Lavender Morning (22 page)

a cave.”

“I can’t afford a new—”

Luke put his hand up. “Let my dad worry about this. He’s going to love this whole project.” He started for

the door but stopped and looked back at her. “Just so you know,” he said softly, “Ramsey is heading toward a

proposal. He only takes women he wants to marry out to the land where he wants to build a house.” Luke

glanced around the hallway of Joce’s house. “Or a weekend retreat.”

“And that would be how many women?”

He smiled at her. “I’d like to say dozens, but it’s only been one other woman.”

“So why didn’t he marry her?”

“That’s not my business to tell,” he said.

“That’s just what Ramsey said about you.”

“And what did you ask him about me?”

She opened her mouth to tell him, but closed it. If Luke didn’t know that Ramsey paid his salary, she

wasn’t going to tell him. “Nothing.”

“Good,” Luke said as he looked her up and down. “Go take a shower and change those fancy clothes. I

think you’re going to be baking cupcakes for a few days.”

She watched him drive away, then closed the door, and for a moment she leaned against it and thought

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3/16/2010 e watched him drive away, then closed the door, and for a mo

Jude Deveraux - Lavender Morning.html ment she leaned against it and thought

about the last few days. So much had happened that it was a blur to her. In the next minute she was running up

the stairs to her bathroom. When she glanced in the mirror, she saw that most of her eye makeup was under her

eyes, and she realized she’d looked like that for most of the time she’d been with Luke. Smiling, she got in the

shower and thought about what she’d said to his mother. Had it been Ramsey’s mother, she would have been

ladylike, but she could joke with Luke’s mother.

She showered, then put on jeans and a T-shirt. By the time she was dressed, a car was pulling into her

drive. She looked out the window and saw a man get out. Even from above she could see that he was an older

version of Luke: handsome, gray haired, tall, and he looked like a man who was ready to do business. She ran

down the stairs so fast she opened the door before he could knock.

“So you’ve come to organize me,” she said, her face serious.

He didn’t crack a smile. “Get out of line and I start shouting.”

“And if I behave?”

“I’ll make Luke put in that herb garden he conned you into for free.”

With that, she gave him an elaborate bow. “Your wish is my command, oh master.”

His eyes widened. “I’ve waited all my life to hear a woman say those words. Will you marry me?”

“I’ll put you on my list,” she said, smiling as she headed toward the kitchen. “Come and see my stove. It’s

so old I’m going to sell it on eBay for a million dollars.”

“It’s not too old, as I sold it to Miss Edi’s brother about forty years ago.”

Jocelyn stopped walking. “You sell appliances?”

“I did until about three years ago. I can get some killer discounts on most anything you want.”

“Do you want sex or money?” she asked solemnly.

“Let me check with my wife on that.” He was smiling as he followed her into the kitchen.

10

I
T TOOK LUKE two hours to get everything under way with his parents. His mother took over the telephone

lines, calling people in two counties to tell them about the party that Saturday. She made it sound as though

Jocelyn had just arrived from Brussels and was an internationally renowned pastry chef.

Luke went to his father and said only half a dozen words before the man was out the door, ready to take

over the organizing of anything, anytime, anywhere. He really was lost without a job to occupy fifty hours of his

week. All Luke had to say was that Jocelyn’s old stove was broken, and Jim Connor had his cell phone out.

Luke wondered if Joce would get a Wolf or a Viking range within the next twenty-four hours.

As Luke left the house, he reminded his mother that she should call Rams’s sister, Viv, and tell her about

the party, being as it was going to be at her house. Since Viv hadn’t even called Jocelyn yet, it was going to be a

surprise to be told that on Saturday she was hosting a party for heaven only knew how many guests.

Luke went to his house, put on a freshly ironed shirt and khaki trousers, then got his BMW out of the

garage. He was going to go see his grandfather David, and he knew that he’d get more information out of the

man if he was dressed in something other than jeans and a dirty T-shirt.

