Scarlett Heart (The Scarletts

by Brenda Barrett

Raine got an instant headache. "Did he say anything about Dean?"

  "No." Cassie looked at Raine incredulously. "Why would he ask about Dean?"

  "Was Bradley there?" Raine asked. Panic was making her voice tremble.

  "Yes, we sat at the same table. What's this about, Raine?"

  "Does he know that you and Bradley are related?"

  "How would he?" Cassie asked her eyes wide. "What are you going on about?"

  "Because," Raine growled, "Noah is my boyfriend!"

  "Noah Scarlett?" Cassie's eyes widened. "That guy, the one that they introduced as one of the Levy bosses, is your boyfriend?"

  "Yes." Raine nodded. "He is also Bradley's brother-in-law."

  Cassie collapsed on her back and looked up in the ceiling. "I told you to introduce me to your boyfriend and you kept hiding him. I thought he was ugly or poor or something."

  "I was afraid, that he would recognize you because he has Dean's heart!" Raine shouted the last bit at Cassandra, "and he keeps asking about you."

  "Me?" Cassie widened her eyes. "Really?"

  "Apparently because he has Dean's heart he recognized you somehow. He said when he got out of the operation your name was screaming in his head."

  "Aww, how sweet," Cassie said the dreamy look back in her eyes. "No wonder he was staring at me like that. He must have recognized that he and I should be together."

  "No, Cassie." Raine shook her head. "This is not happening again. I love Noah. You are not going to come between us."

  "But what if it's destiny." Cassie got up and started pacing. "We should be together? I can't argue with destiny, Raine."

  "You are not to go near Noah again," Raine said her voice trembling.

  "Why?" Cassie looked at her knowingly, "because you are afraid he will choose me over you like Dean did?"

  Yes! Raine felt the first real pangs of fear grip her.

  "No," she said out loud. "You know Bradley thinks it best that we keep our relationship private because Whitney doesn't know his real history."

  Cassie smiled at her smugly. "And we can and should keep the status quo. You can pretend that you don't know me, but that Noah guy is mine."

  Gauntlet thrown down.

  Raine felt her insides quake in fear. She was already at a disadvantage.

  Noah had Dean's heart.

  Chapter Eighteen

  Noah hadn't called her in three days. Raine thought fretfully as she opened the bookstore.

  He hadn't texted her back during her regular two o'clock text sessions either. Raine opened the shop and morosely went about her morning routine.

  She was shrouded in depression everything took twice as long to get done. She was happy that she didn't have to go to the hotel this afternoon or that she didn't have school. She had gone through the last couple of days with a tangible sadness to her, which was in stark contrast to her sister who looked like she was floating on cloud nine.

  She wouldn't say why but Raine knew it had to do with Noah.

  It was happening again.

  Raine squeezed back the tears that were threatening to fall. Once more, Cassandra had batted her overlong eyelashes at another guy and he had fallen for it hook, line and sinker.

  She slumped into one of the chairs feeling unable to move.

  Her phone buzzed with a text and she didn't even move. What was the use? Her life sucked. She didn't want to hear what anybody else had to say.

  It buzzed again and she grabbed it aggressively almost breaking her nails in the process. It was a text from Noah. She sat up straighter and read it breathlessly.

  Meet me at United Church tonight at 7. Pastors vestry. My grandfather wants to meet you.

  Raine 's heavy feeling limbs got new life and she sprang up from her seat. He hadn't abandoned her for Cassie!

  She did a little jig and immediately her depression was lifted.

  ****

  Noah got dressed for the concert, fixing his tie in the hall mirror, a grim look on his face.

  "You ready, Dotty," he asked his housekeeper, who was overly dressed for the event, in a pink hat, white pearls in ears and around her neck and a matching pink dress.

  "Yes I am," Dotty said to him pouting. "I don't understand why I had to come with you tonight. I wanted to go tomorrow."

