Lover's Knot by Emilie Richards

of her, as a Spurlock. She raised a daughter here, but it was always a little bitty place.”
    Kendra had never told anyone that Isaac had inherited this property from Leah, or why. She had wanted to know more before she made that announcement, and she had hoped to overcome Isaac’s resistance first. Now she was tempted to tell Helen, to see what tales Helen could recount. But she was too tired to start that conversation.
    “I’d like to add on,” she said instead. “But I don’t know quite how. I don’t want to build a modern house onto this one. I’d want something rustic.”
    “There’s an old barn for sale down the road, not far from where it crosses Carter’s Mill. Log barn, maybe even chestnut. You might could use the timber.”
    Kendra liked the sound of that. “I wouldn’t know how to go about it.”
    “I know just the man to talk to. Manning Rosslyn. Lives up not too far from the church. Got his own company. They take down old buildings people don’t want anymore, number the pieces like some kind of puzzle, then put them back up in different places. He does additions, too. Preserves whatever he can. Knowing Manning, he’s probably already bid on that barn.” Helen smiled a little. “And this place, it would surely appeal to him. He used to be sweet on Rachel, way back in the fifties. Rachel, she was Leah’s daughter.”
    Rachel, she was Isaac’s mother .
    Kendra recognized a bonus when it came her way. “I’ll give him a call. Manning Rosslyn.”
    “Rosslyn and Rosslyn. Now that Manning’s getting up in years, his son’s in the business with him. Cash is his name.” Helen pointed to the garden area. “That was Leah’s garden. She was more or less the granny woman in these parts. You know what that means?”
    “I guess not.”
    “Nobody could much afford a doctor. We did a lot of healing on our own. But Leah, she was the best. She knew what to use for almost any problem there was. Grew plants in that patch the likes of which nobody else around here ever tried. She’d take care of sick people, stay with them and follow whatever directions their doctors gave her. But she added her own brand of medicine right alongside theirs. I think the doctors knew and just turned their heads. There wasn’t much anybody could do when my mama was dying, but when Daddy was going, nobody else could ease his pain. Leah knew how. I was always real grateful to her for that.”
    Kendra liked what she’d heard about Leah. She wondered if Isaac would, or if he was so prejudiced against his biological family that no good news would seep through.
    She gestured to the side of the clearing. “The garden’s still visible, at least the bare outline of it. I’m going to see if there’s anything there that can be saved.”
    “Just watch out for varmints when you do. Be better just to mow it all down and start fresh.” Helen hiked a worn leather purse higher on her shoulder. “You remember, we’re just one phone call away. I put our phone number in that box with the food. And the Claibornes’, too. And some of the other neighbors’. You’ve got friends here. Don’t be afraid to call them.”
    Kendra hoped that the tears that were such a new and disconcerting addition to her emotional repertoire would stop making appearances. “Thanks,” she said in a husky voice.
    “No bother at all. You take care of yourself now, and we’ll expect a visit once you’re all settled.”
    Kendra knew the offer was genuine. She planned to accept it.

CHAPTER FOUR
    O n Sunday morning Kendra sipped a cup of French-press coffee on the front porch. She had been at the cabin for four days, and although every night she had wrestled with the usual nightmare, last night she had slept for several hours at a stretch. She was spending so much time outdoors in the sweetly scented spring air that, finally, sleep had claimed dominance.
    This morning was an especially lovely one. Softly filtered sunbeams lit the gentle green of the