After I paid the bill, I decided to walk home, instead of taking the T, hoping the fresh air would help clear my mind. However, when I reached my dad’s house, I was still undecided about what to do.
“Hey, Dad, I’m home,” I called as I opened the front door.
He appeared at the end of the hall with his arm draped over the shoulders of a very attractive brunette. “Great timing, Liv. This is Karen, and we were just going to have some coffee. Come on in the kitchen and join us.”
“Hi Livvy. It’s so nice to finally get to meet you. Your dad talks about you all the time.”
I smiled at my father and then Karen. “It’s nice to meet you too, and I’d love a cup of coffee.”
“Rough afternoon?” he asked.
I scrunched up my nose. “It’s tough to say good-bye to someone you care about.”
“Are you talking about Dale?”
“Yeah.”
“You did the right thing, Liv.”
“I know.”
Karen’s gaze was fixed on my dad, and the way her brown eyes sparkled, I realized she was looking at him in the way I should’ve looked at Dale. My heart swelled at the thought that my dad might have found what he was hoping for—a woman who could love him as much as my mom had.
I wound up having two cups of coffee while chatting and laughing with them, and for a few hours, I forgot my troubles. Unfortunately, they returned as soon as I was alone, but I didn’t have to stress for long, because once my head hit the pillow, I was asleep.
~*~
THE SUN WAS barely up when we arrived at Logan. Early morning flights were always tough. However, this one was especially so. Even though I’d fallen right to sleep last night, I’d tossed and turned a lot. It seemed my dad was exhausted too. Apparently, he hadn’t slept much either. For all his cheery talk the past two days, I could see how hard it was for him to say good-bye.
“I’ll call you at least twice a week, Dad.”
He squeezed my shoulder. “You’ve brought so much joy into my life, Livvy. I’m honored to be your dad. But now it’s time you found your wings, kiddo. I’ll support you in whatever you decide. And if it’s Louisiana, I’ll pack up your things and have them sent to you. You won’t have to worry about a thing.”
“Not all my stuff, though. I’ll need some things here for when I come visit. And what about my room? Will it still be mine?”
“Livvy Luv, it’ll always be yours. No matter where you go or what you do, you’ll always have that to come back to.”
I wrapped my arms around his neck, breathing in the aroma of his cologne. “Thanks. You’re the best dad a girl could ask for. I love you so much.” I clung to him a few seconds longer before kissing his cheek and saying my final good-bye.
As I walked away, I turned around once to wave. The look I saw on his face was one of deep admiration and respect, and I knew he’d meant it when he said he’d support me in whatever I decided to do.
Chapter Fifteen
THE TAXI RIDE from the airport to Turnberry was very different from the last one. Although it was another hot, muggy Louisiana day, this taxi had air-conditioning. But that wasn’t the most notable difference. It was the way I felt as we approached the plantation. Last time, I’d been on pins and needles, not knowing what to expect. Now the queasy feeling in my stomach was because I had to make a life-altering decision.
When the taxi pulled up in front of the house, Gerard came and took my luggage out of the trunk and carried it inside.
“Welcome home, Miss Olivia,” he said cheerfully.
“Thank you.” The fact that he used the word home struck me. I glanced around the freshly painted vestibule, noticing the new whitewashed hall table and huge vase on top of it filled with magnolias, their rich fragrance filling the room. “It looks beautiful in here. So bright and airy.”
“We’ve all been working hard these past few days. Mr. Carter wanted everything to be perfect for when you returned.”
“Well, if the rest of the house looks anything like this, I’m impressed.”
“It does, Miss Olivia. I’ve never seen this old place look so good.”
As he started up the staircase with my bags, I asked, “Speaking of Jaxon, do you happen to know where he is?”
“Last I saw, he was down by the river.”
“Thanks.” I walked through the vestibule and down the back hall. When I was at the kitchen, I poked my head in the door. “It’s so nice to see you all looking cheerful.”
Theresa, Dottie, and the rest of the staff all grinned.
“It’s so nice to have ya home,” Theresa said. She wiped her hands on her apron and reached for a plate of biscuits. “Would ya like somethin’ to eat? Ya must be starvin’ after yar trip.”
“I am. But first I need to see Jaxon. There’s something I need to say to him.”
She raised a brow at me but set the plate back down on the counter.
Before I left, I asked, “Have you heard from Molly?”
Dottie clapped her hands together. “She’s comin’ home tomorrow. Words can’t express how grateful I am that she’s well.”
“It is indeed something to be very thankful for. Be sure to make a special dinner tomorrow, ladies.”
“Oh, we will, Miss Olivia. We most certainly will, and with one of my fabulous puddin’ cakes for dessert,” Theresa added.
As I walked out the back door onto the rear porch, it struck me how often home had been mentioned in the span of a few minutes. I wandered through the French parterre garden, taking in how precisely it had been pruned. When I passed through the white swinging gates and then over to the back buildings—the pigeonnier, the sugar house, and the slave quarters—it was as if I’d gone back more than a century. Every last detail had been attended to. My chest filled with pride that a little piece of history had been restored and would soon be shared with the public.
