Chapter Twenty-Seven

HALEY

March 2

Long day. Haley pulled up to her parents’ home, parking Dad’s truck under the oak tree, crawling from behind the wheel like an old lady.

Man, construction was backbreaking work. Once she tacked the permits in the front window with pride, she joined Cole’s crew, showing up to work before they did and being the last one to leave.

While the permits came through, the change in her deadline did not. The shop needed to pass inspection by May 1.

Through the back door, she kicked off her work boots in the mudroom, dropping her dusty coat on a hook.

The house was quiet and warm, a soft glow coming from the den.

“I’m home.” Haley reached into the kitchen cabinet for a bowl. Then in the pantry for a box of cereal.

Mom didn’t allow cereal in the house when Haley was a kid, but she managed to squeak it past her as an adult.

“Haley?” Mom appeared around the kitchen doorway, a glass of wine and her readers in hand. “How was your day?”

“Busy.” She retrieved the milk from the fridge, but her arms were so tired she could barely hold up the carton.

“Will you meet your deadline?”

“Busting our backs to try. I think we will. The electric and plumbing are done. Cole thinks the third-floor apartment will be finished by Monday.” Haley glanced back at Mom. “I’ll move in when it’s ready.”

Mom came to the island counter as Haley took a seat and dove into her cereal. “We’ve enjoyed having you around.”

Haley peeked at her mother. Since their heart-to-heart, the air between them had changed. Words of affection flowed a little easier. “Thanks for letting me crash.”

A slight smile tipped Mom’s lips. “I never realized how driven you were before.”

“Because I got lost in the shuffle.”

Mom frowned. “Well, now you’re standing out.”

Haley scooped a large spoonful of cereal and checked her phone. She was waiting to hear from a designer. Charlotte put her in touch with a European designer, Melinda House, who’d opened up a shop in New York. They’d promised to send whatever they had in stock. But that was two weeks ago and so far, nothing. Haley understood these things took time, but time was closing in on her.

“I have something for you.” Mom ducked out of the room.

Haley slipped from her chair. What this late-night dinner needed was toast. She checked the pantry. No bread. Darn anti-wheat people.

Mom reappeared with a white envelope and a key. “Here.”

Haley turned as Mom set the envelope and key on the island counter. “What’s this?”

“Well, in the envelope is money. I-I want to help with the shop.” She sighed, rubbing her fingers over her forehead. “There’s more to the story, but for now just take the money. And the key.”

“Mom, are you sure?” Haley drew her into a tight hug, love rising in her heart for her secretly tenderhearted mother. “Thank you. But what’s the key for?”

“It goes to the locked storage room in the shop.”

Haley regarded her for a moment. “W-where did you get it?”

“Well, um, Cora gave it to me.”

“Cora? Miss Cora. The wedding shop owner. You knew her?”

“I did, but not well.”

“What? W-why did she give you the key?”

“Because”—Mom averted her gaze, her lower lip quivering—“Cora was my sister.”

CORA

January 1935

She stood along the bank of the Cumberland just down the way from the old homestead. From where she grew up playing with EJ, from where she heard the news Daddy lost the bank, from where Birch proposed the first time, telling her he loved her.

A thick gray fog hung over the winter day as Cora faced the waters, remembering how she stared along the bend in the river, aching for a sign of Rufus St. Claire.

Today was her second anniversary with Birch. She never knew she could love a man so much. Or be so loved. And how closely she had almost missed this life she now built with her husband.

They were hoping for children soon.

Last year she’d burned Rufus’s letters. Not that Birch ever mentioned the man, but when she told him she’d dumped them in the trash drum and set them aflame, the look on his face was worth a thousand words. He loved her ardently that night.

But still, every now and then, Rufus walked across her heart, stirring old whispers and old longings. Lately, more than before, and it brought her to her knees.

Remove every trace of him, Lord.

Then, during Wednesday-night services, the pendant came to mind. She’d taken it off after Birch proposed, but kept it in a box in the back of her sock drawer. This morning she retrieved it and drove down to the river.

Cora peered down at her hand, the gold locket Rufus had given her laying against her leather glove. The wind cut along the bank, slapping the hem of her dress about her legs.

She’d hung on to this as what? A memento? A treasure? When all it stood for was lies and pain.

“Good-bye forever, Rufus. You can’t interrupt my life ever again.”

Flinging the jeweled piece toward the river, she watched it soar and then float down, twisting and turning in the wind, tapping the water, then quickly disappearing beneath the river’s swift current.