  "If you missed tonight you'd kill me. Noah grabbed the car keys from the hook in the hallway. "Let's go."

  "Yes sir, grumpy sir ," Dotty muttered. "You have been grumpy since yesterday. Why?"

  "Oh you'll see," Noah said. "We have to first make a stop at Grandpa's office. He's expecting us."

  Dotty eyed him when she got in the car. "You are acting real strange."

  He didn't say another word. He hit the CD play button and the song Glorious came on, the David Archuletta version.

  "Ooh, I like this song." Dotty sang along, "There are times when you might feel aimless, And can't see the places where you belong..."

  Dotty hit the replay button about three times before they reached the brick edifice of the church.

  He parked in the reserved section beside his grandfather's black sedan. He had no intention of staying after this and didn't want to risk being hemmed in.

  He looked at the clock. It was six-fifty-five, five minutes before the designated meeting time.

  "Wait for me," Dotty called to him when he took long rapid strides toward the office which had a separate entrance from the main sanctuary.

  He slowed down long enough for Dotty to meet up with him.

  "What's the rush?" Dotty panted. "The event hasn't even started yet."

  "You'll see shortly," Noah said cryptically.

  He knocked on the door and his grandfather opened it, greeting him effusively in his usual manner.

  Noah walked in.

  His mother was already there. She was sitting in one of the three chairs before the desk. Her arms folded.

  "Noah what is this about?" She looked at Dotty. "You brought Dotty."

  "Yes," Noah nodded, "we need to clear the air."

  "Clear the air? What are you going on about?"

  There was a knock on the door again and his grandfather opened it again.

  Whitney walked in with Bradley behind her.

  "Why did you ask me here?" Whitney ignored him and looked at her stepmother sharply. "If this is some paltry attempt to get me to make up with Noah you are so sadly mistaken. It's not funny."

  "Noah asked me to get you both here," his grandfather said heading for the door again after another knock. Raine walked in.

  His heart skipped a beat when he saw her. As usual she looked elegant and refreshingly pretty.

  She froze when she stepped into the office.

  "Good... er... hello," she stammered.

  "Oh my God," Whitney squealed. "Noah! I am going to definitely kill you! This is beyond the pale."

  Bradley was also speechless. Noah watched his expression closely. Was that panic? Good.

  A full chorus started toward him as everybody started talking at the same time. They were interrupted by another knock on the door.

  When his grandfather opened the door and Cassandra walked in, they were all looking at each other with varying degrees of dismay.

  Everybody except Dotty who looked like she was enjoying the spectacle.

  "Now listen," Noah said, "some introductions are in order. Let me start with Granddad. Everybody this is my grandfather, Pastor Hal Marshall."

  His grandfather nodded.

  "Over there," he pointed at Bradley, "is Whitney's husband, Bradley McInnis. Born in Paddington, St. Mary to one Yolanda Archer, informally adopted by the McInnis family.

  "Raine Childs, and Cassandra Green know who Yolanda Archer is, because she is their mother. Which makes Bradley McInnis their brother."

  Whitney gasped. "What?"

  "Remember Cassandra Green? The woman's name who I woke up with in my head after heart surgery? Here she is everybody. Please note, I was never going crazy."

  He pointed at Cassand
ra who was dressed in a red shift dress which looked totally inappropriate for a church program. It was several inches too short.

  Whitney, Dotty and his mother, stared at Cassandra who started to preen.

  "She turned out to be real after all. And it so happens that she was your sister-in-law!" he said to Whitney dryly.

  Cassandra cleared her throat. "Maybe I should come back at another time. I didn't know that this was not a private meeting just between us, Noah."

  Noah shook his head. "We all know church is not your thing, Cassie!"

  He hissed the Cassie.

  "Raine told me that the mysterious Casandra Green that I was talking about was probably the person responsible for Dean Long's death and maybe she was right. Whatever you did to Dean was enough to cause him great distress before he died."

