Reason and Romance: A Contemporary Retelling of Sense and Sensibility by Debra White Smith

Author:Debra White Smith
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Contemporary Romance;FIC042040;FIC027020;FIC042000
ISBN: 9781493414185
Publisher: Baker Publishing Group
Published: 2018-04-05T16:00:00+00:00

Nineteen

The next morning Elaina walked up the country lane that led to Jeanna and Noah’s home. The cold air entered her lungs with invigorating crispness as she pumped her legs in rapid rhythm. Before Elaina left her duplex for the party last night, Margaret had called and asked her to spend the night at the cottage. Elaina agreed and had shamelessly enjoyed her mother’s pampering this morning—right down to the homemade biscuits and fresh-squeezed orange juice. The taste of blackberry jelly and decaf coffee still lingered on her tongue. The smell of chimney smoke tingeing the air increased Elaina’s sense of well-being.

She gazed across the rolling hills and trees. A thick frost glittered in the eight o’clock sun like powdered sugar sprinkled with fairy dust. A lone red bird sat on one of the wooden fence posts that marked the Harleys’ vast land holding—an inheritance from Jeanna’s parents. The bird chirped and then fluttered in front of Elaina, its red feathers radiant against the snowy frost.

Elaina had been up since six-thirty and was showered and dressed by seven. Anna’s door hadn’t even been open when Elaina went downstairs for breakfast. She vaguely remembered hearing her sister’s bedroom door bumping closed at two o’clock in the morning.

What Anna was doing out so late was anybody’s guess; Elaina guessed it was some things that would have made their father ill. Part of Elaina hoped Willis would do the honorable thing and marry Anna. Then reason set in. Even if he marries her, will he stay true? Elaina suspected that Anna, in her romantic frenzy, would be furious to know that her sister even doubted Willis’s constancy. But Elaina had seen too many female gazes linger upon him last night. A few times Willis looked back.

As good-looking as he is, women probably ogle him all day long, Elaina thought, and he probably eats it up.

The longer she dwelled on her sister, the more uptight Elaina became. Finally, Bryan’s wisdom pierced her exasperation: “She’s got to make her own decisions, and you’ve got to let her.”

Elaina focused ahead. The brick posts that marked the driveway to the Harley’s sprawling brick home stood twenty feet ahead. When Elaina reached the posts, she pivoted and began the half-mile trek back to the cottage. With the turn, Elaina purposed to dismiss all thoughts of Anna. There was nothing she could do. If she said anything else to her sister it would only make her more angry.

With that decision, Elaina’s mind began to wander to Bryan’s phone call last night. She idly wondered where they found his niece, and hoped Macy hadn’t gotten involved in drugs or sex as so many runaways did.

The sound of a vehicle cruising close prompted Elaina to look over her shoulder. The sea-green Town Car’s honk accompanied someone wildly waving from the passenger seat. Elaina waved back and detected the passenger was Lorna Starr. Suppressing a groan, she suspected that Jeanna’s car must have been close when she turned at the brick posts. Elaina had been so engrossed in thoughts of Anna she had missed it.

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