Kitabı oku: «Meant To Be Mine»

To Tiffany Khauo-Melgar & Edy Melgar

Wishing You Happiness Forever & Always

And

To the Memory of Anne J. Nocton

My Fifth Grade Teacher

Who First Made Me Believe I Had Talent

Contents

Cover

Back Cover Text

Introduction

Title Page

About the Author

Dedication

Prologue

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Seventeen

Epilogue

Extract

Copyright

Prologue

Tiffany Lee’s eyes lit up the moment that she saw him.

She might only be four years old, but she was a woman who knew her own heart and her heart belonged to Monty. That was what he told her his name was when she got up the nerve to ask him.

Monty.

His family lived in the house down the block and had only been there a couple of months, but it was long enough for her to make up her mind that when she grew up, she was going to marry him.

“Let’s go, Tiffany, you are making your sisters late for school,” her mother scolded.

She was deliberately dawdling, hanging back until Monty could catch up to her. He went to her school, as did his sisters.

“I’m trying to button my sweater, Mama,” she said, seizing the first excuse she could think of. It was a cool spring morning and her sweater was hanging open because she’d put the buttons into the wrong holes and had to start again.

Her mother looked at her impatiently. She had rules about being late. Mama had rules about everything. She said you couldn’t grow up properly without rules to guide you.

“You do not need to button your sweater, it is not cold,” Mei-Li Lee told her youngest born. “Just hold it against you. Now come!”

“I can help you button that,” the boy who had caught her young heart offered, coming up to her. “It won’t take long,” he promised.

She stood their, perfectly still, watching as his fingers pushed each button on her sweater through a hole. She felt like a princess and he was her prince.

And someday, she thought again, he would be her husband.

* * *

“Take your time, dear,” Theresa Manetti told the dignified looking, slightly flustered Asian-American woman sitting in the chair beside her desk. “I have all afternoon.”

That wasn’t entirely true. At the moment Theresa had approximately half an hour to spare, but she didn’t want the other woman to feel pressured or rushed.

They were sitting in her back office. The owner of a thriving catering company that had enjoyed more than a dozen years of success, Theresa had practically every minute of her time accounted for. But the award-winning chef trusted her people to capably carry on without her supervision for however long it took her friend, Mrs. Mei-Li Lee, to get around to asking what Theresa already knew in her heart the woman wanted to ask.

Having been involved in the side endeavor that she and her two lifelong best friends, Maizie Sommers and Cecilia Parnell, had been pursuing with passion and zest for a number of years, Theresa knew it was extremely difficult for some people to ask for help with such a delicate matter.

This was obviously the case for Mei-Li, whom she already knew was by nature a very private person.

Although Theresa was proud of her catering business, just as Maizie was proud of the real estate firm she had built from scratch and Cecilia was proud of her expanding house cleaning service, she felt that matchmaking was her true calling.

None of them took a penny for bringing about the matches they arranged, but it was no secret that they all felt richly rewarded by their successful ventures just the same. All three believed that there was something indescribably magical about bringing about these matches between soul mates who might have had no way of finding one another without a little outside “help.”

“Maybe I’m being selfish,” Mei-Li said, twisting the handkerchief she held in her hands until it began to look as if it was a little white corkscrew.

“You?” Theresa gently scoffed. “I know you, Mei-Li. You do not have a selfish bone in your entire body.”

“But all of my other girls are married,” the petite woman went on, referring to her four older daughters. “Two of them have children and Jennifer is expecting her first. Four out of five should be enough for any mother, shouldn’t it?” she asked, raising her dark eyes to look at Theresa.

They might have different cultural backgrounds, but Theresa understood exactly where the other woman was coming from.

“You’re not being selfish, Mei-Li. You’re just being a mother. Mothers want to see all their children happily married. They want all of their children to have someone to love who loves them back. It’s only natural, dear,” Theresa assured her.

Mei-Li sighed, no doubt grateful for her friend’s reassurance. “Tiffany would be so annoyed with me if she knew I was doing this,” she confided.

