To Have and To Hold (Bridal Veil Island Book #1) , livre ebook

Baker Publishing Group - Tracie Peterson , Judith Miller

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184 pages

English

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Bestselling Author Team Debuts New Historical Romance SeriesWhen Audrey Cunningham's father proposes that they move to Bridal Veil Island, where he grew up, she agrees, thinking this will help keep him sober and close to God. But they arrive to find wealthy investors buying up land to build a grand resort on the secluded island--and they want the Cunninghams' acreage.Contractor Marshall Graham can't imagine why the former drinking buddy of his deceased father would beckon him to Bridal Veil Island. And when Boyd Cunningham asks him to watch over Audrey, Marshall is even more confused. He has no desire to be saddled with caring for this fiery young woman who is openly hostile toward him. But when Audrey seems to be falling for another man--one who has two little girls Audrey adores--Marshall realizes she holds more of his heart than he realized. Which man will Audrey choose? And can she hold on to her ancestral property in the face of overwhelming odds?

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Publié par	Baker Publishing Group
Date de parution	01 septembre 2011
Nombre de lectures	0
EAN13	9781441233783
Langue	English

Informations légales : prix de location à la page 0,0202€. Cette information est donnée uniquement à titre indicatif conformément à la législation en vigueur.

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© 2011 by Tracie Peterson and Judith Miller
Published by Bethany House Publishers
11400 Hampshire Avenue South
Bloomington, Minnesota 55438
www.bethanyhouse.com
Bethany House Publishers is a division of
Baker Publishing Group, Grand Rapids, Michigan
www.bakerpublishinggroup.com
Ebook edition created 2011
Ebook corrections 11.01.2012
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise without the prior written permission of the publisher. The only exception is brief quotations in printed reviews.
ISBN 978-1-4412-3378-3
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is on file at the Library of Congress, Washington, DC.
Scripture quotations are from the King James Version of the Bible.
Cover design and photography by John Hamilton
Cover background image © Getty Images/Bertrand Demee
To Lorna Seilstad
For your prayers, encouragement, and steadfast friendship during this difficult time. You have blessed my life.
With a grateful heart,
~Judy
Contents
Cover
Title Page
Copyright Page
Dedication
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Author’s Note
Acknowledgments
Other Books by Authors
Back Ads
Back Cover
Chapter 1
B RIDAL V EIL I SLAND , G EORGIA L ATE A UGUST 1886
Audrey Cunningham knew that look. The wrinkled brow, the furrowed crevices around the lips, the eyebrows dropped low above gunmetal gray eyes the look her father displayed when trouble loomed in their future.
She’d observed far too many of those worried expressions over the past months. And though she’d questioned her father on more than one occasion, he continually denied that anything was amiss. But not this morning. This morning, he motioned her toward the breakfast table and pointed to one of the spindle-back chairs. She settled on the cane seat and braced herself for the bad news that was sure to follow.
“We’ve got troubles.” His shoulders hunched forward, and a thatch of dark hair that age and worry had peppered with strands of gray fell across his forehead. Even at fifty, his hair remained thick and unmanageable, much like Audrey’s unruly coffee brown curls.
She pressed her spine against the hard wood of the hand-turned spindles, folded her hands into a tight knot, and waited.
Her father raked his fingers across his forehead and pushed the errant hair into place. “I’ve been keeping this from you for a while now. I thought I’d find a solution, but I guess the time has come that I’ve got to tell you.”
When her father hesitated, Audrey leaned forward and reached for his hand. “What is it, Daddy?” Fear caused her to resort to the familiar moniker she’d used during her childhood.
Her father smiled and squeezed her hand. “Sounds strange to hear you call me Daddy. How long has it been since I’ve heard that word? Ten years?”
Audrey’s thick curls bobbed against her pale cheeks. “Ten and a half.” The day Audrey turned eighteen, she had declared the term far too childish. From that time forward, she’d addressed her father only as Father or Dad .
He stared at their entwined hands, and she feared he’d lost the courage to continue. “Please, tell me what’s happened. Together we can overcome any problem, can’t we?” She forced a smile and hoped he wouldn’t sense her fear. “We always have before.”
After releasing her hand, he leaned back in the chair, his eyes clouded with defeat. “Not this time, Audrey. Even joining forces, we can’t overcome this problem.” He reached into the pocket of his blue chambray shirt and removed a folded envelope. After placing it on the table, he pressed the creases with his palm. “This is the delinquent tax statement on Bridal Fair and our remaining acreage.” With a fleeting look of desperation, he pushed the envelope across the table and lifted his hand. “We don’t have money enough to pay.”
