Duncan cleared his throat again. "Yes, well, it's come to my attention, she's trying to reconcile, but your secretary is standing in the way."
Patrick stood and almost knocked over his chair. "Everyone in this town forgets she left me high and dry almost five years ago. Left my daughter – didn't want anything to do with either of us, let alone this town." He couldn't keep the anger from his voice. "What the hell is wrong with everybody? Why in the hell would I take her back?"
"Now, calm down. Let's talk about this like adults. You know people are saying Ms Shelby is just like her mother. You could do worse than Payton, you know."
"Payton can't hold a candle to Meghan. Never could. Someone better set the record straight around here and damn quick. Meghan's nothing like her mother, never was, never will be."
"Okay, that may be true, but the fact remains, you were married to Payton and people in this town take the marriage vows pretty serious."
"The key word is WAS married. She broke the marriage vow when she took off. Even signed away custody of Olivia. You really think I'd take someone like that back? Would you?"
"The people in this town think you owe her a second chance. People make mistakes. They change."
"Believe me, Payton hasn't changed. She came here pregnant with another man's kid." Patrick grinned at the gasp from Duncan. "Oh, you didn't hear she had a miscarriage? How did that bit of information escape the rumor mill? Trust me, now that she lost the baby, she'll be looking to blow this town again. In fact, I'm surprised she hasn't already. Only thing holding here is her broken ankle."
Mr. Duncan moved a pencil around on his desk. Never had Patrick seen the man at a loss for words.
"So if that's all you wanted to talk to me about, I'm leaving. There's nothing more to say." Patrick started for the door. "Oh, you better start changing people's minds about Meghan. When the time is right, I'll be marrying her."
He strode out of the office and took the steps two at a time and almost bumped into Pete.
"Oh, you already had your meeting with Mr. Duncan."
"Is nothing sacred in this town? Does everyone know we were meeting today?
Pete's face turned red. "Yeah, well you know how it is. Hilda Richardson can't keep her mouth shut.
"That woman needs to find something useful to occupy her time. What are you doing here, Pete?"
"Actually, I came to stand up for you. Moral support, you know that kind of thing."
"Thanks."
"So how'd it go with Duncan?"
"I set him straight. He'd better set this town straight about Meghan."
"Right. Listen, about Payton."
"Not you, too, Pete."
"No, listen, I just came from her. I took her out last night."
"Good for you. I hope she makes you very happy."
"Yeah, uh…that's not going to happen. She's leaving." Pete ran his hands through his hair.
"Leaving? When? How?"
"Yeah, leaving. Today. Now. She said after our dinner last night this hick town has nothing to offer her. She called a cab."
"Not that I really care, but where is she going? She can't even put weight on that foot for another three weeks or more." Patrick blew out a breath. Damned woman didn't have the brains she was born with. She'd screw up that foot and never be able to walk again. Although why that should be any concern of his, he didn't know.
"Said she called a home up in Columbus. At least they have more of a nightlife."
"More power to her. At least she'll be out of my life and maybe these rumors will die down. Thanks for telling me, Pete."
"Yeah, anytime, Buddy. I'll go up and let old man Duncan know. If he hasn't already, he'll get the gossip going." Pete turned and ran up the steps.
Now, if he could just convince Meghan to marry him. Sure, it was probably too soon, but hell, they'd known each other all their lives.
Chapter Thirty-Two
Meghan woke with a start. Something didn't feel right. She sat up, listening. No, it wasn't a sound that woke her. More like a feeling. What was it? She slid out of bed, grabbed her robe and went up to the tower room. She had the strangest pull to read the diary.
She sat on the floor cross-legged and set the diary on her lap. It dropped open where she left off.
After two months, I heard Steven came back to Bluffton. He opened his own body and mechanic shop. He always was good at mechanics. I'm glad he's in Bluffton and not here in Littleton. Not that I care. If I never see him again, it'll be too soon.
The rest of the pages were empty. Poor Aunt Beth. It must have been very difficult for her. Was Steven still in Bluffton? Surely rumor of her return even reached there. Maybe he was dead. Or maybe he didn't care to find her anymore. She closed the book and put it back in the trunk. Aunt Clara would know if her father still lived there. Heck, she couldn't even remember his last name. Did she really want to know?
After a quick shower, Meghan gulped down a cup of coffee. Yes, she really wanted to know and the only one with the answer was Aunt Clara. Another visit was in order.
She parked in front of the inn and sat for a few minutes. Once she asked, there was no turning back. If he lived there, she'd look him up. There was too much she wanted to know and he was the only one with the answers. Taking a deep breath, she hurried into the parlor.
Aunt Clara looked up. "I wondered when you'd be back."
"Does he still live in Bluffton?"
"Yes."
"Will you tell me where?"
Aunt Clara patted the sofa. "Come sit down, child."
