Carolina Mercy (A Southern Breeze Series Book 2)

by Regina Rudd Merrick

  “Not one of my grandchildren will call themselves a spinster. Marriage isn’t the only estate to achieve, you know. Why I was past thirty when I . . .”

  Lucy laughed at her little Bantam hen of a grandmother. She liked to think Grandmommy was where she got what she liked to call “grit.”

  “I’m messing with you, and you know it. I’ll miss you. Are you sure you feel like coming over to Litchfield Beach for the wedding?”

  Grandmommy patted Lucy on the cheek. “I wouldn’t miss it for the world. Sarah’s been the sister you should have had.”

  “I’ll come back for a visit after the wedding. Promise.”

  “I’m counting on it. I love you so much. You know that, don’t you?” The elderly woman looked deeply into her lone chick’s eyes, sad in the realization that they both were alone, together.

  “I love you too.” She kissed her grandmother on the cheek and hugged her tightly, willing herself to push the tears back in. Enough. “I’d better go, or I’ll be late getting to Sarah’s. It’s already past one.”

  “Be careful. And call me when you get there or if you get sleepy along the way.”

  “You know I never get sleepy driving.”

  “It’s been a long week. There’s always a first time. Humor me?”

  Lucy smiled at her fiercely independent grandmother putting on the traditional grandmother role. “I will. And you, no doing anything crazy like jumping out of an airplane or climbing a mountain, okay?”

  Elizabeth Dixon winked. “You never know. Us old people have to get our excitement where we can, you know.”

  When Lucy got about two and a half hours down the road to Augusta, Georgia, right on the state line between Georgia and South Carolina, she almost grinned. The weight of the events of the last few weeks began to lift off her shoulders.

  “Thank You, God. I’ve been giving You the silent treatment, haven’t I?” Her lips twisted a little, embarrassed at her own behavior. “I know Dad’s there with You and that it’s a much better place than down here, but did You have to leave me alone, without my father?”

  Unwanted tears were returning, and she gently hit the steering wheel of her sky blue 1964 ½ Mustang, her dad’s labor of love for her. “No. I will not cry anymore. And I won’t be angry.

  “But You know I’m angry, and deep down, I blame You a little bit. You could have saved him, Lord. I know he was used to save others, but You could have saved him.”

  She let the tears fall and began taking deep breaths as she pulled into the first rest area east of the South Carolina line.

  “Why, God? Why didn’t You save him?” She sat in the driver’s seat, parked well away from other traveling motorists as her dad had taught her to do, and rolled down her windows to allow the soft Southern air to wash over her.

  As much as she knew God loved her and that He loved her father, she also knew bad things happened to good people. After all, who was better than His son, Jesus? And what happened to Him?

  She closed her eyes and thought about her dad. His life was a sacrifice. He was all she had, and it was snatched away from her.

  But she had a Heavenly Father, didn’t she?

  “Forgive me, Father, but sometimes all I want is someone I can touch and feel and joke around with, You know? Somebody like my dad.”

  Enough. This conversation, albeit with God, would have to continue another day. She wanted peace. She wanted comfort. She looked around the rest area: families picnicking for supper underneath the shelters, a large building holding restrooms, brochures, and an information desk. A vending machine area. Lucy knew what she wanted, more than anything else.

  She wanted a Coke and a candy bar.

  “Jared! Look at this one!”

  Sarah held the shell up, beckoning with the other hand for Jared to come to her. He jogged to her, taking the shell from her with a smile.

  The wind had kicked up in the night, making the surf rough and the cleanest beach on the Eastern Seaboard a little more marginal than usual. There was more trash and seaweed littering the beach, but the shells had arrived as well. Shell seekers were out and about, hoping for that one pristine conch shell that seemed always to elude them in this part of the country. Sometimes, when the tides were ideal, a perfect shell was bestowed upon a fortunate early riser.

  Sarah Jane Crawford smiled as she thought about her life since an eventful summer changed it completely. An unexpected inheritance had brought her to Litchfield Beach, South Carolina, and an unexpected love kept her there.

