Taylor Lynne: The Women of Merryton - Book Two Read online

  Taylor Lynne

  The Women of Merryton – Book Two

  By Jennifer Peel

  © 2016 by Jennifer Peel. All Rights reserved.

  This eBook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This eBook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each reader or share it through the Kindle lending feature. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please purchase your own copy through Amazon Kindle. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

  To my Harry. Life has never been the same since you left this world. Thank you for being the best grandpa a girl could ask for, and for telling me I was perfect, on a regular basis, even though you knew I was anything but.

  Table of Contents

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  Chapter Thirty

  Chapter Thirty-One

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  Chapter Thirty-Three

  Chapter Thirty-Four

  Epilogue

  Chapter One

  With every heavy box I lifted and carried into the quaint two-story rental home, I asked myself, why in the world did I move back here? Twice I had sworn I never would, and twice, because of him, I found myself back in my hometown, Merryton, Colorado. It sounded like such a happy, wonderful, merry place. And I suppose for many, it was. Most people would be envious of life nestled in the beautiful Rocky Mountains, but for me, the beautiful landscape masked the pain of all that had been lost here.

  I set down the small but heavy box of books, placing it near the built-in bookcase in the living room. I stretched my back and lamented the late arrival of the movers. I probably should have waited for them to arrive, but if I didn’t start without them, I would only think, and I didn’t want to think. If I thought too much, I would run back to what I considered my real home in Birmingham, Alabama. I would run back to Harry and Grams, the most wonderful grandparents and people on the planet. But I knew I couldn’t, because the most important person came with me, and she … she wanted to stay.

  I guess after all these years it was only right for Ashley to get to know her dad, other than by phone calls and brief, sporadic visits over the last fourteen years. Now, at sixteen, she was practically a woman, and very close to leaving home herself. That thought pierced my heart and made my eyes well up with tears. I didn’t know what I was going to do in two years when she graduated from high school. I’ve teased that I’d go with her to college and get that Master’s degree I’ve always talked about, but for some reason she’d roll her eyes at that. I guess living in a dorm room with your mom would be very uncool. I’d compromised that I would buy a house near the campus of her choosing, but it was still a no-go with her.

  This summer I would get a little taste of what was in store for me—I had agreed to let Ashley spend most of her time at her dad’s home, watching her nine-year-old half-sister, Emmy, while he ran his family medicine practice. I still didn’t know why I had agreed to it. Easton, in my estimation, could have made a greater effort to get to know our daughter over the last several years, but he had been too busy with his newest ex-wife, Kathryn, and their daughter. I would have liked to say I wasn’t still bitter about it, but that would have been a lie. It’s not that I dwelt on it often anymore, but when the man you love leaves you for another woman, it’s a hard pill to swallow. And once you do swallow it, it’s hard to keep down. Especially when the new woman made it difficult for your daughter to be part of his life.

  That’s the part that killed me the most. Ashley deserved to be part of her dad’s life. I guess I thought he would have fought harder to make sure that happened. Even though I tried not to think of it, at least not his part in it, I still remembered the day she was born and how undeniably happy he’d been. I still remember his tears as he kissed my forehead and thanked me for making him a daddy and telling me how much he loved me. And how much he loved our Ashley Lauren. I had no idea two years later—after being married for seven years—it would all be over.

  I shook my head to clear my thoughts and walked back out to the large semi-trailer parked in front of the house that held all of mine and Ashley’s belongings. I reminded myself to keep moving and to quit thinking about the past. Then my past showed up, at least part of it. Easton wasn’t the only ghost this town held for me.

  Easton rolled down the passenger window of his black truck, where his daughter Emmy sat in the back seat.

  “Taylor, you made it.”

  I looked past his young, wary daughter to see him smiling tentatively at me. I hadn’t seen him in a few years, but from what I could tell, time had been good to Dr. Easton Cole. At forty-five, he was still handsome. He still had some golden blonde hair left, but his hair was darkening and graying slightly, above his ears and on the sides. And maybe his hairline was a tad off from where it used to be, but he still looked like Easton.

  “We drove in late last night,” I called back. We had stayed in a hotel.

  “Oh, I thought you would have called.”

  I didn’t know why he would think that, so I shrugged my shoulders and turned my attention back to the myriad of boxes waiting for me. I grabbed the nearest one to me that I thought I could carry and turned to walk it back down the ramp to the house. I found that my ex-husband had parked across the street and he and his daughter were walking my way. I wasn’t sure how to feel about that. I knew moving back here meant I would have to face him and deal with him again, but I wasn’t sure I was really ready for it. Honestly, I was great at running away from my problems. I was great at running away from him, but here he was, and with him came his little girl. The one he apparently loved more than my little girl. Or maybe he loved her mother more than me. You know what? It didn’t matter. I needed to quit thinking about it.

