Finding Promise (The Promise Series, A Small Town Romance) (5 page)

Seeing Caroline’s eyes widen at the mention of drugs, Faith
laughed. “Bess is a pharmacist and is married to a pharmacist too. They own the
local chemist down the road. Rachel hates all the vitamins that Bess makes her
take. They’re not talking about real drugs.”

“Speak for yourself. If it’s a tablet, it qualifies as a drug
in my book. You actually pay money for those things and like taking them.” said
a still grumbling Rachel and they all burst out laughing.

Caroline saw the bickering for what it was…friendship. “It’s
okay. Really. I suppose that curiosity in a small town is to be expected.
Rachel is right. If I were in your shoes, I’d also be curious about why I’ve
bought a house here so soon.”

“Honey, you have no idea! You’re not a local until we all
know your deep, dark secrets. But you’re also right about us being a curious
lot.” Bess demurely sipped her wine. “But where are our manners? Faith, honey,
why don’t you get us all a round of drinks and then Caroline can tell us her
story?” Bess, being the older one, was a mother-hen disguised as the
self-declared matriarch of the group.

Nervous, a glass of wine in hand, Caroline was anxious while
the three women looked expectantly at her. She didn’t think that the ladies she
was with would be satisfied with the information she gave Suzy, the real estate
agent. Even to her ears, it sounded like a standard line fed to people to keep
them from poking around. If the stereotype about small towns was true and she
intended to live here, the truth will come out eventually. She liked Faith and
if her friends were anything like her, she wouldn’t mind getting to know them
better. So, it was better to tell them some part of the truth than allow rumors
to spread. In her family’s circle of friends she’d seen that the right amount
of information quenched rumors better than not saying anything at all. Mystery
led to intrigue and over-active imaginations, which in turn, fueled the gossip
mill.  

“It’s such a lovely evening and I really want to celebrate
buying the house. I don’t really want to spoil it with a long, depressing story.
So here’s the deal, I’ll give you guys the summarized version and we’ll get to
the detail later when we know each other better. That okay?” Seeing nods around
the table, the ladies sitting attentively, she gave a brief synopsis of what
her life was like in New York, her family, her husband and finally, how she got
into her car and had been traveling for the past month. She did not inform them
of the details of her relationships with her husband and family. She’d just
told them that it was an unhappy marriage and her family wasn’t as supportive
as she would have liked.

Caroline had barely gasped for air as she rattled off her
tale, wanting to get it out of the way and the night along. “Now that you all
have the gist of it, I’d appreciate it if you wouldn’t share all of that yet
with the rest of the local crowd. I want a chance to settle in and I’m
basically telling everyone that I’m recently widowed, from New York and wanting
a fresh start in a quiet place.”

After a stunned silence and more nods around the table.
Faith reached out her hand and clasped Caroline’s. “I admire your courage. I
can’t imagine leaving everything behind like that and just starting over at the
spur of a moment. I think you’re very brave.”

“I don’t know if bravery played any role in it. It was more
that I felt stuck and had to get out.” Caroline was unused to compliments and
didn’t know how to react.

“Of course it is bravery. Bess moved here from another,
bigger town, so she can relate to what you’re saying to a certain degree. Even
then, she had Ronald with her and they planned for ages before they moved down.
Faith and I have never lived anywhere other than in Promise. The longest I’ve
been away from Promise was when I was at college and then it was only three
months at a time.” Rachel interjected. She was a woman with strong opinions but
Caroline observed that she liked playing devil’s advocate. 

“No big adventures for us, but then again, we’re happy
here.” Faith confirmed, nodding at Rachel.

“I think that what Twiddle-Dee and Twiddle-Dum are
excluding, although I agree that they love it here, is that they couldn’t be
away from each other for too long.”

“Faith wishes.” Rachel emphasized ‘Faith’.

“Now back to you, honey,” Bess looked first pointedly at
Faith and Rachel and then at Caroline. “We’ll keep your secrets until you tell
us you’re ready. We can respect that what you’re going through is hard. We’ll
also help keep the nosy vultures at bay and give them just enough to go on with
for now. Does that help you?”

