She welcomed me into their home with a smile and a hug. She and Jake are total opposites, but somehow they work. They have a small holding near a town called Shadow Haven in South Dakota, and Fern works it. Her income comes from selling produce and homemade skin and beauty products at farmers’ markets in surrounding towns.
I was concerned about how Jake's children would take to me, but his daughter Siera, who was two years younger than my twenty-three years, and Stone, who was a year older than me, gelled like we’d been part of each other’s lives since the beginning of time.
They loved me, and I loved them. I kept no secrets from my new family; between Jake and me, we told them everything. Fern held me while I cried for what could have been.
I never did find anyone else to fill the hole Garret left. Oh, don’t get me wrong. As I healed, I went on dates and even had a few short-term relationships, but nothing ever seemed to fit.
Then I held my sister as her life fell apart when her husband died in an accident the year after her twin girls, Tru and Janis, were born.
Jake and Fern got older; he retired, and they spent their time travelling during the winter months.
Siera and I opened a garden centre after she became a widow. It offered lawn and garden care. We also added a coffee and crystal shop, and Bridget, Stone’s wife, was talking about adding books.
It was a family business, and it ran smoothly with Bridget managing it for us. We all pitched in, but I was getting bored. The only problem with having been on the run was that I found it hard to stay in one place. Usually when the travel bug hits, I pack up my van, take a month and travel around the different states. But for some reason, this time it didn’t work.
I was restless, and I had no idea why.
“Angel,” Siera shouts out across the garden centre. I shake my head in amusement. My sister is not quiet, and her voice is like a foghorn. I’d also never really gone by my new name, Fiona. My family said Angel fit in just fine with their hippie ways. So, Angel, I’d stayed.
“In the nursery,” I shout back, pressing the earth around a seedling as I wait for Siera to come and find me. I hear her before I see her as she runs into the nursery, huffing and puffing as if she’s run a mile. She’s waving a paper and smiling widely.
“Look what I’ve just seen. I think we should do it.”
My eyes widen with surprise. “Do what? I told you I’m not bungee jumping. I’m too old for that shit.”
“Not bungee jumping, and stop saying you're old. You’re only two years older than me, and I refuse to think that forty-four is old. No, this. Look.” She points at a building on the paper. I see it’s from a real estate agent.
“Um,” I look into my sister’s excited eyes. “I think you need to explain the conversation you’ve had with yourself and bring me up to speed.”
“Ugh,” she huffs, blowing a piece of her dark fringe up. “You’re bored, and travel isn’t helping. I’m bored, the girls are bored. Bridget runs the place with her eyes closed. I think we need another project, and this is it.”
“I get it, we're all bored,” I grin at her as I pick up the paper. I squint as I try to read it. “What is it?”
“Oh, for fuck’s sake, put your glasses on,” she mutters, handing my reading glasses to me. “It’s a garden centre. It’s been up for sale for three years with no offers. I think we should go and look at it, see what’s what. It comes with a house, but it all needs tons of work. What do you think?”
Excitement bubbles through me as I read the information; this may be just what I need.
“It’s in North Dakota,” I frown at her. I don’t want to be too far from Jake and Fern.
“I know, I can read,” she rolls her eyes at me. “A town called Stonepoint. It’s only four hours from mom and dad so you can relax, we won’t be far from them. Please, Angel. Let's at least go and look at it.”
I look into my sister's pleading eyes and know she’s right. This project would suit us down to the ground. My nieces were bored out of their minds, and a bored Tru and Janis was not a good thing.
“Okay,” I agree. “Set it up, and let the girls know. We’ll go and have a look.”
“Yes,” she squeals like a teenager instead of the adult she is. Throwing her arms around me, she hugs me. “I’m so excited, Ang; I think this could be a good thing for all of us.”
I hug her back. Siera, like me, has never found another man. We’ve brought up her girls together along with help from Fern, Jake, and Stone. Her girls filled the emptiness I’d carried ever since I gave Honor up.
Jake offered to keep an eye on Honor, but I told him she needed to live her life and I had to heal. She was happy with her adoptive parents, and that’s all I needed to know. I didn’t want to disrupt her life, and I asked him not to tell me where she was because I knew I’d never be able to stay away.
When Stone met Bridget, she slipped into our family as if she’d been made for it. Another free spirit that Fern met at a farmers’market and brought home with her when Bridget’s car broke down. Stone had fallen hard and fast for the vivacious redhead.
Maybe Siera was right; this could be a good thing. We wouldn’t know until we saw the property though and crunched a few numbers.
For the first time in years anticipation filled me, and I was eager about starting a new venture.
Chapter 1