Letters to Gabriella

by Patricia Paris

  “I love it!” Delaney told her. “Not too many women can wear their hair so short, but it looks fabulous on you. I wish I could pull it off.”

  “And I’ve always dreamed of having long, gorgeous locks like yours,” Gab informed her honestly, “but long hair makes my face look too drawn.”

  The two women spent the rest of the hour chatting, and by the time the class ended they’d made a lunch date for the next day. Gab was thrilled to have made a friend, especially one who seemed as easy to like as Delaney.

  AFTER RETURNING home from dropping Chloe off at camp Friday morning, Gab spent the next few hours catching up on work. As a freelance writer, she had a lot of flexibility. All she needed to get her work done was a laptop and access to the Internet. It took a lot of dedication and self-motivation, but she was very good at scheduling her time, and she’d never missed a deadline. She liked having the freedom to work on her time and not someone else’s, although sometimes it meant late nights after Chloe had gone to sleep, especially since moving here. With her daughter starting first grade in a couple of months, though, and the dust from the move beginning to settle, their lives would take on more of a routine.

  When she finished the edits she’d been working on, Gab went upstairs to get cleaned up for her lunch date with Delaney. She changed into a khaki skirt and white blouse, rolling the long sleeves up to her elbows, and then put on a pair of flat sandals. At just under five-ten, she rarely wore heels. She already towered over most women, and if she added another three or four inches, she felt like an Amazon.

  The drive into town was enjoyable, taking her along scenic country roads, much of the time with views of the water. Fifteen minutes after leaving the house she arrived in downtown Glebe Point, which consisted of two blocks. A couple of the storefronts had been modernized, but most retained their original architecture, and Gabriella imagined they looked much as they had a hundred years ago. It was very clean, very quaint, and for a place that seemed to be in the middle of nowhere, surprisingly vibrant. How such a small town could survive amazed her. Perhaps it was the only place locals had to shop without having to travel too far, or maybe they shopped local out of loyalty.

  Gab and Delaney spent the next two hours getting to know each other better over lunch. The time flew by, and the two got along so well, seemed so comfortable with one another, that anyone who saw them laughing and chatting with such ease would have thought they’d known each other for years.

  “I’m so glad we got together,” Delaney said as she slid out from her side of the booth to leave.

  “Me too.” Gab reached over to retrieve her purse. “It’s difficult meeting people here with everyone being so spread out. I hope we can get together again soon.”

  “I’d love to. In fact, why don’t you and Chloe come to dinner…say, Monday night? It would be nice if Ben and Chloe got to know each other better since they’ll both be starting first grade this fall, and you can meet my husband, Blake.”

  “Are you sure you don’t want to check first to make sure he doesn’t mind?”

  Delaney waved a hand in the air. “He won’t mind. In fact, after telling him about you last night, his curiosity is piqued. I usually take my time getting to know people, and he thought it was odd when I told him we were meeting for lunch today since we just met yesterday.” Her lips curled into an impish grin. “I need to warn you, though, my husband likes to joke around, so don’t take anything he says too seriously.”

  “If you’re sure he won’t mind, I think both Chloe and I would enjoy it very much.”

  “Great.” Delaney pulled a tablet and pen out of her purse. “What’s your email? I’ll send you a note this weekend with our address and phone number.”

  Gab told her and Delaney wrote it down. “Why don’t you and Chloe come over around six?” she suggested. “If you have any problems finding us, you can give me a call.”

  “I’ve got a GPS, but don’t be surprised if you still get a call. I’m not sure all of the roads around here are even recorded anywhere.”

  Delaney reached out and gave Gab an affectionate hug. “I’m so glad we met. I’ve got a feeling we’re going to become the best of friends.”

  They said their goodbyes, and Gab walked across the street to the small drugstore lot where she’d parked. She decided to stop in the store for some bandages before driving home. A few days earlier when she’d been packing some of her father’s things away in the attic, she’d cut her finger and realized she didn’t have a single bandage in the house. She’d ended up wrapping some toilet paper around the finger and holding it together with a sliver of duct tape.

