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Mended Hearts
Ruth Logan Herne
Taking Charge. . . Of Her Heart High-powered businessman Jeff Brennan can't figure out why he's so smitten with the town's new librarian. Hannah Moore is quiet, skittish—and wants nothing to do with him. Yet as they work together on a fundraiser, Jeff resolves to discover why she came to the small New York town.Is working two jobs and tutoring kids with special needs an escape for Hannah? If so, Jeff is determined to show her that love can be the most powerful healing force of all.
“I’m sorry about earlier,” Hannah said. “I shouldn’t have run away.”
“Interesting turn of phrase,” Jeff replied.
“A trait I’m trying to change.” Tonight, a part of her longed to embrace change.
“Let’s eat.” He drew her chair out, a gentlemanly gesture, then sat in the chair opposite her.
Hannah flushed. “You could have sat over here.” She indicated the chair to her right.
He smiled. “If you’d prefer …”
“Not what I meant and you know it.”
The smile deepened. “I’m good here for the moment. The extra space gives me a buffer zone.”
This time Hannah smiled. His teasing look was tinged with a hint of compassion, just enough to help calm the encroaching waves within.
She wanted new memories. New chances. New beginnings. Isn’t that why she’d come to Jamison in the first place?
You came here to hide. Nothing more, nothing less.
Then she wanted to stop hiding.
Dear Reader,
My son-in-law did a youth ministry stint in Littleton, Colorado. A local host family took him to see Columbine High School, the scene of a heinous attack. Jon’s guide told him “Most of the teachers that were here have gone.” That single sentence sent my brain spinning.
Where did they go? What shadows followed them? How do you deal with a conscienceless act that happens on your watch?
And so began Mended Hearts, the story of a survivor who regains her hold on normalcy and the man who reminds her of her past. It’s a story of redemptive strength, of gathering scattered pieces and realizing Humpty Dumpty can be fixed. It just takes faith, hope, love and time.
Our family has four wonderful high school teachers. I worked for nine years in a segregated classroom with angry middle school kids. Many bore little conscience. My poverty-stricken youth taught me that good teachers do make a difference. Their impact resounds long after that last bell rings. And true teachers are born to teach, intrinsic to their heart and soul.
I hope you love this story of regaining strength and mustering faith, of bold steps forward in the sweet setting of Allegany County, NY, one of God’s prettiest places. I love to hear from readers. Your words bless me. Visit me and “the guys” online at www.menofalleganycounty.com or come play with me at “Ruthy’s Place,” www.ruthysplace.com, where I shamelessly exploit cute kids, pets and recipes because it’s, well … fun. You can email me at ruthy@ruthloganherne.com or snail mail me c/o Love Inspired Books, Harlequin Enterprises, 233 Broadway, Suite 1001, New York, NY 10279.
God bless you and keep you!
Ruthy
Mended Hearts
Ruth Logan Herne
www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)
Dedication
This book is dedicated to Melissa Endlich, whose patience and rolling pin have proven necessary on more than one occasion. Your continued confidence blesses me abundantly.
And to Amanda, Seth, Lacey and Karen, four wonderful high school teachers who’ve worked the front lines of adolescent development. God bless you guys!
Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him; do not fret when men succeed in their ways, when they carry out their wicked schemes. Refrain from anger and turn from wrath; do not fret—it leads only to evil. For evil men will be cut off, but those who hope in the Lord will inherit the land.
—Psalms 37:7–9
Acknowledgments
Wonderful teachers are never forgotten. Special thanks to Mrs. Fenlon (now Mrs. Steiner), Sr. Mary Cordis, Sr. Mariel (deceased), Sr. Natalia, Mrs. Bagley and Thomas Dowd. I’m grateful for your encouragement and kindness. And to Alice McCarthy, my Girl Scout leader, who became a stand-in at every parental function. Alice, thank you for treating an abnormal situation with sweet normalcy. God blessed you with a generous heart and I thank you for the times you sat with me, accompanied me and covered my “dues.” There’s a special place in heaven for people like you.
Special thanks to Mandy for traipsing the hills of Allegany with me, taking the time to meet perfect strangers with a smile and a handshake. Weren’t those sheriffs adorable???
