The Bride Takes a Powder

Author's Note:
 
This book was
original published as The Real Deal.

It now has a new title and new cover.

When her fiancé is busted at a
gentlemen's club, Norah Ballard calls off the wedding. Shocked and humiliated,
she takes the first train out of Chicago and ends up in a picturesque small
town called Birchwood Falls.

Michael Banning spots the new woman
in town and recognizes her from college. She's even more gorgeous and
sophisticated now. He's no longer the nerd he was back then, and now that she's
on his turf, he's going to touch and taste every sleek, beautiful inch of her.
Whatever her reason is for being in his town, he'll fulfill all her desires so
she never wants to leave.

Norah doesn't plan to let another
man—no matter how sweet, smart and sexy—get close enough to hurt her again. But
Mike's passionate pursuit of her, the way he seems to know just how to arouse
her, awakens a sexual hunger she didn't know she had.

***

The Bride Takes a Powder

A Birchwood Falls Novel

by Jane Leopold Quinn

Chapter One

This was a day most girls dreamed
of.

Norah Ballard gazed at her
reflection in the mirror. Hair in place and makeup perfect: check. Strapless
mermaid style, light taupe designer gown: check. Romantic halo of flowers
circling her brow and a floor-length veil: check. Calm stomach instead of the
requisite bridal butterflies: check. She was more aloof from the buzz of
activity around her than she probably should be. Shouldn't she be happily
excited? Or terrified? Something other than indifferent? Something other than
cold?

She, a senior associate at her
firm, and her fiancé Garrett Dunleith, a partner in his family's firm, were
both aggressive, ambitious lawyers. They'd be a Chicago power couple.
God, that sounds arrogant.

Control was her thing. She controlled
her decision to enter law school, controlled her career. Once she'd met Garrett
in college, she realized they would be a force to be reckoned with in the
Chicago legal community. From practically the first moment they'd met, she'd
planned their wedding and marriage. She'd planned every step of the event from
the wedding date to rings to showers to their wedding clothing. After two years
of marriage, they'd have children spaced two years apart. Nothing would go
amiss today. The reception had been arranged at the Peninsula Hotel for exactly
one hour after the ceremony at the church.

I
love Garrett. I'm positive I do.
Goose bumps popped up on her bare
shoulders and arms. Gazing around the church's bridal dressing room, she
searched for a draft. It was early May, not quite summer yet. She took a deep
breath, as deeply as she could sewn snugly into the gown by the designer's
seamstress.

A moment of panic. She struggled
for a deep enough breath.
You can't
faint. You're just fine. Get control of yourself.
Horrifying thoughts
suddenly plagued her. Should she really be getting married? Did she love
Garrett? Even after thirty-five years, her parents were still so much in love.
She was well aware of what that looked like.

It's
not like that with you, is it?
Waves of cold surged over her skin to
double-pebble the goose bumps. "Oh, my God," she sighed.

More tense than she realized, her
breath caught in surprise at the click of the door. Her mother slipped into the
dressing room, motioning everyone else out and closing the door. "He's not
here yet. Have you talked to Garrett?"

She frowned. "No, not since
last night. He was going out with his brother." Chewing her lower lip, she
smeared her lipstick. "Could they have gotten drunk?" That wasn't
something she'd considered Garrett would do. He was as controlled as she was.

"Are you sure about this,
Norah? That you want to marry him?" Her mother couldn't meet her eyes,
instead gazing into the mirror and needlessly fluffing at her hair.

"Why are you asking me that
now? At this late date?" The conversation served to increase her odd
feelings of panic and doubt.

"Just ignore me, honey. I'm
sure you know what you're doing."

Her heart fluttering with
uncharacteristic anxiety, she dialed Garrett's cell. No answer. Just a moment ago
she'd felt remote. Suddenly reality burst in, the door to the room flying open
banging against the wall. Her best friend Vicky dashed in. "Turn on the
TV! Quick!" Vicky pointed the remote at a flat-screen mounted on the wall.
"Channel Four."

The three women silently watched
the report in progress on the early morning news.