“Thank you, yes.” Caroline was relieved.

“Now, we’ve been maudlin enough for one night. I came here
for a girl’s night out. Let’s go dance.” Bess ushered them all from the dance
floor.

Touched by this honest acceptance, Caroline felt her eyes moisten.
They didn’t push her. She had made a request, made a stand and they just
accepted it. That was a new experience for her. Blinking back the threatening
tears, she got up. “Well, you guys need to show me how to dance something other
than a waltz. Let’s go.”

Luke watched his sister leave the dance floor with her
friends. Looks like she made a new one, he thought, spotting the pretty woman
he’d met that morning. Well, well, isn’t that convenient. It was another reason
to pop by the table, for once glad his sister was the friendly sort. She must
be a tourist Faith picked up at the inn. Faith was a friendly girl and picked
up all kinds of strays. They seemed to be magnetically drawn to his sister. He
didn’t mind when they looked like nice women like the one she had with her
tonight. He wished she’d be less friendly with men though, eyeing Brady
Forester as he approached their table.

Brady and he are old enemies. Firstly, Brady had been trying
to get into his sister’s pants for as long as he could remember. He believed
that his sister could do a lot better than him. And secondly, Luke felt that
Brady lacked professional integrity and that usually applied to a man’s
personal life as well. As a fellow builder, Luke didn’t like what the quality
of work that Brady does was doing to the reputation of local builders. He had
already warned Brady off but it looked like that slime ball had ignored him and
was still trying to get his hooks into his little sister. Not gonna happen.
Putting his beer down on the bar counter, he told his friend, Nate, “I’ll be
right back. I want to say hi to Faith.”

Nate Black was no fool. He had also seen Brady snaking his
way to the table of laughing women. Brady was now chatting to Faith and her new
friend. He agreed with Luke that the fool wasn’t good enough for Faith. He felt
as protective of her as Luke felt, seeing her as a little sister. He liked that
whole bunch of girls, though Rachel was another matter altogether. She was
foul-tempered, irritating and got under his skin like she had no business
doing. Fortunately, she irritated him more than she attracted him.

“Just don’t get into a fight. I like it here and want to be
able to come back.” He warned Luke.

As Luke neared the table, he saw his sister’s flap at him,
trying to tell him something. What’s that about? After spending nearly his
whole life with her, did she still not get that he did not get the ‘eye-speak’
thing women were so fond of?

“Oh, good! Here comes Luke.” Faith waved him over. “He’s
just in time to set up that meeting to discuss the renovations you want done,
Caroline.” Faith looked pointedly at both Luke and Caroline, her eyelashes
battering up and down so rapidly, Caroline thought she’d caught something in
her eye. Surprised but sensing something underfoot, Caroline only nodded whilst
Faith continued, “Thanks Brady, it was really sweet of you to offer to help out
with the renovations but Caroline has already come to an agreement with Luke.”

“Word travels fast then and Luke moves quickly. I only found
out that Caroline made an offer on the old Whittlesea place this afternoon. I
guess that’s small towns for you.” Brady made his scepticism clear. “Well, if
you change your mind, Caroline, here are my contact details. My company’s been
in the building business for the last few decades and has a fine track record.”
He handed Caroline his business card. 

“Faith, you’re looking mighty fine tonight.” Brady turned to
Faith, giving her a head to toe inspection that made her skin crawl. “It’s been
a while since we’ve danced together. It seems a pity that someone with your
natural grace is sitting down. Would you honor me with a dance?” Trying for a
debonair look and failing miserably, Brady held out his hand to Faith. He was
smooth, too smooth. Something about him gave Caroline the creeps. From his
slicked back brown hair to his out of place formal pants, shirt and tie.

Fortunately, Faith was interrupted before she could answer.
She often found saying no difficult.  “Faith, give your big brother a
hug!” All Caroline saw was broad shoulders and a gloriously, tight ass in jeans
as a man who must’ve been at least six foot swept Faith into his arms. “Thanks
for the offer to dance with my sister, Brady, but as you can see, we’re having
a family reunion.” His voice was edged with steel, his posture tense.

