Read Where Azaleas Bloom Online
Authors: Sherryl Woods
Where Azaleas Bloom
New York Times
and
USA TODAY
bestselling author Sherryl Woods explores the healing power of
a love strong enough to join two wounded families
Single mom Lynn Morrow is determined to put food on the table
for her son and daughter. Her soon-to-be-ex-husband has failed to meet his
obligations time and again—but it turns out that Ed is struggling with his own
demons.
Enter contractor Mitch Franklin, an unlikely knight in
shining armor. A widower with two grieving sons, Mitch once admired Lynn from
afar. Now he sees in her not only the sweet girl who got away, but a woman
desperately in need of support. While rushing to the rescue of Lynn and her
children comes naturally, he’s also wise enough to encourage Lynn to find her
own way…hopefully straight into his arms.
Praise for the novels of Sherryl Woods
“Woods…is noted for appealing, character-driven stories that
are often infused with the flavor and fragrance of the South.”
—
Library Journal
“Woods always thrills with her wonderful characters, witty
dialogue and warm and loving family interactions.”
—
RT
Book Reviews
“Charming characters combine to create the interfering yet
lovable O’Brien family…a satisfying, heartwarming conclusion to the Chesapeake
Shores series.”
—
RT Book Reviews
on
The Summer Garden
“Infused with the warmth and magic of the season, Woods’s
fourth addition to her popular, small-town series once again unites the unruly,
outspoken, endearing O’Brien clan in a touching, triumphant tale of forgiveness
and love reclaimed.”
—
Library Journal
on
A Chesapeake Shores Christmas
“A whimsical, sweet scenario…the digressions have their own
charm, and Woods never fails to come back to the romantic point.”
—
Publishers Weekly
on
Sweet Tea at
Sunrise
“Woods’ readers will eagerly anticipate her trademark
small-town setting, loyal friendships and honorable mentors as they meet new
characters and reconnect with familiar ones in this heartwarming
tale.”
—
Booklist
on
Home in Carolina
“Redolent with Southern small-town atmosphere, this emotionally
rich story deals with some serious issues and delivers on a number of
levels.”
—
Library Journal
on
A Slice of Heaven
Also by
New
York Times
and
USA
TODAY
bestselling author Sherryl
Woods
CATCHING FIREFLIES*
MIDNIGHT PROMISES*
THE
SUMMER GARDEN***
AN O’BRIEN FAMILY CHRISTMAS***
BEACH
LANE***
MOONLIGHT COVE***
DRIFTWOOD COTTAGE***
RETURN TO ROSE
COTTAGE†
HOME AT ROSE COTTAGE†
A CHESAPEAKE SHORES
CHRISTMAS***
HONEYSUCKLE SUMMER*
SWEET TEA AT SUNRISE*
HOME IN
CAROLINA*
HARBOR LIGHTS***
FLOWERS ON MAIN***
THE INN AT EAGLE
POINT***
WELCOME TO SERENITY*
SEAVIEW INN
MENDING
FENCES
FEELS LIKE FAMILY*
A SLICE OF HEAVEN*
STEALING
HOME*
WAKING UP IN CHARLESTON
FLIRTING WITH DISASTER
THE BACKUP
PLAN
DESTINY UNLEASHED
FLAMINGO DINER
ALONG CAME
TROUBLE**
ASK ANYONE**
ABOUT THAT MAN**
ANGEL MINE
AFTER
TEX
*A Sweet Magnolia Novel
**Trinity
Harbor
***Chesapeake Shores
†The Rose Cottage Sisters
Look for Sherryl Woods’s next original
novel
CASTLE’S BY THE SEA
Available May 2013
Where Azaleas Bloom
Dear Friends,
So many people have been hit by hard economic times in recent
years, but I’ve been particularly touched by women whose dire financial
situation has been tied to a divorce. I wanted to write about one woman’s
determination to get her family back on solid ground…and the hero who’s just as
determined to stand by her. That theme, I thought, made a perfect Sweet Magnolia
story, an example of the difficult periods in life when good friends can make
all the difference.
Where Azaleas Bloom
focuses on
Lynn Morrow, neighbor to Carter and Raylene. So many of you have asked to read
more about them and how they’re doing since their marriage. It was a great way
to put them front and center again, too. As books often do for me, this one took
a surprising twist at the end, a twist that only adds to the complications faced
by this struggling single mom.
