Mmm...first
encounters. I love it when characters in both movies and novels meet
for the first time. It sets the tone for what's to come. Sometimes
there's snap, crackle, sizzle...or maybe there's that slow burn of
borderline contempt that you just know is gonna be fun to watch.
Today's encounter is from "Where Love Takes You" by Rebecca Scarberry. Let's see what we think...is is love or lust--or something more complicated--at first sight?
When they first meet...
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Evelyn looked at the child’s mother, and laughed. The
mother then took Charlotte away and the last people in line stepped forward.
Evelyn sat up. There were three of them, two men in their fifties, one dark,
one fair, but both handsome, and what looked like a twelve-year-old boy. They
stepped forward. The fairer of the two men, the one standing closest to the boy
said, “Hello, Evelyn. I’m Ben Richards, and this is my grandson, Jamie.” He
looked behind him at the slightly shorter dark haired man and smiled. “And
trying to hide behind Jamie is my best friend, Alan Denton.”
Evelyn recognized the man’s British accent right
away. Alan stepped forward and shook her hand. “You all haven’t come all the
way from England to meet Henry have you?” She asked.
Alan answered, “No, ma’am. We’re here on holiday.
Jamie’s been following your story, and wanted to meet him. We love pigeons too,
so we were more than happy to bring him.”
The British man who had introduced himself as Ben
stepped forward, and picked Henry up. He folded the vest back, looked at the
registration ring, securely fastened to Henry’s right leg, and inspected his
body. “Evelyn, I had no idea that Henry was a racing pigeon.”
Evelyn looked stunned. “My husband trained the
pigeons to retrieve and deliver messages, but we’ve never raced them. I have to
say, though, Henry does seem faster than all the rest. What makes you think
he’s a racing pigeon?”
Ben smiled at her. “Well, his physique, for one
thing. He’s lean and muscular. And alert and calm. All qualities that make for
a good racing pigeon.” He smiled even more broadly, and Evelyn thought how
white his teeth looked. “Besides, he has a racing pigeon’s ring around his
leg.”
“What do you mean exactly?” She knew that Henry and
Cecilia both had small rings around their legs with letters and numbers on
them. They’d been there for as long as she could remember. When
she was in possession of her kidnapper, she was always in a hurry to scribble a
message for Henry to take to Tammy. She didn’t take the time to tear the note
into a size that would fit inside the ring. She would quickly rip some thread
from her clothing and tie the note to one of his legs.
Ben pointed to the small ring. “It looks just like
the rings on racing pigeons at home. They’re registered when they’re only a few
days old, and that registration stays with them for life. If you’ve got a paper
and pen, I could write down the details and check up.”
Evelyn felt even more embarrassed. She did have a
‘paper and pen’, as he put it, since she always carried a tiny pad of paper
with a small pencil tied to it with string. She was writing her memoirs and
always had it handy, stuck in her bra or a pocket. She
stood up and made a pretense of searching for it, and while her back was turned, she
undid two buttons on her blouse and slipped it out. Unfortunately, with the pad
in her right hand, she wasn’t able to do the two buttons back up. Hoping that
no one would notice, she handed the pad to Ben. “Here it is. I knew it was here
somewhere.”
Ben slipped the pencil out and copied the letters and
numbers from Henry’s ring. Both Henry’s and Cecilia’s began with ‘GB’, but
Evelyn had never paid much attention to the rest of the letters and numbers.
When he’d finished writing, he tore off a sheet and handed the pad and pencil
back to Evelyn. “I’m fairly sure they’re British. I’ll check it out and let you
know, but I can tell you that if I were given to gambling, I’d put money
on Henry in a race. He looks fast, and I can see why he was able to fly such
long distances.” Ben smiled at her again. “I’d really like to see your other
pigeons at some point, if you don’t mind. Alan and I race pigeons in England.
That’s how I knew about the band.”
Evelyn decided not to put the notepad back where
she’d found it. “Come with me,” she said, as she gently shooed the bird back
into the carrier. Leaving him on stage, she took them to Tammy, sitting in the
front row. “Tammy, I’d like you to meet, Ben, his grandson, Jamie, and Alan.
