In a Mother’s Arms by Jillian Hart & Victoria Bylin

Author:Jillian Hart & Victoria Bylin [Hart, Jillian & Bylin, Victoria]
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2010-01-15T10:37:53+00:00

Chapter Two

Cassie walked the four blocks to Higgins Mercantile with her head high, but the effort made her neck ache. People stared as she passed, but no one smiled or said hello. She knew why. She just didn’t know what to do about it. Maude Drake, an old rival, had been spreading rumors. Cassie had her faults, but she didn’t cheat her customers. Neither had she lived in sin with Luke’s father as Maude had implied.

The thought made her furious. She’d been innocent when she’d married Ryan O’Rourke. Stupid, too. She’d confused charm with character, a mistake she’d never repeat. Gabe had both. Once she’d seen his reasoning, leaving Luke in his care didn’t worry her at all. Her reluctance came from a sense of debt. She already owed him amends for jilting him. Today, when she’d broken down, she’d tried to apologize but he’d cut her off. How could she put the past behind her when it weighed on her every thought?

Sighing, she unlocked the front door of her shop. When she’d first arrived, the display areas had been full of the same clutter she recalled from her childhood. She’d moved it to a storeroom and written to the merchandiser at Russell’s Department Store in Chicago, the place she’d worked as a bookkeeper. The buyer for Russell’s had been enthused about her venture and had approached Jacob Russell himself. The end result had been a business arrangement where Cassie sold Russell goods on consignment. If she succeeded, she and Luke could live comfortably.

Looking at the displays—pretty dishes, shiny cookware—she had dark visions of having to return it unsold. She’d had two customers in a week, but only if she counted both Pastor Hall and Thelma, his wife. Out of habit, Cassie looked at the window where her father had put a chalkboard showing the time he’d be back whenever he left the store. With business so slow, she hadn’t thought to put it up. She ached to go upstairs to her apartment, but instead she took a feather duster from behind the counter and headed for a display of thimbles.

As she swished the ostrich feathers, the doorbell jingled. She looked up and saw Thelma. The minister’s wife had been like a sister to Cassie’s mother. When Bonnie Higgins had died of apoplexy, Thelma had taken Cassie under her wing.

The older woman paused at the dish display. “These are beautiful.”

Cassie loved the fine china. With only Luke at her table, she couldn’t justify buying a set for herself, but she sometimes closed her eyes and imagined a table set for the husband and children she’d never have.

“They’re practical and pretty,” Thelma added. “If the women in this town had a lick of sense, they’d ignore Maude and look for themselves.”

“I wish they would.” Cassie gave the shelf a last flick with the ostrich feathers, then faced Thelma. “I’m sorry about the church window.”

“Of course, you are.”

“Luke will make it right, I promise.”

Thelma’s lips curved into a sad smile. “It’s not easy being a mother, is it?”

“No.

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