Orchard Hill Volume Three

by Kara Lynn Russell

  Hope was beaming. It was a small success, but it meant progress, Harmony hoped. Although she didn’t know the whole story behind their courtship, Oliver impressed her as a good person.

  Hope excused herself to get coffee and dessert. Faith and Harmony both offered to help and followed her into the kitchen. Instead of getting the dessert, Faith and Hope stared at Harmony.

  “What is it?”

  Faith spoke first. “I’m so sorry I misjudged you, Harmony. I never thought of my messy life quite that way.”

  “I shouldn’t have said that. I didn’t mean to imply that you should feel sorry for me. I have a great career, and I’m making friends here all the time.” That was a bit of a fib. Her career would be a whole lot better if she’d signed on for another season of her television show, and her friends in Orchard Hill were few.

  “Oh not at all,” Faith hurried to assure her. “But I guess everyone has their own blessings and problems. I just never considered my messy life to be a blessing. Thank you for showing me that.”

  Harmony smiled. “You’re welcome. And really, no one could ever take your place with Andrew.”

  Hope, being a bit more exuberant, pulled Harmony into a hug. “You bet you’re making new friends here. I think Faith and I are ready to sign on for life. And I know my nieces and nephews adore you.”

  “Really?” Harmony said when Hope released her. “I haven’t had much experience with children.”

  “Then, you’re a natural.” Hope grabbed the carafe from the coffee maker. “Now let’s get dessert ready.”

  The evening ended on a positive note. It was late when Joseph drove his truck into Harmony’s drive and parked.

  “Did you have a good time?” he asked.

  “Yes. Your sister is wonderful. She has a big heart. And I think Faith and I will be good friends, too.”

  Joseph studied her with a sidelong gaze. Harmony looked happy. There was a slight flush to her cheeks and there was a smile that peeked out onto her face every once in a while. For once, he was glad Hope had meddled.

  He walked her to her door.

  “I still can’t believe you renovated my house,” Harmony said as they climbed the porch steps. “The kitchen is especially beautiful. I bought the house just for the kitchen. The rest is wonderful, too, but it could have been falling down, and I still would have bought the house if that kitchen came with it.”

  Joseph was only half listening. He was wondering if it would be too forward to ask Harmony for a good night kiss.

  She unlocked the door and turned back to him. “Thank you for taking me tonight. I really did have a good time.”

  “Harmony,” asked Joseph. “Did you think Hope was trying to set us up as a couple tonight?”

  Her gaze dropped from his. “Maybe.”

  “You know, usually I get mad at Hope when she tries to interfere in my life.”

  “Usually?”

  “Yeah. But not this time.”

  “You mean…you and I…”

  “I’d like to go out with you again, Harmony.”

  Slowly she raised her eyes to his. They were filled with tears. “I don’t know what to say.”

  “Yes or no will do.”

  Still she hesitated, and Joseph got a sinking feeling in his stomach. He’d misread her. She was going to say ‘no.’

  “I don’t think it would be a good idea for you to get involved with me, Joseph.”

  “Why not?” This was better than a flat refusal, he told himself. At least he had room to debate.

  “I’m not very good at…relationship stuff. If I can’t clean it or cook it, I’m lost, I guess.” She gave him a sad little smile.

  “That email I saw on the night of the storm…”

  “You read it. I knew it.”

  “I didn’t do it on purpose. I only saw a little bit anyway. It said, ‘it was cruel of you to leave me this way.’ Who was that from—a boyfriend, a husband?”

  She shook her head. “You don’t understand, and I’m not going to explain it. Just let it go, Joseph. You don’t need me.”

  Two tears overflowed from her eyes and coursed down her cheeks. He wiped them away with his thumbs.

  “Why don’t you tell me about it, and let me decide if you’re dangerous or not.”

  More tears escaped. “I don’t want to talk about it.”

  Again he reached out for her, to wipe the tears from her face, and then he cupped her face in his hands. “You’re the first woman I’ve been interested in for a long time. There’s something special about you, Harmony.”

  “Don’t make this so hard.” Another trickle of tears slid down her cheeks. This time Joseph kissed them away.

  Harmony shuddered, but didn’t move away, so Joseph moved his lips to hers, a gentle, feathery caress. Again, she didn’t pull away, so he kissed her a second time, longer and more ardently. Harmony began to respond, to kiss him back. Then, in a sudden surge of movement, she pushed him away.

  Before Joseph could recover, she’d slipped inside and locked the door behind her. There was nothing he could do but let her go.

