The Long Way Home

Thanks also to my writing buddies at New England Chapter RWA for your never-ending support and encouragement. I know how lucky I am to be a part of you.

Thanks as well to Laurie Schnebly Campbell, who once again presented a great workshop where I was able to develop the characters in this book. (Love those enneagrams!)

And to my late uncle, Richard S. Parry, proud veteran of the U.S. Navy, whose adventures and stories always sparked my imagination.

I miss you.

Contents

Chapter One (#ub7a8ebcd-32b9-5b79-b94a-d4cd0a658f7f)

Chapter Two (#ua8f30777-ed43-563b-98e1-7d89f3bb1e6d)

Chapter Three (#u049e1906-866e-5409-a973-81518b493718)

Chapter Four (#uad580b0c-b07d-52f2-8b6a-7e2de39218f1)

Chapter Five (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Six (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Seven (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Eight (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Nine (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Ten (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Eleven (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Twelve (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Thirteen (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Fourteen (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Fifteen (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Sixteen (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Seventeen (#litres_trial_promo)

Excerpt (#litres_trial_promo)

CHAPTER ONE

NO ONE HAD EVER PROMISED Natalie Kimball that moving home to be a lawyer in a small town with people who still thought of her as a hopelessly shy nerd was going to be easy.

“I can do this,” Natalie muttered for about the tenth time that morning, her hands clenched on the steering wheel of her secondhand Toyota as she drove out of town and north up the coast.

To her right, the waves crashed toward her in a spectacular show of whitecaps; the Atlantic tide was coming in. The narrow strip of beach beside it, usually so crowded with tourists in the summer, was deserted, and most of the seaside shops and arcades were still closed for the winter. She opened the window a crack and let the fresh, cold smell of ocean air wash over her.

For once, Natalie was exactly where she wanted to be. She loved this place; it was in her DNA. Even though her father, Asa Kimball, didn’t want her at home working in his law firm, Natalie knew she could be happy here and do a great job, if he gave her the chance. More than anybody else he could possibly turn the firm over to, she understood the people of this town: their connections, their histories, their families and their secrets.

Especially the family secret of the woman she was set to meet. I wonder what became of Bruce Cole? Natalie thought.

Bruce was her longtime high school crush, though Natalie hadn’t seen him since the summer he left town. It was only wishful thinking to expect his sister would mention him today.

Shaking her head, Natalie watched for the familiar gazebo perched on an outcropping of rock. When she came to it, she parked in a vacant lot where the meters weren’t set up for the season yet.

Grabbing the packet on the seat beside her, she slammed the car door against the wind. It was an unseasonably cold day in late April even by New England seacoast standards—blustery, with freezing rain that made her teeth clench. She shivered, wishing she’d brought a warmer coat.

But this was where Maureen Cole’s receptionist at the real estate office had asked Natalie to meet her. And to shore up her position with her father as a lawyer able to “bring in business,” Natalie needed to convince Maureen that she should work with them on future projects. To secure her place, Natalie would do whatever it took, even drive ten miles out of town to the Rosewood Nondenominational Chapel in order to bring Maureen her forgotten notebook.

Natalie glanced down the beach to the picturesque chapel on a bluff overlooking the ocean. Strange how this place affected her. Long before all Natalie’s surgeries, this little church had figured prominently in her romantic fantasies. She hoped the quaint property wasn’t for sale. But why else would Maureen be here? Natalie had hinted for information from Maureen’s receptionist, but the young woman had only smiled mysteriously. “I’m sure Maureen will fill you in when you see her.”

Sighing, Natalie picked her way over the sidewalk, still littered with sand and pebbles after a late winter storm. Outside the chapel, a winter-deadened lawn was ringed by a garden beginning to come alive. For now, yellow forsythia sparked open and lilac bushes budded with purple shoots. Later, the roses of June and the tall, spiked perennial flowers of July would join them.

When she entered through the side door, Natalie recognized Maureen Cole immediately. A year older than Natalie, she looked every bit the prom queen and student council president she’d been in high school.

Maureen was curvy, blonde and authoritative—in a good way Natalie admired but would never be at heart. Her booming voice carried across the church to a volume that even Natalie, hearing-impaired as she was, could clearly process.

“Over there! You stand over there and I’ll walk around you.” Maureen tugged on a measuring tape, directing her mother. Nearby was a baby carriage with netting thrown over it, though there couldn’t be many flying insects inside the chilly church.

Rubbing her arms, Natalie stood back and watched the women chatter away, their voices lower now as they worked. To pick out the words, Natalie concentrated on Maureen’s lips. Maureen wore bright coral lipstick. Her teeth were straight and perfect; she’d gotten dental work done in the years since Natalie had seen her.

“...red would look nice,” Maureen was saying, “but white is more traditional, and that’s what I prefer.”

But then Maureen turned to the side, and Natalie couldn’t read her lips anymore. She caught only the muted words wedding flowers.

Was Maureen getting married? Natalie glanced from the measuring tape Maureen wielded to the pad of paper she wrote on. Maybe they were planning the placement of floral arrangements for the ceremony.

A pang went through Natalie. Ever since she was a child, she had gazed up at this chapel as her family drove past on a Sunday, looking at the brides and wedding parties, and wondering what it would feel like to marry a man she loved in this fairy-tale place.

But dreams like that didn’t happen for people like her. She needed to be practical. Use her brain, use her legal training, use her knowledge of the town’s past connections and histories and secrets, and maybe she could find a way to be of service to people. Even if she wasn’t the world’s best communicator, like her father said.

“May I help you?” Maureen was standing directly in front of her.

Natalie jumped, snapping out of her reverie. “I’m...sorry.” She cleared her throat, then remembered the binder cradled against her arm. She held it forward, smiling sheepishly at Maureen. “This is for you.”

“Right.” Maureen nodded, sizing her up. “You’re the lawyer Lyndsey sent over with my wedding organizer. Thank you.” With a grudging look, Maureen took the notebook she had left behind at her office and turned away from Natalie, immediately flipping to a page and scribbling furiously.

No one had said this would be easy.

Natalie walked around Maureen, to where she could see her face. “Ah...forgive me for prying. But are you getting married, Maureen?”

Maureen looked up, staring at her. “Do you need to buy a house or something?”