Darlene Scalera - Prescription For Seduction

“Goodness, they are adorable,” Anna Kelsey agreed as she joined the women. She picked up a sky-blue bunny. “You have the nicest things, Eden. And the loveliest shop. So pleasant. Not to mention these fabulous cookies,” she added as she took one. “It’s so generous of you to make the floral decorations for Jenna’s baby shower.”

“It’s my pleasure. Why don’t we sit and have a cup of tea?” She indicated the small wrought-iron table and chairs in the corner. Nearby a tea cart offered all the fixings. “I’ll bring over some books for you to look at, and we can figure out exactly what colors and flowers you’d like.”

Anna looked at Molly. “Do we have time before we have to pick up the kids from Kaity’s?”

Molly glanced at her watch. “Sure, we’ve got a few minutes.”

“Good. And I think I’ll bring this little fella with me.” Anna carried the stuffed animal to the table. She smiled down into the bunny’s eyes, the same brilliant blue as her own. “I’ll save it for Jeremy’s basket.”

Molly set her purse on the chair and went to the tea cart. “Easter?” She smiled and winked at Eden. “Ten to one, Jeremy will have that bunny before lunch.”

Anna settled into a chair. “Grandma is my name. Spoiling is my game.”

Laughing, Molly brought the older woman a cup of tea.

“What?” Anna stirred sugar into her tea. “You’re trying to tell me that Sara isn’t getting spoiled by that new daddy of hers?”

A loving curve came to Molly’s lips at the mention of her new husband, Quinn.

“And what about those new uncles of hers?” Anna noted. “Why, Brady stood on that sidewalk right out there two nights ago and told me that Sara is ‘pure adorable.’” She took another cookie. “Eden, you’ve got to give me the recipe for these. They’re wonderful.”

“You saw Brady the other night?” Molly sat down at the table.

“Let me get those books to give you some ideas what we can do for Jenna’s shower,” Eden suggested.

Anna nodded in response to Molly’s question. “Yes. My mother had come over for pot roast, and it was such a lovely evening, Mom insisted on walking back to Worthington House. Eighty-seven, and I swear the woman has more energy than a teenager.” Anna sipped her tea. “She doesn’t miss a trick, either.”

“We haven’t seen much of Brady lately.” Molly tapped her spoon on the edge of the cup, then set it on the saucer. “He doesn’t dare miss Sunday night dinners at Quinn’s father’s, of course. Elias would write him out of the will. But even then he seems, well, preoccupied. Quinn says that’s just Brady.” She broke a cookie in half. “Of course, he knows him better than I, but I still say something’s bothering him.”

“You know, the other night he did seem a little odd.” Anna nibbled on a cookie. “He appeared out of nowhere. Came out of the alley right next to the shop here. Scared the pudding out of me. Didn’t faze Mom a bit. Just gave her more ammo to tease him with.”

Eden returned to the table with several books. “Why don’t we start with these? There’s some wonderful ideas in them, but I have more books if you don’t see anything you like here.”

“What was he doing in the alley?” Molly took a book from the top of the stack but didn’t open it.

“He didn’t say,” Anna replied. “I assumed he was on his way home from the hospital. He walks all the time no matter what the weather.” Anna smiled at Eden. “He didn’t stop in here to pick out some posies, did he?”

Eden opened the book Molly had selected and pointed to a picture. “Do you like this? See how the baskets are made to look like cradles?”

“Brady in a flower shop?” Molly smiled. “Wouldn’t that be something like a bull in a china shop?”

Anna chuckled in agreement. “I do love the boy, but we all know he’s not exactly the hearts-and-flowers type.”

“He’s a great doctor, though. He was wonderful with Sara that time she had the flu.”

“He’s one of Tyler’s best surgeons. The people around here trust him. The doctors and nurses respect him. So, he may not win Mr. Congeniality. Everybody knows beneath that no-nonsense attitude is a compassionate heart. Handholding doesn’t put people back on their feet. Although he did give Mom a big buss on the cheek the other night. I don’t know which one of them was more surprised.”

Molly looked at the other woman. “See what I mean? That’s what I’m talking about. If I hadn’t seen him lately, I wouldn’t believe it, either. But I don’t know. The man is acting peculiar.”

Anna sipped her tea. “Well, maybe not so much peculiar as—what did you say earlier—preoccupied?”

Molly nodded.

“It’s probably stress. He has a billion things on his mind, and it’s only natural he sometimes gets as absentminded as the rest of us mortals. I’m sure that’s what it was the other night when he seemed so confused.”

“Confused?” Molly questioned.

“As if he didn’t know which way he was going,” Anna explained. “He came out of the alley, turned one way, walked a few steps, stopped, started again, stopped. Then he spun around and came our way.”

“Maybe we should pick the color theme first. How about yellow or pink, blue, lavender?” Eden suggested. “Or did you have a specific flower preference?”

Molly glanced at the photo in the book opened on the table, but she said, “Quinn said Brady was born a doctor.”

“Well, he always did have a grown-up air about him, even when he was a youngster. Didn’t he, Eden?” Anna didn’t wait for a reply. “Of course, he had to grow up in a hurry. All the boys did after Violet ran off. It’s not really my place to say, but I don’t think it ever helped that Elias wouldn’t talk to them about it.”

Molly nodded. The two other women knew she was thinking of her own husband and how she’d almost lost him to the past.

“In my opinion it would’ve done those boys some good to talk about it, but Elias didn’t allow it. Violet was gone, and that was that. They had to deal with it. As the middle child, Brady always was the bridge between the two other boys, but after Violet left, he really took on the role of the family fixer. He tried to take care of everyone.” Anna glanced at Eden. “You were probably too young to remember.”

No, she remembered. She remembered the lines already etched in his brow, his face too solemn for a teen, as he’d blotted the blood off her scraped knees. She remembered him caught somewhere between boyhood and manhood, already trying to heal the world around him.

Anna chewed thoughtfully. “He’s a good man.” She looked at Eden again for confirmation.

Eden nodded.

“Mom sure gave the poor fella a heck of a time the other night.” Anna smiled at the memory. “Wanted to know when he was going to come to his senses like his brothers did and settle down, start a family.”

“I’m sure he’d have no trouble finding a candidate. Lord knows, he’s interviewed enough of them.” Molly winked at the women.

“Is that what you young people are calling it nowadays?” Anna still smiled. “From the impression I got the other night, he seems bound and determined to keep his status as the last single Spencer brother.”

“The right girl hasn’t come along yet, that’s all.” Molly touched the corners of her mouth with one of the linen napkins Eden always had folded in a small basket. “And she’s obviously not here in Tyler because he knows every available girl in town and has dated over half of them.”

“He does get around, but I bet he ends up with someone not from Tyler. Someone like that city doctor he was seeing a while back. That’s the only relationship I think he’s had that has lasted longer than a date or two.”