  TITLE

  Orchard Hill: volume three

  Chapter 6

  Harmony was not in church the next day. Joseph tried not to feel disappointed. She hadn’t said anything about not returning his feelings. She’d said ‘you don’t need me.’ That was different.

  When a week had passed without a glimpse of Harmony, he began to feel concerned. Another week, and he was grouchier than a bear woken in midwinter, something Hope commented on one evening after the education committee meeting at church. The other members had gone, but Hope and Joseph lingered to talk.

  “I’m sorry,” he apologized. “I’ve been putting in a lot of hours lately. I must be overtired.”

  Hope tilted her head, studying him. “Somehow I don’t think that’s it.”

  Joseph started to scowl, but stopped himself in time to attempt nonchalance as he said, “Why would you think that?”

  “Abby says she hasn’t seen Harmony around since the dinner party. You two were getting along so well. What happened?”

  Joseph shrugged. “She wasn’t interested.”

  “There has to be more to it than that,” Hope insisted.

  “Believe it or not, there are women out there who aren’t interested in a forty-something single father of three and guardian of the Terrible Trio.”

  She frowned. “Somehow I don’t think Harmony is one of them. She said something to Faith and me when we were doing dishes…Oh, maybe it’s nothing.”

  “What was it?” Maybe it could help him understand why Harmony was avoiding him.

  “I don’t know if it’s something she wanted repeated.”

  “Hope, you can’t leave me hanging now. You know I’ll keep whatever you say to myself.” He didn’t want to sound like it, but he was ready to beg. How had Harmony become so important to him in such a short time? He didn’t know, but there was nothing he could do about it.

  “You really like Harmony, don’t you?”

  “Is that so hard to believe?” Joseph grumbled.

  “Yes! Joseph, you haven’t given any woman a second glance since…”

  “Since Cheryl died, I know.”

  Hope wrapped an arm around his shoulders. “Are you all right?

  He hugged his sister back. “Yeah. I don’t even feel guilty about it. Is that bad?”

  A soft, brief laugh escaped her. “No, Joseph. Cheryl would be the first to tell you that.”

  “So, will you tell me what Harmony said?”

  “All right.” Hope filled him in on the conversation between herself, Faith and Harmony and then concluded with Harmony’s statement.

  “Sometimes a little mess is a blessing,” he repeated. “Thanks Hope. I’m going to talk to her.”

  ****

  Harmony hit the send button and her finished manuscript was on its way to her editor, via her new email account. She’d gotten so tired of deleting email from Blake th
at she’d switched to a new account and given the address only to her editor and her parents.

  The “message sent” flag came up, and that was it. Her baby was gone.

  For the last two weeks Harmony had worked almost non-stop to finish her cookbook before the deadline. Her freezer was completely full. The dishes were done, and now, the manuscript was sent. No more work to distract her from her troubles.

  The cloud of depression that had hovered over her since Joseph had kissed her, now threatened to descend and smother her. All the prayer and devotions in the world wouldn’t be able to hold it back now, she feared. She’d just have to hold on to her faith and weather the storm.

  She shut down her laptop and stared around her. The kitchen was immaculate. Her whole house was immaculate. What would she do tomorrow? Where would she find a reason to get out of bed?

  Lost in her own gloomy thoughts, Harmony didn’t hear the knock on her door at first. When she realized someone was practically pounding at her kitchen door, she got up to answer it. As she reached for the doorknob, she saw with horror that it was Blake’s face framed in the window. She backed away, but the door wasn’t locked. He opened it himself and walked in.

  ****

  Joseph parked his truck in his own driveway, but walked over to Harmony’s before going home. There was a light on in the kitchen, so he went around to the back.

  The door was ajar. He stepped in, and then took a step back in surprise when he saw Harmony in the arms of a strange man. He froze in the shadows of the doorway. But once his brain began processing the scene in front of him, he realized that Harmony was fighting to free herself from his embrace.

  She twisted away. He barely had time to take in her distraught expression and tear-stained cheeks before she cried, “Stop it, Blake. You know it’s over between us. Why are you here?”

  “I had to talk to you, and you won’t answer my emails.” He spoke in a soothing tone and advanced toward Harmony again. “I need you, baby. You have to come back.”

  Harmony shook her head violently. “You know I won’t do that. You aren’t really interested in me anyway. It’s the television show you care about. You…you tried to control me by romancing me.”

  “How can you say that?”

  Joseph couldn’t see the man’s face but he sounded sincerely hurt by Harmony’s accusation.

  “Would I follow you all the way out to this Podunk town if I didn’t love you?” he asked.

  “If there was something in it for you, you’d follow me to Mars.”

  “I admit that I want you to go back to work, but that’s not the only reason I want you back. You believe that, don’t you?”

