Home to Chicory Lane (9781426796074)

by Raney, Deborah;

  A few minutes later, they padded across the spongy, greening grass, headed down to the creek. Unconcerned, a pair of rabbits munched early sweet clover at the foot of a stand of firs, and a fat robin pecked for worms nearby.

  “Are the babies coming tomorrow night?”

  “They’d better be. I haven’t seen them for ten days.”

  “Well, you’ve seen them since I have.” Grant said. “Maybe you should remind them?”

  “If I talk to Landyn, I’ll say something. But I’m really trying not to interfere.” Chase and Landyn had bowed out of family night last Tuesday, pleading exhaustion.

  “I don’t see why that would be interfering.” It came out a little like a whine.

  She knew he had been disappointed, but she didn’t blame the new little family for not wanting to subject themselves to the craziness that was Tuesday Family Night at the Whitmans’. “Grant. Surely you haven’t forgotten how you felt when my mother would badger us about ‘bringing the baby over’ after Corinne was born?”

  “Yeah, well now I get why she did that. We should have listened to her and obeyed.”

  Audrey laughed and took his hand. “I’m sure you’ll get plenty of time with those babies. This time next year, when they’re mobile, you’ll probably be wanting me to call Chase and Landyn and tell them not to come.”

  “That will never happen.”

  Without missing a stride, she stood on tiptoe and planted a kiss on his cheek.

  But Grant surprised her by stopping in the middle of the meadow and pulling her into a full embrace. After a long minute, he drew away, kissed her, then took her hand and continued on to the creek.

  “What was that for?” She gave him a sidewise look.

  “That was because I love you.”

  “Well, I knew that.” She studied him. “Everything okay?”

  He turned to look her square in the eye. “Everything is more than okay. For now anyway. Let’s enjoy the lull between catastrophes while we can.”

  She giggled. “You got that right. If someone had told us a year ago that by spring we’d have Landyn back home, and five granddaughters . . . Five!” She shook her head.

  “Only five? I hope that’s just a drop in the bucket. But I wouldn’t mind if one of our children would see fit to produce a boy. I’m starting to feel mighty outnumbered.”

  “I’m sure you can handle us.”

  His laughter joined the bright clear notes of an oriole in the top of the Osage Orange.

  Audrey’s heart lifted yet another notch. It had been a long winter, but finally spring was here.

  * * *

  Landyn tiptoed out of the nursery and pulled the door closed with a sigh of relief. She went to open the windows that looked out over the back of the storefront that was now their home. It had turned out to be a pretty great little space, too—especially Chase’s studio in the loft over their apartment.

  As the days had grown longer, they’d grown warmer too. The birds sang their hearts out and everywhere she looked, things were turning green or blooming. The sound of the creek rose up to meet her. Chase had discovered it was the same creek that flowed behind Mom and Dad’s house. The clear water flowed deeper and faster here in town than it ever had on Chicory Lane. But still, it was a familiar sound, one she loved.

  “Hey, baby?” Chase’s voice floated down from his studio directly above her. “You got a minute?”

  She ran to the bottom of the stairs. “Shh! I just got the girls to sleep.” She heard stirring in the nursery and held her breath, then sighed when it grew quiet again.

  She slipped off her shoes and padded up the open staircase. She didn’t know how they’d keep the girls off the stairs once they were big enough to start crawling and climbing. But she loved this place. They’d figure something out.

  It amazed her how God had brought her back home in the truest sense of the word. Home to the godly man He’d given her. Home to the little girls they were raising. Even home to a view of the very same creek she’d loved for as long as she could remember.

  Chase had even discovered an Osage Orange tree growing on the banks below their property. “We may not live long enough to see it become a climbing tree, but Grace and Emma just might.”

  Landyn loved that thought.

  Chase met her at the top of the stairs. “Sorry. Hope I didn’t wake anybody up.”

  “No, they’re zonked. Hopefully for a few hours.”

  “Come here . . . ” He took her hand and led her over to the worktable he and Dad had built from reclaimed lumber. “I wanted to surprise you.”

