"It's a pleasure to meet you, Mrs. Archer. Thank you for the note."

Ruth had shaken his hand, but she didn't let go. Tears she could not control filled her eyes. Rigg stood patiently, his eyes respectful and not darting away.

226.

Lori Wick "I'm sorry," Ruth whispered.

"It's all right," Rigg a.s.sured her, wishing there was some way for her to know it truly was.

"Are you all right, Ruth?" Dean had come up, and his voice was just what Ruth needed. She nodded, let the lieutenant reclaim his hand, and took a moment to compose herself. Still, she was not going to let this opportunity pa.s.s.

"Lieutenant Riggs," Ruth jumped in without letting herself think too much. "Are you by any chance free for dinner this Friday evening? We're going td barbecue chicken on the grill if that sounds good to you."

"It's sounds delicious. What time would you like me to come?"

"Any time after 5:30. We'll probably eat at 6:00."

"Ill plan on that."

The family said their goodbyes then, Rigg speaking to everyone but Lorri. For her he waited until last, stopping and catching her eye.

"I'll see you Friday."

"Okay." Lorri nodded and managed a small smile. She moved off with her family, asking herself if he meant Friday afternoon or evening. And then she realized it didn't matter. Friday was just five days away.

"She's going to marry him, isn't she?"

Ruth was changing her clothes before starting on lunch but turned from her closet to look at her youngest daughter, who had taken up residence on the bed.

"I don't know, Max."

Max looked at her mother, desperate for answers, and Ruth sat down on the bed, telling herself that lunch could wait.

227227.

"What is it you're thinking, Max?"

"He's wonderful," Max said simply. "And he looks at her, Mother, you know, in that special way. He's unbelievably kind; I've never met anyone so kind. I guess Ken is kind too," Max said as an afterthought. "I think that's why Jo loved him, and that's probably why Raine will love the lieutenant.*'

Ruth just listened. She didn't know what to think, but she certainly understood what Max was talking about. She had stood holding his hand-a total stranger-and then she had cried. His eyes had never left her face. As if he'd been ordered to do so, he stood still and waited for her to make the next move.

"What did you think of him?" Max asked.

"He's seems to be very special, but your sister isn't quite at ease, Max, and that's why I'm not going to start looking for wedding dress patterns."

"You should have seen her before you came over. I've never known her to be like that. She was so nervous, but when he looked at her..." Max searched for the words. "He was just so sweet and patient and kind! I don't know how else to say it."

But Ruth didn't need to hear it any other way. She knew just what Max had seen. The lieutenant's face flashed through her mind, swiftly followed by her daughter's. Ruth knew the least she could do was pray; in fact, that was the most she could do as well.

"Was I seeing things, or did you seem a little fl.u.s.tered around the lieutenant?"

I.

228.

"You weren't seeing things, Grandpa," Lorri had to admit, starting lunch when her mother didn't come from upstairs. "I'm nervous around him, and I'm not sure why."

"Would it help if the two of you could talk about your rescue?"

"I don't know, but at any rate, that's not likely to happen."

"I wouldn't bank on that," Dean said boldly, not ready to tell her what he'd done. "I'm asking G.o.d to give you that opportunity. I think it's just what you need."

Lorri turned to look at him, the salad fixings momentarily forgotten.

"Why do you feel it's so important?"

"It could have been any boat to stop at that island, but it wasn't. It was theEvery Storm.The skipper could have been married with three kids, but he wasn't. He was a single man who shares our faith in Christ and who now seems interested in my granddaughter.

"None of those things are a coincidence, Lorri. I'm not saying we should book the church, but you and Rigg have some type of future together. Maybe it's only to talk about the island and what that was like for you, but this man is not out of our lives just yet."

Lorri hadn't thought about it that way. It was true that she would like to discuss the island. It came to mind often, and she was tired of pushing it away for fear of mentioning it and upsetting her family, not to mention she would like to hear the lieutenant's side of the story. She was not herself during that time. What could he tell her that she might have missed? What had he thought of the whole ordeal?

Previously the thought of speaking to him about the island caused her to blush in her tracks, but not now. Now she wanted to talk to the lieutenant about it She wanted to know what he thought.

229.

229.

"Well, Donovan." Dorothy Riggs greeted her brother-in-law with pleasant surprise and a hug just as they sat down to Sunday dinner. "Come in. Have you eaten?"

"No, but don't feel like you have to feed me."

"We have plenty."

"Hey, Donovan," Jim greeted him. "Have a seat."

Donovan did so as soon as he hugged Violet and pressed a kiss to William's small brow.

