He got out, and I followed. He went to the nearest tree and looked up. “I grafted these on my own when I was twenty. He bent down and picked up a ripe pod and pried it open, took out the unshelled pecan. He pulled out a nut cracker and broke the shell. Cleaning off the meat, he handed it to me. “There you go. Can’t get fresher than that.”
I popped it into my mouth and closed my eyes, the buttery taste exploding on my tongue. “Mmm that is good. You created these?”
“Yes. My first yield.”
“Your Dad doesn’t know about them?”
“No. I’ve kept them secret for now. It was easy with so much acreage, and we’re always growing and planting. I wanted to see the yield of them before I showed him what I’d done.” He picked up another nut and went through the same routine. He broke it. “Nice snap of the kernel.” Then the moment of truth. He put the nut on his tongue and chewed. He closed his eyes.
“Well?” I watched his face for the verdict, although I expected it was going to be really good.
He was blown away by how much I cared about everything he was doing. Cared that he had a lot riding on this project. He reached out and pulled me to him, overwhelmed by the thick emotions crowding my chest. “That good, huh?” I murmured, my voice husky and warm as I stroked the back of his head. “Jake, I’m so happy for you.” I wrapped my arms around his neck, as he buried his face in the hollow of my throat, breathing in my scent and simply basking in the most perfect day of our life.
“Sassy, bold and buttery sweet. Outstanding. Just like you.”
I smiled into his eyes. “What kind of yield do you think you’re going to get?”
“From the full orchard?” He grinned widely. “Approximately two thousand nuts per acre.”
“And you have how many acres?”
“Eight hundred.”
“That is overwhelming and exciting.”
He nodded as we parted. “You ready for the madness today?”
“Yes.” I looked at my watch. “The tours begin in an hour and the town’s hotel and B&B’s are full already, as well as accommodations in the immediate area. I think we’re going to get a sizable crowd for our first festival. Did you rent a tux?”
He smiled. “I don’t need to rent one. I own one. I’ll drop by the house sometime today to pick it up. I’ll be ready to escort the Pecan Queen to the ball. You ready for all the craziness?”
I smiled wryly, saying a small prayer everything went off without a hitch. “Are you kidding? After playing Scarlett O’Hara, this should be a piece of cake.”
The next day we stood at Jake’s orchard with Reverend Fairchild as he blessed the crops. Jake’s family, the Outlaws, his workers and some of the people who had come to town for the harvest and would be taking the tours attended. The vendors would be opening on Main Street at eight and the cooking contest would begin. I had submitted my cookies and needed to get home right after this to get them baked. At noon, when the carnival and antique carriage show opened, the Pecanettes would be in the limelight. I had thrown out the program because, truly, I knew nothing about dance routines, but what I did know was two-stepping. Teaching it to these women who had grown up waltzing and fox trotting had actually been a labor of love, even with the long hours of rehearsal. Two-stepping was also downright fun.
The Gator Baters, a Cajun band out of Acadia Parish would be performing at three-thirty which would give me time to get ready for the Queen’s Ball.
The Reverend started speaking, and I gave him my attention, so many details running through my mind, least of all how I was going to handle my deep feelings for Jake. He had a right to my past and why I thought like I did, but I was afraid, like I had been at the beginning of this relationship, that he would look at me in a different way, that he would be disappointed. I wasn’t worried he would care about the scandal if it ever got out. I knew Jake now and he’d changed. But that didn’t lessen my determination that the festival would go smoothly.
I drew a deep breath and decided after this was all over, I would tell him everything. Beside me, Jake shifted and drew me closer to him as if sensing my inner turmoil. I wrapped my arm around his waist, my heart melting and rolling over at the gentle way he touched me.
“In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. He said ‘Let the earth produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants, and fruit trees bearing their bounty with their seeds inside.’ We are here today to bless this harvest and these “seeds” that promote our welfare and prosperity in Hope Parish. Amen.”
Jake gave me a little squeeze, and we parted. I kissed him briefly on the lips. “I’ll see you at the ball.”
“All right. If you need me, call me.”
I remembered those words hours later standing in the back of the Suttontowne Country Club after I had just walked away from the hideous garment that Anna Kate just presented to me. It was a cliché and not a good one of an antebellum hoop-skirted dress in a terrible shade of lime green.
I was currently shaking with my anger that she was so damned petty she was willing to humiliate me and ruin this for everyone, especially Jake. “You are the most selfish, cruelest bully I have ever met. If you think for one minute I’m going to wear that monstrosity. You’re mistaken.”
“You don’t have any choice. What else are you going to do?”
“Pull a rabbit out of my hat, you snake in the grass shrew.” I was done with her. I had too much to do to stay here and trade insults with her. Top of that list was to get ready for the ball. I needed to get ahold of Verity.
“You would. Miss Perfect. Miss I-Can-Do-Anything. Miss Fucking Resourceful.” Her taunting words flew at me like daggers, but I kept walking and she kept talking shit. “I will admit, you blocked me at every turn. But that’s all going to change. You’re nothing, next to nothing, and I’ll prove it. When Jake finds out that you were arrested for murder—of your parents no less…” She released an incredulous, crowing laugh. “—andarson, how do you think he’s going to react?”
I whirled, the color draining from my face, my whole body paralyzed by shock as my stomach dropped away with a sickening rush.
