She and Mark stood and left the doctor’scluttered but cozy office, wandering into the sterile hallway andstanding as if lost.“He’ll be okay,” Mark said, trying to soundconfident.
“I don’t know if I can do this,” his mothersaid.“First the…the man…getting out of jail so early, and nowthis.Jimmy’s gone forever, and your father’s so ill.”Her hand wasshaking as it clutched at his.“You’re all I have.You’re mystrength, Mark.I need you.”
“I’m not going anywhere.We’ll get throughit.”He wrapped his arms around her and held her until she seemedto be back in control.
As she drew away, she forced herself tolaugh.It was shaky, but at least it was a start.“Of course we’llget through it.And I’m just being silly.I know you aren’t goinganywhere.I might not like the idea of sharing you with the church,but at least I don’t have to worry about some woman stealing youaway!”
Mark didn’t know why he was annoyed by thecomment—probably because she hadn’t even considered the possibilityof amanclaiming a portion of his affections.Of course,there was no reason she should think of that.Mark had neverbrought a man home to meet his family, never even mentioned aprospective love interest’s name in front of them.It was part ofthe truce they’d struck, he supposed; his family wouldn’t object tohis orientation, and he wouldn’t remind them of it.Similar to thedétente with the church and the congregation—he could be gay if hehad to be, but he’d better not flaunt it.With the understandingthat “flaunt” included such things as holding another man’s hand orbringing a male date to a church function.
But none of that was important, not at themoment.Right then, he needed to focus on his parents, and doingthe best job he could as their sole remaining child.“Why don’t westop in and see Dad for a few minutes and then I’ll take you home?You can get some sleep, have something to eat and you’ll feel morelike yourself.”
His mother was not someone who appreciatedother people taking over and making plans on her behalf, but thistime she barely seemed to notice that it had happened.She justnodded vaguely and allowed Mark to guide her down the hall towardher husband’s room.
Mark let her go into the room alone, taking amoment in the hall to collect himself.His father had never been asoutwardly forceful as his mother, but he’d been the solid rock onwhich Mark’s foundations had been built.Seeing the strong manbrought so low, so quickly…it was a shock, to say the least.
Mark wasn’t in the habit of makingindividualized prayers, asking for specific things.It had alwaysseemed a bit pushy to tell God how to best do his job.And maybe,in the opposite direction, Mark was arrogant enough to think thathe could take care of things himself without asking for divineintervention.Either way, he didn’t ask God for a miracle cure, oreven for the strength to see his family through this rough time.Instead, he repeated the Lord’s Prayer, mindful of the meaning ofevery word, and found in it the same comfort that he always had.Thy will be done,he repeated in his mind after the Amen.Thy will be done.
And it would be.The beauty of an omnipotentGod was that His will would be done, regardless of Mark’s actions.If God had decided to take Mark’s father to Heaven, or even if He’djust decided to rob the formerly vital man of his strength andindependence, then God would get His way.But in the meantime, Markwould do what he could to help his father regain his strength.Andto help his mother, as well.
He pushed the door open and stepped insidewith a wide, confident smile.He kept his voice fairly quiet, butmade sure it sounded strong as he said, “You’re looking better,Dad!I guess Mom told you what the doctor said.So that’s okay,right?We’ll give it a few days and see where we are.We’ll make itwork.”
He ignored the twisted grimace on hisfather’s face and focused instead on his mother’s grateful smile.That was the reward for his performance.It was enough.
ChapterNineteen
“We can give it a try,” the woman said, herdark brown eyes focused on Lucas’s.“That’s all.Just a try.Ifyou’re useful, and if you’re good with the animals, I can probablyfind work for you.But if you’re more trouble than you’re worth,you won’t be around for long.You understand?”
“Absolutely.Yes.”
“I didn’t ask Father Groban what you were injail for, and I don’t want to know.He wouldn’t send you out hereif it was cruelty to animals, and anything other than that can beforgiven.You understand?”
Understanding wasn’t the same as agreeing, soLucas nodded.“Yes ma’am.”
“I don’t like being called ‘ma’am’.You cancall me Elise.If we get along, I don’t mind you using my firstname, and if we don’t get along, you won’t be around long enough tocall me anything.At least not to my face.”
“Okay.”
She looked at him as if she suspected him ofbeing insincere, then turned abruptly and stalked off toward thebarn.Her hair was brown with only a few strands of grey, and itwaved behind her in a long, thick ponytail.If Father Groban hadn’tspilled the beans, Lucas would have believed that the woman was inher fifties, or maybe even her forties.Her face was creased, sure,but it seemed reasonable to believe that the lines were fromspending long days in the sun rather than from age.And her wornjeans and flannel shirt seemed to be covering a body that wasworking better than most people’s of any age.
“Are you coming?”She’d stopped walking andwas staring back at him like he was just as defective as she’dsuspected.Damn.
“Sorry.”He jogged to catch up and tried tofocus on what she was saying.He needed this chance.
Luckily, she didn’t seem too put out.“Myother helper will be here a bit late this morning.I don’t pay him,so I’m more flexible about his hours.He’s thinking about being avet, so he wanted to get some experience with animals.And heneeded to find a place to work for a co-op credit at school, orsomething.”
Father Groban had been right, apparently.Itwas easier for Elise to accept help if she thought she was helpingout in return.
“He’ll show you the ropes, in terms of basicjobs—the animals in that shed there are seriously ill and we haveto be really careful with them, so I’ll take care of that.You’llwork in the main barn, the fields, and the other out-buildings,with the animals that are healthier.”
“You keep healthy animals here?”
“We try not to.The ultimate goal is to getthe wild animals back in the wild, and to find homes for thedomestic animals.But some of the wild animals are hurt too badlyto be completely rehabilitated, so it would be a death sentence torelease them.And some of the domestic animals are hard to adoptout—too ugly, or too old or disabled.So we try to make them happyhere.”
“That’s nice,” Lucas said withoutthinking.
Elise frowned at him.“This isn’t afairytale.A lot of the animals die.A lot of the ones we manage tokeep alive never really adjust to captivity.Some of them…” Sheshook her head.“Some of them would probably be better offdead.”
Lucas had no idea how to respond to that.Likely best to just keep his mouth shut, but apparently his mouthdidn’t agree with that strategy.“It’s too bad we can’t find a wayto let them talk.So they could tell us.”
