“Photographs from our wedding.”
Rock pointed to a porch chair and waited as Miko took a seat, then folded back the paper. She lifted an ornate gold picture frame in her hands and stared at the photo. Hadley had captured them beneath the feathery branches of the weeping willow tree.
The setting appeared tranquil and beautiful, but the look on Rock’s face held her interest. Adoration shone from his eyes as he gazed at her in the image. Did he truly care for her? Love her? From the emotion on his face Hadley had caught, she wondered if it could be true.
Rock leaned over her shoulder and smiled. “That’s a nice photograph. Hadley has quite a way with a camera.”
“She does,” Miko agreed, taking a packet of photos from the paper. Together she and Rock studied them.
“I like this one best,” Rock said, holding out a picture of the two of them laughing. He couldn’t recall what had been said at the moment, but something had struck them both as funny.
With a critical eye, Miko shook her head. “The one Hadley framed is my favorite.”
“Let’s hang it in the living room.” Rock took her hand in his, helping her to her feet. “Where should we put it?”
Miko followed him inside. Together, they decided to hang the picture on the wall where the wedding photos of Miko’s grandparents, parents, and sister were on display.
As he pounded a hook into the wall to hold the frame, she shared the news Pastor Clark had delivered about women leaving the assembly center to return to their husbands.
“I agree with Pastor Clark. You should stop hiding. If you want to work in the produce stand or the garden or just laze the day away in a chair in the front yard, do it.”
She laughed and swatted his arm. “How many times have you seen me laze a day away?”
He grinned. “Never, which is why it might not be a bad idea for you to take a day off to do nothing but relax.”
“There’s too much work to be done around here for such foolishness,” Miko said, waving her hand outside as their helpers arrived for the day.
Rock hung the photo and stepped back to look at it. “If you change your mind, come out to the corn patch. The boys and I plan to pick all we can out there today.”
“Perfect,” she said, kissing his cheek in thanks for his work. He wrapped a hand around her waist and gently squeezed it before rushing outside to give the boys their work assignments for the day.
Even if she didn’t intend to pursue her feelings for him, she did enjoy his attention.
That afternoon, she made a big batch of brownies, although she hated to heat the house by using the oven. While the decadent smell of chocolate filled every corner of the kitchen, she squeezed the juice out of several ripe peaches Rock had carried in that morning, mixing the sweet liquid with a bottle of ginger ale.
She took a tablecloth outside to the picnic table where their helpers often ate their lunch in the shade of the storage building and spread it over the surface. A vase of cheerful blossoms adorned the center of the table.
Miko carried out glasses and a stack of paper napkins her grandmother always kept on hand for days such as this.
Finally, she filled the juice pitcher with ice and carried it with the brownies out to the table.
She donned a broad-brimmed straw hat and her sunglasses, then went in search of Rock. She found him and the young men they employed gathering up gunnysacks full of corn to carry back to the produce stand.
Rock glanced up and beamed at her as she approached them. “Hey, sweetheart. What are you doing out here?” He leaned over and kissed her cheek.
“I set out a little something for you all to enjoy,” she said, slightly nervous as she balanced on the balls of her feet with her hands behind her back. Afraid her normal farm attire of rolled-up jeans and an old blouse might embarrass Rock in front of the boys who worked for him, she’d changed into a cotton summer dress and slipped on a pair of wedge sandals. The ensemble wasn’t the best choice to wear out to a corn patch, but the clothes made her feel confident and fashionable.
“That’s wonderful,” Rock said, grinning as four boys stared at his bride. “Guys, this is my wife, Mrs. Laroux.”
The boys all smiled politely, albeit a little shocked to meet their employer’s wife. They had assumed he had one since someone obviously made food while they harvested the cherries, but they hadn’t seen her.
Impressed by the tall, elegant woman with a beautiful smile, the boys appeared caught up in the spell of her charm.
Miko smiled at them, then turned to her husband. “And who are the boys, Rock?”
He made the introductions, then motioned for the young men to heft sacks of corn and head back to the produce stand.
