Lavender Morning p.20 Read online

  “Having fun?” Sara whispered to Jocelyn.

  “As opposed to being shipwrecked? Falling into an ice crevasse?” she said out of the corner of her mouth.

  “At least your cupcakes are giving me lots of work. Tomorrow I’ll be called to let out a dozen dresses.”

  Smiling, Jocelyn handed a gray-haired man a cupcake with three nasturtium blossoms on top of it.

  “Do you have any more of the lime cakes?” he asked.

  “Sorry, they’re all gone.”

  “Did you think no one would recognize the flavor of booze?” Sara whispered, making Jocelyn smile. “Come on, let’s take a break. Have you seen Viv’s house?”

  “I haven’t seen anything or been allowed to talk to anyone,” Joce said with a groan. “In fact, every time a good-looking man approaches me, one of your thousands of cousins cuts me off from him. Ramsey’s so busy talking to the Williamsburg big shots that I haven’t said a word to him, and Luke seems to be stealing plants from the garden. Plus, the church women come up with something they just have to ask me whenever a man under fifty gets within ten feet of me.”

  “Come on inside, and let’s talk,” Sara said as she took Joce’s hand and led her away from the tables, across the lawn, then the patio, and through French doors into a long, narrow garden room. It was furnished with white wicker and several patterns of blue and white fabric.

  “Beautiful,” Jocelyn said.

  “This is what limitless taste and money can do. You know, don’t you, that you’ve put Viv in seventh heaven today? Everyone is raving about the party.”

  “I was introduced to her and about a hundred people. If she weren’t so pregnant, I’m not sure I’d recognize her if I saw her again.”

  “That’s all right. She knows you and your cupcakes, and those purple cookies have so impressed the ladies who run the charities that they’re going to ask you to cater another party next week.”

  “I do not want to become a caterer,” Joce said firmly.

  “I know that, but they don’t. Come on, let’s go upstairs and see the bedrooms.”

  “Shouldn’t we ask permission before we go snooping?”

  Sara glanced out the windows. “There are four old people headed this way and I think they’re looking for you.”

  “Let’s go!” Jocelyn said as she ran out of the room. She followed Sara up the back stairs, where they hurried down the hallway.

  “Kid, kid, kid,” Sara said as she passed bedrooms. “Master.” She opened a door. “Guest bedroom. Have a seat.”

  Gratefully, Jocelyn sat down in a big club chair while Sara stretched out on the bed. “So what’s up with you and Rams?” Sara asked.

  “Did you bring me up here to get the latest gossip?”

  “Of course. Did you think I wanted your recipe for bourbon cupcakes?”

  “I used tequila.”

  “Whatever. So? What about you and Ramsey?”

  “I don’t know. I told you that I’ve seen him today, but we haven’t talked. He’s a bit like a politician, isn’t he?”

  “He knows everyone and they know him. It’s the way he gets business. So how late did Luke stay at your house last night?”

  “I don’t know. I went to bed,” Joce said, watching Sara to see what she’d say, but she was silent. “Tell me, has this town already mated me to one of the men?”

  “I think Rams has pretty much laid claim to you.”

  “How interesting,” Joce said coldly.

  “You don’t like the idea?”

  “I’m curious if the twenty-first century has reached this town. Whatever happened to passion? To courtship? To men who make an effort to win you? Gifts? Banners? Dangerous driving just to get your attention?”

  “I don’t know what you’ve been reading but I want to borrow it.”

  “It’s nothing,” Jocelyn said, not wanting to tell what Luke had read to her. “So who’s Luke seeing?”

  “No one,” Sara said tersely. “He lives alone and dates no one.”

  Jocelyn waited for Sara to say more, but she didn’t. “That’s it? Why is it that every time I mention Luke everyone clams up? Is he an escaped prisoner hiding from the law?”

  “Sort of,” Sara said as she looked down at her hands.

  “You have something to tell me, don’t you?”

  “Nothing important, just…” Sara trailed off.

  “You’ve met a man.”

  “Yes!” Sara said. “Joanne Langley introduced us.”

  “And she is?”

  “The local Realtor. Sometime it’s hard to remember that you haven’t always lived here.”

  “That may be the greatest compliment I’ve ever received,” Jocelyn said drily. “So tell me about him.”

  “He’s tall, blond, and rich. Of course the rich doesn’t matter, but—”

  “You’re not throwing him out because of it. So tell me everything.”

  “Greg Anders—that’s his name—recently bought an old house just on the outskirts of town. Actually, the oldest part of the house was the overseer’s cottage for Edilean Manor.”

  “That’s not a good image—and don’t you dare call me a Yankee!”

  “Okay,” Sara said, smiling.

  “So what’s he like?”

  “So far, we’ve only been on one date, but he was charming and intelligent, and…and I felt a kind of loneliness coming from him that made me want to…”

  “Adopt him?”

  “Actually, to marry him, and have three kids. Yesterday I bought a copy of Modern Bride.”

  “My goodness! That bad that fast?”

  “Yeah, I think so. You know what? I think it was fate.”

  “How so?”

  “You know Joanne…No, you don’t know her, but she’s the town matchmaker. If you’re single and look at even an apartment through her she’ll start looking for a companion for you. Her sister-in-law is a wedding planner, so it works out.”

  “So how did fate work with you?”

  “Greg chose me. Joanne and he had a long lunch, and she told him about all the many single women around here, and—”

  “Including me?”

  “No,” Sara said, then seemed to catch herself. “Sure, she must have.”

  Jocelyn decided to ignore that slip. “So Greg chose you from what? Photos? I can understand that.” Today Sara had flowers in her long blonde hair, and her dress was of soft, cream-colored cotton with little rosebuds embroidered on the bodice.

  “No. Joanne didn’t have pictures. She just told him about some women. Since Greg is a businessman, she first suggested Tess, but Greg said he didn’t think he’d like being around a woman who spent her life with lawyers.”

  “Maybe Joanne told him the truth about Tess having a…What can we say? A somewhat difficult personality?”

  Sara smiled. “You may be right. Whatever she said, I’m grateful to her, because he asked for my number and called me. We really did have a lovely time. We talked endlessly about everything. Don’t laugh, but he was even interested in my sewing. He says I should open a shop.” Sara took a breath. “I know it’s early, but I really think maybe he’s the one.”

  “How wonderful,” Jocelyn said with a sigh. “Is he a good kisser?”

  “The best.” Sara looked at Joce. “I know he’s my cousin, but how’s Ramsey in that department?”

  “Oh, fabulous,” Joce said. “A truly great kisser. The man can’t keep his hands off of me.”

  Joce’s words seemed to please Sara a great deal and she started to say more, but a noise from downstairs distracted both of them. It sounded as though something had happened, as they could hear children shouting.

  “What in the world is that?” Joce asked, jumping up and running to the window to look down at the garden.

  If she’d awoken that morning and thought, What is the absolute worst thing that can happen to me today? the answer would have been for one or both of the Steps to show up. Below them, surrounded by every guest at the party,