Ben and Alan are from England. They race pigeons.”
Tammy stood, smiling. “Nice to meet all of you,” she
said, though it was obvious that Alan was the one she was most interested in.
He was the first to step forward, but when he shook Tammy’s hand, it made her
squawk.
“Ouch!”
Looking worried, Alan asked her what the matter was.
“Sorry. Nothing. I have a little arthritis in my
hands, that’s all.” She smiled up at him. “And you have a very firm handshake.”
“I’m sorry.
I’d better kiss it better, then.” He was still holding her hand in his, so he
lifted it to his lips and kissed the top of it.
The way Tammy clearly appeared giddy as the two
stared into each other’s eyes wasn’t lost on Evelyn, but she didn’t say
anything.
Ben took Alan by the forearm and moved him aside. He
extended one hand and said, “I’m delighted to meet you too, Tammy.” Having seen
what had happened when Alan had shaken her hand, he was obviously being
careful.
Ben then turned around and said, “Tammy, this is my
grandson, Jamie. Anne, my daughter, moved to America years ago and he’s grown
up here. He’s followed the story of Henry from day one.”
“Nice to meet you, Jamie. So happy you could come
tonight and meet Evelyn’s hero.”
Without any British accent whatsoever, Jamie replied,
“Yeah, pretty cool the way the bird saved her life. You don’t see that every
day.” He smiled at Evelyn.
“I think Henry’s cool, too,” said Evelyn, fighting
back a tear as she remembered how he and Tammy had saved her life. She turned
to the two men. “How long will you be staying in America?” she asked.
Alan answered. “Another ten days. We fly out on the
twelfth. Why do you ask?”
Evelyn said, “I’d like to invite all of you to my
farm. You said you’d like to see my other birds, and I think Jamie might enjoy
getting to see Henry in action.”
Jamie gave a little hop and asked his grandpa, “Can
we go see Cecilia and all the others, Grandpa, can we?”
“Who’s Cecilia?”
“Don’t you remember,
Grandpa? Cecilia is Henry’s true love. They had her picture in the newspaper.
She’s totally white, just like Henry.”
“Let me give you my mobile phone number, Evelyn. When
you want us to come over, just give me a call.”
Evelyn grabbed her cell from her handbag. “Okay,
shoot. I’ll put the number on my phone right now.” Before Ben gave her his
number, she turned to Alan. “Of course, you’re welcome to come also, Alan.”
“Wild horses couldn’t keep me away. Is that what you
say? I just wish I had my fastest pigeon with me to see if Henry could beat
him.” His smile suggested he didn’t think Henry would stand a chance. “It’s
been a pleasure meeting you both.”
As the men were walking away, Tammy leaned over to
whisper in Evelyn’s ear. “Alan’s cute, isn’t he?”
“Yes. So’s Ben,” replied Evelyn.
“And your blouse is undone. Your bra’s showing.” They
both burst out laughing like a couple of teenage girls sharing a joke.
Back cover copy of the novel...
Besides
being an ingenious sequel to Messages from Henry, Where Love Takes You is also
a light-hearted stand-alone romance novel. A chance encounter in Oregon leads
to a four way transatlantic romance, with further adventures for Henry, the
pigeon hero in book one; as he tries pigeon racing in England. There's love in
the air and on the ground.
Buy the book...
Author Bio...
Rebecca Scarberry was born and
raised in Southern California. She’s retired, and writes full-time. She lives
on a small secluded farm in the Boston Mountains of Arkansas with her husband
and five cats. She has devoted her time to writing fiction since 2009, and has
self-published six books in four different genres.
She has also written the script for
one episode of her Jumper series of children’s books. Once she has the
copyright, she’ll be sending it to TV producers per the request of her young
readers/fans. She is currently writing book four in the Jumper series, tentatively
entitled: Jumper’s Holiday Fun.
The books she has published are: Messages from Henry, Rag Doll, Where Love Takes
You, Jumper, Jumper Bounces Back, Jumper Meets Bouncy.Link to Amazon author page: http://smarturl.it/0z9brq