Miko preceded them and introduced herself to the two girls working there. Since it was nearly closing time, she invited them to join in the refreshments and helped them close down the stand for the evening.
“Gosh, Mrs. Laroux, I love your dress. It’s perfectly peachy!” The more outgoing of the two girls chatted about clothes and current fashions as Miko walked with them to the picnic table.
The boys and Rock soon met them there with hastily washed faces and hands. While Miko poured drinks and passed out the glasses, the girls cast flirty glances at the boys. In turn, the boys covertly watched Miko.
When all the teens left for the day, Rock settled an arm around Miko’s shoulders and tugged her against his side. “I’m so proud of you for coming out to meet the crew today, Miko. As you can see, the kids are quite taken with you.”
“That’s only because they have no idea I’m different from them,” she said as she set glasses on the empty brownie platter and carried it inside.
Rock held the pitcher in one hand with the tablecloth draped over his arm and followed her. “Those boys are so smitten, they wouldn’t notice if you came from a different planet. And in case you missed it, both the girls emulated your every move.”
Miko set the platter on the counter, then removed her sunglasses and hat. With a disbelieving glare, she took the empty pitcher from him and placed it in the sink. “I doubt that. I’m sure you were mistaken.” She washed the pitcher, then soaped the glasses. “It was nice to meet the kids you talk about all the time. I’ve seen them from a distance, out the windows, but they are a nice bunch.”
“They are, although the girls become distracted if I let the boys linger around the produce stand too long.”
She laughed and began drying the dishes. “Imagine that… a good-looking boy distracting a silly girl.”
“Well, this boy is very distracted by his lovely wife.” Rock tugged the dish towel from her hand, then walked in a circle around her, intently studying her from head to toe. “Have I seen this dress before?”
“No,” she said, and snatched the dish towel, desperate to tamp down the syrupy warm feelings he inspired in her midsection with his perusal. “I haven’t had much occasion to dress up since you’ve been here.”
“I suppose not,” he said. It was a shame she didn’t wear dresses more often, especially with those long, long legs of hers. The floral-print dress hugged her waist and swished around her knees. It wasn’t anything fancy, but it certainly sent his thoughts zooming off in a husbandly direction.
Before they got too far out of line, he reeled them back in and once again removed the towel from her hand. “Since you’re all dressed up, why don’t I take you out for dinner tonight?”
The idea held a great deal of appeal, but she hesitated. “I think we better—”
“Hurry and get ready to go,” he said, interrupting whatever she planned to say. “Give me a minute to clean up and I’ll take you to that burger place on the way into town. If you wear your hat and sunglasses, no one will bother you. We can stay in the car if you like.”
Resigned to indulging him, she smiled. “Fine, but you better hurry or I’ll leave without you.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
Chapter Twenty-One
Miko stretched and g
rasped a juicy, ripe peach in her hand. The ladder wobbled beneath her and she gasped, reaching for the pail on top of the ladder’s platform to keep the fruit she’d picked from spilling.
Three pairs of hands hurried to steady the ladder.
“Thank you, boys,” she said in a smooth, velvety voice, beaming at the young men who had rushed to her rescue and gazed up at her with unbridled adoration.
“Sure thing, Mrs. Laroux.”
“Our pleasure, Mrs. Laroux.”
“Anything for you, Mrs. Laroux.”
Rock rolled his eyes and swallowed the urge to holler at his crew to get back to work.
Since the day she’d offered them brownies and sweet peach fizz, all the kids they’d hired, even the girls, had been fascinated with Miko.
Fashionable, funny, witty, and smart, it was no wonder their hired help thought she was the best thing to come along since soda pop. The boys fell all over themselves trying to impress her, and the girls asked her advice about clothes, hairstyles, makeup, and boys.
Rock was happy they all doted on his wife. He wasn’t sure any of them had even noticed she was Japanese since she kept her sunglasses on most of the time when she was outside. Beyond the shape of her eyes, it was hard to deduce her ethnicity, especially with her long legs.
Those legs, the ones that danced through many of Rock’s dreams, were on full display as Miko carefully turned around on the ladder and smiled at the boys lingering below her.
