Sugar Creek (38 page)

R
achel stood with Edna in her kitchen, watching her take an apple pie from the oven. As always, even the mere scent filled the little house with deliciousness.

“Do you think if you gave me lessons,” Rachel asked, “I could learn to make apple pie as good as yours?”

Edna patted Rachel’s hand where it rested on the counter. “I doubt it,” Edna said. “We can give it a whirl, but lucky for you I won’t be goin’ anywhere for a while.”

Winter had passed into spring at the orchard that bore a new sign and a new name: the Farris-Romo Family Apple Orchard. Rachel and Mike hadn’t gotten married yet, but revising the sign had just seemed like the thing to do, for many reasons. Besides, Mike was there as much as Rachel these days, to keep both women from doing too much heavy labor. Meanwhile, Rachel had put her creative skills to work on a website, and by the time the fall harvest rolled back around, there would be family activities and cider making on weekends and a small store, fea
turing a display case with Edna’s pies, apple butter, apple sauce, and whatever else Rachel could talk her into whipping up. Edna still wasn’t crazy about all the changes, but it was a concession she’d been willing to make in exchange for Rachel and Mike becoming her partners.

And it had finally hit Rachel that if she really wanted to restore pride to the Farris name, well, how better to do it than working together with Edna and Mike to make the old orchard thrive in a whole new way?

As for the wedding, they were waiting until they had time to plan something big—for two reasons. Rachel had decided that if she was actually going to get married, she wanted to do it in a fabulous gown, with her close friends at her side. And she and Mike both thought it would be a good idea—even if daring—to force the entire Farris and Romo clans into the Destiny Church of Christ at the same time. And if it turned out to be the biggest brawl Destiny had ever seen, they’d be able to escape on their honeymoon to Italy and forget all about it.

“Rachelllll!” The back screen door of Edna’s house slammed as Mike walked in with a scowl on his face. “I found that damn cat of yours helping himself to my breakfast cereal this morning!”

“Well, I guess you shouldn’t leave your cereal around where you know there’s a pushy cat.” They’d adopted Shakespeare at Rachel’s urging—Mike had claimed it qualified as the traditional Romo engagement gift—but so far they hadn’t broken any of his bad habits. Yet Rachel didn’t mind—she’d discovered she liked having the big fat feline curl up next to her on the sofa at night. As for Mike, she was still trying to win him over on that.

“It’s one thing to share my house with
you
, another to have to share it with that dumb cat,” he griped.

And Rachel said, “Growl, growl, growl.” She really thought Mike
needed
a pet. And she thought she and Shakespeare made a pretty good start on replacing the family he’d all but lost. And she’d once seen him scratch
the cat behind the ears when he hadn’t known she was watching—she’d learned Mike was often more bark than bite.

“I’ll leave you two to hash this out,” Edna said. “I’m due to take a couple bushels of apples up to the General Mercantile.”

“Need help getting them in the truck?” Mike asked.

“Nope—already there, but thanks.” And then she was out the door.

“Listen,” he said, watching Edna go, then stepping up to slip his arms around Rachel’s waist, “I was thinking about how you could make it up to me, about the cat.”

She flashed a tolerant grin upward. “This oughta be good.”

“I need to haul some fertilizer out to the McIntosh grove, but I was thinking that first, I could have my way with you. So what do you say, Farris? Can I interest you in a little afternoon delight?”

The man was insatiable. But that worked out okay, because when it came to Mike, so was she. Rachel bit her lip. “I really should work on Edna’s books—I’m trying to get everything computerized.”

Mike just lowered his chin and cast one of his
get-serious
looks, and she let out a breath. “Okay—you talked me into it.” Since her breasts were getting a little tingly and the juncture of her thighs already ached.

“It’s nice out,” he told her, so she let him lead her out into the orchard. The apple trees were in full spring bloom, their white flowers making the whole place appear to be covered in lace. She wasn’t sure she’d ever seen anything so lovely—the sight nearly took her breath away every time she saw it, and made her thankful all over again that she’d looked deep inside her heart and made the right decision. Even if it had taken fearing for Mike’s life to wake her up.

Turned out that giving up her job had, in the end, felt more liberating than painful. Rachel had finally figured
out that sometimes being a strong, responsible woman meant admitting you wanted something different in your life, something new—and now her life was suddenly richer, fuller, than it had ever been. And as for her worries over her family and money…well, she still had plenty saved, but if her family ever really needed a lot, they’d be on their own. Edna was right—it wasn’t her responsibility—and she finally understood that. Heck, maybe knowing they wouldn’t have her to turn to anymore would make them start being a little more careful.

As for Mike, she’d hoped he might be more at peace about Anna by now, especially after saving another little girl. And that victory had helped—but Rachel had come to understand that Mike would
never
be completely at peace about his sister. All she could do was be there for him, and help him deal with the never-ending sense of loss.

“By the way,” he said as they walked deeper into the front grove, near Sugar Creek, “I saw you speeding today.”

He’d been on duty until just a little while ago. “And you didn’t pull me over?” She was truly stunned. After all, he’d given her a ticket as recently as a few months ago—and even by-the-book Chief Tolliver had been shocked that he’d hand out a citation to his own fiancée.

“Well, you don’t go as fast as you used to, so I’m trying to show some leniency.”

She smiled up at him. “Wow. Now I
really
know how much you love me.”

“But slow the hell down, Rachel,” he said, casting a look of warning, “or next time…”

“Yeah, yeah,” she said, pulling him under a flowering apple tree, taking his hands in hers. “I know—you speed, you pay, we don’t tolerate speeders in Destiny, and all that. Got it, Officer Romeo. Now shut up and kiss me.”

M
y thanks go to Renee Norris, for her early brainstorming, along with her thorough critique and helpful suggestions, as well as to Lindsey Faber, for listening so patiently to all my story concerns, and for all the wonderful ways she gets the word out about my books! Also to Manda Collins, who is always on brainstorming alert! I’d be lost without you guys!

I offer my utmost appreciation to my editor, May Chen, for her very helpful story suggestions, and for always being so fun to hang out with.

Thanks also to Lindsey Bohrer and Staff Lieutenant James Hamilton of the Ohio State Highway Patrol, for answering my questions about some specific law-enforcement procedures.

And finally, a big thank-you to all the wonderful folks at Avon Books, as well as to my agents, Meg Ruley and Christina Hogrebe, for all their ongoing support.