Theresa reached across the desk, covering her friend’s hand with her own. “Tiffany will never know,” she promised with a knowing smile.

Mei-Li looked as if she was at a loss as to how her part in this undertaking could remain a secret. “But then how—”

“Trust me, the other ladies and I have been at this for a while now.” Her warm smile widened. “Arrangements are made so that everything that ‘happens’ appears to be strictly by chance—and by luck,” she added with an amused wink. “My own two children would have been horrified if they knew their mother had brought into their lives the individuals they ended up marrying.

“I’m sure you’ll agree that if Tiffany doesn’t know that you have any part in this, her natural inclination to resist won’t get in the way and half the battle will be won right from the beginning.”

Mei-Li sighed again. “I suppose you’re right.”

Theresa merely continued smiling, refraining from saying that of course she was right. When it came to matters of the heart, that was a given. All was fair in love and war—especially in love. Maizie had taught her that.

“Now, in order for us to get this little venture under way,” Theresa said to the other woman, “I’m going to need more information from you about your lovely youngest daughter.”

Mei-Li slowly relaxed. “Anything,” she willingly agreed.

“Good,” Theresa replied, pulling out an old-fashioned pad and pen to take notes. Some things, she felt, could not be improved on. “If everything goes well—and they always have up until now—my guess is that we should have Tiffany engaged, if not married, by Christmas.”

There was no way to describe the look on Mei-Li’s face other than pure, unadulterated joy.

As for Theresa, she couldn’t wait to collect the information she needed to get this newest mission of the heart under way and to call her friends with the good news. Tonight she, Maizie and Cilia were going to be playing cards—and making arrangements to take the necessary steps that would bring love into Tiffany Lee’s life.

Chapter One

“Do you have a minute, Ms. Sommers?”

Maizie Sommers had heard the door to her real estate office open a moment before she heard the deep, resonant voice politely addressing her. In the middle of writing up a glowing ad highlighting the features of a brand-new property she had just agreed to sell, Maizie held up her left hand, silently requesting another second. She wanted to jot down a thought before she responded.

Finished, Maizie looked up to see Eduardo Montoya, the handsome young handyman she had been recommending to any and all of her clients who needed a little work done on their residences. He was standing quietly by her desk, waiting for her to complete what she was doing.

She couldn’t help thinking that he looked like every young woman’s fantasy come to life.

“For you, Eddie, I have a whole hour.” Putting down her pen, she smiled at him. She already knew what he had come to tell her, but for the sake of moving things along smoothly, she would pretend to be in the dark. “But you didn’t need to stop by the office before going to see that lady about the bathroom remodel she wanted. I left all the details about it on your answering machine.”

Eddie nodded, his straight, midnight-black hair moving ever so slightly around his face. “I got them and I appreciate the referral,” he told her with cheerful sincerity. “I appreciate all the referrals you’ve been sending my way.”

“I send them your way because you do excellent work,” Maizie pointed out. Because she already knew what this visit was about, she smiled encouragingly at the young man. And because he couldn’t know her part in arranging things to happen, she continued to look as if she was in the dark. “I sense a ‘but’ coming,” she told him.

He flashed her a quick, easy smile, the kind that was capable of melting any young woman’s heart. Seeing it made Maizie wonder, not for the first time, how in heaven’s name Eddie still managed to remain unattached at twenty-eight.

There was a look in his eyes that spoke of excitement and happiness. Did it have anything to do with the new position he was starting on Monday morning? A position she not only knew about, but had a hand in facilitating, even if the young man had no idea of that.

Maizie waited patiently for Eddie to find the right words in order to tell her.

She didn’t have long to wait. “That’s why I wanted to come by and see you, so that I could tell you this in person.”

Maizie continued to maintain her cheerful, warm expression, waiting for him to tell her his “news.” She’d known Eddie Montoya for the last nine months, ever since one of her clients had recommended him when she needed some concrete work done on her own patio, and the contractor she’d usually used had retired and moved away. From the very beginning, Eddie’s work ethic, not to mention the caliber of the work that he did, had left her exceedingly impressed.

