Lavender Morning

by Jude Deveraux

  “So who makes your heart beat faster when you see him?”

  “Luke.”

  “Who do you want to spend every minute of every day with?”

  “Luke.”

  “Who do you see when you imagine a home and kids?”

  “Ramsey.”

  “Oh, my,” Sara said. “You do have a problem. I think you need to make up your mind and stick with one of them. You can’t bounce back and forth.”

  “It’s not as though either of them has asked me to…what do you call it as an adult? Go steady.”

  “Luke wouldn’t say anything until the annulment is final.”

  “And Ramsey?”

  “He could possibly return with an engagement ring. He likes grand gestures.”

  “But I hardly know him!”

  “Interesting,” Sara said. “I wonder what you would have said if I’d told you Luke was returning with a gift for you.”

  “Where is he? Where did he go? He left town, and I don’t even know where he is.”

  Sara sat up on the bed and looked at Jocelyn. “You may think you can’t decide between the men, but I think you have decided. Didn’t Luke take you hiking?”

  “Yes.”

  “Up to some lake?”

  “Yes. We stayed up there and ate sandwiches while we took turns reading Miss Edi’s story. Sara, you should read it! It’s the most romantic thing I’ve ever read in my life.”

  She stood up. “You know what I think is romantic? The way you’ve made my cousin smile. Luke may act tough and as though nothing ever bothers him, but underneath he has a very soft soul. He married a woman he didn’t love because she was carrying his child. How sweet is that? He’s the one who helped her get started in modeling and she repaid him by—” She stopped talking.

  “I know,” Jocelyn said, “with an abortion.”

  “Who told you that?”

  “Dr. Dave.”

  “My goodness, but you do get around. Dr. Dave told you about his grandson’s problems in his personal life?”

  “Yes. What’s wrong with that?”

  Sara stood there, looking at Jocelyn for a moment. “You know what I think? I think it’s possible that you’re so in love with Luke that when he’s gone for even a few days you’re down in the dumps.”

  “The last thing I am is in love with any man on this earth. I’ve known Luke what? Two months?”

  “How long did your precious Miss Edi know the man she loved?”

  “Days.”

  “There you have it. I want you to put on some makeup, pull your hair back with one of your headbands, and I want you to spend the day with Greg and me at the new shop. You need to get away from this house, from the story you’re so involved in, and you need to talk to people other than my cousins.”

  “Is that possible in this town?”

  “Funny,” Sara said, “but jokes won’t help you.” Reaching out, she took Joce’s hands in hers and pulled her to stand. “Now fix yourself up and let’s go. I have so much work to do that I don’t know where to begin.”

  “No, not there,” Greg Anders said to Sara. “It should go over here, not there.”

  Jocelyn was sitting on the floor, her legs crossed as she painted the bottom of one wall of the store. She’d been with Sara and Greg for hours now, watching them, and all she could say was that Greg made her want to find Luke and run to him with open arms. How in the world sweet Sara could like such a bossy man was beyond Jocelyn’s ability to understand.

  The store they were refurbishing was going to be beautiful. It had been full of old furniture for many years, and Sara told Joce that the owner had been so old that the store was rarely open, and when it was, he was asleep. “People used to leave checks and money on the counter, then take what they wanted to buy. When my mom saw tourists go in the shop, she’d send one of her delivery boys over to watch the place, and make sure they didn’t steal anything.”

  “So now you’ve bought it,” Jocelyn said, looking around. It was quite large, and when it was painted and the floors refinished, it was going to be exquisite.

  Soon after they’d arrived, Greg had come in, grabbed Sara about the waist, and bent her over to give her a kiss that Jocelyn thought should have been done in private. But Sara didn’t seem to mind. “Jocelyn has come to help us today,” she said when they finally finished kissing.

  As Greg held on to Sara’s waist tightly, as though he wanted to let people know she “belonged” to him, he looked Joce up and down in such an appraising way that she had to work not to frown. “So you’re the owner of the town mansion,” he said. “Would you like to sell it?”

