Orchard Hill Volume Two

by Kara Lynn Russell

  “Come on, you two,” she shouted. “You’ll have plenty of time for that later. I’m starving. Let’s go eat.”

  Sarah opened the door a crack and said, “We’ll be right there.”

  “No way,” Hope insisted. “If we leave, you’ll just go back to what you were doing.”

  Oliver stepped in and pulled Hope away. “We’ll be inside,” he called back.

  Sarah turned back to David and speared him with a sizzling glare. “Got any more bright ideas?”

  He grinned back. “No, but I like Hope’s. Let’s go back to what we were doing.”

  “David, please be serious.”

  “I got a little carried away, but you can’t ask me to apologize because I liked kissing you.”

  “You…you…”

  He wanted to laugh at her confusion, but that would be mean. After all, he was feeling a bit confused himself. “If you don’t want to continue with the kissing, I suggest we follow Hope and Oliver into the restaurant.”

  “Yes, let’s do that,” she replied, much to his disappointment.

  It turned out to be a good thing that they’d discussed the details of their supposed relationship before coming into the restaurant. Hope and Faith were intent on grilling Sarah about every detail of her secret romance.

  “I can’t believe you didn’t tell us about this,” Faith scolded. “After all, I divulged to you my secret crush on Andrew.”

  “And I told you all about Oliver just up and proposing from out of the blue,” Hope added. “Why didn’t you tell us you’d met someone?”

  “Oh, well,” Sarah told them, surprised that she could sound so nonchalant when her heart was still racing after David’s kiss. “It was just an online friendship. I had no idea it would actually lead to…to this.”

  “It’s so romantic,” Hope sighed. “Who would have thought that Charity’s uncle would be your internet boyfriend?”

  Faith laughed. “Who would have thought that all three of us would be engaged before the end of the summer? Certainly not me!”

  Suddenly the whole charade was too much for Sarah. She excused herself to the ladies’ room, where she locked herself into a stall and leaned against the door. Sarah noticed that she was shaking and she hugged herself, in hopes of stopping it.

  Things had certainly spun out of control today. To have everyone else find out about the engagement was bad enough, but she should never have let David kiss her. The first time he’d kissed her had been little more than a peck, and that had been enough to send her heart into cartwheels. When he’d suggested a practice kiss in the car, she’d expected the same thing, a quick peck, and that was it.

  She’d never anticipated a kiss like that or the tornado of emotion it released inside her. She had a sudden urge to take off the engagement ring and flush it down the toilet, despising the lie that it represented. She was in way over her head here, and no matter what happened she knew her heart would be broken now when David left.

  Charity. She had to think of Charity. If she could save Charity from the clutches of Beverly Van Huesen, it would be worth nursing a broken heart.

  Actually, Sarah realized that she didn’t know if David planned to keep Charity or if he was still looking for a suitable guardian to step in. Maybe she could be that person. David was way out of her league, she knew that. But maybe she could be a mother to Charity, maybe she could be the one who made sure the little girl got the love and attention she needed.

  Sarah took a deep breath, feeling better now that she’d found her focus again. She heard the door to the ladies room creak open.

  “Sarah?” Hope’s voice drifted in. “The rest of us are ready to order. Are you coming back out?”

  “Yes, I’ll be right there.”

  She whispered a quick prayer, asking for composure, but not sure if she deserved to have it answered. She was in the middle of a major lie, after all.

  She made it through brunch, but asked David to drop her off at her house afterward. “There are a few things I need to get done,” she told him.

  “All right. How about supper at my place, later. Remember, you wanted to go over our life stories.”

  Oh yeah, she had said that.

  “Plus I have to go out of town again next week. Can you stay with Charity?”

  “Sure, I guess. Do you usually travel this much?”

  “Yes. Now do you see why I need some help with Charity? I’ll have to hire a nanny if she’s going to stay with me.”

  “Maybe you’ll still find someone who wants to adopt her. Besides Beverly I mean.”

  “Maybe. It would have to be someone I really trust.” He looked thoughtful for a moment, and Sarah wondered if she should ask about adopting Charity. Before she could decide, David turned back to her.

  “Anyway, supper at my house. Six o’clock all right?”

  “Six is fine. I’ll see you then.”

  Sarah was about to get out of the car when David leaned over and kissed her quickly.

  “What was that for?”

  He smiled and winked at her. “Just in case the neighbors were watching. I can do it again if you think that was too quick.”

  “No.” Sarah scrambled out of the car so fast that she almost fell. “No, that’s just fine.” She slammed the door shut and hurried into the building and up to her apartment.

