Walker Bride (10 page)

For the past few months, since Tyson and Eric
had been bonding as brothers, Tyson had been bonding with all
members of the Walker family and Pearl, of course, had caught his
eye.

Oh, he’d played it cool. He’d taken every
dinner invitation extended his way—as a group. When Eric and Susan
had moved back into the house and hosted a party, he’d lurked in
corners all night and stole moments of conversation with Pearl here
and there. And hadn’t she seemed always to have been here and
there—near him?

He drank from the bottle again.

It had been building. Who could blame them
for what had happened?

Tyson let out a long ragged breath as he set
the empty bottle in the bed of the truck, turned, and pushed the
tailgate back up. Whatever there might have been between them, it
was over before it started. They were business partners now and
just as Lydia had said, there was no room in business for—well,
whatever it might have been.

He walked around the truck and pulled open
the door. It was time to head home and dive back into life as he
knew it. Susan and Eric’s wedding was only two weeks away. He
supposed he’d see her then. Things would have died down between
them by then and everything would be normal again. What a shame, he
thought as he started the engine and gripped the steering wheel. He
never did get to see that tattoo on her back.

~*~

The alarm on the nightstand to her right,
buzzed and rattled. Pearl turned and slapped her hand down over the
top of it just as her cell phone buzzed next to it.

She fumbled for the phone and turned off the
secondary alarm.

It was stupid she thought, now laying there
staring at the ceiling in the twilight. It was too damn early to be
up on a Monday morning, but she wasn’t going to chance even not
being stunning, in case Tyson Morgan paid her a visit.

Her heart rattled in her chest and she closed
her eyes. Her mind drifted to yesterday morning when she was under
him, their bodies pressed together. That wouldn’t be a horrible way
to start today either, she thought as she swung her legs over the
edge of the bed and stood up.

Of course, if he didn’t appear on her
doorstep maybe he’d drop by her store. That might be even better.
She was always on her game when she was at work.

Pearl turned on the bathroom light and
started her shower. Today was going to be stellar.

Monday mornings were good for business. Lucky
girls who were proposed to on Friday or Saturday night flooded
Pearl’s store on Monday mornings. There weren’t very many sales,
but there were connections made with these overly excited women.
They would all be back over the next few months, and they’d bring
their excited girlfriends, who would also get married some day.
They would rent their tuxedos for their grooms and their groomsmen.
Of course, the mothers of the bride and groom would also need
dresses. Meeting new brides was one of her favorite things in
business.

During her early afternoon lull, Pearl sat in
her back room, at the small table, having a sandwich from the deli
down the street. On the table, she had her planning notebook, the
one she was recording all new store plans in.

She’d have twice the room at her new
location. There would be room to do multiple fittings if she hired
another person. They could carry twice as many dresses and even
have the tuxes in store. There was so much to think about.

But then her mind wandered to her new
business partner.

Would he come around more? Would he bring
business to them—somehow?

Pearl pressed her fingers to her lips. It was
hard not to think about it when her morning had been filled with
hopeful women who were in love. She’d never been one of
them—hopeful. Men came and went in her life. She shook her head.
Why would Tyson Morgan be any different? They’d only passed through
each other’s lives, really she had nothing to build these fantasies
on, but she couldn’t help herself.

Tyson Morgan wasn’t the kind of man she
usually dated. Those men wore suits and drove fancy cars. They were
clean shaven and well spoken. So what was it with this man who
drove an old farm truck, wore worn out work boots, and a beat up
baseball cap that turned her head? He’d consumed her every thought
since he’d walked into her store on Friday. How much more could she
take of this?

When the bell above the front door chimed,
Pearl’s heart rate shot up. She’d waited all day for him to
appear—was this it?

She fixed her lipstick in the mirror and
walked out to the main room to find Lydia standing there with a
bottle of champagne in her hand and two glasses.

“We close tomorrow!”

Pearl smiled. “Tomorrow?”

She nodded. “My brother gave us enough to
secure the mortgage on the building and do a lot of
renovations.”

“He’ll be meeting us there then?”