I hope you’ll be rooting for Lynn and her kids and that
you’ll fall just a little bit in love with Mitch Franklin, a man wise enough to
let her find her own way, but strong enough to be there if she falters.
Observant readers will remember that Mitch appeared in the very first Sweet
Magnolia book,
Stealing Home.
He’s the contractor
who built The Corner Spa.
I hope you enjoy this wrap-up to the latest trilogy and that
you’ll also be looking for
The Sweet Magnolias Cookbook,
in stores now, too.
All best,
Sherryl
1
L
ynn Morrow was at her wit’s end. Her tiny
desk tucked into a corner of the kitchen was piled high with bills and her
checkbook balance was a stunningly low $24.35. Not since college had she seen
such a scary balance.
The refrigerator held a half-empty carton of milk, five eggs
and some rapidly wilting lettuce. There was a can of diced tomatoes in the
cupboard, along with a box of spaghetti, a few spoonfuls of peanut butter left
in a jar and maybe a bowlful of Cheerios in the bottom of the box. That, too,
reminded her of college. But it was one thing to scrape by at nineteen, and
quite another to try to do it in her forties with kids to care for.
“Mom, I’m starving,” Jeremy announced when he walked in the
door from school. It was the standard cry of her ten-year-old. “What can I have
for a snack?”
Lexie, who was right on his heels, took one look at her mother,
apparently interpreted her dire expression for the near-panic Lynn was feeling,
and turned on her brother. “You don’t need food. You need sensitivity
training.”
Tears sprang to Lynn’s eyes as Jeremy bolted from the room.
Lately, Alexis, who was only fourteen, had spent way too much time trying to
protect her mother. Ever since the divorce proceedings had been initiated, Lynn
had been struggling to make ends meet. She and Ed were still in court wrangling
over everything from custody of the kids to support. The temporary order in
place barely kept her and the kids above water and, by the end of the month, she
was scraping bottom financially, even with the part-time job she’d managed to
find at her neighbor Raylene’s boutique on Serenity’s Main Street.
One of these days she supposed she’d thank Ed for providing
this unexpected life challenge, but she really, really wasn’t there yet. She was
spitting mad, not because he’d left, but because of the upheaval he’d left in
his wake.
She’d worked hard to keep her worries from spilling over onto
the kids, but Lexie was a smart girl. She’d quickly figured out what was going
on. Sometimes her overnight transformation from carefree teen into world-weary
adult nearly broke Lynn’s heart. Lexie should be paying attention to her grades,
maybe having her first crush on a boy, not trying to be her mother’s savior.
Now, with her brother gone in an indignant huff, Lexie came
over to give Lynn a hug. She seemed to know instinctively just when Lynn was in
desperate need of one.
“Dad’s late with the check again, isn’t he? How bad is it?”
Lexie asked.
Lynn tried to reassure her. “We’re going to be fine, sweetie. I
don’t want you to worry about this.”
“We’re not going to be
fine,
” Lexie
retorted angrily. “How did Dad turn out to be such a huge jerk?”
Lynn wondered about the same thing, but somehow Ed had turned
into a man she didn’t even recognize any longer. He’d taken his midlife crisis
to new heights. He was self-absorbed, self-indulgent and thoughtless.
His family might not have enough money to put food on the
table, but she’d overheard a conversation two days ago when it was mentioned
that he was off on some expensive golf vacation, his third in the past six
months. The wife of one of his business associates apparently hadn’t realized
Lynn was nearby when she’d made her remarks about Ed’s latest spending spree. Or
perhaps she had, Lynn thought cynically.
“Don’t talk about your father that way,” she admonished Lexie
now, albeit halfheartedly. She didn’t want her children to start hating their
father, but she wasn’t quite prepared to sing his praises, either. Every single
day felt like a balancing act between her own ragged emotions and her children’s
needs. No matter how upbeat she pretended to be, lately it seemed she wasn’t
fooling anyone.
Lexie’s eyes filled with tears, though it was impossible to
tell if she was reacting to Lynn’s stern admonition or to her own panic. “It’s
really bad, isn’t it?”
“Bad enough,” Lynn admitted carefully. She gave Lexie’s hand a
squeeze. “But this is a temporary blip, sweetheart. It will get sorted out. I
promise.”
