Rubbing her hands together with glee, Grammy exclaimed, "Oh! I'm gonna make it a point to mention that nice diamond engagement ring gatherin' dust in our bank box!"

Knowing that it would do no good to ask Grammy to refrain from mentioning the subject of marriage during Nathan's first visit to the Lee home, Cooper removed the pot pie from the oven with a defeated groan.

15.

The last enemy to be destroyed is death.

1 Corinthians 15:26 (NIV) Cooper had the storm nightmare for the third time.

As in the other dreams, she found herself inside the small boat as it raced toward the low thunderclouds, but this time, she could practically feel the chill of the rain as it hit her skin. The drops were sharp as needles and Cooper longed to take cover, but she had no control over a single element in the environment. Her feet were stung by the rain and when Cooper looked down at her raw, red toes, she noticed several objects floating in a shallow puddle in the stern of her boat.

She recognized Frank's diary and a black-and-white tintype of a young man in uniform. The face had been partially scratched off as though someone had been intent upon erasing the image completely. There was also a bouquet of purple flowers. Primroses or violets. It was hard to tell.

As the boat cut through the water, Cooper's dream self looked down at the rolling gray river and saw the yellow hospital flag drift past. She reached out to grab it, desperately wanting to rescue it from the water, but a stray current pushed it just beyond her grasp. Though it seemed impossible, the boat picked up even more speed, practically hurtling itself forward.

This was the closest the dream had ever taken Cooper to the storm. The tongues of lightning that had once lingered in the distance now seemed to hover directly above the trees flanking the river. Several of the tallest pines were already aflame. Abruptly, the scene changed, and every single tree was on fire. Cooper stared at the conflagration in fear, feeling the heat on her face and watching as pieces of ash began to drop from the sky into her boat. The rain had ceased and the air burned her lungs. She crouched lower in her boat, breathing in wet wood and the smoking cinders of pinecones.

As though mocking the danger, the current slowed and began to bear Cooper to the sh.o.r.e. Trees, their needles lit with scarlet and orange flames, crashed into the water, sending a burst of sparks into the black sky. Looking back over her shoulder, she saw that the wilderness behind her was pristine and unharmed, but the daylight had faded completely. When she turned to face the forest again, the fire was gone. All was still.

The bow of her boat b.u.mped gently against a pebbled bank. The sand was so white it glowed and the small stones winked like stars.h.i.+ne. Cooper sighed. She was safe. The storm had pa.s.sed. She was preparing to leave the small craft when a stick snapped somewhere in the forest ahead of her. A shape began to materialize from the shadows. It was a man.

Wordlessly, he moved toward her, malice preceding him like a perfume borne by the wind. Frantic, Cooper pushed her boat back into the water, clawing at the liquid with her arms, but the man kept coming toward her. She paddled desperately, edging backward inch by agonizing inch, the cold water splas.h.i.+ng onto her face and hair. But there was no way to escape him. Her heart grew frigid as she watched him wade effortlessly into the water. He reached out for her and she woke up.

Cooper waited until eight-thirty Tuesday morning before calling Nathan to ask him to join her family for dinner that weekend. He broke into the recording on his answering machine, only to inform her that he'd been at work for an hour already, as his email inbox was filled with several irate messages from dissatisfied Big Man Product customers.

"Why are they writing you?" Cooper asked, perplexed. "You're the webmaster. It's not your business."

"Try telling them that. According to these customers, the toll-free number listed on the contact page is bogus." Nathan sounded extremely cross. "And I'm having no luck getting in touch with Tobey on his cell. The whole thing is giving me a bad feeling. His customers are claiming that his muscle builders have made them sick. Really sick."

Deciding that it wasn't the best time to invite him to supper, Cooper turned her attention to Nathan's problem. "I hate to mention this, but has Tobey paid you for your work?"