  Leaning against the galvanized metal wainscoting were two plaques made from old pallets. “Oh, Chase! I love them!”

  “I thought maybe we could put them over the crib. And I made one for each so when they start sleeping in separate beds . . .” He shrugged, looking humble and sweet and handsome as all get out.

  Chase had painted the girls’ names—pink paint in a swirly font—on the pallet slats. Emma Corinne and Grace Danae. She loved that her babies, sisters, were named after her own sisters. She hoped their girls would be as close as she and her sisters had become.

  “They’re perfect, babe. Just perfect. When did you even have time to do this?” Her poor husband had been working twelve-hour days trying to keep two Brooklyn galleries supplied—and Miles happy.

  He shrugged again. “It didn’t take that long. I did most of it that day you and your sisters went to lunch. Gracie woke up before I finished, so I brought her swing up here and she watched me work.”

  “Aww! I wish I had a picture of that.”

  He grinned, looking embarrassed. “Don’t worry, there’ll be plenty of chances for pictures.”

  She reached for one of the plaques, then drew back. “Is the paint dry? Can I pick them up?”

  “Sure.” He picked up Emma’s plaque and handed it to her.

  She inspected it, overwhelmed with love for this man. “Chase, these are just beautiful. You could sell these in a heartbeat.”

  “No, thank you. I only do those for my own girls.”

  “Well, they are masterpieces. I can’t wait to hang them up.”

  He got a funny look on his face.

  “What?”

  He cocked his head. “I was just thinking . . .” He reached out and traced Emma’s name on the plaque. “My masterpiece—our masterpiece is those little girls sleeping downstairs. When I look at them . . . I feel like I’m getting a second chance at . . . everything that went wrong—” His voice broke.

  She went to him and took the plaque from his hands, and leaned it back on the worktable. Then she wrapped her arms around his waist and lay her head on his broad chest. She loved the strong, steady beat of his heart against her ear. “I didn’t think I could possibly love you more than I did the day our girls were born, Chase. But I was wrong.”

  “That goes both ways, babe.”

  She sighed and snuggled closer to him. “We’re blessed,aren’t we?”

  “Yes, we are.”

  A wail from downstairs made them both jump.

  “That’s Grace.” Landyn sighed and untangled herself from her husband.

  He gave a wry laugh. “I’d say we’re doubly blessed.”

  And at that, Emma joined her sister’s chorus.

  Group Discussion Guide

  1. Landyn is the youngest and a bit of a “daddy’s girl.” Do you think that stereotype for the “baby of the family” is an accurate one or an unfair one? What role, if any, do you think birth order plays in your own life?

  2. Chase and Landyn grew up in the same small town but came from different sides of the track, so to speak. How much do their differences in this regard play in to their marital problems? What role do Landyn’s parents’ attitudes play in how Chase and Landyn handle their issues?

  3. Chase Spencer felt God was leading him to make a life-changing decision, but he did so without consulting his wife. Do you think there is ever a time when one spouse must follow God
’s leading, despite how the rest of the family feels about that decision? Cite examples.

  4. If you were in Landyn’s shoes and your spouse had forced a relocation, how do you think you would handle it? Landyn chose to separate from her husband, at least for a time. Do you agree with her decision? Why or why not?

  5. Landyn discovers that she’s pregnant at a very inconvenient time in her marriage. Because she knows her husband will be upset about the pregnancy, she hides the news from him for almost half of her term. Do you believe Landyn had a good reason to keep this news from Chase? What rights or responsibilities do you believe the father of an unborn child should have?

  6. As newlyweds, Chase and Landyn have big dreams and small finances. They also can’t seem to agree on what their life should look like. They see-saw from one apartment to another, one job to another, one decision to another. Were you like that in your youth (or maybe even now)? Or have you always known what you wanted and how to get it?

  7. The Whitman family is very close-knit, and most of Grant and Audrey’s children live nearby. While this allows them to be together often and know each other well, it also sometimes creates problems. What is your family situation? Share some of the pros and cons of having family close by or having family scattered far away.

