Though the offer touched her, Libby shook her head. “It would be a hundred thousand dollars, I think. I couldn’t let you do that. I’ll pray about it. Maybe God will show us a way to save it.”
Brent opened the door and came toward them. “I brought Tom up to speed. He left to go arrest Horace. It took some talking to convince him I was telling him the truth. Horace has been part of this village forever. He was born and raised here. One of our own.”
“I really liked him,” Libby said. “I still can’t believe it.”
“The state police are going to come out and get a statement this evening. Are you up to that?” Brent asked. “You look wiped out.”
“Yes. I just want it over with.”
“I’ll be inside,” Vanessa said. “I want to talk to Brent.” She joined her brother and they went inside.
Alec slipped his arm around Libby’s waist, and they walked up the stairs together. “It’s all over. Hard to believe. Now what?” he asked when they reached the porch.
“I’m going to make the biggest mess of chicken fajitas you ever saw and slather it with guacamole.”
He grinned. “I’ll even eat the hot sauce with you.” His fingers traced the outline of her jaw. “You haven’t answered my question.”
She couldn’t think with his touch igniting feelings she didn’t know existed. “I don’t know. I have to sell this place, Alec. You know I do.”
“Don’t decide too quickly. Are you willing to see what door God might open?”
“When you put it that way, how can I refuse?”
Laugh lines crinkled around his eyes. He bent his head and kissed her, then pulled back. “I think I can sweeten the pot a little. I don’t want you to go. I want you to live here where I can take you out to dinner and to the movies.”
Her heart was full to bursting. “You mean to see year-old movies?”
His breath stirred her hair. “I want to neck with you in the balcony and I don’t care how old the movie is.”
Her blood warmed at the expression in his eyes. “I’d like that too.”
“I think we have something special, Libby. Something that will last. But you have to stay here to find out. You game?”
“I’m game,” she said, suddenly breathless.
Her family. Libby’s gaze lingered on every person around the large dining room table. Mr. McEwan, with his rheumy eyes and sparse hair. Delilah and her no-nonsense love for this place and for Ray. Bree and her family. Old Mr. Carter, who had already grabbed the homemade bread in the middle of the table. Her siblings Brent and Vanessa, already so dear. And Aunt Pearl, whom Libby loved so very much already. Only Nicole was absent. She’d given her statement to the state investigators, then gone back to Virginia Beach to attend to business. At least she wasn’t pressuring Libby to sell the property.
Libby locked gazes with Alec, who was sitting across the table from her. Whatever happened, she wanted to live here on Hope Island, even if it wasn’t in the beautiful old inn. This was home now.
Horace was sitting in jail awaiting trial, and everything he’d schemed to avoid would happen to him and his family anyway. Though he deserved his punishment, she grieved for his wife and children. He wasn’t leaving a legacy of generosity like her father had. The police had checked out his computer and confirmed he had erased the video of the men he’d hired to get Nicole out of the way. With Horace’s information, they’d been arrested too.
The police had discovered that Rooney and his goons hadn’t actually killed Tina. She’d fallen and drowned in the cellar’s standing water. When Poe found her, he’d panicked and left her there, then scuttled her boat to make it appear she’d been lost at sea. He was also in jail.
“I need your advice,” Libby said during a lull in the conversation. “I don’t want to sell this lovely old house. But I have no idea how to keep it.” Libby listened to the hubbub around her as folks argued against selling the property.
She held out her hands. “Nothing would please me more than to keep Tidewater Inn, but I need some suggestions on how to make that possible. I got some quotes on restoration. Material alone is going to be seventy-five thousand dollars.”
The group fell silent, and the dismay she saw on various faces made her heart plunge. But she could do a lot with the money from the sale of the property. Help her stepbrother and his family. Fix up the lifesaving station and other historic buildings in town. Help people recover from the hurricane. Buy Alec a new boat. There would be compensations for the blow to her soul if she had to give up Tidewater Inn.