Lydia set the glasses on the counter and
began to unwrap the cork. “No, it’s just our names on the title.
The paperwork is being drawn up now by the lawyers for us all to
sign regarding his investment.”

“Oh, well that’s fine then.”

Lydia pulled the cork from the bottle with a
pop! They both laughed as she poured them each a glass.

She picked up the glasses and handed one to
Pearl. “Here’s to partnership.”

“To partnership.” Pearl tipped her glass to
Lydia’s.

“We’re going to make so much damn money,”
Lydia giggled as she sipped her champagne. “Already I have three
women who have called me wondering when the reception hall will be
ready.”

“Three?”

Lydia nodded. “People already know what we’re
doing, and they can’t wait. This is going to be big,” she said
sipping again. “Big.”

Pearl liked the sound of that. She liked
making money, and she loved her job. Hearing Lydia go on about the
plans ahead of them seemed to ease Pearls anxious heart hoping that
Tyson would walk through the door. Suddenly, she had plenty to
think about. There was no room for the distraction of a man right
now—even if he was her partner.

Tuesday afternoon, Pearl met Lydia after work
for celebration drinks and document signing. Wednesday, they met
with the realtor and finalized everything before they signed the
title to their new building on Thursday.

Friday, Pearl walked on air as she pushed
through the front door of her shop. In two months she would be
driving the other direction to work, and she’d be selling wedding
dresses in her new store.

She could hardly remember a time when she’d
been so giddy about anything.

She’d no more turned on the lights when the
front door opened, and a flower delivery man walked through with
the largest bouquet of roses Pearl had ever seen.

“I have a delivery for Miss Pearl
Walker.”

“That’s me,” she said walking toward him.

He handed her his clipboard and indicated the
line she was to sign on. She did so and then took the enormous
bouquet from him before he left.

Who on earth could have sent her these?

She set them on the counter and inhaled their
beautiful smell as she searched for the card.

Congratulations on your new location,
partner.

She checked the envelope for any sign of the
sender. Certainly, it had to be from Lydia. It had been blatantly
obvious that Tyson had no desire to come back around after they’d
their very short interlude over the weekend.

She’d text Lydia and thank her for them. But
before she could retrieve her cell phone from her purse, the store
phone began to ring, the UPS driver began carrying in boxes, a
bridal party arrived to pick up their dresses, and their tuxes, and
then Sunshine walked through the door.

“Good afternoon,” Pearl smiled as she walked
toward her and couldn’t help but pull her in for a hug. “It’s so
nice to see you.”

“Thank you.” Sunshine returned the smile. “I
wanted to bring this to you and thank you again for all you did for
me this past weekend.” She handed Pearl an envelope.

“It was my pleasure.”

“It meant the world to me. You’ll never know
just how thankful I was for what you did.”

“So, how was the wedding?”

Tears pooled in Sunshine’s eyes, but the
smile remained genuine on her lips. “It was better than I could
ever have imagined. I don’t think if I had planned the wedding for
a year it would have been any nicer.”

“That’s wonderful.”

Sunshine nodded to the envelope in Pearl’s
hand. “I had pictures printed for you so you could see the dress
through all the generations. I may be biased, but I think for my
wedding it was the most beautiful.”

Pearl pulled the photos out of the envelope.
The first picture was of Sunshine and her new husband. “You looked
radiant.”

“I did, didn’t I?” she giggled.

The next picture was obviously her parents’
wedding photo. “Your father was military?”

Sunshine nodded. “Wasn’t he handsome in his
uniform?”

“Very.” She lifted her eyes to meet
Sunshine’s. “How is he?”

The color turned in Sunshine’s cheeks, and
the tears were back. “He’s already in hospice. I don’t think he
will be with us much longer. He was very brave on Sunday. It shows
in his eyes.”

“A soldier until the very end.”

“That’s my father,” she said proudly. “We’re
going to wait on a honeymoon and even a reception. Perhaps in the
spring, I’ll feel more like celebrating.”

Pearl thought of telling her about the
reception facility they would have by then, but thought she’d
better wait. With remodeling, you never could be sure how long
things would take to be finished.