"Local men, one a prominent
attorney, caught up in a vice raid on the infamous Happy Pappy's Gentlemen's
Club on the near west side."

They watched film of Garrett and
his brother drunk as lords, bare-chested, her fiancé wearing his necktie around
his forehead. Speechless and open-mouthed, she watched as they shouted
bleeped-out obscenities, gesturing at the cameras and making huge spectacles of
themselves.

"Turn that off!" Her
limbs suddenly wooden, her brain frozen, she couldn't think. She needed to do
something though. But what? How dare he deviate from her carefully set plans.

Get
out. This is your chance. Get out now!

Then it all fell into place, the
reprieve she hadn't known she wanted until this moment. "Wait here,"
she ordered Vicky and her mom. With a swish of the mermaid's tail, she swept
out of the room and entered the back of the sanctuary.

"May I have your attention
please." The usual church murmuring came to a halt and people slowly
nudged one another and turned to face her. Before anyone could speak, she did,
composing her features to conceal that her stomach was wildly somersaulting. "Due
to the absence of the groom, the wedding is cancelled. Over the next weeks your
gifts will be returned. The reception at the Peninsula will go on as planned,
so please enjoy yourselves. I'm sorry about this, and thank you for coming."
With that she retreated to the dressing area before her calm demeanor broke and
she started shrieking.
Control. Control.
Just get through this. Think!

Closing and locking the door, she
stood for a minute trying to control her shivering, her panic, and definitely
her tears. "It's over. I called it off," she tonelessly told the two
women closest to her. She refused to break down even in front of them. "Oh,
and the reception is still on. The guests deserve a party after this fiasco."

Open-mouthed and shocked, they
stared at her.

She refused to meet their eyes, and
after a longing final look at her mermaid gown, the gown on which she'd worked
so closely with the designer, she allowed herself a sigh. Collecting her
emotions, she then muttered, "Get me out of this dress!"

***

Finally alone, she curled into the
train seat, leaning her head against the window glass. Detached from all that
had happened in the last few hours, she felt sheltered in the dark coach car,
the speeding train taking her far away from Garrett Dunleith.

It had taken her less than an hour
to repack her honeymoon suitcase, removing the bikinis and sundresses. She
exchanged them for jeans, tops, sweaters, and other casual clothing. Early May,
it was hot in the Caribbean but would still be cool in the Midwest or wherever
she ended up. Stopping at the bank, she got cash from her checking account,
took a cab to Union Station, and bought a ticket on the first train out. The
station was closer to downtown than the airport, it was easier to buy a
last-minute ticket, and was something totally unexpected for her to do.

She didn't care where the train was
going. She'd either stay on it until the end of the line or get off. It didn't
matter where. She refused to stay in town just to be further humiliated on what
was to have been her wedding day.

She texted her parents and Vicky
that she'd be in touch soon and not to worry about her. The text to Garrett was
a bit more scathing. She called him asshole and a whole lot more.

The day's events played over and
over in her mind. The TV report. The announcement to the guests. She'd been on
auto-pilot as far as her feelings, she reluctantly admitted, since even before
the wedding but was now deadly cold about her plans. A little niggling thought
suggested she was sorrier about losing the gown than the groom. Chuckling
mirthlessly, she settled into the seat watching the Chicago suburbs then flat
farm fields fly past the window. In a way, this wasn't a tragedy at all. It
felt more like a pardon.

With the train wheels
clackety-clacking on the tracks, the occasional lurches and whistle blowing at
crossings, she fell into an exhausted sleep comforted by the odd rhythm.

***

"…Falls, Ioway. Ten minutes."

She jerked out of a surprisingly
deep sleep at the conductor's clipped announcement. It had been unusually quiet
on the train, no babies crying, no kids racing up and down the aisles to
disturb her. Amazed she'd slept the night through, she blinked her eyes out of
a muzzy-headed stupor, not sure why the conductor's call woke her this time.
She yawned, stretched the kinks out, and gazed out the window all the while
taking deep breaths to quell the thumping of her heart from the sudden
awakening. As a counterpoint to her emotions, the train puttered slowly along a
rushing river, water leaping and sparkling in the morning sunshine. A glance
across the aisle showed rocks and greening foliage on the side of a hill.