  TITLE

  Orchard Hill: volume Two

  Chapter 6

  David left on Tuesday. Charity was Sarah’s shadow again for the week. She went with Sarah to school and played with the toys in the classroom while Sarah worked with students. Sarah took Charity for ice cream and to the park. One evening they watched the latest Disney movie. Sarah was becoming more and more sure that she would like to be Charity’s mother.

  But this was a big step. She had to look at every aspect of joining her life with Charity’s before she proposed it to David. The first thing she did was look over her bank balance. Could she afford to feed and clothe a child?

  Sarah’s apartment was small, with only one bedroom. She’d have to find an apartment with two bedrooms. Could she afford the increase in rent? Maybe if she decreased the amount of money she sent to her brother. He’d found a good job this summer. Maybe he could get by.

  There was one other thing Sarah felt she needed to do before making a final decision. She needed to ask God what he thought. Sarah spent every morning in prayer, asking Him to show her His will concerning herself and Charity.

  On the morning of the day David was to return, Sarah found a letter in the mailbox from a Chicago legal firm. She looked at it with dread. It must be from Beverly’s lawyers.

  What if Beverly was successful in winning her case against David? Sarah wasn’t going to allow herself to think about it. Instead, she planned dinner for David’s return.

  Knowing that cooking wasn’t her strong point, she spread her collection of take-out menus on the kitchen table. Granted, in Orchard Hill there wasn’t as much variety as she would have had in the city, but it was enough.

  There was a tavern that offered broasted chicken and fish for take out. Then there was a pizza place, a sub place and a Chinese restaurant. What sounded good?

  Before she could decide, David was at the door, home early.

  He greeted Charity with a hug and a kiss. Sarah thought he might do the same to her and sent him a warning look. Either he had no such thought or her glare had stopped him. Instead he leaned over her and picked up a menu.

  “What’s this?”

  “It’s a take-out menu.” She refused to acknowledge the disappointment she felt when he didn’t kiss her hello. “I didn’t think you’d feel like cooking tonight.”

  “Are you kidding? I’ve been eating this junk all week. I’m going to have to teach you to cook, Sarah.”

  “You wouldn’t want me as a student. I’m hopeless in the kitchen.”

  “We’ll see about that. Let’s get started.”

  “Now? Tonight?”

  “Yes. Lesson number o
ne is ‘how to grill a steak.’”

  “We don’t have any steak.”

  “Then I guess we’re going to the store.” He lifted Charity off the chair she was sitting on and set her on the floor. “Go find your sandals, kiddo.”

  Charity giggled, a rare and welcome sound, and then hurried off to get her shoes. It was so different, coming home to Charity—and Sarah. Before this, David really didn’t care how much he was on the road. Now, he found himself putting in extra hours so he could return to ‘his girls’ as he had come to think of them.

  All week, the kiss from the parking lot had played over and over in his mind. He’d known he was attracted to Sarah before this. Now he was sure there was something between them—something real—in spite of their fake engagement.

  But he knew it would take some convincing for her to believe that what he felt was unrelated to his need to keep Charity safe.

  Charity came running, her shoes in hand. He set her back on the chair and helped her slip on her sandals. She smiled at him, something David hadn’t seen since Maggie passed away. When Charity smiled, he realized with a jolt that she looked exactly like his sister. Suddenly, he was very thankful that Maggie had left Charity to him. He’d been so worried about taking care of her that he hadn’t thought—Charity was his only link to his sister now.

  “David, is something wrong?”

  Sarah was looking at him with concern. “When we were kids,” he said, “Karen was the boss while Mom was working. We’d get home from school and there’d be a list of chores on the table. Karen would divide them between Maggie and me and then go plant herself in front of the television. Maggie was really the one who was there for me. She used to help me with my homework when I was little and then gave me tips on dating when I was older.”

  “It sounds like you were very close. You must miss her.”

  “I do. I just realized that I’m glad she left Charity to me. I’m glad she thought she could count on me for this.”

  Her eyes filled with tears. “Oh, David.”

  He quickly rose, intending to comfort her. It was just like Sarah to cry for someone else’s pain.

  She held out an envelope to him. “This came today.”

  He took it, noted the return address. “From Beverly’s lawyers, no doubt.”

  “That’s what I thought, too.”

  He grabbed a letter opener from the counter, slit the envelope and quickly scanned its contents. “It’s a formal request to adopt Charity and states their intent of pursuing the matter to court, if necessary.”

  David shrugged and threw the letter on the counter. “It’s what we expected.”

  “I know, but now that it’s happening…”

  “Now that it’s happening, it’s even more important for us to stay together, Sarah. Do you still think you can handle it?”

  She glanced over at Charity, then back to him and nodded.

  “Good. Because I’m hungry. Let’s go to the store.”

