Home for the Holidays (12 page)

Mavis rested a hand on the sleeve of his suit jacket. “You may as well go over to the bar and let Frank light you up with that concoction that definitely can pass for hooch.”

David lowered his head until his mouth was only inches from Mavis's ear. “You can be honest with me, Miss Mavis. Are you certain it isn't hooch? I heard old man Kennedy has a still hidden behind the shed where he butchers and smokes his hogs and sells the stuff only to a few folks that know how to mind dey mout.”

He hadn't realized he'd spoken in dialect until the words were out. Even with a law degree there were times when David couldn't totally escape slipping into the dialect of African descendants who'd passed down the language from one generation to another. He knew if his mother heard it, she would've been mortified. Edna Sullivan was very conscious not to lapse into the dialect she'd grown up listening to whenever her mother and aunts got together to cook for either a Sunday dinner or a family reunion, while sternly lecturing her children that she didn't want to hear a word of it spoken under her roof. David usually adhered to the rule, but his sister Leticia didn't whenever she sought to challenge their haughty and domineering mother who'd become the grande dame of Charleston's African American social circle.

Mavis rolled her eyes upward. “Please don't start me lying, because you'd have to charge me with perjury. I'm too old to sit in jail even though the color orange would go quite nicely with my complexion,” she said jokingly. Throwing back his head, David laughed loud enough to garner the rapt attention of the others in the room.

Jeffrey Hamilton turned and approached David. Not only was Jeff his cousin, but also the sheriff of Cavanaugh Island. Jeff had given the Marine Corps twenty years and then returned to Sanctuary Cove to take care of his elderly grandmother. The familial resemblance between the two men was evident in that they shared equal height, complexion, warm brown eyes, and cleft chins.

Jeff gathered David in a rough embrace, pounding his back. “Congratulations for getting Bobby Niles off. You're a helluva lawyer, cuz. It would've been a damn shame if Bobby had to spend the next two decades of his life locked away for something he didn't do.”

David peered over his cousin's shoulder, meeting Devon's eyes. It was apparent she'd overheard Jeff. He pounded Jeff's back before easing out of his bone-crushing grip. His cousin outweighed him by almost thirty pounds and it was apparent the former marine wasn't aware of his own strength. “It would've turned out differently if Larissa hadn't recanted her testimony.”

Jeff lifted his dark eyebrows a fraction. “That's BS and you know it. I was in the courtroom during your closing argument, and from the expressions on the faces of the jury, most of them were going for a not-guilty verdict.”

David wanted to tell Jeff he wished he'd been
that
optimistic. He would've accepted a hung jury wherein Bobby would remain free on bail until the court scheduled another trial. “I believed Bobby when he said he didn't break into his neighbor's house and pistol-whip that old man, and I did everything I could to convince the jury of his innocence.”

“Here's the man of the hour,” shouted Frank Tanner, walking across the room while holding clear mugs filled with hot black coffee, Irish whiskey, granulated sugar and topped off with whipped cream. Frank gave David one of the mugs, lifting the other one in a toast. “Congrats, Counselor. Now I know who to call if your law and order cousin decides to lock me up for speeding.”

Smiling and shaking his head, Jeff pointed to the former NFL football player. “I should lock you up for buying moonshine from old man Kennedy and trying to pass it off as Irish whiskey.” Everyone laughed, including Frank.

David had always liked Francine's father. The red hair from his youth was now completely gray, and a pair of large gray-green eyes was his face's most striking feature. The former Pittsburgh Steelers' defensive end-turned-restaurateur had been a local hero back in the day. And he told anyone who stood still long enough to listen that his two greatest accomplishments were becoming a father and keeping off the fifty pounds he'd lost after his football career ended.

David took a sip of the drink, then blew out a breath. “I'm going to have to agree with my cousin. This stuff
is
lethal. Delicious, but definitely lethal.”

Frank threw back his head and laughed like a man possessed. A rush of color darkened his face until it resembled a cherry-red shade. “I…I thought you young dudes could hang,” he sputtered when finally catching his breath.

“We can,” chorused David, Jeff, and Nathaniel.

“Who can't hang?” Keaton Grace asked. He'd entered the family room just in time to hear Frank's pronouncement.

Still reeling from her husband's untimely death, Deborah Robinson needs a fresh start. So she decides to pack up her family, box up her bookstore, and return to her grandmother's ancestral home on Cavanaugh Island. The charming town of Sanctuary Cove holds happy memories for Deborah. And, after she spies a gorgeous stranger in the local bakery, it promises the possibility for a bright, new future.

Dr. Asa Monroe is at a crossroads. Ever since the loss of his family, he has been on a quest for faith and meaning, traveling from one town to another. When he meets Deborah, the beautiful bookstore owner with the warm eyes and sunny smile, Asa believes he has finally found a reason to stay in one place.

As friendship blossoms into romance, Deborah and Asa discover they may have a second chance at love. But small towns have big secrets. Before they can begin their new life together, the couple must confront a challenge they never expected…

 

 

Kara Newell has a big-city life that needs a major shake-up. Her dedication as a social worker is unwavering, yet her heart tells her that there is more to life than just work. Kara gets the push she needs when she shockingly inherits a large estate on an island off the South Carolina coast. Now the charming town of Angels Landing awaits her…along with a secret family she never knew she had.

After surviving war, loss, and heartbreak, ex-marine Jeffrey Hamilton takes his position as sheriff of idyllic Cavanaugh Island very seriously. So he is the perfect person to watch over the beautiful, confident woman who has turned her new family's expectations upside down—and stepped into the crosshairs of angry local residents.

But soon Kara becomes more than just a job to him, and he begins to need her in ways he never expected. As Kara and Jeffrey confront the town gossips together, they'll learn to face their fears and forgive their pasts in order to find a future filled with happiness in Angels Landing.

 

 

Architect Morgan Dane has always lived according to a plan, crossing off her achievements one by one. But when she's offered her dream job—the restoration of historic Angels Landing Plantation on beautiful Cavanaugh Island—Morgan's life takes an unexpected turn.

Carpenter Nathaniel Shaw once took a big chance on commitment—and lost. Needing the healing comforts of home, he returns to Haven Creek to join the family business. Nothing in the small town has changed—except for Morgan Dane. The wallflower he knew in high school has grown into a beautiful woman…and stirs feelings Nate isn't sure he's ready for.

Together Nate and Morgan find a happiness neither could have predicted. But when secrets from the past come to light, their budding relationship is threatened. Will they play it safe, or risk their hearts to build a life together?

 

 

After a taste of Broadway stardom and a failed marriage, Francine Tanner is rebuilding her life back home on Cavanaugh Island. She's done with acting—and anyone who isn't genuine about real life and true feelings. But the mysterious newcomer who's bought land outside her hometown of Sanctuary Cove is as down-to-earth as he is handsome…and he may be her second chance for the real thing.

Keaton Grace has had a crush on glamour-girl Francine Tanner for years. He can't believe his luck that she lives in the same small town where he's developing his new film studio. He just has to convince his favorite star to return to the spotlight. Yet the more time they spend together, the more he realizes the smart, funny, sexy woman she is in real life is far better than any role he envisioned.

Now what he wants most is to heal her pain—and prove their attraction could be more powerful than anything they ever imagined…

Sanctuary Cove

Angels Landing

Haven Creek

Magnolia Drive