by Emily March
The doubt in her eyes put a bit of devilment into his. “As perfect as you want me to be.”
“Very perfect.” The dryness of her tone and the surrender in her smile telegraphed his victory. “Okay, I’ll do it.”
“Perfect.” Boone winked, then gestured toward the sky and repeated, “Perfect. Perfection.”
The western sky was a blaze of yellow, orange, and scarlet fading to rose, pink, and purple. “Yes,” Hannah breathed. “What a glorious sky.”
They watched silently, standing side by side, their hands linked, as the sun sank below the mountain ridge and colors faded shadows. But just when the brilliance appeared to be over, a brief, bright flare of gold burst against the evening sky. “Wow,” Hannah said.
Boone released her hand, wrapped his arm around her shoulders, and gave her a hug. “I think Nature just blew you a kiss to celebrate the end of your anniversary day.”
“Not Nature,” she replied, blinking rapidly. “Sophia and Zoe. They are Sophia and Zoe.”
Chapter Six
Boone silently repeated the names. Sophia and Zoe. Girls. Little girls, he’d bet. Ah, Hannah Dupree, you break my heart.
Swiftly deepening twilight cast her face in shadow but failed to hide the anguish in her watery eyes. “Want to tell me about Sophia and Zoe?”
She filled her lungs with air, then blew out a heavy breath. “I don’t know. I haven’t talked about them in three years. I’ll just cry.”
“Cleansing tears can be good.”
“Maybe.” She gave a thready laugh. “Even cleansing tears make a mess. I don’t have any tissues.”
“See, maybe this is meant to be. I’m one of those old-fashioned guys who still carry a handkerchief, and it’s still as pristine as it was when my laundry girls delivered it.”
Hannah gave him a sidelong look. “You have a laundry girl?”
“Girls, plural. Distant cousins of mine—Meg and Cari Callahan. They’re young teens, twins, who are saving their pennies to buy their first cars. I pay them to iron for me. They’re still learning when it comes to my shirts, so we mostly do handkerchiefs. If I don’t go through enough of them in a week, I catch hell.” He reached into his back pocket and then handed her a neatly folded handkerchief. “You’ll be doing me a solid if you’ll mess this up for me.”
She brushed her thumb across the initials embroidered into the cotton square. “I was a sucker for monogramming. They told you for safety’s sake not to put your children’s name on their clothes, but at least once each year I had matching dresses monogrammed with their names for portraits. My favorites were little red polka-dot Minnie Mouse dresses. I don’t know the name of the font, but it shouted Disney. It was the year we took them to Disney World. They wore mouse ears in the photos. They were so proud of them.”
“I’d like to see the portraits.”
Again, her thumb brushed the monogram. When she spoke, her voice was tight. “I kept the albums. They’re about all I kept. I don’t think I can show you. Not yet.”
“That’s okay.” He gave the hand holding his handkerchief a gentle, comforting squeeze. “What can you share with me?”
“Sophia was seven. Zoe, five. Sophia had my red hair. Zoe was blond. They both had their father’s brown eyes. Sophia wanted to be a dolphin trainer when she grew up, and Zoe loved to color. They both adored ice cream and kittens and making leaf forts in autumn. They both thrived being outdoors, especially if it involved anything to do with water. Sophia had learned to water-ski. Zoe was determined to learn that summer.”
Tears ran freely down her face at this point. Boone tugged the handkerchief from her hand and used it to dab at her cheek. She smiled, took it back, and wiped her eyes. Hoping to learn more about Hannah along with her daughters, he asked, “You had a boat?”
She nodded. “Two. A runabout and a sailboat. We had a summer place on a lake in New Hampshire.”
Tidbits. He liked tidbits. But Boone decided a shift in the direction of the conversation was in order, because the haunted look had returned to Hannah’s gaze. “I have an eight-year-old niece who we had to coax into the swimming hole in the Texas Hill Country, where her father lives. She loves to swim, but only had experience in pools. She’ll tell you she’s a girly girl at heart, but she’s learning to get grubby. Leaf forts were a new experience for her, too, this past year. It’s been fun watching her tumble into love with the outdoors.”