Old Mr. Carter in his straw hat pointed a tobacco-stained finger at her. “I’d like to donate the money you need, young lady.” He reached down to the old suitcase beside his chair, the same case he’d asked Alec to rescue during the hurricane evacuation, and it opened to reveal stacks of money. “There’s plenty in here for materials if the townsfolk will donate the labor.”
There was a group gasp around the table. “I couldn’t. It might be years before I can pay you back, Mr. Carter,” Libby said. She didn’t want charity—she wanted a viable solution.
“Oh good grief, Libby,” Vanessa said. “I’ve been looking at Daddy’s art. There’s our answer. Sell them.”
The Allston paintings. Such an easy answer. Why hadn’t she thought of it? “You’re right,” she said. “They are worth more than I need.” She glanced at the dear faces around her. “But what about the town? Is selling better for the town, for progress? We need to be realistic.”
“The ferry is still coming,” Delilah said. “Tourists will need a place to stay. Why not here? The rest of the town needs to think about what kinds of businesses are lacking and fill the need. We could end up with the best of both worlds. Like Ocracoke.”
The ideas began to flow quickly. Libby couldn’t stop smiling. She took notes in between bites of chicken fajitas, then later, after the table had been cleared, carried the dessert of flan out to the swing with Alec.
“Hey.” He put his flan on his knee and slipped his arm around her. “I told you it would work out. You ready to accept the answer?”
“It’s more than I’d hoped for.” She touched his cheek with her fingers. “You’re more than I hoped for.”
His gaze held her rooted in place. “I look forward to exploring the future with you. Want to go to a movie tonight? I hear An Officer and a Gentleman is playing.”
“Now that’s really old,” she said. “But I always sigh when Richard Gere sweeps her into his arms and carries her out of the factory.”
“Would you settle for a moonlit ride in my fishing boat?” His smile was teasing.
“Will there be kissing involved?”
“Most certainly,” he said.
“Then I accept.” She didn’t wait for the promised kiss, though, and lifted her face toward his in the moonlight.
DEAR READER,
I’m so thrilled to share Tidewater Inn with you! The theme of the story—greed versus generosity—is one that resonates so much with me personally. If you’re like me, you struggle to find the balance. No matter what resources God has blessed us with, he expects us to use them to help other people. Money isn’t our only resource. Time, talents, and other gifts are to be given generously.
I also wanted to share the personal background of a character in the novel who is very special to me. Pearl is my grandma in the flesh, though the name Pearl is my first teacher in Sunday School. My grandma helped shape me in so many ways. She’s been gone over twenty years, but I still hear her voice in my head. I strive every day to be more like her. I learned about Jesus at her knee. She taught me about generosity and loving other people. I owe her so much, and I wanted to share her with you. I hope you love Pearl as much as I loved my grandma! People say I’m just like her, and it’s the highest compliment I could have.
I so love to hear from you! Email me at colleen@colleencoble. com and let me know what you thought of the story.
Love,
Colleen
REA
DING GROUP GUIDE
1. Libby had struggled to survive monetarily for years so the thought of having no worries about money was appealing. Money is not evil in itself. What do you think about wealth’s influence on our spiritual lives?
2. It often seems our culture doesn’t honor the older generation. Why don’t we and what are we missing?
3. Vanessa and Brent didn’t welcome Libby’s intrusion into their lives. How would you feel if you found out you had a sibling you didn’t know about?
4. Pearl is based on my grandma, and I smiled just writing her into the story. Her love for me and others was always unconditional. Do you have a person in your life who loves you that way?
5. Ray’s biggest legacy wasn’t money but a spiritual heritage. What do you hope to leave behind for your family?
6. Libby’s struggle between greed and generosity is basically a struggle between selfishness and selflessness. What are some other common things we struggle with?
