Scarlett Heart (The Scarletts

by Brenda Barrett

  "Bye Noah. See you later, Ma."

  Yolanda grunted.

  When the car drove off Yolanda looked at Noah. "He is married. He did it for the green card but his wife who lives in the States, comes out frequently to surprise him. He can afford to rent a place and put Erica but he is so mean and stingy with the money."

  Yolanda huffed. "I am sure you aren't mean to Raine, she has that put together look about her."

  Noah took a step back, willing Raine to come out of the house soon. As if she was reading his mind. Raine appeared at the doorway. "Ready Noah?"

  "Yes." Noah nodded.

  "And you'll drop me to work?" Yolanda said heading to the vehicle. "I can't wait to see the faces of the ladies at work when I roll up in this vehicle."

  ****

  "You had to meet her to get the full effect." Raine said after they dropped her very talkative mother at the retirement home near the Oracabbessa township ten miles away. She had literally dragged him from the vehicle and introduced him to the staff and residents as Raine's new man.

  Raine cringed through the whole thing. Noah could see the embarrassment on her face even now as she tried to act as if she was quite cool with that fact that she had a mother who was obviously materialistic and only concerned about her pleasing him so that he wouldn't get away.

  "It's okay, you know," Noah said after a long pause. "Every family has their thing."

  "Not like mine." Raine looked at Noah and shook her head. "We are screwed up."

  "My father had five of us with five different women. He had my oldest brother with a school teacher while he was a student. My other brother, Kane and my sister Lisa didn't know that they were Scarletts, and my other brother, Oliver, is almost the same age as Kane. My dad was playing both of them at the same time."

  Raine smirked. "That's tame. My mother started having children at fourteen, she has nine of us with nine different men, and she is still searching for Mr. Right."

  "Mr. Rich and Right." Noah corrected, grinning.

  "Yep." Raine nodded. "And she is unapologetic about her intentions as you heard."

  "She might succeed. She is still attractive. You saw how that old man at the care home was looking at her?"

  Raine chuckled. "She would only marry him if he had money."

  "I see now why you never wanted to stay in Paddington," Noah said as they entered the highway.

  "Yes." Raine shuddered.

  "But your sisters are still there." Noah pointed to the empty bag. "You always take clothes for them?"

  "I rarely visit, only when Brad..." she bit her lip and inhaled. "I rarely visit."

  Noah glanced at her, "Bradley was helping out your family?"

  Raine covered her face and seemed to shrink in the chair. "I am so sorry I mentioned him."

  "Is that why you were with him?" Noah asked the question already knowing the answer. "He was helping to care for your family?"

  Raine groaned. "It sounds a bit sordid when you say it like that."

  "Your sister Erica is with a married guy too. It's run of the mill for you guys."

  "I am not like them," Raine hissed. "I grew up with my grandparents! I encourage my sisters to get an education and jobs. I am not like them at all! None of them. I am very very, very different from my siblings. Do not compare me with them, you hear me!"

  Her voice broke and tears were in her eyes. "You can't choose your family. Mine is messed up and screwed up beyond the pale but I am not like them."

  "Evidence indicates otherwise." Noah pointed out calmly. "You lived at an apartment leased by Bradley, you ran a business bought by him. He is married to my sister. How different are you then, Raine?"

  "You don't understand," Raine said miserably.

  "Make me understand," Noah urged. "Help me to get this."

  "No," Raine said stubbornly. "It doesn't matter. Think what you like."

  And then silence.

  She turned her head away from him, steadfastly looking away. He couldn't get to see her expression.

  Noah felt an uneasy niggling feeling just thinking about her response. He tried to assess what this feeling for her was.

  Was it confusion?

  Yes, it definitely was. Raine did not give him the feeling that she was a gold digger or an opportunist. She certainly was not as brash and matter of fact with it like her mother was. She was different. Just how different, he wasn't sure.

  Chapter Twelve

  Raine spent the afternoon after her Paddington trip in a half daze. First Nicole called to tell her that she was not going to make it to class either, so she wouldn't have any class notes. And then Bradley called.

  She was wondering when he would call. He had been ominously silent since seeing her at the dinner party. She contemplated not answering but knowing him he would persist in calling her all evening until she answered.

  She answered drowsily. "What?"

  Bradley chuckled. "You sound grumpy."

  "I know you are going to call me to cuss me out," Raine muttered. "I had no idea that you would be at the dinner party the other evening or even that Whitney would be there."

  "I am not mad at you," Bradley said pleasantly, "I am just calling to check up on my favorite girl."

  Raine sighed. "I am good."

  "How is the job at the bookstore going? No problems with Noah?"

  "Nope." Raine sighed. "No problems at all."

  Except that he thought that she was a home wrecking mistress. Of course she didn't say that out loud. She wouldn't be getting any sympathy from Bradley.

  "And he hasn't mentioned me?" Bradley asked.

  "Not really." Raine yawned. "What time is it?"

  "After eight," Bradley replied. "Garrick asked for your number. Apparently you made an impression on him at the dinner party. You told him that we weren't together anymore and he wanted to know if I would have problems with him dating you. He also wanted to know if you have a thing with Noah. He said the two of you looked chummy."

