For Better or For Worse

by Debbi Quattrone

  Welcome to Twin Oaks—the new B and B in Cooper’s Corner. Some come for pleasure, others for passion—and one to set things straight…

  Check-in: Veterinarian Alex McAlester is the man to go to in Cooper’s Corner for sound advice and a shoulder to lean on. But don’t ask him to get emotionally involved. Since his wife’s death eight years ago, his closest relationship has been with his dog, Bagel—until he insists on “helping out” Jenny Taylor…by marrying her!

  Checkout: Jenny has been diagnosed with a rare illness, and if she were Alex’s spouse, his insurance would cover her mounting medical costs. But Jenny wants more than a marriage based on gratitude. She wants those strong shoulders…and Alex’s love.

  DEBBI RAWLINS

  For Better or for Worse

  Dear Reader,

  You must be getting pretty familiar with the townsfolk of Cooper’s Corner by now. I sure am. Writing a book for a continuity series is quite an experience—mostly pleasant, but sometimes mind-boggling. And frustrating. But the finished story is always worth the effort.

  It’s a challenge to work with continuing characters, but I had fun discovering how they were depicted by other authors in the series. And of course it’s always a pleasure to write about new romances.

  I sure love my job! And I hope you enjoy being part of Alex and Jenny’s growing relationship.

  Debbi Rawlins

  Contents

  CHAPTER ONE

  CHAPTER TWO

  CHAPTER THREE

  CHAPTER FOUR

  CHAPTER FIVE

  CHAPTER SIX

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  CHAPTER NINE

  CHAPTER TEN

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  EPILOGUE

  EXCERPT

  CHAPTER ONE

  ALEX MCALESTER SQUINTED at the kitten through the branches of the oak tree, amazed that the little guy had gotten so high. Alex’s jeans caught on a jagged piece of bark, and he grunted. Even more amazing was the fact that he’d managed to drag his poor forty-year-old bones halfway up the trunk.

  “Now, don’t you two fret.” Phyllis Cooper stood on the sidewalk in front of the general store, consoling Maureen Cooper’s twins, her charges for the afternoon. “This is nothing for Dr. McAlester. He treats ornery bulls and even tended a sick tiger when the circus came to town five years back. He’ll get that kitten down in no time. You’ll see.”

  Alex glanced at the kids’ anxious faces and sighed. Gee, no pressure here. He shinnied up another foot, ignoring the scrapes to his arms. The kitten was obviously frozen scared and the only way he was going to come down was if someone carried him.

  “Doc Alex? You won’t let the kitty fall, will you?” one of the twins asked.

  He glanced down and met large blue-green eyes. He couldn’t tell if it was Randi or Robin—they looked too much alike. Not that it mattered. Both little girls gazed at him with a mixture of trust and concern that made his gut tighten.

  “Don’t worry, honey, I’ll get the kitty down safely. You just be really quiet so we don’t frighten him, okay?”

  Both girls promptly nodded.

  What would his life have been like if he and Sara had had a couple of children, if they hadn’t postponed starting a family? They’d always assumed there would be time later. They’d been horribly wrong.

  But he couldn’t afford to think about that now. The kitten let out a plaintive meow, and Alex inched up the last couple of feet until he could reach the gray tabby. Alarmed, the cat struck out and clawed his arm, but Alex managed to grab him.

  “Easy, boy,” he said in a low, soothing voice. “I know you’re scared, but we’re going to get your feet planted on the ground again.”

  The kitty didn’t believe him. He screeched and squirmed, and Alex had to tuck him inside his shirt to free his hands for the climb down. The cat dug into Alex’s skin. He winced but continued another couple of yards until he was able to hand the nervous animal to Phyllis.

  “Be careful,” he warned. “The poor guy’s spooked. He’ll try to claw you, so hold him by the back of his neck.”

  Phyllis didn’t seem to be listening. Something across the street had distracted her. Absently, she held up her hands for the kitten.

  “Phyllis?”

  She squinted in the direction of the bank as she took the cat. “Isn’t that Jenny Taylor?”

  Damn it. Alex nearly slid the last few feet to the ground. “Who?”

  “You know, Ed’s daughter?”

  He knew who she was. He just hadn’t expected her to arrive until this evening. As soon as he landed on his feet, he peered across the street. Her back was to him, her long, light cinnamon-colored hair pulled into a ponytail.

  “Of course, she’s come for the funeral. I don’t think I’ve seen her in over five years.” Phyllis frowned in disapproval. “Too bad she didn’t come see her father when he was alive. Guess she’s been too busy living the high life in Boston.”

  “New York,” he mumbled, craning his neck for a better look and tucking his loose T-shirt into his jeans. “She got transferred there two years ago.”

  He doubted Jenny had been living the high life, but he didn’t say anything. Phyllis would only argue. She and her husband, Philo, had owned Cooper’s Corner General Store for over three decades and knew just about everyone in town. They both pretty much figured they knew everyone’s business, too. Probably did.

  Except Alex knew all about Jenny, even though he hadn’t seen her in years. Her father had read him every one of her letters chronicling her ten-year career in the hotel industry, from her first job as assistant to the general manager to her present position as head of the marketing department in the chain’s newest boutique hotel in New York.

