East of the Sun
Hope Franke Strauss
EAST OF THE SUN
by
Hope Franke
**EAST OF THE SUN is set in Canada and uses British spelling**
Eden Kelley is only twenty-four, but care for her mother who's in the advanced stages of Alzheimer's disease falls to her. Not what she planned to do when she left her husband for a new start with her four-year-old daughter in tow. She'd hoped for free babysitting, but instead she found a mystery. The discovery of an erroneous marriage document leads to more questions, and unfortunately Eden can't ask her mother for answers because she doesn't remember.
Her mother's antics drive her crazy, but Eden's determined to make the best of it. That includes finding the exciting romantic adventure she'd dreamed about. But when trouble comes calling, it's her husband Cade who arrives to help. It's awkward and tense. And Eden comes to one sure conclusion: leaving her handsome, caring husband was a huge mistake.
Her parents had a second chance at love—would she and Cade get one, too?
A Guitar Girl Romance series
A Guitar Girl Romance Series is a collection of inspirational romance novels set in the singer/songwriter world. The books are companion novels, with shared settings and characters, but each are complete standalone stories with a HEA and no cliffhangers!
Sign up to my READERS LIST and be sure to hear about book news.
Visit Hope Franke at www.hopefrankestrauss.com
Regret is a formidable foe.
Regret: to feel sorry about an event, one’s acts, etc.; remorse, esp. over one’s acts or omissions.
Formidable: causing fear, dread or awe; hard to handle.
Foe: an enemy.
Eden always imagined an enemy to be living, breathing and covered with flesh, like Lisa Putnik who was uber-popular in high school, and was threatened by Eden because she’d won the heart of the new boy; or her former boss in the northern town of Landers, the fat old fart who would’ve fired her if she hadn’t quit first. Or Revenue Canada.
But not regret. That was a soulish emotion that could be readily brushed off and forgotten in a day or two.
1
Eden
1990
EDEN hesitated before knocking. She stood on the wooden porch of her childhood home with her four-year-old daughter Sophie leaning sleepily against her. She was struck by the uncharacteristic neglect of the property. The vines on the trellis needed trimming, as did the hedges and the lawn. Patches of stucco had come loose and lay in the sun-bleached grass. She had to dodge a sizeable web of silk to get to the door.
Often in recent years she had dreamed of this moment, but now, with the imminent inquisition by her mother at hand, her courage waned. In her mind, her mother remained younger, well, if you considered middle age younger, with a spring to her step. She would answer the door while wiping her wet hands with the white apron that covered her skirt, smoothing the wrinkles out.
And she’d be smiling. She smiled a lot back then, though Eden’s memories have become plastic, her mother’s face morphing into a less natural, mannequin-like image.
Eden breathed deeply and knocked. She waited for the soft steps of her mother, but none came. A second and third knock brought no answer. She rang the bell. Mom must be out, she thought. Serves me right for not calling first.
She tried the knob and the door swung open.
“Mom?”
Only an eerie quiet. Eden directed Sophie to the sofa where she embraced a cushion and promptly fell asleep. The long drive back to Vancouver had worn the little girl out.
The living room looked much the same as it did when Eden came home three years earlier for her father’s funeral, but it lacked the precise tidiness she remembered. She moved on to the kitchen, giving it a cursory glance as she passed through, noting the dirty pots and dishes littering the counters. A flare of concern flashed through her. Uncleanness was not in keeping with her mother’s character.
Several old pizza boxes were stacked on the table. A foul smell lingered, and Eden plugged her nose, following it to its source: a stack of partially emptied cat food tins behind a cupboard door. Beside them sat a small hill of unopened tins. Eden now hoped that her mother had recently acquired a cat. The back door, which led to the porch and then to the object of her mother’s obsession, the flower gardens, stood wide open.
Eden was now thoroughly concerned. These gardens, once beautiful, exact and Eden’s main competitor for her mother’s affections, were now nothing more than a tangle of humiliation, like an ageing movie star whose beauty was ravished by substance abuse.
Eden took a timid step forward, fighting against choking uneasiness. She pushed back unruly branches to enable a clear passage, and plodded on.
She was distraught by her discovery. An old woman, vaguely familiar, but surely a trespasser, bent over a brittle, helpless rose bush. She snipped violently with a pair of rusty clippers. Her white hair was short and choppy. Several layers of clothes hung from her thin frame. Rose buds lay strewn across the ground, their fragrance and beauty cut short and left to wither and die in the summer heat.
“Mom? Is that you?”
The woman’s eyebrows furrowed in question, deep lines pressing a V over her nose. “Well, for goodness sakes, Lillian, Help me up!”
Eden scrambled to assist her as the woman babbled on. “Where on earth have you been? I’ve waited and waited for you. You went on that cruise with Mr. Kipper, didn’t you? I knew you would go and leave me behind.” She pulled away angrily and stormed off toward the house.
“Where is Joshua?” she continued, “Has he returned from the sea? They fish for days and days, one loses track. Is he home?”