Granpa Dave loved to tell Luke that he couldn’t understand why, with all his education, he didn’t dress in

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something clean. “If you have to be a gardener, at least look like a landscaper,” he’d said a hundred times.

Nana Mary Alice would tell her husband to stop it, but it didn’t matter. Granpa Dave was old school, and

he believed in always looking one’s best.

Luke always got along perfectly with his other grandfather, his father’s father, a man who other people liked

to stay away from. His never-ending bad temper put people off, but not Luke. He’d always been happiest with

his grandfather as they fished together, watched sports on TV, or just rode together in a truck. It was Grandpa

Joe who got him out of punishments when Luke got into trouble in high school. Luke had always been highspirited and hated it when he was told what to do and how to do it. His teachers wanted him to obey without so

much as a question, but Luke always had his own ideas about how things should be done.

One time Luke had a fight with the football coach that threatened to get him kicked off the team. His father

had been so angry he’d sent Luke to his room at ten o’clock in the morning and told him to stay there until he

could figure out what to do with him. At noon, Granpa Joe appeared at the window of Luke’s second-floor

bedroom. He was on a ladder. He didn’t say a word, just lent Luke a hand as they went down the ladder, then

to the lake to spend the rest of the day fishing. At six that evening, Luke was back in his room, and when his

father came in, he didn’t know that his own father had taken Luke out.

It had always been like that with Granpa Joe, but not with his mother’s father. Besides being a doctor,

Granpa Dave was a deacon at church, a Mason, and beloved by everyone.

But for Luke, there had never been the closeness that he’d had with his other grandfather.

Luke drove onto Highway 5, into Williamsburg, then into the Governor’s Land at Two Rivers. It was an

upscale country club community, with 60 percent of the land left open for its residents to use. Best of all, there

was a huge golf course that his grandfather played on nearly every day. As he knew he would be, Luke found his

grandfather on the course, at the fifth tee.

“I wondered when you were going to come see me,” David Aldredge said as he looked down the green.

“So how is she?”

“Who?” Luke asked. “Do you mean your daughter? My mother?”

David swung, and the ball went flying in exactly the direction he wanted it to. “If you want to play games,

this is going to take a long time. Shall we start again? How is she?”

When his grandfather started walking, Luke hoisted the big golf bag. His grandfather didn’t believe in carts

or caddies—but he did believe in young, healthy grandsons carrying the golf bag. “I guess you mean Jocelyn,”

Luke said.

“I heard that was her name, but not living in Edilean anymore, I don’t get all the gossip I used to. However,

I did hear that you’ve been spending pretty much all your time with her. Some people were saying you’re even

spending your nights there.”

“People talk too much and they tell lies.”

“So it’s Ramsey who’s been sleeping with her.”

“He has not!” Luke said. “Rams has only been—” He broke off as he glanced at his grandfather. “I think

there’s an eleventh commandant that says grandparents aren’t allowed to ridicule their grandkids.”

“I’ll tell you a little-known secret. On the day the first grandkid is born, we get a handbook that says we get

to do whatever we want to the kid just to torture our own children.”

“I can’t wait to read the book.”

“At your age, you may be too old to get children, much less grandchildren.”

“Gramps, you’re making me feel so much better.”

“Always happy to oblige,” David said as he stopped where his ball had landed. “So what’s made you so

gloomy today?”

Luke put his hands in his pants pockets. “Nothing. No one. Just thought I’d stop by and see you.”

David hit the ball hard, sent it sailing, then looked at his grandson as they started walking. “Okay, so tell me

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what she’s like.”

“You mean Jocelyn?”

“Yeah, Rams’s girlfriend. What’s she like?”

“She’s not—” Again, Luke took a breath. “Remind me to get you yet another tie for Christmas. Something

really ugly. Jocelyn is nice.”

“That’s it? She’s ‘nice’? So where’s the passion? You don’t want to jump her bones?”

