Free The Promise of Palm Grove by Shelley Shepard Gray

had to have surgery, you see.”
    â€œIt was awful,” Jean added with a meaningful wave of her hand. Just as if they’d had coffee together last week.
    â€œI’m sorry . . .”
    â€œThen, last year, we were going to come down but my Jason got the stomach flu, and you know how that goes.”
    â€œJason?”
    â€œOh! You might not have heard. Me and Amos got married soon after you left,” Jean said with a smile in her voice. “Ten months after that we had Jason.”
    â€œOh! Congratulations to you and Amos. And, uh, I’m sorry Jason got sick.”
    Jean shrugged. “He was soon fine, but his illness did ruin our plans. But that’s the Lord’s will, I suppose. Everything is out of our hands.”
    â€œThat’s one of the reasons we didn’t warn you that we were coming,” Ida explained. “We didn’t want to have to explain if we had to cancel again.”
    Since Beverly hadn’t known they’d ever planned to visit her, she thought it was a moot point. But that said, she decided to get to the heart of the matter. If Marvin had taught her anything, it was that no good came from pushing things off or pretending they weren’t happening.
    And since her last question had set off a great many comments about the state of their lives—but nothing that provided any answers—she decided more bluntness was necessary.
    â€œI’m sorry, but I still don’t understand why you decided to pay me a visit.”
    Ida’s gray-blue eyes were guileless. “Why wouldn’t we want to see you?”
    â€œBecause Marvin and I . . .” She couldn’t believe it, but her eyes filled with tears. Even after all this time, his rejection hurt.
    â€œThere was no Marvin and you anything, dear,” Jean said with a surprising bit of tenderness lacing her voice. “Marvin fell in love with Regina right under your nose, that’s what he did.”
    Well, she wouldn’t have put it quite that way, though she supposed her statement summed up what had happened.
    â€œYes. Yes, that’s what he did.”
    Ida pursed her lips. “I hope you didn’t think we condoned such actions.”
    Beverly hadn’t thought that. But then, well, she hadn’t really thought about much beyond the pain she was feeling.
    â€œI didn’t know what to think,” Beverly at last admitted. “I guess I imagined that we wouldn’t have anything to say to each other.”
    Ida gave a little cluck of disapproval. “Really? I thought we always got along. I thought we were friends. Did you not feel that way?”
    â€œOh, jah . I mean, yes, I thought we were friends.” She bit her lip, tried to get herself to not say another word, but then went ahead and said it. “But you all seemed to get along just fine with Regina. I mean, I heard you did.”
    â€œWe had no choice, dear,” Jean said. “Marvin married her.”
    â€œAnd Marvin is our baby brother,” Ida added.
    Looking pained, Jean continued. “However, we did tell Marvin that we were disappointed with his actions at the time. We told him quite forcefully, too.”
    â€œNot that it mattered,” Ida finished. “He always was a willful boy.”
    â€œHe liked to be first in line—always,” Jean continued, then glanced at Beverly meaningfully, like Marvin’s selfish habits somehow correlated with why he’d practically left her at the altar.
    â€œI am sorry you’re still nursing old hurts, Beverly, but it has been three years,” Ida said as she leaned back a bit. “It’s time to move on.”
    â€œI have moved on. Obviously.” To prove her point, Beverly waved a hand around the porch. It was freshly painted, and surrounded by beautiful flowers. She’d made her Aunt Patty’s tired inn into a showplace.
    â€œYes, you moved to Sarasota and took over this inn of your