by Rachel Hanna
She drove around the square and down a side road that led up the mountain a bit. Then she turned right onto a long gravel road where there was a sign that said “Blue Ridge Orchards”. It was closed off with a metal gate, but Mr. Dylan had texted her the combination to the lock so she was able to get in.
As she continued up the road, she was shocked at the beauty of the place. The drive was lined with pecan trees and looked like something out of a postcard. Then the house came into view and took Piper’s breath away.
It was gorgeous! A huge white antebellum home with a wrap around front porch and hunter green shutters, it looked like it had dropped right out of Gone With The Wind. She heard herself gasp as she stopped the car and stepped out to stare up at the place.
It was half hers now. The thought blew her away.
There was a lot more to the property, she’d been told, including the two guest houses. But right now she just wanted to take a peek inside of the place so she took one of her suitcases and located the key in a flower pot near the front door. Apparently crime wasn’t a huge concern in Whiskey Ridge.
The front door was taller than any she’d ever seen and it was made from thick, heavy dark mahogany mixed with stained glass. As she keyed the lock, it felt like she was opening the door to a large castle instead of her new home.
It made a bit of a creaking noise which was a little spooky given the fact that she was out in the woods alone in a 150+ year old home. She’d never believed in ghosts, but right now she was starting to wonder if she might run across one.
When she opened the door, her breath left her yet again as she looked around. The furniture was all covered in white sheets, probably because Lola hadn’t lived there in decades now. Still, the place was clean as a whistle, so it was obvious she’d had a cleaning lady or someone taking care of it from time to time.
There was a large, wide foyer just inside of the door, and in front of her was a huge two-story winding staircase leading upstairs. She could almost hear the sound of music from the Civil War with bugles and drums clattering. Surely Scarlett O’Hara would be coming down those stairs any minute now.
On one side of the foyer was a formal dining room with a huge table as if Lola had expected the royal family to arrive at any time. It was weird since she’d only had one child - and later had Cameron living with her too. Plus, Lola didn’t seem to be someone who had elegant and expensive tastes. She’d have to ask Cameron more about his grandmother at some point - if they could have a cordial conversation.
As with most homes of the era, the floors were hardwood and there were random sitting rooms scattered on the first floor. As she continued to the back of the house, she noticed the kitchen had been expanded and updated at some point. There were gold flecked granite countertops and a beautiful deep basin sink, along with a large island. She had never seen a kitchen so big and beautiful, and she’d certainly never cooked in one.
The thought of Lucas running about in this home and eating in that kitchen caused her to get teary-eyed. In that moment, she realized just how much Lola had changed their lives.
“Welcome!” she heard a voice say from behind her.
Startled, she turned around with her hand on her chest while darting her eyes back to the kitchen counter to see if there was a knife anywhere.
“Who are you?” she asked the man. He was Hispanic and very short, but he had a broad smile on his face under a brimmed straw hat. His skin was dark as if he’d been working outside everyday for his entire life.
“Sorry I scare you,” he said with a chuckle. “I’m Hector. I live here. Took care of this place for thirty years for Miss Lola.”
Lola had never mentioned anyone named Hector, and neither had Mr. Dylan or Cameron for that matter. This guy might be an ax murderer, although he seemed far too happy for that, Piper thought.
“You live here… in the house?” she asked, still backed up against the kitchen counter with the knife block now in view.
“No, no… I live in one of the guest houses,” he said with another laugh. This had to be the happiest man on Earth.
“Will you excuse me for just a moment?” she asked. Hector nodded as he walked toward the refrigerator and pulled out a bottle of water. Piper slowly walked to the patio door and pulled out her phone as soon as she’d slid the door shut behind her.
She called Mr. Dylan. “Hi. It’s Piper Williams.”
“Oh yes, Piper. Nice to hear from you. I trust you found he place okay?” he asked. She could hear him ruffling papers in the background as if she was interrupting his work.
“I did. But then a man named Hector came walking into the house…”
Mr. Dylan started laughing. “I’m sorry. I totally forgot to mention Hector.”
“Yeah. You did.” She wasn’t amused, mainly because she was tired and recently terrified. “So he comes with the house?”
“Well, for now. Once you and Cameron decide what to do with the place in a few weeks, I suppose you’ll make that decision together too. But, keep in mind that Hector has been running things for Lola and her late husband for around thirty years. He started there when he was only twenty years old himself, and he knows that place inside and out.”
She wondered how he had forgotten to mention such an important person. If Hector knew it all, she was going to be his best friend.
She hung up and walked back inside to find Hector drinking his water at the breakfast bar and eating a sandwich he’d made. He seemed very at home.
“Sorry about that…” she started.
“No need for sorry,” he said as he stood up. “Welcome to Blue Ridge Orchard.” He walked over and hugged her, which took Piper off guard at first.
“Thank you.”
Hector stepped back and smiled knowingly. “You look exhausted. Get some rest. Tomorrow, I show you everything, okay?” His thick accent made it a little hard to understand him, and Piper was surprised he’d maintained it after so many years in America.