So much so that she began to send business his way whenever any of her clients—be they recent home buyers or home sellers—needed work done. It quickly became apparent that Eddie’s expertise went far beyond just cement work. It actually knew no bounds. The young man could lay brick, do landscaping as well as hardscaping, and was able to build room additions with the best of them.

Eddie’s late father, she’d learned, had been in the construction business and had actually built the house that Eddie and his two older sisters had grown up in. His mother, he told her, still lived there.

“Take a seat,” Maizie invited, gesturing to the chair beside her desk. Once he had lowered his five-foot-ten muscular frame into it, she hospitably asked, “Can I get you something to drink?” She gestured to the well-stocked counter against the back wall behind her. “Coffee? Tea? Bottled water?”

“No, ma’am, I’m fine, thank you,” Eddie told her politely.

Maizie folded her hands and inclined her head. “All right, then let’s get to this ‘but’ that’s hovering between us. What is it that you came to tell me that you couldn’t tell me over the phone?”

He cleared his throat, then began. “Well, Ms. Sommers, you’ve been so nice to me, I didn’t want you thinking I was leaving you high and dry.”

“Are you leaving me high and dry?” Maizie asked, wondering if this was going to turn out to be about something else, after all.

She hoped not. She and her friends Theresa and Cilia had brainstormed for the last two days, starting the same evening that Theresa had been approached by her friend regarding the woman’s remaining unattached daughter. The moment Theresa had shown them the photograph of Tiffany Lee, which the young woman’s mother had given her, something inside Maizie’s head had “clicked” as everything had just fallen into place.

Although the names of a couple of other potential candidates had been brought up, Maizie’s mind insisted on returning to Eddie. With very little effort, she could actually see the two together—and the babies they would have.

From that moment on, she’d been completely sold on the idea that Eddie was the right match for Tiffany, and she had in short order sold both her friends on the idea, as well.

And now he was sitting here in her office, at her desk, looking suddenly very solemn. Was he possibly about to send her hopes for another perfect match tumbling into an abyss?

Mentally crossing her fingers, Maizie waited for him to speak.

“No. Well, not exactly,” he answered, correcting himself.

“Then what, ‘exactly,’ dear?” Maizie asked, gently coaxing the words out of him.

“Well, you know that I’m not really a contractor by trade,” Eddie began, referring to what he had told her when he had first come to work for the woman.

“Yes, I know, but you do an extremely good imitation of one,” she told him, smiling.

As with everyone she came in contact with, Maizie knew the young man’s backstory. Eduardo Montoya was an elementary schoolteacher. A very gifted one, if the way she’d seen him interacting with children was any indication of his abilities. Due to recent drastic cutbacks in the district where he had been employed, he had lost his job and was forced to pick up work as a substitute teacher, which was the only thing that had been available to him at the time.

However, because those jobs were few and far between, Eddie had needed some way to fill in the gaps. He did it by picking up odd jobs that other contractors turned down.

Although he was single, with no mortgage payments to worry about, only rent, he did have school loans he needed to repay. Unlike some young people Maizie was acquainted with, Eddie refused to let his loans mount up without making any payments. On the contrary, he was determined to repay the entire amount as quickly as he could. Because of that sense of honor, he picked up anything that Maizie and her friends sent his way, and sometimes wound up working seven days a week.

He started slowly. “Before I came to work for you, I was a teacher,”

“Are,” Maizie corrected, cutting in. “You are a teacher, Eddie.”

He flashed her another warm smile, obviously pleased that she thought of him in that light. “And now a position’s come up.”

“Teaching?” Maizie asked, hoping she didn’t sound too innocent as she put the question to him.

The fact was, she knew all about this. Knew because she was actually the one behind his being hired for the position. Not in the initial part, which involved a young teacher going into premature labor, but in the ultimate outcome. Because of her connections, Maizie had been able to get his résumé moved to the front of the line.

