As Luke loaded all of the pumpkins in the truck, he had asked, Do you buy this many pumpkins every year?
Goodness, no, she’d said. I cut back this year.
Annie and Timmy had flung their hands in front of their faces and giggled.
How did you get them home before I was around? There’s a whole truck bed full of stuff back there, he said as he settled in behind the steering wheel.
I have friends, she’d replied. This year, you’re my new friend.
New flunky you mean.
That, too, she’d replied.
* * *
MRS. BEABOTS LOOKED at her pumpkins and decided the one she’d placed closest to the door was the one she’d give the children to carve for Halloween.
She unlocked the door and went in.
Slipping off her sweater, she was surprised to find Luke sitting in her parlor.
“Is it all right that I came down here?” Luke asked. “I was just going over these wallpaper samples for inside the molding inserts you gave me.”
Placing the cookies on the table between them, she sat down.
“Sarah picked out the samples,” she said flatly.
He looked at the cookies. “She baked those, too, didn’t she?”
“Yes. For the children. They have reduced sugar, applesauce and oatmeal. You can’t object to those.” She sniffed.
“No, I guess not.” He looked down at the wallpaper samples, but didn’t see them.
Mrs. Beabots said, “Luke, ever since your breakup, or whatever the dickens you want to call it, Sarah hasn’t felt comfortable coming to my house. That’s not right, Luke. She’s my friend. She’s been my friend all her life. I miss her.”
He looked at his hands, feeling like an errant child. He didn’t understand why he should feel this despondent. He’d only been protecting his children. Hadn’t he? He wanted to do the right thing at all times. He remembered that when he was in the navy, doing right and being right had seemed so simple. Easy. Life back then had been like looking at cut crystal. Now, every blasted thing was muddled in confusion.
“You’re right. This is your home and she should be welcome here. I’ll make myself scarce.”
Mrs. Beabots clucked her tongue and threw Luke a sharp look. “You’re a fool, Luke Bosworth.”
“Excuse me?”
“Do you think I don’t see you sneaking peeks at Sarah’s window every night when you help me with the dishes? Do you think I don’t see you watching for her in the morning before you go to work? I see you take the cell phone out of your pocket and stare at it like it’s going to talk back to you. I’ve seen when you dial a number on that thing and then don’t call anyone. I can tell you one thing, young man, dead people don’t use telephones.”
“Dead...” he repeated and suddenly realized her inference. She was talking about Jenny. “No, they don’t.”
She leaned forward. “I think it’s Sarah who occupies your mind more than you’d like to admit.”
“She must think I’m a jerk.”
“Believe me, she does. So do I.”
“What?”
She smiled. “Well, you were. But that’s not who you really are. Luke, you are a fine person and your children need you to be their guidepost in life. They will learn everything from you. I don’t believe for a minute that this stubborn mule you’ve decided to be lately is you at all. I can tell you one thing. Life is nothing but change and challenge. A body no more gets through one set of problems when it’s time to cope with another. But—” she wagged her finger at Luke “—I can tell you this. You’re going to miss your entire life if you don’t jump in and get wet.”
“As I remember it, I did that once.”
“So where’s all that courage?”
“I guess I’ve been afraid.”
“I’d venture you’re correct. Nothing wrong with being afraid, so long as it doesn’t freeze you in your tracks. That’s where you are now. Frozen.”
“Funny. That’s what Sarah said to me.”
“Astute girl. Always was.” Mrs. Beabots cocked her head to the right and smiled.
Luke glanced at the plate of cookies. “So Sarah made these for the kids?”
“Uh-huh.”
“May I?” he asked.
“Help yourself,” she said, holding the plate out to him. Luke munched on the cookie. “It’s not like the ones I remember my mom used to make,” he said after three bites.
“Of course not. There’s not enough sugar or butter, if you ask me. Sarah altered the recipe to make you happy.”
Luke nodded solemnly. “I think I get it.”
“I should hope so,” Mrs. Beabots replied.
* * *
ON FRIDAY EVENING, Luke walked with his kids down Maple Avenue and then turned west on Apple Lane and walked down two blocks to Rose Street, where they found Louise Railton closing up The Louise House.
“Hello, Louise,” Luke shouted as he and the kids raced up to the tall, slender woman in her mid-forties.
Louise’s infectious smile filled her face as she turned away from the pretty aqua-blue door to the white, steep-gabled house. “Hello there,” she said.
“Is it too late?” Luke asked, looking up at the front porch with its wicker furniture and fifty-year-old metal, ceiling-mounted swing. “You were just closing up.”
Louise patted Luke’s hand reassuringly. “I haven’t washed the dipper yet. Still time for a scoop.”
“Yes!” Timmy said as they all scooted inside.
Louise led the way into the candy shop and vintage-looking ice cream parlor. The Louise House was a child’s delight. An entire wall was filled with enormous glass canisters of every conceivable candy—jelly beans, licorice, anise drops, homemade horehound drops, lemon drops and sour candies. Louise was a superb chocolatier, and in the glass case facing the jelly beans and hard candies were her super creamy caramels, truffles, chocolate-covered nut clusters, coconut-and-chocolate “nests” and dark-chocolate-covered dried blueberries, cherries and raspberries.