  "I didn't do anything to him!" Cassie said, "Raine was the one who let him into the apartment and sent him to the room while I was in there with Sven. He saw things he wasn't supposed to see!"

  Noah turned to Raine.

  "I...I..." Raine inhaled shakily, "I warned him about her."

  "Cassandra Green, the sister that is a year your junior, the one that you claimed you had never heard about," Noah said disappointment heavy in his voice. "You made me think you had an affair with Bradley. You kept all these secrets Raine. Why?"

  "Because he is my brother. He is the one who helped me to get out of Paddington. He told me to keep quiet about our relationship because Whitney couldn't know."

  Bradley hung his head. He had developed a sudden fascination with the floor.

  "Why Brad?" Whitney had tears in her eyes, she looked at Bradley and then Raine and Cassandra with a dazed like air.

  "We are going to counseling because of your supposed affair."

  "I've never cheated on you Whit." Bradley finally raised his head. He looked like all the stuffing had been punched out of him. "I just fudged the truth a little about my upbringing. I had to be somebody else in order to get into your crowd. I just..."

  He shrugged. "I couldn't tell you that I... I was a nobody, you wouldn't have looked at me twice. I just created an alternate family history."

  "Good Lord," Dotty whispered to no one in particular, "what a conundrum."

  "How do you know all of this Noah?" His mother finally asked while everybody fell silent.

  "I had them all investigated. The report came back yesterday."

  Noah exhaled. "Now that it's all in the open. I just wanted to say that you are a very toxic family."

  He ignored the tears in Raine's eyes. "Coming Dotty? I told you this would be a brief trip."

  "Noah," Raine whispered his name as he headed for the door. He paused with hands on the doorknob.

  "Goodbye Raine. I have an inkling that you are different from these two," he nodded to Bradley and Cassandra. "I wish you all the best in the future."

  ****

  "That was cold," Dotty said roughly as he joined the Friday night traffic on the Boulevard.

  "She lied to me, repeatedly," Noah muttered, the traffic was moving at a snail's pace. What he really wanted to do was drive hard on some highway somewhere with the adrenalin pumping in his blood now.

  "Well, it wasn't as if she had a choice." Dotty defended Raine vigorously. "Her brother told her to keep quiet because he didn't want to be outed. She lived at the place where he leased with his wife's money. She was being helped by him and then you came pretty close to the situation and the girl was caught between a rock and a hard place.

  "She had to decide, family loyalty or love for Noah. And don't forget that you had a had a thing for her own sister because of your new heart."

  Noah glanced at her. "You think I am overreacting?"

  "I think you should cut her some slack," Dotty muttered. "She is a lovely girl. I always thought so."

  "Not always," Noah mumbled. "Yesterday, you called her some unrepeatable names."

  "Well, apart from the past couple of days." Dotty pointed out. "When I thought she was Bradley's side chick."

  "Side chick?" Noah raised an eyebrow. "I didn't know you speak street slang, Dotty.

  "Give the girl a chance, and the other one, the Cassandra Green, stay far, far, far, from her," Dotty insisted.

  Noah chuckled. "I think my heart agrees with that."

  "Amazing how that worked out though," Dotty said. "Maybe next time you want to go over that heart/mind research you were telling me about, I'll listen."

  "Ah well," Noah looked at the traffic. "We have time."

  "Go ahead." Dotty settled in her seat and took off her hat.

  Noah chuckled. "There are two systems at work in our bodies. The mind— the seat of intelligence and decision making, and the heart— the seat of emotions."

  "And what is your intelligence telling you about Raine?" Dotty interjected before he could get into his scientific explanation.

  "That I should give her another chance," Noah said glaring at Dotty. "You are not really interested in hearing anything about the heart mind connection are you?"

  "All the scientific mumbo jumbo will fly right over my head," Dotty said. "What about your heart? What is it saying?"

  "It's saying being with her, has made me happy—will make me happy," Noah said slowly.

  "Well then, your heart and mind seems to agree," Dotty said in her simple wisdom.

