Safe Harbor: A Cold Creek Homecoming

by Sherryl Woods

  Drew and Billy exchanged put-upon glances. “Women!”

  Tina put her hands on her hips and stared Drew down. “Take it or leave it.”

  “I’ll take it.”

  “I thought you might.” She grinned at Drew. “Why don’t you find Billy a place to sleep, while I call Sarah and let her know he’s okay?”

  “I could probably find my own room,” Billy offered, suddenly staring at the floor. “I mean if you all have stuff you want to do or something.”

  “That’s okay,” Drew said. “We have a whole lifetime ahead of us to do stuff.”

  He stopped at the doorway and gazed back at Tina, a long, slow look that ended in a provocative wink. Her heart slammed against her ribs.

  A whole lifetime. It might not be nearly long enough.

  Epilogue

  The announcement of an early-spring wedding between industry tycoon Drew Landry and his new business partner, Christina Elizabeth Harrington, set Palm Beach society on its collective ear.

  Columnists in the newspaper speculated about exactly how the eccentric widow with the quirky sense of humor had captured the heart of the community’s most eligible bachelor after they’d gotten off to such a rocky, controversial start.

  Women who hadn’t said a word to Tina since Gerald’s death suddenly called with invitations to have the mouth-watering Aubergines Farcie au chevre at Café L’Europe or the delicacies at Charley’s Crab by the ocean. What they wanted in return was titillating information. Tina declined on all counts.

  Even though the event was to take place after the official winter season ended, invitations were in more demand than those to the annual height-of-the-season Red Cross fundraiser, probably due to an expectation that the ceremony would be something out of the ordinary. Tina suspected that half the town was hoping she’d have the cats trailing down the aisle as bridesmaids.

  Partly because she delighted in the idea of keeping gossips guessing, but mostly because she wanted to keep it simple and intimate, Tina restricted the ceremony to family and special friends only.

  The wedding was held on the Harrington estate under a cloudless blue sky on the first Saturday in April. Sarah cried, dabbing at her eyes with one of her lilac-scented hankies, as she served a breakfast of waffles and bacon to the excited members of the household. Juliet forgot all about being in mourning and came down for breakfast that day in a lovely dusty-blue dress. Mr. Kelly had turned the lawn into a carpet of lush green velvet and the gardens were filled with bright, fragrant blossoms. In deference to Drew’s allergies, the cats had been locked inside. The bride wore an apricot silk dress beaded with pearls and carried a bouquet of apricot roses and baby’s breath. The solemnly spoken wedding vows were lifted on the wind and carried away to mingle with the ocean’s timeless roar.

  The destination of the honeymoon was practically a state secret, at least until Seth told Sarah, who told Juliet and on and on until half the town knew that Tina and Drew were spending their days on a beach in Monte Carlo, their evenings in a glamorous casino and their nights in a romantic villa on a cliff overlooking the sea.

  On the last day of the honeymoon, Tina called home to check on things and found Sarah bubbling with exciting news.

  “Mr. Grant was here yesterday. The DCF report is finished and everything’s just fine. We can stay.”

  “Oh, Sarah, I’m so glad. That’s the best wedding present I could have had.”

  “And the city’s dropping its complaint, too. Since we’re not paying you anything, they’ve decided we’re not in violation of any zoning code.”

  “That’s fantastic. Anything more?”

  She could hear Billy’s murmurings in the background as Sarah said, “Hush. I’m not going to tell her that. She’ll find out soon enough.”

  “Please. You’ve got to tell her,” Billy urged. “She’ll want to know.”

  “Tell me what?” Tina finally demanded.

  Sarah sighed. “Samantha Junior had kittens,” she said, just as Drew picked up the extension. “Five of them.”

  “Oh my Lord!” Drew exclaimed.

  “Drew Landry!” Sarah scolded.

  “Sorry.”

  “And,” Sarah began.

  “There’s more?” Tina said as Drew began to sneeze in what could only be a reflex action. Those cats were thousands of miles away.

  “Well, it’s nothing for you to worry about, dear.”

  “Sarah!”

  “It’s just that Mr. Parsons—”

  “From the board of directors?”

  “Of course, dear.”

  “What about him?”

  “He was over the other day visiting.”

  “Mr. Parsons was visiting? You must mean spying. He was probably looking for the germicidal warfare lab.”

  “I don’t think so. He just wanted to make sure your wedding took place as scheduled. He seemed genuinely concerned after what happened before. And...”

  “And what?” Tina said, not at all sure she wanted to hear the rest. She recognized that tone.

  “Well, the poor man seemed very lonely. I mean his wife died years ago and he’s all alone in the world. I think that’s why he’s so cranky, and he certainly was drinking way more than was good for him. We could all see that in New York. You could see it, too, couldn’t you, dear?”

  “What’s your point, Sarah?”