There was a brief silence, and then Nathan said, "He paid the deposit I require for setting up a commercial website and I've billed him for the rest of the project, but his payment isn't officially late until, let's see . . ." Cooper could hear the tap tap of computer keys. "It's due tomorrow, actually. I give everyone the standard turnaround time of thirty days."

"Do you have a credit card number on file?"

"No," Nathan growled. "Listen, I've got to run. I need to look into this before I can focus on my other projects. I just received another two emails while we were talking, d.a.m.n it."

"Maybe you could do one of those online background checks," Cooper suggested, thinking that Nathan would be grateful for her cleverness and desire to help. "Though Tobey Dodge sounds a bit like a fake name, now that I think about it."

"Thanks," Nathan answered sourly. "I wish that had crossed your mind the night the three of us went out to dinner."

Stung by his demeanor, Cooper blurted, "That's unfair!"

"I know. I'm sorry," Nathan hastily responded. "But I do have to take care of this mess right now."

Cooper was still smarting from his cutting remark, but she managed to control herself from prolonging the argument. She scowled, however, when she saw that Emilio was once again waiting for her in the office parking lot. "I'm sure everything will get straightened out," she a.s.sured Nathan. "I've gotta run, too. I see a coworker I need to deal with."

"You bet," Cooper thought she heard Nathan grumble, but what he really said was, "I bet." Then he hung up.

Emilio was propping the door open for Cooper, giving her one of his winning salesman smiles when the mail truck pulled up and came to a stop with a squeal of sudden pressure to the brakes. A woman in her early twenties with big hair and tight pants sashayed past Emilio. Her jaw, which had been furiously working over a piece of pink bubble gum, momentarily paused in mid-chew as she looked him over with interest.

"Hey, handsome!" she greeted Emilio in a nasal voice that reminded Cooper of Fran Drescher's character in The Nanny. A fog of perfume surrounded the confident postal carrier and Cooper coughed as she sidestepped the younger woman and headed for cover behind Angela's desk.

Emilio had forgotten about Cooper completely. He stared at the heavily scented newcomer as though his eyes had never beheld such an enticing vision.

"Where's the regular guy?" Cooper whispered to Angela as a bundle of mail was unceremoniously dumped onto the desk.

"Vacation. For the next two weeks." Angela grinned as the mailwoman sauntered to the exit. "Honey, you look close at that man and that woman. What you see before you is Cupid at work. That little cherub is havin' target practice right before our eyes."

Cooper and Angela watched in amus.e.m.e.nt as the mailwoman, whose name was Carla, seduced Emilio in a mere twenty seconds. She began by telling Emilio she was tired from having stayed up to watch Monday Night Football and then she complained that her girlfriends refused to stay at Buffalo Wild Wings for the whole game. On top of those tidbits, which had already caused Emilio's eyes to glimmer, Carla managed to let slip that Victoria's Secret had just released its winter line and that her mail truck was full of hundreds of copies that would no doubt end up in the garbage.

"Except for mine, of course." She winked at Emilio, picked up the newspaper lying near the front door, and pushed it into his arms. "I'm gonna be ordering a little silky thing or two. Too bad there's n.o.body to see me model them."

Saucily, wiggling her fingers good-bye, she sauntered back to her truck while blowing a bubble the size of a dinner plate.

"Wow," Emilio murmured as Carla peeled off. "What a woman!"

"I think she liked you," Cooper said quickly.

Emilio looked at her as though he had never seen her before. "You do?"

"Heck, yes!" Angela chimed in. "Carla'll be here for the next two weeks. Better make the most of it, boy. 'Specially if you want to get a peek at the latest underwear fas.h.i.+ons." She slapped him on the back and handed him a pile of work orders.

Still in a daze, Emilio took a step toward the locker room and then, after hesitating, jogged back to Cooper and whispered, "You still got that box of chocolates?"

She nodded. "They're in my locker. Please help yourself."

"Thanks." He suddenly seemed to have remembered that he had given Cooper the chocolates as a token of his esteem. "Hey. It wouldn't have worked out between you and me anyhow, right? I mean, you've already got a guy. I wouldn't wanna get in the middle of you two."

