Walker Bride (7 page)

Had it meant anything to him? Or had he
written it off as something Pearl Walker just did?

As she started the car, a sudden sea of
loneliness washed over her. She’d missed drinks with Lydia. After
work, Audrey was usually too tired to want to do anything—not that
Pearl had asked too many times.

She sighed. Was that all she could think
about when it came to keeping company?

Susan had moved out to Eric’s and Bethany and
Kent—well they didn’t need her sad company.

Sunshine crossed her mind. Certainly she was
probably with family. They were planning a wedding for
tomorrow.

At that moment, Pearl knew she needed her
mother to take away this loneliness that filled her heart at that
moment. Even that might be a stretch, but she had to try. She just
didn’t want to go home and be alone.

When Cassandra Walker opened the door, a
large glass of wine in her hand, her face didn’t exactly register
excitement seeing Pearl standing on the porch. Concern shadowed her
gaze before a smile finally surfaced on her lips.

“Is everything okay? You didn’t call first.
Is your sister okay? Are you sick?”

“I’m fine, Mom. Can I come in?”

“Oh, yes.” Her mother stepped back, and Pearl
walked through the door.

Any other child might have an open invitation
into their parents’ houses, but Pearl still knocked on the door as
if she were a typical guest. She didn’t even have a key.

“I’m having a glass of wine. Would you like
one?”

Pearl considered it for a moment but decided
against it. “I’ll get myself a glass of water if that’s okay.”

“Of course.”

Pearl walked to the kitchen, her mother close
behind. She opened the cupboard, which housed only four glasses,
four plates, and an array of tea cups.

She took a glass and moved to the
refrigerator to use the water dispenser. All the while her mother
watched her as if she might put something in the wrong place.

“You’re sure everything is okay?” Her
mother’s voice had softened to a warm level. Pearl had been sure it
would come. Her mother had to be eased into everything. As horrible
as it might be, she could sometimes understand why her father felt
the need to stray during their marriage.

“I just had a strange day. I wanted a little
company.”

That moved her mother. She could see the
glistening in her eyes. “That’s very sweet that you came by.”

“Can we sit?” Pearl asked motioning to the
kitchen table.

“Yes. Please.”

Pearl pulled out a chair and waited for her
mother to do the same before she sat down.

“A woman came into the store just as I was
getting ready to close,” she began her story. If she didn’t just
dive in, the awkwardness of working her way into the conversation
might take an hour. “She had been planning on getting married in
six months, but she had just learned that her father had stage four
lung cancer and might not live but a few weeks. She wanted her
dress altered so she could get married tomorrow and he could walk
her down the aisle.”

Her mother nodded slowly as if she were
trying to figure out the meaning of her story. “Did she buy the
dress from you?”

“No. It was a hand-me-down dress she needed
to be altered.”

“She thought you could alter a wedding dress
over night? I don’t understand people.”

Pearl winced. No, she most certainly didn’t
understand people.

“It wasn’t a problem. It was sweet that they
wanted to get married so he could be there. She’s very close to her
father.” It nearly hurt to say that.

“I wonder where they will get married.
Churches are busy on Sundays.”

Pearl stared at her mother. If it weren’t a
damning phrase to herself, she’d label her mother a typical dumb
blonde.

She watched as her mother nearly downed the
glass of wine she’d been carrying around. How in the world had she
thought this was going to be comforting?

The thought then zipped into her head that
she should have driven all the way out to her Aunt Glenda’s house.
Glenda Walker was the epitome of a caring mother. Next time she’d
consider that. The longer drive would be nothing compared to the
discomfort she was feeling in her mother’s house.

Pearl decided this would be an opportunity to
soften the conversation by including her mother—that usually seemed
to work.

“I’m sure they’ll work her in, or she’ll get
married at her house or something. But it got me thinking about how
devastating it would be to lose a parent—or expect to lose
one.”

