Ready to Wed (2 page)

Certainly, it was some comfort that both of her two older sisters were single as well. Louise, a widow, and Alice, never married, always seemed content with their state. It was only Ethel who carried on about Jane’s need for romance. It didn’t bother Jane that Ethel put so much focus on her relationship with Lloyd, but Jane felt it was unkind for her aunt to criticize her for being unmarried.

She firmly pushed a yellow pansy plant into the already crowded pot, breaking off a fragile flower stem. She picked up the broken blossom and looked down at its sunny little face. With a sad sigh, she slipped the stem of the sacrificed bloom into the front pocket of her bib overalls, letting the head stick out. Then she carefully used her trowel to gently loosen the soil as she rearranged the plant into a more comfortable position. No sense in taking her angst out on innocent flowers. Finally, she stepped back to admire her pot of pansies. It looked surprisingly cheerful—almost enough to convince her that spring really was around the corner.

She set the finished pot back in the wheelbarrow and took up the second one. As she emptied the old dirt, she thought about her marriage. It wasn’t something she normally thought much about—not because it had been so terribly unpleasant, at least not at first. She and Justin had their ups and downs, although toward the end it had mostly been downs. It was something of a relief when the marriage
ended. Still, she didn’t think she was bitter about the way things had gone with Justin. Really, she had no ill feelings toward him.

Jane used her gloved hand to brush some loose soil off the surface of her potting table, deciding that these thoughts about her ex-husband were probably best swept aside as well. She started on her third pot. And, although the sky was growing darker now, her spirits were actually beginning to lift, as a result of her hard work. If the weather wasn’t going to cooperate with the season, then at least these flowerpots might help some. And when guests finally arrived, they would be cheerfully greeted by the work of her hands. Her plan was to put the pots in semiprotected places on the front porch just in case the frost didn’t let up right away. She’d plant more annuals, and perhaps a few new perennials, along the front walk later.

It was just beginning to sprinkle when she finally had all six pots loaded onto her wheelbarrow and was transporting them to the front yard. One by one, she hoisted them up the steps of the stately Victorian home and arranged them attractively around the front door. She was just settling the last flowerpot into place when she heard a car slowing in front of the inn. She stood and turned to see who it was, but the vehicle was unfamiliar to her. A pink Cadillac convertible with big tail fins that looked straight
out of the fifties was parking in front of the inn, just past the front walk. Jane slowly went down the steps, hoping to sneak a glimpse at the driver of this rather unusual car. She spied a youngish-looking blonde woman peering up toward the bed-and-breakfast with a big smile on her face.

“Hey there!” called the woman as she got out of the car and waved over the roof toward Jane. “Is this the hotel?”

“Sort of,” Jane called back, pointing to the sign for Grace Chapel Inn the woman obviously missed. “It’s a bed-and-breakfast.”

The woman clapped her hands together like a little girl. “Oh goody!”

It was starting to rain harder, but still curious about this woman, Jane went closer to the car. “May I help you?” she asked, noticing that the car’s custom license plate, reading
Belle
, was from the state of Georgia.

“Do you work for the bed-and-breakfast?” asked the woman, her heavily made-up big blue eyes widening.

“Uh, yes.”

“I’m Belle Bannister,” said the woman with a distinctively Southern drawl.

“Belle from Georgia,” said Jane, putting two and two together.

“Why, yes!” Belle’s finely arched eyebrows lifted with surprise. “That is exactly right. Just like everything else
about this place.” A raindrop splattered right onto her pink cheek.

“You mean everything but the weather,” said Jane with a wry smile.

“Oh my.” Belle reached into her car, retrieving a shiny pink purse and a pink overnight bag. “A nice gal in town gave me directions here,” she said as she closed the car door. “Do y’all think I can get a room?”

