"Playboy? God forbid. I am just a humble writer." Noah grinned. "If you want to see me in a suit more often, you will have to come to church with me. My grandfather is the main pastor for the United Church on Main Street."
"Pastor Marshall." Raine looked at him in awe. "I watch him on television in the mornings. Daily Devotions. I still remember the series he did about the flawed families in the Bible and their backgrounds. It made me realize my family wasn't all that bad."
"Yup, that's gramps." Noah grinned. "I think his prayers to God on my behalf kept my heart beating all these years until I got a new one. Let's go sit over there."
He pointed to the same stone bench that she had been heading for earlier and had turned back.
"This is a very lovely place." Raine remarked as they sat with their backs to the crowd and over at the view of the sea.
"It is," Noah said cradling his drink. It is peaceful when we are not hosting parties.
"You are so lucky!" Raine exclaimed. "To have all this."
"I would say blessed," Noah sighed, "and it is all a matter of perspective, wouldn't you say? I think you are quite blessed to have been born with a fully functioning heart."
"You are right," Raine said sheepishly. "We usually take these kind of things for granted."
Noah nodded.
"I was going to head home." Raine found herself confessing. "I don't think it was a good idea to have come here. I didn't know that Bradley would be here."
Noah glanced at her. "I agree. We could go grab a meal at some fancy place since we are all dressed up."
Raine looked at him, "I would like that."
"Then let's go." Noah got up and held out his hand to her. She put hers in his eagerly.
****
They ended up at The Sugar Mill Restaurant. They didn't have a reservation but it was not an issue because it was Noah Scarlett. Raine enjoyed the atmosphere of the place. It was nestled in an alcove beside a 17th century water mill. She spent most of the time looking around at the luxurious setting trying to act as unaffected as she could. A major wall of the restaurant was obviously made of aged brick.
"This was once a sugar plantation." Noah was watching her keenly. "We are sitting in history, that wall he pointed to the old brick to the left of them was once a part of the foundation of a sugar cane plantation. It was called the Running Gut Estate in the late seventeenth century. I based my first historical novel off this place. I would come here and lurk around until I was on first name basis with everyone."
"Yes, I remember that book!" Raine's eyes were shining. "The story about the slave girl who fell in love with the master's son and his sister sold her because she was afraid of the developing relationship. I really liked the way you described olden Montego Bay and the great houses. You should do more historical novels."
Noah smiled. "I just might."
Raine took a sip of water. "This is much nicer than the pool party."
"I have to agree with you on that," Noah said contemplatively. "There is something that's been on my mind."
"What?" Raine leaned in closer to Noah.
"How did you meet Bradley?" Noah asked. "Was it in Paddington?"
Raine's expression darkened. "No. Yes, well...yes."
"Which is it?" Noah asked suspiciously.
Raine struggled to keep her tone neutral. "Yes. He came for a visit to his... er... relatives and I met him then. I was about ten at the time."
"Ten!" Noah leaned back in his chair. "When you came to Montego Bay you met up again?"
"Yes." Raine nodded vigorously. "Yes."
"Tell me more about Bradley," Noah asked. "I have always been curious about him. He is an extrovert, always the center of attention. People flock to him naturally and yet when he married my sister he was friendless. I always found that suspicious."
Raine inhaled. "I don't know anything much about Bradley's history or friends." She couldn't look at Noah when she said that.
"Did you love him?" Noah pressed, "do you still love him?"
"I... ah..." Raine sighed in deep relief when the waiters came with the entree. She had ordered the certified Angus beef tenderloin and he had ordered the coconut and saffron poached snapper.
Noah waited until the waiters left before he focused on her with his limpid hazel eyes. "So...you were saying?"
"I love him as a friend," Raine said, "nothing romantic."
Noah regarded her for an intense couple of seconds and she held his gaze. Something in her eyes must have reassured him that she was telling the truth.
He smiled at her after their stare down. "Well, let's eat."
Chapter Ten
Noah couldn't sleep the evening after his dinner with Raine. It didn't help that his mother had phoned him after he got in and had chewed him out about upsetting Whitney. Family drama aside, he was troubled on more than one level.
He had the overwhelming feeling that he was losing something. He went to his study and turned on the desk lamp and opened the laptop. The hall clock struck three. He pointed the mouse to his folder of stories and then paused.
He rubbed his hand over his face and got up. It was no use he couldn't do it. One had to be inspired to write. He only felt confusion, anger… but not inspiration.
He sat back in the chair and closed his eyes. Why anger? Why would Dean be angry?
He walked to the patio and sat in a lounge chair. He contemplated the city lights to his right and the dark black inkiness where the sea was. That was the problem with sea views, they never really had any value outside of daylight hours.
He closed his eyes and tried to ride out his unrest.
These were not his emotions.
They belonged to Dean Marcus Long. He didn't know what on earth had gone on in that guy's life before he died so suddenly but it must have been something momentous.
He was used to vicarious emotions. He had been consistently writing emotionally charged books for years but these emotions were strong enough to wake him up in the morning, and they were frighteningly intense.
Maybe he could exorcise them with a book.
