Free The Fragrance of Her Name by Marcia Lynn McClure Page A

home.”
    “ Patrick. For Pete’s sake!” Lauryn’s mother, exclaimed quietly.
    “ This dear man before y’all is…Brant Masterson,” Nana announced.
    “ What?” Georgia gasped.
    “ Who?” Patrick asked.
    Nana shook her head, delighted with the boy. “Brant Masterson. He’s grand-nephew to our own Captain Masterson.”
    “ And y’all just picked him up somewhere and brung him home?” Patrick asked walking around Brant and looking him up and down.
    “ Mother!” Lauryn exclaimed. “Would you please settle him down?”
    Brant chuckled, however, and slightly squeezed Lauryn’s shoulder encouragingly where his hand still rested for direction.
    “ You’re one big boy, Mister,” Patrick noted, whistling afterward for effect. “You a soldier?”
    “ Yes, sir,” Brant answered. “And I figure you and I will have plenty of time to talk. You can ask me all the questions you want.”
    “ Really?” Patrick squealed. “Did you hear that, Mama?”
    “ I heard it, Patrick,” Georgia sighed. “Now, you settle down. I want to hear how this all came to be.”
    “ Your daughter here has just got bad luck, Mrs. Kensington,” Brant answered.
    Georgia reached out and took Brant’s hand in greeting. “Well, may I say that it is a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Masterson.”
    “ Brant’s goin’ to stay on at Connemara for a week or so,” Nana explained, “’Til his family can get down from Vermont to get him home.”
    Immediately Brant began to apologize. “I…I’m really sorry for the inconvenience, Mrs. Kensington. I was against it but Mrs. Kensington here is a very persistent woman.”
    Georgia giggled. “Oh, don’t I know it, Mr. Masterson. And to save confusion…you call me, Georgia. All righty?”
    “ Yes, Ma’am,” Brant agreed.
    “ Besides,” Georgia continued. “We wouldn’t have it any other way! Lauryn’s mother looked from one of the travelers to the other, each in turn. “Y’all look completely tuckered out. I think it’s time we got on home.”
    Lauryn felt her mood brighten a bit at the thought of home. And yet, it was only her mother and Patrick who were there waiting for them at the station. Her father…her father would never meet her again. Not in this life, anyway. But Connemara House waited. There was comfort in that. And the Captain. Lauryn could not wait to tell the Captain everything that had transpired that day. She smiled thinking how ironic it was to be gone for nearly a year and all that she wanted to tell the Captain of her adventure was of the events of the past few hours.
    
    “ So,” Patrick began, hardly letting Brant sit himself completely down in the seat of the auto before beginning to pop out questions. “You got hurt in the war, huh?”
    “ I did,” Brant answered simply.
    “ Patrick,” Lauryn’s mother warned gently from the driver’s seat of the auto. “Everyone is very tired. I’m sure that Mr. Masterson would like a few moments of peace before you start in pickin’ his brain.”
    “ Yes, Ma’am,” Patrick mumbled obediently, if not resentfully. The disappointed boy slunk down in his seat.
    “ And besides,” Georgia continued. “I have my own questions.”
    Brant smiled as he settled in his seat next to Patrick. So did Lauryn and her grandmother. Lauryn was beginning to think that maybe a family, even one other than his own, would do this man, so injured in body and soul, a bit more good than she expected. And maybe a man, stranger though he may be, would do her family who had suffered such a great loss in their father’s death, the same good. Lauryn realized, that had the appearance of Brant not caused such interest, had he not arrived with her and her grandmother…the scene at the station would’ve been quite different. Most likely wrought with tears and sadness.
    “ How did y’all meet? Lands sakes! I mean it’s amazin’!” Georgia began.
    “ On the train. Just today,” Nana answered. “It was no accident, I’m certain.