Hotel Ladd, page 23
Delaney’s hand was locked on her throat. She looked between the diamond and Nick, Nick and the diamond. “It’s beautiful, but it’s so big...”
He dropped his head back with a hearty laugh. “Since when is that a bad thing?”
She stared at him and uttered, “Seriously, it looks too heavy for my finger.”
“Shall I have them cut it in half?”
Delaney slugged his shoulder. “Nick, be serious.”
“I am.” Removing the ring from its case, he took her finger and slid the glittery rock in place. Delaney was trembling. “Fits perfectly,” he pronounced.
Annie’s gaze shot to the bells clanging loudly at the front door. A whoosh of relief and elation rushed through her. Cal and Malcolm had arrived home with Lacy in tow.
Decked out in a full length black coat, his wife swathed identically, Malcolm stopped short. “When did you get in, Nick? You told me you weren’t due for another hour.”
Nick lowered to one knee and casually replied, “I might have exceeded the speed limit.” Then to Delaney, “With our friends as our witness, will you grant me the highest honor and become my wife?”
For the first time in Annie’s whole life, she watched Delaney turn red as an apple. She stammered, “Yes, you fool, I’ll marry you. Now get up, you’re embarrassing me!”
“It’s about time,” Malcolm said.
“Hey, not everyone flies off to the Vegas at the drop of a hat. Some of us need planning.”
Everyone laughed, including Delaney. Annie peered over her shoulder to behold the shining eyes of her daughter. Her heart lurched as the girl dashed into the kitchen, a bewildered Jimmy slow to follow, but follow he did. Casey was thinking of Troy. Jimmy might have become her lifeline, her support, but Troy remained her true love. It was a title no one else had the power to assume at the moment. Oddly, it was Jimmy who held the power for Annie. Without him she and Casey would not be working their way back to one another, a process painstakingly slow but worth every step. Jimmy kept Casey on the straight and narrow. Jimmy made her daughter laugh. Annie’s heart sank into the pit of her stomach. If only she could repay Jimmy somehow, let him know how much she appreciated what he was doing for her daughter, for the two of them. A thought struck. Candi could make it happen. She’d know what he’d enjoy.
Cal pulled up to her and slid an arm around her shoulders. Reaching up, Annie clasped his hand. Pressing into the soft suede of his coat, the warm line of his body she thought, one day Casey would find someone to love, someone as decent and committed as Cal. Troy had done her wrong. He’d made promises and broke every one, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t learn from her mistakes. Like her, Casey could learn how to spot the wrong one and hold out until the right one came along. Until then it was Annie’s job to see that Casey was happy. And she would. She’d help her make good decisions regarding her future, her self-esteem. She’d teach her how to recognize a good man when she saw him. And she’d teach her the value of family. More than blood relatives, Annie would teach Casey the value of a strong family. It was a lesson she’d learned a lot about lately and it was time she shared it with her daughter. Annie squeezed Cal’s hand as she watched Lacy fawn over Delaney and her ring. “That’s some kind of Christmas gift.”
Cal leaned over and brushed his nose against her hair, tickling her ear. “You wait until Christmas morning, hear me?” A tiny thrill zipped through her. “Then we’ll talk about comparing gifts.” As Delaney marveled over her diamond, holding her finger at arm’s length while Lacy ogled it, Annie wondered what he could possibly mean. She already had a ring. What could be better than that? Cal said to the group, “I think we might want to warn folks visiting the hotel there’s something in the water around here that make men want to marry!”
“Well if they didn’t grow them so hot around here”—Malcolm hugged Lacy to him—“we might be able to resist.”
“I say we bottle and sell the stuff.”
Nick chuckled at Cal’s suggestion. “How about we get the hotel built first, shall we gentlemen?”
“It’s as good an idea as any,” Cal volleyed back.
Nick brushed Delaney’s hair over her shoulder. “I’m planning a Grand Opening Day celebration wedding event and I refuse to wait a day past Memorial Day.”
Cal raised his brow. “You two gettin’ hitched on opening day?”
“That we are.”
Delaney looked to Annie, then Cal, a mischievous spark in her eyes. “Care to join us?”