  Sarah was not about to be rushed. “He looked awfully pale. I doubt if he’d been eating properly either,” she added as if it were a clincher. “You should have seen how thrilled he was when I asked him to stay for pot roast.”

  An awful premonition raced through Tina. “Sarah, you didn’t,” she exclaimed. “Tell me you didn’t ask that man to live with us.”

  “But there are all these empty rooms here. It seems such a waste not to use them. And he’s a fine gin rummy player.”

  “Sarah, I want to hear you deny it. Tell me you didn’t ask him.”

  “Well, I didn’t exactly ask. It just sort of happened. I mean we all agreed something had to be done.”

  Drew was chuckling on the extension.

  “Drew Landry, don’t you dare laugh,” Tina ordered.

  “I can’t help it.”

  “I’ll get you for that, Drew. I’ll let Billy keep every one of those kittens,” she warned, slamming down the phone. She went into the bedroom just as he was saying goodbye to Sarah. He was still chuckling. She advanced on him with a murderous expression in her bright amber eyes.

  “Just think,” he said cheerfully, “now we can hold the board meetings right in the living room between Scrabble games.”

  She dove into the middle of the bed and tackled him, pinning him down. “You...you...” Then she started laughing, too, and leaned down to kiss him. “I love you.”

  “You know, Mrs. Landry, life with you will never be dull.”

  “And even if it is,” she said with a devilish glint in her eyes, “you’ll have all those other people to keep you company.”

  Drew sobered instantly as a horrified expression flitted across his face. “Don’t tell me you actually expect me to live in that house, when I have a perfectly lovely empty house next door.”

  Tina’s eyes widened innocently. “You want to be alone with me?”

  “Damn right.”

  “Why?”

  “Let me show you, and we’ll see if you still want to live in the middle of that mayhem at your place.”

  An hour later, Drew murmured, “Well, what do you think?”

  “I think I’m beginning to see your point. Do you have any other arguments you’d like to try?”

  He had several, each more exquisitely sensual than the last. By the time they flew home, Tina was convinced.

  Besides, if she had her way, they
’d fill the bedrooms in that house in no time, too. Nine or ten months from now seemed about the right time to start. She knew Sarah and Seth would approve.

  In fact, she had a suspicion they were already busy wallpapering a nursery just in case.

  * * * * *

  A Cold Creek Homecoming

  RaeAnne Thayne

  Dear Reader,

  Reunion stories are some of my absolute favorite books to write. I find something truly magical about people who have shared a sometimes strained past yet are able to connect again when they’re each in a better place to find love.

  Successful businessman Quinn Southerland hasn’t forgotten the way Tess Jamison treated him in high school. She was a mean girl of the highest order when it came to Quinn. How can he reconcile his harsh memories of her with the soft, sweet hospice nurse now caring so diligently for his beloved foster mother?

  I loved Tess and Quinn from the first page and showing the joy that can come even in difficult circumstances when two people learn to move beyond the past and trust their hearts.

  All my very best,

  RaeAnne

  In memory of my dear aunt, Arlene Wood,

  for afghans and parachutes and ceramic frogs.

  I only wish I’d dedicated one to you before!

  And to Jennifer Black, my sister and hero,

  for helping her pass with peace and dignity.

  Contents

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter One

  “You’re home!”

  The thin, reedy voice whispering from the frail woman on the bed was nothing like Quinn Southerland remembered.

  Though she was small in stature, Jo Winder’s voice had always been firm and commanding, just like the rest of her personality. When she used to call them in for supper, he and the others could hear her voice ringing out loud and clear from one end of the ranch to the other. No matter where they were, they knew the moment they heard that voice, it was time to go back to the house.

  Now the woman who had done so much to raise him—the toughest woman he had ever known—seemed a tiny, withered husk of herself, her skin papery and pale and her voice barely audible.

  The cracks in his heart from watching her endure the long months and years of her illness widened a little more. To his great shame, he had a sudden impulse to run away, to escape back to Seattle and his business and the comfortable life he had created for himself there, where he could pretend this was all some kind of bad dream and she was immortal, as he had always imagined.

  Instead, he forced himself to step forward to the edge of the bed, where he carefully folded her bony fingers in his own much larger ones, cursing the cancer that was taking away this woman he loved so dearly.

  He gave her his most charming smile, the one that never failed to sway any woman in his path, whether in the boardroom or the bedroom.

  “Where else would I be but right here, darling?”

  The smile she offered in return was rueful and she lifted their entwined fingers to her cheek. “You shouldn’t have come. You’re so busy in Seattle.”

  “Never too busy for my best girl.”

  Her laugh was small but wryly amused, as it always used to be when he would try to charm his way out of trouble with her.

  Jo wasn’t the sort who could be easily charmed but she never failed to appreciate the effort.

  “I’m sorry to drag you down here,” she said. “I...only wanted to see all of my boys one last time.”