Hannah nodded. “That was Sophia. Zoe, on the other hand, loved digging in the dirt almost as much as she loved coloring.”
“I have a friend who is a nut over adult coloring books. I don’t see it myself.”
“Coloring can be therapeutic.”
Boone nodded. “I can see that. Probably the same way origami was for me.”
“You’re a paper folder, are you?”
“I make a mean swan. I can tie balloon animals too.”
“Seriously?” She closed her eyes. “I learned to tie balloon animals for Zoe’s fifth birthday party. We were at a mall, and a store was having a promotion. A girl wearing a cat costume tied balloons and passed them out to the children. It’s all she could talk about afterward. She wanted balloon animals at her party, but the only person I could find dressed like a clown. She was scared of clowns and wanted a cat.”
“So you learned?”
“YouTube is a mother’s friend. I can’t tell you how many bags of balloons I went through before I got the process down.”
Sounded to Boone like she’d been a good, loving mother, and Boone almost said it aloud. Caution held his tongue. He didn’t know how her children had died. It could have been an accident, one for which she was responsible or held herself accountable, and his observation might wound in that case.
So instead, he asked, “Was the party a success?”
She nodded. “It was a big success. I could have started a side business entertaining at children’s birthday parties.”
An opening. “Oh, yeah? What was your main business?”
She didn’t answer right away. When she finally did speak, Boone sensed she was leaving something out.
“I was a mom. After Sophia was born, I was a stay-at-home mom. I loved the job. I was good at it.” Her voice sounded raw, but fierce as she added, “I was a very good mother.”
“Hannah…” Boone hesitated. Indecision rarely plagued him, but he wanted to get this right. “Hannah, do you want to tell me what happened to your girls?”
Silence stretched. A full minute passed. Then two. Boone realized he was holding his breath, so he quietly released it and managed not to gasp when she suddenly said, “They drowned.”
How? He bit back the word as she quietly began to cry. Boone wrapped his arms around her and held her. “Bless your heart.” His voice was thick with emotion as he added, “Ah, Hannah, that’s so hard. Just so hard. I’m sorry.”
She remained stiff at first, but as he gently swayed her back and forth, she relaxed against him and wept. He lost track of how long they stood there, her shoulders quaking, him murmuring comfort and encouragement, but by the time her tears ceased and she took a half step away from him, full darkness had fallen. “I’d thought I was done with tears,” she said.
“These were the cleansing kind,” he replied, confident he was correct. “You needed them.”
“Maybe I did.” A square of white fluttered in the minimal ambient light as she lifted his handkerchief and wiped her eyes. “It’s the first time I’ve talked about them, the first time I’ve wanted to talk about them. I think I needed that, especially today. Thank you for understanding that. Thank you for offering me the opportunity.”
He reached for her, and his fingers brushed her arm just above the elbow. Sliding his hand down the length of her arm until he found her wrist, he clasped her hand and brought it to his lips for a courtly kiss across her knuckles. “It was my pleasure.”
Then he pulled his keys from his pocket, switched on the mini-light he carried on the key ring, and guided Hannah through the darkness,
lighting the way toward her new home, her fresh start.
Be a light.
* * *
Hannah fell asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow that night, and she slept almost until noon the following day. When she finally woke, she climbed from her bed, feeling as if a heavy weight had melted off her shoulders overnight. She made coffee and sat on the deck, watching the sailboats on Hummingbird Lake.
Zoe had loved sailboats and sailing. Sophia preferred being in the water. Both girls could swim like fishes. Some days knowing how much her girls loved the water gave Hannah comfort. Other days, it caused her anguish.
This morning—well, actually afternoon—the desire to plunge into her memories washed through her. In the past, such an activity would destroy her for days, but today she sensed a strength within herself. She wanted to test it.
She picked up her phone, swiped to the photo app, and lost herself in her previous life. When she finally put the phone down an hour and a half later, her cheeks were tear-streaked, but her heart felt just a little bit lighter.