“Are we going to have to move?” Lexie asked, giving voice to
what was obviously her greatest fear.
Lynn wasn’t one to sugarcoat bad news, though she’d hoped to
have a plan in place before revealing the sad truth. “More than likely,” she
said quietly.
Though she’d been counting on Helen Decatur-Whitney, who was
fierce when it came to getting the best possible settlement for her clients, she
also knew that even Helen couldn’t work miracles. Still, she tried to reassure
her daughter. “Hopefully, Helen will be able to work this out in court before it
comes to that, but I won’t lie to you—giving up the house is a real
possibility.”
“But I love it here,” Lexie protested with a sniff. “It’s a
great house and my best friend lives right next door.” Then, apparently seeing
something in Lynn’s face, she squared her shoulders. “But it’ll be okay.” She
gave her mother a plaintive look that nearly shredded what was left of Lynn’s
heart. “Won’t it?”
“As long as you, Jeremy and I are together, it will be okay,”
she vowed.
She would do everything in her power to see that it was. Right
now, though, with unpaid bills and little money, she was feeling pretty darn
powerless. For a woman who’d always felt confident and in control, that was a
new sensation, one she didn’t much like. Just one more thing to lay at Ed’s feet
when she was doling out blame.
* * *
Contractor Mitch Franklin had been working on a new
addition for Raylene and Carter Rollins for a few weeks now. He’d started in
late fall, taken only a brief break during the holidays, and was hoping to have
every interior detail finished for them in time for the annual Memorial Day
party the couple hosted for all their friends. Normally, winters in Serenity
tended to be mild with only a few days when the weather was too bad for
construction, but this year had been a nasty exception with bitter cold and more
snow and ice storms than he could remember in a lifetime here in South Carolina.
While the snow and ice seldom lasted, he was still further behind schedule than
he liked.
With various other jobs he was finishing up—mostly interior
work—Mitch was proud that he’d kept his crew working enough to put paychecks in
their pockets. Now, though, the crunch was on to get this addition built. To
keep costs in check he had his men working the usual number of hours, but he’d
gotten into the habit of putting in a lot of overtime. He had a reputation for
bringing his jobs in on time and he didn’t want this to be an exception.
Of course, there were other things motivating him, as well. For
one thing, Raylene was an amazing cook, who usually invited him to join the
family for a meal if he was still hanging around at dinnertime. For another, his
home felt way too empty without his wife, who’d been killed by a drunk driver a
year ago. It had been bad enough with his two boys away at school, but with Amy
gone, too, he could barely stand to be in his house even to sleep. The bed he’d
shared with his wife for twenty-two years was way too cold and lonely.
His sons were exactly where they needed to be, in college and
living their lives, but he was at loose ends way more than he liked. Raylene,
Carter and Carter’s younger sisters were filling a huge, gaping hole in Mitch’s
life. He suspected that Raylene understood that.
He looked up when Raylene wandered into the midst of what would
eventually be a new family room with soaring windows and a spectacular stonework
fireplace.
“Thought I told you not to come in here without a hard hat,” he
scolded pointlessly. To his everlasting dismay, she did whatever she liked.
She’d been that way as far back as he could remember, though it seemed she’d
gone a little crazy now that she’d recovered from her agoraphobia and was
getting out of the house and around town again. Seemed to him that she’d gotten
a little reckless.
“I can’t help sneaking in every chance I get,” she said,
looking around, her expression filled with delight. “You’re making such
incredible progress, Mitch, and it really is going to be amazing. I usually
don’t like to rush the seasons, but I can hardly wait for Memorial Day to have
everyone over.”
Mitch wasn’t used to people who threw parties at the drop of a
hat, but he’d noticed that Raylene and her husband, Police Chief Carter Rollins,
and their friends looked for any excuse to get together.
“You talking about that Sweet Magnolia crew you hang out with?”
he asked. “Didn’t you have them all poking around in here right before the
holidays, some kind of celebration when that bullying situation at the high
school was resolved?”
“What can I say? That seems like eons ago and we’re a curious
bunch. Maybe it’s time I invite them over for another sneak peek. They couldn’t
really tell what was happening back then. Mostly it was a demolition mess with
the new building materials piled everywhere. Just look at it now! You can
already tell how fantastic it’s going to be.”
