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Katherine straightened her back and hunched her shoulders to stretch the cramped muscles. She was sitting on the newspaper- lined living room floor of her garage apartment. For the past half-hour she had been painting a chest of drawers for Allison's room. The evening before she had applied the final coat of glossy blue to the wood surface and was now adding a contrasting yellow stripe. The yellow paint had spotted the newspaper and a few drops had landed on Katherine's bare legs.
Dipping the fine brush into the paint can, she sighed with contentment. Everything had turned out well for her and Allison. Under any circumstances, traveling halfway across the country by oneself with a newborn baby in tow would be an intimidating project. Katherine had left Denver under the grimmest of circumstances, yet the trip had gone smoothly. Allison was an angel of a baby, sleeping ev- ery minute that Katherine wasn't changing or feeding her.
Katherine never remembered living in Van Buren, Texas, but her family had lived in the small town before her father's insurance company had offered him a better job in Denver.
Katherine remem- bered her mother reminiscing about east Texas and its verdant landscape and deep woods. The pictures she painted of it belied the stereotypical depictions of Texas that portrayed vast barren landscapes with tumbleweeds being tossed about by incessant winds. Katherine, after driving through miles of country like that in west Texas, was surprised to find that Van Buren was just as her mother had described it – a peaceful, quaint college town nestled in the piny woods.
Glancing out her wide windows now, Katherine delighted in the sight of the six pecan trees that grew in the yard separating her garage apartment from Happy Cooper's house.
Her new landlady had proved to be a godsend. Katherine had reached Van Buren just as the college's spring term was ending and was lucky enough to secure the apartment which for the past two years had been shared by two Van Buren College co- eds. The apartment, having two bedrooms, a living room, kitchen, and bath, was spacious.
Katherine lay her paintbrush aside and walked on silent bare feet into the room she had designated as Allison's, though they both slept in it. Leaning over the repainted crib she had found in a second-hand store, she looked at her niece. The infant's rapid growth was amazing. In the two months they had been in Van Buren, she had gained weight and filled out to become a plump, happy baby despite her inauspicious birth.
Katherine smiled at Allison and scooted a stuffed bunny from under a chubby hand before settling a light blanket over her.
Katherine enjoyed her days off when she could be alone with the baby. She had miraculously secured a job in the public relations office of the college, but was concerned about Allison's care during the day. Much to her surprise, Happy had timidly offered to keep the baby. When Happy made the unexpected suggestion, Katherine had stared at her, smiled, laughed, then to her own amazement and Happy's alarm, began to cry.
What would she have done without Happy, who was a frustrated grandmother who rarely got to see her grandchildren? She had two grown daughters who lived with their families on each coast, and a son who lived and worked in Louisiana. He was still single, and Happy mourned his marital status at least once a day. Having been married for forty- three years before being widowed, Happy couldn't imagine anyone voluntarily living alone.
Yes, everything was going well. Katherine's job was surely more interesting than what she had been doing in Denver. Her boss sometimes struck her as odd, for he had the annoying habits of staring, perspiring, and licking his lips. But overlooking his peculiarities, she liked her work.
Scratching her nose absentmindedly, she unknowingly smeared yellow paint across it. Then softly humming to herself, she rose from the floor to answer a knock at the door. It wouldn't be Happy. She usually didn't take the time or effort to knock.
Katherine tugged on the bottom of the short, ragged cutoffs she was wearing, hoping that whoever was at the door wouldn't be offended by her appearance.
"Yes?" she said, opening the door.
Had she been about to say anything else, it would have been impossible. The man who filled the doorway was the most spectacular-looking man she had ever seen. If his size weren't enough to distinguish him, certainly the raven black hair and startling blue eyes would have been.
He gave Katherine the same intent inspection she was giving him, and his sensual mouth curved into an amused grin when he took in her disheveled state. Knowing she was going to be working at home all day, she hadn't bothered to do anything more with her honey-colored hair than sweep it up into a careless knot on the top of her head and secure it with pins haphazardly stuck in at varying angles. Tendrils, bleached by the sun, brushed against her cheeks and clung damply to her neck.
Her skin was flushed with color from exertion and the humid warmth of the late summer morning. The extremely short and faded cutoffs were topped by an equally ragged chambray shirt whose sleeves had been cut out long ago either by Katherine or Mary. She had tied the shirttail in a knot under her breasts. It was a good shirt to paint in, but was far from being appropriate attire for greeting guests.
Katherine's first impulse was to slam the door and protect herself from further embarrassment, but the man stared straight into her wide, green eyes and said with no inflection, "I'm Jason Manning."
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