"I appreciate that," Cooper replied with a smile. "And I don't think you and I are very well matched. I don't watch football. And that Victoria's Secret catalogue I had in my work bag a few weeks ago? That was actually my grand-mother's."

Emilio s.h.i.+vered in distaste and walked away. As soon as he was out of earshot, Angela and Cooper nearly fell over laughing.

"I cannot believe he asked for those G.o.divas! I sure hope he doesn't want that G.o.d-awful perfume back, too. Then again, Carla seems to like the smell of flowers mixed with kerosene!" Angela said once she managed to calm down. "Oh, look at me! I've gone and cried off all my mascara!"

"So it doesn't bother you?" Cooper examined her friend carefully. Angela seemed to have an ethereal glow about her this morning. "You're totally fine with the fact that Emilio is obviously smitten with the mail lady?"

"I don't care a fig about that boy. I've got me the most wonderful man in the world." Angela snapped open her compact and began to make repairs to her makeup. "Last night, a bit of magic happened right here in this office." She blushed. "Well, back in Mr. Farmer's office, if I'm gonna tell the tale right."

"I remember that he asked you to stay late." Cooper played dumb.

Angela sat on her chair and spun herself around giddily. "There was no work involved, sugar. Why, he had the biggest surprise for me! I could never have dreamed up what happened. It was like a scene from a romance book!"

"Stop keeping me in suspense. What did Mr. Farmer do?"

Planting her heels firmly on the floor, Angela stopped going around in circles and leaned toward Cooper. "He bought tickets to the Sara Bay Kennel Club Dog Show next month. In Sarasota, Florida! Not just that, but he got us two, first-cla.s.s airplane tickets." She clapped her hands with glee. "He's takin' me to the Suns.h.i.+ne State in style! It'll be the fanciest, most romantic date I've ever had! Isn't he just the Eighth World Wonder?"

Cooper hugged her friend. "Oh, I think that t.i.tle belongs to you."

"We'll see about that," Angela replied with a mischievous smile. "After all, he booked two hotels rooms. I sure hope they've got one of those doors leadin' from the one to the other, 'cause this girl is gonna get gussied up and go a-knockin'!"

Angela handed Cooper her first a.s.signment of the day and then focused her attention on her own billing duties, humming as she reviewed the monthly accounts.

Spirits lifted, Cooper sat in the Make It Work! van waiting for the longest traffic light in Richmond to turn green. She dialed Ashley's home number and then slipped on her headset.

"Tell me something interesting," Ashley whined. "I'm already bored. There is absolutely nothing on TV in the mornings. What does Grammy find to watch every day?"

"Judge Judy. Animal Planet reruns," Cooper said. "It sounds like you're feeling well."

"I'm great! Can't wait to start practicing once I'm all healed. Now, lay some juicy gossip on me."

"Love is in the air, Ashley." Cooper told her sister all about Emilio, Angela, and her decision to introduce Nathan to the family.

Ashley made a strangling sound.

"Are you okay?" Cooper was alarmed.

"Yes! But I just spilled my coffee all over my sofa. Thank goodness I paid for that extra stain protection." Ashley muted the television. "We're going to meet him this weekend? Oh, I'll have to find something nice to wear. I hope Lincoln won't have to work. What's Mama going to cook? Do you think Grammy will behave herself?" Without pausing, she answered the second question before her sister could. "Of course she won't behave. She's going to eat him alive. Have you prepared your boyfriend for this grand occasion?"

Cooper laughed. "You make it sound like he should expect the Chinese Water Torture treatment or something. It's just dinner."

"Oh, no, it's not," Ashley responded in all seriousness. "When you're over thirty and you bring a steady boyfriend over to meet the folks, it's never just dinner."

