The Orchard Brides - Book 2
Christian Contemporary Western Romance
Date Published 04-11-2022
Can forbidden fruit lead to sweet romance?
After standing up to the wrath of the owner of a private apple orchard where her daughter picked some of the tantalizing, but off-limits, fruit, will Skye Palmer allow the handsome cowboy to atone for making her little girl cry?
New owner of Humble Tree Orchards Troy Sutton feels terrible - he shouldn't have come down so hard on the child for taking some of his ripe produce - even if the farm's profit margin is in the red zone. Can he find a way to make it up to her and her gorgeous angry mother? And can they come up with a plan to save the apple orchard before the winter frost arrives?
Sweetness is in the air... and perhaps an "apple-y ever after" might just be possible after all...
Chapter Two
Skye
Skye Palmer reached into the open
cardboard box sitting on the floor of her childhood bedroom and pulled out
another stack of clothes. Being home again was bittersweet. Her room was
smaller than she remembered but bless her mother – the woman had kept it exactly
the same since she left. Skye looked around. Silver, bronze, and gold
gymnastics medals still hung from colorful ribbons tacked onto the wall and
trophies of various sizes lined the upper shelf of the white bookcase Daddy had
fashioned for her out of plywood when she was still in elementary school.
She dumped the pile of wrinkled
clothes on top of the twin bed, covered with the buttercup yellow-and-white
checked quilt Mama had helped her to sew when she was 17. A cluster of frames
on the bedside table held grainy photos of herself with her teenage friends,
arms draped across each other’s shoulders. She smiled wryly at the outdated
hairstyles and clothing and wondered fleetingly what had ever become of those
other girls. Did they ever get married, move away, have children like she did?
Were any of them divorced now, too? Were they happy?
It felt almost surreal to be moving
back into her own room, almost as though she’d never left. But so much had
changed in the past eight years. She said a silent prayer of thanks that Mama
would have her back at all after what she’d done. The disappointed look in her
mother’s eyes when she told her was running off to marry Drew in a shotgun
wedding because she was pregnant still haunted her. She almost thanked God Daddy
had gone to be with Jesus before Drew had even come into her life. Mama was
pretty much a saint for agreeing take her and back in – along with Ashley - but
then again she knew Mama loved them both dearly despite everything. And now
Mama needed help too given her health and all.
A stray tear slid down her cheek and dripped onto the pair
of jeans she was folding.
“I know this is hard for you, baby,” Mama’s voice called
from the doorway. Skye glanced up. How long had she been standing there? The
woman was holding two glasses of iced tea and nodded, offering one out to her.
Skye gratefully accepted it. The house was hot, given it didn’t have central
air conditioning. All the windows were open but the slight breeze that drifted
in from outside wasn’t enough to lower the indoor temperature by much.
Skye took a sip, the cool sugary sweetness quenching a
thirst she hadn’t realized she was feeling. She wiped the tear with the back of
her hand and took a deep breath.
“I think I’m still in shock to be honest,” she said. “Drew
didn’t turn out to be the man I thought he was. I don’t even know where things
went wrong – right from the very beginning I guess.”
Mama’s dark eyes, mirroring her own, filled with sadness.
She was several inches shorter than Skye with dark hair than had gone grey
years ago. Shawna Rogers had never been one to put much fuss into her
appearance, never bothering to put on makeup or do anything with her hair. For
as long as Skye could remember, her mother simply put on a t-shirt and pair of
jeans after she got up in the morning, washed her face, and pulled her hair
back into a low ponytail before going about the day. Today was no different.
However, Skye was shocked to see the physical changes that had occurred in her
mother over the past few years since they’d all been together. Where the woman
had always been full of life, bubbling with energy despite her small stature,
now she appeared tired. She’d lost a lot of weight since giving up her daycare
license, and her thin shoulders drooped, making her appear even smaller and
withdrawn. It worried Skye. Hopefully now that she was home, she could help out
– at least do her best to start making up for all the pain she’d caused.