He frowned at her. “Promise me you won’t have them poking
around in here until I give the word that it’s safe,” he insisted, knowing he
was probably wasting his breath. “Even if my guys are off the job, there are
things people can trip over or send crashing down on someone’s head. And the
electrician still has some work left to do.”
She laughed. “I was just teasing you. I know how you hate
people tramping all over your work site, myself included.”
“Then why do you do it? Just to annoy me?”
“Nope. I figure it’s really
my
work
site, so I get special privileges.”
He shook his head. “Know who you sound like? Maddie Maddox. I
swear that woman almost gave me a heart attack when we were doing the
renovations for The Corner Spa.” He glanced at Raylene. “You knew we did those,
right?”
“Of course. Maddie recommended you.”
“Well, she insisted on sitting right there, practically in the
middle of the chaos, the whole time we were working. Said she had things to get
done. I have no idea how she could think, much less work with all that hammering
and whatnot going on. It makes me a little crazy, and I’m used to it.”
“When Maddie’s motivated, I suspect there’s not much that can
deter her,” Raylene said.
“She’s a real pistol, all right,” Mitch said, a grudging note
of respect in his voice. “Truth is, I thought working for the three of them—her,
Helen and Dana Sue—would be a nightmare. Whoever heard of three women agreeing
on anything? Boy, was I wrong! Maddie knew what she wanted, and the other two
left her to it. Never before knew Helen to let someone else take charge like
that.”
“They’re a great team,” Raylene agreed. “They inspire me, and
they’re the best friends in the world.”
“Friends are important, all right,” Mitch said. “I should have
done a better job of keeping in touch with mine. With Amy gone and the boys
away, I really regret that. I don’t much like hanging out with my crew. It blurs
the lines, if you know what I mean. Still, they’ve been there to back me up
since Amy was killed. There are good people in this town.”
“There are,” Raylene agreed. “And it’s never too late to
restore old friendships or to make new ones. I cut Annie Townsend and Sarah
McDonald out of my life for way too long, but look at us now. We’re thick as
thieves again. That’s one of the best things about moving back home to
Serenity.” She grinned. “That and marrying Carter, of course.”
“Of course,” he said dryly, knowing perfectly well that those
two couldn’t seem to keep their hands to themselves.
She gave him a sly look. “You’d be a great catch for some
woman, you know.”
“Don’t go getting any ideas about matchmaking, you hear? Enough
of that goes on in this town. Grace Wharton has made my social life her personal
mission. I can’t walk in the door at Wharton’s without her dragging one woman or
another over to meet me.”
“And not a one of them has interested you?”
“Not so far,” he declared. “Can’t see that changing, either.”
Unable to keep a nostalgic note from his voice, he added, “Once a man has a
woman like Amy in his life, he’s not likely to get that lucky again.”
Clearly undeterred, Raylene said, “Well, I’m just saying you’re
a good-looking man. You have a few other appealing traits I’ve noticed, as
well.” Grinning impudently, she gave him a thoroughly disconcerting
once-over.
Mitch felt his cheeks heat at the compliment and the blatant
survey. He’d been happily married every one of the twenty-two years he’d had
with Amy. Before they’d met, he’d had quite a roving eye, but he could honestly
say that once he’d said
I do,
that had been it for
him. She’d been his whole world.
At forty-three now, he knew there was every chance some woman
would eventually come along, but right now he wasn’t interested. The way he saw
it, people grieved in their own ways, and his had been to bury himself in work
even more so than he always had.
Raylene regarded him with amusement. “Okay, if I promise to
stop bugging you about dating, will you stay for dinner? The girls asked for
lasagna today. There’s plenty.”
Tempted as he was, Mitch asked worriedly, “What does Carter
think about having me at his dinner table just about every night?”
“He thinks it means you’ll finish this addition that much
faster,” she said. “Please, stay. You’re part of the family now. And you know
perfectly well that I love cooking for a crowd.”
“And you know that I can’t say no to your lasagna,” he said,
giving in a little too easily. “Thanks, Raylene.”
When they eventually sat down at the large dining room table,
he noticed that he wasn’t the only guest. Lexie Morrow from next door seemed to
be almost as much of a fixture at the table as he was. Tonight she, her brother
and her mother were there.