“Okay. And sorry for thinking you were a burglar or something,” she said laughing. But he was right. She was exhausted, and all she wanted was a quiet evening at home. Her new home.
* * *
The next morning, Piper woke up rejuvenated. Somewhere between her hot bath and crashing into her comfortable bed, she’d realized that her days as a diner waitress were over.
And it felt good. She was about to become a real business owner, and although she was excited by the prospect, she was also a little scared. What if she ran the business straight into the ground? After all, she knew nothing about apples or orchards.
The weight of the worry was already starting to consume her. She didn’t want to let Lola down after she and her husband had worked so hard for decades on making the business successful.
And it meant everything to her own future and her son’s. Plus, she had no idea how she would live and work with Cameron. He seemed to be a loose cannon, and even the locals remembered him which didn’t seem like it was a good thing.
She walked downstairs, still wiping the sleep from her eyes, and padded into the kitchen to make coffee. The sun had only been up for half an hour, and she looked out over the land from her kitchen window. It occurred to her that she didn’t even know how many acres the property was, or where the orchard was. There was so much to learn.
After drinking two cups of coffee, Piper threw on some jeans and a sweatshirt, along with a pair of boots she’d picked up at a thrift store in Minnsville. She had figured boots would be a prerequisite if she was going to live on so much land.
She walked outside and took a deep breath of the fresh air all around her, and she swore she could smell apples. The land was beautiful with lush green grass stretching as far as the eye could see. The property was also dotted with groves of trees, and it was hilly being that it was in the mountains.
Off in the distance, she could see parts of the Blue Ridge Mountains, given their name for the blue color they appeared to be. It was like standing in the middle of
a picture postcard, her own personal dream property.
“Good morning!” she heard Hector say from behind. He was all smiles again this morning, and it occurred to her that his cheeks must hurt from smiling so much.
“Good morning, Hector. Nice to see you again,” she said. This time she reached out and shook his hand, mainly so he wouldn’t hug her again. She barely knew him, and Piper was a bit guarded about who she let touch her.
“You ready?”
“Ready?” she asked.
“To see your orchard?” he asked, grinning from ear to ear. Behind him was a golf cart, evidently used to traverse the property. She nodded in agreement and followed him to the vehicle.
They drove in companionable silence for a few minutes before Hector stopped at a large grove of trees. She could see the apples on them from a distance.
“This the orchard. We grow all kinds of apples.”
“Who buys them?” she asked.
“During the apple festival each year, the public picks them. During the rest of year, we sell to local grocery stores mainly.”
“And that pays all the bills for this place?” she asked incredulously. She wasn’t exactly an experienced business woman, but it seemed impossible that growing apples and selling them was maintaining such a large place and turning a huge profit.
Hector smiled as if he knew some big secret and then chuckled. “Apple business is good, but not that good.” He put special emphasis on “that”.
“Okay, I don’t understand. Mr. Dylan was very clear about the revenue from this business…”
“Miss Lola was a very smart business woman,” he said. “I show you.” He backed the golf cart up and turned down a long path that went through a patch of woods. It dawned on Piper that she was out in the middle of nowhere with a strange man, but Hector didn’t seem to be threatening in the least.
When they came to a stop, Piper was stunned at what she saw. There were three huge greenhouses, state-of-the-art from what she could tell, sitting in a large field. It was one of the only flat parts of the property that she’d seen with the exception of the orchard itself, and even that was a bit hilly.
This area of the property was almost like an English garden, hidden away amongst the blue tinged mountains around her. Between the three greenhouses was a beautiful manmade pond with a waterfall in the middle and flat slate stones surrounding it.
She’d never seen such a beautiful sight.
“Hector, what is this place?”
“This is Miss Lola’s pot of gold, right here. This is what I do for her.” Hector smiled and got out of the golf cart as he waved for Piper to follow him. She got out as Hector opened the door to one of the greenhouses.
When they stepped inside, Piper was speechless. For as far as the eye could see, there were rose bushes. The color of the roses was like none she’d ever seen before in her life. They were a pale pink with blood red tips and almost a tie dyed appearance in between.
She walked up and touched the tip of one ever so carefully before bending down to smell it. There must’ve been hundreds of bushes in this greenhouse alone.
“I don’t understand. I thought this was an orchard?” she asked.
Hector sat on a large empty flower pot turned upside down and started to speak.
“Many years ago, it was just an orchard, yes. Times got a bit tough, and Miss Lola was a smart cookie. She loved roses, so she took a loan and had a greenhouse built. It was a tiny thing, only held about ten bushes. She started studying, and she learned how to mix the varieties and create her own. That’s when the business went way up, you see, because word got around about her roses. She went from doing little weddings here in town to celebrities having her roses flown in for events. We even had an order about six years ago from the Royal Family in England.”
Piper was stunned. “Why didn’t Mr. Dylan or Cameron mention this?”
“Miss Lola asked Mr. Dylan to make this your surprise. And Cameron knows about the roses, but he doesn’t know how much money they’re worth.”