For now, she did her best to look intrigued and interested—and very hopeful for the young man she had come to regard so highly during their brief association.

“Yes, teaching,” Eddie answered. “It seems that one of the teachers at Bedford’s newest school, that elementary school that was just opened last fall, Bedford Elementary, went into early labor yesterday—really early,” he emphasized. “From what I heard, she wasn’t due for another month.”

“She went into labor four weeks early?” Maizie questioned, genuinely concerned. Her connection hadn’t mentioned this part to her—undoubtedly because they knew she would be concerned. “I hope the baby’s all right.”

Eddie nodded, pleased to be the bearer of good news not just for himself, but all around. “I asked,” he told her. “Mother and baby are both doing fine.”

Hearing this, Maizie blinked, admittedly somewhat surprised.

“You know the mother?” she inquired. This was another piece of information she hadn’t gotten previously. It really was a small world.

“What? Oh, no, I don’t,” Eddie said, quickly setting the record straight. “I just asked the administrator about the teacher when they called me about the sudden vacancy.”

Maizie looked at him, once again very pleased with her choice for Mei-Li’s daughter. “You’re an unusual young man, Eddie. Most men your age wouldn’t have inquired about the mother’s condition.” Or asked any other questions of a personal nature that didn’t directly include them, she added silently.

“I grew up with two older sisters and a mother. If I hadn’t thought to ask, they would have skinned me,” he told her simply, taking no credit for the fact that he really was a thoughtful, sensitive young man.

As it happened, Maizie had sold the principal of this new elementary school her house when Ada Walters had first moved to the area, and as was her habit, Maizie had remained on friendly terms with her client long after the ink had dried on the mortgage papers.

Once Theresa had supplied her the information about their newest client-in-search-of-a-match, she had called the principal to find out if Ada knew of any upcoming openings in either her school or any of others nearby. As luck would have it, there was one in the offing in the near future.

And then the future became the immediate present.

When she’d heard about the sudden opening, Maizie had immediately brought up Eddie’s name and his qualifications. And just like that, the pieces fell into place, as her instincts had told her they would.

But Maizie never left anything to chance and never allowed herself to grow too confident, no matter how foolproof a situation might look. So when Eddie had walked into her office just now, looking a tad uncomfortable, Maizie had braced herself—just in case—and then was relieved to discover that it had been a false alarm.

So far, it was all going according to plan, and she couldn’t be more pleased.

“You’ve come to tell me that you’re going to have to turn down that last job I sent your way,” she guessed. That wasn’t a disaster; it just put off the inevitable. The two were still going to meet at the school, where Tiffany taught fifth grade, now that Eddie was taking over Chelsea Jamison’s third-grade class.

“Oh no, I’m still going to do that.” He was quick to set her straight. “It’s just that I’m going to have to get started on the remodel early tomorrow morning, and do my best to finish up by late Sunday night.”

“And if you can’t?” Maizie asked, always wanting to remain one step ahead of any surprises.

“Then I’ll have to come back next weekend so I can get the job done,” he told her. “Do you think that’ll be a problem?”

The young man was one in a million, Maizie couldn’t help thinking.

“The kind of work you do, Eddie,” she told him, “I’m sure that the home owner will be more than happy to accommodate you.”

He glanced at his watch, a gift from his mother when he had graduated from college. He never took it off. Pressed for time, he realized he had to be getting back.

“I’m just finishing up this other job, so I won’t be able to give the home owner a proper estimate until I get there tomorrow morning and look the job over.” He didn’t believe in quoting one price and then upping it as the work got under way. He took pride in keeping his costs, and thus his prices, low.

“That’s no problem at all,” Maizie assured him. “The owner’s mother is paying for it. She referred to it as an early birthday present. She told me to tell you that as long as you don’t wind up charging anything exorbitant, she’ll be all right with your fee.” Maizie smiled at the young man, delighted with the way this was going. “I told her you were very reasonable. She was happy you were taking the job.”