  He wanted to protest that his foster mother would be around for years to come, that she was too tough and ornery to let a little thing like cancer stop her, but he couldn’t deny the evidence in front of him.

  She was dying, was much closer to it than any of them had feared.

  “I’m here, as long as you need me,” he vowed.

  “You’re a good boy, Quinn. You always have been.”

  He snorted at that—both of them knew better about that, as well. “Easton didn’t tell me you’ve been hitting the weed as part of your treatment.”

  The blankets rustled softly as her laugh shook her slight frame. “You know better than that. No marijuana here.”

  “Then what are you smoking?”

  “Nothing. I meant what I said. You were always a good boy on the inside, even when you were dragging the others into trouble.”

  “It still means the world that you thought so.” He kissed her forehead. “Now I can see you’re tired. You get some rest and we can catch up later.”

  “I would give anything for just a little of my old energy.”

  Her voice trailed off on the last word and he could tell she had already drifted off, just like that, in mid-sentence. As he stood beside her bed, still holding her fingers, she winced twice in her sleep.

  He frowned, hating the idea of her hurting. He slowly, carefully, released her fingers as if they would shatter at his touch and laid them with gentle care on the bed then turned just as Easton Springhill, his distant cousin by marriage and the closest thing he had to a sister, appeared in the doorway of the bedroom.

  He moved away from the bed and followed Easton outside the room.

  “She seems in pain,” he said, his voice low with distress.

  “She is,” Easton answered. “She doesn’t say much about it but I can tell it’s worse the past week or so.”

  “Isn’t there something we can do?”

  “We have a few options. None of them last very long. The hospice nurse should be here any minute. She can give her something for the pain.” She tilted her head. “When was the last time you ate?”

  He tried to remember. He had been in Tokyo when he got the message from Easton that Jo was asking for him to come home. Though he had had two more days of meetings scheduled for a new shipping route he was negotiating, he knew he had no choice but to drop everything. Jo would never have asked if the situation hadn’t been dire.

  So he had rescheduled everything and ordered his plane back to Pine Gulch. Counting several flight delays from bad weather over the Pacific, he had been traveling for nearly eighteen hours and had been awake for eighteen before that.

  “I had something on the plane, but it’s been a few hours.”

  “Let me make you a sandwich, then you can catch a few z’s.”

  “You don’t have to wait on me.” He followed her down the long hall and into the cheery white-and-red kitchen. “You’ve got enough to do, running the ranch and taking care of Jo. I’ve been making my own sandwiches for a long time now.”

  “Don’t you have people who do that for you?”

  “Sometimes,” he admitted. “That doesn’t mean I’ve forgotten how.”

  “Sit down,” she ordered him. “I know where everything is here.”

  He thought about pushing her. But lovely as she was with her delicate features and long sweep of blond hair, Easton could be as stubborn and ornery as Jo and he was just too damn tired for another battle.

  Instead, he eased into one of the scarred pine chairs snugged up against the old table and let her fuss over him for a few moments. “Why didn’t you tell me how things were, East? She’s withered away in the three months since I’ve been home. Chester probably weighs more than she does.”

  At the sound of his name, Easton’s retired ol
d cow dog that followed her or Jo everywhere lifted his grizzled gray muzzle and thumped his black-and-white tail against the floor.

  Easton’s sigh held exhaustion and discouragement and no small measure of guilt. “I wanted to. I swear. I threatened to call you all back weeks ago but she begged me not to say anything. She said she didn’t want you to know how things were until...”

  Her voice trailed off and her mouth trembled a little. He didn’t need her to finish. Jo wouldn’t have wanted them to know until close to the end.

  This was it. For three long years, Jo had been fighting breast cancer and now it seemed her battle was almost over.

  He hated this. He wanted to escape back to his own world where he could at least pretend he had some semblance of control. But she wanted him here in Cold Creek, so here he would damn well stay.

  “Truth time, East. How long does she have?”

  Easton’s features tightened with a deep sorrow. She had lost so much, this girl he had thought of as a sister since the day he arrived at Winder Ranch two decades ago, an angry, bitter fourteen-year-old with nothing but attitude. Easton had lived in the foreman’s house then with her parents and they had been friends almost from the moment he arrived.

  “Three weeks or so,” she said. “Maybe less. Maybe a little more.”

  He wanted to rant at the unfairness of it all that somebody like Jo would be taken from the earth with such cruelty when she had spent just about every moment of her entire seventy-two years of life giving back to others.

  “I’ll stay until then.”

  She stared at him, the butter knife she was using to spread mustard on his sandwich frozen in her hand. “How can you possibly be away from Southerland Shipping that long?”

  He shrugged. “I might need to make a few short trips back to Seattle here and there but most of my work can be done long-distance through email and conference calls. It shouldn’t be a problem. And I have good people working for me who can handle most of the complications that might come up.”

  “That’s not what she wanted when she asked you to come home one more time,” Easton protested.