She turned her attention back to the
pictures. Just as Sunshine had promised, there were pictures of
different brides at different times in the same dress. What a
beautiful tradition they had passed down she thought. Pearl
realized she’d never even seen her mother’s wedding dress. She
wondered what her mother had ever done with it.

The final photo was Sunshine and her entire
family.

Pearl studied the photo closer. “Phillip
Smythe is related to you?” she asked noticing the man on the outer
edge of the photo.

“You know my uncle?”

Chills traveled down Pearl’s back. “Officer
Smythe is your uncle?”

Sunshine nodded with great enthusiasm. “Isn’t
he a great man?”

Pearl wasn’t sure what she was supposed to
say to that. In fact, she’d never met anyone with a worse
disposition than that man. Rumors had always run wild when it came
to Smythe and how he treated women. And there was simply something
creepy about him. Perhaps it was the way he acted whenever Lydia
was around. She knew Lydia’s take on him. She despised the man.
However, when Officer Douglas Brant kidnapped Pearl’s sister
Bethany, it was Officer Smythe that quickly realized what had
happened, and she credited him with saving Bethany’s life. Well—she
had saved her own life, but things could have been much worse
without Smythe. It was hard to hate him completely.

Knowing she couldn’t gleefully respond to
Sunshine’s comment about her uncle, Pearl slid the photos back into
the envelope and noticed the writing on the front.

“Calligraphy? Did you do this?” she asked
examining the writing.

“Yes. My mother used to do it, and she taught
me. I was going to do it for all of my invitations, but, well, we
didn’t send any out.”

“Would you ever consider doing this? I mean
people are always looking for someone to write up their invitations
and address them. No one has this skill anymore. It’s a lost
art.”

“It is?”

“Yes. You might give it some consideration. I
could certainly pass your name around.”

Sunshine bit down on her lip. “That would be
kind of fun. And after this week, I sure could use something
fun.”

“Give me your phone number. When things
settle down for you, we can talk. Besides, when I move my store,
there will be a lot of new bridal businesses in the same building.
You never know what might happen.”

For the second time in a week, Pearl watched
Sunshine walk out of her store with a smile. It only solidified
that Pearl loved what she did. Not every bride’s story was like
Sunshine’s, in fact, hers was completely rare. But Pearl knew she’d
touched her life, and that meant something.

As she turned back to the counter, she was
met with the beautiful blossoms that filled her store with such
wonderful fragrance.

She’d gone for her phone earlier that morning
to text Lydia, and here it was early afternoon, and it was the
first time she’d had a chance.

Thank you for the roses. That was very
thoughtful. Pearl xoxo

She set her phone on the counter and began
filing the invoices that had accumulated on the counter when Lydia
texted back.

What roses? I didn’t send roses, but I did
talk to the florist that is moving in. I’ll tell you about it. Late
lunch tomorrow after you’re done at work?

Pearl’s skin warmed. They hadn’t been from
Lydia. That meant only one other person could have sent them.

Lunch sounds nice.

Pearl scrolled through her phone and looked
for Tyson’s number, which she didn’t have. She looked at the time.
There were no more appointments for the day, and all of her
deliveries had arrived. It was past four o’clock, and with that,
she decided to take a drive out to the Morgan’s and thank Tyson for
the flowers.

Pearl had decided to drive directly out to
the Morgan’s. She’d never actually been there, but she knew where
she was headed. If you took the first right off the long dirt road,
you went to Tyson’s house. If you kept going you’d end up at her
grandfather’s, well, now it was her uncle’s she supposed. Oh, she’d
heard her father’s side of things. He was hell bent on them selling
the house, but that wasn’t fair, she thought. Her uncle had raised
his family in that house, and he’d been the one to take care of her
grandfather until he passed. Her father hadn’t done anything but
make everyone’s lives miserable. Perhaps a few months ago she would
have stood on her father’s side, had he put up an actual fight.
However, now she wasn’t so sure. The other side of the Walker
family deserved that house and the land they worked. They were a
true family.