  Ed had been proud of each of his daughter’s promotions and worried sick when she’d broken her leg skiing in Vermont three winters ago. Hell, as Ed’s closest neighbor and best friend, Alex knew when Jenny had had a cold. Damn, he was going to miss the guy. Only fifty-seven and dead from a sudden heart attack. It wasn’t right.

  Sara had only been thirty when cancer had claimed her young life.

  Alex ruthlessly pushed the thought aside. He needed to focus on Jenny. She wouldn’t be prepared for what she’d find at the house where she’d grown up. Ed hadn’t had the heart to tell her about the hard times that had hit the farm. He’d been unable to make ends meet, and the place was old and had started to require extensive repair.

  Alex had found out by accident that Jenny had been sending Ed money until two years ago. But then it stopped, and Ed had been too proud to accept Alex’s offer of help. Now all Alex could do was offer Jenny a shoulder to lean on. He owed Ed that much.

  He kept his sights on her as he waited for an old van and an SUV to go by before crossing Main Street. Jenny stopped briefly at a mailbox, deposited an envelope and turned to climb into a blue sedan. It was an older car with a dent in the door. Not what he’d expected her to be driving. He figured something newer, sportier would be more her style.

  Of course a car didn’t mean anything. He had a thriving veterinary practice, busy enough that he’d taken on a partner. Yet he still drove the same ugly ten-year-old truck he and Sara had picked out a year before she’d died.

  Anyway, he was more interested in the direction the car was poin
ted. She’d been heading toward Church Street when she came into town, which meant she probably hadn’t been to the farm yet. Better he was with her when she stepped inside the house. Ed had gotten used to the state of disrepair. Alex doubted Jenny would be as indifferent.

  But maybe he was wrong. She hadn’t visited her father in quite a while, always claiming she was too busy with work. Ed never said much, only that he was proud of her becoming such a success. The poor guy must have felt neglected, though. Alex had tried to reserve judgment, but it was hard to ignore the disappointment in Ed’s eyes as each holiday approached and Jenny made no effort to come home.

  Her past visits normally lasted just two days...a long weekend. But Ed was grateful for every minute. She was his only daughter, his only living relative. And now he was gone, and Jenny wouldn’t have any more chances to visit him.

  None of that mattered to Alex at the moment. Even if he did feel any ill will toward Jenny for her apparent neglect of her father, he’d never let her suffer the trauma of the next two days alone. Alex understood the devastation of loss all too well.

  A delivery truck pulled out from the curb and blocked his way. By the time he got across the street, Jenny had driven away, headed toward the farm. Luckily his pickup was parked just in front of him.

  “Hey, Alex, where are you going?” Phyllis called, hands on her hips. She’d passed the kitten to one of the twins. “What are we supposed to do with this little fellow?”

  He sighed. They’d called him to get the cat down. Silly him for figuring they knew the owner or had a game plan once they got a hold of the kitten. “Hang on to him for a while. I’ll be back later.”

  “But—”

  Alex jumped into his pickup and started the engine. Phyllis had to be going nuts wondering what had gotten into good ol’ dependable Doc McAlester. She’d get over it. Jenny Taylor was his concern.

  * * *

  JENNY PULLED INTO the drive and parked in front of the eighteen-fifties New England farmhouse where she had lived most of her life. She barely recognized the place.

  The peeling paint wasn’t the worst of the neglect and disrepair. Two of the shutters were gone, while another pair hung loosely from its hinges. The roof was missing enough shingles that the ceiling had to leak inside. The place looked abandoned. Yet her father had lived here until his death four days ago.

  Why hadn’t he told her he was in this much trouble? They talked twice a week. He’d mentioned grain prices had gone up, and she knew that wet weather had cut last year’s harvest in half, but she’d had no idea the farm was in jeopardy. He’d been so proud of the growing market for the free-range chickens he’d raised. His reputation was spreading, and he could hardly keep up with the demand. But obviously his earnings had been much less than she’d imagined.

  Jenny stayed in the driver’s seat, laid her head back and closed her eyes. He should have confided in her. Although she couldn’t have done anything about it. She was flat broke. Not just broke, but in debt. Without a job. And soon she’d have no place to live.

  Slowly she opened her eyes and stared again at the house. “Oh, Dad,” she whispered. “What happened?”

  She’d failed him. That’s what had happened. She’d planned to go off into the world, be a huge success, save the farm he loved so much. But it was too late.

  Before despair swallowed her whole, she opened the car door and forced her feet to the ground, needing to do something that would distract her from the destructive thoughts threatening her sanity. If she’d learned nothing else in therapy, negative thinking was the surest way to sink quickly into depression and hopelessness.

  Tomorrow was her father’s funeral. She had to be prepared both emotionally and physically. After grabbing the small bag of groceries she’d brought, she made her way to the front door, mindful of the rickety wooden steps leading to the porch. The same rocker she’d played on as a child sat in the corner. Only she wouldn’t dare trust it to hold her now. A couple of back slats were missing, and one of the arms had partially rotted away. The chair should have been discarded long ago.

