Summer Moon (31 page)
“I’m sorry to show up like this without word, but I truly have no place else to go,” Sara apologized.
Lou was watching her closely, her gaze darting to the door and back again as if she suspected some horror had followed Sara inside.
“What are you doing all alone? What happened to the man you ran off with, Sara?”
Humiliation pierced Sara’s heart. She had been such an utter, witless fool the day she had run off and left the wedding ring Dru had given her atop a note for Lou on the upstairs hall table.
Sara licked her lips, swallowed. She could lie, but she and Louzanna Talbot had lived together for nearly two years, shared Dru’s letters, shared their joys and heart-aches. Louzanna deserved more than lies, but Sara couldn’t bear to tell the whole sordid story.
“He is out of my life for good.”
Lou stared at Elizabeth, unable to take her eyes off the child. “And so you’ve finally come home,” Lou said softly.
“Yes.”
“I knew you would, eventually. I never lost hope.” The edges of Lou’s lips curled up into what might have been an attempt to smile. She concentrated on the little girl in Sara’s arms.
“What is her name?” Lou and Lissybeth exchanged curious stares.
“Elizabeth. I call her Lissybeth,” Sara said.
One of Lissybeth’s little hands, fingers splayed and extended, stretched toward the lonely recluse.
Timidly, Louzanna slowly raised her hand and offered her index finger to the child. When Lissybeth’s little hand closed around Louzanna’s fingers, Lou closed her eyes and let out a sigh.
“Lou?” Sara was used to Louzanna’s mind drifting and having to coax her around.
Startled, Louzanna looked up, met Sara’s eyes, and suddenly threw her arms around Sara’s neck. She held on for dear life, encompassing both Sara and Lissybeth in her embrace. When she finally drew back, her hazel eyes were shimmering with tears.
“I haven’t much,” Louzanna admitted softly, “but you’re welcome to share it. This is still your home, Sara, if you want it. I’m so glad you’ve finally come back.”
By Jill Marie Landis
Published by Ivy Books:
MAGNOLIA CREEK*
SUMMER MOON
*forthcoming
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An Ivy Book
Published by The Ballantine Publishing Group
Copyright © 2001 by Jill Marie Landis
Excerpt from
Magnolia Creek
copyright © 2002 by Jill Marie
Landis
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. Published in the United States by The Ballantine Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc., New York, and simultaneously in Canada by Random House of Canada Limited, Toronto.
Ivy Books and colophon are trademarks of Random House, Inc.
First Mass Market Edition: July 2002
eISBN: 978-0-307-41676-6
v3.0