Brett blinked. Get the baby? A fight? What the hell had he said? What the hell had he done?
Chapter Two
About an hour after Brett left, Melissa heard the jingle of a horse’s harness and the rattle of Izaak Abramson’s wagon. She put down the old coffee grinder she’d just brought up from the cellar and walked out on the porch, promising herself time to clean it up and admire it later.
She waved a greeting.
“Good day to you, Miss Missy,” Izaak called. “I have some time today to look at your barn.”
What good news! Smiling at Izaak’s childhood nickname for her, Melissa skipped down the steps toward the man wearing the same kind of plain black pants and gray shirt he always wore. With Izaak there were rarely surprises.
“Then it’s okay?” she sighed, hardly believing at least one of her worries was over.
Izaak nodded. “Margaret spoke to the elders and explained about the baby. We are all still allowed to be friends and we may still work with you on your shop. They don’t like English science but understand that you are not immoral. Just misguided.”
Melissa ignored her annoyance at his last statement and breathed a sigh of relief. It was going to work out. Only now could she admit to herself that she’d been terribly worried. There was no telling how Izaak and Margaret’s elders might have reacted to Melissa’s impending single motherhood—no matter how impersonally it had come about.
“I’m hoping there’s a way to have the barn ready by the time the baby’s born. It would be so much better to be able to open the shop close to home and not have it actually in the house.”
Izaak sighed and shook his head. “You should not need to support yourself. It is the English way to have a child with no father to guide him.”
His disapproval hurt but she straightened her spine. “Now, Izaak, I know Margaret explained to you that this was supposed to be Leigh and Gary’s baby and that I was supposed to act as its aunt.”
Melissa had known Izaak Abramson her whole life. His parents’ farm bordered her uncle’s, and when she was young, he’d been the object of her dreams. Back then he’d been a handsome, smiling young man who gave her rides on his horse. When he’d married, Melissa had been crushed. He’d promised to wait for her, after all. But her five-year-old heart had healed quickly with a few hugs and attention from Margaret, the love of his life.
Izaak sighed. “Yes and I know the baby is of English science. But it will be Leigh’s baby no longer and the father is not here to help you raise him either.”
His concern touched her and Melissa felt tears once again well up in her eyes. “No. Neither of them are here, are they?”
Izaak shook his head and clumsily patted her shoulder. “I’ve made you sad again. So suppose we look at this barn you have decided to make into a store. Now what is this name we will have on this barn that is no longer to be just a barn?”
She smiled. Izaak had always made her smile. “Stony Hollow Country and Classics and you know it. It’ll be a great partnership. You, me and Margaret.”
And it would be. She had the knowledge of antiques and had been collecting them for the day when her dream came true. She also had the wood. Two falling-down barns’ worth! Izaak Abramson had the know-how to turn that weathered wood into furniture. The country movement in decorating had turned old-barn-wood furniture into a valuable commodity and Melissa and Izaak were going to cash in on it. And Margaret’s quilting was simply gorgeous. Melissa would feature beautifully displayed Amish quilts—another sought-after product. And there was the quarter-sawn oak furniture Izaak and his brother Od painstakingly built too. They wouldn’t get wealthy, but that wasn’t the purpose. A good life was.
And she was going to give her child just that. She wouldn’t let Brett Costain and his threats make her believe anything else. She’d nearly collapsed when she’d seen him on her porch, but she’d reached inside herself and had faced down one of the supreme Costains. She would do the same in court if it came to that. She would have to.
Melissa could hardly believe she’d stood on her porch, looking down her nose at him, and ordered him off her land. It gave her a little thrill that it had worked so easily. And so well. He was gone—tail tucked between his legs, driving hell-bent-for-leather toward Philadelphia. He was gone.
Gone but not forgotten, a small voice inside her protested.
Okay. He’d hurt her once. She could admit that. She’d seen him as her irreverent, charming knight on a white charger. She’d gotten all caught up in Leigh’s fairy-tale wishes for her. And she’d been a fool. They both had.
Leigh had been waxing poetic about Gary’s perfect younger brother for weeks. He was funny, kind, handsome as sin and twice as wealthy. He was supposed to have been perfect for Melissa. And she had actually gotten her hopes up when she’d seen the way Brett looked at Leigh and Gary. She could have sworn she saw a deep yearning in his eyes for what they’d found together. Then he’d been all smiles and loving hugs for his aunts and cousins while making Melissa feel like part of the family. Handsome had been so great an understatement that Melissa had planned to tease Leigh over it later.
She and Leigh were dressed alike for the first time since their parents died. Leigh had bought the dresses, done Melissa’s hair and makeup so they could have fooled even Gary himself. But, of course, it had been Gary’s plan. He’d wanted to mislead his parents, who believed Leigh had been raised in the lap of luxury, not on a beaten-down farm in southern Maryland. He’d assured Melissa that proper breeding would matter to them.
Melissa had thought she’d feel self-conscious all dressed up in a sophisticated costume. But it had been worse than that. Leigh and Gary had been wrong to hide the truth and so had Melissa. Wrong to think she could pretend to be someone and something she wasn’t. Wrong to get so caught up in the excitement of the game that she forgot some games come with penalties and consequences.
Melissa shook herself from her reverie. What was she doing, thinking about that whole humiliating episode? It had been a long time ago and she was older now and much, much wiser. It was time to think of the future. And as she and Izaak planned the renovations, the future began to look bright again. She refused to think about the shadow on the horizon called Brett Costain.
The old swing creaked as Melissa rocked in the shade of the big “Johnny Smoker” tree off to the left of the house. She smiled at the Philadelphia nickname and reminded herself for the umpteenth time to find out the real name for her favorite tree on the property. She looked up into the boughs as the evening breeze ruffled the big leaves, creating the sound Aunt Dora had always called the song of summer.
Melissa’s stomach growled, reminding her that it was dinnertime and of the astounding sensation that had awakened her that morning. Her baby had moved, and for the first time she’d felt a little flutter of life. Her first reaction had been to call Leigh—but then she’d remembered.
She was alone. Completely alone, with all the responsibility that bringing a precious life into the world entailed. She had to secure the baby’s future and guard its present.
She was alone. Alone to face the unknown in the form of pregnancy and labor and delivery.
She was alone. Alone to see first smiles, hear first laughter and worry and thrill over first steps.
She’d been close—so close—to calling Hunter and telling him she’d changed her mind. That marriage to a friend was better than going forward alone. But she hadn’t called. A good and generous man like Hunter Long deserved a wife who not only loved him but who was in love with him and who desired him as well. She’d caught a brief glimpse of those feelings one magical night and even though the object of her affection hadn’t returned her feelings she knew what was missing with and from her old friend.