  Jenny opened the front door. It wasn’t locked. It never was. Not here in Cooper’s Corner. How different life was from the frantic pace of Boston and Manhattan. At one time those cities had seemed glamorous and exciting. Not anymore. And anyway, she had neither the resources nor the energy to enjoy the fast-paced lifestyle. These days, getting out of bed required all her strength. And then all she could do was sit on her couch and worry about money.

  Sighing, she made her way over the threshold, only partly prepared for what waited inside. The sight of warped floorboards and torn drapes made her stomach sink. Her father’s blue recliner had faded to a dull gray.

  The place was spotless, though, except for a little dust. The rugs looked clean, the floor swept and the oak table her grandfather had made over seventy years ago was polished to a shine. On the mantel was the familiar row of photos...her parents’ wedding day, her mother a month before her death, when Jenny was two. The rest of the photos were of Jenny, ranging from infancy to college graduation.

  She picked up her senior high school picture and smiled at the studious-looking girl in brown-framed glasses. Her eyesight had been as perfect then as it was now, but she’d always looked young for her age, and with her freckled nose, she’d felt she needed the glasses to enhance her maturity.

  Of course, everyone in Cooper’s Corner had known everything about her, anyway—the boys she dated, the year she’d been stood up for the prom and was too humiliated to go to school for an entire week.

  There were no secrets in a small town. That’s why she’d had to get away. Go someplace where she could succeed or fail without it being fodder for the patrons of the local beauty shop or Tubb’s Café.

  Had it been worth it, she wondered as she made her way to the kitchen and set down the sack of groceries. The linoleum floor was more yellow than white, but clean nevertheless, as were the Formica countertops. She thought briefly about putting the perishable groceries in the fridge, but figured she’d better check out the rest of the house first. As limited as her budget was, she didn’t know if she could stay here.

  She didn’t mind the shabbiness, but the memories and guilt sluiced over her like scalding water. If she’d swallowed her pride and come home, would things have turned out differently?

  Now she’d never know. Taking a deep shuddering breath, she left the groceries and headed down the hall toward her room. Not much had changed. Her dresser was still there, and her old twin bed with the white lace canopy, which had begun to shred years ago.

  She started over the threshold to test the condition of the mattress, but one of the floorboards buckled under her feet and she nearly landed on her fanny. Holding the doorframe for support, she backed into the hall. She’d try her father’s room. Surely it was in better shape.

  Updated with what appeared to be a fresh coat of light blue paint, the master bedroom was in decent enough condition to be a relief. The ugly plaid drapes that hung on the windows made her smile.

  Every trip home she pleaded with her father to let her replace them, but he would always refuse, telling her to go buy herself a nice new outfit instead. She’d end up buying groceries and stocking his pantry for winter.

  She stared at the hideous brown plaid, the back of her eyes beginning to sting. Damn, she wished she’d changed the curtains.

  A loud knock startled her. It sounded as if it came from the back door. Dabbing at the stray tear on her cheek, she retraced her steps to the kitchen, this time watchful of any loose floorboards.

  Through the screen she could see a man, tall, really tall, and broad-shouldered, ash-blond hair, but the glare of the afternoon sun made it impossible to make out his face.

  “Jenny? It’s Alex McAlester.”

  She peered closer. “Dr. McAlester?”

  “
You probably don’t remember me.”

  “Of course I do.” She pushed open the screen as he stepped back and caught the door. “You have the vet practice down the road a couple of miles. Dad spoke of you often.”

  Dr. McAlester’s expression saddened. “Yeah, I’m going to miss him.” His warm gray eyes met hers. “I’m sorry, Jenny. Your dad was a great guy.”

  She nodded, unable to speak, and motioned him inside.

  “I’d hoped to be here when you arrived.” He gave her a faint smile. “But I got waylaid in town.”

  “That’s all right. I didn’t expect anyone to be here.” She stepped back when she realized she blocked his way. Truthfully, she’d rather be alone, but Dr. McAlester had been a good friend to her father, and he was grieving, too.

  He had to duck when he entered the kitchen. He must be six five or thereabouts, yet oddly, he didn’t seem as tall as she remembered. Of course, she’d been so young the last time she’d seen him, he’d probably looked like a giant to her. Especially since she hadn’t shot up to five seven until she was nearly twenty.

  “It’s good to see you, Jenny. What’s it been, about nine, ten years?”

  At the censure in his voice, she stiffened. Or maybe it was her guilty conscience. “I was home for a visit a year and a half ago.”

  He nodded, his expression unreadable. “I know. A lot has changed since then.”

  She swallowed. “I’ve noticed.” She turned away and went to the cupboard. “I’ll make some coffee.” No doubt she’d find a large supply. Her dad would go without food rather than be deprived of coffee.

  Dr. McAlester automatically picked up the coffee carafe and filled it with water while she ground the beans. They worked in silence for a few minutes, lost in their own thoughts.

  Maybe it was good that Dr. McAlester had shown up. He probably knew her dad better than anyone. She’d find out what had happened, why her dad had let the place get so run-down. Maybe she’d even be able to ignore the guilt pricking her conscience. At least for a while.