Tea for Three (A Mulberry Lane Novel, #1)

Prologue-3

Louise DelaneyTHE DAY AFTER ADAM Gardner’s funeral, Louise got up early. She’d decided the night before, that she would go over to check on the wife, Sarah.

The funeral reception was held at the Gardner’s house and while Louise had been sitting admiring the French country-style sofa, she’d heard two women talking. She hadn’t turned around, but from the conversation itself, she surmised it was the babysitter. From where she sat, Louise could feel the pain of both women—pain that emanated from the one doing the breaking up and pain that came from the one broken up with. The dumper and dumpee.

She knew exactly what poor Adam’s wife was feeling. It had been three years since her own husband died, but not a day went by that Louise didn’t think about Warren. With three children under five years old, she had no doubt that the young widow had her hands full.

Louise didn’t know her very well, but she lived two houses down from the Gardners. It made sense to her that she should go and see what she could do to help.

Louise knocked on the bright red door of 603 Mulberry Lane and held her surprise when an Asian woman answered the door. “Good morning. I’m Louise Delaney,” she’d said, a hand to her chest. “I live in number 607. I thought I’d come and see if Sarah needed a hand with anything today.”

“Come in, come in,” the woman said. “I’m Kate. I’m just helping Sarah out too.” Her accent was not from this part of town, Louise could tell. She’d lived in Carlton Bay for a very long time and she thought she knew everyone in the small seaside town.

“Thank you.” Louise stepped into the house. “How’s Sarah?” Louise followed Kate through to the living room where Louise could see she had been vacuuming.

“She’s still asleep, and so are the children. I thought I would get a start on tidying up after last night’s reception. Were you there?”

“Yes, I came by, but I didn’t stay for very long.” Louise took her jacket off and hung it on the coat rack on the corner. “Should I get some breakfast going for when they wake up?” It was 8:30 am and it wouldn’t be too long before Sarah or at least one of the children woke up.

“Okay, sure,” Kate said as she turned the vacuum back on. She was obviously not one for conversation.

Louise went to the kitchen and looked in the fridge to see what she could cook. From her own experience, food was the last thing she thought about. The morning after Warren died, Louise couldn’t bring herself to eat anything. The smell of food made her retch, and she recalled how their daughter, Madison, made sure that she ate something—anything—to get some kind of nutrition inside her. But Madison was thirty-years-old when Warren died. The Gardner kids were all still so little.

She looked in the pantry to see what she could prepare. Oatmeal was something that both Sarah and the kids could eat. She pulled some bread out in case they preferred something like peanut butter or jam on toast. Or both.

Louise considered herself a very lucky woman. She had married Warren when she was just nineteen and they remained married and perfectly happy for thirty-seven years. The ‘perfectly’ part of their marriage came with hindsight though, she admitted. It wasn’t unusual to appreciate something until you’ve lost it. But they had Madison. And Madison was the love of her life.

It was through Madison that Louise learned about unconditional love. Before Madison was born, Louise only knew love like that between a man and woman. Or love for family. Friends. That kind of love. With Madison though, she bore for her child an immortal kind of love. A love that would never die. A love that would never hurt and never falter. Not when Madison first told Louise she’d hated her—Madison was ten-years-old at the time. Or that time when she’d said Louise embarrassed her, and blurted, “why can’t you be like other mothers?” Not even when Madison had her first boyfriend and was never home. And most certainly not when Madison decided to get married and fly across the world to live in New Zealand. No. Louise’s love—a mother’s love—withstood all kinds of hurt, disappointment, and pain.

After Madison left for New Zealand, Louise made a conscious decision to look after herself. She wasn’t dead. No. In fact, she had plenty of life in her yet.

It all happened one day. She’d gone to church, just like every Sunday—only that time, it was a Wednesday—and she prayed. She’d asked God for a sign; something that would tell her what she should do.

Her fervent prayers had been answered when one afternoon, as she strolled the dockside along Lighthouse Road, she entered the Carlton Bay Bookstore—which unsurprisingly was the only bookstore in Carlton Bay. As usual, it was empty, bar maybe one or two customers. She browsed the shelves and talked to Edna, who owned the shop, asking her about any new releases that may have come in.

What she’d learned instead was that Edna wanted a change. “I’m too old for this,” she’d said. “And I’m thinking of closing up at the end of next month. It’s time that I retired.”

Four weeks later, Louise signed the dotted line and found herself the owner of the only bookstore in Carlton Bay. She had renamed the store, Chapter Five.

Chapter one represented her youth.

Chapter two was for the next phase of her life as a married woman.

Becoming a mother took Chapter three.

Chapter four marked the death of her husband and the beginning of her life as a widow.

And chapter five was—well... it was her chapter. The chapter that revolved around no one else, but herself.

“Louise?”

Louise looked up from the pot of oatmeal she’d been stirring. “Sarah,” she sighed with a smile. Louise turned the pot off and walked across the kitchen, arms extended, to where she stood. “How are you feeling this morning?”

Sarah opened her mouth to speak, but no words followed.

“I know, darling, I know...” Louise took Sarah by the shoulders and led her to the breakfast nook, where she pulled a chair out for her. “Have a seat and I’ll pour you a coffee.”

Sarah didn’t fight her. She had let herself be led and sat down. “You don’t have to do all this,” she said softly.

“I want to.” Louise smiled warmly. She knew what it was like to lose a husband.