“This was also a Tucker residence.” He pointed at the street name, which was exactly as Grandma Martha had said.
“So we’re officially on Tucker?” she asked, unable to contain her excitement.
“Sure are. This road leads up to the resort.”
“This is pretty incredible. I thought today all I’d do was grab a couple of cans of paint and change some wall colors, and now I’m learning about a past I didn’t even know existed.”
Her stomach felt a little unsettled as she thought about her father, who’d kept so much from her. Even if her dad no longer spoke with his family, couldn’t he have at least mentioned this place and their family’s heritage? There was a reason genealogy websites were so popular.
“I know this sounds a little lame, but would you mind taking a picture of me standing by that street sign? I’ve got to send it to some of my friends.”
“That’s not lame at all. Over the years, I may or may not have done that myself a few times at the North sign.” He grinned and drove them closer to the sign, putting the vehicle in park.
“Once is enough for me.” She flashed a wicked grin as she hopped out of the Honcho and shut the door behind her.
Watching her bound to the street sign made Joel appreciate Autumn even more. To be in the company of someone so full of light and happiness made his world so much fuller, but as he took her on this mini-tour, he wondered if their pasts would let them make a future together. He really was conflicted. When he’d first met her, he didn’t know her side of the family had been estranged from Fred’s, and he never would have guessed she knew so little about her family’s roots in Silver Ridge.
The more he got to know Autumn, he realized that the things he knew about her family and his own could interfere with a long-term relationship. Emotions could run high and feelings could be hurt because of mistakes from the past. It didn’t matter that it wasn’t their past or their mistakes. The acts of others definitely shaped both of their futures, for better or worse. He knew the more time she spent in town and the more time he spent with her, he’d feel a sense of obligation to let her in on what he knew, but he didn’t want to upset her right now.
As he walked over to where Autumn was posing under the sign, he took in a deep breath and held it. She was absolutely amazing and didn’t deserve to be hurt in any way.
Her being his neighbor only complicated things. No matter how much he wanted to sleep with her, he knew he needed to hold back a little. He didn’t want her to feel duped in any way because of things he didn’t tell her, but when he first met Autumn, he assumed she already knew, and now it would just be awkward. At this point, he hoped she’d stumble onto the right questions.
“What do you think?” She handed him her phone for a photo and raised her hands toward the Tucker sign, grinning widely.
Seeing the excitement run through her from learning only a tiny bit about her family solidified his decision. He wouldn’t take this relationship any further.
“You look amazing and definitely like a Tucker.” He held up her phone and snapped a couple of shots, and just as she was about to step away, he stopped her.
“Now it’s my turn on my phone.” He focused more on Autumn and less on the sign as she posed smiling before transforming into silly faces, which he snapped as well.
“There’s the Tucker Park up ahead,” Joel informed her, pointing behind Autumn.
Autumn’s expression fell completely. He wasn’t sure if what was happening was good or bad, and her silence wasn’t helping anything.
“There’s a park named Tucker?” she asked at long last.
Joel nodded and wove his fingers through his hair as he tried to gauge her. Was this too much, too fast?
“I honestly can’t believe there was so much about my family that I missed.” She shook her head and chewed on her bottom lip, which only made Joel’s decision harder. He wanted to be the one feeling her lips and kissing her, holding her in his arms.
“I hope I’m not overwhelming you or—”
“Not at all.” She cut him off and crossed her arms over her chest and let out a sigh. “I’m kind of shocked that this was all hidden from me.”
“Maybe there was a good reason,” he offered, even though it was doubtful from what he knew of the Tuckers.
She shrugged. “Possibly.”
“I can show you where the library is. I’m sure there’s some great stuff. They do pretty well at preserving the Silver Ridge heritage, early settlers and all that.”
Autumn nodded and a smile touched her eyes. “So has a Tucker ever dated a North? Or could this be the first?”
“There hasn’t been a long history of it. No.”
“Interesting.” A fire lit behind her gaze, and his chest tightened, but now he knew he had to stick with his decision.
She glanced in the direction of Tucker park and scowled. “Is it okay if we call it a day? Maybe you can take me to the park another time. I feel like I need to go paint and fix up the shabbiest Tucker residence in Silver Ridge. I apparently have a reputation to uphold.”
“Totally.” He was oddly relieved as they made their way back to his truck.
As he got in his truck, he received a text that everything was nearly in place. He hoped she’d be happy and not annoyed, but only time would give him his answer on that one.
Autumn shut the door and let out a happy sigh. “Well, that was certainly informational, and to think, I wouldn’t have known any of this if it weren’t for Uncle Fred.”
Joel did a U-turn in the street and headed back to town.
“That’s the truth of it.” He nodded, surprised that one family could hold so many secrets and the possibility of so many revelations.
“Thanks for disrupting yet another one of your days for me,” she said, putting her hand on Joel’s knee. He smiled and clutched it in his, wishing this were just the beginning, not the end.
“It was fun, and we’ve only scratched the surface.” He turned into the parking lot of the hardware store.
