eyes met his in one quick glance, then she went sashaying down his walk as if she belonged there in her pencil-slim dress, fancy high heels and that ridiculous hat.
Joshua turned his back on them all and went inside to switch on the oven. He knew that—he did! It had simply slipped his mind…with so much else going on.
Discomfited by his own forgetfulness in front of his new doctor, he stomped back outside, slammed the door closed so hard the window creaked, and snapped the dead bolt home with his key.
“I love Sundays,” Nicole sang out as soon as he was in the car. “It’s so much fun to gather together and hear Bible stories. I always imagine what it must have been like in those olden days. I love it.”
“Me, too.”
Agreement with Dr. Brandt’s sentiments echoed through his car twice more. What was he raising—parrots?
Joshua kept his mouth clamped shut and concentrated on getting them all to church without disaster. Once there, he chose a parking spot as far from the door as possible in hopes that the wind would take care of the hat problem for him. Unfortunately, the day was totally calm and the hats remained firmly attached to his daughters’ heads.
The girls raced across the lot as fast as they could manage, calling to their friends as they went.
“I don’t think it’s fitting to take those, er, creations, into the house of God,” he muttered, staring up at the gigantic cross that sat atop the church.
“Why on earth not? They worked so hard making them. You should be proud.” Nicole frowned at him fiercely. “Every single time those girls go out of their way to make something special like this, you should be bursting your buttons with pride.”
“Their mother would kill me.”
Dr. Brandt’s eyes grew cool, frosty. The tension between them grew until he could feel the ice crackling.
“I doubt that very much. I think she’d be very proud. But even if it were true, their mother isn’t here. They are. And so are you. They need to know you love them, no matter what.”
What had caused such anger? he wondered. It came from nowhere. One minute she was smiling like a movie star, the next growling at him as fiercely protective as a mother cub.
“I do love them.” Why was he defending himself?
“Have you told them that lately?” She glared.
Joshua stalked away, a spurt of anger burning inside. What right had she to judge? She didn’t have three kids dependent on her. She was free as a bird.
“You can run, but you can’t hide.” The whisper came from behind his left shoulder.
“I’m not running. I just thought I might sneak into the back pew before anybody figured out the three in those ridiculous getups are my daughters.”
Her hand on his arm prevented him from entering the sanctuary. He looked from it to her eyes, and flinched at the challenge he saw there.
“‘Man looks on the outward appearance,’” she whispered. “‘But God looks on the heart.’ And I can tell you right now, Dr. Darling, that those three girls with their funny hats have the purest little hearts in this entire building.”
She stepped past him, walked through the doorway and disappeared inside.
Joshua grimaced at her invisible back. Dr. Nicole Brandt would make a good surgeon. She cut right to the quick without messing about.
The problem was, her condemnation burned all the way to his soul.
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