Watching Brady walk off without so much as a farewell, Faith
hit her brother in the stomach.

“Hey, what was that for? I saved you from that slime ball!”

“I could’ve saved myself, you big oaf.” Faith hit him again.

“Faith, honey, stop hitting that fine man that’s your
brother. Although, I wouldn’t mind hitting him in more strategic places, you’re
damaging him, dear.” Bess said winking playfully at Luke, making them all
laugh. Everyone knew that Bess and her husband, Ronald were crazy about each
other.

“I, for one, don’t mind Luke chasing Brady off,” Bess
continued. “When I heard him say what a fine record his company has, I nearly
fell off my chair. Caroline, Faith was right to interfere. That man swindled
that dear old Mr Whittlesea while he lay on his deathbed. I know this for a
fact, as Anna, the nurse that was looking after Mr Whittlesea, told me that the
poor man paid Brady good money to set the place to rights for his kids to
inherit. Well, you’ve seen the current state of the place and Mr Whittlesea not
gone yet a year. I rest my case. I can’t stand it when people take advantage of
the frail and old.” Bess’s face had turned as red as her hair at this point.

“Calm down, Bess. A woman with your crimson-haired beauty
shouldn’t get upset. Nature intended that for passionate embraces not
passionate fury. Why don’t you save up that fire for Ronald later tonight?”
Luke’s flirtatious teasing made Bess blush furiously, turning her skin an even
deeper shade of red and making the others laugh.

“Luke, Caroline.” Faith looked at her brother and new
friend. “I’m sorry I jumped in and said Luke would be doing the work on the
house. I don’t know what you must think of me, Caroline. I panicked thinking
that you’d agree to meet with Brady. You’d have ended up with him cheating you
out of your money. Bess’s example isn’t the only one I’ve heard and Brady
generally moves quickly to get work from out-of-towner’s who don’t know what we
do about him. He’s so smooth; you wouldn’t have seen it coming. Luke’s been
called to fix up Brady’s blotches a few times now. Other times, the
out-of-towners have been so upset with Brady that they refuse to even consider
another local builder and either sell up or get someone from another town.”

“Faith’s right. Brady’s bad news,” Rachel agreed. “Luke may
be a local boy,” She placed emphasis on the word, boy, to irritate him and saw
that it wasn’t getting the result she wanted so she gave up on that tactic.
“But his work is great. And other than Brady, his your only other option.”

“Thanks for that vote of confidence, Rachel,” Luke’s sarcasm
was softened with a smile indicating that he was used to the banter.

“Even if I say so myself, my big brother is the best,” Faith
patted the arm Luke draped casually over her shoulder, “even if he chases all
the boys away”.

“Brother’s privilege.” Luke murmured turning his gaze to
Caroline. When he came up to his sister and got a good look at her, he felt
sucker-punched. She was a looker. When he met her the day before, he’d just
glanced at her, his sense of duty making him stop to offer a seemingly lost
traveler some assistance yet hoping he could get on his way to a job site. He
should have taken a closer look, he regretted, she was the type of woman a mine
looked at more than once. She had a mighty fine face and was built just the way
he liked it. Her lips looked like cherries waiting to be bitten and the top
hugged her slender curves in the right way. She had long, toned arms. He’d always
had a weakness for arms. But it was her eyes that got him, big brown eyes that
slanted upwards with long, dark eyelashes.

Sitting there, she had that natural grace that spoke of
class, though the fragility he saw in her eyes belied the poise. Strangely, he
felt an instantaneous need to put his arms around her and protect her. Instead,
he sat down next to his sister and put his arm around her squeezing until she
squeaked. Intrigued by Faith’s new friend, he took the initiative, “Hi,
Caroline? Luke Edwards. I’m pleased to meet you. I didn’t get an opportunity to
properly introduce myself yesterday outside the Whittlesea place, my apologies
ma’am. My only excuse is that I was in a hurry to get to a site. And now I’ve
been remiss again in introducing myself,” he ruffled his sister’s hair, “as I
was too busy protecting my sister from slime balls she’s too friendly to tell
off.” His indulgent smile belied the criticism.