Love Reunited. Renee Andrews
over the past few years, but Landon’s mind hovered on Georgie. He tried to maintain a polite interest in the conversation but also kept a keen eye tuned around the square for the sight of that gorgeous redhead.
Within minutes, he saw the striking red hair, even if on a smaller beauty.
“Hey, Miss Mandy!” Abi yelled. Her curly strawberry pigtails bounced wildly against her shoulders as she sprinted toward the group and directed her question to Mandy Brantley. “Are my pictures ready yet?”
“Abi, it’s great to see you again.” Mandy touched one of the little girl’s pigtails. “You just had your pictures made yesterday. Remember how I said it’d take a few days?”
“Yes, I remember, but I asked Grandma if I could come check, and she said yes. And I wanted to ask you about helping us tonight anyway. ’Cause we brought Mommy tonight for the first time for her to come to this town, and she needs some new shoes to go with the new dress we got her to wear to my piano recital, but Grandma doesn’t know a whole bunch about cute shoes. And I told her how you had on cute shoes when you took my pictures. And you have cute shoes now too.” She pointed to Mandy’s colorful sandals.
“Thank you,” Mandy said.
“So do you want to help us find Mommy some cute shoes while we’re in town? We’ve been looking, but I can’t decide. And neither can Grandma.” Then, as though she just noticed the other people standing around with Mandy, she explained, “Grandma and I help Mommy pick stuff out so she can have the right colors and match it and all. Mommy says that’s my important job, helping her pick the colors out. I know my colors, but I don’t know kinds of shoes that good yet.” She scanned the faces in the group, then stopped, hazel eyes popping when she got to Landon. “Hey, Mr. Landon! I didn’t know you were coming to town too. Did you ride your horse?”
The whole group laughed, while Landon grinned. “Not tonight, Abi.” He glanced behind her to find Georgiana and Eden, but a group of brawny teens wearing Claremont football jerseys hid his view. “So where are your Grandma and Mommy now?”
The football team moved toward and then past the group, and sure enough, Eden and Georgiana were right behind them.
“There they are!” Abi said, grinning and pointing.
Georgiana, now wearing a yellow floral sundress, green sweater and sandals, looked even prettier than she did back in high school. Her hair was no longer pulled up like it had been earlier, and it toppled in beautiful long swirls to reach her waist. He wanted to see her eyes, but she wore sunglasses in spite of the fact that it’d been dark for at least an hour.
“Hey, Mommy, I asked Miss Mandy if she’ll help us find cute shoes to go with the red dress.” She looked back to Mandy. “Are you gonna help us?”
Mandy laughed. “I’d love to.”
She talked about Abi’s photo shoot, but Landon barely heard their conversation. He was too busy examining Georgiana’s face and disposition. Her fingers were wrapped snugly around her mother’s forearm, he assumed to let Eden subtly lead her through the square. But then he noticed the tension in her forehead and the way her mouth seemed drawn and tight. And he noticed Eden did all of the talking, with Georgiana attempting to slide her mouth into a smile when appropriate. She looked anything but comfortable. In fact, Landon would say she looked miserable.
Then he realized Eden was helping her out by working the names of those present into her conversation. She didn’t announce the fact that Georgiana was blind, but subtly told her daughter the members of the group.
“It’s so good to see all of you together again,” Eden said. “Seems like forever ago since all of you hung around in high school. Daniel, Mandy, Mitch, Chad...and Landon.”
Landon didn’t miss the fact that Georgiana’s hand squeezed her mother’s forearm when Eden said his name. Why was she uncomfortable around him? And why had she tried to hide her blindness from him earlier today?
“So Mandy, would you want to come with us to shop for shoes?” Eden asked.
“Yes, would you?” Abi coaxed. “Please.”
“I’d sure appreciate the help,” Georgiana said softly, and Landon noticed that she turned toward Mandy when she spoke. He also noticed that the group exchanged glances, indicating that they realized Georgiana couldn’t see. Mandy obviously already knew, and it appeared Daniel did too, but Chad’s and Mitch’s faces didn’t disguise their shock, even if they managed to keep their smiles in place for Eden and Abi.
“Mandy’s always in the mood for shopping,” Daniel said.
“That’s right,” Mandy agreed, “and I’d love to go now.” She kissed Daniel, told him she’d be back in a little while, then asked, “So, do y’all have the dress with you?”
“Yep, it’s in that bag,” Abi said, pointing to a paper Consigning Women sack hanging from Eden’s arm.
“Then I guess we’re ready to go,” Mandy said.
“Nice running into all of you,” Georgiana added, then turned and walked away with her mother, Abi and Mandy.
A decade ago, Landon would have simply let her leave and then wondered why she seemed particularly uncomfortable around him or why she’d tried to hide her blindness from him this afternoon. But that was a decade ago. He’d lived a lot and learned a lot in the years between, and he wasn’t about to merely sit and wonder this time.
“Georgiana,” he called, and took the few steps to catch up to the group of females.
She paused, turned and waited.
Landon found himself swallowing through the automatic response to being face-to-face with her again. She’d always taken his breath away, and now he found it nearly hard to speak. But he would speak. And he would find out what had happened to her during the years they’d been apart.
“Yes?” she asked, a slight tremor in the single syllable.
“I’d like to come see you tomorrow at the farm, catch up on everything that’s happened to us since high school, if that’s okay.”
Eden and Mandy locked glances and gave each other soft smiles that made Landon wonder what they knew that he didn’t.
“Would that be okay?” he asked.
“I do riding lessons tomorrow,” Abi said. “Maybe you could come watch me.”
“I’d like that a lot,” he said to the pretty little girl, then looked up at her striking mother. “Is that okay with you, Georgiana?”
The slightest hint of panic slipped over her features, but she masked it quickly. She did not want to talk to Landon; he was sure of that. But he was equally certain that he wasn’t going to take no for an answer.
He took a step closer, leaned toward her ear and hoped the sounds of the geese squawking and people talking would drown out his whispered words. “Please, for old times. Let me come see you tomorrow. Spend some time with me, Georgie.” He said a quick, silent prayer, then added, “Say yes.”
Her slender throat pulsed as she swallowed. “Okay.”
Chapter Three
Every morning since she’d moved back to the farm, Georgiana woke bright and early, then made her way out to the barn to spend time talking to Fallon and to God. Today was no different, except the need for quiet time was even more intense after last night’s trip to the square.
Even though she hadn’t lived here in years, it hadn’t taken Georgiana long at all to remember everything, and consequently, she could easily make her way to the barn without need of her white cane. This was familiar. This was home.
As always, Fallon awaited her arrival, nickering softly when Georgiana neared her stall.
God, be with me today. You know how much I need your help.