I continued on to where the cypress trees with their branches dripping with Spanish moss framed the Mississippi. A heron walked leisurely over the grass, until its keen eyes spotted me. It opened its beautiful wings and took off in graceful flight.
At the edge of the riverbank, I spotted Jaxon. As if sensing I was there, he turned around to face me. “I didn’t expect you until later.”
“I got an early flight,” I said, standing beside him.
There were shadows under his eyes and a tenseness to his mouth.
“The place looks wonderful.” I offered him a smile, hoping to lighten the mood, but he didn’t return the gesture.
“Did you hear Molly’s coming home tomorrow?”
“Yes, Dottie told me. That was the news I was hoping to hear.” I put my hand on his arm. “Jaxon, I—”
“You were right about everything, Liv,” he said cutting me off. “I found out a little while ago that Nigel confessed. He used that kitchen worker Cammy to put arsenic in your mom’s sweet tea, and then he killed her. He thought that with your mom out of the way, Asa would sell Turnberry. When that didn’t happen, he just bided his time until the next opportunity presented itself. That happened to be Jess. He thought he’d found his golden goose, but that changed when you came on the scene. He had to get you out of the way, so he resorted to what worked in the past—murder with arsenic. Molly was a diversion, and the Tucker Sheldon curse played right into his hands. And then there was Asa…”
I breathed in a shallow, quick gasp. “Grandpa?”
“That last night, Jess poisoned his soup.”
I squeezed my eyes shut, trying to block out the image of my grandfather’s still body.
“He was dying, Liv. They just helped it along,” he said bitterly. “All this tragedy because a petrochemical company offered to buy Clairmont, but for the deal to go through, they wanted Turnberry too.” He looked back over the water. “I’m so sorry. I had no idea Nigel was so twisted.”
“You can’t blame yourself, Jaxon. How could you have known? You were just a boy when he started down his sick path.”
“I wouldn’t blame you if you turned around and went right back to Boston.”
My back stiffened. “Why would I do that?”
“So much has happened here, why would you want to stay?”
“Didn’t you say, ‘You can’t run from your memories? They’ll hunt you down and haunt you no matter where you are, if you let them’? And what about the grand opening of the bed-and-breakfast? All the work that you and everyone here has done to get this place ready would’ve all been for nothing.”
“Not for nothing. If you leave, Turnberry goes to the historical society. I’m sure they’d be very happy to get this place fully renovated.”
“But this is my home.”
There was a pensive shimmer in the shadow of his eyes. “A home that’s cursed.”
“A curse is only effective if you let it be. Our love is stronger than any hex from Tucker Sheldon.”
His face brightened. “You mean that?”
I curled my arms around his neck, pulling him to me. “I choose you. I choose us. Now and forever.” My mouth covered his hungrily, and when he kissed me back, it was with a savage intensity that rocked my world.
I had no doubt I’d made the right choice. After all, I’d followed my dad’s advice: always go with your heart. If you do that, you can’t go wrong.
The End
~ * ~
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A Note from the Author
ALONG WITH GOTHIC romantic suspense, I also write paranormal and sweet small-town contemporary romance.
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As a bonus to SHADOWS AND LIES, I’ve included the first chapter of SURRENDER TO LOVE, book one of the Breakers Island series. I hope you’ll read on.
Surrender to Love
The Breakers Island Series
Book One
© 2015 Raine English
A tempestuous island holds a mystery that can destroy…
When Tara Spencer agrees to spend the summer caring for her ailing grandmother, she has no idea how her life will be changed by the handsome stranger next door. Will she have a second chance at love, or will his secrets put her life in jeopardy?
The Breakers Island Series
Book 1: Surrender to Love
Book 2: Surrender the Night
Book 3: Surrender to Desire
Book 4: Surrender to Me
Book 5: Surrender to Forever
Please enjoy the following excerpt for
SURRENDER TO LOVE…
Chapter One
TARA SPENCER TOOK a few more steps toward the three-story Federal-style mansion, stopping at the base of the wooden steps that would take her to the entry porch. She clenched her suitcase handle as she glanced back at the old Subaru parked in the driveway and for a split second contemplated getting back into it and driving away. However tempting that thought might be, there were a number of reasons why she couldn’t do that. First and foremost, she was dying of thirst. A trip from New Hampshire to Massachusetts might not seem like a big deal, but it was the thirty-five miles from Boston to Plymouth County, and then that narrow unpaved road—the only road—that connected Breakers Island to the mainland that did her in. Driving anywhere without air-conditioning in the middle of July was no fun, but this ride had been horrible and one she didn’t want to take again any time soon.
Besides, she’d promised her grandmother she’d spend the summer with her. Not that she owed the old woman anything. She didn’t even know her, having been four years old when her family moved away. But Tara always kept her word, and maybe developing some kind of relationship with her might help mend the rift between her parents and Emily Spencer. Especially now that Addison was gone. After all, it had been her grandfather who’d cut off his only son when Tara’s dad took a job in Concord.
