Nursing the Soldier's Heart

“Yes. My dad’s Adam Bailey, the director here at The Village of Hope.”

An expression Kirsten couldn’t define crossed Brady’s face. “Ian said I should meet the director of The Village. Will you introduce me?”

Kirsten didn’t see how she could refuse Brady’s request. “Sure. Come with me, and you can meet him before we go to lunch.”

“Thanks.” Brady turned back to Lovie. “Good to meet you. I’ll be seeing you around.”

“Welcome to The Village. You take care of that grandmother of yours. Grandmothers are important people.” Lovie patted her silver hair.

“You can count on it.” Brady fell into step beside Kirsten. “Is this lunch a special occasion?”

“Not really. We do this a few times a month.” What would her father think when she showed up with a guy sporting a dozen tattoos? Probably nothing as long as his daughter didn’t want to date the man. Her dad was used to dealing with people who flaunted tattoos, nose rings and the like. He’d learned not to judge people by their outward appearances except when it came to her dating choices. Then it was a completely different story.

“Must be nice to be close to your parents.”

“Parent.” Kirsten stopped in front of a door beside a brass plate engraved with Adam Bailey’s name. Before she opened the door, she turned and looked at him. “My mother passed away not quite a year ago.”

“I’m sorry. I didn’t know.” He dropped his gaze. “I shouldn’t have assumed.”

“That’s okay.” His statement about being close to parents was odd considering he hadn’t cared enough about his grandmother to visit her in years. Cora seemed to dote on him even though she had mentioned parting with Brady on a bad note. Kirsten knew she should be less judgmental, but the bad thoughts about Brady didn’t subside. Although she’d lost her mother, she had no idea what it would feel like to lose a mother as a young child and then be abandoned by a father, too.

“How’s your dad doing?”

Brady’s question surprised Kirsten. Maybe the guy did care about other people. He was hard to figure out. One minute he seemed self-absorbed, the next he was asking about her dad. She shouldn’t be afraid to get to know him, but she sensed danger lurking around him. Surely she was overreacting. “I guess as well as can be expected. He doesn’t like to talk about it, and I’m not sure whether that’s good or bad.”

Brady shrugged. “I’m sure he’s glad you’re around to help him through this.”

Another surprising statement. “Yeah, but being nearby gives him too much time to think of ways to run my life.”

“That’s why you’re working here?”

“No. That was my choice, but he wasn’t happy when I decided to get my own place.” Kirsten put her hand on the doorknob. “Do you suppose his ears are burning since we’ve been standing out here talking about him?”

Brady gave her a wry smile. “He’s probably wondering what’s keeping you.”

Kirsten glanced at her watch and opened the door. “No. Right on time.”

“Is your dad a stickler for being on time?”

“Absolutely, but he’s had to cut other people some slack because car trouble has made him late several times in the past few months.” Kirsten stepped into her dad’s office and spied him standing next to the printer as it spewed forth papers. “Hey, Dad. You ready for lunch?”

Adam looked to the clock on the wall. “Ready.”

Kirsten gave her dad a hug. “Dad, I want you to meet Brady Hewitt.”

An expression of concern flashed across her dad’s features as he extended his hand. “Nice to meet you, Brady.”

Her dad’s expression made Kirsten wonder whether he was worried that Brady was her new love interest. She’d better put her dad’s mind at ease. “Brady is Cora Barton’s grandson. You remember Cora, right?”

Adam nodded as the tension in his shoulders appeared to ease. “Your grandmother is a lovely lady. We enjoy having her here at The Village. I understand she’s making a good recovery from her broken hip.”

“It seems so. I need to give you one of these for your records.” Brady handed an envelope to Adam. “This is a copy of the medical power of attorney I have for my grandmother.”

Adam took the envelope. “She’s smart to have you do this. As our residents age, it’s good to have someone to help them with their medical decisions. I’ll file this away right now.”

Kirsten gave Brady a tentative smile while her father disappeared into a smaller room off his office. Now what? She didn’t want to invite Brady to lunch. His presence would remind her of her ill-fated college romance—the one her father had discouraged, and the one she should’ve known was a wrongheaded choice. Her father had been right about the guy who eventually broke her heart. She’d assumed her father was judging her former boyfriend on his tattoos, earring and long hair, but she realized later that wasn’t the case. Her father had seen through the guy’s charming facade while she’d been completely oblivious to his deceptions.

Her father had recognized bad character when she hadn’t. She’d hated knowing her dad had been right, and she’d been so wrong. Her broken heart had led her to the mission field. The situation had shown her that God could use any circumstance for His purpose. But even after that experience, she had a hard time always seeing God’s hand in unfortunate events—like her mother’s death or the lost opportunity to adopt three little children. What good had come from that?

“Thanks for the introduction.” Brady turned toward the door. “I’ll probably see you later when you come on duty.”

“Sure.” Kirsten breathed an inward sigh of relief as Brady opened the door.

“Brady.” Adam stepped back into the room. “Kirsten and I are about to go to lunch. We’d like you to join us.”

Speak for yourself, Dad. Kirsten bit back the words. She looked at Brady to gauge his reaction to the invitation.

Brady smiled, then looked at her as if he was seeking her approval. “Sure. Thanks for inviting me.”

Brady’s expression didn’t go along with his brash attitude. Maybe she’d imagined the look. She didn’t want him to go to lunch with them. With her dad there, she wouldn’t be able to tell Brady anything about Cora. So why did he want to go? Shouldn’t he be having lunch with Cora?

Kirsten tried not to analyze the situation further as she followed her dad and Brady to her dad’s car. She needed to develop a better attitude. Today’s lunch with her dad and Brady would test her ability to reach that goal.

* * *

The white iridescent vase full of pink roses and white calla lilies shimmered like a neon sign as it sat on the counter at the nurses’ station. The bouquet seemed to whisper, I’m really a nice guy. You just need to get to know me. Kirsten tried to purge the imagined message from her thoughts.

“I’d say Brady’s trying to impress you.” Jen grinned.

“He’s just thanking me for introducing him to my dad.” Kirsten wondered whether Brady had asked her dad about her favorite flowers. Otherwise, how would he have known?

Jen gave Kirsten a dubious look. “There’s more to those flowers than a thank-you.”

Kirsten shook her head. “You have no idea what happened yesterday.”

“I’m all ears. Give me the scoop.” Jen settled back in her chair.

“When I introduced Brady to my dad, he invited the guy to lunch.” Kirsten shrugged and held up her hands in a gesture of helplessness. “That’s the last thing I wanted, but it gets worse.”

“How does worse translate to this beautiful bouquet?” Jen gestured toward the flowers.

“First, we were talking about the wedding. Then Brady says he needs to get a suit, so Dad invites him over to check out one of his suits.”

“So your dad lent the guy a suit. What’s so bad about that?”

“Nothing if it had stopped there.” Kirsten released a loud sigh. “When I stopped by Dad’s office before I came to work, he informed me that Brady is going to rent a room from him—not just any room, but my old room.”

“You didn’t want it, so what’s the problem?”