The Promise of Palm Grove

by Shelley Shepard Gray

  Map

  Dedication

  This book would not have been possible without two very special ladies with incredibly generous hearts.

  Thank you to Clara for spending one afternoon showing me all around Pinecraft. Thank you for chatting with me in gift shops, introducing me to ladies, and letting me ask you far too many questions. I loved every second of our time together.

  ~and~

  Thank you to my lovely editor, Chelsey Emmelhainz, for your expertise, encouraging words, and enthusiasm for all things Pinecraft! Thank you, too, for making this, my twenty-fourth novel with Avon Inspire, feel fresh and exciting and new. I’m so blessed to be working with you!

  Epigraph

  We can make our plans,

  but the Lord determines our steps.

  PROVERBS 16:9

  We are not put on this earth to see through one another,

  but to see one another through.

  AMISH PROVERB

  Contents

  Map

  Dedication

  Epigraph

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  P.S. Insights, Interviews & More . . .

  About the author

  About the book

  Read on

  Also by Shelley Shepard Gray

  Credits

  Copyright

  About the Publisher

  Chapter 1

  Beverly Overholt dreamed in color now.

  Pinks and yellows, blues and reds. Green, purple, indigo, orange. So many vibrant colors, so much promise.

  So very different than her dreams had been when she was in Sugarcreek, Ohio.

  As Beverly swept the front porch of the Orange Blossom Inn, her home for the last three years, she took care to carefully clear away each stray piece of Spanish moss that had fallen from the oak trees dotting the yard. And as she did so, she reflected again that God was so good. He was so good because He reminded her in dozens of ways each day that change was possible.

  Every morning, He gave her the beautiful sunrises over the Gulf of Mexico, warm weather, and gentle rains. Flowers and blue skies, palm trees and always, always the hint of happiness.

  In more ways than she could ever name, the Lord promised new beginnings. Renewal. Paradise.

  Even for someone like her, who for so long had been struggling to make something beautiful out of the ashes of her life.

  Back in Sugarcreek, for a time, Beverly had thought the Lord’s decisions would revolve around her dreams. She’d grown up a little sheltered, a little spoiled. When she’d decided the time had come for her to marry, she’d carefully chosen Marvin Ramer out of all the eligible men in her church district. He’d seemed delighted to have claimed her interest. Then, just a few months later, Marvin asked her to be his bride.

  And because it had been what she’d anticipated, she’d accepted. She hadn’t been head over heels in love, but she hadn’t expected to be. Instead, she’d yearned to fall in love with Marvin over time. She’d known he would make a good husband, and she knew she could be a good wife to him. That was important.

  Her family had been happy. His family was thrilled. Their friends were pleased. She’d been gratified. She’d also gone to sleep every night imagining that she’d spend the rest of her days as his wife.

  But then he’d found someone better: Regina Miller, her best friend.

  It had been devastating.

  Little by little, her world had unraveled. Her parents wondered what she’d done wrong. Her friends snickered behind their hands. And everyone else, after a few disruptive days of shock, had resumed their lives.

  She, on the other hand, had suddenly been all alone.

  And that was how her dreams had faded from beauty and brightness to something far different. Lingering in her consciousness as looming, shadowy, haunting shades of gray.

  Lost in thought, lost in the memories that she usually kept firmly locked away in a corner of her heart, Beverly rested her hands on the top of the broom. She gazed at the front yard, with its green lawn and dotting of citrus trees, and recalled Marvin’s expression when he’d told her that he didn’t love her anymore . . . and that maybe he never had.

  “Beverly? Beverly, what in the world are ya doing?”

  Blinking, she righted herself. Remembered she was in Pinecraft now. At her inn.

  She forced herself to smile brightly at the group of ladies coming her way. Two were on shiny red bicycles, the other three were simply standing. All were wearing brightly colored short-sleeved dresses, the colors of rainbow sherbet, along with white kapps, just like her.

  And all of them were gazing at her with more than a little bit of amusement.

  Hastily, she leaned the broom against her building’s white siding and trotted down the worn wooden steps. “Sorry, I guess my head was in the clouds. Did you all say something?”

  “We’ve only been calling your name for the last two minutes,” Wilma Schwartz, one of her closest neighbors, said. “What were you thinking about? You looked like you lost your best friend.”

  Thinking that was far too close to the truth, Beverly forced a smile. “I wasna thinking about anything worth remembering.” Noticing that all five of them were looking especially bright-eyed, she asked a question of her own. “What are you all doing today? Having kaffi break?” The six of them got together at the Cozy Café at least once a week.

  “Goodness, Beverly, you really did get up on the wrong side of the bed,” Sadie Fisher teased. “It’s Wednesday. What do you think we’re about to do? The bus is due to arrive any minute now.”

  “Already?” Panic set in. “Boy, I really lost track of time this morning.”

  “Do you want to join us or would you rather walk over on your own in a little while?”

