Jake smiled. “I never asked her what color she wanted to redo the material in. At least the curtains aren’t white.”
Jake pointed at the light-blue curtains until he saw Maggie’s wince.
“Let’s just see the rest of the house, shall we?”
Jake nodded. Glancing around the room, he suddenly realized that Shirley must have had very poor taste in decorating. Blue curtains, tan rug, orange and yellow furniture.
“The kitchen has a small table for four in it. The stove is gas and there’s a frost-free refrigerator.”
Maggie thought it was much nicer than the trailer she’d been in. The living room might be a bit bright, but this room, she thought, with the light white-and-blue floor with soft blue-and-pink wallpaper, was homey.
“One of the women repapered the walls before you moved in.”
“That explains the smell. I wondered what that smell was.” The counters were clean, and there was even a toaster and a food processor on the counter.
“To the back are the two bedrooms and the bathroom.”
Maggie strode there to look. The master bedroom was bigger than the trailer she’d been in, with a double bed and two chests and a small vanity. She turned to the bathroom. It was old but very neat. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen a claw-foot tub before.”
“That’s next on our list of renovations. This house is more than fifty years old. We’ve been renovating one room at a time over the past year. The kitchen and the second bedroom are done.”
Maggie went to the second bedroom and smiled. “Earthtones, yellows and greens. It’s beautiful.”
Maggie heard Jake’s step approaching and turned, feeling trapped in the hall. Thankfully, Jake stopped near the entrance. “Of course we’ll be glad to remove the bed and put in a crib for you. Tyler would have gotten that done earlier—”
“Oh, no, Mr.—uh, Reverend, Pastor…” Helplessly, she lifted her hands. She could feel the blush warming her cheeks.
“Just ‘Jake.’”
His warm smile could melt chocolate on a winter day. It certainly melted her heart She found herself smiling back. “Well then, just Jake,” she said, “please don’t bother with that until I know what I’m going to do. Or if you’re certain you even want me here.
Jake’s smile left his face. The shimmer in his dark eyes dimmed. “Maggie, I don’t know why you’re so worried, but I think you should know, we’re a small church. If you can type and have any kind of head for business we can work the rest out. Unless you aren’t happy here, then there might be a problem. So please, stop worrying.”
Maggie nodded. “I’m sorry.” She didn’t say she’d had so many jobs in the past six months that she’d become cynical. Or that she was certain it was only a matter of time before her parents found out where she was. They would exert some sort of nasty little influence to get her out of the area so she wouldn’t be an embarrassment to them. Again.
Seeing Jake’s concerned expression, she pasted the smile back on her face. “This is more than I could hope for. Why don’t you show me where I am going to work.”
Jake nodded, relieved, though still concerned that she was hiding more than she was telling. Father, help her, he silently asked. “Right this way. As I said, the church has only between 100 and 150 in attendance, according to what is going on. Our average crowd is just over 100. Of course, we have the day care, which has 185 children, grades kindergarten through third. I never dreamed it would grow so fast.”
Jake led her across a small path lined with azaleas to the church. The smell emanating from the pink and purple blooms was sweet, teasing her nostrils and surrounding her in a soft gentle fragrance that relaxed her.
“I love azaleas,” Maggie murmured.
Jake smiled. “Mrs. Titterson wanted to donate them to the church. She thought they’d be beautiful lining the path here as well as both yards.” Jake motioned back at the houses. “They are beautiful in the spring. We have crepe myrtles in the front of the church and snowball bushes along the far side. You’ll notice the bridal bushes around the parking lot”
“I never met a man who knew so much about shrubbery.” Maggie glanced at him curiously.
Jake turned and grinned at her. “Didn’t you realize a pastor is a jack-of-all-trades? Who do you think helped plant all these bushes?”
Maggie chuckled. Jake liked the way it sounded, low, warm, husky. Realizing where his thoughts had drifted, he stopped, disconcerted. Shaking himself mentally, he stepped off the path and in front of the long rectangular concrete building.
“This was once a business. We bought it, then tore out the inside and rebuilt it It was big enough for anything we might want to do later. I’m thankful now that we did that. Otherwise we wouldn’t have been able to start up a school.”
Maggie nodded.
Jake decided she probably wasn’t interested and held open the door. He saw her look down at the carpet. “The blue doesn’t show dirt as easily. It was a choice between that and red. If you’ll just turn to the right, you’ll find the offices. The left leads out to the sanctuary and the school, which I’ll be glad to show you later.”
Jake reached out and took Maggie’s elbow in his hand to guide her down the hall. He’d thought to do it as a gentlemanly gesture but found he liked the feel of her soft skin in his hand. He immediately released it This woman was a walking problem. He had no doubt she would flee if she knew his thoughts ran toward the curious and I find you fascinating.
He didn’t understand it. He hadn’t known her long enough to be attracted to her. Besides, she was pregnant. There was a broken heart in there somewhere. And though he felt she was the right one for the job, saw a softness in her, that didn’t tell him one iota about her relationship with God.
No, indeed, he had no right to be wondering if Maggie was married, divorced, single or carrying twins or quadruplets for that matter.
Besides, he’d learned long ago that women didn’t fall for men who owned nothing. Jake had a salary, and a roof over his head, but there wasn’t much left over. He had been saving what he could. Soon he would be able to buy a new car since the other one had over 100,000 miles. Janie had made it clear that if he wouldn’t go to a bigger church where he could make better money, she didn’t want him.
He remembered that breakup just before he’d moved to this church. Jake had never completely recovered. Janie couldn’t understand why he didn’t want a better job. When he’d tried to explain that this church was where God wanted him, that his heart was in building a place for the inner-city youth, she’d broken off their engagement.
Jake had decided then and there to concentrate fully on his ministry. God called him to do a job, and he would do that job. If love came one day, fine. But he wasn’t going to search for it.
“Here we are,” he said to Maggie.
Glancing around the office, he tried to imagine what she saw. “It’s rather messy right now. I’ve been trying to do the filing, and Jennifer Dalton has been coming in to help.”
“Jennifer?” Maggie asked, still studying the office. Jake nodded. He moved over to the desk, gathered four file folders and straightened them. “She’s the head of our day-care center now. A wonderful woman. You’ll love her.”
He put the folders in the box on her desk and then smiled. “This will be your desk. The copier is here.” He pointed to the corner. “And we have the latest in word processing on the computer. My office is through the door behind me. Since I do a lot of counseling, I need privacy, so you’ll have to screen my calls and run interference. Most everyone here is really understanding. There are a few, though…” He trailed off and shrugged. “You know how that goes. Life isn’t perfect.”
Maggie nodded. She looked around again and then toward the door.
Jake took her out and showed her the day care and the rest of the church.
“Jennifer!”
Maggie noted how Jake’s face suddenly lit up with a bright smile for the young girl coming their way. She was petite, the girl-next-door type, with long blond hair falling out of a French braid that was pinned up on the back of her head. She wore a purple and gold LSU shirt and baggy jeans. As she approached, Maggie realized there was paint all over her clothes and on her hands.
“This must be Maggie,” the young woman said, coming forward, beaming.