Her mother walked into the room and set her glass on the
small desk in the corner where Skye had spent hours pouring over textbooks and
working out math problems. She reached into the box and pulled out more
clothes, joining Skye by the side of the bed to fold them before transferring
them to the open drawers of the dresser.
“When you’re young and a good-looking man talks pretty to
you, sometimes it’s easy to lose sight of right and wrong,” she said.
“I know, Mama, I realize that now,” Skye replied miserably.
“I thought I was in love but looking back I can see I didn’t know what love
really was. I guess I was hurting so much after Daddy died, and being with Drew
helped make the pain go away. I didn’t ever deal with it as I should have or
stop to take time to get to know Drew properly. He claimed he was a Christian
but pressured me to do things we had no business doing before we were married.
He said he’d marry me someday anyway – which he did, but then nothing was the
same after that. After we found jobs and got settled in Seattle, everything
shifted. We started arguing about stupid stuff – what to have for supper, what
to watch on TV. And after I had Ashley, things between us just got worse.”
Shawna folded the sleeves of a red t-shirt slowly with
gnarled fingers.
“The few times I saw all of you over the years since you
left, I wondered about your marriage. Having a baby never solves the problems
between a couple – it only makes the trouble more apparent. To me, Drew always
seemed on edge, irritated. He never seemed eager to hold Ashley, and he was
always talking about how much having a child cost.”
“Exactly,” Skye said, putting the last pair of pants she
owned into the dresser drawer and pushing it closed, remembering to lift it
slightly to get it to slide all the way in.
“He became almost obsessed about money. I really don’t know
why. It wasn’t like we weren’t rich or anything, but we were making ends meet.
He was bringing in a steady income through the electrical union and I took as
many shifts waiting tables as I could at the diner. After Ashley’s birth I had
to make sure my hours were within her childcare and school schedules. Drew
still expected me to do all the cooking – which of course I didn’t mind since
you know I love to cook– but I was also the one doing all the cleaning at home
plus taking care of the baby too. I know he worked hard too – being an
electrician isn’t easy – but he would get frustrated with me if I was tired or
something around the house didn’t get done to his liking.”
She paused, trying to muster the courage to reveal the rest.
“He started going out with his friends and coming home drunk. That’s when
things got really bad.” Tears welled in her eyes.
“Oh honey, I’m so sorry,” Shawna replied. She laid her hand
gently on Skye’s arm and looked at her with concern. “Please tell me he never
raised a hand to you – or my granddaughter.”
Tears began to stream down Skye’s cheeks as she started to
cry. “Oh Mama,” she said. “I’m so embarrassed to admit this, but that’s what
finally made me decide to leave him. Praise the Lord he never hurt Ashley, but
I got to be afraid he could have it in him to do so one day. Whenever he drank,
I never knew what was going to happen. I’d try my best to keep him happy, but
he always seemed to find a reason to yell at me. He started hitting me. I kept
trying to get him to come to church with me and Ashley, and sometimes he would,
but he refused to meet with the pastor for marital counseling or get any other
kind of help. One day my manager at the diner sat me down at work after my
shift and said customers were asking if I was OK because they’d noticed the
bruises.”
“Oh Heavenly Father,” Shawna said, wrapping her arms around
Skye tightly. Skye’s chest racked with sobs as her mother tenderly stroked her
long hair. The comfort of being held by the woman who raised her was a balm to
her broken heart.
“I’m so glad you found the strength to leave – and that
you’re home now, where I can look after you,” Shawna said.
“Mama, I’m so sorry,” said Skye, sniffling. “For all the
pain I’ve caused. I’m so ashamed. But I promise, I’m going to do my best to
make up for it now. At least Drew granted me a quick divorce. He definitely
didn’t want me airing his dirty laundry, that’s for sure. As long as I took
Ashley away and he wouldn’t have to pay a dime, he said I was free to go. So
that’s what I did. Thank you for having us back here, I didn’t know where else
to go.”
“You are always welcome home, child, don’t you know that?”
Shawna held Skye’s face between her palms. “You are my daughter.” They held
each other’s gazes silently, sharing the fullness of unconditional love between
them.