  Meeting the Pioneer Trails bus was a major social event in Pinecraft. Several times a week, especially during the busy tourist season, the buses pulled in with great fanfare. Everyone greeted them, anxious to see who was coming to beautiful Florida. Though she used to worry that she would one day spy Marvin and Regina arriving, or Ida and Jean—Marvin’s sweet sisters, who she’d been so close to—that had never happened in the three years she’d been living in Pinecraft.

  Instead, she typically greeted guests who had made reservations to stay at her inn.

  And in the rare times when no guests were arriving, she enjoyed standing in the background and watching everyone else embrace their friends and family. She also loved watching the absolute glow of happiness that transformed most of the newcomers’ faces when they stepped off the bus and felt the wonderful warmth of Florida. Being in sunny Sarasota was always a welcome change from the long winters of the Midwest.

  “I’ve got guests coming. Of course I’ll join ya. Let me go put away this broom and close up the haus.”

  “Hurry, now, we’re going to get ice cream at the creamery, too.”

  “You’re going for ice cream? What’s the
occasion?”

  “It’s Mittvoch,” Wilma said with a complacent smile.

  Yes, indeed, it was Wednesday. And Wilma’s statement was one of the many reasons Beverly so loved living in Pinecraft. The sun shone, flowers surrounded her, new people arrived all the time . . . and ice cream wasn’t something to have only a few times a year.

  Here, ice cream, like life, was something to be enjoyed as often as possible and without a smidgeon of guilt. It was things like this, she believed, that now kept her dreams bright and soothing, beautiful and full of hope.

  It was what kept her thoughts firmly on the future instead of the dark memories of her past.

  “Let me go get my purse,” she said. “A strawberry ice cream cone sounds wonderful-gut.”

  “WE’RE ALMOST THERE!” Mattie practically crowed into Leona’s ear. “The bus just turned on Bahia Vista. Oh, look! There’s a sign for Yoder’s Restaurant. We’ve got to go get a slice of pie there as soon as possible.”

  Leona Weaver shared a smile with Sara, who’d been her seat partner for the last sixteen hours during the long journey on the Pioneer Trails bus from Walnut Creek, Ohio, to Sarasota, Florida.

  While most of the thirty-five people on the bus had fallen asleep around midnight and slept a good five or six hours, Leona and her cousin Sara had been too excited to do much except whisper to each other, attempt to read their novels, and stare out the windows.

  Or, in her future sister-in-law Mattie’s case, give a constant commentary about what she saw and when she saw it.

  Though she had a feeling some of the other people on the bus were wishing that Mattie would have kept some of her observations to herself—starting about eight hours ago—Leona couldn’t fault her sweet friend’s enthusiasm.

  The fact was, they were on the trip of a lifetime and for the first time in just about forever, it was only the three of them for two whole weeks. Two weeks of no chores around their homes, no part-time jobs. And two whole weeks without Edmund.

  Edmund!

  Her fiancé. Her private reason for the vacation. The reason that her stomach was in constant knots.

  “There’s the sign for Pinecraft Park!” Mattie exclaimed, startling her out of her thoughts. “Leona, you’d better start getting your things together.”

  “They are together, Mattie. Settle down.”

  Mattie smiled back at her sheepishly. “I’m sorry. I’m just so happy that we’re all here together.”

  “You don’t need to apologize. I’m just as thrilled to be here,” Leona replied. And she was. Though, she wished she was a little less thrilled about getting a break from Edmund. Somehow, some way, she was going to have to learn to adjust to his overbearing ways.

  “We are just about there, girls,” a grandmother said from three rows up. “Now, tell me again where you are staying?”

  “The Orange Blossom Inn,” Leona said. “I can hardly wait to get there.”

  “I’ve never heard of it.”

  “It’s on Gardenia Street,” Sara said. “My older sister stayed there for a week last year. She said it was cozy and pretty.”

  “I bet it will never be the same after the three of you stay there,” another woman teased. “You girls look like you’re ready to enjoy yourselves, for sure and for certain.”

  Leona grinned at Mattie and Sara. “We are ready. I’m hoping it’s going to be the best two weeks of my life.”

  “You mean, until you marry Edmund,” Sara corrected.

  “Oh. Jah. Of course I meant that,” Leona replied quickly, just as the bus pulled to a stop and a resounding cheer erupted around them.

  As she followed her girlfriends down the aisle, each step bringing her closer to the sun and the beach and the many expectant people standing outside, Leona wondered what she was going to do.

  How in the world she was going to learn to always put Edmund’s wishes first but still retain some happiness in her heart?

  Chapter 2

  Girls, we’ve been abed long enough,” Mattie announced with the enthusiasm of a blow horn. As if to emphasize her point, she clapped her hands. “Come on, now, wake up!” she barked, just as if Leona and Sara were some of her students at the Amish school.

  Leona responded by throwing her covers over her head.

  Sara’s response was far more direct. “If you clap at me again, I’m going to ask Miss Beverly if she has a spare room for you. As soon as possible.”

  Looking offended, Mattie turned to Leona. “You don’t want me in another room, do you?”