He sat up straighter. He had done that in the past. Writing had helped him to cope while he waited on a new heart.
Why shouldn't he use this as a springboard for a story?
He needed to write Dean's story. He, more than anyone else knew what the guy was feeling before he died.
He needed that story. He needed to know more about Dean and he wasn't going to wait until the weekend to go to Paddington St. Mary, as he was planning to do. He was hoping to meet Dean's parents and see the things he saw and all of that stuff. He needed to know why the guy was obsessed with Cassandra.
He was going today. Now.
He jumped from the chair and headed inside. Of course, he needed guidance to the place, and of course he would ask Raine.
He was planning to anyway. That it was insanely early and probably selfish to call her at this hour was not as big a concern for him, though it should be. He needed to get some answers. And he wasn't going to wait around much longer, tiptoeing around Raine or Bradley and not asking the right questions was proving to be fruitless.
He dialed her number.
She answered the phone pretty clearly as if she wasn't sleeping either.
He inhaled. "Sorry to call you so early."
"No problem." Raine stifled a yawn and he suddenly felt like a heel. He could have waited three hours more but he was on the phone already.
"I need to go to Paddington, St. Mary."
Raine chuckled. "Okay."
"I mean now," Noah said semi apologetically. "I know it's early."
Raine gasped. "You writer people really have a little crazy thing going, don't you?"
"No," Noah said patiently. "It's not a writer thing. It's a Dean Long thing. I need some answers."
"Dean Long?" Raine sounded surprised. "What about him?"
"I'll pick you up in half an hour and tell you on the way."
"Wait!" Raine sounded li
ke she was moving about. "I have school today. I'd have to call Marion and tell her to open for me at the store and then I'd have to tell Nicole to take notes and all of that. It is ten after three!" She exclaimed in shock.
Noah smiled. He imagined her glancing at the clock in amazement. "You can call them on the way."
"This is very unusual, Noah," Raine said it with so much concern that he found himself nodding in agreement.
"Yes it is. We'll talk in a while."
****
Contrary to her bright voice over the phone, Raine was looking sleepy when she slipped into the car. She was in jeans and a thick blue sweater. She had come out with a backpack slung over her shoulder.
"Stuff for my sisters." She mumbled when she got in the car, "It's a good thing that I had that packed."
Noah grimaced. "Sorry about this."
Raine settled down in the car and nodded. "So, you have a little tinge of writer madness, I wondered what your quirk was, now I know. I am happy to be of assistance to my favorite author."
"It's not just writer madness," Noah said thoughtfully as he pulled out into the quiet streets. "I have Dean Long's heart."
He glanced at her when he said it and she sat up straighter in the seat, all vestiges of sleep disappearing.
"Say that again?"
"You heard me," Noah said. "I have Dean Long's heart. He was a donor. He died. I got his heart. You know how it goes."
Raine was now staring at him; he could literally hear her mind running.
"So that's why you were so interested in him?" She whispered. "You weren't planning on writing some book about Paddington?"
"Probably I will." Noah shrugged. "I am thinking I need to."
"Dean's heart," Raine whispered as if she didn't hear him. "It's kind of weird."
"What's weirder is that I feel little traces of his emotions and stuff like that." Noah slowed down at a stoplight and then sighed. "It is driving me crazy."
"Are you serious?" Raine's eyes were wide in the half-light. "Like what?"
"When I woke up from the surgery I had a distinct impression, strong yearning for something, or at least that's what I interpret it as. That same night when I went to bed I had the same feeling and woke up with the name Cassandra Green in my head."
He drove off but not before hearing Raine gasp.
"You know her?" Noah asked the question casually but this was what he really needed to know.
He pulled up in front of a well-lit shopping center. He needed to see Raine's face when he got her response but she was staring ahead.
"Raine?"
Raine swallowed and looked at him. "Never heard of her."
"So she didn't grow up in St. Mary like you and Dean?"
"No." Raine shook her head. "No, she didn't."
"You sure?" Noah examined her closely. "You are absolutely sure?"
Raine looked at him, her eyes wide and almost fearful. "Yes. I am sure."
Noah exhaled noisily. "So why is it that I read fear in your eyes?"
"Maybe, because this whole thing is kind of strange. It gives me goose pimples. You have the heart of my high school boyfriend." Raine tucked her hands around her. "This is quite odd. Kind of like a sci-fi movie.
"You know, when you told me that you felt things from your heart donor, I had no idea you were talking about Dean. You said you heard that song No Goodbye and you cried. Was that because Dean cried back in high school when we broke up? How can this be possible?"
Noah shrugged. "It is possible. It is happening to me." He pulled out of the parking space and drove in silence for minutes.
"I should apologize," he finally said.
Raine was looking through the window.
"What else do you know?" She asked in a whisper. "What else do you feel?"
"Random stuff, like food preferences. I know he loved grape soda and the scent of stewed peas makes me feel nostalgic even though I hated stewed peas in the past. Oh and music. There are some soppy love songs that I never used to listen to that I like now. And of course the workouts. I know he loved the gym because I am highly motivated to pump iron, never did before."
Noah shrugged. "Some of that stuff is fading though and to be honest I am happy about it. I like to have my own tastes."
