Carolina Mist Read online

  “Which committee are you signing up for?” Naomi peered over Abby’s shoulder at the booth set up to attract new members and volunteers for the Friends of Primrose, the budding civic association that had become Naomi’s latest project.

  “I shouldn’t sign up for anything,” Abby replied, “since my stay in Primrose is uncertain.”

  “Honey, everybody’s stay is uncertain, if you know what I mean.” Naomi’s eyes twinkled as she handed Abby the pen and pointed to a sheet of looseleaf paper. “I would definitely consider the garden tour if I were you, Abby. Another month or so, and we’ll have that place looking near as good as it did when Miz Cassidy tended it. What do you say? What are the chances of you finding a job and selling the house before two months have passed?”

  Abby signed her name on the line.

  “You sure have had some interesting houseguests this week.” Naomi grinned, observing both Alex and Drew in conversation over by the table that sought recruits for the planned Civil War reenactment that fall.

  “You don’t know the half of it.” Abby laughed.

  “Everyone appears to be getting along.”

  “I made Alex promise he’d make an honest attempt to get to know Drew before passing judgment,” Abby told her, “and, so far, I have to say that they have been very cordial to each other.”

  “That’s good.”

  “And Drew made points with everyone by having the foresight to rent a wheelchair for Belle so that she could come to the fair.” Abby nodded toward where Belle sat in the shade of a sweet gum, surrounded by a number of old friends and acquaintances who were obviously pleased with her company.

  “Is that just the sweetest thing?” Naomi sat in the folding chair Colin had insisted she bring with her so that she could occasionally take the pressure off her leg. “There are many times when I could use one of those things myself. Come to think of it, we have one in the attic. I used it for a long while after my accident. Why, we could get it down, and Miz Matthews could have use of it whenever.”

  “Mommy, look.” A beaming Meredy zipped up to them and unrolled a sort of white felt banner. She held it up for her mother and Abby to see. “It’s a picture of me and Lilly right on this fabric. Lilly got one, too. There’s a man with a special kind of camera over there.”

  “Friends forever,” the banner declared in bright red, fuzzy letters right under the smiling faces of the two little girls.

  “If that isn’t the cutest thing,” Naomi declared solemnly. “And don’t you have the perfect spot for it right there between those two big windows in your room.”

  Meredy nodded happily and handed the banner to her mother to hold.

  “Now, where are you off to, Meredy?”

  “Susannah said we could go on the pony rides over at Foster’s.”

  “Don’t wander off, sugar,” Naomi called to her daughter’s back as Meredy sprinted in the direction of Foster’s store. “Honestly, that child will give me heart failure one of these days. She just goes, without giving thought to where or whatever.”

  “I think she’s safe, Naomi. She’s already caught up with Sunny, and Colin is here.” Abby nodded toward the center of the street, where Colin and two other members of Primrose’s police force conferred.

  “I know she’s safe, Abby. I just like to know where she is.”

  “We’ll all keep an eye on her,” Abby assured her, “so go ahead and sign up that crew that just wandered over to the table. Give them your ‘Primrose needs you’ speech. The one you give me every chance you get.”

  “Primrose does need you, Abby.” Naomi tossed the words over her shoulder as she approached the three couples who had stopped to study the display of old photographs depicting Primrose in its heyday. “Almost as much as you need Primrose.”

  I’m beginning to think she may be right, Abby admitted to herself as she turned away toward the crowded street. For all the good it will do me.

  She wandered toward the Civil War displays where she had last seen Alex and Drew. The size of the crowd was increasing steadily, the churches having opened their doors to spill their congregations out onto the streets of Primrose to show their civic pride. Abby strolled over toward the town green, where table after table of jams and breads, jars of piccalilli and pickled cauliflower, painted wooden garden ornaments, hats adorned with dried flowers, beaded jewelry, and mounded rounds of sweet potato pies and lemon pound cakes stretched from sidewalk to sidewalk.