  “Stop it!” Sara said, smiling. “She’ll think you’re serious.”

  “I am serious,” Greg said, looking at Jocelyn. “Sell it to me and Sara and I’ll make it into a showplace.”

  “Will you stop it?” Sara said, but in a giggling sort of way, as though she found what Greg was saying highly amusing.

  “I think I’ll hold on to the house,” Joce said, forcing a smile.

  “So, Jocelyn,” Greg said as he let go of Sara, “how about if I give you some painting to do? That is, if being the lady of the big manor doesn’t mean you’re too good to do a little painting.”

  “Greg!” Sara said.

  “It’s okay, Jocelyn knows I’m just teasing, don’t you, Joce, ol’ girl?”

  “Yeah, sure,” Joce mumbled. “Very funny jokes.”

  Now, she’d spent about three hours in the new shop, and Greg had worked both her and Sara half to death—while he disappeared often. He wandered in and out of the shop at will, never telling anyone where he was going or when he’d return, and doing no real work at all.

  During his second disappearance, Sara went to where Joce was painting. Sara was holding an electric drill, as she was putting together some big oak frames that Greg had ordered. Joce thought that if Greg was as rich as he seemed to be, why couldn’t he hire a carpenter and not dump that work on Sara?

  “I know he’s a little rough,” Sara said as she looked down at Joce, “but Greg makes me feel so alive. I spend most of my life with a needle in my hand or at a sewing machine, and my only excitement is whatever I have on DVD. But Greg is full of ideas and he wants to do everything now. If I had approached one of my cousins about putting in a clothing store, he would have spent months researching whether it was a good idea or not. But Greg and I talked about it over dinner one night and the next day he told me he’d bought the old furniture store.”

  “That was fast,” Joce said. “But maybe a little thought would have been good. How are you going to get customers to come out here?”

  “Greg has that all planned. He’s hired an advertising firm to let all of Richmond know that we’re here.”

  “Wow,” Joce said. “Richmond. What about Williamsburg?”

  “Greg says Williamsburg is too small for us. We have to look at the big picture. He wants us to go to New York a couple of times a year to buy designer clothes, then bring them back here and sell them for twice what we paid for them. He really is a great businessman.”

  Or a dreamer, Joce thought, but said nothing.

  “Uh oh, there he is. I better get back to work.”

  “Did I see you two ladies goofing off while my back was turned?” Greg said as soon as he was in the store. “I’ll have to dock your pay for that.”

  “I wasn’t aware that we were being paid,” Jocelyn said, and more animosity than she meant to reveal came out in her voice.

  “Now, now,” Greg said, “ladies need to keep their tempers in check. Hey, Joce, maybe you’d like a job working here. It might help support that big house of yours.”

  Jocelyn could feel the blood leaving her face. It looked like the news that Miss Edi had left her no money for the upkeep of the house was out.

  “Greg!” Sara said in exasperation. “I told you that in confidence.”

  “Oh, right. Sorry, Joce.”

  Joce stood up. “Listen, it’s almost l
unchtime, and I need to go. Tess said that Ramsey would be back today, and I need to see him about some legal things.”

  “Sure,” Greg said. “So I hear you have two boyfriends and can’t make up your mind which one you want.”

  “Okay,” Joce said. “I better go. I…” She looked down at her dirty brush and knew she should clean it, but she didn’t want to stay there a minute longer. “I’ll see you later, Sara, and your store is going to be beautiful.”

  “I’ll see you tonight,” Sara called as Joce went out the door.

  Joce heard Greg say, “What did I do? I was just teasing her.”

  When she was outside, Joce breathed a sigh of relief, and she practically ran to Ramsey’s office.

  “I figured I’d see you today,” Tess said as soon as Joce entered. “Did you come to see Ramsey or to get away from Greg the Obnoxious?”

  “To get away,” Joce said. “I feel like I could use a shot of tequila. What a jerk he is. How can Sara like him?”