  “Nice one, Sarah.” He turned it in his hands to inspect it.

  Oliver, Sarah’s dog, tried to sneak up on a sea gull on the beach. The bird was worrying a dead jellyfish, slinging the dried animal, making Oliver think twice before playing tug-of-war with the seagull’s lunch.

  Frowning a little, she looked closer at the imperfections of the shell. Taking it back, she pointed at a line on the broad part of the shell. “It’s cracked . . . and the tip is broken.”

  He laughed as she talked herself out of her excitement. “If you want perfect, I know a nice little gift shop down the road where they import shells from the Caribbean.”

  “Very funny,” she said, twisting her lips in a smile.

  “Hey. I know something that is perfect.” Jared dropped the shell at their feet as he pulled her closer to him.

  She arched an eyebrow at him. “And what might that be?”

  “You.”

  “Oh, Jared, you’re so silly sometimes.” She focused her attention on his shirt buttons to avoid his eyes.

  “I’m not silly, I’m in love.”

  “I love you too.” She eased her glance up to his face and smiled as delicious embarrassment welled up inside her. There was a flutter in her stomach each time she heard him declare his love for her and wondered if she would ever be immune to it. She hoped not.

  He grinned. “I could get used to getting up early and spending Saturday on the beach with you.”

  Sarah sighed as she wrapped her arms around him and snuggled into his arms. “Mmm, yes. It’s been a long week. I’m glad Lucy’s coming.”

  “Me too. I was afraid I was gonna get roped into choices like variations in the color pink, tulle versus satin, and all that.”

  “I wouldn’t do it to you. You’re wonderful, and you have an amazing eye for décor, for a man, but I saw the glazed-over look you had when it came to picking out china patterns for the wedding registry.” Sarah shook her head with a smile. “I’ll let you decide the important things, like the honeymoon. Gonna tell me where we’re going?”

  “Nope. It’s a surprise. Tom doesn’t even know.” Jared looked at his watch. “What time is Lucy coming? I wanted to go by and see if there’s anything I can do for Tom’s mom.”

  “She’ll be here by four or five, I think. Do you have time to buy a lady some breakfast before you go?”

  “I could probably be convinced.” As he bent to pick up the shell she had dropped at their feet, she called out to Oliver. The Schnauzer-mix seemed glad to leave the seagulls behind.

  Dog and shell in tow, Sarah was quiet for a few moments as they walked to her little beachside cottage where Jared had left his car. She was examining the shell Jared had handed her. “I think I’ll put this shell on my coffee table.”

  “I thought you said it was cracked” His eyebrow arched.

  She shrugged her shoulders and gave him a little grin. “I know. I guess I need a reminder, every once in a while, that beauty isn’t in perfection. It’s in how you turn out after you’ve been tossed about in a stormy sea. Know what I mean? It kind of, I don’t know, speaks to me.”

  “Lucy’s sure been tossed about, hasn’t she? Losing her dad so suddenly.”

  “I know. Atwood was fun. He let Lucy and me do whatever we wanted to at their house, within reason. I admit, I was a little jealous, but now? Bless her. To be all alone. I mean, when she gets married, who will be there for her?”

  “You will. You’re a good woman, Sarah
.” There was a mist in his eyes as he smiled at her. He had been holding her hand, and as they made their way to the house to retrieve Sarah’s shoes, he stopped her on the patio for another kiss. He wiped away the stray tear running down her cheek.

  “And don’t you forget it, mister,” she whispered, pressing close to him as she tickled him in the ribs before turning to slip inside the door of the pink-clad beach house.

  “You’ll pay for that, missy.”

  She winked at him as she reached for the door handle. “I should hope so.”

  “Did I ever tell you about the assistant football coach back home?” Sarah looked at Jared over her coffee cup. They had enjoyed their breakfast. After a week of Danish, toast, and cereal, both Sarah and Jared were ready for the traditional Southern fare of eggs, bacon, biscuits and gravy.

  “Are you going to eat your grits?” He had been eyeing the small bowl ever since the waitress brought their meal.