After lunch, she ventured out to the orchard to help them pick peaches. A pair of high-waisted navy-blue shorts with white buttons marching down both sides along the front replaced the rolled-up denims she’d had on that morning. A white blouse trimmed with red piping and a pair of dark blue canvas shoes gave her an all-American appeal. To embellish the image, she’d taken time to curl her long hair into a bouncing, shimmering midnight mass. A red polka-dotted scarf knotted into a headband with a jaunty bow held her silky tresses out of her face while she worked.
Perched on the ladder with an alluring smile on her ruby lips, she could have posed for a pinup poster. Experienced with the ideas and comments those posters generated among men starved for the attention of women, Rock scowled. The notion of Miko being the object of anyone’s lustful thoughts besides his caused raw anger to boil in his belly.
Jealous of the attention she gave the boys and annoyed by their rapt interest in his bride, Rock wished she’d head back to the house before his patience completely unraveled.
Astutely sensing his unease, Miko lifted an inquisitive eyebrow above her sunglasses. He felt the weight of her gaze even though her eyes remained hidden as he balanced on top of a ladder in the tree next to hers.
“Rock, darling, would you mind terribly if I head back to the house?” she asked, providing a reason for her to leave. “Dinner will be cold sandwiches if I don’t get something started.” The flirtatious smile she threw in his direction would have caused lesser men to topple off the ladder.
Rock set the bucket in his hand into a fork in the tree and scrambled down so fast he skipped the last half dozen rungs of the ladder. Before one of the teens could offer to help Miko, he moved in front of them.
One tempting step at a time, she descended the ladder facing forward, clutching the pail of peaches beneath her bosom in such a way it enhanced her curves. Any number of thoughts raced through Rock’s head, none of which would help him accomplish any work.
As soon as she was within reach, he took the pail from her and handed it to one of the boys, then placed both hands on her waist, swinging her to the ground.
“I think it’s a great idea for you to head in, sweetheart.” Rock pecked her cheek with a quick kiss. “We’ll wrap things up here just before five.”
“I’ll see you boys later.” She waggled her fingers at Rock’s helpers, then turned to him. “Especially you, Captain.”
“Go on with you, you tease.” He leaned close and whispered so only she could hear. “If you don’t stop your movie star performance and skedaddle, the boys will be worthless the rest of the day.”
Her grin widened and she moved away from him. Rock swatted her backside with the flat of his hand, causing her to spin around and raise both eyebrows at him before she left.
Shaded by the trees, four males watched her leave while the sweet scent of peaches mingled with Miko’s unique floral scent.
Rock inhaled a deep breath, filling his lungs with the aroma before thumping his hand on the shoulder of the young man closest to him. “Let’s get back to it, men. The peaches won’t jump into the buckets without a little help.”
A satisfied smile buoyed Miko’s spirits all the way back to the house. She waved at four boys who worked in the vegetable garden, watering and weeding. After checking on the girls in the produce stand and bringing them a cool drink, she decided to work in the flower bed around the house.
With every weed she pulled, she thought of the jealous spark in Rock’s eyes as the boys waited to help her off the ladder. Miko no more needed their help than she needed a second nose, but she’d enjoyed seeing Rock’s reaction to their attention. Since the day he’d introduced her to the teens he’d hired, she’d done her best to charm them all.
She genuinely liked the kids and enjoyed spending time around them, but for Rock’s sake, she needed them to accept her. And they had.
Admittedly, she might have been trying to get Rock’s attention back in the orchard as she’d stepped down the ladder. Between the women peering at him at the produce stand and the innocent flirting of girls they employed, Miko felt defensive and unreasonably upset.
Even if she was his wife in name only, she still held the possessive feelings of a married woman. Perhaps Rock had gotten a dose of his own medicine today.
Her lips tipped up in a grin as she recalled him referring to her as a tease and playfully swatting her backside as she left the orchard.
Pleased with life in general and her husband in particular, Miko planned the dinner menu in her head as she worked. She compiled a mental list of chores she planned to accomplish the following day as she tended to the flowers.