Sitting was the last thing she wanted to do. "Are you going to tell me?"
"First, I want you to understand something. He's made a new life for himself. He wasn't a bad kid, you know. People in this town are too narrow-minded. Make one mistake and they brand you for life. Your grandparents were like that."
Meghan sat down, ready to object. Her grandparents were sweet, wonderful people.
Aunt Clara held her hand up to stop her response. "Oh, they were wonderful people. Went out of their way to help everyone. But they were a bit on the snobbish side too. Came from old blood. Couldn't see the good in Steven to save their souls."
Aunt Clara closed her eyes, as if remembering something. "Beth was so in love with that boy. Best thing that ever happened to her. But he didn't have any breeding. Came from the lower class. They couldn't overlook the fact that he got into trouble that one time. He loved her too, you know."
Now more than ever, Meghan wanted to meet Steven. Aunt Clara seemed to think highly of him.
"He made a good life for his family," Aunt Clara said.
"Why did he stay here, do you know? I mean why torture Aunt Beth?"
"Certainly not to torture her. This was his home. He wanted to raise his children here."
"They could have visited. Why move here?"
"You'll have to ask him that. You can find him at Cooper's Garage on the corner of Lexington and Ninth." Aunt Clara closed her eyes again. "He bought the place from old man Cooper when he came back. Built it up, made it a success."
Meghan stood. "Thank you."
"Meghan, tread lightly. I don't know how much his family knows about you."
Meghan almost laughed. How much his family knew? For twenty-seven years she didn't know about him. Pretty ironic, if you asked her.
* * *
Meghan turned down Lexington. Bluffton looked pretty much like Littleton. Not much changed here either. Same small store fronts, butcher, baker. Small town USA. People here supported their local shops. No big chain stores for them. One of the things that drew her back. It was fun shopping where the owners knew you. Not to mention everything was fresh. No prepackaged food around here. Meat from the butcher, bread from the bakery, and fruit and vegetables from the local fruit market. Took longer to shop, but the products were so much better. A lot of the town's people actually shopped every day. No freezer food for them. Her grandmother had been that way. How she loved shopping with her.
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sp; She turned the corner onto Ninth Avenue and her breath caught. Aunt Clara told her Steven had built a successful business but she'd had no idea how successful. The garage took up an entire block. Six or seven bays on one side and the body shop on the other. Several buses and trucks sat in the parking lot, waiting to be serviced. For two cents, she'd turn around and go home, but she'd come too far and wanted answers.
Steven walked toward her, when she got out of the car. Meghan held her breath when he stopped dead in his tracks, his face a mixture of pleasure and shock.
"You look just like your mother."
Funny, from the picture in Aunt Beth's locket, she thought she looked more like him. Words escaped her. Not one sentence came to mind. She stood looking at him, taking him in every inch of him. Still a handsome man. She could see why Aunt Beth was attracted to him. Tall, muscular, dark, and, oh, so handsome. His smoky green eyes looked even darker in person.
"You're as beautiful as Beth. I knew you would be." He reached out and took her hand.
She didn't back away, but still too stunned to speak, she allowed him to lead her inside to an office.
"Can I get you something? A soda, coffee?"
Meghan shook her head. God, why couldn't she talk? The man in front of her was her biological father. He'd never be her dad. Should she think of him as her uncle? A giggle erupted. Heat burned her cheeks. "I'm sorry. Oh, God, I shouldn't have come."
Steven touched her arm. "No, please stay. I've wanted to meet you for so long."
"Then… then why didn't you? I mean now, you must have heard I was in town."
Steven motioned to a chair. "Please sit down. I almost did several times, but then I wasn't sure what to say. I mean it's been so long. I searched for you for several months after Beth told me about you."
Meghan sank into a chair. Her legs trembled so badly, they couldn't hold her up.
"I had to quit searching. I had a family to feed. So I came back here, hoping some day you'd show up. When I heard you were back, I wanted to come and see you."
Meghan couldn't move, couldn't talk. All she could do was stare at him, and wait for an explanation.
"My wife and mother convinced me not to. They said you might not know about me, and I'd only be hurting you."
"I didn't know about you. Not until I started going through Aunt Beth's stuff and found her diary. She…" Tears burned her eyes and slid down her cheeks.
"I loved your mother, you know. More than life itself. When I came back, and she told me about you, I went crazy. I was so angry at her for not telling me. She never answered one of my letters."
"You sent her letters?"
"I wrote every day. Later I found out she never got them. Your grandfather hid them. He wrote and told me Beth was in a home for the retarded."
Steven scrubbed his hands through his hair. "Beth wasn't retarded. I should have come back anyway."
"But you did come back, married. Aunt Beth was devastated. The diary said you didn't love her anymore."