  Upon entering the store, she could almost smell the history of the place. She’d bet the wood floors were original. One of the planks squeaked under her foot, and she grinned. After locating the bandages, she picked up a few other items and then made her way back to the front of the store to check out.

  “Well hello.” A decidedly male voice seemed to direct itself at her from somewhere very close behind her right ear.

  Gabriella turned her head slowly and glanced over her shoulder. To her surprise, she saw the voice belonged to the man she’d encountered at Speckles, the town’s only grocery store, a few weeks earlier. Their eyes connected and a delicious little rush raced through her. Desire. She’d had a similar reaction the first time she’d encountered him. He probably had that effect on most women. The guy oozed male, and those warm amber eyes of his were downright hypnotic.

  “Hello.” She flashed a quick smile then turned back around before she started licking her lips or something equally obvious.

  “I was hoping I’d run into you again,” the man said from behind her in a perfectly normal voice that should not have sent another shiver running up her back.

  She glanced around again, and he gave her a killer grin, the kind that tempted even good girls to entertain trouble. The glow in his eyes seemed to intensify and flare. Gab swallowed. A thread of irrefutable lust unfurled low in her belly. It was something she rarely felt. She’d never felt it with Bruce, their relationship being one of habit and comfort with one another. When they made love, it was nice, but it had never been cataclysmic. She wasn’t even sure something like that was possible, or if claims of rockets exploding weren’t just a bunch of hype. Gab blinked, unable to believe this stranger had so effortlessly inspired thoughts about rockets and cataclysmic lovemaking to sprout in her normally rational mind.

  “Why is that?” she asked. He looked clean-cut, and he’d been nice to help her at the grocery store, so chances were he wasn’t a serial killer or anything. But his grin was a little flirty, a little suggestive, and for all she knew, a dangerous weapon he was skilled at using.

  “I guess you could say I’m a sucker for beautiful women, and you’re about as beautiful as they come. And because I was hoping I’d get a chance to know you better.” His bluntness wasn’t something she was used to, and although she felt flattered he found her attractive, she didn’t know quite how to respond.

  “Uhm…thank you.” She half-smiled, keeping it simple, but felt uncomfortable looking into his eyes after what he’d just said. They reminded her of a lion’s eyes, all warm gold, and they were so sexy she could already feel the drool beginning to puddle around her tongue.

  “Next,” the clerk at the register said. Gab turned back around and put her items on the counter. The clerk started ringing her up.

  “Hello, stranger,” a sultry, feminine voice cooed.

  Gab looked behind her again. A pretty blonde had slipped her arm around the lion. The man looked down. “Hi, darlin’,” he said with a wink.

  The woman leaned her head against his shoulder, pouting up at him. “I’ve been hoping you’d give me a call. You didn’t forget about me after we saw each other a couple of weeks ago, did you?”

  “I’ve just been busy, sugar.”

  “You busy tonight?”

  Gab rolled her eyes and turned back to pay. She’d seen enough to know if she ever got
involved with a man like him, he’d probably break her heart. He might make her pulse race, but she would never allow herself to be just another notch on someone’s belt, not when she knew that was probably all it would ever amount to with a flirt like him. She completed her purchase and made for the exit, intent on putting as much distance between her and temptation as possible.

  “Hey, wait a minute,” the guy called after her, the other woman still decorating his side.

  “Sorry, I’ve got to pick up my daughter, and I’m running late.” Gab gave him an abbreviated wave and shot out the door without looking back, not feeling the least guilty overstating her lateness.

  As she pulled out of the parking lot, she looked in the rearview mirror and saw Mr. Charm dash out of the drugstore and look around. She shook her head. Her guardian angel must have been looking out for her in there because she’d been on the verge of encouraging the amber-eyed devil.