She could have vacuumed the sound from the room. For a second no one said a word. All eyes turned to Annie. Several customers turned heads her way. She erupted with a nervous laugh. “Why not? Let’s do it!”
“Only we might have to postpone it a day or two.”
Nick looked at Delaney with a stern eye. “Are you trying to squirm out of it already?”
“No. But Ashley won’t take kindly to you upstaging her big Memorial Day party.”
“Good God—I almost forgot. She’d have my hide!” he exclaimed and Delaney smacked his arm.
“She won’t give you any pie for your hotel, either.”
“Pie?” Fran breezed out of the kitchen. “Someone need a slice of pie?”
Delaney and Nick exchanged a guilty glance. “Nick here was wantin’ to know if you’d consider sharing your peach pie recipe for the new hotel,” Cal interjected.
“Share my recipe?” Fran waggled a finger. “Not on your life, but I might sell you a few!”
The group of them laughed uproariously. Nick moseyed near Fran and wrapped an arm around her shoulders. Gathering her close in an almost conspiratorial manner, he said, “You drive a hard bargain, Fran. We’ll buy your pies on one condition.”
“One condition?” She eyed him warily. “What’s that?”
“You let me buy some from Ashley, too.”
Lacy covered her mouth with a giggle. When Aunt Fran looked on the verge of saying no, she squealed, “C’mon, Aunt Frannie—you have to sell us your pies! You have to!”
Fran broke into a grin. “Lord a’mercy how can I say no to pregnant woman? Of course I’ll sell you my pies!”
“Thank the Lord,” Cal whispered to Annie. “I thought for a second there I was gonna have to enter into secret negotiations.”
Annie smiled. “She’d have come around.” And suddenly, the sentiment gave her pause. She’d come around. Like she had. Like Delaney had. She snuck a glance upward at Cal, his soft profile, features she was beginning to know by heart. Her stomach flipped. Would Emily come around? Would she let go of the hurt and entertain a fresh start with her father? With her? Could she forgive him and accept him, mistakes and all? Mild-mannered, heart of gold, he was worth a second chance wasn’t he? Her gaze drifted back to the couples making plans for an upcoming hotel, upcoming weddings, and she lingered on the narrowing divide between her and Delaney, the healing wounds between herself and Lacy.
Didn’t everyone deserve a second chance?
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Mid-February Annie was amazed by the progress of Serenity Springs—make that Hotel Ladd. Delaney had convinced Nick to change the name, leaving only the spa to reflect the original title. Annie thought it was a nice gesture on Nick’s behalf. It ensured the land remained tied to its heritage, a reflection of generations gone before and still to come, and placated Delaney’s growing angst over losing control. After all, this was a business to Nick Harris. For Delaney and Felicity, it went deeper. Ladd Springs was their legacy.
Sections of the hotel looked fairly complete. The buildings were up, the landscape was in. Employees spent all day on site, training for their new positions. Cal was like an old riverboat, steady as she goes. On site he kept the pace smooth, the tempo upbeat, kinda like a factory in motion. Behind the scenes he worked through problems until he found a solution. He never raised his voice, merely guided people in the direction he wanted and away from that he didn’t. Malcolm worked mostly with contractors and designers, applying the finishing touches to his masterpiece. From what Cal said, the design aspect was all Malcolm. From the indulgent spa to the riverfront restaurant and each and every trail in between, everything creative was Malcolm.
Except the stables. Those belonged to Delaney and was the place she lived these days. She worked night and day, but somehow, Annie didn’t think the word work ever crossed Delaney’s mind. Horses were her passion. She lived and breathed them, cared for them like they were her children. One day, while waiting for Cal to finish up, Annie decided to explore, following a trail that led to the stables, and what she saw took her breath away. Once the wooded path hit a clearing, a gently rolling meadow stretched between her and a pristine line of corrals. A sloped gravel road, lined by white fencing led the way, and when she arrived hilltop the smell of leather and wood engulfed her. There were no horses or hay as yet, only bridles and leads, saddles and pads. Annie recalled the scent and how it reminded her of everything Tennessee, everything country. Delaney had created an ambiance as warm and welcoming as a country campfire on a crispy-cold night. When Delaney discovered her, she had graciously given her a tour.
