Chapter One
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"This is a cabin in the woods?" Shay Morrison muttered to herself as she slowed her compact car to a halt in front of a two-story dwelling. Situated atop a gentle rise, the structure had a rough timber exterior but was otherwise far from rustic.
Shay pushed open the car door and got out, regarding the acreage surrounding the house with appreciation. Virginally green with the first buds of summer, the forested landscape was breathtaking. At least her mother hadn't exaggerated about that.
Shay smiled, remembering the conversations with her mother just two days before. "But, Shay, you must come. He's dying to meet you."
"And I'm dying to meet the man who hustled you to the altar," Shay had said. She hadn't been notified of her mother's marriage until after the fact and couldn't keep from ribbing her mother for marrying so hastily after having been a widow for seven years. "What was the rush? You aren't pregnant, are you?"
She heard her mother's familiar, resigned sigh. "Shame on you, Shay. When will you learn to speak like a lady?"
"When not being one stops being so much fun." She had laughed lightly.
"I know I should have told you about the wedding, but … well, everything happened so fast. There we were sitting in John's son's house, sipping coffee, and the next minute we were reciting the vows." Her mother sighed blissfully in remembrance. "We made up our minds and acted on the decision immediately. It was so romantic."
"I'm sure it was, and I'm glad for you," Shay said sincerely.
"You will join us this weekend, won't you? John is so looking forward to meeting you."
Shay nervously twisted the telephone cord. It wasn't that she really minded her mother marrying again. Celia Morrison had been alone too long. After having been happily married to Shay's father for twenty-seven years, his death had been a hard blow. John Douglas had been described to Shay as a retired businessman who was interesting, fun, handsome, and deliriously in love with her mother. Of course, that had been her mother's assessment.
"I don't know, Mother. You're barely out of the honeymoon stage and—"
"Don't be ridiculous. We really do want you to spend the weekend with us or else we wouldn't have invited you. Please, Shay. It's very important to me to unite my new family."
A weekend in a cabin sounded a bit lame to someone with Shay's zest for life, but she supposed she could make this one concession to her only parent. It might not be full of fun, but she could get some well-earned rest. "Where and when?" she asked.
"Oh, how marvelous," Celia cried enthusiastically. She gave Shay directions to the cabin near Kent Falls in western Connecticut. Shay insisted she drive her own car rather than take the train. She didn't want to have to rely on train schedules to make a speedy escape should the boredom of the weekend induce her to leave before Sunday afternoon.
"The countryside is lovely. Wait until you see the cabin," Celia gushed.
Shay glanced at her watch and realized she would be late for a sitting if she didn't hurry. "I'll be there sometime Friday evening if I can get off work Saturday. That's customarily a busy day at the gallery."
"I'm sure you can arrange it if you explain the circumstances to Mr. Vandiveer. We'll have such fun. I can't wait for you to meet Ian."
"Ian?" Oh, please, no, Shay groaned to herself. "The son?"
"Why, of course. This is the joining of two families, remember?"
Terrific.A whole weekend in a remote cabin in the woods with an older couple acting like silly adolescents in the throes of first love and a new stepbrother who probably wouldn't be any more enthusiastic about the arrangement than she was. "I've got to go, Mom. I'm posing for a photographer this afternoon."
"An artist?"
"No. Very commercial this time. Legs only. An ad for a lady's razor."