AN EXCERPT FROM
BLUE MOON PROMISE
www.thomasnelson.com/blue-moon-promise.html
ONE
Lucy Marsh pulled her threadbare coat around her neck and hurried down the snow-clogged street. Glancing behind her, she saw only the snow drifting onto run-down houses. The rapid thump of her pulse began to calm, and she managed to breathe through her tight lungs.
Maybe it was her imagination. For the past week she’d caught a glimpse of the same man every evening after work, and until today, she told herself he must live in the same general area. But she’d left early today and he had still been there. This time he seemed to watch her. A black coat covered him and he wore a hat pulled low over his face, so only the twitch of his smooth-shaven chin appeared. When she stopped and stared at him, he darted around the corner of the building.
She took the opportunity and dashed across the street, skirting the horse and carriage blocking her path to the house. The roof leaked and wind blew through the boards and under the windowsills, but it had been home for ten years. Glancing behind her again, she saw no sign of the man so she hurried up the steps.
Pressing her hand to her stomach, she paused and wished she didn’t have to go inside. What was she going to do now? Mrs. Hanson had been apologetic about letting her go. It was hard times and not her work that necessitated firing her. But the hard facts didn’t feed them. While 1877 had been a bad year so far, Indiana had been particularly hard hit.
But she would find a way. She always managed.
The steps to the porch took careful navigation. They tilted to the front, and it was easy to lose her balance. She paused outside the door. The children would worry, so she tried on a smile. When it stayed in place, she turned the doorknob. Before she could open the door, Amos Cramer’s gruff voice stopped her.
“One moment, Miss Marsh,” he panted, hurrying up the steps toward her. He was a large, red-faced man with sparse gray hair and a handlebar mustache. He parked himself in front of her door and wheezed, struggling to catch his breath.
She had tried to be kind to their landlord until Mr. Cramer mistook her kindness for romantic interest. Now she just tried to stay out of his way when he came to collect the rent. Her back against the door, Lucy pressed away as far as she could to escape the strong odor of stale perspiration that drifted toward her.
He crowded closer. “I’m afraid I have some bad news for you.” His muddy gaze slid avidly over her face and hair.
Lucy pressed tighter against the wall, though it gained her no space between the odious man and herself. What now? She didn’t think she could endure more bad news.
“I’ve decided to sell out and go back to New York. I’ve had an offer I can’t refuse for this place. The new owner plans to tear it down and build a store here.” He hesitated and rubbed his lips with a dirty handkerchief. “I’m afraid I must ask you to leave within the next seven days.”
Lucy gasped. “A week? How can I find something else in a week?”
Amos shrugged. “I’m sorry, my dear. You might try that boardinghouse over on Canal Street. They might have an opening.” He pursed his lips and raked her figure with his gaze before turning and waddling away.
Lucy’s throat grew thick. She couldn’t cry, not now. Tears would frighten the children. Fingering her locket, she straightened her shoulders and pushed open the door.
Her three-year-old sister launched herself against Lucy’s legs. “Lucy, you was late.” Eileen stuck out her lower lip. “We has company.”
Lucy looked toward the single chair in the tiny parlor. A man with gray hair and penetrating charcoal eyes sat regarding her calmly before he stood. There was something forbidding in his face, and she inhaled. Please, God, have mercy. Her gaze sought and found her brother, Jed. Twelve years old, he’d been a handful all year. His hangdog expression did nothing to calm her fears.
“Jed?”
His gaze remained on his worn shoes. “Uh, Lucy, this is—”
“I’ll introduce myself,” the gentleman interrupted. He stepped toward her and stared into her eyes. “Henry Stanton of Larson, Texas.” He shifted his gray Stetson in his hands. “Your father was my boyhood friend. I came as soon as I heard of his death.”
Henry Stanton. Lucy struggled to remember if her father had ever mentioned him. She knew her parents had grown up in Texas. Her Uncle Drew was still there. “I’m delighted to meet you, Mr. Stanton. How did you hear of our father’s death?”