  "Not interested," Raine muttered, "and you are the one who wants to know about me and Noah."

  "Well, can't say I am not curious as well." Bradley cleared his throat. "It would be sort of awkward if you and he were a thing."

  "It would be awkward for you, and we are not a thing. Now bye."

  Bradley chuckled. "Call me if you need me, I'll always be here for you."

  He hung up the phone and Raine closed her eyes again. But she had lost the sweet sleep spot. Maybe she should get up and have a shower and then listen to Pastor Marshall her favorite televangelist. She hadn't listened to him since she found out he was Noah's grandfather. It was really a small world. And she had a feeling it was going to get even smaller.

  She sighed and got up from the bed. Things would be so much simpler if Noah didn't have Dean's heart and was looking for Cassandra Green and Bradley wasn't married to Whitney Levy and she wasn't connected to the whole lot of them.

  So much for escaping the drama and pain that she had gotten sucked into a couple months ago. And so much for thinking that she could escape all the lies and deceit and intrigue by moving house and keeping to herself.

  She was involved whether she liked it or not. Whether she denied it or not and she was just as guilty as everyone involved, for Dean's death and for the mess they were all in.

  She was not an innocent bystander in all of this.

  And there was no laying it to rest with Dean's death. There was no forgiving and forgetting. The last year wasn't going to go away, not with Noah Scarlett sticking his nose in things.

  His curiosity was insatiable. And to make matters worse, she liked him. It was shocking how much she liked him actually.

  He was a very good-looking, rich guy that had the incredible ability to make her forget that she had vowed to stay away from men like him.

  It was just that there was so much more to Noah than looks and money. He was down to earth and witty and intuitive. She had gone to dinner with him at a fancy restaurant and had felt comfor
table.

  She had carried him to her childhood home and he met her mother and she had not died from embarrassment. Her mother could be a handful for anyone remotely conservative. Noah actually handled her quite well today, perhaps because he was comfortable with people of all sorts.

  He was comfortable in his own skin and that relayed itself in the way he handled himself. And that more than anything else was what attracted her to him.

  And because of this she was going to have to quit the bookstore after all. She couldn't stay there, working for Noah, seeing him occasionally, lying to him...

  The water was icy. She hurriedly showered and then pulled on a nightshirt and turned on the television to Pastor Marshall's church's channel.

  She missed the sermon. He was at the point where he was talking directly at the camera.

  You! I know you are feeling indecisive about something now but don't make any rash decisions right at this moment. You are going to get down on your knees and you are going to ask the Heavenly Father to guide you. You got that!

  Raine raised an eyebrow. The pastor paused as if he was waiting for her to answer.

  "Oh...okay." Raine felt compelled to answer out loud.

  "Good." Pastor Marshall continued. "Now, be blessed."

  The screen cut to the closing credits and then a song came on. She dozed off thinking about what her next move would be.

  ****

  Noah spent most of his evening in his study poring over Dean Long's diary. He realized that he hadn't eaten for a while but he was too fascinated with his heart donor's life to pay much attention to food.

  At first when he started perusing the book he was disappointed with the contents. Dean was more interested in jotting down what happened at sports games than he was in writing about his personal life. And he wrote in a kind of report style as if he were practicing for his articles.

  But then he got a bit more personal.

  Today Miss Powell asked us to write an essay about our best friend.

  Noah looked at the date. It was September 30, 2001.

  Dean was about fifteen.

  My best friend is a girl. Dean crossed out girl, and put, gorgeous girl, named Raine.

  I feel warm inside when I see Raine. We will be best friends forever. There is never going to be a time in my life when I won't have Raine around. I know that and she knows that too.

  Noah read through three whole pages that were filled with Raine this and Raine that. And then it was back to sports reporting and then cow counting and then a few pages about his family tree and then an essay about an interesting family member.

  His great grandfather and great grandmother had been freedom fighters in the Morant Bay Rebellion. Dean's account of his grandfather's exploits was quite fascinating, so much so that Noah was absorbed in the story. Dean could be a captivating writer if given the right material.

  Noah marked the page in the book and then moved on. There was a whole page of a poem written mostly in block letters. It was sad, lacked rhythm and was painful to read.

  Noah imagined that this was when he broke up with Raine.

  And then he scanned through more pages of sports commentary and gym progression figures. Dean tracked how many weights he bench-pressed; he was competing against a guy named Mikey. He used two columns, one for himself and one for Mikey.

  And then there was more bad poetry and then a long well thought out essay on why he was thinking about donating his body to science.

  He reasoned that he could help someone if he donated his organs. Judging by the date, Dean had written that when he was nineteen or so.

  Noah read through the essay again. Most teenagers did not have organ donation on a list of things to do. He was happy that this guy did though and for a moment he almost closed the book.

  He should be thankful for this second chance afforded to him by a very generous and forward thinking young man, not rifling through his book looking for clues to who Cassandra Green was.

  But Noah was curious and he never started a book he couldn't finish, so he soldiered through the thick diary and at one o'clock in the morning, when he almost reached the end of the book, he hit jackpot.