Her mother nodded. “I can’t imagine my mother
or father dying,” she said. “Daddy set up that trust fund all those
years ago. I don’t know if your grandmother would know how it
works.”

And at that moment, Pearl was sure she’d been
adopted. Seriously, how could her mother be so shallow?

“I’m sure grandma would figure it out.” She
drank down the water in her glass. “Would you like this in the
dishwasher?”

Her mother looked perplexed. “Yes. Alexa will
find it there when she comes to clean.”

“Alexa?”

“My housekeeper,” she said as if she’d had
the same conversation with Pearl a hundred times. Yet Pearl had
never heard of Alexa.

“Why do you have a housekeeper?”

“Don’t you?” She looked offended.

“No. I clean the store and my house.” Pearl
stood, and her mother followed. “Thanks for letting me stop
by.”

“Oh, call ahead next time. I must look a
fright,” she said, leaning in to kiss Pearl on each cheek, but at a
distance.

“I will.”

Pearl left her mother’s house, and once she
was only a block away, the tears began to stream down her cheeks.
She understood that her father was a mess of a man. And the older
she got, she understood her mother was a perfect match for him.

Her brothers’ mother, Naomi, wasn’t quite the
wreck of a woman Pearl’s mother was. Perhaps out of the three women
her father had children with, Naomi was the sanest.

Was it too much to wish that she’d been born
on the other side of the Walker family?

Even though Eric wasn’t Glenda’s blood son,
she treated him as she treated her other four boys. They were loved
and cared for. She was concerned for them, and their future and she
wasn’t afraid to show them how much she loved them—even as
adults.

Glenda doted on her husband, Everett. She had
even become a very intricate part of Susan’s catering company, and
Susan had yet to marry her son.

Even as a child, Pearl remembered wishing
that she lived out in the house on the Walker land. A part of her
felt as though she belonged there.

But it was more than just a name. It was a
feeling when she was at the house.

Glenda baked cookies. Her mother drank wine.
Glenda didn’t have any girls, so when Pearl and Audrey were around,
they’d even play dress-up. Again, her mother drank her wine.

Glenda had made a cake, salad, and bought a
gift when Pearl graduated from high school. Her father had
forgotten to show up, and her mother drank wine.

Maybe it wasn’t too late to ask to be
adopted.

The thought made her laugh and she
desperately needed to laugh.

By the time she’d returned home the tears had
dried. There was a reason she lived alone in town and owned her own
business. It proved that she could be her own person and didn’t
need the Walker name or her parents to help her with anything.

Soon, she and Lydia would be business
partners, and it would be one more notch in her success belt. They
were going to pool their resources and buy a venue that would house
all elements of bridal planning. There would be a kitchen for Susan
to work out of. Bethany had agreed to give floral design a try.
There was a banquet hall where they could have receptions and a
quaint garden where they could have wedding ceremonies.

Pearl had been in touch with a photographer
friend who was interested in renting a space as well. The
possibilities were limitless and the more she thought about it, the
giddier she became. Timing was just right too. Her lease on her
shop was up, and she hadn’t renewed it because Lydia said nothing
could go wrong. Pearl felt that in her heart too. This was the time
to change everything.

As she put the car in park outside her house,
she let out a long cleansing breath. Though her mind zipped about
with possibilities for her and Lydia, her body was exhausted. She
was ready to rest her head on her pillow and forget the day.

But as she stepped out of the car and locked
the doors, she thought about Sunshine walking into her store. A
pang of jealousy ripped right through her, stealing the momentary
delight she’d just had envisioning the future.

It was wrong to envy Sunshine, but she
couldn’t help it.

Pearl realized that she wanted to feel as
connected to her family, as Sunshine was to hers, that to lose one
of them would shatter her. And wouldn’t it be nice to be loved
enough by someone, that they’d marry you the next day if you wanted
to?

Sunshine was a very lucky woman, and she knew
it too.

The weight of the day landed on Pearl’s
shoulders. She’d never have a relationship with her parents like
Sunshine had with hers. Not everyone was meant to, she supposed.
And she was damn sure no man would ever want to marry her. Walker
women were messes.