  “No.” The single word was saturated with bitterness.

  “All right. The Home and Garden Network has shown an interest in the show. This could be a great opportunity for both of us. You have to come back. I promise I’ll make everything all right.”

  “You’ve lied to me before.”

  “I’m sorry about that, really, but it doesn’t have to be a problem. There’s no reason why we can’t still see each other.”

  “Not a problem? Is that how your wife sees it, Blake?”

  Silence followed. Apparently Blake had no answer to that. Instead he stepped toward her and reached out as if to take Harmony into his embrace again. Joseph decided it was time to make his presence known. He stepped in front of Harmony, saying, “You’ve been asked to leave. It doesn’t sound like you’re welcome here.”

  The man paused, obviously surprised by Joseph’s sudden appearance. “Who are you?”

  “I’m Harmony’s neighbor.”

  “This is none of your business,” he snarled at Joseph.

  “I’m making it my business. Now, Harmony asked you to leave.”

  Blake eyed up Joseph, as if judging what his success might be if it came to a fight. He was obviously someone who sat at a desk all day while Joseph earned his living through physical labor. There was no doubt of who was in better shape. Blake snapped, “Harmony, tell your friend to go.”

  She moved forward to talk to Blake over Joseph’s shoulder. He could feel her trembling and his anger at the intruder deepened.

  “I don’t want him to go, Blake. I want you to go.”

  “If you’d just let me explain…”

  “You’re married. You can’t explain that away.”

  “She’s got a point,” Joseph said, grimly.

  “You stay out of this,” barked Blake.

  Joseph did not want this incident to end in violence, but it was getting harder to restrain himself. Right now he was thinking that it would feel good to drive his fist into this creep’s face.

  Scowling deeply, Blake glared at them. Joseph met his stare and held it. After a moment, the man backed down. “Fine. But I don’t give up easily. You’ll be hearing from me again, Harmony.”

  “She’d better not,” Joseph retorted. “If you don’t leave her alone, we’ll report you to the police and get a restraining order.”

  “Harmony, you’ll regret this. You can write all the cookbooks you want, but it will never bring you the recognition or the money a television show would.” With that parting shot thrown over his shoulder, Blake left, slamming the door behind him.

  Joseph locked the door and watched while the man climbed into his car and drove away. Then he turned back to see if Harmony was all right.

  She was no where to be seen. “Harmony, where are you?” His voice echoed in the big house and there was no answer.

  He began to move through the rooms, continuing to call out to her. The bathroom door was locked.

  ****

  Harmony sat on the floor, her back against the tub.

  “Harmony, are you in there?”

  After a few moments, she answered. “Yes.”

  “He’s gone. You can come out.”

  She didn’t know what to say to him.

  “Harmony, are you all right?”

  “Thank you for your help, Joseph. Really, I’m fine. You can go home now.”

  “I can’t go home until I see for myself that you’re all right.”

  There was no way she could face him. “I can’t come out.”

  “Why? Are you hurt?” Concern resonated in his voice.

  “No.” Harmony choked back a sob. “I’m ashamed.”

  “Ashamed of what?”

  “Joseph….” How could he not understand? “You know I was involved with a married man.”

  “Did you know he was married?”

  “Of course not!”

  “Then what do you have to be ashamed of?”

  She groaned. “Just go away, please.”

  There was silence on the other side of the door. Had he really left? She didn’t think he’d go that easily and didn’t know why she should be disappointed that he did. Now she could indulge herself in a good cry. She’d let herself wallow in her failures tonight, but tomorrow she’d get up and face the day and …

  And then what?

  She started at the sound of something heavy being put down.

  “Harmony, are you going to come out or not?”

  Her heart gave a little skip. He was back. “Please, Joseph, I can’t. I promise I’ll be fine. You can go home.”

  “If you don’t come out, I’m coming in.”

  “Ha. How are you going to do that?”

  “I’ve got my tools. I’ll take the door off its hinges.”

  Harmony jumped to her feet. “You wouldn’t.”

  “You’d better believe I would. Are you coming out?”

  “No!”

  Joseph worked fast. In only a few minutes, the door was wobbling. In another minute, he had it down altogether.

  Harmony stood there stunned. She didn’t know what to think, what to say. Should she be happy he cared so much or angry that he may have ruined her door?

  Joseph himself looked less than happy. In fact, he looked furious. He reached out and took her wrist, pulled her out of the bathroom and int
o the living room, where he gently pushed her down on the sofa.

  He sat next to her, turned so he could see her face. “Now,” Joseph said, “you’re going to tell me what’s going on.”