Restoring His Heart by Lorraine Beatty

Author:Lorraine Beatty
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Steeple Hill
Published: 2013-09-19T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter Eight

The rain had moved out. For the last two days they’d been able to work and gotten nearly caught up. The new posts had been installed, a perfect match to the originals. Once they were painted no one would be able to distinguish the old from the new. But they were too far behind for her liking, and there was still a lot to do. What concerned her most was the forecast for this afternoon. More rain was on the way.

The last handrail had been secured when the first drop of moisture touched her cheek. She ignored it. It could be sap from the trees overhead. It wasn’t thunder. It was a jet flying over. She frowned and pressed the nail gun against the wood. It couldn’t rain. They didn’t have time for rain.

The light sprinkles sent her heart into the pit of her stomach. She placed the last nail and forced a glance at the sky. If they hurried, they might be able to get this section of spindles in place before the rain shut them down. Yesterday had been a total loss to the weather. Now half of today would be lost, as well.

Suddenly the sky opened up.

“Adam!” Laura grabbed for a tarp, struggling to cover the spindles to keep them dry.

The wind tore it off. Adam appeared at her side, grabbing her by the shoulders.

“We’ve got to get out of here. Lightning.”

“The tarp. Hurry.”

He grabbed the blue plastic and wrestled it over the work table and the now-wet spindles. Laura grabbed the other end and together they managed to tie it down.

“In here.”

Adam propelled her toward the interior of the gazebo where it was shielded from the torrential rain by a curtain of thick tarps on all sides. They’d put them up a few days ago so they could keep working in the drizzle.

Laura pounded a fist against one of the thick turned posts. “I can’t afford this rain.”

“It won’t last long.”

Laura shook her head. “It’s going to last for the next several days. We’re already so far behind we’ll never finish in time for Founder’s Day.”

“We’ve got plenty of time. We’ll make it.”

“Not if those cypress shingles don’t get here soon.” She paced back and forth, arms across her chest. “I can’t believe this is happening. We should be looking at painting and landscaping by now.”

“What happened to the shingles that arrived yesterday?”

Laura pulled off her baseball cap and yanked the clips from her hair. “They were cypress all right, but from 1980, not 1880. I sent them back.”

“But you’ll find the ones you need, right?”

She nodded. “I did, but they’re coming from Savannah. I’m not sure they’ll get here in time.” She bit her lip to keep from crying. What was wrong with her? She’d been emotional for the past few days. The least little thing choked her up.

“Hey,” Adam said softly. “You’ll pull this off. I have faith in you.”

She wanted to cry. Where did he get off saying sweet things like that to her? “Thanks.

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