along the rubber rim of the right wheel.
“Ah! So there you are!” Bea exclaimed. She reached down to scoop the cat onto her lap. Buttercup responded by arching her back. “Yes,” Bea said a few moments later, still absently stroking a silky neck. “I must be extremely watchful.”
* * *
THE MERCEDES DIDN’T SEEM nearly as alien as it had on her previous ride. Still, Elise could not relax. She glanced at Robert Fairmont as he competently negotiated the Tyler streets. He didn’t look in the least disturbed, but she was. Bea’s rudeness had been unforgivable. She tried to apologize.
“I’m sorry that Bea... She didn’t really mean...” Elise took a breath and started over. “Bea can be extremely difficult at times.”
Robert glanced at her. “There’s no need to apologize.”
Elise shook her head. “No, I believe there is. She says things, does things. I understand because I live with her. But she forgets that other people don’t understand.”
“Has she been in a wheelchair long?”
“Most of her life.”
Robert was silent. Elise knew that her answer had abolished another excuse. A person unused to physical impairment could be forgiven for lashing out. Bea didn’t have that defense.
Elise’s hands tightened in her lap. “I can’t blame her, though. If it were me...”
How many times over the years had she wished that it had been her instead of Bea who had fallen on the steps? Even now she wished that she could trade places with her. Of course, she doubted that Bea would have cared for her in quite the same way. She’d probably be a resident of Worthington House now, possibly even placed in the skilled-care facility. She’d be one of the people she brought books to on a weekly basis. There would be no library as she knew it....
A light touch brought Elise from her reverie. She jumped, blinking.
Robert smiled. “You were a thousand miles away,” he said, replacing his hand on the steering wheel.
Elise hadn’t meant to woolgather. She resumed her apology. “I just wanted you to know that it wasn’t anything personal. Bea’s just...like that.” Yet Elise was afraid that it was very much personal. Bea disliked certain people more than others. Her reasoning was a mystery.
“It didn’t bother me,” he said firmly.
Elise sighed.
Soon the library came into view. Several cars were parked out front. Robert maneuvered the Mercedes into a slot next to a pickup. When they got out, instead of immediately coming to join Elise on the sidewalk, Robert opened the back door of the car and leaned inside to extract a long tube from the back seat. Elise knew what it contained: the plans for the new library.
He closed the door and walked up to her. Jiggling the tube, he said, “If you’re not up to this, say so. And any time you get tired, say so as well.”
“I’m perfectly—”
“—All right. I know. But it sounds as if this town tried to kill you with kindness when you were supposed to be resting. You’re little better off now than you were earlier. Except maybe you’ve eaten. You have eaten, haven’t you?”
Elise nodded as she fell into step at his side. She was very much aware of him. Aware of how handsome he was, of the lean vitality of his body, of the power of his personality. It felt good to be walking next to him; it felt good that he seemed to care about her well-being.
“I forgot to ask,” he said as they started up the library’s front steps. “Did you hear anything more about the leak?”
“Joe said the plumber would come right away. Hopefully, he’s been and gone. That way Joe can finish. Otherwise, it could take weeks.”
“And you need the room.”
“We always need the room.”
Pauline was the first to see them. She looked up from a stack of returned books and quickly came to take Elise’s hand. “Are you sure you should be doing this?” she asked. “I know what you said, but this has been such a hard week...for everyone, but for you in particular.” She turned to Robert. “Elise is one of our town treasures. We don’t quite know how we’d get along without her. The library would collapse—that’s a fact!”
“Of course I’m sure,” Elise answered brusquely. Pauline made her sound like a monument, like something pigeons sat on! Which wasn’t a description she wanted Robert Fairmont to remember when he...if he!...ever thought of her. “How is Joe getting along?” she asked, to deflect any further unfortunate comments. “Have you checked recently?”
Pauline shook her head as Delia rushed over.
“Oh, Elise!” It was obvious Delia had found another cause for excitement. “We were all so worried, even after Pauline called you. We thought about calling Dr. Baron, but we decided not to.”
Jeffrey Baron was the only grandson of Judson Ingalls, the most prominent man in Tyler, and the great-grandson of Alberta Ingalls, for whom the library was named. He also happened to be Elise’s doctor.
“Thank heaven for that, at least,” Elise murmured. She indicated Robert. “Would one of you please show Professor Fairmont to my office? I think I should check with Joe myself. I—I won’t be long.” The assurance had been directed to Robert, but she didn’t look at him.
She felt ridiculous as she hurried off toward the Biography Room. He knew what she was doing, of course. Running away. But she wasn’t accustomed to such overpowering attention. Even warned to expect it, she found it hard to take. She had merely come close to passing out, for heaven’s sake. She hadn’t actually done it. Neither had she expired! Yet from the way everyone behaved, it was as if they expected her to correct that particular oversight at any given moment!
She moved briskly into the work area, not pausing even when she came upon the soft canvas tarps that had been spread over much of the floor and draped over the built-in bookcases along the walls. The hole in the ceiling was larger than ever, but the edges were cut smooth in preparation for repair.
As was his habit, Joe sang snatches of an opera as he worked, but he stopped the instant he saw Elise. From the look of concern that instantly clouded his handsome features, Elise knew he was about to question her precipitate decision to return to work, so she quickly deflected him by saying, “I take it the plumber has already been here?” She held her shoulders straight, her chin high. She wanted to look her usual efficient self. She nodded to Lars, who had pulled off his hat and now held it rather self-consciously in front of his gangly, adolescent body.
Joe blinked and swallowed the words he had been about to say. “Uh—yes. He, uh...he says everything is fine as far as he can tell. It was a leak along the same pipe, at another joint. He replaced that bit and checked the fittings as far as he could. He didn’t see any other problems, but he says he can’t guarantee a thing. The system’s so old.”
The plumber had said almost those exact words to Elise when she’d called to thank him for coming out to fix the first leak. Yet she hadn’t expected trouble again so quickly. She moved closer to the hole and peered up, then backed away. “Do you think you’ll be finished today?” she asked.
“Sure thing,” Joe said. “Except for the paint. I’ll stop by tomorrow and take care of that.”
Elise frowned. “Don’t you normally take Saturdays off? I’m sure I remember Susannah saying that you and she and Gina were going to do something special.”
He grinned. “This won’t take half an hour. Then it will be done and you won’t have to worry anymore.”
Confronted with Joe’s noble effort to ease her way, Elise could not show misgivings. She smiled brightly, just as he wanted her to. But as she left the room to return to her office, her cheerful smile crumbled. It would take a great deal more than