“I’m sure that you can,” said Jane, leading the pleasantly plump young woman up the front walk. “I’d offer to help with your bags, but I’m pretty dirty and—”

“Oh, that’s okay.” She hurried past Jane, trying to escape the raindrops and going so fast she seemed to totter in her pink high-heeled shoes. “I’ll just take this little one inside for now and get the rest later when the rain stops.” She paused under the cover of the porch to peer up at Jane’s family home. “My, what a pretty house. It’s absolutely perfect.”

“Go right in,” said Jane when they came to the door. “I’d go in with you, but I don’t want to track mud inside. There’s a bell on the desk—”

“A bell for Belle,” giggled the woman as she opened the door. “Just perfect.”

Jane stood there on the porch, watching as the front door closed behind this strange woman. She actually wished she could go inside and see Louise’s reaction to their
unexpected, chatty guest with a fondness for pink. Of course, a guest was a guest. And right now, they were running short of them. Besides, this Belle from Georgia seemed like an interesting person. She might even bring some color, albeit pink, into their cloudy gray world. Jane dashed down the porch steps. Grabbing the wheelbarrow, she pushed it through the rain, which was now coming down heavily. By the time she made it to the side door, she was thoroughly drenched. If Ethel could see her now.

Once inside the inn’s laundry room, she removed her garden gloves and muddy Crocs and set them in the sink to deal with later. Next she peeled off her soggy, dirty overalls, hung them on a wooden peg, then quickly pulled on a pair of black warm-up pants and slipped her bare feet into a pair of clogs. She did a quick washup and entered the house by way of the kitchen. The warmth of the cheerful kitchen hit her as soon as she entered. She tiptoed through the dining room, curious to see whether Belle had found Louise.

“Oh, there you are again,” chirped Belle as Jane came around the corner from the dining room. “Louise just gave me a tour of the first floor.”

Jane nodded. “I hope you liked it.”

Belle pointed at Jane. “That’s the gardener I was telling you about, Louise. She’s the one who told me that you had a vacancy here.”

Louise gave Jane a sly smile. “Uh, yes, that gardener happens to be my youngest sister, Jane.”

Jane came forward and extended her hand. “I’m a little cleaner now.”

Belle smiled warmly as they shook hands. She looked from Louise to Jane. “Well, I’ll be. I never would’ve guessed you two were sisters.”

Louise was fifteen years Jane’s senior, and although she, like Jane, was tall and slender, her hair was silver and her manner and appearance were proper. In her blue-and-beige plaid skirt, pale blue cashmere sweater set and pearls, she looked very much a lady in comparison to Jane’s casual attire.

“And we have another sister,” said Louise. “Her name is Alice, and she works part-time as a nurse at the hospital.”

“And y’all run this inn together?”

“We do,” said Louise.

“Well, that’s just sweeter than sweet.”

“What brings you to Acorn Hill?” asked Louise as Jane began to ascend the stairs.

“A dream,” said Belle in a rather wistful voice.

“Indeed?” Louise’s tone had a slight note of skepticism in it, and she peered over the top of her reading glasses with a questioning expression.

Jane paused on the stairs to listen to Belle’s reply.

“Yes,” said Belle, nodding with wide eyes. “God sent me a dream … to come here.”

“You don’t say?”

“And here I am.”

“Here you are,” said Louise, clearly puzzled.

“Yes,” said Belle. “God sent me a dream. And through my dream, God showed me that I was to drive all the way up here, and that I was to relocate my business to your sweet little town, but that’s not all.”

“No?”

“God also showed me, through my dream, that it was right here that I would meet the man that I am meant to marry.”

“Truly?” asked Louise.

“It must sound strange, I know,” said Belle, still perfectly serious. “But I know that it’s for real. And so, here I am.”

“Here you are,” said Louise for the second time.

Chapter Two

S
he said what?” Alice asked as Jane slid a muffin tin out of the oven. She set the blueberry muffins aside to cool, then turned back to look at her sister. Alice still wore her nurse’s uniform as she sat at the kitchen table, enjoying her afternoon cup of tea. Her hair, which was the shade of rusty driftwood, framed her face, and her expression as usual was sweet, although it was now laced with concern.