"Birchwood Falls comin' up,"
repeated the conductor.

She heard the rustling of clothing
and thumps of suitcases hauled down from the overhead bins. Outside the window,
now that they'd passed warehouses, the sun hit her full force and lit the town
with an enchanted glow.
Enchanted glow?
Where had that come from?
Nothing in her life was enchanted right now, and
it was supposed to be. Right this minute she should be enjoying married life.
This was to have been her honeymoon and a month off work. She teared up at the
memory of her beautiful expensive gown. What a waste. Again she realized she
missed that more than the SOB groom. Brought roughly back to reality when the
train came to a halt at the station, she glanced out the window, spotting a
sign.

Birchwood Falls—You've Come Home

A sign. An omen? The town literally
glowed in the sun. Like
Brigadoon
.
She'd recently seen a revival of the classic musical, the story of two hunters
discovering the magical Scottish town as it materialized from the morning mist.
Just as Birchwood Falls appeared to her, aglow and radiant in the sunrise. The
beginning of a new day. A new life?

She froze in her seat for a moment
staring at the sign. This town called to her. In a daze, she gathered her
suitcase and jacket. Alighting from the train, she stepped out onto the wooden
platform, bemused at not knowing what the future held. She watched as the train
rumbled down the tracks leaving her in this strange place. Alone for the first
time in her life, she had no plans, nowhere to go, and nothing to do. She
cracked a slight smile at her unexpected freedom. She'd have to find someplace
to eat, then a place to stay.

Then cold hard reality hit her, and
she shivered abruptly with fear. She'd have to find a doctor and get tested for
STDs. Garrett might have endangered her life.
God forgive him, because I never will.

***

"I'll have the special."
Norah managed a smile at the waitress pouring hot coffee into an oversized mug.
In this friendly town, she'd been offered a ride toward the center of town by a
man who'd gotten off the train too. He'd dropped her at Java Joe's coffee
house. Steam rising toward her face, the smell of the roasted beans permeating
her sinuses gave her a jolt of renewal. The kick of caffeine made her feel
alive in spite of her worries and the oddity of the previous day.

"Just passing through?"
The waitress, Zelda according to her nametag, nodded to Norah's rolling
suitcase when she placed a plate loaded with scrambled eggs, home fries, and
sausage links on the table.

"I thought I'd stay awhile,"
Norah responded. "Is it a nice town?"

"Real nice, honey. You lookin'
for work?"

"Not now. Where would you
recommend I stay?"

"We've got a fancy resort
along the river the other side of town. Be right back." Zelda dashed to
the pass-through from the kitchen to pick up another order. Coming back, she
added, "Nicer and not as expensive is the McMillan House. The second floor
apartment is available."

"I'll check it out. Thank you."
Norah scarfed down everything on her plate. She never ate such a big breakfast,
usually had a bagel or toast and coffee. But for some reason she was starving
this morning. Oh, right. She hadn't eaten since—when? Since the night before
the wedding that didn't happen.

Zelda pointed her down the street
toward the McMillan House which turned out to be a cute red clapboard two-story
bungalow. "Hi, I understand you have an apartment for rent." Norah
extended her hand to the woman wearing jeans and a pullover shirt who looked
not much older than herself. For a landlady, she had expected an Aunt Bea older
type of woman. "My name's Norah Ballard."

The woman grasped her hand. "Sure.
I'm Jan Warner. I'll show you the apartment and you can decide if you want it."
The second floor had been remodeled stylishly. Living/dining/kitchen all open
plan, a bedroom, and lovely modern bathroom completed the apartment. And it was
furnished. "Everything's here. Dishes, pots and pans, and linens. All you
have to do is hang up your clothing and settle in."

"Thank you, Jan. I'm not sure
how long I'll be here, but if you need an end date…"

"Oh, no. Why don't you just
pay by the week to start. I won't kick you out without talking to you first."
Jan smiled as she headed out the door. "Welcome to Birchwood Falls. I hope
you enjoy your stay. If there's anything more I can do or if you have any
questions, don't hesitate to ask."