Eddie laughed. “I guess that means I’ll just have to put that Hawaiian vacation I was planning on hold,” he quipped.

“Of course you will,” Maizie deadpanned. “Don’t forget, you have children to educate now.” Unable to maintain a serious expression any longer, she allowed herself to smile, radiating genuine warmth. The kind of warmth that had clients, and people in general, trusting her instantly. “I’m very happy for you, Eddie. I know that you feel that teaching is your calling. I really hate to lose you, but if I have to, I’m glad it’s for this reason.”

“Well, you’re not exactly ‘losing’ me, Ms. Sommers,” Eddie told her almost shyly, exposing a side to her that most people didn’t see. “I still do have those student loans to pay back so I’ll need to pick up those extra jobs on weekends—as long as your clients won’t mind having me around then, working. I’ll do my best not to get underfoot,” he promised earnestly.

Maizie laughed. It was obvious that the young man before her didn’t realize just how rare a competent worker was. “Eddie, considering the prices you charge and the work you do, I’m fairly certain they would be willing to put up with all sorts of crazy hours on your part.”

She sat back, thoughtfully regarding him for a moment. “So, just to be sure, I can tell Ms. Lee that you’ll be at her house tomorrow morning?”

His grin lit up the office. Maizie saw that her assistant looked utterly entranced as she glanced in their direction. “Absolutely,” Eddie said.

Maizie clapped her hands together and declared, “Wonderful!”

* * *

Eddie looked at the address on the piece of paper again. Specifically, at the name that appeared right over the address and beneath the phone number he’d been given in case he needed to cancel the appointment or to change the time he’d be arriving.

With everything that had been happening these last couple days, the name, when he’d heard it, hadn’t fully registered. It did now.

Tiffany Lee.

Could it actually be her?

No, Eddie told himself, he was letting his imagination get carried away. Neither Tiffany nor Lee was an uncommon name, and he was fairly certain that even if he Googled them together, or searched through Facebook, he would find more than a handful of “Tiffany Lees.” And none would be the Tiffany Lee he remembered from college who was, hands down, the most argumentative woman on the face of the earth.

Or more importantly, the same Tiffany Lee he had had a crush on—when she was four and he was five—before she had become such a competitive pain.

Damn silly thing to remember now, Eddie thought, pulling his car up in front of the modest looking two-story house. What his mind should be on now was doing a good job for this woman, getting paid and focusing any spare time he might have tonight and tomorrow night on getting fully prepared to take over Chelsea Jamison’s third-grade class.

He’d already done his due diligence as far as that was concerned. The moment he’d learned from the principal that he would be taking over the woman’s class, he’d requested a list of the students’ names and any sort of notes Chelsea might have made regarding the individual students.

Eddie prided himself on never going in cold or unprepared. This way, there would be no awkward period of adjustment. He wanted the students to respond to him immediately. To feel as if he was their mentor, or at least someone who was willing to listen to what they had to say—both in the class and privately, if they needed help with something of a more personal nature, like being bullied.

He loved teaching, and wanted to leave a memorable impression on the students he encountered. More than that, he wanted to, by his own example, encourage the kids he’d be dealing with to make the most of their potential. Had his fifth-grade teacher, Miss Nocton, not done that for him, not seen past his cocky bravado, he might be languishing in a prison somewhere right now, like some of the guys from his old neighborhood. But Miss Nocton, a dour-faced, straitlaced woman, had awakened a thirst for knowledge within him by challenging him. Every time he felt that he had done his best, she had told him he could do better.

And damned if he couldn’t, Eddie thought now with a smile. Granted, he had a great family and he loved his mother and his sisters, but it was that little, no-nonsense woman in the sensible shoes who was responsible for the fact that he was who he was today. He intended to make her proud, even if she was no longer around to see it.

Eddie took a deep breath. Time to get to work, he told himself.

Shelving his thoughts, he reached over and rang the doorbell.