  8. Do you think Grant and Audrey became too involved in Chase and Landyn’s lives? Were they as likely to get involved when the couple lived far away? Do you think the Whitmans had more right than the average parent to intervene (or interfere, depending on your perspective) in the newlyweds’ lives because of Chase’s family situation?

  9. Grant has made some fairly large sacrifices in order to allow Audrey to fulfill her dream of owning a bed and breakfast. Have you ever made a significant sacrifice so that someone you love could fulfill a dream? If so, were you ever tempted to feel resentment afterwards? Or a right to control that person you sacrificed for?

  10. Audrey has realized her dream of owning and managing a bed-and-breakfast, but it comes with some unexpected facets. How do you imagine her grown children feel about their family home being turned into a place of business? About their mother becoming an entrepreneur? About their father spending most of his savings—and essentially their inheritance—to renovate and open the inn?

  11. Landyn is resentful that her mother has turned the home Landyn grew up in into a business, including turning her childhood bedroom into a guest room. Do you think her feelings are justified? Why or why not? Do grown children have a right to expect their parents to maintain their childhood home? To be available to babysit the grandkids? What obligations do parents have to grown children concerning grandparenting? finances? an inheritance?

  Want to know more about author Deborah Raney?

  Want to know about other great fiction from Abingdon Press?

  Please check out our website at www.abingdonpress.com to read interviews with your favorite authors, find tips for starting a reading group, and stay posted on what new titles are on the horizon.

  Be sure to visit Deborah online! She loves hearing from her readers.

  To e-mail her or to learn more about her books, please visit www.deborahraney.com.

  We hope you enjoyed Home to Chicory Lane, the first book of Deborah Raney’s Chicory Inn series. Here’s a sample from the second book in the series, Two Roads Home.

  * * *

  1

  Mom, can you get the door behind me?” Corinne Pennington hiked her oversized purse—the one that doubled as a diaper bag—onto her shoulder and stooped to pick up Simone. The toddler popped a thumb in her mouth and clung to Corinne like Velcro.

  “Listen, baby girl, it’s way too early for the Terrible Twos, so sweeten up, okay?”

  Simone answered with an ear-piercing wail.

  “Sadie?” Corinne called to her dawdling four-year-old. “Come on . . . Hurry up.”

  “Wait, Mama. I gotta go tell Huckleberry g’bye.”

  “No, sweetie.” Corinne’s mother, Audrey, came to the rescue, taking Sadie firmly by the shoulders and turning her toward the door. “You already told Huck good-bye. You do what your mama says now.”

  “Get in the car, Sadie, we’re going to be late picking up your sister.” She gave Audrey a grateful look and waved a free elbow. “I’ll see you Sunday.”

  “Okay. And you’ll let Landyn and Chase know about Sunday dinner?”

  “I will. Tell Dad I’m sorry I missed him.”

  “Will do. And you tell Jesse hello when you talk to him.”

  “Sure. Come on, Sadie, hustle up!” Corinne herded her entourage down the wide steps of the house she’d grown up in.

  “How’s come Sari got to go to skating and I didn’t?”

  “Because it was her friend’s party, and you weren’t invited.”

  Wrong thing to say. Sadie pasted on a pout and tromped to the foyer.

  “You’ll get to go another time.”

  Her mom stood waving at the door, looking just a little too happy to see them go.

  Well, who could blame her? The girls had been brats all morning—all week really. Ever since Jesse had left for his second consecutive week in Chicago. Her husband worked hard as a sales manager at Preston-Brilon Manufacturing just outside Cape Girardeau. The company made high-end industrial vacuum sweepers and, despite the inevitable jokes about him being a vacuum cleaner salesman, Jesse made good money. Corinne felt blessed that she got to stay home with the kids. But she wasn’t sure how many more of these business trips she could survive. It was hard being a single parent, even if it was just for a week or two at a time.

