Lavender Morning (Edilean 1)

“The money stays with the house. If you stay here, you control it all, but if you leave, both the house and the money go to some foundation.”

“The Great Sin,” Jocelyn said. “If I leave, strangers will come into Edilean. How will the townspeople stand it?”

“They have to have strangers to breed with,” Tess said. “To give variety to the gene pool.”

“Cut it out,” Sara said. “I’ll have you know that Edilean is a very nice place to live.”

“It is since they put in the outlet mall in Williamsburg,” Tess said.

“Outlet mall?” Joce said. “Why did no one tell me that oh-so-vital piece of information?”

“Because you’ve spent all your time with the best-looking men in this one-horse town,” Tess said.

“Meow,” Sara said.

“You’re just jealous because we can have the men here and you can’t. They’re all your relatives.”

“So what’s with you and Ramsey?” Joce asked Tess. “I saw the photo of you in the red dress.”

Tess gave a little smile. “That was a day! I was in the best shape of my life, and here was this jerk telling me I was to dress more conservatively. Did he think I didn’t know that all those men were watching every step I took? If I started wearing dresses, they’d do the John Candy.”

Joce looked at her in question.

“Drop something on the floor, then look up as they pick it up?”

“I hope you’re exaggerating,” Joce said. “Surely they wouldn’t…”

“Maybe not, but they’d think about it. That was more than I wanted.”

“Okay, so men are men. You certainly showed them, though.”

Tess shrugged. “Maybe. I paid the price by having photos of me posted all over the Internet. Ken wanted to put the picture on a brochure about the law office, but his wife wouldn’t let him.”

“Where did he get his wife?” Joce asked.

“Massachusetts,” Tess said quickly. “Mail order.”

“You two are bad,” Sara said. “You’d think you didn’t like this town.”

“What do I know?” Joce said. “I just got here. So far I’ve had a lawyer make me a very romantic picnic on the floor, but he left after only an hour and a half. And I have a surly gardener who likes to show up and make me feed him.”

“Luke,” Sara and Tess said in unison.

“What’s his problem?”

Tess and Joce looked at Sara.

“Don’t look at me, I don’t know. Yes, I grew up with him, sort of, but he’s years older than I am, so I never really knew him. Big high school athletic superstars don’t pay much attention to little cousins in elementary school. After high school he left town, and…” She trailed off with a shrug.

“And started a career mowing lawns. He seems intelligent, so why doesn’t he have a proper job?” Joce asked.

Sara kept her head down and didn’t answer.

“Why are you just a teaching assistant and now don’t even have that job?” Tess asked. “If Miss Edi hadn’t left you a fortune, where would you be now?”

“Is it really a fortune?” Joce asked, avoiding the question.

“I think that’s a good question,” Sara said, looking at Joce. “What would you be doing if Miss Edi hadn’t been in your life?”