The Girl From Summer Hill by Deveraux Jude

Author:Deveraux, Jude [Deveraux, Jude]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Romance, Contemporary, Adult, Humour
ISBN: 9781101883266
Amazon: 110188326X
Goodreads: 26067192
Publisher: Ballantine Books
Published: 2016-05-03T07:00:00+00:00

“Hello,” Olivia said.

Casey was putting buckets and mixing bowls in the utility truck. After she and Tate got back, she’d asked to borrow the truck so she could try to find where fruit was growing. He’d warned her to watch out for the livestock, then they’d kissed goodbye, and he’d run to the Big House and the trainer.

“Enjoying your day off?”

The thought of just how much she’d been enjoying the day sent blood rushing to Casey’s face. “So far, it’s been one of the best days of my life. What about you?”

Olivia smiled. “I take it you spent the morning with the master of the plantation.”

“I did,” she said.

“Judging by the new scratches on your forearms, I’d say that you were at the back of the property.”

Casey looked at her in shock. “I forget that you grew up in Summer Hill. Did you spend a lot of time on Tattwell?”

“In the summer of 1970, I was the housekeeper for Uncle Freddy. He wasn’t my uncle, but everyone called him that. What are you doing with all these containers?”

“I’m going to search for food. Tate drove us around this morning and I saw several possibilities. It’s early in the season, but I think there are a few things I can preserve. You wouldn’t like to go with me, would you?”

“I’d love to.”

As they got into the little truck, Casey focused on Olivia. She wasn’t sure, but she thought maybe she’d been crying. “Everything okay at home?”

“Fine,” Olivia said. “Did you check the cherry trees? A few of them used to bear fruit very early.”

“Tell me where they are.”

Olivia gave directions and Casey drove.

“It’s changed so much since I was here,” Olivia said. “All of this used to be beautifully kept. Uncle Freddy gave jobs to so many people in Summer Hill—which is probably why he died broke.”

There was a sadness in her voice that made Casey frown. Earlier, Casey had been so happy that she called her mother to tell her everything—well, maybe not all of it. Her mother had been delivering a baby, though, and couldn’t talk.

But now Casey didn’t feel right talking about her happiness when Olivia looked so forlorn. And she had an idea that her daughter-in-law, Hildy, was behind it. Why in the world was Olivia living in the same house as that rude young woman? Maybe she could find out by starting at the beginning. “Were you madly in love with your late husband?”

Olivia let out a loud laugh. “No, I wasn’t.”

“Oh,” Casey said.

“Turn here. I shouldn’t have said that. I did come to love him, but when I married him I didn’t love him at all.”

Before them were half a dozen cherry trees, some of them dead, all of them in desperate need of pruning. There wasn’t much fruit, but there was some. Casey turned off the engine. “I’ll get what I can while you tell me the story.”

Olivia seemed to consider that for a moment. “All right,” she said as she got out of the truck.

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