  “DAMN IT,” Justin cursed. His mystery woman was nowhere in sight. He’d paid for his purchase and practically run out of the store to try to catch up with her before she disappeared on him again.

  He’d been admiring the long, toned legs in the short khaki skirt as he approached the checkout counter and hadn’t realized it was the woman he’d been keeping an eye out for the last few weeks until he glanced up and caught her profile. Within moments of saying hello he could tell she was as attracted to him as he was to her. It was the kind of thing you just felt, and he had definitely felt it—until Gwen showed up.

  He should have realized sooner what that must have looked like to someone who didn’t know him. But it was just Gwen. He’d run into her a couple of days after returning to Glebe Point, and she’d suggested they go out sometime, but he’d never taken her up on it. He’d known her almost his whole life. They went out a couple of times in high school, but it never developed into anything. Gwen liked a good time, and although Justin was no saint, he’d never been in it just for the game.

  Now the woman he was interested in must think he…well, he could only imagine what she thought, but the interest she’d shown before Gwen arrived seemed to have died a sudden death right before she took off. There was no telling when he might run into her again, and he still had no idea who she was or how to find her.

  He kicked the toe of his shoe against the sidewalk curb and cursed again. Shaking his head with a disappointed sigh, he turned, crossed the lot, and then walked down the street to his future office. Settlement wasn’t for ten days, but Doc Simpson’s son had been willing to let Justin get into the building early to start working on it. As he neared the office, his cell phone rang.

  “Hey, bro,” Blake’s voice came across the line when he answered. “We’re having our annual barbecue on the Fourth. I was supposed to let you know a couple of weeks ago but I forgot, so I’m telling you now.”

  “You need me to bring anything?”

  “You’re supposed to bring a date. Delaney doesn’t want you to create a feeding frenzy among the single women. She said if you brought someone, we’d be less likely to have to break up any cat fights.”

  Justin chuckled. “Okay, maybe I’ll bring my sister-in-law. She’s real cute and I’ve kind of got a thing for her.”

  “Yeah, well be careful about that one. I hear her husband’s a really strong bastard, and he doesn’t like other guys hitting on his wife.”

  “I’ll watch out for him. Thanks for the heads-up.”

  “Oh yeah,” Blake said, “Delaney’s got you down for a keg of beer, too.”

  “No problem. Anything else?”

  “That should cover it. And if my wife asks, you’ve known about the party for a few weeks.”

  “Of course!” Justin grinned, amused by his brother’s domestication.

  He disconnected just as he reached his office building. What were the chances he’d run into his dream girl again before the Fourth? Blake and Delaney’s barbecue would be the perfect opportunity for them to get to know each other. There’d be lots of other kids there too, so she could bring her daughter.

  He might need to do a little investigating to see if anyone knew of a woman and young girl having moved into the area that fit her description. Someone had to know her. He’d be careful how he went about it. He’d made a few assumptions, but even though she hadn’t been wearing a wedding band, she might still be married. He didn’t want to stir up unnecessary trouble. The last thing he wanted would be to start asking too many questions only to find out she had a jealous husband, especially if he turned out to be the type who might take it out on her.

  GABRIELLA WOKE Monday morning with a smile on her face. It disappeared when she realized her state of euphoria was the result of the dream she’d had about the man with the lion eyes.

  “Ugh,” she groaned. She had developed a case of lust for a man she didn’t know and didn’t think she wanted to after witnessing the scene between him and that woman in the drugstore. How many other women were waiting for him to call? Well, she didn’t plan on being one of them.

  Too bad her subconscious didn’t accept that yet. She’d dreamed about him twice since running into him on Friday. Not only had her slumberous self not gotten the message, it was sabotaging her efforts to forget about the guy by turning him into every woman’s dream lover. That was about to end. It was her against her subconscious. Gab frowned. Not an easy prospect, but she would triumph.