“And you’ve taken care of them all these years?” she asked.
“Yes, ma’am. It was my honor to keep them growing even after Miss Lola left Whiskey Ridge.”
It occurred to Piper just how loyal Hector had been. After all, he could’ve stolen from Lola years ago. He could’ve let the roses die, but they looked amazing.
“You will stay on, right?” she asked, worried that Hector might leave since Lola didn’t will something to him after her death.
“Of course. This is my life. This place, this land… But we will need to work more on this business because the last few years have slowed down. Maybe you know how to get the word out?”
Piper felt woefully inadequate in that department. She wasn’t exactly full of marketing knowledge, but she would worry about that later. For now, she needed to brush up on her knowledge of roses and start studying up on running a business.
After spending some time at the greenhouses, Hector drove her back to the house so that he could get some of his work done. Piper stood in the front entryway alone, astounded by how her life had changed in a few short days. And she could feel the energy of Lola all around her, from the tassels hanging on her long draperies to the fluffy pillows on her overstuffed sofa.
She couldn’t wait to see what her life looked like in six weeks.
Chapter 5
Piper had only been living at Blue Ridge Orchards for three days, but already she was making big strides in understanding the running of the business. Her goal was to have everything running smoothly before her mother and Lucas arrived in ten more days.
She’d already picked out Lucas’s bedroom, which was just two doors down from her own. They would have a bathroom between them so she would have easy access to her son at any time.
Her mother would be living in one of the guesthouses, which were cute cottages with their own kitchens on the edge of the property. Hector lived in the other one, of course, and would continue to do so.
The cottage for her mother was adorable and already decorated with a country flair that she knew her mother would love. Piper would run into town and stock it with groceries before her mother arrived, but otherwise it was ready to go.
She hadn’t heard a word from Cameron, which she didn’t find all that strange given the way they’d met. He wasn’t happy she was a part of his grandmother’s will, and he likely never would be. But it had been Lola’s choice, and Piper was thrilled to have a second chance at life. She wanted to make Lola proud.
Getting to know Hector had been interesting so far. He’d been born in Guatemala and came to the US only a few months before meeting Lola’s husband. At the time, he was hired to do some manual labor on the property, but he ended up planting most of the apple trees in the orchard himself.
Hector had never married, choosing to focus instead on his work at the orchard. It made Piper a little sad to think about Hector never having love in his life, but it was hard to feel bad for him since he seemed so happy all the time.
After another day of fiddling with the roses in one of the greenhouses, Piper decided she needed a nice, long, hot bath with a big glass of wine from a bottle she’d found in the refrigerator. She had no idea where it came from, but she was more than happy to drink it.
She filled the tub with bubbles and slipped out of her robe down into the hot water. The tub was large and modern with high powered jets that she’d tried out two days ago, but this time she opted for still waters and a pair of headphones blasting her favorite country music.
Her mind wandered to images of Minnsville, the diner, her son… She thought about all of the changes that Lucas would get to experience. A new, amazing home. A new school. Not feeling like a poor kid. His life would be different than hers was, no matter what.
As a child, she had always wanted exactly what this piece of land embodied - vast open spaces, a beautiful family home and the beauty of nature. She had wanted dogs and horses and every kind of animal
possible, but living in small apartments and mobile homes hadn’t exactly provided her with the opportunity to have more than a goldfish during her childhood.
She sunk further down into the warm water as Garth Brooks sang a sweet tune in her ear, the bubbles around her tickling her earlobe. When there was a lull in the song, she thought she heard something so she opened her eyes and screamed when she saw Cameron standing over her, his mouth hanging open a bit.
“What are you doing in here? Get out!” she yelled, but she wasn’t exactly in a position to do much about it. One false move and the bubbles would move and showcase a lot more of her than she wanted this man to see.
“Sorry! Really… I didn’t know you were in here…” he stammered as he turned around and faced his back to her.
“I said get out!” she yelled again. He threw his hands up and walked out of the bathroom. She quickly jumped up and out of the tub, almost losing her footing on the slick tile floor, and locked the bathroom door.
“I said I’m sorry,” he called from the other side.
“What are you, some kind of pervert?” she said back as she toweled off and put her robe back on.
“Actually,” he said, “that’s not the proper use of the word ‘pervert’. To say pervert assumes that I’m operating from some place of sexual deviance or that looking at a beautiful woman in a bathtub - which I wasn’t doing intentionally, by the way - is somehow abnormal…”
She swung the door open and found herself face to face with him. “So you admit you were staring at me? While I was naked and didn’t even know you were there? That’s a pervert,” she said as she brushed past him and opened her suitcase to find something less comfortable to wear.
“Look, this is my room. Or it was when I was living here.”
“Okay… And wasn’t that like over a decade ago?”
“It was still my room. So I just automatically came in here. I didn’t even see your suitcase since it was on the other side of the bed. I didn’t hear any water running. So, I just walked into the bathroom because I was about to take a shower… and there you were.”