  Abby paused before the display of wooden toys and ran a small train on smooth wooden wheels back and forth across the front of the table. Hand-carved animals guarded a small cottage around which seven carved men stood. In the doorway stood a woman in a long dress. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, their cozy home in the woods, and their tiny animal friends, all painstakingly crafted from lengths of wood that were burnished and polished and stained naturally so that the characters from the children’s fairy tale became works of art. On one side of the table stood a chess set with fairy-tale characters in place of the usual figures. Abby marveled as she lifted Beauty and the Beast to admire the cleverness and skill of the craftsman who had first envisioned and then created such fine and tiny sculptures. Turning from the table to seek out Alex, wanting to show him these tiny works of art, she collided with a young blond woman whose mind was obviously elsewhere.

  “Oh!” Abby exclaimed as her elbow knocked the woman’s purse to the ground. Bending to retrieve it, Abby attempted to apologize, but the woman merely snatched up the purse and hurried on, leaving the heavy scent of her perfume hanging like a curtain between Abby and the table of wooden ornaments.

  Gardenia. Abby unconsciously identified the fragrance and, spotting Alex and Drew at that precise moment, waved them over.

  “You have to see what this man has done with wood,” she told them both. “The most incredibly intricate carvings you could imagine. Can you imagine what stores in the cities would charge for something of this quality and design?”

  Alex turned over the white tag, which bore a ridiculously low price.

  “Five times what he is asking.” Drew nodded.

  “At least,” Alex agreed as he inspected one of the Dwarfs. “Sleepy, I believe,” he told Abby.

  Something plunked onto her head, and she reached her hands upward to feel the floppy straw brim of the hat that had landed on her head. Laughing, she removed it and turned at the sound of girlish laughter. Meredy and Lilly giggled as Abby held the hat out before her.

  “The girls and I agreed it was you,” Sunny said, “so we had to have it. You need to cover that fair skin of yours when you are working outside.”

  “This is definitely a Primrose gardening hat,” Abby agreed, and she plunked it back upon her head. “Thank you so much.”

  “It looks great on you,” Alex told her as he straightened the brim.

  “Meredy and Lilly are ready for lunch. How ’bout joining us? There are certainly plenty of choices.” Sunny gazed around at the various vendors. “What are we in the mood for? I see Miz Matthews has already found some friends to dine with.”

  “Those are ladies from her church,” Abby noted, following Sunny’s gaze to the opposite side of the square, where Belle sat at a table with several other white-haired ladies and gentlemen, all seeming to be enjoying the lunches they removed from the white cardboard cartons being served by the minister’s wife, “and it appears that she is having one heck of a good time.”

  “Well, the Primrose Cafe gets my vote,” Alex said. “They have tables set up out under the tree, so you can have some fresh air and gentle breezes with your hushpuppies and barbecue.”

  “Sounds good to me.” Abby nodded. “Drew, is that okay with you?”

  “What?” Drew asked.

  “I said, is the Primrose Cafe all right with you for lunch?”

  “Oh, sure. Look, you all go on over. I’ll join you in a few minutes.” Drew appeared to be looking beyond the small group to someplace over near the bandstand.

  “We�
��ll wait for you if there’s something you want to see,” Abby told him.

  “No. You go ahead and get a table. I just want to take a quick look at the used books.”

  “Okay.” Abby shrugged and, taking two long strides, caught up with Alex and Sunny, who had already taken off to keep up with the little girls, who were excitedly planning their after-lunch pony rides. Rounding the corner of the cafe, Abby glanced back over her shoulder and sought Drew’s form in the crowd. She stopped and searched the small gathering in front of the used-book table, then glanced up and down the concourse formed by the tables running along either side of the green, but he was nowhere to be seen. Just as she was about to turn back, she saw him, just to the left of the bandstand, just at the moment when he was joined by a young blond woman in a short denim skirt and a cropped flowered sweater, the same woman Abby had collided with earlier.