To Beth and Jon for their constant help in so many ways. To Matt and Karen and Seth and Lacey for their continued support and help. And to Zach and Luke who advise from afar and take the couch so I can have the bed when I visit them. You guys rock.
To the Seekers, www.seekerville.blogspot.com. Your light shines for so many. I’m blessed to have you in my life. Audra, thanks for the read. You rock. Andrea, for the steady belief for so many years.
And especially to Dave for his continued love and support. He makes a mean tuna fish sandwich! Love you, Dude.
Prologue
Jeff Brennan stood slowly, facing his illegitimate half brother, their gazes locked, a silent war of wills waging in their squared-off stature. Nice to see that twenty years of separation had changed absolutely nothing. “What do you want, Matt? What are you doing here?”
Matt Cavanaugh didn’t match Jeff’s caustic tone, but then he’d always had a way of wriggling out of things right up until he nearly cost Katie Bascomb her life. He did cost her a leg, but guys like Matt didn’t worry about things like consequences. Ever.
Matt leveled a firm look at Jeff, not cringing. Not asking forgiveness. Not apologizing for all he’d put the family through two decades back. Which meant he might need to be punched. And with the current demands and conditions of Jeff’s job as the chief design engineer for Walker Electronics, his business partner Trent Michaels called away for life-threatening family illness and the in-house rush to nail down a mobile surveillance system designed to keep an eye on threatened American borders, Jeff was ready to duke it out with just about anyone.
Throw in the matching funds library project his grandmother and CEO threw at him an hour ago, and Matt had no idea how close he was to risking his life.
Jeff swallowed a growl, glanced down, then up. The look in Matt’s eyes said he might just be getting it, but on an already bad day, the last thing Jeff wanted or needed was the long-awaited showdown with his lawbreaking half brother. “I said, what do you want?”
Matt raised his hands in a conciliatory gesture. “I’m in town to scout out some possible work. I’m a housing contractor now, and I didn’t want to blindside you or anyone else in the family by running into you in the street.”
“You’ve grown a conscience?” Jeff’s hands tightened. His skin prickled. The hairs on the nape of his neck rose in quiet protest. “Since when?”
Matt didn’t answer the question. “I’ve come to make amends, Jeff.”
“Too little, too late.”
A tiny muscle in Matt’s jaw tightened. “You could be right. I hope you’re wrong. But I wanted to come here and see you face-to-face. Pave the way.”
“So you’re in town looking for work.” Jeff mused over the words, wishing Matt wasn’t so calm while he felt ready to jump the desk and settle old wrongs. “Or you’re here because Walker Electronics is doing better and you want a piece of the pie.”
Matt swiped Jeff’s office a quick glance. “Right. I just now decided to fulfill a lifelong yearning to understand microchips, nanoseconds and satellite-fed communications. Sorry, but that part of our father didn’t bleed through to me.”
“No.” Jeff shut his desk drawer with more force than necessary. “You got the drinking, gambling, womanizing and lawbreaking genes. How’s that working for you, Matt?”
Matt stepped back. “I didn’t come to fight, Jeff. I just wanted you aware. And if you’ll point me toward Helen’s office, I’ll let her know, as well.”
What Jeff wanted was to show Matt the exit in no uncertain terms, but that would label him an even bigger jerk. He hiked a thumb left. “Out the door. Down the hall. I know she’s there because we just finished a meeting about a matching fund drive for the Jamison library.”
“Your grandfather’s wishes.”
“Yes.”
Matt nodded and backed toward the door. “I’m not looking to get in your way down here.”
“You already did.”
Matt acknowledged that with a shrug and a straight-on look. “Those are your issues, then.”
He turned, leaving Jeff with nothing but riled-up memories, twenty years of absence not enough to warrant Matt’s presence as a welcome addition.
His grandmother would disagree. Jeff knew that. She’d always seen Matt as a broken soul, a lost kid, a troubled heart.
Whereas Jeff saw a conscienceless user, just like their father.
Long ago, Peter had asked the Lord about forgiving his brother, wondering if seven times was enough. And Jesus said no. Not nearly enough. Which only meant Jeff had some serious work to do if forgiving Matt was added to his already overflowing plate.