  “I don’t think anyone has lived long enough to answer the question of why someone likes someone else. She laughs at his jokes and thinks his grandiose plans are great.”

  “Do you think that people from Richmond are going to drive all the way to Edilean to go shopping?”

  “No,” Tess said. “Why don’t you come into my office?”

  Joce looked around her and realized she’d never been inside Ramsey’s office before. She’d walked and driven past it many times, but had never been inside. It was an old house, probably built in the early 1900s, that had been remodeled into a comfortable but elegant office space. In the front was a waiting room furnished in reproduction eighteenth-century pieces.

  “From Colonial Williamsburg?” Joce asked.

  “Of course,” Tess said as they went to the back of the building. They passed two desks with women behind them, and they looked up curiously when Joce walked by.

  “They’re shocked that I have any women friends,” Tess said as she closed the door to her office. It was beautiful but in a stark way that Joce couldn’t have stood for long. There were no photos on the desk, nothing personal anywhere. Just like her apartment, Joce thought. It’s as though she doesn’t want anyone to know about her life.

  “So what was he up to today?” Tess asked as she sat down behind her desk, leaving Joce to take one of the seats in front.

  Joce didn’t like the desk between them, but she said nothing. “You mean Greg?”

  “Yes, of course. I was so involved in the catering and you were so wrapped up in your book, that neither of us paid any attention to Sara’s new boyfriend. It’ll be more difficult now.”

  “True,” Joce said, but her voice was cautious. “You aren’t suggesting that we do anything about it, are you? And, besides, as far as I can tell, Sara likes him. She doesn’t need anything to be done.”

  “After I met him, I talked her into letting MAW handle the legal aspects of the store.”

  “Meaning?”

  “That I reminded her that she has no money, so she shouldn’t sign any papers. Let him pay for everything, and let it be on his head when the thing fails.”

  “You’re sure the store will fail?” Joce asked.

  “I think that if Sara opened a little place with her own creations and did a lot of altering for a select clientele, she’d do well. Sara is good one-on-one, but I can’t see her getting involved in Fashion Week in New York. Can you?”

  Jocelyn narrowed her eyes at Tess. “I can’t see that either you or I know what’s best for Sara and that we should let her live her own life.”

  “That’s a thought,” Tess said, then she glanced up at the window by her door. “Rams is back.”

  For a moment, Jocelyn just sat there, staring at Tess. It had only been a flash, maybe a sixty-fourth of a second, but there had been a light in Tess’s eyes when she saw Ramsey, that…Joce wasn’t sure what it meant, but she knew that Tess was glad to see him.

  Turning in her seat, Joce watched Ramsey stride through the building and straight to Tess’s office. He didn’t slow down to set his briefcase down, or acknowledge the greetings of the many people who said hello to him. He ignored the pink telephone notices that the two secretaries tried to hand to him. Instead, he raced across the long room to get to Tess. He threw her door open so hard he nearly hit Joce with it—but he didn’t notice.

  “What’s happened while I was away?” Ramsey asked her.

  Joce sat in her chair, half hidden by the door, and looked from one to the other, and noted the way their eyes saw only each other—and Jocelyn wanted to do a dance of joy. It was almost as though she could hear bagpipe music in her head and she wanted to put her arms above her head and do a Highland reel.

  Smiling so wide she was showing her back teeth, Joce said, “Hi, Ramsey. Have a nice time in Boston?”

  When Ramsey turned to look at her, there was a second when his eyes didn’t register who she was. “Jocelyn!” he cried, sounding as though she were the person he most wanted to see in the whole world. In the next second he had his arms around her and was hugging her.

  “Did you miss me? Did my horrible cousin try to run off with you?”

  “Which one of your cousins would that be? You have so many.”

  “Luke,” Ramsey said as he put his face in her neck, as though he meant to start kissing her.

