The Magnolia Sisters

by Michelle Major

  “Did it seem strange at all when Niall leased you the property? You pay next to nothing for the rent. I understand why he did that downtown. Those were his neighbors. But he could have sold this property at any time and made a significant profit.”

  “I figured he had his reasons.”

  “Really? Because from what I understand—”

  “I knew about his affair with my mother,” Meredith blurted. She turned to Avery, arms stretched out like she expected a crucifixion. “Is that what you wanted to hear?”

  Avery shook her head, too dumbfounded to speak. They stared at each other for several long minutes before Avery found her voice. “Did you know he was your father?”

  “No,” Meredith said, looking away again. “I never suspected that. I guess he and my mom were together off and on for years, but I thought it started after I was born.” She drew in a shaky breath. “I caught them together when I was six.”

  “Oh, Meredith.”

  Her sister’s chin lifted as if she refused to be cowed by the past. “I didn’t even really understand what was happening, but even an innocent kid knows they shouldn’t find Mommy naked in bed with a man who isn’t their father.”

  “That’s putting it mildly.”

  “Yeah, I guess. It was at our house in the summer. Dad had taken my brothers to a baseball tournament for the weekend, and I was supposed to be staying at my grandma’s house. She only lived a few blocks from us. I’d forgotten my favorite pillow and rode my bike home to get it. I still remember the way he looked at me when he walked out. It was this strange mix of anger and affection but there was no remorse.” She laughed without humor. “For all the man’s sins, I don’t think he ever felt a moment of shame.”

  “Must be nice,” Avery murmured.

  “My mom was as mad as I’d ever seen her. She told me I ruined everything.” Another sad laugh. “Little did I know she wasn’t just talking about her affair. I guess my father had always known that I wasn’t his biological daughter. He’d agreed to raise me as his to avoid a scandal because he loved my mom. I wish he’d turned her away when he had the chance. Niall broke things off with her after that. One more strike against me, and it was pretty much the end of her willingness to keep up the charade of happy wife and mother. She left on Halloween night.”

  “Just disappeared?”

  Meredith nodded. “Dad took us trick-or-treating. We got back and she was gone. She’d left a note for him but nothing for any of us.”

  “Have you talked to her in the years since?”

  “Nope.” Meredith smoothed a hand over her cheek, then looked away. “I’m not crying.”

  “I know.”

  “Last I heard, she’s in Florida.”

  “Does finding out about Niall make you want to contact her? Don’t you have questions?”

  “Dozens of them,” Meredith admitted quietly. “But it feels disrespectful to my dad...” She paused, cleared her throat, then continued, “Disrespectful to the dad who raised me to be curious. I shouldn’t want to know. He should be enough.”

  “I’m not sure that’s how it works.” Avery put the broom aside and went to stand next to Meredith. “I bet he’d understand.”

  “Nope.” Meredith rolled her shoulders as if she could unload some of the heavy weight that way. “He’s had a hard time with all of this being public. He’s a proud man, you know?”

  “You said he’d gone to visit your brother. Is he still away?”

  “He’s back but I haven’t seen him.” She sighed. “He usually comes out a couple of times a week to help with the animals but...”

  “He’ll come around,” Avery promised.

  “You don’t even know him.”

  “You’re weirdly hard to resist.”

  That earned a smile. “I’m pretty damn adorable,” her youngest sister agreed.

  “If you like pet hair.”

  “Don’t trust anyone who doesn’t like animals.”

  A laugh bubbled up in Avery’s throat.

  Meredith grinned. “Firsthand experience?”

  “My ex-boyfriend thought dogs were stinky and dirty. Probably cats, too, but we never made it that far.”

  “I bet he turned out to be a jerk.”

  “He turned out to be still married,” Avery said, then blew out a breath. It was the first time she’d admitted that fact to anyone who hadn’t already known about her relationship with Tony. She hadn’t even shared the details of her breakup with her mother.

  “That’s rough.”

  “But not the worst of it.” Now that she’d begun to open up, the words poured out of her like a dam that had finally given way. “We worked together, and his wife confronted me at the office. She couldn’t believe I didn’t know. She was so angry.”

  “I can imagine.” Meredith inclined her head. “You had no idea?”

  “I like boundaries in relationships so the things that should have tipped me off felt like quirks at the time. They had two boys. She’d dragged them downtown with her. After telling me off, she stormed out of the building. Tony tried to stop her but she got the kids in the car and drove off. Except she hadn’t buckled the younger one into his car seat. She ran a stop sign a few blocks from the office and her car was T-boned by a delivery truck.”

  Meredith cursed under her breath.

  “The four-year-old was severely injured. He had to undergo emergency surgery and was unconscious for almost a week. They thought he wasn’t going to pull through.”

  “But he did?”

  “Yes, although as I understand it he has a long road to a full recovery.” She turned to the other woman. “I almost killed him.”

  Meredith’s small hand wrapped around Avery’s upper arm. “You had no responsibility in that accident.”

  “I destroyed her family,” Avery protested. “I drove her to that level of heartbreak.”