  As Abby watched, the woman reached behind her and pulled the ribbon from her hair, which spilled in a golden river around her face and shoulders. There appeared to be some conversation, then, abruptly, the woman’s hands were firmly planted on her hips, and, judging from the movements of her head, she had words for Drew that were obviously not ones that would be exchanged with a stranger. His gestures were those of protest, Abby thought, as she observed the strange scene.

  Now, why wouldn’t he tell us he had a friend here? she wondered, as Alex stepped back around the corner and grabbed her by the hand.

  “Come on, pokey. We got the last table in the shade,” he told her, oblivious to the fact that her attention was focused elsewhere.

  And where have I seen her before?

  “Mommy, I’m so tired,” Lilly whined, her little lower lip jutting out just the tiniest bit. “Can’t you carry me?”

  “My arms are full, sugar,” Sunny told her, “with all the fun things we bought today.”

  “Come here, Lilly.” Drew opened his arms, and Lilly walked into them. He swung her onto his shoulders and moved to the head of the little procession that headed wearily toward Cove Road.

  “Look, Meredy, I’m riding!” Lilly called down to her friend.

  “I think I’m too big to ride,” Meredy told her.

  “I don’t think so.” Alex laughed and hoisted her atop his own shoulders so that both little girls could ride back to Cove Road.

  Abby sidled next to Alex, and he smiled down at her, stepping to the side of the walkway to permit Naomi, who was pushing Belle’s wheelchair, to pass them. With one hand, he supported Meredy. His free hand sought Abby’s own.

  “Well, I think that’s an absolutely brilliant idea, Miz Matthews.” Naomi winked at Abby as she passed by. “And I would hope that you would be the first of the senior members of Primrose to offer to preserve your recollections on tape. Now, who else do you think might have some interesting tales to tell?”

  “Wasn’t this a great day?” Alex sighed and squeezed Abby’s hand.

  “A great day,” she agreed, and she leaned against him as they strolled slowly. “Can you remember the last time you saw Belle so perfectly happy?”

  “No, I cannot,” he said. “And I can’t remember the last time I was this happy, Abby. Maybe not since I was a kid. But then again, being in Primrose always brought out the best in me.”

  “Who was that older gentleman you were talking to over by the reenactment booth?”

  “Oh, you mean Professor Weston.” Alex grinned. “He is a retired professor of history from the University of Richmond. He’s into Civil War battle reenactments and serves as a consultant to a number of different groups. He’s really concerned with historical accuracy. Interesting fellow.”

  “You’re talking about Professor Weston?” Drew dropped back behind Sunny and addressed Alex. “Are you considering joining the battle group?”

  “I don’t know.” Alex shrugged. “On the one hand, it sounds like fun. On the other, I don’t have any Southern sympathies, so I don’t know how uncomfortable I’m willing to make myself for the sake of recreating battles I don’t really care too much about.”

  “You watch yourself there, Mr. Kane,” his grandmother called over her shoulder. “In some parts of town, that sort of talk is near blasphemy.”

  Abby stifled a giggle, and Alex and Drew exchanged a bemused glance, before Drew’s eyes lighted on Abby and he realized that she and Alex were holding hands that swung between them with casual intimacy. With a brief glance at Alex, Drew turned back and caught up with Sunny just as they approached their destination. The two little girls were swung to the ground almost simultaneously, where they compared notes about their rides and went giggling onto the front porch.

  “Drew, I have to thank you for finding a way to include me in this most remarkable day.” Belle patted his arm and smiled. “I saw so many folks today, and so many things. What a pleasure to see the center of town from something other than the occasional car window. Your thoughtfulness gave me a freedom I haven’t experienced in many years. I don’t know how to thank you.”

  “Why, I believe you just did, Miz Matthews.” Drew offered his hand to assist her out of the chair.

  “Call me Belle,” she told him as she accepted his hand. “Now, you will be joining us for dinner?”

  “No, I’m afraid I need to be going,” Drew told her. “I have a sales meeting early tomorrow morning.”