Behind the chocolates case were upright freezers filled with pink-and-chocolate-brown-striped containers of Louise’s ice creams. No one in town knew precisely the secret to Louise’s extra creamy ice creams. She told the tourists the recipes had been in her family for generations.
Mrs. Beabots had told Luke about The Louise House. After her husband, Raymond’s, heart attack over twenty-five years ago, the Beabotses had been forced to sell the Rose Street Grocery, which they had owned nearly all their adult lives, to a very young Louise Railton.
“Have a seat,” Louise said, pulling out a dainty wrought-iron chair with her signature pink-and-brown-striped seat cushion. “You all can be my guinea pigs. I have a new flavor I want to try out. No charge.”
“Cool!” Timmy said.
Louise went to the freezer and pulled out a plain white container, picked up her scoop and dug into the ice cream. Taking out three crystal, fluted ice cream dishes, she deposited a small lump of white ice cream into each one. “I call this Magic Mountain,” Louise said, turning around and taking a tall green-and-purple-felt hat off the hat rack. It had ribbons trailing down the back in every imaginable color and there were opalescent sequins forming a hat band around the brim. “This is my Fairy Queen hat. I made it myself. What do you think?” Louise asked, coming around the counter and setting the ice cream on their little round table.
“Does it help increase sales?” Luke asked as he looked at the preposterous hat.
“Evidently.” Louise sat in a chair across from them and plopped her elbows on the table, resting her chin in her hands. “Be honest.”
In unison, Luke and the kids dug into the ice cream. It was a creamy, vanilla-and-cinnamon-flavored frozen custard with bits of macadamia nuts and chunks of white choc
olate. Luke had to close his eyes, the taste was so good.
“Does this have a lot of sugar?” Annie asked Louise.
“Heavens, yes,” Louise replied.
Timmy looked at his father. “Why are we eating this?”
“Because I’m a lunkhead when I’m not being a dunderhead.”
Annie looked at Timmy, who scrunched his shoulders and watched while his father closed his eyes again and ate the ice cream.
Annie put her forefinger to her ear and whirled it around, indicating that she thought her father was nuts. She finished her ice cream in two more bites.
Luke laughed at Annie and said, “After this, I think we owe it to ourselves to go see the sunset at the lake.”
“I love the lake,” Timmy said, licking his spoon.
Annie nodded. “The stars are so pretty over the lake.”
“Then the lake it is,” Luke said.
They took the short drive down to the water and climbed out of the car.
* * *
LUKE TOOK OFF his work boots and socks, stuffed the socks inside the shoes and tied the shoelaces together. He carried his shoes in one hand while holding Timmy’s hand with the other as they walked along the shore of Indian Lake.
“It’s really pretty here in the fall,” Annie said, staring at the setting sun. Marbling the azure-blue sky were ribbons of lavender, rose and amber. The sun was huge on the horizon, looking like a ball of flame that would set the earth on fire. “We should come out here more often,” Annie said. “I had the best summer ever at the beach with Captain Redbeard and Mrs. Taylor.”
“Me, too.” Timmy picked up a smooth rock and tossed it back in the lake. “The only thing that would make it better...”
Timmy looked expectantly at his father.
“It’s okay, Timmy. I know you miss Beau. I’ve been thinking about that.”
“Really?” Timmy asked.
“Is it Beau you miss or just that you want a dog of your own?”
Timmy hung his head. “I miss Beau.”
“That’s what I thought,” Luke replied.
The sun moved lower and the shadows from the trees around the lake cast long, wide, deep purple streamers over the water, the beach and Luke.
He stopped abruptly and looked at the light and shades as day transformed into evening and night began to fall. For more than two years he’d lived in the shadow of Jenny’s death. But there was an even darker shadow in his life. It was of his own making. His own decisions. He had chosen this joylessness. He had chosen to feel this emptiness. He had no one to blame for this emptiness but himself.
Timmy picked up another rock and skipped it over the lake water. It bounced three times. “Hey, Dad! Did you see that? I got three skips!”
“Excellent, Timmy. Just excellent,” Luke exclaimed.
At that moment, they all heard a dog bark. Then the dog barked again.
Timmy stood stock-still for a moment and then took off in a run. “Beau! Beau!”
Luke looked off toward the darkness that fell over the cattails. He heard the dog bark again.
Beau came crashing out of the cattails and nearly jumped on Timmy, who squealed in delight.
Luke’s eyes scoured the cattails but he couldn’t see anyone.
Suddenly, Annie yelled. “It’s Miss Sarah! Sarah!” Annie raced into the dark.
Then he saw her and he thought his heart had gone into ramming speed. He should have been surprised to see her, but he wasn’t. He had a strong feeling that fate would continue placing them in each other’s paths until he realized he had been falling in love with Sarah for quite some time.
