Free Love Rising: Spring (Mandrake Falls Series Romance Book 4) by Catherine Lloyd Page A

customer had
wandered into his establishment, they should have no reason to wander back out
again until they found everything they needed. Consequently, Noden’s Hardware was cornucopia of the exotic, the unusable
and the mundane. But there was a heck of a plumbing department.
    Jocelyn and Jeremy moved down the poorly lit aisle and
stopped in front of a shelf loaded with bins of chrome pipe, packaged washers
and metal flanges. Since Jocelyn had no idea what Jeremy was looking for, she
wondered if he would object if she moseyed over to the garden center. Noden had got in a new order of seeds that she was dying to
check out. For all her faults, Jocelyn could truthfully say her one
debilitating vice was spending too much on plants. This was the first spring
she didn’t have enough money in her account to invest in her garden and now
with this plumbing bill, she was in the red.
    Jeremy picked up a metal something-or-other and frowned. “Is
there room in the budget for this? I’m thinking of the shower head in the
bathroom.”
    “No, not this time. We’re broke,
remember? Let’s just get what we need.”
    Lydia Rutherford and her husband Walter were in the next
aisle examining baby proofing products. Lydia lifted her head, turned to Walter
and in a flash was around the aisle and standing quivering and giddy with
excitement, in front of Jeremy and Jocelyn.
    “I thought it was your voice I heard! Oh, my goodness, that
is so cute—buying plumbing supplies. Walter, come and see who it is! The newly
engaged couple are doing some home repairs. Isn’t that the sweetest thing
you ever saw?”

 

Chapter 7: Young Love

 
    THE YOUNG people met Lydia Rutherford’s ecstatic greeting
with an air of dismay.
    Walter Rutherford emerged at the top of the short aisle.
“Scout and Ryder have been doing home repairs for months, Lydie .
You don’t get this excited when you see them with an armload of plumbing. Hello
Jeremy, congratulations.”
    The older man extended his hand and Jeremy shook it not
knowing what else to do.
    “Hi Mr. Rutherford. If you’re
talking about that thing in the Gazette ,
there’s been a mistake—”
    “Oh, what did I tell you, Walt, I just knew that date was wrong! Don’t worry, sweetheart,” crooned Lydia, “no one thought
for a moment that your wedding date was April first. It is obviously April
eleventh or eighteenth. You should insist the Gazette print a correction and give you a free ad to compensate. Jocelyn,
I have to tell you I’ve been using that cream you made for older women and I
couldn’t be happier with the results. Do you have a line of baby products?
Scout doesn’t want the boys to be exposed to commercial baby soaps or
shampoos.”
    “Yes, as a matter of fact, I have a whole organic
mother-baby product line in stock at The Country Barn. Baby shampoo, soap,
ointments and a special aromatherapy bath line for moms. I went kind of crazy
in my kitchen this winter.” Jocelyn flushed.
    “Wonderful!” Lydia beamed with grandmotherly delight though
she looked too young to be a grandmother. “I’ll buy everything you have.
Consider it my wedding present to you. Will you set it aside for me? I’ll pick
it up tomorrow morning. With two babies, I’m sure Scout will go through it in
no time. You’ll be back in your kitchen making more, I’m afraid.”
    “Oh, that’s okay—fantastic, actually! I hope you like it. I
took extra care with this product line and I’m really proud of it. How’re the
twins doing?” she asked politely. “Did Scout and Ryder choose names for them yet?”
    “The first born was named Walter after Scout’s dad and the
second was named Grady for Ryder’s uncle. The original Grady was an old booze
hound who died in the farmhouse and Scout is convinced his ghost haunts the
place. She’s hoping by naming one of the boys after him the old man will finally
be at peace. My daughter has always had a fanciful imagination.”
    “This time she’s right,”