  She went downstairs, started a pot of coffee, got Chloe’s breakfast ready, and then went back upstairs to wake her daughter. When she got back from taking Chloe to camp, Gab intended to go through some of her father’s effects. He’d never been part of her life, so she doubted she’d want to keep much. Her memories of him were vague. Although she’d wondered about him from time to time while growing up, he never tried to contact her or her mother. She’d been stunned when his attorney had located her to inform her that she was the sole beneficiary of his estate. Until that time, she hadn’t known where her father was, or even if he was still alive.

  She never discussed her dad with anyone. She knew nothing about him, so what could she say? The few times she’d asked, her mom refused to talk about him. All she’d say was that he was a part of their past best left in the past.

  “Mommy, are we still going to your new friend’s house tonight?” Chloe asked between bites of blueberry toaster waffles.

  “Yes. Do you remember Ben, the boy from your swim class?”

  Chloe nodded and licked a drop of syrup off her finger. “He was nice.”

  “He was, wasn’t he?” Gab leaned forward and tucked a stray strand of Chloe’s hair behind her ear, out of the syrup zone. “Well, mommy’s new friend, Miss Delaney, is his mom, so you won’t just be with boring adults tonight.”

  “That’s a relief,” Chloe said with exaggerated drama.

  Gab chuckled. “Thought you’d feel that way.”

  A couple of hours later, Gab sat on the attic floor surrounded by boxes. As she sorted through her father’s belongings, she made three piles: donate, trash, and keep. The piles of stuff to donate and trash kept growing until she had to move them farther apart to keep them from merging. The keep pile consisted of a photo album with some old snapshots. She would look at those when she had more time.

  After emptying a fourth box, she tossed it aside and pulled another forward. On the top of the box someone had written: Letters to Gabriella. A shiver slithered down her back. She sat immobilized, staring at the box, almost afraid to discover what was inside. She reached for the top flap then stopped.

  Were the letters meant for her? If so, who had written them? Gab swallowed. Something warned her she might not want to know what secrets the box held. It could be a Pandora’s box that once opened would release things she’d wish she never discovered.

  She pushed it away with her foot. The letters might have been meant for another Gabriella, someone she’d been named after whom she didn’t know. Maybe her father had been in love or had an affair with another woman, someone he named her af
ter and that was why her mom left him.

  Gab raised her knees and wrapped her arms around them. You’re letting your imagination run rampant, she told herself. The box might not even contain letters, or if it did, they could have been written by anyone…or they could just be old birthday cards, little notes from grandparents, aunts and uncles she didn’t remember, anyone…and someone had put them in a box and stashed it away in the attic. Her mom might even have put the stuff in the box, and it just got moved with everything else when her dad moved to Glebe Point from Virginia, where Gabriella’s parents had lived when she was born.

  She pulled the box back toward her. “You’re being ridiculous,” she said out loud to nothing but the musty attic. Shaking her head at her own foolishness, she opened the box and looked inside. It was full of envelopes. She hesitated, drawing in a shallow breath, but curiosity won out over apprehension and she plucked one out. On the front of the envelope someone had written: Gabriella Landfred, address unknown.

  Gab’s breath caught in her throat. She was Gabriella Landfred. Or she had been, before marrying Bruce. She lifted the flap and slid the folded paper out of the envelope and began reading:

  My darling little girl, how I wish I could hold you in my arms one more time and tell you…

  Gab stuffed the paper back into the envelope with shaking hands and threw it into the box. Without thinking about what she was doing, she got up and almost ran from the attic and down the stairs to the master bathroom. She turned on the faucet and started splashing water on her face.

  She didn’t want to know. She didn’t want to know. She. Didn’t. Want. To. Know. But a part of her did know.

  They were letters from her father…to her…and there were dozens and dozens of them! Gab turned off the water and stood in front of the mirror, staring at her reflection, the hard-won numbness she’d cultivated over her father’s abandonment threatened. What did they all mean? What would they tell her about the man she’d grown up believing didn’t want anything to do with her?