The pit in Eden’s stomach tightened. She had a nebulous mental file about her father, Josh Emerson, working as a fisherman while a young man. He’d been a successful architect for as long as she could remember until he retired one year prior to his heart attack.
She joined her mother on the back porch where they were greeted by a number of stray cats. Eden was relieved her mother wasn’t the consumer of the stash of cat food she had discovered.
“Why don’t I get us something cold to drink?” Eden said while guiding her mother to a vacant, weather-worn rocking chair.
“Don’t put any ice in mine, Lillian,” she said. “You know how it bothers my teeth.”
Eden sucked on a cigarette like a diver low on oxygen, and stared through the window at the stranger on the porch. She’d decided she would quit smoking when she made plans to move back to Vancouver to start fresh and new on all fronts, but that resolution would have to wait. After butting out, she checked on her sleeping daughter, then poured two glasses of water, one without ice, and carried them outside.
Eden wasn’t the only one at a loss for words. Her mother rocked in her chair causing a rhythmic creak, not bothered by the fly buzzing loudly around them.
What was wrong with her? Eden thought. Did she go into shock since dad’s death? Did she spend too much time in the sun? Did she hit her head?
Eden thought guiltily, that she should have come home sooner, but it was such a long drive, and the truth was she and her mother rarely saw eye to eye.
“I’m still sore at you,” her mother finally muttered. “How could you leave me like that? All alone. You know I don’t like to be alone.”
“I’m sorry. I should’ve come home sooner, I know.”
Her mother lifted a shoulder. “It’s okay, Lil.”
Why did she keep calling her that? “I’m Eden. Mom.” She waited for a response, an acknowledgement of a simple
slip of the tongue, but got none. “Where is Aunt Lillian, anyway?”
When her mother didn’t answer, she tried a different tactic. “Look, you’re probably wondering why I’m here without Cade. Well, you’re not going to like it. We split up.” Eden waited for the expected disapproving frown, a mini sermon on the sanctity of marriage, but her mother’s expression remained blank.
“Mom? Did you hear me? I just told you that Cade and I have separated.”
Eden pulled another cigarette out of her blouse pocket. Her mother’s behaviour should have caused her to be overcome with worry for her mental health, but instead Eden fought back anger. She knew she was being unreasonable, but her mother was never there for her. Had never been there. She had hoped things could be different this time.
When her mother finally spoke, she made no sense at all. “Why did you go on that cruise without me? What will the neighbours think if they find out you’ve gone off alone with Mr. Kipper like that? It’s dreadful.” She worried her bony hands on her lap. “Oh where is Josh? Is he home?”
Eden tossed her cigarette onto the porch and squashed it with her sandal. After a second thought she picked it up and placed in on the table.
“I’m going inside to call a doctor, and then I have to wake up Sophie, or she’ll never go to sleep tonight.”
She reached over and laid her hand on the elderly woman’s shoulder. “Everything’s going to be okay. I’m here now.”
2
Eden
EDEN moved up north with Cade immediately after graduation almost six years ago, much to her parents chagrin. She had only been back once, for her father’s funeral, and had lost touch with her friends. She needed a referral to a good doctor because her mother’s doctor was booked solid for a week. The situation seemed too urgent to wait.
Eden recalled a girlfriend from high school, Marti Rae. They hadn’t been best friends or anything, but she lived nearby and had met her mother before. She looked up her number in the phone book and dialled.
“Hi, Marti?”
“Yeah, who’s this?” Marti had the smoothest radio voice and Eden wasn’t surprised when she was hired on as a DJ with a local radio station. Behind the suave voice was a very ordinary, wallflower type of girl. A little overweight with thick glasses, she hadn’t been popular with the boys back in high school like Eden had.
“It’s Eden.”
“Eden Emerson?”
“Yeah, well, Eden Kelley now.”
“Of course, I was at your wedding. Just slipped out. Habit I guess. Are you in town?”
“Just arrived today.”
“Oh, that’s great. Good to hear from you.”
“Uh, yeah, you, too. The reason I’m calling is my mom’s not feeling well and I want to take her to a new doctor, you know, get a second opinion? And your name came to mind. Could you give me a referral?”
Ten minutes later, Eden hung up the phone from a call with Dr. Sue Chan’s office. Eleanor Emerson had an appointment the next afternoon at 2:15
Eden returned to the back porch and leaned on the door-sill.
“So, this is some kind of surprise for both of us, isn’t it?”
Eleanor smiled sweetly, her mouth twitching slightly, but she said nothing.
Inwardly, Eden bemoaned the fact that her mother was obviously too ill to babysit Sophie so she could restart her life. She expected adamant objections to her decision to leave Cade. Eden had a defence speech memorised, ready to dish out. She and Cade had nothing in common. She missed the city, and though he said he did, too, he seemed to be quite at home in the country. He liked the logging, hunting and skidooing culture. “When in Rome…” he’d say. And, “It won’t be forever, just until we can afford to move back.” But, all these years later, they were still there.
Eden hated it. She would never be a northerner. She was shrivelling up as a person and losing her identity completely. She was even prepared to admit that her mother and father had been right all along, and that taking off with Cade had been impulsive and immature. Eden wanted excitement, to meet interesting people, to go to plays and the beach. An independently wealthy businessman thrown into the fantasy wouldn’t hurt either.