  He almost missed it too, a hastily written sentence, one line below a long cow milking schedule.

  Saw Cassie today, she is looking much different, prettier than usual, she said that Raine was living in Montego Bay and she would be joining her soon.

  Noah read the lines over and over again.

  Cassie!

  Diminutive for Cassandra perhaps?

  He scanned through the rest of the book. There was more rambling. He would go through those later.

  He found three faded photographs of people he did not recognize. He had to ask Raine about them.

  The first one was of a couple and two boys. He figured one of the boys was Dean as a young boy. He couldn't be sure.

  The second one was of a married couple—the photo was brown at the edges and the third picture was more modern. It was a picture of a boy in khaki uniform, a girl in blue tunic and white blouse who were grinning at the camera. It took him a moment to realize that the girl was Raine.

  He looked at the picture closer. It was her. They were obviously in school. Raine's hair was processed and looked shorter than it was now. Her cheeks were rounder and had that chubby look.

  He closed the book.

  It wasn't much help except for that line: saw Cassie today...

  If that Cassie was Cassandra Green she was from Paddington and she knew Raine. The plot thickened.

  He was too keyed up to sleep. He opened his laptop and for the first time in months, he felt the first stirrings of creativity running through him.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Raine had the unenviable task of opening the shop in the pouring rain the next morning. She almost didn't make it. Her car had reluctantly made its way down the hill and then had shut off in traffic. After a feverish prayer, begging God to deliver her from embarrassment, it had started and without much power had delivered her as far as the top of the avenue where she had thankfully parked it in a restaurant parking lot. She had walked to the shop and was soaking wet.

  She opened the shop door and leaned on it. She almost jumped out of her skin when she saw movement in the far booth.

  "Just me," Noah said waving. "How is the morning going so far?"

  He was dressed in black and looked enviably dry and handsome. He had a cup of chocolate in front of him and his laptop opened.

  Raine looked down on her wet t-shirt that was plastered on her. She didn't even want to think about her carefully constructed twist out style, her hair was probably looking like a frizzy mess right now, it might as well have been a wash and go and she was dripping on the floor.

  "I am... er doing quite fine," She said hoarsely. "How are you?"

  Noah leaned his head to one side. "You need to stop lying to me."

  "Huh?" Raine widened her eyes in fright. What did he know?

  "Your car, where is it?" Noah asked.

  "Broke down." Raine sighed in relief. He was talking about her current condition. Her guilty conscience was working over time. She pushed herself from the door and locked it.

  She wouldn't be opening until later, much later. First, she had to figure out a way to get dry.

  Noah got up from where he was and came nearer to her.

  "You are soaking wet." He stated the obvious and then his eyes lingered on where her t-shirt clung to what was probably her now transparent brassiere. She felt her nipples pucker from the cold and his stare.

  She didn't dare look at him.

  She headed to the office and looked around the small space. Her only hope of getting dry was the small hand towel in the bathroom. It wasn't going to work. Her shoulders slumped in defeat.

  "I could drop you home to get a change of clothes," Noah said helpfully from the doorway. "And call a mechanic to go and get your car, wherever it is."

  Raine looked around at him. "I don't need your
help, Noah."

  "Yes, you do." Noah gave her a steely look. "I would hate for you to greet any customer, who is mad enough to come here in this weather, naked and wet."

  A small smile curved around his lips. "Though, it would probably be good for business."

  Raine shivered involuntarily. And then looked down at herself. "I'll get your car wet."

  Noah shrugged. "It will be dry again. Besides, I think I have some plastic you can sit on. Don't worry about it. Come on."

  They got in the car and Noah spoke to a guy called Carson who owned a garage, he promised to pick up her car.

  "I can't afford this," Raine said out loud. "I can't afford to pay for car repairs now and I can't afford a wrecker. This is the worst time for this to be happening!"

  "I'll put it on your tab," Noah said easily. "Stop worrying about it."

  "I am not a charity case," Raine hissed. "I am an independent woman. I pay my own way. I don't want to owe anybody anything."

  "That's a noble speech," Noah nodded, "but sometimes when we need help we just have to accept it gracefully."

  "Fine," Raine said grudgingly. "What were you doing at the shop today anyway?"

  "Waiting for you." Noah shrugged. "I got some pictures from Dean's diary—was hoping you could tell me who the people were. I'll show them to you when you are dry."

  Noah turned on the radio. "I didn't check the weather report this morning. Did you?"

  "No," Raine shook her head. She had overslept. She had stayed up way too late thinking about him.

  He drove slowly through the driving rain. It felt like an eternity before they crawled to the end of the boulevard. The weather forecast said that there was a surface trough that was expected to bring heavy rains and thunderstorms for the day. Caution on the roads was advised.

  "Tell you what," he glanced at her, "my house is easier to reach from here. You can change there."

  "You have clothes my size just lying around your house?" Raine asked skeptically.

  "No," Noah grinned. "You can wear one of my robes while you wait for your clothes dry or maybe Dotty can find something for you to wear."