She stood to carry a pile of weeds to the compost pile behind the pigpen when she heard the sound of running footsteps. Quickly turning, she watched Petey race across the pasture.
Tears streamed down his freckled cheeks and the breeze fanned his hair without his cap to hold it in place.
The weeds fell from her hands and she opened her arms to the boy. Petey vaulted into them, crying against her neck with distraught wails.
“Petey! My gracious! What in the world is the matter?” she asked, carrying him over to a stone bench beneath a maple tree and taking a seat, holding him tightly in her arms.
He continued to cry, unable to speak as he sucked in ragged breaths between sobs.
“It’s okay, honey. It’s okay,” Miko said, rocking back and forth. Soothingly, she rubbed her hand up and down his back.
From out of nowhere, Rock appeared, dropping onto a knee in front of them. A callused hand settled on the back of Petey’s head as he looked at Miko with unspoken questions. She shrugged and continued to rock the boy.
“Petey? Can you tell us what’s wrong? Are you hurt? Did something happen to your sister? To your folks?” Rock asked, brushing the boy’s hair away from his face. “What happened, Petey? Did someone harm you?” The big man leaned back to get a gander at the child, to surmise if there were any visible wounds.
The trembling little body in Miko’s arms stilled and he swallowed a big gulp. Petey sat up and swiped his nose across one sleeve, his eyes across the other, and pulled himself together.
“Harm me? Harm me!” The boy shook his head, sending his bright red locks into greater disarray. “Heck no! No one harmed me, unless you call ripping out my heart and stomping it to pieces harmed. If that’s the case, if that’s the way of it, then you bet your life I’ve been harmed!”
Miko kissed his cheek and continued rubbing his back. “What happened, Petey? W
ho broke your heart?”
“My friend Ryatt, that’s who. I’ve never had so much everlastingly awful trouble as I’ve had today,” Petey said. He sniffled and wiped his nose on his sleeve again.
Just when Rock thought the boy might hop off Miko’s lap and scamper home, he leaned into her and sighed again, as though he’d found a place of rest.
“What kind of trouble?” Rock asked, continuing to hunker in front of Miko and the boy.
“The kind no one should have. Ryatt’s folks… well, they…” Petey’s eyes sparkled with tears and his lower lip quivered, but he took another deep breath. “Those nasty, rotten blighters in the Pacific, well, they shot up Ryatt’s dad pretty good last month. An officer knocked on the door this morning to let them know his dad had… his dad was… dead.”
“Oh, honey,” Miko wrapped her arms around Petey again and kissed the top of his head. “I’m so sorry.”
“You can’t be that sorry yet. You ain’t heard the worst of it.” Petey jerked upright and looked from Miko to Rock. “It’s about the most horrible, awful story that’ll ever pass through your ears. Ryatt’s mama was plenty shook up this morning, but she needed to see to arrangements, that’s what she and my folks kept calling them, arrangements, for Ryatt’s dad. So she brung him over to our house to stay while she went to town. Poor ol’ Ry was trying hard to be brave and act like life was just as swell as ever, but he stayed close to Mom and sat real quiet with her and the princess. Well, Pop decided to head into town and see about making some arrangements of his own. He wasn’t gone any time before he tore up our lane, sending grass and gravel flying and yelling at Mom to get on the phone and call the sheriff. There’d been an accident.”
“Oh, no,” Miko whispered, anticipating the rest of the story.
“Oh, yes,” Petey said, unable to contain his tears. They rolled in great sorrowful drops down his cheeks as he finished the tale. “Pop thinks Ryatt’s mama was so upset by the news of his daddy dying that she missed the curve in the road down by Mr. Donald’s place and ran the car right into a tree. I wasn’t supposed to listen, but I snuck into the kitchen and hid under the table while my folks were talking. Pop said Ryatt’s mama was in bad shape, but she squeezed his hand and said it was an accident and she didn’t want to leave her baby. Before Pop could do anything to help her, she up and died.”
Garden of Her Heart (Hearts of the War Book 1) Page 23