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Sentell Leonhirth |
Heaven in a Meadow
Chapter 1
Lynn was looking out the window when a knock sounded on her bedroom door.
"Come in," Lynn said, and her friend, Eva, came into the room.
"Lunch will be ready in half an hour," Eva said.
"Good. We'll have time to talk. Sit down."
After Eva sat down, she looked up. "What is it?"
"We're going home," Lynn said.
Eva stood up and put her arm around Lynn. "Are we really?"
"Yes. Sit down again."
Lynn's friend was the opposite of her - plump and turning gray and at peace with the world and herself.
Lynn was slender, and as her late husband often said, "Born worrying and had a relapse."
"I'm going to my lawyer tomorrow and give this house to Margaret and Harold and going home to Briarwood," Lynn said.
Eva nodded her head. She somehow knew this was coming since her brother, Ted, had sent her a copy of the hometown newspaper several months ago. It had an article about the well-known author Nate Sloan leaving the West Coast and coming back to Norbridge.
Sloan had said he was tired of big city life and was returning to peace and quiet where he could relax and write.
Eva had shown the article to Lynn and seen the change in her immediately. Nothing had been said between them, but Eva had been waiting quietly.
Lynn started to speak. "Your brother, Ted, and his wife, Sally, have taken wonderful care of the cabin in the Briarwood community for me, and since I had it modernized, it will be a wonderful place to return to. I know they have kept up your house too. What do you think?"
Eva smiled. "You know I came to stay with you when Sam died and was glad to do it, but there is no place like home, as the saying goes. But are you sure? What about Margaret?"
Lynn sighed. "This has never been home, Eva. I loved Sam, and he gave me Margaret, but I'm still young enough to want the rest of my life different. This was never what I wanted."
"Sam was too old for you, Lynn. I know he was good and kind, and he loved you and adored Margaret."
"Oh, Eva. He was an escape, which wasn't fair to him. I tried to be a good wife, and I miss him. I still can't believe a man who took such good care of himself died with a heart attack. He helped me when I needed help.
"Anyway, I have many plans to make, and, as always, I'll need your help. First, I want to call Margaret and have her come this afternoon."
Eva stood up. "Let's go have lunch, and we will talk again after you've seen Margaret."
Margaret came in her usual whirlwind fashion. "Oh, Mother, what's wrong. You're not sick, are you?"
"Slow down," Lynn said. "Don't be a worry-wart like I am. I'm fine. I'm making some plans, and I wanted to talk with you about it."
Margaret sat down on the sofa, and Lynn sat down beside her.
"As I told Eva earlier, I'm seeing my lawyer tomorrow, and I'm giving this house to you and Harold. I'm moving to Briarwood the first of the month."
Margaret teared up. "I'm going to miss you and Eva. I know you have been unhappy since Dad died…"
"We are not going to the Arctic," Lynn interrupted. "We will talk often, and I want you to come for the week and as often as possible. I know Harold won't come, but you can. I'm going to take some things from here, but the place is still furnished with Mother's things too.
"I hope you still want Grace and Robert to stay here," Margaret said. "It's been their home for so many years, and they have their apartment."
"Oh, yes, I couldn't do without them, and I'll tell them so before I leave," Lynn said.
"I must go tell Harold at the office. I just wish his family were like you and Dad."
"You're still having problems?" Lynn asked.
Margaret frowned. "If Harold's sister, Mary, says one more time. 'Oh, Margaret you must soon have Harold the Fourth,' I'm going to scream."
Margaret's husband was Harold Ogden Stanley III.
"If and when I ever have a son, I'm going to name him Goober Frogpepper before they get to the hospital."
Lynn started to laugh. "Margaret, that poor child."
Margaret stopped frowning and began to smile. "I love Harold, but his family is a pain."
Her mother thought of how close Margaret and Harold had been since high school and then at the university. She was so glad her daughter could be with the man she loved. To Lynn, Harold was a little pompous and too proud, but he suited Margaret, and that was what mattered.
"Mother, where did you go just then?"
"Oh, I was just thinking about I'm happy for you and how well you manage," Lynn said.
"And I appreciate how you don't pressure me about grandchildren," Margaret told her.
"To me that is the couple's business, and everyone else should stay out of the way."
"I wish you could tell the Stanleys that," Margaret said. "You always let me make my own decisions, and so did Dad. I knew you were there, if I needed you."
Margaret looked so much like photos of Lynn's mother when she was young, Lynn thought. "Go talk to Harold, and let me know what he says. Time is fleeting, and I must make plans."
"Just be sure when I come visit that the snakes and wild pigs are missing," Margaret said, smiling.
Her mother hugged her.
"You know Eva and I are both excellent shooters. Have been from our teenage years."
Snakes and wild pigs weren't what scared Lynn, Margaret would see so soon.
After Margaret left, Lynn sat for awhile and thought about Sam and her marriage. She remembered how Sam would come to Norbridge with a hunting party and would come into the antiques shop where she worked.
That first day, he had been looking for a gift for his sister, but when he kept coming back, she realized that he was interested in her. He was much older than she was, but still very handsome with his graying hair and tan complexion.
Sam always would buy some small item. Later she wondered what he did with them. Finally, he asked her if she would have lunch with him.
At first, she hesitated, but then decided, "Why not?" Nate was gone from her life, so she just said, "Yes."
That was the beginning. Sam stayed at the inn after the other hunters had left. She learned he was a banker, and talk around town was that he was wealthy, a sportsman, and well-known.
They grew closer, and eventually she asked, "Why me?"
"I want a child, and I want the mother to be a young, well-educated woman who is someone I could trust," Sam told her. "I've learned quite a bit about you."
Lynn was shocked and started to stand up. "Then it can't be me."
Sam put out a hand. "Please hear me out."
"I know about you and Nate Sloan," Sam said. "I know how you've worked and helped your mother. You come from a fine and well-respected family in this area, and, most of all, I find you very attractive."
"You don't understand, Sam."
"Yes, I do. I have a great of money, and I'll be able to help your mother and give you a good life. I know you don't love me, but I think you like me, and we could have a special marriage."
"But why me? There must be many women who would fill your wants and needs better than I could."
"No, Lynn, I was married once, and there was to be a baby, a boy, and Evelyn had one obsession - horses. The doctors told her not to ride, and, for a while, she obeyed. But one day a beautiful horse was brought into the stable, and she insisted that she ride him.
"The horse threw her, and her neck was broken. She and the baby died."
"Oh, Sam, I'm sorry."
"It was a long time ago, but I wanted you to know. Of course, there have been other women through the years, but I never wanted to risk marriage again until I met you. Please think about what I've said."
She never remembered a time when she hadn't talked over things with her friend, Eva.
"Marry him, Lynn," said Eva, who had met Sam and liked him.
What made her decision was when she took Sam to meet her mother, and they immediately liked each other. He had brought beautiful flowers, and he sat and talked to her mother like an old friend.
Their years had been good with no young passion, but a love for each other and Margaret. Then Sam died, and here she was thinking of going home to Norbridge and her cabin in Briarwood and seeing Nate again after all these years.
Of course, she had read and heard about Nate's fame and read his books, crime novels that she didn't like, but read anyway. She had seen him interviewed on talk shows. He had hardly changed at all.
He was tall and thin with a rugged face, not handsome as Sam had been, but Nate had deep-set dark eyes and hair. She had teased Nate and called him Heathcliff, which he didn't appreciate. When Nate had asked her to go to California with him and she wouldn't leaver her mother, he had gone away, and she hadn't seen him since.
Lynn made herself get up to find Eva.
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