Her Secret Valentine Part Five by Pamela Tracy

She hopped onto the sidewalk, one heel going into a crack and giving her pause.  What to do!  Usually, she would stop, carefully extricate the shoe, and be on her way.  Not this evening, though.  She was on a mission.  She attempted to yank her shoe free, but luck wasn’t feeling kind.

No, it wasn’t.

First, luck had been with the mysterious man who knew that the way to a woman’s heart was biscottis - he’d escaped.  Then, luck had sent a vicious sidewalk crack to reach out and grab Nancy’s shoe so that the heel came off.

Nancy tottered, but just for a moment.  A childhood of ballet lessons paid off.  She regained her balance, albeit with a somewhat clumsy twirl, and then found herself in a man’s embrace.

“Are you all right?”  Tall, with dark curly hair, and wearing a light blue button-down shirt plus khakis, a man she’d never seen before helped her regain her balance.

“I thought I knew everyone in Cupid’s Corner?” Nancy blurted.

“Not everyone,” the man said with a smile.

Great, just great.  Nancy didn’t know who her secret admirer was, and she didn’t know this man.  One thing she knew, he wasn’t the same man who’d disappeared down the street by the Cupid’s Corner Museum.  That man had been wearing dark pants and a light jacket.  

Plus, if this man had been at the cafe, Nancy had noticed him.  And, probably, Shanna would have noticed him first.

“Ahem,” came a voice.  Shana appeared next to Nancy, a smirk on her face.  “Are you going hug all night, or are you going to introduce me?”

The man released Nancy, not looking the least embarrassed.  

Nancy rescued the heel of her shoe from the crack, thinking that she had as much chance of figuring out who her secret admirer was as she had of ever wearing these shoes again.

The goodlooking stranger reached in his pocket, pulled out two business cards and handed them to Shana and Nancy.  

“I’m Garth Willowby, private investigator.  I wonder if you noticed a tall gentleman running down the street.  He matches the description of someone I’m looking for.”

Love At Cupid's Cove--Valentine Serial Day 13

 

Duncan stopped. He was standing beside the old historic log home that was just down the street from Lacy’s shop. It had the huge cascading Bridal Bush in full bloom that his mother loved. And as Lacy moved toward him he suddenly had an image of her as a bride. His bride. He shut that down immediately. It wasn’t something that could ever be. Wasn’t something he could ever deserve?

Lacy marched right up to him, her eyes alive with a fire he’d not seen there before. “Oh Duncan, I can’t let you walk away like this. For the last couple of days I’ve heard more whispers and talk about you than I care to hear. But maybe that was a good thing because it’s becoming clear to me that you are carrying a burden that you aren’t meant to carry.”

Duncan’s heart was slamming against his ribs as he studied Lacy, wanting so much to pull her into his arms and be free from the guilt and sorrow that blanketed him, suffocated him. But no, he shook his head. He’d prayed for answers, for help and God hadn’t sent it. He’d prayed for Missy to forgive him but—      

“No,” Lacy broke into his thoughts. “Don’t shake your head. Please listen to me, Duncan.” She stepped up close, obviously not caring that they were on the street and everyone could see them.  She placed her hands against his cheeks and her beautiful brown eyes shimmered with more gentle kindness than he’d felt in so long. “My heart breaks for Missy Taylor and that she lost her husband,” she said, as if reading his mind. “But the truth is, she is hurting, grieving and she and others—including you—are blaming you for something that isn’t your fault. You have to let it go. God will heal her wounds with time."

Duncan’s throat tightened with emotion so strong he couldn’t help himself, he pulled Lacy into his arms and laid his head against her sweet, cupcake scented hair. Felt her heart beating in time with his. Closing his eyes he tried to process all that she’d said. And suddenly he realized that maybe God had been listening to his prayers—that maybe in the darkness of his guilt God had sent help, a ray of hope… God had sent Lacy, this beautiful, shaft of sunlight into his world when he’d most needed someone to believe in him.

But could he believe what she was telling him? Could he let go of the guilt eating at him?   

 

 

 

 

 

Love At Cupid's Cove - Valentine Serial - Jean C. Gordon

Duncan kept his head down against the wind, a chill running through him that was out of proportion to the slight dip in the temperature this morning.  He crossed the street in front of his mother’s house and ducked down the alley-like short cut that he and his friends had always taken to Cupid Cove High School. Mom had been sleeping when he’d left. She wouldn’t know that he’d detoured a bit with her surprise cupcake.

His thoughts went back to the bakery and its proprietress. She’d seemed as sweet and cheery as her pastries. And, of course she knew his mother. That was the way with small towns. Everyone knew everyone else and their business. Places like Cupid’s Cove had a way of putting labels on their inhabitants. She must not have heard his. It certainly wasn’t hero.

The path he’d been following came out on the driveway of the last house on School Street before the school. The grass in the back yard was a shade longer than last week when his offer to mow the lawn had been rebuffed. He followed the driveway to the kitchen door at the side of the house and knocked.

“Hi, Duncan,” the five-year-old towhead answering the door said.

“That’s Mr. Hines, Angie,” her eight-year-old brother Jason corrected from behind her. “What do you want?”

“To see your mother.”

“She doesn’t want to see you,” the boy said.

“Are those from Miss Lacy’s bakery?” Angie asked, pointing at the box he was crushing in his hands. “For us?”

“Yes.” He unclenched his fingers. Lacy. The name suited her. Delicate, feminine.

“Jason is right. I don’t want to see you,” a disembodied voice said from the front of the house. “Please leave.”

Jason reached over his sister’s shoulder and started to pull the door closed. Duncan pressed the box into Angie’s hands before the door closed in his face. He heard the lock click.

Leave. There was nothing he’d rather do than leave Cupid’s Cove. But he couldn’t. Not yet.