Hauntings of the Heart Page 21

  “She’s sleeping. Marie takes good care of her.” He spared a glance for the milling crowd. “Is there someplace we could talk?”

  The party was winding down. As the guests made their donations, they were heading home. Edith was right. She needed a quiet place to sit for a while. She wasn’t sure if a quiet place should involve Gordon or not. “I should check on things in the back yard,” Minnie hedged. There would still be people lingering there while Elvis finished his last set.

  She led the way, greeting guests as they passed. Gordon opened the door to the back yard, and Minnie realized how late it was. Elvis’s stage lights and the candles in the pumpkins provided the only illumination.

  “Thank you very much,” Elvis imitated. “You’ve been a great audience tonight. Happy Halloween!” Elvis waved to the remaining guests, threw his last scarf into the crowd, and exited the stage. His crew began packing his equipment while the rest of the guests dispersed.

  Minnie found herself exactly where she didn’t want to be—alone with Gordon. “Would you like something to eat?” She made a beeline for the refreshment table. “We haven’t had a chance all evening.” Most of the platters were littered with crumbs, but she filled a plate with broken cookies.

  Gordon had taken a seat on a wrought-iron bench under an arbor. Pumpkins with sputtering candles lined the paved walkway, adding to the intimate atmosphere. If that didn’t warn her to run and hide, she thought. She sat on the bench anyway, placing the plate of cookies between them as a peace offering. She chose a broken ghost, and waited for the inevitable to begin.

  “So do you really think this place is haunted?” Gordon selected a frosted mummy.

  “I wouldn’t have thought so a month ago, but after the leak tonight…I don’t know what to think.” Minnie doubted he’d called her out here to discuss the paranormal activity, but she’d go along with it. It was a good way to avoid all the things she needed to apologize for. Normally, she faced problems head on, but this…

  She’d been wrong about Gordon for so long, it would take a while to adjust her mind and heart to what had really happened. She hadn’t had any time to sit in front of the Home Shopping Network to think it through.

  Gordon shook his head. “There is no way that ring could have been trapped in the drain for fifty years. It should have washed away long ago.”

  “And the pipe broke minutes before your mother’s confession. It’s creepy.” The chills traveled up and down her spine.

  “It’s almost like the house doesn’t want to keep its secrets anymore. Maybe it’s trying to help us get everything out in the open.” Gordon moved the plate from between them and set it on the ground.

  For what purpose? Minnie asked herself. Their chance for a lifetime of happiness had passed. “At least, that’s what Elmer said.” Gordon popped the last bite of cookie in his mouth. “They would like to add our love story to their site.”

  Minnie tried to gather the enthusiasm she should have felt at this news. The Lilac Bower would be listed on Barbara and Elmer’s website. It was exactly the advertising she wanted and she wouldn’t even have to fake the haunting.

  She sagged into the bench under the weight of it all, her back curving against the wood. But Gordon’s comment about their love story weighed down her excitement. It was such a sad tale with an unhappy ending. It was a shame the house had helped them uncover everything, but it couldn’t repair the broken pieces.

  “I—” They both spoke at once, then laughed uncomfortably.

  “You go first,” Minnie said. “There was something you wanted to talk about.”

  “I found your letter in a suitcase in my room.” His lips curved into a pained smile. “The house directing things again. I can’t imagine what you went through, and I wish I had been there for you, for our child. I’m sorry I wasn’t.” He ran a hand over his face, then met Minnie’s gaze.

  She reached out her hand to him. She knew now what had kept him away. Why he hadn’t answered the letters he’d never received. She found the anger and disappointment over his abandonment had dissipated. Actually, confessing and revealing it all had relieved her of the burden. She grasped his hand between both of her own and squeezed. It surprised her how easy it was, forgiving him. Not that he’d done anything needing forgiveness, but her heart had to forgive anyway. Maybe there was a chance for peace, if not joy.

  “It’s in the past now,” she said. And so it was. The air around her felt lighter, more breathable. “I’m sorry for my outburst and my accusations. They were undeserved. I shouldn’t have treated you like that, today or any other time.”

  “I don’t want to ever not be there for you again.” Gordon reversed their hand grasp. His hands cradled hers. His thumb traced over her knuckles. “Will you marry me?”

  Minnie’s breath hitched. Had she heard him correctly? Her doctor had okayed her hearing at her last appointment…maybe Gordon needed a checkup. He was certainly talking crazy. “I don’t understand,” Minnie eventually said. She supposed it wasn’t the desired response to a proposal, but he couldn’t really mean it. After all they’d been through, could they simply pick up where they’d left off?

  Gordon seemed as confused as she was. He inched toward the edge of his seat. “We should have been together all those years. We can be together now.”