Now she needed to move. She showered and dressed and headed into town to find a grocery store and maybe drop by the outdoors business that Boone had told her about.
She did a slow drive-through of the town to acclimate herself. Four avenues named after trees ran north and south. The cross streets were numbered First through Eighth. The Angel’s Rest resort occupied a large plot of land on the eastern side of Angel Creek. Refresh, the outdoors shop, sat at the north end of town along the road that led to Gunnison.
Hannah decided to start there. She pulled into the parking lot, walked past a line of ATVs available for rental, and entered the shop where the first things that caught her notice were the fly-fishing rods standing in the SALE endcap shelving. The idea of fishing for trout in a shallow mountain stream appealed to her. The motion of an experienced angler laying a fly atop the water was a ballet of grace and art. Of course, if she cast a fly rod, rather than a dance, it’d be a slapstick comedy of tangled line and lost hooks.
She was smirking when a man with sun-streaked hair and brilliant green eyes approached her with a friendly smile. “Welcome to Refresh Outdoors. My name is Cam. What can I help you with this afternoon?”
“Well, I’m not certain. This is my first visit to Colorado, and I’m fact-finding today. I’m interested in the guided tours you offer. I’ll be in this area for the next couple of weeks, and I want to do more than simply sightseeing. I’m looking for an adventure or two.”
Cam’s eyes gleamed. He avariciously rubbed his hands together and teased, “New meat. I love it. We will fix you up, Ms.…?”
“Dupree.” She extended her hand. “I’m Hannah Dupree.”
He shook her hand. “Nice to meet you, Hannah Dupree. We have a conference area in the rear left corner of the shop. If you want to have a seat there, I’ll gather my flyers and schedules, and review your options with you. You’ll find coffee and tea and a selection of cookies from Fresh, my wife’s bakery. Feel free to help yourself. I’ll join you in a couple of minutes.”
“Thank you.”
Hannah poured herself a cup of coffee, her attention divided between the half dozen photographs gracing the walls and the plate of cookies beneath a glass dome at the center of the table. Last night’s chocolate cake had come from Fresh Bakery. Some of the cookies looked like the strawberry pinwheels that Boone had recommended.
But the photos. Oh, the photos. They were action photos: a skier on a snowy mountain against a bluebird sky, a yellow raft airborne over a white-water river, a climber hammering a pin into a sheer cliff wall high above the ground, ATV riders kicking up dust on a mountain trail, a hang glider soaring above an alpine meadow carpeted with yellow wildflowers, and a snowmobiler kicking up powder into a sky brilliant with sunset.
Hannah took a strawberry pinwheel and moved to study the photographs. They were artistic and alive and made one want to be the person on the skis and the snowmobile and in the raft. The hang glider and climber, not so much. Hannah didn’t have a death wish. Not today, anyway.
Cam approached carrying a binder and stack of brochures. “Do you like the photographs?”
“I do. They’re fabulous.”
Cam beamed with pride at the compliment. “My son-in-law took them.”
“He’s a talented photographer.”
“He is that. Chase used to make his living doing adventure photography, but now he pretty much limits himself to taking portraits. These were a Christmas gift for me.”
“It makes me want to ride a snowmobile.”
“Wrong time of year for that, I’m afraid. I can hook you up on an ATV tour. Or a white-water tour if you’d prefer a boat. Are you interested in either of those?”
“I am.”
They spent the next twenty minutes discussing various guided tours his company offered, and Hannah’s experience in the areas in which she stated interest. During their discussion, Cam received a cancellation for the next day’s scheduled half-day fishing trip with his best guide. Hannah claimed the opening on the spot. She also booked a trail ride through a nearby national forest for the following week.
“We run a rafting trip on the Gunnison that includes enough white water to make it interesting, but not so much that it’s above your comfort level. We have an open spot on Saturday afternoon.”
Hannah shook her head. “I can’t. I’m going to a wedding here on Saturday.”