  Joce stole a look at Tess and saw that she had sat back down at her desk and was studiously looking at some papers. Joce pushed Ramsey away from her. “How can anyone run off with me when I’m anchored to that house? I was just about to tell Tess that Greg Anders offered to buy it from me. He knows I have no money to support the place, so he volunteered to take it off my hands.”

  “Who the hell is Greg Anders?” Ramsey asked Tess.

  “Sara’s new boyfriend,” Tess said. “Bought a house here, has lots of money, and they’re opening a designer dress shop in the old furniture store.”

  Ramsey’s eyes widened. “This all happened in the short time I was away?”

  “Mmmm,” Joce said. “Lots has happened since you were away.”

  He turned a serious face to her. “Such as?”

  “I think I’ll let Tess tell you,” Joce said. She was trying to get her smile under control, but she couldn’t. “I need to go.”

  “You aren’t going to do more painting, are you?” Tess asked.

  “You’re painting Edilean Manor?” Ramsey asked, his voice full of horror.

  “Lavender,” Joce said. “My favorite color. Think about the morning sun hitting that lavender house. The image boggles the mind, doesn’t it?”

  “You can’t—” Ramsey began as Jocelyn closed the door, and she heard Tess say, “She was making a joke, so try to find your sense of humor and don’t make a fool of yourself.”

  Laughing, Joce left the office, aware that the secretaries were staring at her in disbelief. Joce was probably the only person to ever leave Tess’s office and be laughing.

  22

  LUKE WAS GONE for nearly two weeks. During that time, he didn’t call her or contact her in any way. But Jocelyn was fine. She now knew where she wanted to go and what she wanted to do. She thought it had a lot to do with the way Sara looked at Greg, and that flash of light in Tess’s eyes when she first saw Ramsey. Love didn’t have room for the word should in it. She should be interested in Ramsey because Miss Edi told her he was the perfect man for her, and with that great house to care for, she should share it with Ramsey. He’d know how to decorate it and care for it. Luke would probably put weeds in empty mayonnaise jars and think they looked great.

  But none of that mattered. Jocelyn knew where her heart lay, and that made her at peace.

  She spent most of the time he was away in Williamsburg researching. One day she idly looked up the name of Angus Harcourt and found that he’d been part of the founding of the country. He’d never been a politician, but he’d been there and he’d had a lot to say about breaking away from England.

  Joce hadn�
��t thought much about the man, just smiling at the story that Miss Edi had included in her letter in her will. It was romantic to think of a young Scotsman kidnapping the laird’s daughter and running away with her and a wagon full of gold, but she hadn’t thought about what they did afterward.

  Jocelyn had joked about writing a history of Edilean, but finding Angus Harcourt’s name mentioned along with that of Thomas Jefferson made her see the possibilities of such a book.

  Joce organized all she’d been able to find out about Miss Edi’s time with Dr. Brenner, typed it, then went over the earlier stories written by Miss Edi. Again, Joce laughed about Bertrand, marveled at the love between Edi and David, then, as always, tears came to her eyes when she thought of David’s death. If only they could have had a life together! she thought.

  23

  WHEN THE PHONE rang and the caller ID showed that it was Luke, Joce put her hand over her heart to quieten it.

  “Did you miss me?” he asked without preamble, “or did you not even notice I was gone?”

  What she wanted to ask him was if his annulment was finished, was he free, and she thought maybe she wanted to tell him that she loved him. “Yes and no,” she said. “I kept really busy. I met Sara’s new boyfriend and helped them paint the new shop.”

  “Nice guy, huh?”

  Jocelyn’s grip on her emotions left her. “You talked to someone here before me,” she half shouted.

  Luke’s chuckle let her know that he heard her jealousy. “Not like you mean. Nana met the boyfriend, and she told Gramps, who told me. That make you feel better?”

  “Not much. So your grandfather talked to you while you were away.” She knew she was sounding like a sulky little girl, but she couldn’t stop herself.

  “Sort of,” Luke said, and she could hear how much he was enjoying all this. “He was with me part of the way, then I dropped him off and flew on. It was while we were together that he talked to Nana and she told him.”