Vintage Valentine (Elmheart Series)

Vintage Valentine

Mindy Hardwick

Vintage Valentine

A Books to Go Now Publication

Copyright
©
Mindy Hardwick
2013

Books to Go Now

For information on the cover illustration and design, contact [email protected]

First eBook Edition –January 2013

Warning: the unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal. Criminal copyright infringement, including infringement without monetary gain, is investigated by the FBI and is punishable by up to 5 years in prison and a fine of $250,000. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form without written permission from the publisher, except by a reviewer who may quote brief passages for review purposes.

This book is a work of fiction and any resemblance to any person, living or dead, any place, events or occurrences, is purely coincidental. The characters and story lines are created from the author’s imagination and are used fictitiously.

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Look for Other Stories by Mindy Hardwick

Love’s Bid

Love’s Storm

Love’s Christmas Gift

Dedication:

For my mom

Vintage Valentine

“Why is this the first time we’ve visited Grandma and Grandpa?” Ten-year-old Kaitlin carefully cut out a red construction paper heart. She added it to the pile of pink and red hearts on the card table. “They always visit us.”

“Grandma and Grandpa like to visit us,” Hailey said. She swallowed hard and twirled the pearl ring she wore on her right ring finger. “It isn’t easy for me to get time off from work.” Hailey prayed her daughter couldn’t tell she was lying. The truth was Hailey’s boss begged her to take time off for years. It wasn’t until the non-profit failed to receive an important grant, and Hailey lost her job, that she was able to think about time off.  

“I like it here,” Kaitlin said. “It’s interesting.”

Hailey chuckled. The Elmheart Hotel her grandparents owned and operated was interesting. The hotel had been built in the late 1800’s. It was the last standing hotel on the shores of Lake Ontario—a remnant from a bygone era.

As a child, Hailey loved listening to her grandmother talk about the glory days of the hotel. The Elmheart had been at the end of the Manitou trolley line. People took the trolley from Rochester to the beach to play baseball, swim, drink beer, and spend the night at the hotel. The hotel had large arches, stained glass windows, pine paneling on the walls of the seventeen bedrooms, and a hard maple floor in the dance hall. Grandfather inherited the hotel from his father. He married Grandma and the two settled down to raise their growing family along with their hotel business. As a child, Hailey could remember more than one Christmas unwrapping presents in the hotel’s glorious living room under a large tree decorated with festive ornaments, ribbons, lights and tinsel. The Elmheart Hotel had been her grandparents’ place of enchantment and celebrating their fiftieth wedding anniversary at the hotel would be perfect. 

  “Maybe we can live here!” Kaitlin looked up. Her bright blue eyes locked with Hailey’s. Hailey inhaled sharply. Kaitlin had her father’s eyes, and no matter how many times she looked at her daughter, Hailey never stopped feeling a small tightening in her stomach.

“I don’t know,” she said, and pressed her lips together.  “I’m not sure where we will live.” At least that was the truth. After her aunt died, Hailey tried to hang on to her aunt’s home in Kansas City. But it’d become impossible and the house eventually fell into foreclosure. Things had gone from bad to worse since her aunt passed away. Kaitlin’s grades had slipped as she began having problems with some other girls in her class, and Hailey’s job as office manager had unexpectedly terminated. When Hailey received the white and gold envelope announcing her Grandparents’ fiftieth wedding anniversary, Hailey knew they should attend. Her grandparents were not getting any younger. It was time she went home to the small western, town in New York. It was time to face up to the lingering ghosts of her past.

Hailey looked up at the tall, arched ceiling and the pine paneling of the Elmheart Hotel’s living room. The last time she’d been inside her grandparents’ hotel was ten years ago. She was eighteen and three months pregnant. On a bright, August morning, Hailey stood in the large, sunlit, hallway. A small, denim duffel bag rested at her feet. She hugged her grandparents good-bye and walked out to a taxi which would take her to the train station. The train would take her to Kansas City where she would start a new life with her baby and aunt. Hailey’s parents were devastated to find her pregnant. Hailey’s dad declared all of his hopes and dreams were dashed, and refused to speak to her. Occasionally, she received a phone call from Mom, but if Dad walked into the room, Mom quickly hung up while promising to call again soon. Soon after Hailey moved to Kansas City, her parents took jobs working as research assistants in Singapore. She barely heard from them anymore.  