"I had to tell her that. I couldn't tell her the truth. It was bad enough I told her your grandfather paid me to leave. I never stopped loving her, but I was married. What else could I do? I love my wife. Not the way I loved Beth, she was the love of my life. But I had made a new life. I had kids."
Steven poured a cup of coffee, took a sip and sat down. "It was better Beth hate me than her father. So when I came back I settled here in Bluffton instead of Littleton. I didn't want Beth to see us. I'd hurt her bad enough. But I grew up here. I wanted to be near my family. It killed me that Beth never found anyone else."
"It's a shame Beth never knew. I think it would have made her life easier."
"Maybe, but what good would it have done? I wasn't going to leave my wife. I couldn't give her false hope."
Meghan stood, smoothed her blouse. "Thank you for telling me."
"Can you come again? Will you meet my wife, my kids? I know I'll never take the place of your father. But I'd like us to get to know each other. Maybe be friends." Steven held his hand out to her.
Meghan took it, smiled, and shook her head. "It's going to take some time for me to digest all of this. But I think I'd like that."
Steven put his hand around her shoulder and walked with to the car. "Thank you for coming."
Meghan got in the car. "Thank you for telling me about you and Beth."
How sad that her grandparents were so narrow-minded. She'd never have believed it if you had told her that ten years ago, but now that she thought about it, she remembered incidents when her grandmother scolded her for following Patrick.
Obviously, he didn't have the proper breeding either. Would she have defied them? For Patrick. You better believe it.
Epilogue
Six months later, Meghan stood and looked at the house. What a difference from the first time she saw it. Now it looked better than she remembered. Patrick put his arm around her.
"Happy?"
Meghan nodded and leaned against him. So much had happened since she stood here for the first time. So many changes. Now her life took on a whole new meaning.
She and Steven had come to an understanding. True to his word, he had sent Aunt Beth a letter every day. Meghan found them, tied with a ribbon, under an eave in the attic. Beautiful, poetic letters of how much he loved and missed her. If only Aunt Beth had known. How sad to think she spent her life alone, without the man she loved and deprived of her child.
Steven's wife, Maria, welcomed her with open arms and Sidney and Babs, her half brother and sister, twelve and fourteen, seemed to like the idea of an older sister. What a surprise to learn that Aunt Clara was Steven's mother. She, too, was forced to give up her child. In her day, an unmarried girl wasn't allowed to raise a child alone. Besides, she had to help take care of her father and eventually her mother, but she never lost touch with Steven. She believed that was the real reason Beth wasn't allowed to marry him. After all, he was a bastard.
"So, are we going to live in your house or mine?" Patrick interrupted her thoughts.
"Huh? Oh, gosh I don't know." Meghan looked at the house she spent so much time in as a child. "I think yours. This one has known too much unhappiness. Besides, Olivia is used to yours. Do you think Mildred will stay on?"
"I'm glad you said that. I was going to ask if you minded. She's been with me so long and, well, I'd hate for her to have to look for something else at her age. Not that she couldn't find something. She's a damn good housekeeper."
"Good, that's settled. We'll ask her to stay."
Patrick's kiss promised more to come later. Olivia ran out and jumped into his arms.
"Guess what I did today, Daddy?"
"Hmm, let see." Patrick put his finger to his chin and pretended to look thoughtful. "I know. You went to the moon."
Olivia giggled. "No, silly. Guess again."
Patrick tapped his chin. "You played with Jill and Lily."
Olivia shook her head. "One more guess."
"You built a sand castle."
"Nope." Olivia shook her head.
"Okay, I give. What did you do today?"
"I went shopping with Meghan for a bridesmaids dress."
"Really! Did you find one?"
"Uh huh, and guess what color?"
"Hmm," Patrick tapped his chin. "Black."
Olivia giggled. "No, silly. Little girls don't wear black."
"Okay, white."
Olivia shook her head and slid down. "Only the bride gets to wear white."
"Okay, I give."
"Purple." Olivia danced around him.
"Purple, tell me more. Is it strapless?"
Olivia giggled and took his hand. "No silly, I'm too young for strapless. Meghan's is strapless. Oh, Daddy, wait 'til you see it. She looks so beautiful."
Patrick put his arm around Meghan. "I just bet she does. My girls are the most beautiful in the world."
Meghan smiled. Life didn't get any better than this.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
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sp; Multi-published author, Roseanne Dowell, former school secretary and writing instructor, is an avid reader and writes various types of romance – paranormal, contemporary and mystery. Living in Northeast Ohio with her husband of forty-nine years, she has six grown children, fourteen grandchildren and one great grandchild. She spends her time between writing, quilting and embroidering. She's been published since 2006 with five releases this year and seven new releases coming in 2011. She also enjoys blogging, tweeting, facebooking and posting on various writers groups. To learn more about Roseanne check her website: www.roseannedowell.com .
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