Audrey slipped her fingers inside the envelope and withdrew the contents. She rippled through the pieces of paper, carefully noting the amounts and dates on each of the pages. Her stomach tightened into a knot the size of a summer melon as she slowly grasped the truth. They’d been living there for only two years. These tax statements dated back to 1880. “Grandmother hadn’t been paying the taxes? Did you know this before we left Pennsylvania?”
Moving to Bridal Veil Island hadn’t been Audrey’s idea. She’d been opposed to the return to Bridal Fair, the home her ancestors had constructed many years ago. She’d argued against the plan with great vigor. Remaining in Pittsburgh, where she could continue her work as a housekeeper’s assistant and enjoy the company of her friends, had been her stated preference. Although her father hadn’t articulated a plausible explanation for the move to the aging island home off the coast of Georgia, there had been no doubt he would not rest until Audrey agreed to his request. In the end, she’d been unable to deny his appeal. Now, faced with these tax statements, she silently wished she hadn’t given in to his pleas.
“I won’t lie to you, Audrey. I knew some money was owed. I just didn’t know how much not until after we’d already been here several months. I thought maybe we’d be able to ”
“Able to what ?” All effort to remain calm vanished. “You’ve known for all this time, yet never said a word? How could you, Father?”
He bowed his head and cupped his face between his palms. “I thought it would all work out. Your grandmother was a close friend of the tax collector’s wife. You know how things are in the South. Folks want to lend a helping hand.”
Audrey shook her head. How did he expect her to know how things worked in Georgia? They’d left Bridal Veil Island when she was seven years old. She had a far better idea of how things worked in the North than in the South, but she doubted they’d be granted leniency on their taxes in either place.
“If so many folks want to lend a helping hand, why are you worried?” Though she didn’t want to be unkind or disrespectful, Audrey’s attempt to keep a civil tongue fell short. But her father’s answer wasn’t helpful in the least.
Lifting his head from between curved hands, her father met her eyes. “Not everyone is accommodating. Your grandmother’s connection to the tax collector’s wife helped keep a tax sale at bay for her and for us. But the tax collector died a month ago, and a new fellow has taken over.”
“And this new collector doesn’t have any reason to be nice to us. Is that right?” Now she understood. Just like in Pittsburgh, it was whom one knew rather than what one knew. And whom one knew could maybe save one from having a tax-sale notice posted on the front door.
“That’s pretty much the sum of it. I don’t even know a distant relative of the new fellow. We’ve been gone far too long to keep up with the necessary socializing. We’re going to have to get to know folks over in Biscayne. Then maybe we can get this thing taken care of.”
“Rather than socializing, maybe we need to figure out how we can pay the taxes. How long do we have?” Audrey’s mind raced as she considered their options. Perhaps she could get a job in Biscayne. Leaving her father and Aunt Thora alone every day wouldn’t be good, but right now there seemed to be no other choice. Given her father’s physical condition, he couldn’t take on construction work in Biscayne. It had been several months since he’d been able to work more than a day or two without having to recuperate for several days. Now the doctor said he shouldn’t commit to any work much less strenuous work. There weren’t many options available. And over the past two years they’d depleted most of the funds from the sale of their home in Pittsburgh. This tax burden would be more than they could financially manage.
As if Audrey’s thoughts had summoned Aunt Thora into the room, she plodded into the kitchen, her white hair askew.
She fanned herself with determined strokes. “Land’s sake, it’s a warm one today.”
“Good morning, Aunt Thora,” Audrey and her father said in unison.
In truth, Thora wasn’t related to the Cunninghams, nor was she aunt to anyone. She’d been Grandmother Cunningham’s former companion and housekeeper of sorts. The housekeeping duties had fallen by the wayside as both of the women aged. When Lavinia Cunningham died two years earlier, there’d been no place for Thora to go, so Audrey’s father invited the old woman to remain with them. Aunt Thora had appeared perplexed by the invitation.
In fact, she’d been quite clear in her response. “This here island is more my home than it is yours, Boyd Cunningham, and I don’t have plans to go anywhere.” Audrey’s father didn’t have a response for that.
Over the past two years, Aunt Thora had helped as much as possible, but she couldn’t always be relied upon. Frequently her mind slipped into the past, and those lapses proved a challenge for both Audrey and her father. But when Thora was thinking clearly, she could be a fount of information. It was through her stories that Audrey came to know her grandmother and gained a better understanding of the Southern heart and mind.
Today Audrey wasn’t certain if Aunt Thora was coherent or not. The old woman arched her thick white eyebrows and tsk ed. “You gonna get stuck paying them taxes, Boyd?”
“If we want to stay here, I don’t see as I have much choice. ’Course figuring out how to pay them is the hard part.”
Just like up North, the taxes on Bridal Fair and the surrounding acreage had continued to rise through the years. Though somewhat smaller than the plantation homes in Savannah, Bridal Fair was impressive en