"How was church?" Jim asked.

"Good. We're still in Matthew. How about you?"

"One of our missionaries is in town, so he spoke this morning."

"Violet mentioned that you gave sorfieone a ride home again on Friday," Dorothy wasted no time in saying.

"That's true," Rigg said, smiling a little. "She's a bang-up little reporter."

"I give her cookies," Dorothy replied cheekily, causing her husband and brother-in-law to laugh.

"Well, as a matter of fact," Rigg continued, "that's part of the reason I'm here. I'm going to the Archers' for dinner on Friday night."

"She invited you?"

"Her mother did I'm sure it's her way of thanking me."

"What do you think Lorri thought of that?"

"I don't know. She's so nervous around me that I can't quite read her."

230.

Dorothy, who had been ready to make all kinds of suggestions about the future, was struck with compa.s.sion. This woman, Lorraine Archer, had been through an awful lot.

"Are you willing to give her time?" Jim suddenly asked, causing both Dorothy and Rigg to look at him.

"If you recall, Ralph met Elsie under uncomfortable circ.u.mstances," he continued, speaking of their cousin. "And Ralph had to move pretty slowly during courtship."

"I'd forgotten about that," Rigg said, thinking that Ralph would say it had been worth every moment. He and Elsie were very much in love, their first child due in the summer.

"I have time," Violet said quietly, and the adults realized that she'd been hearing every word.

"I'm glad to hear that," Rigg told her, "because right after lunch we can play a game or go outside. What do you think of that?"

The adoration that always showed in the first grader's eyes for her Uncle Donovan only deepened. The adults knew the conversation was over. And that was probably for the best.

"Do you think we could be any lazier?" Ruth asked of the girls, covering a yawn at the same time. All three of them lounged around the family room and shared the newspaper. Dean was sound asleep in his chair, oblivious to them all.

"Listen to this," Max said, reading from an article. "It says here that an honest army vet paid $20,000 in taxes after winning in a c.r.a.p game. He'd won $53,000."

"That was honest," Ruth commented.

231.

231.

"Why do you suppose we're so surprised by that?" Lorri asked. "Why don't we expect people to be honest?"

Her mother and sister didn't have an answer. Lorri went back to the Sunday funnies, but her thoughts remained on honesty. If she had been forced to be honest about wanting to see more of the lieutenant, could she have been? She wasn't sure. Considering she rarely put two intelligent words together in his presence, he was being exceptionally patient.

"The funnies are supposed to make you laugh, not frown."

Lorri looked over to find Max smiling at her. Lorri shook her head, much like her mother was wont to dp.

"I was thinking about what a b.u.mbling idiot I am around the lieutenant. Friday night is sure to be delightful." Lorri didn't bother to veil her sarcasm.

"It won't be like that"

"I wish I could believe you, Max. You saw me this morning."

"But the more time you spend with him, the better it will be."

"I don't know if there will bemore timeafter Friday night."

"I do:'

Lorri looked at her tolerantly, "Raine." Her sister's voice was the most patient she'd ever heard. "You're going to fall in love with him."

"That may very well be, but it helps when both people are in love/1 "He's going to fall too. He won't be able to help himself."

"I wish I shared your confidence."

"You don't have to. Just ask me, and I'll keep telling you what to do."

Ruth loved this. She laughed so hard that Dean shifted in his sleep. The girls started to laugh at their mother but didn't want 232.

to wake their grandfather. By silent agreement, everyone went back to the newspaper.

The phone rang that night in Rigg's room not many minutes after he returned from church. The admiral, Lorri, and Max had attended the service, but there had been no sign of Mrs. Archer.

Rigg got to the phone on the fifth ring, a.s.suming that Dorothy was calling to ask him to watch the kids sometime that week. He was wrong. It was his mother.

"Dorothy wrote to me," she wasted no time in saying. "Is there something you want to tell me?"

Rigg had to laugh. "h.e.l.lo, Mom."

"Well?" Her voice was full of teasing. "Who is this girl?"

"Dorothy didn't fill you in?" he teased right back.

"No, she just asked if I had talked to my son lately. She hinted that there might be a female in his life."

"A female, yes. In my life, riot quite."

"Can you tell me about it?" Virginia Riggs asked, this time very serious.

"It's rather unbelievable, but the woman I rescued off that island lives here in Harmony Hills. She works at Violet's school."

"What are the odds of that?"

"I don't know, but I never dreamt I would see her again."

"What is her name-I can't recall if you told me."

"Lorraine Archer."

"How is she doing?"