“Vulgar grandparents make me queasy.”

“Oh, right. Your generation knows all about sex, but mine doesn’t. For your information, your grandmother

and I—”

Luke put his hand up. “Don’t even think of recounting what you and Mary Alice Welsch did. That story is

still being told fifty years later.”

“Forty years,” David said.

“Sixty-three, but who’s counting?”

David leaned on his club and looked at his grandson. “Okay, so what’s eating you so bad that you left tilling

the soil to come all the way into Williamsburg?”

“It’s just ten miles.”

“Ten miles that you don’t make very often,” David said as he swung at the ball and hit it perfectly, then said

quietly, “Has she asked about me yet?”

“No, not yet, but today she was pretty upset. Seems that Miss Edi left her no money.”

“I know. Alex supported her. Or, rather, he subsidized Bertrand, and gave Edi money to give away.”

“That’s what Ramsey’s dad told him. Rams handles the legal work, but he didn’t know about there being

no money.”

“Yeah, well, we all agreed to lie to the second generation. Ben should have got the truth from his father

before he died.”

“I think he tried to, but Uncle Alex wouldn’t tell.” Luke gave his grandfather a hard look as they walked.

“So what
is
the truth?”

“There are some things that I’m not about to tell. Some things are better left alone.” He put up his hand

when Luke started to speak. “What happened back then has nothing to do with today.”

“Except that Jocelyn has no money.”

“So? Who of us had at that age?”

“She has a monster of a house to take care of, and the thing eats greenbacks.”

“So let her marry Ramsey. He’s rich.”

“But—” Luke broke off without finishing his sentence.

“But what?” his grandfather asked. “Don’t you think they’re a good match? Ramsey’s money with the

Harcourt house. It couldn’t be better.”

“I’m not sure she and Ramsey are good together.”

“From what I hear, they were made for each other. Her pearls match his ties. They’ll make that house into

a showplace. It’ll rival the best in Williamsburg for perfection.”

“Perfection. Who wants that?” Luke put his hands in his pockets as his grandfather hit another ball. “They’ll

probably put a swimming pool in and never let their kids play in the pond.”

“That pond always was a nasty, dirty thing,” David said as he started walking. “The bottom three feet of it

are probably all duck poop.”

“Yeah? Maybe I’ll dredge it and get some fertilizer.”

“My point exactly. Who wants to let their kids swim around in manure?”

“It never hurt me,” Luke said, sounding sulky even to himself.

“You were an oddity, my dear boy. You loved the outdoors.”

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“Y

3/16/2010 ou were an oddity, my dear boy. You loved the outdoors.”

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“So did Ramsey when he was a kid.”

“No, he tolerated it. Ramsey was always neat and clean. When you played in the mud you jumped in and

wallowed. Ramsey—”

“Carefully made little mud pies.”

“Just what I said. He and Jocelyn are perfect for each other. Their house will be beautiful, and their children

will be clean and well mannered.”

“Why does that sound so awful to me?” Luke mumbled.

“I have no idea.”

Luke looked at his grandfather closely. “Are you laughing at me?”

“Great, huge horse laughs. I’m whooping it up at your expense. I’m not sure when I’ve had such a good

time.”

“Thanks, Gramps, you’re a really great guy. You’ve made my day.”

“You’re welcome. Any time you want to make a fool of yourself, you let me know. I can always use a

good laugh.”

He put his club in the bag Luke was holding. “That’s it. We’re going to have lunch and talk.”

“Talk? Any more of your ‘talk’ and you’ll have to prescribe anti-depressants for me. Besides, it’s after four

and too late for lunch.”

David squinted his eyes at his grandson. “If you don’t stop that attitude, I’ll take you home to Mary Alice

and tell her you’re depressed and she’ll pester you until you start telling her about your childhood traumas
and

about Ingrid.”

At that name, Luke turned several shades lighter and took a step backward.