“Belle said God showed her all this through a dream,” Jane said, and then she repeated the strange story about relocating and finding a husband.

Alice chuckled as she refilled her teacup.
“Hmm
… I wonder who the lucky man might be.”

“I’ve been going through my mental list of available men,” said Jane as she sat across from Alice. “I don’t think it could be Kenneth,” she said, referring to Rev. Kenneth Thompson, the pastor of Grace Chapel.

“You don’t think our pastor is open to matrimony?” asked Alice as she put a modest dab of real butter on her blueberry muffin. The sisters had been watching their
cholesterol, but Alice, sixty-two and fit, believed that a bit of butter wouldn’t hurt.

“I just don’t think that Belle Bannister is Kenneth’s type,” said Jane. The truth was that Jane felt protective of the pastor, who was her good friend and a widower.

“There’s Craig Tracy,” said Alice. “And Wilhelm Wood.”

“And Jeff Beckett,” added Jane.

“I thought you said Belle was youngish?”

“Well, older men have been known to marry younger women. And, for that matter, the other way around.”

“Yes, that’s true. What about Joshua Bellwood? He’s a nice young man.”

Jane nodded. “A possibility, I suppose, but Belle Bellwood? That just doesn’t sound right. Besides, I don’t see Belle as a farm wife.” Then she listed off several other unmarried males of varying ages and occupations.

“Goodness,” said Alice as Louise joined them in the kitchen. “I suppose I never thought of Acorn Hill as having such a broad selection of available men.”

Jane chuckled. “Maybe our Belle came to the right place after all.”

“Our Belle is completely worn out from driving,” said Louise as she poured herself a cup of tea. “Can you believe that she started out from Georgia yesterday, then drove almost nonstop to get here this morning?”

“Oh my,” said Alice. “She must be exhausted.”

“What was the big rush?” asked Jane as she slid the basket of muffins toward Louise.

“I can’t imagine,” murmured Louise.

“Perhaps she was worried that her prospective husband would find someone else,” said Alice with a smile.

“Well, I convinced her to take a nap,” said Louise. “I told her that the men in Acorn Hill probably were not in any extreme hurry to get married this afternoon. I also invited her to join us for dinner. I hope you don’t mind, Jane. I’ll help you—”

“That’s okay,” said Jane. “Although it won’t be anything fancy.”

“I can help too,” offered Alice.

“Really,” said Jane. “It’s fine. I already got out some ham-and-lentil soup from the freezer. I’ll make a salad and some cornbread muffins to go with it.”

“How are you feeling, Jane?” asked Alice.

Jane shrugged. “You mean have I quit singing my where-is-springtime blues?”

Alice smiled. “Yes. I noticed the pansies on the porch. Very pretty.”

“Well, I’m trying to get over it,” said Jane in a falsely bright voice. “I never thought of myself as being affected by weather. Good grief, I lived in San Francisco for years.
And everyone knows that place is famous for its foggy days.”

“I wondered if you shouldn’t have a physical,” said Alice. “I was talking to Dr. Meecham today and he said—”

“I don’t need to see a doctor,” said Jane firmly. “I had a physical less than a year ago and I was fit as a fiddle. I think I just need to see some sunshine.”

“Don’t we all,” said Louise.

“Yoo-hoo,” called Ethel from the back porch.

“Come in,” Jane called back as she got up to fetch another teacup. It was amazing how often their aunt popped in on them just as they were having tea and treats. It was as if she had radar.

“Hello, girls,” chirped Ethel as she removed her plastic rain bonnet, giving it a shake that managed to splatter poor Wendell, the inn’s resident cat, who’d been enjoying a cozy catnap by the warmth of the stove. He stood up, arched his tiger-striped back indignantly, then slowly strutted away.

“Did you get a ride home from town?” asked Jane as she set the extra cup on the table.

“Oh yes. Lloyd drove me home. It was raining cats and dogs.”

“We were just discussing the foul weather,” said Alice. “Will sunny weather ever come?”

“Lloyd said the forecast for next week looks brighter.”