Honeymoon Mountain Bride

“Well, we need one,” Temple said. “And we should stick to it. This could get totally out of hand.”

“Let’s just look at the cottages and brainstorm,” Vivian said, opening the door from the screened-in porch.

“I don’t like this,” Temple said, but the three of them walked down to the cabins.

Vivian stepped inside the dark, musty interior of the first. “They need wallpaper, a complete freshening, mold abatement, modern air-conditioning, new minikitchens and beds. Definitely new beds.”

“No to the wallpaper,” Temple said. “It’s just an invitation to more refurbishment.”

“I can paint,” Jilly said enthusiastically, lifting her hand. “I’ve even been paid for it.”

Vivian looked at her youngest sister and wondered what in the world she’d done for the last five years that included being paid for painting. She nodded and placed that fact in a file to think about at 2:00 a.m. when she awakened as she so often did. Unfortunately insomnia had recently become Vivian’s friend. “Thank you. That’s wonderful. But the AC, minikitchens and—”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa,” Temple said, lifting her hand. “These aren’t luxury villas. They’re cabins. Rustic cabins.”

“Do you want to stay anywhere that doesn’t have heat and air-conditioning, the ability to cook some food and a good mattress for sleeping?”

Temple frowned, then sighed. “We can work on the heat and AC. No to the full kitchens. I’ll price stove tops and microwaves.”

“And mattresses,” Vivian said.

“I suppose,” Temple said, clearly unhappy.

“Don’t forget the paint,” Jilly said. “We don’t have to make these luxurious. A lot of people are trying to get back to nature.

“Just so you know I may not want to camp, but I can do it,” Jillian said and walked out the cabin door.

“That girl worries me. I wonder if she’s been in some kind of trouble that we don’t know about,” Temple said, staring after her.

“Me, too. I’m afraid of what she’s been doing the last few years. I should have kept in touch better.”

“I should have, too,” Temple said. “I think Mom did a real number on her. I mean, more of a number than she did on you and me.”

“We should take her into town for lunch,” Vivian said. “Lunch with no distractions about the lodge. We could ask her more about what’s been going on in her life.”

Temple shot her a dark look. “You think lunch will fix anything? That almost sounds like Mom.”

“That was insulting and unnecessary,” Vivian said. “I think you know I’m different than Mom. Although I wouldn’t mind having her best strengths without her weaknesses,” she said, thinking of how socially adept her mother was.

“You’re right,” Temple said. “Lunch it is. We can make it a goal after we’ve painted one of the cabins.”

“That’s perfect,” she said. “Thank you.”

Temple met her gaze. “The numbers don’t add up for this,” she said. “I keep trying, but—”

“I’ll add my savings,” Vivian said.

“But what about your retirement?” Temple asked.

“I guess I’ll just work till I die,” she said with a laugh.

“That’s how you’re different than Mom,” Temple said. “She would rather marry money than work for it.”

“It might look like she’s had a free ride, but I don’t think she has always been happy. She’s been paying for that second marriage ever since she took her vows with the good doctor.”

“I never thought of it that way, but now that you say it... Hmm,” Temple said.

“She wanted her girls to be taken care of,” Vivian said.

“But Dad wasn’t broke,” Temple said. “He could have afforded our college education.”

“Mostly,” Vivian said. “You and I got scholarships.”

“Jilly was always a wandering soul.” Temple paused. “Oh, Lord, I hope I never feel like I have to marry for money.”

Vivian looked at her slim sister with shoulder-length brown hair. She wore baggy jeans, a T-shirt and black-framed glasses she was always pushing up her nose. Temple was too intelligent to suffer fools gladly. Her hair hung in dark strands down to her shoulders.

“I don’t think that’s in your near future,” she said.

Temple seemed to snap out of her reverie. “Are you saying I’m no bombshell?”

Vivian lifted her hand. “You are formidable and beautiful. Most men couldn’t begin to handle you.”

“Another way of saying I’m not suitable for anyone,” Temple said and started toward the door.

Vivian touched her sister’s shoulder. “Another way of saying you deserve someone amazing.”

Temple’s expression softened. “How’d you turn out so nice when Mom was so sharp she cut you nearly every day when we were teenagers?”

Vivian smiled, but she knew her expression was stiff. “I took the first cuts,” she said.

“Why don’t you hate her?” Temple asked.

“A little therapy didn’t hurt. I think she did her best. Her best wasn’t yours or mine or Jilly’s.”

Temple sighed and left the cabin.

Vivian felt her tight shoulders slump. This was becoming about so much more than saving her father’s lodge. Far more than she knew or was ready to face at the moment. All she knew was that she was all in. Vivian wanted her sisters back, and she was growing surer by the day that this was the way she could get them.

* * *

Five days later, Benjamin’s recommended electrician had arrived and appeared to be fishing far more than he was wiring. Vivian thought about calling Benjamin, but instead conjured her father’s spirit and rose early to confront the electrician, Bill, as he was headed out for another fishing venture.

She stepped in front of him. “Good morning, Bill. How are you?”

“Good,” he said. “Just hoping to catch a few before I start work on the rewiring for the cabins today.”

“How many cabins have you rewired?” she asked, crossing her arms over her chest.