  Over the next few weeks they fell into a routine. David was generally gone several days during the week, often the whole week. While he was gone, Sarah stayed at Maggie’s house with Charity. She grew to love the little house filled with pictures of Charity, lovely green houseplants and many cozy handmade quilts. During the day, she took Charity with her to school. The beginning of the school year was coming up fast and Sarah needed to get her room ready.

  On the weekends, when David was home, Sarah went back to her apartment, but every day they did ‘family things.’ They went to the N.E.W. Zoo near Green Bay and to Bay Beach Park, where David took Charity down the huge slide while Sarah watched and waved at them. At home they watched videos, played Candyland with Charity, and cooked up a storm. David was determined to teach Sarah to cook. They went to church every Sunday and gave the impression of a happy family in the making.

  It was always time for David to leave before Sarah was willing to see him go.

  David handled all the details of the case with Beverly and refused to let Sarah worry about any of it. As the case progressed, the court appointed a representative for Charity. David and Sarah both met with the guardian ad litem, a lawyer who was to be an advocate solely for Charity, without any partiality toward either of the parties who wanted to adopt her. This was standard procedure during any custody case, David assured her. Beverly and her husband were required to meet with the guardian as well.

  One sunny morning in August, when Sarah was staying with Charity, the doorbell rang. Opening the door, she found Hope and Faith, and Robin, Faith’s stepdaughter-to-be, on the steps. “Hey everyone, what’s up?”

  “This is a bride’s day out,” exclaimed Hope.

  Faith chimed in. “No excuses this time. I know your schedule. You have no appointments today. And I’ve brought you childcare.”

  “That’s me,” Robin said. “I have a great day planned for Charity. We’re going to the lake for a picnic and swimming.”

  Hope and Faith had been trying to get Sarah to spend the day shopping for wedding dresses. She’d been so busy that it hadn’t been difficult to put them off. But she certainly didn’t expect a sneak attack like this.

  “She’s speechless,” Hope crowed. “Let’s grab her before she can gather her wits.”

  Faith and Hope each grabbed one of Sarah’s arms and pulled her out of the house.

  “But, but…”

  “Is the stove on?” asked Faith.

  “No.”

  “Water running in the sink?”

  “No.”

  “Then let’s go. Robin will take care of everything,” Faith assured her.

  “All right. Just let me say good-bye to Charity.” What else could she do? Certainly now wasn’t the time to give away her secret. Shopping for wedding dresses it was.

  The trip to Green Bay was fun. The three of them hadn’t done anything together since before school ended. As the miles flew by, Sarah enjoyed catching up with her friends.

  Once they hit the first wedding boutique, everything changed. All the focus was on the upcoming ceremonies. “Really, Sarah, haven’t you and David talked about anything? You don’t even have a date set,” scolded Hope.

  She shrugged. “We’ve been too worried about the custody case with Beverly to think about wedding stuff.”

  “Even if you haven’t discussed it with David, haven’t you thought about what you’d like your wedding to be like? Don’t you have any ideas?” asked Faith as she examined a white tea length dress.

  “What do you two have planned?” Sarah picked through the rack of dresses half heartedly. It wasn’t much fun when you knew your engagement wouldn’t end at the altar.

  “Andrew and I just want a small ceremony,” Faith began. “It’s the second wedding for both of us. My first had all the pageantry you could want. This time I just want to enjoy having all my family and friends around me for our special day. I’m keeping everything simple.”

  “Don’t mention family,” groaned Hope. “I still haven’t met Oliver’s, and after what he’s told me, I’m not sure if I want to.”

  “Oh, don’t say that,” Faith interjected. “Oliver turned out to be a great guy, so they can’t be that bad.”

  Sarah listened to her friends debate the merits of a small ceremony versus a large one, what should be served at the reception, and what kind of cake was best. She was glad to fade into the background. She was examining the intricate beading on a tiny evening bag when Hope called out, “Sarah, come here.”

  “What?”

  “This dress is perfect for you.”

  ****

  In his hotel room late that night, David closed the program he was working on and took one last look at his email. There was a message from an hvelasquez. He didn’t know anyone with that address, did he? Then, he remembered Sarah’s friend Hope. Suddenly worried that something was wrong, he opened the email. The message said simply, “We took Sarah shopping today. What do you think of this?”

  David clicked on the attachment, a
nd a picture opened on his screen. His breath caught. It was Sarah in a bride’s dress. The bodice was fitted, and the skirt fell fairly straight until it flared out at the knees. It was simple, understated and feminine. It was perfect for Sarah.

  He clicked on the button that enlarged the picture. Poor Sarah. She must have hated that her friends did this. She had a definitely guilty look on her face, as though she’d been caught with her hand in the cookie jar.