Chapter One
Megan Romesser’s eyes brightened as Hannah Moore walked through the back door of Grandma Mary’s Candies on this quiet September afternoon. Quiet equated good in Hannah’s book, because she longed to vent loud and long, knowing Megan would listen, commiserate and then tell her to get on with it.
Megan understood the role of a good friend.
But venting would mean explaining why heading up a library fundraising drive with weekly meetings and full immersion into what everyone else considered normal life thrust Hannah into an emotional tailspin. Opening that door meant facing things she’d tucked aside years ago.
If not now, when?
How about never?
Hannah shoved the internal questions aside. If keeping that door closed guarded her mental health, then so be it.
She nodded toward the trays of fresh candy and the wall of boxed chocolates shipped in from Grandma Mary’s Buffalo-based factory. “Just being around this much chocolate adds inches to my hips. Why do I work here? To torture myself?”
“To see me.” Megan sent her a quick grin, finished packing an order, then waved toward the back. “New sponge candy in the minikitchen. See what you think.”
“I love the perks of this job. Have I mentioned that lately?”
“Which is why you run voraciously. Nothing sticks on you.”
“A blessing and a curse.”
“Ha.” Megan sent a doubtful look over her shoulder. “Not packing on pounds is never a curse. Bite your tongue.”
“Let’s just say I’m not afraid to augment as needed,” Hannah shot back, grinning. “Aiding and abetting my lack of curves.”
Megan laughed out loud. “Seriously, Hannah, the way you look in a dress? In your running gear? Head-turning. Brat.”
“Thanks.” Hannah nipped a piece of fresh sponge candy, closed her eyes in appreciation and breathed deep. “Wonderful. Marvelous. Words escape me.”
“That’ll do for the moment. The chocolate is smooth enough?”
“Like silk.”
“Sweet enough?”
“The perfect blend of slightly bitter chocolate to golden, sugary honeycomb. Need any more convincing?”
“I could use you to write my ad copy.” Megan grinned, then turned to answer the wall phone. “Grandma Mary’s Candies, Megan speaking. Hey, darlin’, when are you coming home?”
Honeymooner talk. Hannah moved into the kitchen, removing herself from the inevitable love-yous and miss-yous of being separated for two whole days.
Right now, the last thing Hannah needed was another reminder of her empty life.
She tried to appear normal. She’d done a morning stint at the library, followed by a mandatory meeting with Helen Walker, CEO of Walker Electronics, which put her into this current tizzy. Now she would put in four hours of work helping Megan in the family candy store in Wellsville.
Working odd jobs offered a semblance of normal, but normal had disappeared on a rainy afternoon almost five years ago, taking a hefty part of her self-reliance with it.
Pretense worked now. Fake it till you make it, an old sales adage that applied. Only Hannah hadn’t gotten to the “make it” part yet. Lately she’d been wondering if she ever would. Perhaps Helen Walker had been right, maybe shouldering this library fundraising task would be good for her. Anything that pushed her out of her self-imposed comfort zone wasn’t bad, right?
Depends on your definition of bad, her inner voice scoffed.
Oh, she knew bad. Been there, done that, had no desire to return. Not ever again. Keeping her responsibilities minimal meant downsizing risk, and that had become her current mantra.
“Hannah?”
“Yes?” She poked her head around the corner, then shifted her attention to the phone. “You done with lover boy?”
Megan laughed. “Yes, but he’s not coming home until tomorrow. Problems with staffing at the Baltimore store. Wanna do a movie tonight?”
Hannah shook her head. “Too nice to stay inside. What about walking the ridge?”
“As in walk, not run?”
Hannah smiled as she weighed sponge candy into one-pound boxes. “Promise.”
“I’m in. You’re okay on your own here?”
Hannah glanced around the empty store. “Fine. You’re leaving?”
“Just for a bit. Ben needs a ride home from the restaurant.”
Ben was Megan’s developmentally challenged younger brother who lived in a group home a few blocks from the store. “You go get Ben. I’ll do quality control on the sponge candy. And maybe the caramels, as well.”
“Can’t be too careful.” Megan paused and gave Hannah a quick hug on her way out. “Are you okay?”
