Brokenhearted Beauty(Divine Creek Ranch 19)(91)
“He has no idea?”
“None. We didn’t share details from our lives. All I know about him was that he drove a customized pickup towing a fancy new fifth wheel. He sang to me. Sometimes I can still hear his gorgeous voice. I only knew him for one night but yeah, I’d love to see him again. He was sweet to me.”
“Maybe he’ll come through town someday and your paths will cross again.”
Her sister shrugged, obviously not holding out hope. “Meanwhile, life goes on.”
Life did go on. Leah had learned that for herself. Leaving her sister to finish her work, Leah hoped that Presley Ann would find the happiness that had so far eluded her.
Chapter Eighteen
“Gentlemen, you have a nice place here,” Doug Woodworth said Saturday night as he stood at the windows in the dining room, looking out at the yard that was shaded by old oak trees and down to the river beyond.
James nodded as he and Vincent joined Leah’s father at the windows while Leah and Presley Ann conversed quietly in the living room. They’d arranged for Leah’s china cabinets to be moved from her father’s storage building to their home earlier in the week. The actual moving process would take several more days but they’d talked her into letting them bring all the boxes containing her crystal and other collections right away. At first she’d resisted, saying that unpacking such items should come last, not first. But they’d prevailed over her practical nature and sweet-talked her into it. Then they’d surprised her by bringing her a few boxes they’d pulled down from the attic. She’d teared up when she’d opened the boxes and discovered that they contained James’s and Vincent’s mother’s smaller collection of crystal, which they welcomed her to add to her own. With help from Presley Ann, she’d unpacked, polished, and displayed each piece while they’d taken care of the evening’s preparations and now pink and blue Bubble Wrap littered the floor around the china cabinets.
The way Leah’s face glowed told him everything he needed to know. Practical, regimented, and organized she might be, and he loved that about her, but there was a side to her that loved letting someone else be in charge.
“I haven’t seen her that happy in a long time,” Doug said softly. James looked over and realized that Doug was also watching Leah. “Thank you for inviting us to your home for dinner. You saved me the argument with Presley Ann over who was paying for supper tonight. This is a beautiful home. I like seeing that you can take care of Leah,” he added, looking overhead at the exposed beams and the warm red-gold of the log walls.
“Thank you. It was built by our parents.” After taking a sip from his beer, Vincent asked, “Presley Ann doing all right above her uncle’s shop?”
“Surprisingly, yes. I doubted she’d have enough space but she’s made it into quite a cozy, comfortable home.”
With a nod, James said, “Leah told us the same thing after she went to visit her last evening.” He grinned, remembering that Leah had absconded with a full container of Bluebell Blackberry Cobbler ice cream from their freezer and said she was going for a movie night with her sister. She’d had their blessing, even though it meant an evening without her, because they knew it was part of her effort at forming a better relationship with the sister she’d never really been close to.
Blinking rapidly, Doug turned back to the window. “It does my heart good to see them talking and laughing together. Their relationship was always so oppositional while growing up and I gave up on it getting better when they became adults. The burden for that falls mostly on my shoulders, I’m afraid.”
“How so?” Vincent asked, as they went out the back door and onto the covered porch. The fans were running on high, keeping the humid warm air bearable and the mosquitos at bay.
After they were settled in the patio furniture around the empty fire pit, Doug finally said, “When Leah came along, she was such a quiet little thing and always so eager to please. She showed signs early on of the kind of person she’d be. Neat, organized, and observant. I identified with most of those qualities and encouraged them, especially when she came up to the first store I owned with her mother. I let her have the run of the place so she grew up watching me work. I was so proud of her when she applied for her first job at that store, not expecting to just be hired on because she was the boss’s daughter, you know?”
James chuckled. “That sounds like Leah. Not one to cut corners.” Blue lumbered up and flopped down, rolling to his back between his and Vincent’s chairs, offering his belly to them for a scratch.