The workweek sped by, and though Cooper awaited word from Investigator Rector, he never contacted her about playing a part in the investigation. According to the Times-Dispatch, no one had been apprehended as of yet, but police were busy interviewing Door-2-Door volunteers and employees.

The buoyant mood Cooper had experienced on Tuesday slowly gave way to gloom. As the days pa.s.sed, Nathan had become increasingly distant and though Cooper knew he was struggling with the mounting number of angry Big Man customers and had yet to speak to Tobey Dodge, his coolness toward her was hurtful and confusing. Worst of all, his reticence to make weekend plans with her made her feel as though their entire relations.h.i.+p was on shaky ground.

"I don't think I can schedule anything until this situation is resolved," Nathan finally responded to her repeated invitations on Friday evening. "According to the background check I purchased, Tobey Dodge from L.A. doesn't exist. I've shut the website down temporarily, but I'm out of my league here. One of the Big Man clients is a lawyer and he plans on filing a civil suit. We're going to meet for coffee Sat.u.r.day afternoon so I can find out what's wrong with the product and figure out where I stand." Nathan sighed. "These folks want their money back, and I'd like to get paid for all of my work, too, or I'll never get my furnace fixed."

Cooper didn't see why Nathan's afternoon appointment should preclude him from coming to her house for dinner, but she sensed that cajoling him into meeting her family might not generate the casual, relaxed atmosphere she had been hoping for. It also bothered her that his professional problems could transfer to his personal life to such an extent that he could barely be civil to his own girlfriend.

Is this the way he handles job-related stress? Cooper wondered worriedly and then headed downstairs to her parent's kitchen in order to tell Maggie that their special dinner was off.

"Oh, Grammy's gonna be so disappointed," Maggie said and then eyed her daughter keenly. "Is everythin' all right between you and Nathan?"

"It's fine. He's just tied up with a big project right now. Maybe next weekend will work out better." Cooper made a hasty escape before her grandmother could give her the third degree, knowing she'd never be able to hide the truth about Nathan's inexplicable coolness from Grammy.

Back in her tiny apartment, she cooked a quick dinner of macaroni and cheese with a side of green beans and went to bed early. Lying in the darkness, she prayed that the police had successfully identified the killer as a result of the weeklong interviews.

"And please guide Nathan through his trouble," she added. "So that we can go back to the way we were. Things were going so well, Lord. If it's Your will, can You knock aside this invisible obstacle that's come between us? I don't know what it is, Lord, but I know You do. I'd be very grateful, and I think You put us together for a reason. Thanks. Amen."

The volunteers were not their boisterous selves Sat.u.r.day morning at Door-2-Door. They all looked tired and scared. Conversation was stilted and the kitchen echoed with nervous whispers and the sounds of soft jazz coming from the radio near the front door. The radio had always been on, but the energetic noises emanating from the volunteers typically eclipsed all other sound.

Cooper positioned herself next to Brenda to pack coolers. After her partner dropped one of the lunch trays on the floor for the third time, Cooper placed her hand on Brenda's thick arm.

"You doing okay?" she whispered, noting that Brenda's hands were shaking.

Brenda's eyes welled. "No, I ain't okay! I got called in to talk to the police in the middle of my s.h.i.+ft. I told the boss all about it but he's been lookin' at me sideways since then-like I might've actually hurt old folks!" She gripped the tray and tried to control her voice. "I almost worked today to make up the hours, but then I started thinkin' and do you know what I thought?"

Cooper shook her head.

"I thought I might look guilty if I didn't show up here this mornin'. This is a mess, I tell you! I ain't been sleepin' right. I've been frettin' about Darik. What if he hears about all this? He's had enough bad news without worryin' that his mama's on the cops' short list."

"I doubt you are," Cooper argued, hoping to soothe her agitated friend. "What kind of questions did they ask you?"

"All kinds of stuff. How I felt about the elderly. Did I take any prescription drugs? Where was I Friday night last week?" She sighed. "Praise Jesus, I was at church. We had choir practice and then a cold chicken dinner. I picked Darik up from a friend's house, so a whole bunch of people were able to tell them I wasn't lyin'."

