Crazy Kate’s voice pulled Tessa from her daydream, and she lifted the glass bottle of tea and the tin. “I come bearing gifts.”
Crazy Kate’s eyebrows rose. “This is unexpected.” She walked back into her house, leaving Tessa standing in the side yard.
After a moment Tessa crossed the front yard toward the front door. Standing on the threshold, she said, “Umm, Cra—Ms. Muir?”
“Mrs.,” Crazy Kate yelled from inside the cottage.
Tessa stood on the front stoop and peered through the door. “Excuse me?”
Crazy Kate appeared in front of her, startling Tessa. “It’sMrs., notMiss.”
“Oh.”She was married?
Crazy Kate reached for the bottle and the tin, and Tessa handed them over. “Thank you.” She disappeared into the depths of the cottage. “Either come in or stay out, but don’t stand there with the door open. The blue jays like to come inside, and it’s the devil trying to get them out.”
The wind rustled through the trees, filling the air with the tinny sounds of music. Tessa stepped inside and closed the door. The interior of the cottage was nothing like she expected. She had imagined a hoarder, an old lady squirreling away magazines or newspapers from the past one hundred years. She wouldn’t have been surprised to be overwhelmed with the scents of rot and decay, of a life that had stopped moving years ago.
Instead, Crazy Kate’s cottage was clean andcozy, and it smelled like freshly cut lavender and roses. Overstuffed leather armchairs and a chocolate-brown couch gathered around a stone fireplace. A suncatcher hung in one window and beamed rainbows across the small living room. The open kitchen connected to the living room, and Crazy Kate stood at the stove, pouring rosemary tea into a widemouthed kettle. The gas stove ignited, and Crazy Kate grabbed a wooden spoon. She stirred the tea in slow, deliberate circles.
Tessa cleared her throat. “I didn’t know you were married.”
Crazy Kate huffed. “I don’t suppose you know much about me at all.”
Tessa felt the sting of her words. She had never bothered to know much about Crazy Kate, other than accepting what people had told her. “Your husband—”
“Gone.” Crazy Kate’s shoulders tensed and then stooped forward. She exhaled. “Two years now. I miss him every day.”
Tessa couldn’t even imagine what kind of man Crazy Kate would have been married to. Was he as odd as she was? Did he wear rainbow colors and bury spears in the ground? She glanced around the living room and noticed a grouping of photographs on an end table. Tessa stepped over to it and leaned down to get a closer look. She was shocked to see a young woman, who had to be Crazy Kate in her twenties, standing with a young man. They smiled at the camera, looking as though nothing could have ruined their moment together. Not only was Crazy Kate stunning, but the man who had his arm wrapped around her waist was gorgeous.Her husband?
In another photograph, Crazy Kate and the man stood with two dark-haired children, one boy and one girl.She has kids?And still in another photograph, the children were teenagers caught laughing with Crazy Kate and the tall man, who looked vaguely familiar to Tessa.
With her back turned to Tessa, Crazy Kate said, “You didn’t come to bring the tea and lavender.”
Tessa frowned. “Actually, I did.”
“Actually,” Crazy Kate said, “you came to ask about Honeysuckle Hollow.”
Crazy Kate poured the warmed tea into delicate blue porcelain teacups and placed them on a modest kitchen table made of reclaimed wood. She sat and motioned for Tessa to do the same. Crazy Kate brought her cup to her nose and inhaled deeply. Her eyes closed, and she sipped her tea. Tessa wrapped her hands around the teacup and allowed the porcelain to warm her fingers. After Crazy Kate took a second sip, her eyes popped open. She stared at Tessa and lowered her cup immediately. Her fingers trembled, and the cup danced in its saucer.
“Are you okay?” Tessa asked.Oh, please don’t die while I’m here. How will I ever explain this to anyone?
“I remember,” Crazy Kate whispered, her eyes brimming with tears. “Too much. The rosemary is too strong.”
“I’m sorry,” Tessa said as though she had something to do with it. “I didn’t brew it. Mrs. Borelli did. Do you want her to make you a milder batch? I can throw this one out.”
Seeing Crazy Kate’s tears caused Tessa’s throat to tighten. Knowing she had had a husband and children out there somewhere forced Tessa to rethink who Crazy Kate really was. And why was she alone as an old woman? Tessa pushed her chair back from the table and tried to stand, but Crazy Kate gripped her wrist, pinning Tessa’s arm to the table.
“It’s not your fault. It’s the garden,” Crazy Kate said. Her eyes closed, and her fingers loosened on Tessa’s arm. “I loved him. I loved themboth, but him first.”
When she didn’t say anything more, Tessa asked, “Who?”
“Geoffrey Hamilton.”
She spoke the name with such reverence she could have been speaking a prayer. Her cheeks pinked, and a slow sigh escaped through her lips. Tessa had never imagined Crazy Kate other than being called the town nut, so she couldn’t picture Crazy Kate being in love with anyone.
For a moment Crazy Kate had the expression of a young woman with eyes full of hope and wonder. She reached her thin fingers up to her face and touched her cheek. The longing in her dark eyes made Tessa’s chest ache.
“Youngest son of Alfred Hamilton, long-ago resident of Honeysuckle Hollow. The house . . . it belonged to the Hamiltons for more than a hundred years until Matthias, my husband, died a couple of years ago.”