  “Which do you want, the scoop or the grits?” Sarah tilted her head.

  “Both. I met the guy, remember? At Lucy’s house. As for the grits, I wanted to claim them before they were taken away.”

  Sarah giggled at the look on his face. It was a mixture of jealousy and desire. Jealousy there had ever been an assistant football coach in her life and desire for her grits. Wrinkling her nose, she said, “You know I won’t eat them. When I told her I wanted grits, I was thinking of you.”

  “Thank you kindly, Miss Crawford,” he said, reaching over to get the grits as the waitress arrived to take empty plates and refill their coffee cups. “I will take that as a compliment. Now, about this muscle-bound-has-been football player?”

  Twisting her lips at his description, she said, “His name is Ben, and Lucy was sure she had finally found a match for me.”

  “Ben,” Jared said, as if weighing his name to test his mettle. “Hmm.”

  Sarah laughed. “I met Ben about two years ago, when he got the job of P.E. teacher and assistant football coach at our high school. Lucy couldn’t wait to throw us together.”

  “And did she?” he asked, arching an eyebrow and looking somewhat disgruntled.

  Sarah shrugged her shoulders slightly. “We went out a few times after Marc and I broke up.”

  “And?”

  “I told Lucy that jocks and chorus geeks didn’t go together.”

  “Why not?”

  Sarah could tell Jared was interested in her reasoning. He gazed at her, seeming to forget the cooling grits in front of him.

  “Eat your grits. They’ll get cold.” Sarah smiled tenderly. “He was one of ‘those guys.’ The ones that dated the cheerleaders. Not mousy musicians like me.”

  Jared snorted into his coffee. “What did Lucy say to that?”

  She rolled her eyes. “She said I always sell myself short, I didn’t have to know a man from birth to date him, and that I should go out on dates to ‘test the waters,’ so to speak.” She shrugged and stirred her coffee.

  “Well, Lucy was right about one thing,” Jared said, staring at her across the table, a little frown on his face.

  “Which one?” She was curious. He wasn’t reacting the way she expected.

  “You do sell yourself short. Why wouldn’t any man be proud to have you by his side?”

  “Jared, I—”

  “Not to belabor a point, but, well, at one time, I would have been considered a ‘jock.’ Would that have kept you from going out with me, if we’d met in high school or college or if I’d grown up in your home town?”

  Sarah twisted her lips ruefully as she considered what he was saying. She had been prejudiced, as an adult, in the same way a high school student would be prejudiced. “I don’t know. I really don’t know,” she said in surprise.

  Jared grinned at her, a teasing glint in his eyes. “Well, it’s a good thing I’m not just a ‘jock’ anymore. Who knew girls could be so particular.”

  Leaning her chin on her hand, she gave in to the contented sigh she had been trying to hold in, lest he thought her a simpering fool of a girl. “Lucy may or may not have been right, but I was right too.”

  “About?”

  “When God showed me the man he had for me, I knew it.”

  “Even if you hadn’t known him from birth?”

  “Definitely.”

  Jared studied her face. She wondered why he had never asked why her engagement ended. She knew it didn’t matter to him, but she still had moments of uncertainty, worried that it was all too good to be true. That’s where faith came in. She was still working on that, and probably always would.

  Jared finished his grits as Sarah sipped on her warmed-up coffee. They were quiet for a few minutes, and as he scraped the last remaining morsel of grits onto his spoon, he looked up with a look of contentment on his face.

  “I think that will keep me going for a little while.” He laid his napkin on the table beside his empty plate and picked up the check. “Ready?”

  “I think so. Can we drive by Huntington Beach before you take me home?” She grinned and batted her eyelashes.

  “You want to see Atalaya.”

  “What girl doesn’t want to memorize every inch of her wedding venue? Actually, I brought my tape measure, and I want to take a few measurements of the water tower in the center of the courtyard. I’m still pondering where I want the focal point.”

  He grinned and touched her forehead. “You have that little line between your eyes. I’m still up for eloping, if it would make you worry less about the details.”