  “Would you have been with him if you’d known?”

  “Of course not.”

  “Did you end it when you found out?”

  “If I never speak to him again it will be too soon.” She shrugged. “Not that my moral compass or the fallout I endured means anything to a heartbroken wife and mother.”

  “You said the two of you worked together?” Meredith released her arm but stayed close. “I assume that’s the real reason you left your job?”

  “Not just my job.” Avery tried for a smile but found her mouth wouldn’t move in that direction. “I lost my life.”

  “That doesn’t seem fair.” Meredith frowned.

  “Unfortunately, it showed me the quality of the life I had. I was a little bit obsessed with my career. The people I thought were my friends were also my coworkers. They wanted nothing to do with me or the repercussions of the situation. Tony wasn’t exactly my boss, but he was way higher up on the food chain.”

  “He cheated.” Meredith threw up her hands. “How could anyone take his side?”

  It was a question that had plagued Avery in the weeks after discovering Tony’s duplicity. “I think it’s partly the age-old double standard. And partly he had an injured kid in the hospital. He also made it clear that I’d seduced him. That he’d confided in me about a rocky period in his marriage and I took advantage of the situation. You can imagine how that went for me.”

  “Did they fire you?”

  “The HR manager took pity. I think she could tell I was shell-shocked by the whole situation. She allowed me to resign and promised not to divulge the details of my termination with any potential employers.”

  “Your married superior cheated on his wife with you. The wife made a huge scene at your workplace. They branded you with some sort of modern-day scarlet letter.” Meredith slapped a hand on the porch rail. “It sounds like a bad made-for-TV movie.”

  “Without the happy ending,” Avery added. “I
was on my second week of couch potato-ing when I got the letter about Niall.”

  Meredith blew out a breath. “So this is a case of cutting yourself, then breaking your leg? Suddenly the finger doesn’t hurt as badly.”

  “Something like that.” Avery shuddered. “I know it’s not the same situation, but the look on Gray’s ex-wife’s face when she found me with Violet brought it all back.”

  “Gray and that overinjected ex-wife have been divorced for a while. I heard she’d even moved on from the guy she cheated on Gray with.” Meredith’s focus on Avery intensified. “Did you tell him all this?”

  Avery bit down on her lower lip. “I haven’t told anyone.”

  “No one?”

  “Not even my mom.”

  “But you told me.” Meredith pointed at her own chest. “It’s like we’re really sisters or something.”

  “Yeah.” Emotion bloomed in Avery’s heart, delicate like the first flowers of spring. But she knew that fragility was a misnomer. This connection she had with her sister was deep and true, a crocus able to withstand the snow or wind or whatever nature threw at it and still retain its beauty.

  “This is why you’re avoiding Gray?” Meredith bent to pet Spot, who’d wandered up onto the porch. “Again.”

  “Maybe.”

  The dog did her usual flop and Avery finally found herself able to smile. “I think she’s lost more weight.”

  “You’ve got a way with her,” Meredith said. “Don’t change the subject. You should talk to Gray.”

  “He was so hurt by Stacy’s cheating. How can I admit to him that I’d caused that much pain to someone?”

  “You’re missing a key point,” Meredith argued. “He was hurt by his ex-wife. She betrayed him, not the man she fooled around with.”

  “Do you truly believe that? Do you think he harbors no anger toward the guy?”

  Meredith straightened. “You have a point, but as I understand it, he knew the dude. That makes a difference.”

  “A small one.”

  A crashing sound came from the barn, followed by a cacophony of bleating and then barking from the dog herd, which had gathered at the fence.

  “Stupid goat,” Meredith muttered. “Frank must have gotten out of his stall again. He’s determined to get into the oats every chance he can find.”

  Avery picked up the broom again. “Good luck with that.”

  “You’re coming with me,” Meredith called over her shoulder, already moving for the porch steps.

  “I should hold down the fort out here.” Another crash reverberated in the quiet of the morning.

  “I need you.”

  Those three words were like a shot directly to Avery’s gut, just as they had been when she’d been the one to say them to Meredith and Carrie. As much as she’d become accustomed to not needing anyone or being needed in return, she hadn’t realized how lonely that made her life until she came to Magnolia.

  She trotted to catch up with her sister. “The property is twenty acres, right?”

  “Around there.” Meredith cupped her hands around her mouth. “Frank, you better stop making trouble,” she called.

  “It must be a huge amount of work on your own.”

  “A ton,” Meredith said absently.

  “What if we could find another location for the shelter and sell this property? The Realtor I met with, Jacob, thinks a developer might offer a decent price for the whole thing with the intention of subdividing it.”

  Meredith whirled on her so fast it made Avery’s breath catch.

  “This is my home,” the petite firecracker said, tension lacing her tone. “You want to dump the gallery and that mess of a house in town, fine. I’ll back you. They mean nothing to me. Less than. But don’t even think about making a move for the ranch.”

  All Avery could do was nod in agreement. She half believed Meredith might take her to the ground if she argued. She had at least four inches on her tiny sister, but that didn’t mean Meredith couldn’t kick her ass.