  He hurried over to me. “Here, let me carry that for you.”

  “It’s okay. I got it.” I kept on walking toward the house.

  He followed alongside, looking frustrated. I remembered seeing that look often during our last year of marriage. This was a bad idea. I didn’t want to remember or deal with all of those things.

  I let him hold the door open for me. He smiled at me as I walked in. He and his daughter followed. I set the box marked “dining room” down in the appropriate room. Then I had no choice but to look at father and daughter. I had to admit she was darling. She was pretty, like her mother, right down to the long, lanky legs. She had long brown hair that needed to be combed, and she had brown eyes, like Ashley. Those eyes looked at me with interest.

  Easton looked between the two of us. “Emmy.” He looked adoringly at his daughter. “This is Ms. …” He caught his faux pas.

  We all s
hared the same last name. I had kept Cole so Ashley and I would have the same last name, and for some other reasons. Yes, I had issues.

  I held out my hand to her to cover Easton’s mishap. “You can call me Taylor.”

  She slowly reached out her hand to me. I took it, squeezed it gently, and smiled at her. After all, it wasn’t her fault her daddy chose her mommy over me and her over Ashley. She smiled briefly before turning into her daddy. She seemed awfully shy. Easton put a reassuring arm around her and smiled at me.

  “I suppose you’re here to see Ashley. She ran to the grocery store for me.”

  “I can’t believe she drives already,” he responded.

  “Yep,” was all I could think of to say. It was weird for me that my baby girl was that old, but she’d had her permit and license for well over a year now, so I was used to it. And since he hadn’t seen her since she was thirteen … I was a little touchy about it.

  “Well,” he said nervously, “we can help you bring in boxes.”

  “No. I hired movers; they should be here soon.”

  “Oh. Okay.” He looked around the old house that had been newly renovated. “So you still like older homes?”

  “Yep.” I guess that was going to be my word for the day. Not the most intelligent of words, but definitely southern and definitely ex-husband worthy.

  I decided ignoring him was probably the best way to go at this juncture. “So, Emmy, what grade are you going into after summer?”

  She looked up from her dad’s side. “Fourth.” She spoke so softly I could barely hear her.

  “That’s a fun grade. Do you like school?”

  She seemed uncomfortable. “Kind of.”

  Her answered surprised me. Ashley loved everything about school, from the academics to the sports to the social interactions. She embraced it all. It was one of the reasons I was so surprised when she said she wanted to move here. She was quite the popular girl, and I had thought she wouldn’t want to leave her friends and school behind.

  “Well, tell me your favorite thing about school.”

  “I love to read.”

  I smiled kindly at her. “Me too. What’s your favorite book?”

  She thought for a moment. “Bridge to Terabithia.”

  I was surprised by her answer. That was a heavy book to be a favorite for such a young girl. I looked up at Easton to confirm her choice. I was expecting Harry Potter, or maybe even The Chronicles of Narnia.

  Easton nodded his head yes, but he looked concerned. I wondered why and then I remembered it wasn’t my concern.

  “Ashley has lots of books and she likes to read too. I’m sure she would be happy to bring some over with her when she watches you.”

  She didn’t respond, other than to turn back into her daddy. I got the feeling something wasn’t quite right, other than the fact that her parents were recently divorced and her mom ran off with her personal trainer. I felt sorry for her. At least Ashley never remembered us being married. It had only been her and me since she was two; and even before that, it was a whole lot of me and her. That’s what you get when you marry a doctor and have a baby while he’s doing his residency and starting up his own practice—a lot of lonely days and nights.

  Again, I wasn’t thinking about it.

  I heard a car door slam. The connecting piece in our lives was back, and even better, she was back with food. I was starving. From the window, I watched my beauty walking up the sidewalk, burdened with grocery bags, looking as lovely as ever. She was naturally beautiful, with her olive skin, dark brown hair, and big brown eyes that looked a lot like Emmy’s. To me she was perfection.

  “Momma,” she called out in her southern accent as she came through the front door.

  Both her dad and I walked in her direction.

  Ashley looked surprised by our company. “Dad …”

  Easton stood a few feet away from her, still holding onto Emmy as he looked her over.

  I went to her and relieved the bags from her hand.

  “Ashley,” he muttered. “How are you?”

  It was kind of a lame thing to say to your daughter that you hadn’t seen in three years, but who was I to judge?

  I stayed to watch the interaction between the two.

  She smiled. “Fabulous.”

  Oh how I loved that kid. She was always happy.

  Easton looked relieved and smiled in return. I guess he didn’t know what to expect from her. She could have easily hated him, but that wasn’t her. Not that she thought he was the best dad ever—far from it, in fact—but Ashley never hated anyone, and it was her decision to be here. She wanted to know her father and her sister. And I wouldn’t deny her that opportunity, even though it meant I was going to have to finally deal with my past.