The ammunition was unnecessary.
Eden stepped backwards into the house and returned to the living room. Except for the dust and the dead houseplants, the living room was arranged the same way it had been three years earlier. A big, oversized chair sat near the bay window facing the drive, the sofa that Sophie slumbered on was angled toward the fireplace. There was a stand with the TV on the left side of it and a bookshelf on the right. A wedding photo of Eden and Cade was propped up on the mantle. She picked it up and blew off the dust.
She and Cade married five years ago, shortly after she’d discovered she was pregnant. They didn’t have money for a big wedding and ended up tying the knot at a courthouse with a justice of the peace. She’d always dreamed about the fairytale wedding and thought they’d at least get married in a church. Her parents had flown in for the occasion and even though it was low-key, Eden had bought a white dress, and Cade had rented a tux. She studied his face in the photo. Dark hair framed attractive features. He had his arm possessively around his bride. Eden was smiling too widely, she thought, her auburn, eighties-big-hair curls sprayed into submission with copious amounts of hairspray. Her eyes were bluish, wide with wonder, and, she thought, ignorance. She flipped the photo onto its face.
“Sophie.” Eden shook her daughter gently until she awoke. “Hey, sleepy head, wake up. We’re at Grandma’s house.”
Sophie pulled herself into an upright position and pointed, “Is that Grandma, Mommy?”
Eleanor was watering the plants. Eden watched with dismay as her mother filled each pot to the very rim and then left to fill her jug again. No wonder all the plants were dead.
“Yes, yes it is.”
Eleanor came back with another jug of water, and systematically abused the next two plants.
“Mom, I think that’s enough water for now.” Eden gently pulled the jug out of her mother’s hand and led her over to the sofa. “This is Sophie. She was only a baby the last time you saw her.”
“Hi, Grandma,” Sophie said in a shy whisper.
“Hi, Eden. Is school out already?”
“I’m not Eden, I’m Sophie,” Sophie said, twisting her face to show her indignation, but Eleanor was already on her way back to the kitchen.
“Are you hungry, sweetie pie?” Eden said, diverting her daughter’s attention.
“Uh-hum.”
“How ‘bout pizza?” Eden offered, knowing there was nothing in the house to eat.
“Okay,” Sophie said, her little voice insecure. Eden brushed back wisps of Sophie’s blond hair, hooking it behind her ears.
“It’s going to be okay, Sophie.”
“When is Daddy coming?”
“We’ve talked about this already, sweetheart. You and I are going to live with Grandma for a little while, so don’t worry yourself over it. I’m going to call the pizza man now. Why don’t you watch cartoons, until it comes?”
Eden made the call from the only phone in the house, which, unlike her own cordless which she had forgotten in Landers, trapped her in the kitchen, making her feel like a dog on a leash.
Eleanor was circling the kitchen, opening all the cupboard doors and then closing them again. Eden decided to ignore her and filled the sink with hot sudsy water. She started in on the dishes and wiped down the table and counters. She was exhausted but she hated waking up to a dirty kitchen, and she planned to go straight to bed after they finished dinner.
She retrieved the broom from the closet and started sweeping. Eleanor approached her from behind. “What are you doing?” She snatched the broom away. “I know you think I can’t take care of my own house, but I can clean it perfectly well.”
“Okay.” Eden raised her hands in surrender. “You can do the sweeping.” She sat quietly agonising as she watched her mother hopelessly move dirt a
round the kitchen floor. She rested her head in her hands, exhausted.
The day had started off badly enough and Cade hadn’t made it easy. They’d stayed up most of the night before arguing. No, arguing wasn’t the right word, she thought, since they hadn’t been shouting. They were just tense. They never shouted, and maybe that was part of the problem. They deliberated. She’d replayed their conversation a million times on the trip down. She’d done the right thing, she was sure of it, but that didn’t mean it felt good.
“Don’t do this, Eden,” Cade had said, his voice quiet and terse.
Eden pressed her fingertips into her forehead, trying to massage the headache that pounded there. “I should’ve done it long ago.”
Cade was suddenly in front of her, grabbing her shoulders. “I don’t want you to go.” His dark eyes blazed with pain, and she broke his gaze. She didn’t mean to hurt him. She just couldn’t keep going on this way.
“I’m sorry,” she mustered. “I’m leaving in the morning.”
“With Sophie?” Eden couldn’t miss the hitch in his voice.
“She needs me.”
“She needs me, too, Eden.” He released his hold and paced the room, raking both hands through his cropped hair. Then he turned back to her. “You always get what you want don’t you?” he spewed. “You just do what you want no matter who gets hurt.”
Those words stung. They’d hurt her vanity. Eden didn’t like to think of herself as insensitive to the needs of others, but of course, Cade was just speaking out of anger.
“It was a mistake, Cade.”
“What? Us?”
“Yes,” she’d said softly.
Cade lowered his head, defeated. “It was never a mistake for me.”
East of the Sun: a 20th century inspirational romance. Page 1