Hailey picked up a red construction paper heart and absently turned it over. A vanilla candle burned on the living room table. Her stomach growled, reminding her she hadn’t eaten since early that morning when they left Kansas City.  Kaitlin scarfed down both her breakfast and a sandwich at the airport, but Hailey had been too nervous to eat. She glanced at the  grandfather clock in the living room. It was just after three o’clock—too early for dinner, but not too early for a snack and a cup of hot chocolate. Hailey peered around Kaitlin and into the dining room. A large oak table set for eight sat in the center of the room. A matching sideboard leaned against the deep burgundy-papered wall. A silver tea set with a cream and sugar pitcher sat on the red  tablecloth. Grandma always kept an assortment of teas, hot chocolates, hot water, and a plate of cookies for guests. But, today, the sideboard was empty. Hailey frowned. Had Grandma forgotten to set out the afternoon snacks?

In the dance hall, next door to the living room, Hailey could hear tables and chairs being moved. Grandpa’s deep voice carried through the wall as he instructed where to set up each table. Above Hailey’s head, Grandma’s footsteps tread lightly on the hardwood floors as she opened room doors, searching for something. From the time Hailey was ten until she was sixteen, she attended International Schools. But, she loved nothing more than returning to her  grandparent’s hotel for holidays. She’d been thrilled to move back to the small village of Eaglewood for her senior year of high school and everything went well until that fateful moment during the senior graduation party. After that night, everything changed. She’d gone from being her father’s beautiful daughter, with her whole life ahead of her, to a shame and a disgrace. 

Tears gathered in Hailey’s throat and she brushed away the painful feelings. She turned away so Kaitlin wouldn’t look up and see her tears. Snow fell outside the large bay window of the living room. Thick heavy green drapes were tied back with gold-tasseled ties. The lawn was already covered by at least ten inches of snow. Piles of shoveled snow lined the driveway, and a new cover of snow covered the black asphalt. It’d been snowing all afternoon, but Hailey didn’t worry about the weather canceling her grandparent’s party: it snowed all winter in western New York. Everyone managed to make their way around without problems. In elementary school, Hailey could count on her right hand the times she had a full day off from school for a snow day.  Hailey wiggled her toes inside the too large, red, fur-lined slippers. Grandmother always kept a box of items guests left behind. This afternoon, when Hailey and Kaitlin arrived, Grandma dug the slippers out of the box and insisted Hailey wear them. Kaitlin was thrilled to dig inside the box and hunt for a pair of thick socks as if it was a treasure hunt.

Turning her attention back to her daughter, Hailey leaned close and in a tone that sounded more like best friends conspiring said, “Do you know what we could use to make this moment absolutely perfect?”

“Tissue paper to decorate the Valentines?” Kaitlin asked hopefully.

“Well,” Hailey said. Her light laughter danced around the room. “Yes, we could use some tissue paper, but this box of construction paper, dollies and scissors was all I found in Grandma’s office.” Hailey reached over and touched her daughter’s long, silky blonde hair. Kaitlin’s hair was so unlike her own and so like…Hailey stopped herself. She wasn’t going to think about Kaitlin’s father. He was only a memory. He was a high school picture she kept tucked away in her nightstand. A picture she pulled out when it’d been an extremely long day and she wanted a listening ear.  “I think we need some hot chocolate,” Hailey said. 

“With marshmallows?” Kaitlin asked. Her face shone with an inner glow of childhood optimism. 

“Yes,” Hailey said. “I’m sure we can find a marshmallow or two in the kitchen.” She once had the same hopeful spirit as her daughter, but ten years of hard work and making ends meet, while being a single parent, had worn away at the edges of that optimism.  Hailey pushed back her chair. Her slippered foot touched a threadbare piece of carpet. Hailey stared down at the thinning carpet and frowned. Grandpa always kept the Elmheart Hotel in pristine condition. It had been listed on all the best travel sites for years. Grandpa proudly displayed each’ best travel site ‘sticker on the glass door in the entryway. Hailey stood with her hands braced on the card table and listened. Other than her grandpa’s work in the dance hall, and her grandmother’s steps above her head, she hadn’t heard guests all afternoon. She assumed the hotel would be packed with her grandparents’ friends attending the anniversary party. Hailey remembered Grandma and Grandpa always hosted holiday parties. Everything from large Fourth of July barbeques to New Year’s Eve dance parties in the ballroom. The parties were some of the best attended in the area. Grandma often hired musicians from the local university who performed everything from harp solos to the sounds of the Big Band era. People talked about the parties for weeks afterward while waiting eagerly for the next invitation to arrive. If guests were arriving to check in, a few of them should have arrived by now. Hailey made a note to talk to her grandmother about the hotel. She hoped nothing was wrong.

