Flowers for Marta: (The Happy Endings Resort Series Book 10)

  Flowers for Marta (The Happy Endings Resort Series, Book 10)

  Copyright © 2015 Jenn Braddock

  Kindle Edition

  All rights reserved as permitted under the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976. No part of this publication may be reproduced, transmitted, stored, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form, whole or in part by any means, without express written permission from the author. Please purchase only authorized editions and do not participate in piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of author’s rights.

  Cover Design: Kari March (Kari March Designs)

  facebook.com/Karimarchdesigns

  Editor: Beyond the Cover Editing

  www.beyondthecoverediting.com

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  ISBN-13 Paperback: 978-0692589113

  ISBN-10 Paperback: 0692589112

  ISBN-13 Ebook: 978-0-9970835-0-7

  NOTE: This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to any actual persons, living or dead, events or locales is entirely coincidental.

  This book is dedicated to my mom and dad, who have always believed in me in whatever I do. Thank you for your love and encouragement. I couldn’t have done this without you.

  TABLE OF CONTENTS

  Title Page

  Copyright Page

  Dedication

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Epilogue

  Acknowledgements

  About the Author

  CHAPTER 1

  From inside the Charleston County Public Library, Marta Dublin paused from reading her newest acquisition from Agatha Christie when the thrum of heavy wheels and the muffled, yet shrill sirens from three fire engines raced by. Two hours later, as the library was closing, Marta stepped out into the damp evening air to walk the ten blocks to her comfortable little apartment above the flower shop where she worked.

  This was her daily routine—work at the flower shop until five, walk to the library to get lost in the world of whichever book she happened to be reading at the time, stay until closing, walk home to her two cats, Chloe and Mitzie, and then make herself a light meal before retiring to her bed to read until ten—only to do it all again the next day. Marta was a creature of habit. Her comfortable routine made her feel content.

  As she crossed the intersection, faint wisps of smoke rose above the buildings a couple of blocks down. Hurrying toward her apartment, an acrid smell assaulted her senses. Marta’s breathing became shallow the closer she got to home. Fire trucks were lined up in front of the building, and fire fighters were extinguishing the last of a fire that appeared to have destroyed her apartment and a large portion of the flower shop where she worked. In shock, she approached a firefighter and tapped him on the arm.

  “Sir, that’s my apartment. I had two cats in there,” she said in her quiet, now tremulous, voice.

  “Chief,” he spoke into the radio on his shoulder. “I’ve got the apartment resident here . . . Yes, sir . . . Ma’am, please wait over there. The chief will be right with you.” He motioned down the sidewalk a few yards, where Marta’s boss, Eloise, stood. Marta’s lanky, twig-like legs quickly brought her over to the woman, who stood there wringing her hands.

  “Oh, Marta, I am so sorry!” Eloise grasped Marta’s hands and pulled her into a hug.

  “What happened? How did it start?”

  “They’re not sure yet. I’ve been trying to think if we left anything on by accident. A hot glue gun, perhaps? Were there any candles burning?”

  Marta shook her head as she tried to think. The fire chief approached them and looked somber as he removed his helmet.

  “Mrs. Cranston, this is your shop?”

  “Yes sir, it is. I own the building, including the apartment above it. This is Marta Dublin, my employee and renter,” she replied, motioning to Marta.

  “Ma’am,” the chief nodded at Marta. “I hear you had a pet inside the apartment?”

  Tears pricked her eyelids as she struggled to find her voice. “Yes sir. Two cats.”

  “We did a quick search for anyone inside when we arrived on scene, but due to the swift nature of the fire, we had to abandon the search shortly thereafter. I’m sorry, ma’am. We found no cats.”

  Marta’s head dropped and she quickly turned away, trying to hide her tears. Eloise put an arm around her and drew her close to offer what comfort she could.

  “The fire appears to have originated in the upstairs apartment, as it has sustained the most damage. Looks to have started inside a wall. Our guess is it was electrical. Mrs. Cranston, we’ll be in touch as soon as my report is complete. Meantime, you should contact your insurance company. My condolences to you both.”