"They asked all of us the same questions," Penny added as she pushed a cart of fresh lunch trays to the middle of the room. "Unfortunately for me, I didn't have much of an alibi. I ate a bowlful of popcorn in front of an Audrey Hepburn movie Friday night and then went to bed."

"Where's Madge this morning?" Bryant inquired, looking around the kitchen.

Penny handed him a rectangular steel tray filled with sandwiches and red apples. "She's under the weather. I think having to go to the police station really upset her. I'm going to drop by her place when I'm done here. The poor thing. It's bad enough that her daughter's in trouble again. It's just too much for her to handle at once."

"Her daughter?" Quinton gathered several sandwiches into his hands. "The one living in London?"

Nodding, Penny looked aggrieved. "She was fired from the play she was in. Apparently, she went onstage after taking some kind of drug, botched all her lines, and was booed by the audience. Madge is just devastated, so the timing of all this . . ." She gestured around the kitchen. "Well, it's been a very rough week for her."

"We'll be certain to add her, and all of you, to our prayers," Savannah said from nearby, where she and Leo had been chatting quietly in a corner.

"I think we're ready, people!" Anita clapped her hands with forced enthusiasm. "Let's load our cars! I'm gonna take route twelve and Eugene has offered to be my navigator. It's the longest route and I drive fast! Now I know we're short-handed today and some of us are making two trips, so let's get rolling."

"Do you want us each to drive our own routes to save time?" Nathan asked her. He had been packing alongside Erik throughout the morning. Neither man had spoken half a dozen words to each other or anyone else, but at least Erik wore a secretive smile and seemed to be lost in happy thoughts whereas Nathan looked tired and cross.

His question seemed to make Anita anxious. "No, no. You go on with Erik, Nathan. We're not changing our partner routine now. Trish, will you help Penny out? Most of y'all are gonna have to take two short routes since we don't have Madge. That all right?"

The volunteers nodded and quickly loaded their carts. Nathan didn't even glance in Cooper's direction as he slipped on his navy blue barn coat and headed out into the brisk air.

"Care to tag along with me today?" Warren asked Cooper with a shy smile. He had a few crumbs clinging to his strawberry-blond beard, undoubtedly from the coffee cake laid out in the lobby.

Cooper pointed at her own chin. "I'll need to vacuum you off first."

"Oh, sorry!" Warren blushed. "I can't help it. I love the food they give us every week. Don't tell anyone, but that's why I volunteer." He whispered, "I don't want to help anyone-I just want free cake and cookies."

Cooper felt Nathan's eyes on her. "Sounds like you were deprived as a kid," she teased Warren as they loaded a wheeled cart with coolers. "My mama must've baked a million cookies while I was growing up but I'm still not tired of eating them. The thing about living in the country is that it's easy to exercise. If you walk to the mailbox, you've done a quarter mile just like that."

Warren nodded. "You've got that right. Seems my ch.o.r.e list is never-ending. Still, when I was a kid, Grandma Helen baked a mean pie and we had fresh eggs for breakfast every morning, so don't start crying for my sad childhood yet." He pushed open the door to the outside. "Ladies first. Especially beautiful ones."

"Thank you." Cooper smiled, hoping Nathan had overheard the compliment.

Together, they loaded coolers and Sunday food boxes into Warren's spotless Corolla. Their route consisted of ten stops, in which all of the clients recognized and welcomed Warren warmly. He spoke with a gentle politeness that seemed to put them all at ease, but he was efficient also. He put their meals away, gave them instructions regarding the contents of their Sunday food box, and then, if they had any, inquired about their pets. He never left a home without ensuring that the dog or cat in residence had fresh water and a bowlful of food.

When one owner, a Mrs. Tilden, began to weep because she had run out of dog food, Warren a.s.sured her that he had brought supplies along with him.