  “Got it.” She held up her hands, palms out. “Although, you might rethink letting me stay here. I could help.”

  “You just stepped in a pile of horse poop.” Meredith chuckled as Avery grimaced at her dirty sneaker. “Not sure how much help you’ll be on the ranch, city girl. You’re taking care of Spot, and I might bring over a few kittens for fostering. That will help.”

  “Kittens?” Avery swallowed and scraped the bottom of her shoe along the ground. “If I was here—”

  “Work things out with Gray instead,” Meredith suggested, hauling open the wide barn door. “He’s a stand-up guy, Avs. Even if you don’t want forever with him, be smart enough to take advantage of the now.”

  Avery paused as Meredith disappeared into the barn where the noise level sounded like a late-night rave gone wild. Could it be that simple? Take advantage of the now. Live in the now.

  She’d always been a planner and a worrier, a crazy combination of ambition and anxiety. It seemed impossible to let that part of her go but things couldn’t get much stranger than they already were. Why not change up the plan and see what happened?

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  “YOU SHOULD BE at home resting.”

  Gray looked up from the paperwork he’d been staring at for the past half hour to see his mother standing in the doorway of the office at the fire station.

  “Did Lucas pay you to say that?”

  Lila chuckled as she entered the room. “No, but your friend is a smart young man.”

  “Which must mean I’m not?” He forced a smile but tension ricocheted down his spine. His mother had always hated his chosen profession. He knew she wished he were more like his ambitious older brother, holed up in a corner office, with a paper cut the biggest potential physical hazard on the job.

  As the town’s longtime librarian, his mom valued books and quiet and learning and...all the things Gray chafed against growing up. He’d taken after his father—an adrenaline junkie with a deep commitment to service but an equal devotion to action.

  The kind of action that had killed his father and landed Gray in the hospital. He’d been cleared by his doctor to return to work but was relegated to desk duty. There had already been two dozen calls this week, and it tore him up to watch his crew heading out for each call while he manned the fort at the station.

  Lucas had been the most vocal that Gray should take a few personal days to recover but that might have more to do with Gray’s black mood versus concern for his injuries. He was healing fine. His chest still ached, but he absolutely wouldn’t stop or allow anyone to believe the accident had sidelined him.

  He’d received a call from Douglas Damon the day after the accident. Gray’s attorney had wished him well for a speedy recovery but also mentioned that he’d heard from Stacy’s attorney asking if Gray wanted to formally amend their current custody arrangement while he recuperated. Gray had downplayed the severity of the accident, although he didn’t think he was fooling the older man. Then Douglas brought up the fact that a private security company outside Raleigh might be hiring an investigator, the words nudging open a dark cavern in Gray’s stomach.

  He loved his job. It was more than work to him. It was his calling, and he felt honored to serve the people of Magnolia in that capacity.

  But he hated to think that his devotion might also cost him a chance at more time with his daughter.

  “You’re intelligent.” His mother slid into the chair across from the desk. “More than you give yourself credit for.”

  Gray waited for the backhand side of her compliment. When his mother only studied him, he blew out a breath. “You don’t have to soften it, Mom. I know how you feel about the fire department and my role here. You think I’m reckless, just like Dad.”

  She flashed a wistful smile. “I think you care, just like he did.”


  “That caring got him killed.”

  “Yes,” she admitted slowly. “But he would have been miserable doing anything else.”

  Just like Gray.

  “I want to talk to you about your new girlfriend.”

  Gray felt his brows draw together. “Avery isn’t my girlfriend,” he said, although saying the word out loud in association with her felt strangely right. But he couldn’t have a girlfriend if the woman in question continued to take such great pains to avoid him. He’d barely seen her since the accident, although every day she left some get-well gift on his back porch. Brownies, a stack of magazines, DVDs of old-school family movies, a six-pack of his favorite beer.

  Her thoughtfulness touched him even as it annoyed him that she dropped off the presents at odd hours when she must know he wasn’t home. He didn’t know where she went when she left the carriage house early in the morning only to return after dark each night. But he wanted to, and that irritated him the most.

  “I saw how you looked at her,” his mother said. “You wear your heart on your sleeve, Grayson. You always have.”

  “She’s in town temporarily,” he countered, unable to deny his ridiculous infatuation with Avery. No point with his mom. She knew him too well. “Nothing will come of it.”

  “Didn’t you say the same thing when you first met Stacy?”

  “She got pregnant,” he reminded his mother. “It’s different.”

  “And this Avery—”

  “Mom.” He pushed away from the desk. “I’m not discussing my private life with you.”

  “I worry.”

  “You don’t need to.”

  “Could you turn off your concern for your daughter?”

  “She’s five.”

  His mother chuckled. “Trust me, things don’t change that much when a child grows up.” She glanced around the office “You’re a wonderful father. I know your job gives you a lot of satisfaction, and it’s not my place to judge.”

  He counted in his head, waiting for the inevitable but. One...two...

  “But it was difficult to watch your sorrow after the divorce. I was heartbroken for your heartbreak. I don’t want that again for you.”