  ****

  After a torrid sleep where he tossed and turned all night. Noah got up and showered. As usual, he stood in front of the mirror and looked at the scar on his chest. He had a hunch that he wouldn't be having any sharp pangs of feeling for Cassandra Green again. He had a feeling that this heart was mostly his now. He had overwritten Dean's hard drive.

  He grinned at his analogy.

  Well mostly, there was still the Raine factor.

  He glanced at the clock on his way through the door. Raine would be on her way to the store by now. Maybe he could meet her before she started the day.

  He was late, when he drove up to the store she was already inside. He stood and looked through the window. She was in there, wiping down the counter. She looked unhappy.

  He was standing almost at the same spot where he had seen her first and felt a strong recognition of her.

  She looked up and saw him and stopped wiping. She stared at him for a while and then put down the cloth and opened the door.

  "We open at nine," she said to him a small uncertain smile on her face.

  "Maybe I should come back then," Noah walked toward her.

  "Don't you dare." Raine went to meet him.

  She stood within arms length of him.

  "I thought you had said goodbye for good last night."

  "I love you, Raine," Noah said gazing into her eyes, "with both my heart and my mind."

  Raine smiled at him. "I love you too Noah, and I am sorry for not telling you the truth about everything!"

  Noah pulled her closer. His heart was at peace.

  Epilogue

  The following January 1st...

  "Something is wrong with us," Noah murmured into Raine's hair. They were standing at the balcony of his office overlooking the poolside and the party that was being held to herald in the New Year. "We should be mingling with the guests."

  There are so many of them down there," Raine mumbled in his shirt. "Your Scarlett family, your mother's family, my family. I am shocked that Whitney arranged all of this and kept it as a surprise."

  "I am shocked that all of them agreed to come," Noah said. "With our out of town tribe, Sand Prints is booked solid tonight."

  Raine chuckled and then groaned. "There goes Cassie making her way through your brothers and brother-in-laws. She looks like a kid in a candy store."

  Noah pulled her closer. "And look, there goes Garrick, firmly behind her, like a faithful shadow, determined to keep her in line."

  Indeed, Garrick had a close eye on his new wife. Cassie had married him on Christmas Day after Garrick had given her an ultimatum, stop flirting with other m
en or else he'd leave.

  Raine believed that Cassie really wanted to change and indeed she was seeing little glimmers of that in her behavior these days.

  Bradley and Whitney were remarkably still together. After a rough patch where he had to prove himself trustworthy to Whitney again. Brad had started an Island Spice business that was doing well. It was separate from his wife's holdings.

  Whitney had turned out to be a very good friend to Raine. She was invaluable when it came to arranging dinners and all of that stuff that Raine wasn't that experienced with.

  And as for her and Noah, they had gotten married after her graduation from college in June in Treasure Beach with his wonderful family. Their picture was up on the wall along with the rest of the family pictures.

  In fact, this year they had taken an iconic Scarlett family picture beside Pops' boat. All the generations of Scarletts. It had pride of place on their living room wall.

  She still ran the bookstore because she really liked doing it. She would never be a lady of leisure, she had too much work ethic ingrained in her.

  The DJ started playing No Goodbye by Beres Hammond.

  "What are you thinking about?" Noah whispered in her ear.

  "That I am happy," Raine said pulling him toward the stairs. "This song deserves that we make a spectacle of ourselves on the dance floor."

  Noah groaned and followed her.

  The musician restarted the music for them and they held tightly together and danced their way into the New Year.

  The End

  Author's Notes

  Dear Reader,

  THANK YOU for reading Scarlett Heart! The final book in the Scarlett Series. I hope you enjoyed reading this book as much as I enjoyed writing it.

  I can't believe we have reached the end of the Scarlett series! Already I am having Scarlett World Withdrawal Symptoms.

  If you are interested in learning more about the heart/mind connection, the documentary Of Hearts and Minds is a good place to start.