“Annie?”
She turned at the sound of Cal’s voice. “Yes?”
“What are you doing standing out here all alone?”
“Just enjoying the scenery.”
He jogged down the front steps from the main hotel, a log structure practically built into the mountainside. Massive beams ran floor to ceiling and crossed lengthwise to support an A-line roof and walls of windows. Malcolm insisted every wall be a window for an inside-outside sensation. Wanting no barrier between his guests and the land outdoors, he had even gone so far as to line every bathroom in river rock and included open-aired, spring fed steam showers. When Annie had asked him what he intended to do when it rained or snowed, he simply smiled, pushed a button, and an ingenious automated cover slid into place. “Voilá.”
Annie shook her head. Malcolm was not only creative, but the man harbored a technological affinity as well. Sliding doors weren’t his only marvel of machinery. He rigged all the sprinklers to use rain water and recycled hotel water to irrigate the landscape. By utilizing a high-tech filter, he claimed the water was practically as pure as the springs by the time it hit the leaves outdoors. His compost bins were another ingenious feat. Strategically located throughout the property, the food waste his guests discarded was composted for use in the hotel’s herb and vegetable gardens to grow the next batch of culinary creations.
“Are you ready to take a look at the spa?”
Anticipation skirted through her. “I am.”
Cal took her by the hand and guided her through a covered walkway that followed the mountainside and into the spa. Another feat of gorgeous design by Malcolm, the spa had been worked in and around mountainous rocks, over and above a rushing creek. It was the same creek that used to run behind Ernie’s cabin, long since destroyed and replaced with an adorable rustic shack where they housed historical items from the area. That was Cal’s idea. A history buff, he convinced Malcolm and Nick their guests would love a quaint trip into the history-rich past of Tennessee, complete with Indian relics, tokens leftover from the old mining days and of course, tales of gold fever that wracked the land, including right here in Ladd Springs. For added mystique, an authentic graveyard lay within view—home to Susannah and Ernie and any number of Ladds to come. Cal assured them that after a visit here, those pretty gold pendants they had in the gift shop would sell like hotcakes.
Opening the door for her, Cal asked, “Have you given the salon your notice?”
“I have,” she said, with no small amount of ambivalence. Annie had been torn up inside when she told the owner she was leaving. Trendz had been her professional home for almost ten years, and it felt like she was leaving home when she told them she was joining the staff at Serenity Springs. Annie grinned inwardly. Make that running the Serenity Springs spa. The nail department, anyway. Walking into her section, her jaw dropped. “Do you need five stations?”
“Yes ma’am. We aim to have manicures, pedicures, waxing, the works.”
Annie laughed. “But do you think you’re going to need them at one time?” She looked at a row of fancy leather chairs wrapped in plastic, sleek stone sinks behind each, complete with built-in wooden racks for her selection of nail polish, a stack of drawers to house her manicure tools. A line of pedicure chairs lined the opposite wall, outfitted equally well. Unlike the stark contemporary décor of Trendz, the pale cream walls and recessed lighting matched the supple vanilla leather of the chairs to give this area a calming aura. Polished pebblestone floors lent a natural, earthy feel. It was unfinished, but she could easily envision Malcolm’s intent.
“We plan to run at full occupancy.”
“All the time?”
Cal grinned. “All the time.”
She shook her head. “You’re going to have your hands full.”
He slid them around her waist and nuzzled her ear. “I hope so. We’re going to need a few kids to fill that house.”
Grasping hold of his arms, she reveled in the feel of him, the peace she felt in his presence. Enfolded within his embrace, she immersed herself in the scent of his cologne, a subtle fragrance with a mildly woodsy spice. Thoughts of Christmas morning floated to the forefront of her mind. Cal’s gift to her had been architectural drawings. It wasn’t what she expected to find when she unwrapped the enormous gold-papered box with the glittery red bow, but then again Cal was proving to be anything but ordinary. He told her it was a dream home, a place he’d always wanted to build in the mountains but had no one to build it with until her. A slew of warm memories inundated her. He promised she could change anything she wanted, but after perusing the pages, Annie didn’t want to change a thing. She loved it, but it was what he said to Casey that touched her heart the most.
