Lost & Found Love. Laura Browning

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СКАЧАТЬ slowly to his feet as she came back through the door a quarter hour later. She wore a long, flowing skirt that left little more than her ankles bare, but made of a material light enough it seemed to caress her body each time she moved. The top was the same way, covering her from wrists to neck. He wondered that someone as free-spirited as she seemed to be was also almost excessively modest. The most revealing thing he’d seen her wear were bicycling shorts, and even then those were capris, falling to around mid-calf.

      “Are you ready?” he asked with a smile he hoped would allay some of her nervousness, and she nodded. They walked companionably next to each other, people greeting him with a wave that Joe happily returned. Too soon, he stopped in front of Evan and Jenny’s huge Victorian home. “There you are. Think you can find your way back home?”

      The response he felt coming died on her lips as a young voice piped, “Pastor Joe! Miss MacVie!”

      Tyler dashed over to them, his long hair flying around his head. Behind him came Mountain Meadow’s Police Chief and his wife, carrying their daughter, Noelle.

      Tyler skidded to a halt next to Tabby, and flushed. “I—I want you to meet Jake and my sister, Holly, Miss MacVie.” His dark brown eyes swiveled to Joe. “Are you eating at Evan and Jenny’s too?”

      Joe shook his head. “No. I walked over to show Miss MacVie the way.”

      Holly and Jake reached them, and Jake spoke up, “Well, I’m sure you’d be more than welcome, Joe.”

      He saw the uneasy shift in Tabby’s expression. Better not to press things too far, since she was already spooked by his profession. He smiled. “Thanks, but not this time. I still have a few kinks to work out of tomorrow’s sermon. I’ll see y’all tomorrow.” He turned to Tabby and murmured, “There, I’ve delivered you safe and sound and didn’t even try to convert you on the way.”

      The uneasiness fled from her expression, and she laughed, “Thank you, Joseph.”

      * * * *

      With mixed feelings, Tabby watched Joseph leave. While she might be reluctant to call a preacher friend, the fact remained he was the closest thing to a friend she had so far in this town. She turned her head in time to see Jake open Evan and Jenny’s front door as if he belonged there. Tabby envied that kind of easy familiarity.

      “Evan? Jenny?” Holly called as they all entered the front hall. To one side, a double set of sliding doors parted. “Oh, there you are.” Holly continued. “We’re here, and we’ve brought Tabby with us. Come on, step up. Don’t be shy.”

      Tabby’s heart thudded to the point she feared it would beat right out of her throat. For a moment, all she saw was Evan’s towering form. He didn’t look entirely happy, and his expression appeared guarded. From behind him stepped a petite, blond-haired woman, her belly swollen with advanced pregnancy. However, that wasn’t what grabbed Tabby’s attention.

      She stared into eyes as golden as her own. Looking at her elder sister felt as though she’d taken a step back in time. Only her mother had never looked as confident as Jenny Richardson did. Tabby took a half step forward, uncertain what she was about to do or say, but then she halted.

      Jenny’s smile of welcome had faded as Tabby stepped from Jake’s shadow. The color left Jenny’s face. Tabby was sure it must have fled hers too. Despite her pregnancy, Jenny was still quick on her feet. She turned to Evan in such a way that he actually took a step back.

      “You should have told me,” she snapped at her husband. “You should have asked.” She turned a hostile gaze on Tabby.

      From the corner of her eye, Tabby was aware of Holly and Jake hurrying Tyler down the hall to the kitchen. Tabby wished Joseph had stayed. Somehow, she had a feeling he would bring calm to this situation because it always seemed to surround him.

      “Who are you?” Jenny hissed after the door swung shut behind Tyler and his family. Tabby raised her chin and saw Jenny do the same thing.

      With a deep breath, she began, “Tabitha MacVie, from Asheville, North Carolina. My mother…”

      Jenny’s eyes shot sparks. “I don’t want to hear anything about your mother,” she interrupted. She looked Tabby up and down. “How old are you?”

      Tabby shook, and even Evan took a half-step back from the anger and pain in Jenny’s voice and expression.

      “Twenty-three,” Tabby whispered.

      “Why don’t we go into the living room?” Evan suggested, no doubt hoping to move this confrontation away from the hallway that led straight back to the kitchen. He attempted to take Jenny’s elbow, only to be shaken off furiously.

      Jenny’s gaze swept Tabby from head to foot. “For all his faults, and for everything else he lied about, it seems my father did tell the truth on one count. My mother was a slut.”

      “Jenny!” Evan snapped. “Stop it. Tabby is a guest in our home.”

      “She is your guest, not mine,” and with that, Jenny stomped up the stairs.

      Evan stared after his wife, then looked at Tabby with embarrassment. He spread his hands wide in a frustrated and helpless gesture. “I’m sorry. She’s usually not… Maybe it’s the pregnancy….”

      Tabby smiled thinly. Why had she ever imagined this would be easy, that in an instant she would gain the family she had always dreamed of having? “You should go to her. She needs you even if she is angry at you.”

      Evan spared her one quizzical glance before he sprinted up the steps.

      Tabby studied the beautiful house. Her mother had told Tabby what childhood had been like for Jenny, and how it had probably continued even after Mama had run away. The light and furnishings in this house made it obvious that her sister’s life was far different now. And even if she was angry with her husband at the moment, anyone could see how devoted Evan was to her.

      Tabby had known her reception might not be a warm one, but she hadn’t anticipated the extent to which Jenny would reject her. She probably should have. Rejection was certainly not a new experience.

      Head tilted, she listened for a moment to the laughter floating down the hallway from the kitchen. Giggles from Tyler and Noelle, easygoing rumbles from Jake, and Holly’s gentle chuckle…all the sounds of a happy family. She had no right to be here. Family had never been happy for her.

      After reaching into the deep pocket of her skirt, Tabby removed the envelope she had carried with her for more than a year. She knew its contents because she had written them as her mother dictated to her. It was the explanation Jenny Richardson wasn’t ready to hear. She would be, at some point, so Tabby propped the envelope against the drawer of the hall tree and quietly let herself out. She retraced the steps she and Joe had taken just a few minutes ago.

      After letting herself into her house, Tabby allowed the screen door to bang shut and ran for her studio, but she didn’t turn on the lights. She curled up in the corner of the window seat and wrapped her arms around her bent knees, rocking and remembering.

      Chapter 3

      Tabby swiped a tear from the corner of her eye. So much for the fairy tale ending. She should be used to it. Conflict and fear were two things she was way too familiar with. As Tabby СКАЧАТЬ