With that sad thought, she unlocked the front
door to her quiet and dark house.

***

Tyson sat on the tailgate of the farm pickup
and watched the sunrise with a mug of coffee in his hands. He’d
been getting up long before the rooster for most of his life, and
his payment had been watching sunrises.

There was something tranquil in watching a
dark sky lighten and then glow in bright hues of reds, oranges, and
yellows. The sound of footsteps drew his attention away from the
glorious painting happening before him.

The approaching figure didn’t startle him. It
had grown to be an often event that his sister walked up on him and
shared in the silent glory with him.

“I thought you were in town at Mom’s.”

She cradled a mug in her hands. As she neared
the truck, she handed him the mug and in one quick jump, she landed
next to him on the tailgate. Taking her mug, she sipped the coffee
that steamed.

“I was. Couldn’t relax. Couldn’t sleep. So I
drove back out here very, very, early this morning,” she
groaned.

“I never heard you.”

“I said it was early.”

Tyson watched as the grand ball of yellow
began to encompass the horizon. Soon the sky would just be light,
and the magnificent color celebration would be over. Usually, he’d
watch and talk later, but he wondered what had his sister so
tense.

“What’s on your mind?”

She sipped her coffee again as if she were
gathering her thoughts. “The new property we’re acquiring.”

It was nature to shake his head. “This is the
one you and Pearl are buying?”

She nodded. “It’s more than just a property.
It would be a wedding mecca.”

He couldn’t help but chuckle. “A mecca?”

“Yeah,” she said on an optimistic sigh. But
when she didn’t say anything else he knew there was something about
this mecca that wasn’t sitting right with his sister.

“And what’s wrong with it?”

She looked up at him. Her dark eyes narrowed
on him, and she raked her hand through her short crop of hair. “You
just assume?”

“You have tells. What’s up?”

“We have tenants already. So it’ll have
income right off. But it looks like there’s going to need to be
more work done to it than we’d expected. It’s going to eat up the
budget faster than anticipated.”

“So maybe it’s not the right time to
buy.”

She shook her head. “I can’t let this go. Do
you know what the wedding industry brings in every year?”

“Do you?”

She gave him a punch on the arm, then
strangled her coffee mug with both hands. “People will pay nearly
ten thousand dollars for a wedding. Sometimes more. If you can get
them to drop all ten thousand in one place, you’re golden.”

“And then you hope they divorce and do it all
over again?”

She shrugged. “Some will.”

“Yep, doesn’t even sound like something to be
optimistic about.” He gave her a nudge. “So what’s the real
problem?”

“Money,” she answered quickly.

“Ask Grandpa,” he was quick with his
answer.

She let out a threatened gasp. “No. Never.
Not in a million years. I’ll figure it out.”

“Do you need another loan?”

“I’m too stretched out on loans, and all of
Mom’s assets are in the Garden Room.”

“So you bought into the Garden Room, that
restaurant we had dinner in a few months back…”

“I sold that share.”

“Okay,” he said grinning at her business
sense. “Now this? What kind of money do you need?”

She winced. “More than Pearl and I have.”

“And you can’t ask her dad for money. He owes
everyone else.”

She nodded. “We need another partner.”

Tyson rubbed the stubble on his chin. “What
about Bethany? Doesn’t she…”

“She has nothing. She’s still paying off some
of her mom’s debts.”

“That sucks.”

“We either find another investor or we have
to back out. That’s it. But we have to do it and get going in the
next two months if we commit. Pearl’s lease is up then, and she
held off on signing an extension.” Now she lifted her eyes up to
him in a near plea. “We need another partner.”

He knew where she was going with this, and he
wasn’t sure he was interested. They each had a trust fund set up
from their father’s inheritance. Their mother had invested most of
her share of his inheritance in businesses that were thriving. But
even thriving businesses still needed a reserve, he understood
that.