There was a private detached cabin included solely for her. Said he understood living with her momma wasn’t ideal for a young woman on her own, and he believed she needed her own space. Annie thought Casey was going to jump from the couch and hug him. She didn’t, but Annie could see the appreciation bursting in a gaze straight from her heart. Cal had given her the greatest gift of all. Independence.
And despite the fact that her life was beginning a beautiful new phase, something had been gnawing at Annie and she needed to get it off her chest. Turning within his arms, she peered up at him. “Cal?”
“Yes?”
“Can we invite Emily to the wedding?” Cal went rigid. “I mean it. I think it might be a nice outreach, don’t you?”
Sadness poured into hazel eyes, his features etched by time, a time greater than his years. “Annie, I think it’s a real sweet idea, but I don’t think she’ll come. I’ve called her twice and her momma won’t let her talk to me.”
“Why don’t we go see her in person?” His Adam’s apple logged up and down. “Would you, Cal? Would you take me out there to meet her? It’s a lot harder to say no to person when they’re standing right there in front of you.”
“I don’t know, Annie. That might be asking a bit too much of her.”
“Will you at least consider the idea?”
Visibly relieved, he nodded. “I will.”
She kissed him. “Thank you.”
After they investigated every nook and cranny of the new nail salon, Cal took his time escorting Annie back to the lobby. He idled around the path, indulging in a spout of a waterfall escaping from a crack in the rocks. It was spring water, one of the many natural outlets on the property. Ladd Springs earned its name for a reason. “Have you given any more idea to where you want to live?”
It was a question she’d been anticipating but had no answer. “I have.”
“And what do you think about my suggestion?”
“Building on Casey’s land?”
“We could offer to buy a section from her. With that and the money from the logging, she would be set for quite some time. You don’t think she’d object, do you?”
“No.” Not really, though it was probably not the right time to broach the subject with her. Lately, she’d been moody, ornery. Annie took it as a sign she was ready to move on from Fran’s and choose a real direction for her future, partly due to Cal’s promise of building her a space of her own, partly due to Jimmy’s eagerness over the whole college adventure thing, as he called it. Casey didn’t talk about Troy anymore. Never mentioned his name, perhaps dropping any and all hope for his return. Annie believed her daughter had finally come to accept that it wasn’t meant to be and it was time for her to move on with her life. Annie was thankful for the change but saddened at the same time. She wished her daughter could look ahead with a bigger sense of excitement, but instead Casey appeared to become a cold realist. If she needed a degree, she’d get one, so long as Jimmy went to school with her. They were talking about starting this summer, with a few science classes of all things.
But Annie wasn’t about to argue. Jimmy had done right by Casey and their friendship was something Annie valued. Delaney’s input with Casey helped too, and these days, Annie would take any help she could get. It was ironic, but where Delaney had been her biggest opponent when it came to recognizing Casey as family, she now stood as her biggest ally. She seemed to want nothing more than to see Casey and Felicity grow close, paving the way for the next generation of Ladds. She gulped. Grandchildren.
“Are you opposed to the idea?” Cal asked.
“No. It’s just a reality I’m still getting used to.”
Cal hugged her to him. “Don’t take too long. I’m getting’ mighty impatient to settle down and get cozy by the fireplace.” His slightly crooked smile made her laugh. “What? You can’t blame a man for wantin’ to snuggle with his woman, can you?”
A flush of warmth rose to her cheeks and she pushed into him. “No.”
“Well, alrighty then. Get busy with your thinkin’ and give me an answer soon, will you?”
Annie felt the buzz of her cell phone within her coat. As she reached for it, a swarm of angst streamed through her. Lacy was due to deliver any day now and was to call the minute she went into labor. Annie pulled out her phone, concerned to see Casey’s number on the screen. She was supposed to be at work. Annie pressed the phone to her ear. “Casey?”
