what Rachel got for me.” Maggie held out a pink cord necklace; dangling from it was a plastic charm in the shape of a horse.
“She’s named him Thunder and swears she’s never taking him off,” Rachel said as she entered the kitchen carrying a sack of groceries.
“Never taking him off?” Breanna smiled indulgently at her daughter.
“Not even to take a bath,” Maggie replied. She wiggled down from Rita’s lap, unable to remain confined for another moment. “I’ve got to show him to Mr. Bear. Mr. Bear always wanted a horse friend.” With these words Maggie tore out of the kitchen, her footsteps resounding as she raced up the stairs to her bedroom.
“Ah, to have her energy,” Rita exclaimed.
“Mother, you have more energy than ten Maggies put together,” Breanna replied dryly.
“Your father says there are times it’s quite irritating. Did I tell you I was mad at him?”
As Rita began to catalog her most recent complaints against her husband, Breanna thought of her parents’ marriage.
For thirty-eight years they had shared a spirited relationship. They fought as loud and passionately as they loved…and it was obvious to anyone who spent any time in their company that they were true soul mates.
That’s what Breanna had once wished for herself. The kind of love that strengthened rather than diminished with time, the kind of commitment that didn’t have to be spoken aloud but was just there…in the heart…in the soul.
Her brief, disastrous marriage to Kurt had destroyed those dreams and broken her heart. Despite her mother’s wish to the contrary, she had no desire to date, no desire to involve a man in her life. She and Maggie were just fine alone.
“Well, I’d better get out of here,” Rita said. She stood and finished the last of her coffee. “We’re having everyone’s favorite food today,” she said as Breanna walked her to the front door. “I’m putting beef ribs on the grill for your father and Clay. I’m making bean bread for Savannah and grape dumplings for you.”
“Sounds wonderful. What can I bring?” Breanna asked as they stepped out on her front porch.
“Your new neighbor. I told him you’d pick him up at three.”
“Mother!” Breanna protested.
Rita reached up and kissed her youngest daughter on the cheek. “He’s a stranger in a strange town and the Cherokee are known for their hospitality. I expect you to honor your heritage and be a gracious hostess. And I know you will.”
After the two had said their goodbyes, Breanna watched her mother get into her car, then she went back into the kitchen where Rachel was putting together her picnic lunch.
She grinned at Breanna. “So, it sounds like I’m not the only one who has a date this afternoon.”
“This is definitely not a date,” Breanna protested and poured herself a fresh cup of coffee. “I’m merely transporting a person to my parents’ home for a barbecue.”
“I think your mother hopes it will be something quite different,” Rachel observed as she slathered bread with mustard.
Breanna sat back down at the table and sighed. “I’m afraid my sister and brother and I have disappointed Mother when it comes to our love lives.”
“I’m surprised Clay has never married,” Rachel said.
Breanna shook her head as she thought of her older brother. “Clay has never had a lasting relationship with anyone. He spends all his time either at a crime scene or cooped up in his lab.”
“A terrible waste of hunk-hood,” Rachel exclaimed.
Breanna grinned. She knew her brother was considered a hunk by most of the women in Cherokee Corners, but he was positively possessed by his work as a crime scene technician.
“It’s so sad that Savannah and her husband seemed to have such a wonderful marriage and then he got killed in that car accident last year.” Rachel grabbed the sliced ham from the refrigerator and continued. “And it isn’t your fault that Kurt turned out to be a selfish little boy who wasn’t prepared to take on the role of husband and father.”
“Sometimes it feels like my fault,” Breanna replied. “I should have seen the signs, I shouldn’t have married him so soon after meeting him.”
“And I should have seen the signs that Michael was a possessive, obsessive, brutal man, but I didn’t until it was too late.” Rachel touched her cheek, where a small scar puckered the skin. “I had no idea what he was capable of.”
“At least he’s behind bars where he belongs,” Breanna said. “Unfortunately they don’t put immature men in jail.”
Rachel grinned. “If they did, they’d definitely need to build more jails.”
“Isn’t that the truth,” Breanna agreed.
Later that afternoon, as Breanna dressed for the family barbecue, she thought about her brother and sister and how sad it was that none of the James siblings had been successful in their quest for happy marriages.
Savannah had come the closest, having been married to Jimmy Tallfeather for just a little over a year before tragedy had ended their marriage. The entire family had been worried about her because she still clung to her grief as jealously, as deeply as she had on the day she’d learned her husband had been stolen from her.
Maybe Adam Spencer was the man to bring Savannah back to life. Maybe that had been her mother’s ultimate hope. This thought made Breanna less tense about spending any time at all in the handsome newcomer’s company.
She would suffer the short drive from her own home to her parents’, then introduce him to Savannah and hope for an instant love connection between the two.
At exactly quarter to three, Adam stepped out on his front porch and looked at the house next door. She was a cop, not a prostitute and the knowledge filled Adam with relief. When he’d met Breanna’s mother that morning, one of the first things she’d shared with him was the fact that her family was comprised of law enforcement officials.
It would certainly be easier to tell Uncle Edward and Aunt Anita that the mother of their grandchild was a vice cop rather than a prostitute.
He was interested in learning more about the James family, who would forever be bound to him by the existence of a little girl. He wanted to see that Breanna and her daughter were okay, set up a trust fund for Kurt’s daughter, then go on with his own life knowing he had cleaned up Kurt’s final mess.
He sat down on the porch stoop, wondering if she would be one of those women who were perpetually late for everything. He looked down the street, breathing in the sweet scent of spring that filled the air.
Cherokee Corners had been a surprise. He’d expected a dusty little town and instead had discovered a bustling metropolis. The downtown area was built on a square, with the city buildings in the center, and unique shops and familiar chain stores surrounding them.
He’d