  “Well, then, we’ll say good-bye here.” Sunny kissed his cheek as she breezed past, being dragged by Lilly, who had loudly claimed to be in need of the bathroom.

  “As will I.” Abby waved from the top of the steps, where she was assisting Belle into the house.

  “Well, it was a fun day.” Alex offered his hand to Drew. “I’m really glad you joined us.”

  “So am I.” Drew nodded and hesitated slightly as he turned toward his car.

  “What?” Alex asked, sensing the unasked question.

  “Well, it’s…” Drew laughed self-consciously. “About Abby.”

  “What about Abby?”

  “Look, I don’t like to intrude into anyone else’s life…” Drew ran his fingers through his hair as if debating whether or not to continue. “I mean, it’s something I never do…”

  “Stick to that, and you’ll be right one hundred percent of the time.” Alex folded his arms across his chest, almost challenging Drew to continue. Which he did.

  “I don’t want to sound like I’m her father or something, and I don’t want this to sound as if I’m asking you what your intentions are toward her…”

  “But you are.”

  “I guess I am.” Drew shrugged. “Abby is very special to me, Alex. I’ve never known a woman like her.”

  “Neither have I.”

  “What I mean is, she means a lot to me, Alex. She’s like the first bit of family I’ve had in a very long time.”

  “And?”

  “And I don’t want her hurt. By anyone.”

  “So what are you saying?”

  “I know she cares about you. I guess I just need to know that you… that…” He struggled with his words almost sheepishly.

  “That my intentions are honorable?”

  “Something like that.”

  “I see.” Alex nodded slowly.

  “Well?” Drew waited.

  “Well, I don’t think you—or Abby—need to worry about my intentions.” Alex rubbed his chin. “But it does make me wonder if I will have to ask you for her hand.”

  “I think she can speak for herself when it comes to that.”

  “And will, if I know Abby.”

  They exchanged knowing glances.

  “I guess I better be on my way.” Drew turned toward his car.

  “Thanks, Drew,” Alex called to his back. “For what you did for Gran. And for letting me know how much you care about Abby.”

  Drew turned and gave Alex a sort of semi-salute as he got into the car.

  Abby stood on the front porch and leaned over the railing, watching Alex as he watched Drew drive away. He put his hands on his denime
d hips and seemed to inhale deeply as he turned and saw her half hidden by a massive rhododendron.

  “How long have you been standing there?” he asked.

  “Long enough to hear you and Drew discussing your relationship with me.”

  “And?”

  “And I think it’s really sweet that he cares enough to feel as if he wants to sort of look out for me.”

  “I can look out for you.”

  “I know that. But this is different. It tells me that he feels… oh, I don’t know, honor-bound, maybe, to keep an eye on things. It’s sweet, Alex.” Her eyes twinkled, and she pulled a dead flower bud off the shrub and tossed it at him. “I saw you talking with him today—talking and laughing like old friends. Admit you were wrong about him. Admit that you like him.”

  Before he could respond, Belle appeared in the doorway, her eyes filled with panic and tears even as she opened the door.

  “Alexander! Abigail!” she called. “Meri Puppins is missing!”

  “Belle, how could she be missing? She was in the front hall when we left this morning.” Abby turned and saw the full measure of Belle’s disturbance. “She has to be in the house, Belle, there was no one here to have let her out. Come on, Alex, we have a naughty puppy to find.”

  36

  “I can’t believe this.” Abby threw up her hands in a gesture of incredulity. “There is no way that dog could have gotten out of this house. Where could she be? We’ve looked everywhere.”

  “It is pretty strange.” Alex leaned back against the kitchen counter and rubbed his chin. “The only thing I can think of is that somehow, one of the doors had to have been opened while we went out.”

  “The doors were all locked, Alex. No one has a key except for me. And Naomi.”

  “All the same, I can’t see any other way the dog could have gotten out. We’ve checked all the closets… every place the dog could hide if she wanted to. Could someone have come in through a window and let the dog out when they left by a door?”