Skye leaned forward and planted a kiss on her mother’s pale
cheek. “I love you Mama, thank you for being my role model. I’m glad I’m here
now.”
“Me too, sweetheart,” Shawna replied. “Plus, now I get to
spend time with Ashley. The two of you are just what my heart needs right now.”
“Giving up the daycare hasn’t been easy for you, has it?”
Skye asked.
Shawna sighed and walked to the closet. She grabbed a couple
of empty hangers and brought them back to the bed.
“Let’s hang up your dresses and then we can start unpacking
Ashley’s things in her bedroom.”
“You mean your sewing room, Mama,” Skye said. “This is only
a temporary arrangement, remember? Just until we get back on our feet. If my
food truck doesn’t work out, I’ll go back to waiting tables.”
“Baby, the two of you can stay here as long as you want,”
Shawna said. “And to answer your question, no, closing the daycare has been one
of the most difficult things I’ve ever had to do. I’m so used having children
here in the home. After your sweet daddy passed, and then later when you left,
the babies were what brought me through the hard times. That and my
relationship with the Lord, of course. But once my arthritis got so bad that I
couldn’t manage to pick up the little ones anymore it was clear that my time
had come. I couldn’t risk something happening to the children because of my
worsening condition.”
Shawna massaged her wrists, a defeated expression on her
face.
“How is the pain, Mama?” Skye asked. “Is it very bad? Do the
medications help keep it under control?”
“I like to say the meds take the edge off,” Shawna replied.
“But the pain’s still there, and it makes me tired. I’m not used to being
tired, and I hate it. The medications make the fatigue even worse, so I don’t
like to take them unless I get to the point where I have no choice. I suppose I
need to make my peace with aging.”
She looked around the room, a faraway look in her eyes. “The
house has been so quiet without my children, though. Empty. I suppose I’ve been
lonely. Maybe even depressed.”
She turned back to Skye. “Daughter, I hate what happened to
you. But my heart is lifted having you and Ashley back home. I believe God has
a plan for you. Remember your sweet daddy Jeremiah’s birth scripture.
Skye smiled and wiped her cheeks. “Of course, Jeremiah
29:11. ‘For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to
prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.’”
A loud knock sounded from the front of the house.
“Who could that be?” asked Shawna, frowning. “I’m not
expecting one.”
“Wait a minute – where’s Ashley?” Skye asked, following her
mother into the hallway. She stopped to glance into the spare bedroom, which
her mother had used as a craft/ storage room, and bathroom on the way to the
living room.
“She was playing out back when I came inside to make tea,”
Shawna called, hurrying to the foyer. Skye turned to the sliding glass door
that led out to the back patio. She didn’t see Ashley anywhere. A little red
wagon full of dolls sat in the middle of the yard.
“She’s not there,” Skye said, meeting her mother at the
front door, breathless with worry.
Shawna pulled the door open. On the porch stood a tall,
broad-shouldered man with with sandy-colored hair that peeked out from beneath
a cowboy hat. His bright blue eyes were shooting sparks in Skye’s direction at
the moment, which made her almost – but not quite – fail to notice how his
biceps bulged as he crossed his arms over his chest and how his tight jeans sat
low across his slim hips. At the curb sat a large metal-gray pick-up truck.
Suddenly, Ashley stepped out from around the man’s legs and
ran sobbing past Skye and Shawna into the house.
“What’s going on?” Skye asked, heat rising in her cheeks.
“Why is my daughter with you? And pray tell why is she crying? What did you do
to her?”
About the Author
Author Annee Jones writes heartwarming romance and will soon be adding cozy mystery, fantasy/ PNR, suspense, and more to her list of genres since her imagination often runs away with her. She is passionate about writing stories that offer readers a place where dreams come true!
Professionally, Annee works as a disability counselor where she helps her clients navigate through complex medical and legal systems while rediscovering their wholeness in Spirit.
Annee also enjoys freelance writing for Publishers Weekly and multiple publishing companies.
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