Lavender Morning (Edilean 1)

“Luke!” Joce said, and David laughed so hard he nearly choked.

“She’s built just like my mother, and my dad liked her too, as I had eight brothers and sisters.”

“We read that.” Joce’s eyes widened. “That means I have cousins.”

“Hundreds,” David said.

“Just so I have more than he does,” she said, looking at Luke.

“A true marriage already,” David said.

The stone for Miss Edi’s grave was small. “We’ll fix that,” David said, then looked around her at Luke. “I bet you, college boy, know where I can get a sculptor.”

“I can find one.”

“‘College boy’?” Joce said, smiling. “Luke works for me. I can’t afford to pay him, but he’s my gardener. And he works for other people too.”

David looked at Luke, shaking his head. “I may be old, but my mind still works. One of my grandnieces stood in line to get a book autographed by you, and she came home wanting you more than the book. She downloaded a photo of you and hung it over her desk. I recognized you the minute I saw you.”

Jocelyn stopped walking, glared at Luke, then dropped her grandfather’s arm and started walking back to the house.

“Uh, oh,” David said, “did I say something wrong?” He turned on his canes when Luke went after Joce.

“You bastard!” she said when he caught up with her.

“I didn’t mean to lie to you, but—”

“Why not? Everyone else has. Are there no more honest people in the world?”

“I wanted you to see me as me,” Luke said. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you that I write books, and sorry I didn’t tell you I was married, but Ingrid’s major interest in me was my royalty checks.”

“Everyone in this town knew about your marriage and your occupation but they didn’t tell me.”

“I asked them not to.”

“And that’s it? You just told them not to menton your writing and they obeyed?”

“Yes,” Luke said simply.

“Well, isn’t it just lovely that you have people who love you so completely? Personally, that’s never happened to me.” She turned and started back to the house.

“Yes, you have,” Luke said. “Me. I love you that much. I’ve loved you since that first night when I dumped mustard all over you.”

“That was an accident,” she said over her shoulder.

Luke moved to stand in front of her. “Yeah, it was, and I liked that you were honest and told Ramsey the truth.”

“Honest? Do you know the meaning of the word?”

“I’m learning it,” he said. “But then, I’ve had some master teachers of how to hide the truth. You, Ingrid, my family, Ramsey, even Miss Edi.”

Jocelyn tried to get past him, but he kept moving to block her way. Finally, she put her arms across her chest. “All right, so what do you write?”

“Thomas Canon,” he said.

Joce’s mouth dropped open. Thomas Canon was the main character in a series of books that were very popular. They were set in the eighteenth century, just before the American Revolution. Thomas had been in love with a beautiful young woman named Bathsheba since they were children, but her parents made her marry a rich man she didn’t love. Heartbroken, Thomas spent book after book traveling around the newly forming country, meeting people and getting into one scrape after another.

“Luke Adams,” Joce said, for that was the name of the author.