“That’s what I’m afraid of.” She chuckled as he found a parking place.
Joel put the truck in park and leaned over, placing a soft kiss on her cheek. He was certain he lingered too long, but he didn’t care. He wanted to take everything in about her, knowing there probably wouldn’t be many more of these opportunities.
“Have fun painting,” Joel said next to her ear, and she let out a deep, sensuous breath.
“Maybe I could put it off after all,” she whispered, and his entire body responded.
Joel pulled back, and she winked at him before hopping out of the truck. She certainly liked to keep him on his toes.
Autumn looked over her shoulder inside the hardware store, and Joel was already pulling out of the parking lot. She headed to the paint department, picked up her cans of paint and pail of supplies, and paid for everything at Mildred’s register.
Her mind had been spinning over Joel and the Tucker homes and Grandma Martha, and even the Fourth of July party he never officially invited her to, as she pulled down her street.
To her horror, she saw the back door of her moving truck rolled up, and the only thing left inside was a couple of boxes. Everything else was missing.
She parked right behind the truck and hopped out of her car, completely furious that someone would have the nerve to steal her things.
“Hey there, neighbor.” Joel was strolling over with Oscar.
“Don’t hey there me. You didn’t mention that Silver Ridge was known for thieves.” She glanced over at Joel, who looked unperturbed.
“I don’t think it is.” He leaned against the almost-empty moving truck, and Oscar plopped down next to him.
“Hey, bro.” Autumn flipped her gaze in the direction of the voice to see two of Joel’s brothers walking along the side of the house.
“I thought you wouldn’t mind if they let themselves in and moved everything in for you.”
“Are you serious?” Autumn was completel
y dumbstruck as Sam and Drew wandered to the back of the truck and lifted out the last of the boxes.
“We guessed where you wanted them to go based on the boxes’ labels. Hopefully, we guessed right.” Drew smiled, and she wanted to kiss him, just flat out kiss him.
She watched the two men carry the last of her belongings inside and glanced at Joel, who was quietly studying her.
“I told you I was good at surprises.”
Chapter Eleven
Autumn glanced at the cardboard boxes labeled kitchen and let out a happy sigh. Never in a million years would she have asked the North brothers for help, but she had to admit that after getting over the shock of thinking everything had been stolen from the truck, she was eternally grateful to those men, especially Joel, for organizing the surprise.
She ripped open the box closest to her to find a couple of mugs wrapped in newspaper and a whole bunch of kitchen utensils she’d thrown in the box. This had been one of the boxes toward the end of her packing when she’d just started tossing things in, worrying she wouldn’t get out of her apartment in time.
Looking around the kitchen, she groaned and decided to save these boxes for later. Maybe after she’d painted the cupboards and replaced the counters, she’d feel more inspired and would have somewhere to put her items. She shoved the boxes out of her way and slowly made her way into the dining room to inspect her handiwork.
Autumn loved how much the simple task of painting all the walls had brightened the room. It even made the stained glass stand out more since there weren’t monster flowers adorning the wallpaper, vying for attention.
In the last couple of days, she’d managed to paint the dining room and the study, and she even squeezed out enough color from the last can to paint one of the many powder rooms. It was one of the few that had been remodeled in the last decade or two, so she decided to leave it as is except for the paint. Later, when she got around to it, she’d choose a beach theme for the décor. For now, the paint would do.
As she walked out of the dining room, she got an urge to rummage around downstairs a little. She actually hadn’t been downstairs since she and Joel had made the discovery.
Autumn didn’t want to get all wrapped up in the items in the basement when she had so many things to deal with upstairs, but after seeing the other homes in the area that had once been owned by her family, she was really fascinated with what might be down there.
She grabbed a sweatshirt and pulled it over her head as she made her way into the closet. She opened the basement door. Running her hand along the stone wall, she felt for the light switch and turned it on.
Excitement pulsed through her when she took that first step into the basement, but with each step down, unease started to fill her veins. She glanced back over her shoulder and hoped the door wouldn’t magically shut and lock her down in the basement that no one knew about except Joel. With her luck, it was a distinct possibility.
After shaking that ridiculous and paranoid future out of her head, she made her way to the bottom of the stairs. Everything was as she’d left it. She was relieved the ghosts and goblins weren’t messing with her or Uncle Fred’s belongings.
Autumn stifled a laugh as she thought about Ronald. It certainly had been quiet from him since he’d left. Thank God.
Maybe the ghosts told him to stay away.
She grinned on that happy note and wandered over to the trunk she’d seen with Joel. Autumn knelt over the leather box, trying to lift the lid. After several pulls and tugs with no luck, she felt around the front and sides to see if it was locked.
She didn’t find any padlocks, but she did feel a hard substance filling the seam where the lid met the trunk. She ran her finger along the joint and bent over to get a better look. It was as if the lid had been glued down.
She didn’t really have the energy or muscle strength after so much painting the last couple of days to get it open, so she decided to save that for another day.