Hailey leaned over and kissed Kaitlin lightly on the head. Kaitlin looked up at her mom. Her eyes widened in surprise. “What was that for?”

“Because I love you,” Hailey said, and squeezed her daughter’s shoulder.

“I love you too, Mom,” Kaitlin said. She placed a pink paper cut-out heart in the stack. “This is going to be the best Valentine’s Day ever!”

Hailey turned away from the living room and stepped lightly toward the kitchen. She felt happier than she had in a long time. She was glad to see Kaitlin so cheerful about Valentine’s Day. Kaitlin had been having problems with the other girls in her class teasing and bullying her. They met with her teacher, but the problems still hadn’t stopped. Girls could be so cruel- sometimes. Hailey dreaded thinking about what Valentine’s Day might be for daughter.  Thankfully, she was here and Kaitlin wouldn’t have to suffer a Valentine’s Day in a classroom full of kids who decided not to give her Valentine cards.

Hailey pushed open the swinging kitchen door and bumped into a very solid body standing on the other side. “I’m so sorry,” Hailey said quickly. “I didn’t realize anyone was in the kitchen.” She stepped away from the door and looked up into the face of the one man she swore she’d never see again.

“Can I help you with something?” Patrick asked. He wiped his hands on the white apron tied around his waist. The apron covered black jeans and he wore a white sweatshirt with SUNY, Albany written across the front. His hair was still the same sandy brown Hailey remembered from high school. She knew exactly how that hair felt when she’d  run her hands through it—   smooth and fine-textured, and when Patrick picked her up for a date, his hair was never quite dry and curled around the edges of his shirt collar.   

Hailey inhaled sharply. She´d spent years remembering him; years of seeing Patrick when Kaitlin looked at her with the same bright blue eyes. Now, here he was, in front of her. But, did he even remember her? They only dated for six months at the end of high school. It was ten years later. How would she tell him about Kaitlin?

Flustered, Hailey quickly headed for the far left hand cabinet. “I’m just going to make some hot chocolate. I won’t be here long.” Hailey reached up and swung open the cabinet to find a stack of cups and glasses. “Oh! I guess things have changed a little bit.”

“The food is in the pantry.” Patrick opened a door covered with chalk paint, the same kind Hailey used on Kaitlin’s bedroom room wall when her daughter wanted to color on the walls at age five.  On the other side of the pantry door, there were floor-to-ceiling shelves with canister and box sizes in every shape filled with tomatoes, sauces, and rice. “The hotel doesn’t serve a breakfast anymore. It only caters special events. We moved the pantry to make more room for the larger food items needed for special events.”

“I guess I won’t be able to find a packet of hot chocolate in those large cans?” She kept her eyes focused just slightly to the left of Patrick so she didn’t have to meet him in the eye. Hailey hoped her voice sounded light and not filled with the anxieties that plagued her stomach.

“There might be some in here.” Patrick stepped half-way into the pantry. Hailey couldn’t help noticing Patrick was as fit as he’d been as a high school baseball player. But, now he’d filled out and become a man. His broad shoulders filled his sweatshirt and she knew that underneath the jeans she’d find toned legs.

“Here it is!” Patrick pulled out a large canister labeled, 'hot chocolate.’ He waved it in the air before he popped the lid and peered inside. “It looks as though there is plenty in here. How many cups do you need?”

“Two,” Hailey said. “One for me and one for my daughter.” Suddenly, she swallowed hard, the words threatening to burst from her.

Our daughter.

Ten years ago, Hailey believed she was doing the right thing by not telling Patrick. She didn’t want to take away his opportunity to go to college on his baseball scholarship. If she told him about her pregnancy, Hailey knew Patrick would have given up everything. That was the last thing she wanted. But now his daughter was in the other room. He should know Kaitlin.  Kaitlin should know him. But, how was she going to tell either one of them?

The heat rose to Hailey’s face. She had to escape the kitchen. She needed time to think. Quickly, Hailey backed toward the doorway.

Her hands touched the doorknob, as Patrick said softly, “Please don’t leave, Hailey.”

***

Patrick stood, motionless. He stared into the eyes of the girl he once loved more than anything. The girl he hoped to marry. The girl he lost because of his stupidity in trying to follow a dream that dissolved before it even began.