  She buckled the girls into their car seats, closed the door of the SUV, then turned and promptly tripped over Huckleberry.

  “Huck! Get! Get out of the way!” Stupid dog.

  The chocolate Lab panted up at her like she’d just offered him a T-bone.

  Corinne sighed and her voice softened. “Get back on the porch, boy.”

  Huck pranced backward, then looked up at her, testing to see if she really meant it.

  “Go, Huck. Now.”

  Huckleberry trotted back to the wide front porch and plopped down beside an urn of freshly potted red geraniums, watching her with mopey eyes. It made an idyllic picture. The Chicory Inn, her parents’ empty-nest project, looked beautiful in the waning May sunshine. Mom and Dad had done wonders with the remodel of the house her grandparents had built almost one hundred years ago.

  This was the only home she’d known for the first eighteen years of her life. But the inn wasn’t the same as the house in her memories. Sometimes she missed the place she’d grown up in—the creaky house where the cupboards had chipped paint, the heavy doors sometimes stuck, and the floors wore shag carpet in garish shades of orange and blue. But it had been almost a decade since she’d lived here, and she couldn’t begrudge her parents’ right to bring the house into modern times, and even to make a business of it by opening the Chicory Lane Inn.

  And she had to admit they’d done the house proud. New cream-painted woodwork and wainscoting, refinished original hardwood floors, and bright contemporary rugs, curtains, and paintings gave the century-old house an elegant, yet cozy vibe. At first, she’d had trouble making the trendy style fit her very traditional mother. But seeing Mom in her element, entertaining guests and cooking in the new, state-of-the-art kitchen, she couldn’t help but be happy for her.

  And maybe a wee bit jealous. Not that she had any reason to be. She and Jesse had built a beautiful new home in Cape Girardeau just a few miles up the road. And as much as she loved the charm and history of an older home in the country, she appreciated living near every convenience, in a house where everything was new, where she’d had a say in every inch of the design, and where nothing needed repairing.

  Corinne climbed into the SUV and sighed. She didn’t know why she was worrying about houses, since it seemed as if she spent half her life in her vehicle. Checking on her daughters in the rearview mirror, she started down the long driveway that led out to Chicory
Lane, the inn’s namesake.

  Mom had been a little short-tempered with the girls today—and with her. Yes, there was a full slate of guests scheduled at the inn this weekend, but Audrey Whitman had always claimed the inn would never come before her kids or grandkids. Lately, however, that seemed to be exactly what was happening.

  Oh, the girls thought their Gram hung the moon. And Corinne knew Mom adored her kids—she’d practically bought out the Baby Boutique in Cape Girardeau when Sari was born—and she doted on all of them. Though now that Chase and Landyn’s twins had arrived, they seemed to get the lion’s share of both Gram and Poppa’s attention. But then her sister had always been the spoiled baby of the family. Nothing had changed there. Corinne was used to that and prided herself on being more independent as the oldest.

  Oh, waah waah waah, Pennington. Grow up. She was just being overly sensitive. Still, it would be nice if once in a while—

  Her cell phone trilled. Keeping her eyes on the road, she fished the phone out of her purse and snuck a glance at the screen. She didn’t recognize the number, but with Jesse out of town, she hated to ignore it.

  She pulled the car over at the crest of the hill and clicked to answer. “Hello?”

  “Hey, Mrs. Pennington, this is Michaela Briggs, Jesse’s intern.”

  For the space of a heartbeat she stopped breathing. Had something happened?

  “Jesse wanted me to let you know that our flight has been delayed.”

  “Oh—okay . . .”

  “We’re not sure by how much, but we’ll let you know as soon as they announce anything.”

  “Um . . . okay. Thank you.”

  What? She pulled the phone back and stared at it. Jesse couldn’t call her himself? Now he was communicating with her through his staff? She’d never met Michaela, but she instantly disliked the perkiness in the intern’s voice.

  “Could you put Jesse on for a minute, please?”

  “Well, he’s . . . just a minute. I’ll see if he can come to the phone.”