Autumn noticed several folders placed on some worn canvas that had been draped over furniture. She wandered over and flipped the cover open on the first folder to reveal old snapshots of Silver Ridge.
Seeing some of the same buildings that still stood in town now made her heart grow even fonder of this little mountain town. She saw women with dresses structured with long boned bodices, tight sleeves, and high ruffled necks roaming the streets. Many women were clutching their parasols, and Autumn could easily imagine the beautiful fabrics even though the photos were black and white.
As she went through the photos, a sense of pride filled her. As silly as it might seem, she felt connected to these men and women, the pioneers of this town, possibly even her family.
Every once in a while, she thought she saw someone who looked a little like her or her dad, but she knew she was probably taking it a little too far.
Although, why else would Uncle Fred have had these photos? She slid the photos back into the top folder and grabbed another to look through.
This folder was filled with photocopies of newspaper articles. She glanced at the first page and saw Silver Ridge Tribune blazed across the top. From what she could tell, it was the third issue, dating back to 1892.
She shook her head in amazement that something so old could be preserved. Granted, this was a photocopy, but the fact that there was once an original floating around was shocking. She glanced at the articles and noticed that while it might look like simpler times to anyone born in the twenty-first century, it really wasn’t. Between illness and injury making the front page to articles about expected wintery storms, she was grateful for how far medicine and heating systems had come.
Autumn flipped to the next page, and she let out a little gasp when she saw the headline.
Philip Tucker will stand trial for Arson of Carl North’s Company Store
She slapped the page down and quickly thumbed through other issues in the file, hoping to find the outcome. She couldn’t imagine anyone in her family purposefully lighting someone’s business on fire.
Granted, it was almost a hundred and fifty years ago, and she had no idea who this man was as a person, but she personally preferred to think that she didn’t have any criminal blood running through her veins.
Unable to find an answer, she snatched the top photocopy with the attention-grabbing headline and spun around to head to the one person who might have an answer. It would also give her an excuse to see him.
It was strange. She thought there was a connection, but since his brothers had moved everything in for her, she hadn’t seen or heard from Joel. She’d even kept her front windows open over the last couple of days in case she heard Oscar barking down the street.
But now, she had the perfect reason to stop by.
Autumn made her way back up the stairs and grabbed her phone to take a photo of the headline to text to some of her friends. They might get a kick out of the headline from another century.
She sent it off and glanced out the window. It was nice having the moving truck gone and her possessions inside. It made her feel more grounded, and getting both rooms painted and promising herself she could tackle a tile job in the master bathroom put her in perfect spirits to go across the street.
Autumn quickly got a text from one of her friends explaining she now knew why she never trusted Autumn around candles. She chuckled to herself and wrote back a quick message.
She hoped that at some point, her friends would come to visit. She didn’t expect them to want to stay forever, as she did, but Autumn was pretty certain they’d appreciate the charm of the mountain town.
She left her phone on the kitchen counter but kept hold of the newspaper article, and she took off to see her sexy and suddenly quiet neighbor. Knowing she was going to see him again did all kinds of crazy things to her. There was no doubt about it. She liked him. She thought he was interesting, handsome, charming, kind . . .
By the time she found herself knocking on his front door, she’d put herself in complete bliss until
a blonde swung open his front door.
“Hi.” The blonde was bubbly and wore a white pair of short shorts with a red and white striped shirt. Her blonde hair was in a bouncy ponytail. She was absolutely beautiful and completely the opposite of Autumn in every way. “May I help you?”
There was a possessive quality woven throughout her tone, and although she was smiling at Autumn, she wasn’t overly friendly.
Clinging to the article about a possible long, lost Tucker, Autumn cleared her throat and straightened up. She might be in a pair of slouchy jeans and a sweatshirt, and her hair might still be in the messy bun from this morning, but she wasn’t going to give this woman a reason to think she had an advantage over Autumn.
The blonde pulled her brows together, and Autumn realized she needed to say something. She glanced over the woman’s shoulder, surprised she didn’t see Oscar running up behind her, and brought her gaze back to the blonde’s.
“I found this over in my basement, and I thought Joel might know a little more than I do about who was in the photo and what the outcome was.” Autumn smiled and watched relief immediately wash over the woman.
The woman leaned against the doorframe, and Autumn braced herself for what she was about to hear. After all, he was a single guy. They weren’t in a relationship. They’d shared a kiss, but the rest was history. No need to make a mountain out of a—
“He has been talking nonstop about you since I arrived, and I can’t begin to tell you how happy I am you showed up.” She laughed. “I swear, my husband was about to track you down.” And then she stopped herself, and her brown eyes locked on Autumn’s. “You’re Autumn Tucker, right? Neighbor from across the street?”
Every inch of apprehension shrank into oblivion, and Autumn let out the breath she didn’t even know she’d been holding.
A husband!
What music to Autumn’s ears. The information certainly made her like the woman standing in front of her a lot more.
Happy Truth About Love: Island County Spinoff Series (Silver Ridge Series Book 1) Page 10