She brushed a strand of sweat-moistened hair out of her eyes, then gingerly placed one foot on the bottom step, wondering if her full weight would cause the board to break. Not that she was heavy by any means. But this place needed more than tender loving care. It needed a major overhaul. And not only were the stairs in need of repair, but the grass was overgrown and weeds had so overtaken the brick walkway that if you didn’t watch each step, you could take a nasty fall. Many of them had crumbled or been raised by roots. And those weren’t the only problems. There were places where the clapboard siding on the house was so weathered, it had rotted away and there were numerous birds’ nests in the eaves of the second-story porch and hipped roof. She just hoped the interior didn’t match the exterior, but by the looks of the broken louvered shutters covering the windows, she rather doubted it. Sunlight probably hadn’t entered the place in years.
As she set her other foot on the step, she heard a pop and froze, thinking she was about to fall through. Thankfully, though, the board remained intact. She glanced over her shoulder but saw nothing that would have made such a noise. However, to her right was the Douglas mansion, almost identical in size, shape, and style. The two lots were long and narrow and the houses close together. Standing not twenty feet away, leaning up against one of the pillars gracing the entry porch, was a guy drinking a beer. So that was what she’d heard—the opening of the can.
She guessed him to be in his mid-twenties. He had on tight jeans and a white tee that barely covered his well-muscled biceps. He wore his sandy blond hair longer on top and obviously gelled to give it that messy look. Add at least a week’s worth of stubble to a well-chiseled face and a pierced ear, and she had no doubt she was looking at the island bad boy. The type of guy she’d sworn to stay away from. She’d learned her lesson with Jason, and it was because of their disastrous relationship and messy breakup that she decided to take her grandmother up on her offer.
Her gaze met his. He took another sip of beer, then held the can out, offering her a drink. Like she would share a beer with a stranger. No, thanks. Besides, she didn’t even like the stuff. When she shook her head, he just shrugged as if it was her loss and then guzzled the rest of the can. Before he went inside, she caught sight of the label—Spencer Douglas Wheat Ale.
Frank Douglas and Addison Spencer had grown up together and started the Spencer Douglas Brewery in 1945. It had been an immediate success. Their handcrafted private-label beer paved the way for a full line of premium beers, eventually leading their brewery to become one of the largest in the region and amassing the two men a fortune. It also was the reason her dad and grandfather had become estranged.
She wondered who that hot guy was. Probably a maintenance worker. The Douglas property was meticulously kept, unlike her grandmother’s. She climbed the rest of the steps and then used the large brass knocker on the front door to make her arrival known. It took a minute for the door to open, and when it did, she was surprised by the appearance of the frail woman standing before her.
“Grandmother?” Although Tara didn’t have much of a memory of her, from pictures and stories she’d been told, Emily Spencer had been a strong woman, both physically and mentally. A far cry from this wizened white-haired woman with a cane.
“Little Tara. I can’t believe you’re all grown up.”
“It’s been almost twenty years.”
“Yes, it has, and far too long.” She stepped aside. “You don’t have to stand out there. Come on in.” She tapped her cane on the hardwood floor as she walked, leading Tara into what years ago would have been called the parlor. “Have a seat, my dear. What can I get for you?”
“Aren’t I the one who’s supposed to be caring for you?” Tara smiled warmly and set her suitcase down on the floor.
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“And you shall, but at least for today, let me do for you.”
“I’d love a glass of water,” Tara replied.
“Of course. It’s quite hot and humid, isn’t it?”
“And especially uncomfortable when your car doesn’t have air-conditioning.”
Her grandmother made a face. “Oh, that sounds quite dreadful. I can’t tolerate the heat. Haven’t been able to for quite some time. I made Addison install central air years ago. Make yourself at home, my dear. I’ll be right back with your water.”
“Thank you, Grandmother.” After she left the room, Tara sat on the sofa and took in her surroundings. There were lots of antiques scattered around, a lovely Queen Anne-style desk, and an Oriental carpet that had to be worth a bunch. Despite needed updating—new draperies would be nice—and a good coat of paint, the house, at least what she’d seen of it so far, wasn’t as bad as she’d expected.
A few minutes later, her grandmother returned, carrying a glass of water. She handed it to Tara, then sat beside her on the sofa.
“I’m so glad you agreed to spend the summer with me. I’ve missed you all so much. It’s such a shame what happened between Addison and your dad. But my husband could be a very stubborn man, and, unfortunately, Grant inherited that nasty trait. But now that you’re here, and once you discover the island isn’t such a bad place, maybe you can convince your parents to come visit sometime.” There was a hopeful twinkle in her grandmother’s faded eyes.
Tara quenched her thirst with a long drink. “That would be nice. I’ll certainly try my best.” Although, her grandmother was absolutely right about her father being stubborn. Once he made up his mind about something, there was no changing it. However, without Addison there, Tara might be able—with a lot of convincing—to get him to agree to see his mother. “I’m sorry we weren’t able to make it to the funeral. I had finals, and Dad, well…”
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