"Wow," Raine whispered. "Dean really liked stewed peas with the little dumplings in there and the little pieces of beef. He would eat a whole pot of that, no questions asked. His mom used to cook that on a Sunday, every Sunday. She'd make extra for him. And yes, when I saw him last year he looked buffed so I can totally understand the whole gym thing."
"And of course there is this really strong reaction to you when I met you and of course there is the ever present feeling for Cassandra Green."
Raine was shaking her head in amazement. "And you got that name, just by getting his heart. Crazy! You know how absolutely crazy that is?"
"I know," Noah murmured. "Really mind blowing when you think about it. He must have felt something pretty strong for her."
"Yes, must have," Raine said thoughtfully. "Maybe she killed him."
"He died in an accident, he wasn't murdered," Noah said, "Why would you say that though?"
"I just think, maybe she did something that shocked him and he drove away in horror or something like that and he wasn't paying attention on the road." Raine shrugged. "It is a possibility."
Noah nodded. "Or maybe he loved her so much he was thinking about her constantly and she was the last thought on his mind when that car rammed into his. The accident wasn't his fault."
Raine turned away from him then. "Maybe."
She sounded jealous. Noah thought glancing at her profile. "So you made contact with Dean last year?"
"Yes." Raine sighed. "I did. Last year, a couple months before he died. He sold the farm and was planning to move to Montego Bay. He was hoping to explore his writing passion."
"And he visited the bookstore every day," Noah said glancing at her, "in the mornings hoping to see you, but Bradley was in your life."
Raine nodded. "That's fairly accurate."
"So you were seeing both men?" Noah frowned. He didn't bother to hide his distaste.
Raine didn't answer and Noah didn't force the issue. Anything he said after this would be judgmental and maybe jealous-filled.
He liked Raine. She had the kind of personality that was just right for him. He could see why Dean Long had loved her. The guy cried when they broke up.
Noah thought about it, he had never cried over a girl before. He hadn't even come close to that sort of thing.
"So, if he loved you, where did Cassandra Green come in?"
Raine sighed. "I don't know and why would you conclude that he loved me?"
"Because I have the poor guy's heart." Noah glanced at her. "You guys must have had the romance of the century for you to still have such an impression. Tell me."
Raine yawned. "I don't know about romance of the century. There isn't much to tell. I lived pretty close to Dean. I lived with my grandparents and he lived with his parents on a dairy farm. He would deliver fresh milk to the neighborhood every morning with his pushcart. For years he was our milkman, or milk boy.
"On Sundays his mother made ice cream in one of those old churners. Trust me, you have never tasted ice cream like that. None of this modern nonsense comes close. It was the highlight of our Sundays, going to the Long's farm for ice cream."
Noah grinned because Raine was smacking her lips.
"We weren't really close until we were around thirteen or so. Kadie Spence, my other neighbor, took a liking to him and she would talk about him all the time. Dean is so cute. Dean is so sweet, Dean this, Dean that. It had me taking a closer look at him, then I realized that he wasn't all that bad looking and he had a nice disposition. Very quiet, very polite.
He was always serious and industrious and getting good grades in school. The teachers loved him.The church people loved him. As a matter of fact, when we started hanging out, he was warned about me."
"What kind of reputation?" Noah asked.
"I told you this already," Raine muttered. "She was alleged to be a man-stealer, homewrecker." Raine inhaled roughly. "The neighborhood easy woman, to put it mildly. Every relationship ended sourly and then she was left with a baby. Everybody waited for her oldest girl—me—to fall into the same cycle."
"Ah," Noah glanced at her.
"Stop judging me," Raine muttered. "I am nothing like her."
"I am not judging. I just said ah," Noah said. "The day had lightened a bit as he turned off on the highway to St. Mary. So you were like a pariah in the community because of her."
"Yes." Raine inhaled. "The Long's didn't like me much but I wasn't doing too badly academically and I didn't seem to be having a bad influence on their only boy. They would have preferred if he had a relationship with Fran Carter, the pastor's daughter, or Mr. Zeb's girl. He owned the haberdashery in the town square."
Noah grinned. "I can picture it now."
"At any rate, Dean preferred me to all the better prospects and we hung out for a couple of years—heavily chaperoned by his mother I should add." Raine laughed. "I have never seen anything like it. She used to be serious about me not corrupting her son. Our first kiss was on the steps of his house while his mother was inside singing Amazing Grace. Loudly."
Noah laughed.
Raine sighed. "And then she died—complications in childbirth. That was when we were seventeen. It really affected Dean. He was close to his mom."
"Yes." Noah nodded.
"And that was the year I left Paddington. I could not stay. My older half sister, my dad's daughter, got a job with a hotel in Tower Isle and as soon as I graduated high school she got a job for me. "
"That was when you decided to leave the district?"
"Yup. You'll see why. Paddington is not exactly a hot bed of commerce, especially if you weren't into farming." Raine sighed. "Dean and I lived different lifestyles even though we were from the same place. There are some things about me that he couldn't understand, like what drove me to want to escape."
Scarlett Heart (The Scarletts Page 8