Cam sat back in his chair. “The McBride wedding?” When she nodded, he continued, “You should have said so. Jackson and Caroline have arranged a set of special tours specifically for the entertainment of their wedding guests. You should have received word about them along with your bracelet in the welcome bags you received when you checked into your hotel. Here.” He rose from his seat. “Let me get that information for you.”
He returned quickly and handed her a four-color brochure. “As a McBride/Carruthers guest, you have two complimentary tours to be chosen from a selection of six offered by Refresh. Pick whichever you like. We have space available for all of them. If you want to join the wedding fishing trip tomorrow, I’ll cancel your private—”
“No,” Hannah interrupted. “No, thank you. I’ll keep what I’ve booked. I wouldn’t feel right about joining the wedding trips because I’m not a real guest. I’m going as a plus-one as a favor for a friend who didn’t want to go solo.”
The businessman shrugged. “That’s not a problem on my end, Hannah, and I’m sure Caroline and Jackson would think the same. A guest is a guest. Not only that, but your participation in the Destination Eternity Springs program will also benefit our little town.”
“What’s Destination Eternity Springs?”
“It’s a new destination wedding marketing project that our chamber of commerce is developing. We’re using Jackson McBride’s wedding as our test run. You should ask your date to get you a gift bag. Inside it, you’ll find a bracelet designed for us by a local artist, along with a list of participating businesses. Wear the bracelet when you frequent the merchant, and you’ll receive a little gift. In the case of Refresh, it’s the tours. At my wife’s bakery, you’ll get a dozen brownies.”
“I had her chocolate cake last night. If her brownies are anything like her cookies and cake, I’d better make sure not to skip my cardio while I’m in Eternity Springs.”
“Sarah is a magician.”
Hannah had noticed a gift bag on the front doorstep when she’d backed her car out of the garage this afternoon. Bet Boone had left one of those wedding bags on her front step. “Thanks for the tip and the tour bookings. I’ll sit down tonight and figure out my schedule and book the rest of my tours after the fishing trip.”
“Sounds good. I won’t be here tomorrow—it’s Poppy’s play day with my youngest kiddo and grandson—but my manager will be happy to fix you up.”
Hannah let him coax her into taking one more cookie on her way out, and she decided to make a stop at the Angel’s Rest Boutique for som
ething to wear to this wedding before she shopped for groceries and returned to Hummingbird Lake. If she needed to build a shopping trip to a larger town into her schedule, better learn that now before she made any more plans.
A few minutes later, she pulled into the crowded Angel’s Rest parking lot and searched vainly for a space before following a sign directing visitors to overflow parking. Based on the parking situation alone, Boone had been telling her the truth about occupancy rates. After parking, she followed a path toward the large Victorian mansion that appeared to be the resort’s headquarters. It was a beautiful, gingerbread-bedecked building painted a cheerful lemon yellow and trimmed in white. Wicker rockers and bistro sets lined the wraparound porches on the first and second floors. She heard metal wind chimes tinkling and, from off in the distance, the sound of children’s laughter. The fragrance of roses perfumed the air. Hannah’s steps slowed as she took in her surroundings, enjoying the moment. This place had a good vibe.
Just ahead of her where the single path split into three, she paused to read the resort map on display. The boutique was in the same building as the spa, off to the right and down near the creek. Hannah took the proper path, and moments later a door chime pealed as she stepped into the shop.
A woman of indeterminate age looked up from the pages of a magazine behind a sleek, modern checkout counter. She wore her silver hair short. Gold earrings shaped like angel’s wings dangled from her ears, and her blue eyes and brilliant smile signaled warmth and welcome. “Hello. Welcome to the Boutique at Angel’s Rest.”
“Thank you.”
“Are you looking for something in particular?”
“I was told to ask for Lisa?”
“Ah. I’m afraid Lisa is out this afternoon. I’m Celeste. I’ll be happy to assist you.”
She was the friend Boone had mentioned, Hannah deduced. “I’m Hannah. I’ve been invited to a wedding here this weekend. I don’t have my go-to little black dress with me, so I need a replacement. Unless black is inappropriate for weddings in this locale. Do you know? Can you help me?”