  “Good grief, no. If we did, I’d be worrying about all the people we cheated out of seeing us get married. Our mothers would never let us forget it.”

  “I know.” He put some bills on the table for a tip and pulled Sarah’s chair out for her before going to the counter to pay the bill. “I wasn’t serious. Okay, maybe a little, but I know my mother, and I don’t think she would ever forgive us. Atalaya it is.”

  After walking around Atalaya Castle and along Huntington Beach, Sarah was quiet. Jared pulled her down on the sand beside him and squeezed her hand. “What’s on your mind?”

  “Work. Wedding. Open House. You. Stuff.” She leaned her head on his shoulder. It wasn’t stuff she was thinking about. It was those doubts that crept in every time she let them.

  “I’m a good listener of stuff.”

  She smiled and hid her face on his sleeve. “I know.” She sat up and looked into his face. “Sometimes when the stress-level goes up, the doubt-level goes up too.”

  “What kind of doubts?”

  “Name one. No, not about you. I’ve never had fewer doubts in my life than about you. I mean, even with Marc . . .”

  “You know, you’ve never told me why you broke off your engagement. You mentioned you wanted to be anywhere but Summerville and that he got married last summer.”

  Sarah looked out at the pounding surf, seeming to look through the tourists and locals enjoying a sunny day on the beach. “Well, to begin with, I didn’t break off the engagement. He did.”

  “You’ve got to be kidding me.”

  “Before you start in on him, it was his wisdom that brought me here.” She looked at him and shrugged her shoulders. “We had always known one another. We dated a little in high school and went to different colleges. When we both ended up back at home, we started going to things together, and before we knew it, we were a couple. We had fun, our parents were friends, and we had church in common. It was easy.”

  “Too easy. I know how that is.” Jared put his arm around her shoulders.

  “Exactly. I was happy. I was ready to be married and to have a home of my own. I had a plan, after all. Within five years of graduating from college, I was going to teach, get married, and have my first child.”

  “You and your lists.”

  “Yep. Me and my lists. We got along great, and finally, he asked me to marry him. There weren’t any fireworks, but I thought it was because we were comfortable together. We were planning on about an eighteen
-month engagement and our wedding was going to be perfect.”

  Jared held her away from him and looked at her closely. “That’s crazy. No man wants a long engagement. At least nobody I’ve known.”

  She shrugged. “I agree, now. It was crazy. But not. God was looking after us. About six months into our engagement, Marc seemed distant, and he was becoming more insistent with the physical side of our relationship. One night he left, angry when I wouldn’t comply. We were engaged. We were going to be married. But I wanted to wait.” Tears threatened to fall. “It was horrible. We didn’t talk for a week.” She leaned her head back on Jared’s shoulder.

  “He called a few days later and said we needed to talk.”

  “I’m sorry, Sarah.” Jared leaned down and kissed the top of her head.

  “He had met someone. He didn’t want to cheat on me, but he knew that if he could feel what he did for her, he couldn’t marry me. It wouldn’t be fair to either of us. I was devastated. He apologized for being aggressive. He was trying to gauge his feelings for me even while he knew it was wrong.”

  “That was rough.”

  “Compared to what you went through? It was a blip. At the time it hurt. Still does sometimes.”

  “When?” Jared’s eyes narrowed as he looked at her tenderly.

  She hesitated and looked out at the waves. Sometimes his love was more than she could bear, and she had to look away for a moment, to mentally pinch herself to see if this was real. “It made me wonder if I was enough.”

  “Oh, Sarah. I’m glad he’s not here right now.” He shook his head in anger.

  Her smile widened as she reached up and laced her fingers with his as he tightened the hold he had around her shoulders. “I am too. I want to get past that part of my life.”

  “How far along were you in the wedding preparations?”

  “Not too far. We had set the date and ordered the invitations and picked out the cake. I had ordered my dress but was able to cancel it, thank goodness. The hardest part was facing everyone. Especially at church. Thank goodness for Lucy. She stuck by me like glue.”