  Part of her agreed…a big part. It had felt like the universe had split and she’d ended up in the wrong parallel. It couldn’t be this simple. There had to be things wrong with this. “We have our own lives now. You have your kids and grandchildren in—where are they?”

  “Petoskey,” he replied.

  “I’m here in Carterville with the Bower. I have a business to run. I can’t up and leave.” She stopped. The pieces tumbled into place. She gasped and yanked her hands away from his. Aha! Finally a reason that she couldn’t accept his proposal. Something she could use as a defense besides fear that they couldn’t have a happy ending. “That’s what this is about!” She leaped from the bench, stomping the plate of cookies into the pavers.

  Gordon gave her a bewildered look, but she wasn’t buying it. She closed her eyes and shook her head. “I can’t believe I almost fell for another ploy to get me to sell the Bower to you.” Minnie paced a few feet, then retraced her steps. She didn’t really believe it, but she couldn’t wrap her head around Gordon still wanting to marry her after all they had been through.

  Gordon was on his feet. “What?”

  “That’s all this is, right? We get married, and you become part owner of the Bower.” Not that she’d mind. It had been wonderful having his shoulder to lean on. Why couldn’t she just say “yes”?

  “The thought hadn’t even crossed my mind.” Gordon slipped closer.

  Minnie pressed her palms to her forehead. She was driving herself crazy with conflicting thoughts. “What was I thinking? How could I let you sweet-talk me again?”

  Gordon put his arms out to catch Minnie in her pacing. She stopped, facing away from him. He placed his hands gently on her elbows and turned her toward him.

  “I’ve never wanted the Bower for myself. My offers were solely to ease my mother’s pain, and she has gained peace without it.”

  Minnie wanted to believe him, but she couldn’t accept that their resolution could finally be so easy. After all they had been through, she couldn’t grab him and kiss him senseless, could she?

  “There’s only one reason I ever wanted to marry you.” His face descended slowly to hers.

  Her heart pounded harder than it had at any of her Zumba classes. She closed her eyes, knowing she should run. Or give him a shove. Or lock him in one of Elvis’s trunks and send him off to an imitation Graceland.

  Instead, she rose on her tiptoes to meet him. The heady excitement of first love flooded over her again. She wasn’t thinking, and she’d leave it at that. All that mattered was reliving this moment, so like many they’d shared so long ago. His lips pressed to hers. She could almost believe the intervening years and problems were trul
y gone and she and Gordon existed in a parallel universe, where everything had worked out for them.

  Gordon eased away, but his hands cradled her face. His eyes searched hers, but Minnie knew he wasn’t finding the answer he wanted.

  “I thought you understood. The benefit, the library endowment. I’m no longer planning to buy the Bower. I wanted to bring my mother back here to live. She’s been having episodes, like tonight. Promises to move back to the Bower were the only things that would calm her.” His hands slid down to her shoulders. “I learned tonight what was causing her agitation, same as you.”

  Minnie nodded. Her thoughts drifted back to the time when the problems hadn’t existed between them. Had they finally come full circle? Was this their chance? She wasn’t going to let it go. “Life is too short for us to give up a chance at happiness,” she said. “I don’t want to wonder what might have been anymore.”

  Gordon laughed and pulled her into his arms. He bent his head and kissed her. She wrapped her arms around him and locked them behind his back. She wouldn’t let him out of her sight for as long as they both should live.

  “We’re getting married tomorrow,” she said.

  “So soon?”

  “I’m not letting you slip through my fingers again.” She leaned back and peered up into his face, then realized his shirt was glowing. “What the—?”

  He stepped back and held his arms out to his sides. “Glow-in-the-dark paint.” A bright moon, complete with craters and the Sea of Tranquility, gleamed against the fabric on his chest. He’d dressed as the full moon to her werewolf.

  “Well, you do make me crazy.” She winked. Then she knew it had all worked out like it should have. “A werewolf can never resist a full moon.” She kissed him again.

  About the Author

  Joselyn Vaughn lives in the Great Lakes states with her husband, three energetic preschoolers and two barking Beagles. In the rare minutes when she is not chasing them, she enjoys thrift store shopping, reconstructing clothing and, of course, reading.

  Her first book, CEOs Don’t Cry, was the winner of the WisRWA Write Touch Readers Award in 2010. It was also a finalist in the GDRWA Booksellers Best Award and the USA Book News Best Books 2010 Award.

  For more about Joselyn and to keep up with her adventures, you can visit her blog at Http://joselynvaughn.blogspot.com or hang out with her on Facebook Http://facebook.com/joselynvaughn.

  Joselyn loves to hear from her readers!

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