Sarah wore a long, white skirt and a dark jacket as she emerged from the edge of the tall grasses. Annie raced up to her and hugged her. Sarah enveloped Annie in her arms. She seemed genuinely thrilled to see her.
Luke watched as Sarah crouched down to pull Annie even closer. He knew that Sarah was aware of him watching her, but in this moment, Sarah didn’t care about his reaction to her demonstration of love for his daughter.
Sarah was being Sarah. Loving and open. Kind. Giving.
Luke knew that Mrs. Beabots had been right. He’d been a fool.
Luke walked toward Sarah, who stood still, stroking Annie’s head.
* * *
EVEN IN THE shadows, Sarah could see Luke’s blue eyes blazing at her, but this time she saw a look she hadn’t seen before. Her breath caught in her chest. She didn’t dare hope. Her hand started shaking and she felt that her knees would give way and she would just melt right into the sand.
“Annie,” Luke said, “go play with your brother for a minute. I want to talk to Sarah.”
“Okay, Dad,” Annie said, looking from her father to Sarah and back to her father. Annie smiled and then ran over to Timmy and Beau.
“Sarah,” Luke said as he moved a few steps closer to her. “I owe you an apology...again.” He took a deep breath and shook his head. “No that’s wrong. I owe you about a thousand apologies. And they’re all from the bottom of my heart.”
“I’m listening, Luke.”
He smiled wanly. “Thanks for not calling me a dunderhead again, because I really am. And a jerk. I was pretty awful to you, Sarah. And I was very wrong.”
“About letting me see the kids?” she asked.
“About everything. When I saw you with the kids at your house that day when you were all so happy, I was shocked because I hadn’t heard them laughing like that in a long time. I watched from the porch and I couldn’t think of a happier picture than you and Annie hugging. Then you told her that you loved her. And I knew it was true. And she told you that she loved you. I was so jealous, Sarah. So mighty, crazy jealous.”
“But why, Luke?”
“Because I wasn’t part of any of it. I felt like you’d stolen my family, but the truth was that I’d given them away. I neglected them...here in my heart. You were right about that, too. I’d let my heart turn to ice from sheer lack of use. You showed me that, Sarah.”
“I wanted to be your friend, Luke. Sometimes it’s not easy to be a friend.”
“Especially to me.”
“I wouldn’t quite say that.”
“Well, I could use a friend. A best friend, really.”
Sarah had spent a great deal of her life dealing with her fears. She had a choice right here and now to choose them or choose another path. She threw her fears to the wind and asked, “Is that all you want, Luke? To be friends?”
He moved closer, never taking his eyes off her. “No. It’s not. I want the full ride. Top of the Ferris wheel and all.”
“It could cost you a lot,” she said.
“Don’t have much. Just my heart. And it’s got temperature malfunctions.”
Sarah smiled and soft lights filled her eyes. “I bet I could fix it.”
“I know you can,” Luke said.
Sarah was mesmerized by the love glowing in Luke’s eyes. If she ever saw a firework again she knew it would never compare to this. She hoped she wasn’t just dreaming. If she was, she hoped she wouldn’t wake up. Ever.
Luke moved closer and took Sarah’s hand in his. He squeezed it and then pulled her hand to his lips and kissed it. “I also thought I should tell you that we broke a rule tonight. We had ice cream.”
“Sugar? Before bed?” She chuckled. “That is a breakthrough,” she teased lightheartedly.
“I was thinking about breaking some other rules,” he whispered, his voice lowering an octave and his eyes peering so deeply into hers that Sarah felt he had just touched her soul.
“Which ones?”
“All of them,” he said and pulled her into his arms. He smoothed her hair with his palm and cradled her face with his hands. “I love you, Sarah.”
Sarah�
��s eyes welled with happy tears, and when they cascaded down her cheeks, he caught them with his thumbs. “I love you back, Luke.”
When Luke kissed her, Sarah was very, very certain that the wishes she’d made on the stars had not been in vain.
Her wishes had all come true.
* * * * *
THE SHORES OF INDIAN LAKE
continues with HEART'S DESIRE.
We hope you enjoyed this Harlequin Heartwarming title.
You’ve got to have heart…. Harlequin Heartwarming celebrates wholesome, heartfelt relationships imbued with the traditional values so important to you: home, family, community and love.
Enjoy four new stories from Harlequin Heartwarming every month!
Connect with us on Harlequin.com for info on our new releases, access to exclusive offers, free online reads and much more!
Other ways to keep in touch:
Harlequin.com/newsletters
Facebook.com/HarlequinBooks
Twitter.com/HarlequinBooks
HarlequinBlog.com
ISBN-13: 9781460329641
LOVE SHADOWS
Copyright © 2014 by Catherine Lanigan
All rights reserved. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of publisher, Harlequin Enterprises Limited, 225 Duncan Mill Road, Don Mills, Ontario, Canada M3B 3K9.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental. This edition published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.
Love Shadows Page 24