  Leona pulled back her covers just enough to glare at her with bleary eyes. “I do if you’re going to wake us up like this every morning.”

  “Fine.” Mattie folded her hands behind her back. “Now that I’m promising not to clap, you two need to get up. It’s a quarter after seven.”

  “In the morning?” Her mind was in such a fog, she really wasn’t sure.

  “Of course not, silly. It’s the evening. Come on, now. If we don’t get up we’re going to have wasted the whole day.”

  Leona feared she was right. “I cannot even believe we just spent the first five hours in Sarasota sound asleep.”

  “Some of us slept for five hours,” Mattie corrected. “I, on the other hand, have already been awake for a whole hour.”

  With a yawn and a stretch, Leona got to her feet. As she blinked owlishly, she noticed that Sara was looking decidedly worse for wear.

  “Next time we get on a bus for hours and hours, we are sleeping for the majority of it,” Sara announced as she fumbled on the top of her bedside table for her eyeglasses. “I feel terrible.”

  Mattie walked to Sara’s side, picked up the glasses, and placed them in Sara’s hand. “I know you do. I felt pretty groggy myself until I took a shower and put on a fresh dress.”

  For the first time since she’d woken up, Leona looked at Mattie closely. Instead of putting back on her long-sleeved gray dress, she’d changed into a chambray blue short-sleeved cotton one. She looked fresh and cool. Like she’d already pushed the cold Ohio winter to the back of her mind. “You look pretty, Mattie.”

  “Danke.” Smiling at her, she said, “I was so excited to wear one of my new dresses, I couldn’t resist changing.”

  “I’m going to do the same thing. I’ve been anxious to put on my raspberry-colored dress.” Leona grinned. “And flip-flops!” For some reason, the idea of being able to wear flip-flops instead of black tennis shoes or boots felt especially decadent in January. “Let’s get cleaned up and get out of here.”

  “And eat. I’m starving,” Sara said as she started digging around in her suitcase.

  Mattie, ever their travel guide, said, “Sounds like we’ve got a plan. Pizza first, then ice cream. Then exploring.”

  Sara gave Mattie a smile before heading into the bathroom for a quick shower and to change.

  Since she had a couple of minutes, Leona took a better look around their large room while she unpacked her own summer dresses. They were on the third floor of the Orange Blossom Inn, and from the moment Miss Beverly had led them inside the sprawling, beautifully decorated cottage, Leona had been completely charmed.

  Each room in the inn was painted a cheery color. The entryway was the exact color of orange sherbet, the library a fresh violet. The kitchen was decorated in shades of green, bringing to mind mint chocolate chip ice cream. Even their bathroom was as bright as a summer day. It had glossy yellow walls and sported yellow gingham curtains. Blinding white towels were neatly arranged on shelves.

  But their spacious attic room was her favorite. Though at first glance it looked deceptively plain, with its frosty white walls and dark red cherry planks underfoot, it was actually a warm and adorable space. All three of them had gasped in pleasure when Miss Beverly had opened their door and shown them the shelves lined with Christian romances, the trunk filled with extra blankets, quilts, and down pillows, and the charming claw-footed tub in their adjoining bathroom.

  Each of their twin beds was covered
with bright quilts. Coordinating rag rugs dotted the floor, and two large dressers painted bright red lined the walls. Their room also sported white wicker furniture decorated with bright pink-and-green-paisley-printed cushions.

  Within moments, they’d each claimed a bed, pulled out their nightgowns, and changed clothes, ready to nap.

  Then they’d promptly fallen asleep.

  Now, while she looked around the room and tried to regain some of her enthusiasm, Leona was having a hard time locating it.

  Maybe she was simply groggy and desperately in need of a hot shower, or maybe it was that the second day of their vacation was almost over already. But Leona knew her spirits were dwindling. She needed to regain control of herself, remember how much she loved and trusted Edmund.

  The sooner the better, too, because time was running out.

  With a sigh, she pulled out her new dress. If anything could chase away her doldrums, it would be this dress with its cheery color.

  “You okay?” Sara asked as she returned to the room, her wet hair streaming down her back.

  “I’m fine. Just a little sleepy still, I guess.”

  Sara’s eyes narrowed. “Are you sure that’s all that’s worrying you?”

  “Of course,” Leona lied. Because, really, how could she ever admit how she was feeling? Sara and Mattie were so excited about Leona’s upcoming wedding, as was practically everyone else she knew. It seemed as if no one could talk about anything but the menu and the colors and the cake and how so very happy she was going to be.

  Sara, once again her sweet self, murmured, “I bet you’re missing Edmund. Don’t worry, when we get back, you’ll never be without him again.”

  Leona smiled wanly. Though they were supposed to help her feel better, her cousin’s words only served to remind her that she was having more doubts than ever about pledging her heart to Edmund.

  They would be so hurt and mad if she even hinted that she feared he really wasn’t the right man for her.

  But she couldn’t share that. Mattie and Sara had already spent hours helping Leona design the wedding invitations and sewing napkins for the reception. And Sara’s brother Paul was one of Edmund’s best friends.