Best of Me

Chapter 10

Cora was working in the conservatory the next morning, watering and pruning the few plants that she had managed to keep alive, when she heard the door open and close. She popped her head around the screen and saw Garrett looking around the sunny room.

She took off her apron, smoothed down her skirt, and adjusted her sweater as she stepped around the screen to head him off before he saw what she was doing.

"What happened here?" he asked, taking in all of the empty pots that circled the room and the tarp covered furniture.

"This was the conservatory. It was my parent's favorite place."

He nodded as his attention returned to her. "Why are you wearing the headscarf again?"

Cora reached up and touched her head. "Aunt Mable prefers it and it saves an argument if I wear it." As he stepped closer to her she darted a look behind her to make sure that everything was carefully tucked behind the screen before she stepped forward to keep him from seeing what was behind it.

"You could never do covert for a living."

She blushed. "I don't know what you mean."

"There's something behind that screen that you don't want me to see."

"It's not that!" she objected. She didn't want to hurt their truce.

"It's not?"

"I don't want Aunt Mable to find out about it," she said in a rush, noticing his frown at her words.

"And you don't trust me not to tell her." It was a statement not a question and she blushed again at his words.

There was a silence between them and she refused to look at him.

"I guess I deserve that, although I did apologize for the art supplies. It wasn't intentional."

Cora nodded, "I know but-,"

"Trust takes time, I get it." He held up a package for her. "I wanted to invite you out to dinner this evening. There's something that I would like to discuss with you. It's about your future and this house."

Cora took the package tentatively, watching him closely to see how upset he was by her admission about not trusting him.

"It's O.K. Cora." He stared at her until she nodded.

"Now you're the one reassuring me," she said full of guilt as she looked over her shoulder, "Would you liked to see?" It was an olive branch and Garrett must have seen it as such because he nodded with a smile.

She stepped aside and let him peer behind the screen at her little oasis of green.

"I'm trying to keep this small corner alive for my parent's but it's been hard lately. It takes money, and I'm afraid if Aunt Mable knew about it she would cut more money out of household budget."

Garrett nodded not looking at her as he studied all of the plants but she could see the ridged set of his shoulders. "You have a green thumb."

He wasn't giving anything away.

"Not really, I've killed as much as I've grown, but I do my best."

"Will you come to dinner with me this evening?" he asked again as he moved back to the center of the room.

Cora considered it for a minute. It had been a long time since she had had dinner out and with a handsome man too. It would give them a chance to talk with the assurance that Aunt Mable wasn't listening in on their conversation.

"All right," she agreed. "It will have to be later, after Aunt Mable eats her dinner, I don't think it's a good idea for her to know about it."

Garrett nodded in agreement then turned to leave. Cora didn't want him to go so she said the first thing that popped into her head. "I liked Teddy very much."

Garrett turned around at the door and gave her a smile just like the one he had given Teddy the night before. "She is something, isn't she?"

Cora was so jealous of his smile and his words that it felt as if someone had twisted a knife in her gut. She wished someone thought of her like that. "Yes, she seems very nice."

"She liked you too."

Cora only nodded hating herself for begrudging Garrett and Teddy their happiness, it was evident that they loved each other very much.

"I'll see you this evening, we'll go somewhere simple so don't dress up."

Cora nodded wondering if he knew that she didn't have anything nice to wear.

It took her a moment after he had gone for her to remember the package she held in her hands. It was wrapped in simple brown paper and was tied with twine. She sat on a tarp covered chair and carefully untied the string and then unwrapped the gift. It had been so long since she had had one and she wanted to savor the experience.

As the present was revealed she started to cry, feeling doubly guilty for her earlier snub. The box was filled with the very best drawing pencils in every color of the rainbow and there were multiple sized drawing pads. It was the nicest thing she had ever had and it was a very expensive gift.

She hadn't expected it. She took the sleeve of her sweater and blotted her eyes before she started to open a sketch pad and rip into the pencils like a little girl. With all the colors of the rainbow she could draw anything she wanted to and she was eager to start. Forgetting that she had to clean out the fireplace in the living room and clean the study, she started to draw, a huge grin on her face as a form started to take shape.

*******

Garrett closed the door behind him and looked back through the glass at Cora's still form; hating himself for the advantage to hurt her that he had given Aunt Mable. He hadn't given serious thought to the things that she would have had to cut out of her life as Aunt Mable had cut the budget.

He suddenly remembered his first evening there, when he had had a delicious dinner and she had had soup. He had little doubt now that he was the reason that she had had the soup, but she hadn't complained. She had wept the night she had told him about the car hitting her and the loss of her art supplies but still, she hadn't blamed him, even though she had had the right too.

He watched her open the present slowly, he watched the tears that came along with the smile and laugh of joy as she saw what had been given to her. It was such a small thing and most of the women he knew would have thanked him and then set it aside as if it was their due, but not Cora. She ripped into the package like a child and started to draw.

Teddy was right, there was no denying it, but he wasn't a little in love with her, he was flat out in love. Cora had his heart. He had only known her a week and it was ridiculous, but he knew it was true.

He wanted to protect her and spoil her, and he wanted her to smile at him the way she was smiling at the picture she was drawing, with complete joy. At least he was the one who had given her a small dose of it for the moment.

The fact was that he wanted all of her, in every way. He wanted her heart but he knew he had to win it and that would take time. If he could convince her to marry him it might keep her close enough for him to have the chance to do that very thing.