  “So, Ashley, this is Emmy … your sister.”

  It was so weird for me that Ashley had a sibling that wasn’t mine. I knew it was weird for Ashley, too. It was a shame they hadn’t met before now, but Kathryn hadn’t wanted Ashley around.

  Emmy cautiously looked up. Ashley grinned at her and realizing her hesitation, approached her, knelt down and hugged her. Emmy didn’t reciprocate right away, but after a moment she put her little arms around Ashley.

  Easton beamed at the sight. I took that as my cue to turn and take the groceries back to the kitchen. It was the perfect cottage kitchen, complete with antique white cabinets, wooden butcher-block countertops, and a farmhouse sink. I adored it; at least I would for the next two years. After that I was hightailing it back to the south to my own home that I was currently renting out. This was a temporary situation. One in which I would probably go temporarily insane.

  Easton joined me in the kitchen as I began to put the groceries away, and he was alone. “Do you need help?” he offered.

  “No thanks, I’ve got it covered.” I kept my back to him as I loaded up the stainless steel refrigerator.

  “I cleared my whole day so I could help Ashley and you settle in.”

  I shut the refrigerator and turned to him, surprised by his statement. “Well, like I said, I hired movers and we’re pretty self-sufficient.” I didn’t want to be out-right rude and tell him to leave, but I didn’t want him here all day. We weren’t the kind of exes that claimed to still love each other and be the best of friends. I never believed anyone when they said that anyway. Seriously, if you’re still the best of friends and you love each other, you would still be married. I knew I would be. I used to be. But we were not friends, and there was a whole lot of love lost between us. More love than I cared to remember because it ached me to my center. It left a hole in me that had never been filled.

  But again, I wasn’t thinking about it.

  He stood there looking at me, unsure of how to proceed. He looked uncomfortable as he ran his fingers through his curtained hair that parted down the middle. He’d had the same hairstyle for over twenty years. It was so odd to think I had known him that long, although much of it was spent apart.

  “I would really like to stay and help. And I want the girls to get to know each other,” he said firmly.

  That was the Easton I knew—confident and self-assured.

  I shook my head at him. “I don’t … I’m not sure …” Why couldn’t I tell him to hit the road? I didn’t want or need his help. “I don’t think it’s a good idea.” I managed.

  “We need to get used to being around each other and in each other’s lives again,” he countered.

  “I suppose, but I think baby steps would be more appropriate, don’t you?”

  “Taylor, please. I need your help here.”

  “What do you mean, you need my help? When you called me, you said you wanted Ashley’s help for the summer.”

  He walked toward me and stood across the island from me. “I need your help getting reacquainted with our daughter, and in the process I was kind of hoping Ashley and you could help with Emmy. She needs women like you in her life,” he said as to not be overheard.

  I leaned more toward hi
m so my voice wouldn’t carry. I wanted to raise my voice, but I held back. “You have a lot of nerve asking me to help you with your daughter. The daughter you fathered with the woman you left me for; the woman, I might add, that kept you from my daughter.”

  He leaned in now, too. “If memory serves me correctly, I’m not the one who left.”

  “If your memory is so good then you’ll remember why I did.”

  His demeanor softened. “Taylor, please. I don’t want to argue with you.”

  I didn’t want to either, but we seemed to gravitate toward it whenever we were around each other in private, or when we conversed on the phone. It was probably a good thing we rarely had contact over the last fourteen years. And of course he didn’t want to argue—how do you defend cheating on your wife? And the timing of it all? My mother had recently died and we had just gone through a major move. I needed him more than ever, but I always seemed to come in last. Then there was Kathryn. He denied the affair over and over again, but the signs were all there, so I left for the only support system I had left.

  “You’ve been such a great mother to Ashley. And Emmy, well … let’s just say she wasn’t as lucky as her sister.”

  I rubbed my temples. I couldn’t believe I had lived here less than a day and I was already having awkward conversations with my ex-husband. It only made me feel more like I had made the second biggest mistake in my life. The biggest was agreeing the first time to move back here while we were married right after Ashley was born.

  It wasn’t the first time over the years he’d told me what a great mom he thought I was, but honestly, I felt it was undeserved. Ashley was just a great kid. I don’t know that I did anything to contribute to that, other than loving her to pieces. And I felt bad for Emmy, I did, but I wasn’t sure I should be the one to help him with her. I could only imagine what her mother’s thoughts were on the subject.

  I was about to tell Easton that they should probably leave when Ashley and Emmy walked in. A rush of pride swept over me as I looked at my girl holding her half-sister’s hand. She was the most wonderful creature on this earth.