“His wife wrote me asking for help, so I decided to make a stop here on my way back from Chicago. Is she here?”
Lucy shook her head. “Catherine left right after Father died.”
The man frowned. “Left? I don’t understand.”
She didn’t like to speak ill of anyone, but he had to know why Catherine wasn’t here. “Her, uh, friend showed up and she left with him.”
“She abandoned her children?” His voice rose.
Lucy looked to where Eileen was playing with her doll. The child didn’t seem to be paying attention. “I cared for them anyway,” she whispered. “Catherine wasn’t good with children.”
“I see.” He pointed his hat at Jed. “Your brother is in a heap of trouble, miss. He lifted my wallet when I talked with him on the porch.”
Stealing? She stared at her brother and the guilt washed over his face. “Jed, how could you?” It was too much. She sank onto the edge of the bed and buried her burning eyes in her hands. Her shoulders heaved as she tried to get her emotions under control. The events of the past few weeks had drained her. When she raised her head, she found Henry with a speculative look on his face.
“Please don’t distress yourself, Miss Lucy. Young Jed’s behavior will be corrected on the ranch.”
“On the ranch?”
“Tell me, Miss Marsh, are you a Christian woman?”
Standing again, she straightened her shoulders and exhaled. “Why, yes, sir, I am.”
“I thought as much. God has led me here for a purpose.” He smiled. “I have a proposition for you.”
Her pulse quickened. Perhaps there would be a way out of these dreadful circumstances yet. “What would that be, Mr. Stanton?”
“Have you read in the Bible how Abraham sent a servant out to find a wife for Isaac?”
“Of course.” Lucy’s heart sank before beginning a rapid beat against her chest. Surely he wasn’t offering for her hand. He was old. Older than her father.
“That was my main purpose for this trip, though my son has no idea of my mission. Now that I’ve met you, I believe you will do nicely. Nate needs a wife like you.”
His son. Lucy’s limbs went weak. The room spun, and she sat back on the edge of the bed.
“I can see I’ve shocked you.”
Lucy eyed the man. “Is—is your son a Christian?”
Mr. Stanton smiled. “That just confirms the Lord’s leading me here. As soon as I clapped eyes on you, something reared up inside me and I knew you were the right one for my Nate. Yes, my boy is a Christian.” He put
a hand on her shoulder. “I have my son’s signature to act as his agent in all business matters for this trip, so if you agree, I will arrange a proxy marriage. Right after the ceremony we’ll leave for Texas. A train leaves at one o’clock tomorrow afternoon.”
“Why would we not return to your ranch and see if your son and I would suit?”
“You don’t know my boy. He is apt to send you packing rather than listen to reason.” He shook his head. “No, this is the only way.”
It felt wrong to surprise this unknown Nate. Lucy held up her hand. “I’d rather know we suit before I pledge my life to a man. And give him a chance to get to know me as well.”
He thrust out his chin. “This is my offer, Miss Lucy. It’s the only one I’m making.” He nodded at her siblings. “Think of your brother and sister. They will have warm beds and plenty of food to eat. Fresh Texas air and plenty of room to grow up.”
Her main consideration was the children. While the thought of marrying someone she didn’t know was most unappealing, Lucy had to consider the offer. They were about to be evicted, and she’d lost her job. How could she possibly support the children? “I’d like time to pray about it.”
“I would expect nothing less from a good Christian woman. I’ll return tomorrow at nine for your answer. If you’re accepting my offer, have all your things packed. There will be no time to spare.” His walking stick thumped on the floor as he walked to the entry.
When the door closed behind him, Lucy clenched her hands in her lap and turned to her brother. Too angry to speak, she just looked at him.
Jed swallowed hard and took a step back. “It was a dare, Lucy. I didn’t mean to do anything wrong. I was just funnin’. I gave it back to him.”
Tidewater Inn Page 28