Lavender Morning Read online

  She wandered through the upstairs, noting what was where. Her bedroom had the most furniture in it. The second bedroom had a bed and a little table by it, but nothing else, and the third bedroom was empty.

  At the end of the hall was a window, with a door next to it. She’d already discovered it opened to a narrow, steep staircase that led up to another door that was locked. The attic. She remembered Ramsey telling her that it was full of trunks containing old clothes and diaries. As a researcher, she was looking forward to seeing those old diaries, and she wondered if the true story of Miss Edi’s David was written down somewhere.

  Downstairs, she went into the living room and looked at the familiar furniture, and for a moment she was lost in memory. She and Miss Edi had spent many an afternoon on that yellow couch. When it needed reupholstering, they’d had a good time looking at fabric samples and choosing one with honeybees on it. They’d talked and laughed together as they sat there, and—

  Jocelyn had to leave the room, as the memories were too strong. The dining room needed a table and more chairs. There was a downstairs bath, a smaller parlor that had a cabinet with two lamps on it, but nothing else.

  She went into the kitchen, sat down at the table, and looked around. She loved the big sink, loved the heavy pine table, but the stove was an eyesore. Holding up her hands, she formed a square with fingers and thumbs and imagined a big, stainless steel six-burner there. “With double ovens,” she said out loud.

  But it would be ridiculous to put in such an expensive stove, she thought. After all, she couldn’t cook. That she’d often made cupcakes and cookies for Miss Edi’s fund-raiser tea parties didn’t count as actual cooking. But Luke’s talk of an herb garden and Joce’s memory of the lavender cookies she used to bake had made her think of a kitchen and a…well, of a home.

  She looked in the refrigerator and saw that there were eggs, milk, orange juice, and bread in there. She frowned for a moment, then shook her head in wonder. It looked like while she’d been out with Luke yesterday evening, someone had put them in her refrigerator. Sara? Ramsey? Somehow, she didn’t think it was Tess.

  She used one of the pans from the day before to make herself scrambled eggs and toast and ate while looking about her. If she did have the money to remodel the kitchen, what would she do to it? Gut it and put in lots of granite and recessed lighting? The very thought made her shiver.

  Before she knew it, it was after ten and she needed to get dressed to go meet Ramsey.

  Jocelyn had heard of The Trellis restaurant and knew that it was quite upscale, so she put on her new oatmeal-colored linen trousers and her new pale pink knit top. Ramsey seemed to like her in conservative, feminine clothes.

  Her suitcase was still on the floor, not yet fully unpacked. In the back, in the big zipper compartment, she pulled out a framed photo of her and Miss Edi. It was the only one she had. Bell had taken it one sunny day after she’d received a digital camera for her birthday. Of course the Steps hadn’t been invited to Miss Edi’s house, but both the Steps liked to show up unannounced—as though they hoped to see something they shouldn’t. “What do you get out of staying over there all the time?” they used to ask. “The house is boring, and the old woman is mean. There’s nothing to do.”

  Jocelyn didn’t bother to reply—which made them furious. Why try to explain to two girls who only thought of how they could decorate their bodies?

  Jocelyn had known better than to ask for the photo—the Steps would never be so kind as to just plain give it to her. At best, they’d make her pay for it by doing something for them, such as writing a couple of school papers. At worst, they’d destroy the photo just for the pleasure of doing so.

  In the end, she waited until the twins went out, then she’d taken the card from the camera, copied the photos onto her laptop, and put the card back. Later, the Steps taunted her with the picture, since they knew she’d want it, but Jocelyn just shrugged. As she knew they would, they erased the picture off the disk.

  Now, she put it on her bedside table. She and Miss Edi were standing side by side in front of a Mr. Lincoln rosebush. The deep red of the rose contrasted nicely with Miss Edi’s white linen dress. She was smiling at Jocelyn in a way that showed her love, and Joce was smiling back in the same way. When she first saw the picture, Jocelyn understood more of why the Steps were so jealous of her. Not even their doting mother looked at the twins like Miss Edi was looking at Jocelyn.

  With another glance at the clock, she hurried to finish dressing, and was soon running down the steps to the front door. When she opened it, she gasped. Three women were standing on her doorstep, and she nearly ran into them.

  “So sorry to have frightened you,” said one woman.

  “You’re off to see Ramsey, aren’t you?” asked the second. She had on jeans and a T-shirt and looked too young to have gray hair.

  She’d seen them at church, had even been introduced to them, but she couldn’t remember their names. For all she knew, one of them was Ramsey’s mother. Or Luke’s.

  “I’m sorry but I can’t stay. I’m late as it is,” Joce said.

  “That’s all right, he’ll wait for you,” said the third woman. “We came to get our dishes and to see how you’re doing. Did you like the squash casserole I made?”

  “I, uh…,” Jocelyn began. She didn’t know whose dish was what.

  “Don’t mind her,” said the woman in jeans. “We all know what you did with the food. That was Tess’s idea, wasn’t it? And noble of you girls to do that.”

  “Yes,” said the first woman. Her hair was dyed a dark red that looked good on her, and by the roll around her middle, she didn’t bother going to a gym. “We know how noble Tess is.” She rolled her eyes when she said it and looked like she wanted to giggle.

  The way they spoke of Tess made Joce give a silent thanks to Luke for not telling that he’d been in her house after Ramsey left. She didn’t want these women rolling their eyes over her. “The dishes are on the table in the kitchen,” she said as she went down the stairs to her car. “Help yourselves and thank you all so very much. You’ve made me feel very welcome. I can’t possibly thank you enough.” She opened her car door and got inside.

  She put her hand out the window and waved as she went through the gates. The women were standing on her doorstep, watching her. “I’ll probably be branded as the rudest Yankee ever to have moved to Edilean,” she muttered under her breath.

  Minutes later, she saw Ramsey’s office—and he was sitting on the sidewalk in front. Beside him was a big picnic basket and under him was a folded quilt. When he saw her coming, he got up and put the quilt and the basket over his arm. She pulled to the curb, he opened the passenger side, got in, and put the items in the back.

  “Bigger than it looks,” he said, looking at the interior of the car.

  “I bet you say that to all your dates.”

  “Only a few of them,” he said in a husky way.

  “So where are we going?” she asked even as she started to turn toward Williamsburg.

  “No,” Ramsey said. “Go right.”

  “But—”

  “But what?” he asked.

  “Nothing,” she said. “I just assumed we were going into Williamsburg.”

  “I thought about it, but there’s time to do that later. I thought we might spend some time alone together.”

  “‘Alone together,’” she said under her breath.

  “What?”

  “It’s just something I heard and I liked it. ‘Alone together.’”

  “Turn here,” Ramsey said at a sign that said they were now leaving the State Wilderness Park. “Unless you want me to drive?”

  “No, I’m fine.”

  “So how many ladies did you get this morning?” he asked.

  “Surprisingly few. There were three of them on the doorstep as I left. I almost knocked them down.”

  “So who were they?”

  She glanced at him.

  “Right,” he said,