  “Thank you,” Eloise replied, shock evident in her voice as she weakly shook the fire chief’s hand. He left the two women on the sidewalk together.

  “Marta, dear, you’ll come stay with LeRoy and me. We’ll work something out until we can get everything rebuilt.”

  Marta choked back a sob as she thought about her two beloved cats and how scared they must have been. She loved them like they were her own children, and the thought of them being left up there to die was just too much to bear. As she tried to regain her composure, she replied hoarsely, “I’ll call my sister. I should be able to stay with her.”

  “Are you sure, dear? I feel terribly responsible for all of this. I want to be sure you’ll be all right.”

  “I’ll be fine.”

  “Well, if for some reason you can’t stay with your sister, you’ll come and stay with LeRoy and me, you hear?”

  “Yes, ma’am,” Marta replied, dabbing at her eyes with a tissue she kept at the ready in the pocket of her sweater. Eloise pulled her in for another hug, releasing her when LeRoy approached at a quick pace. As Eloise filled her husband in, Marta stepped aside and reached into her purse for her cell phone. She fumbled over the screen for her sister’s number and hesitated before initiating the call.

  Marta and her sister, Elaina, had never been what one would call close. They were about as opposite in personality as any two people could be, not to mention Elaina was twelve years her senior. While Marta was an introvert who saw herself as plain and frumpy, Elaina was confident, pretty and outgoing. Their mother had died during childbirth when Marta was born, leaving her father to raise her and Elaina by himself. He had always favored Elaina, in Marta’s eyes. To Marta, her father was a mean man who treated her as nothing more than a disappointment and the reason for the death of his wife. While Elaina had everything handed to her, Marta worked hard for everything she had. Elaina had the best in clothes and shoes, while Marta was reduced to receiving most things secondhand.

  Spoiled in her upbringing, Elaina never hesitated to hold her good fortune over Marta’s head whenever she got the chance. As soon as Elaina graduated high school and moved away, Marta’s existence was solemn and lonely. Her father rarely spent time with her, and she was forced to do most things for herself and him, including laundry, cleaning, and making meals. Her Cinderella life was a sad one. Marta learned quickly that if she stayed plain and quiet and stayed out of the way, her father would all but forget about her, and that was fine with Marta. His silence hurt far less than his attention did. Elaina rarely came home during college and, once she met her husband, William Markham, her visits
home became fewer and fewer. William treated Marta no differently than the rest of her family did—not once giving her a chance to prove her worth—and for that, she hated him.

  Reluctantly, she dialed her sister’s number and waited for her to answer. Just when she was about to give up and take Eloise up on her offer, the call connected and her sister’s voice resonated in Marta’s ear.

  “Maaarta,” her sister drawled. “To what do I owe the . . . pleasure?” The pause she took was not lost on Marta.

  “Hi, Elaina. How are you?”

  “Just dandy. You?”

  “Well, to be honest, not very well. My—,”

  “Marta, I really don’t have time to chit-chat. Did you need something?”

  Taken aback, Marta paused for a moment. She really didn’t want to have to ask for charity from her sister, but she wasn’t comfortable staying with LeRoy and Eloise either. Their house was small, barely big enough for the two of them, and LeRoy wasn’t in the greatest of health. She didn’t want to be a burden.

  “Well, my apartment burned down today and I was going to ask if you had a spare room for me to stay in for a while until I can find something else, but I don’t want to be a bother.”

  “Seriously? I swear, you have the worst luck. I guess you can stay here for a little while, but Bill and I are leaving next week for a month’s vacation at Happy Endings Resort. I don’t think I can have you staying here while we’re gone. Bill wouldn’t like that.”

  “Oh, okay,” Marta said meekly.

  “Don’t you have a friend you can stay with?”

  “Well, not really. Eloise offered to let me stay with them, but her husband is not doing very well and their house is so small—”

  Huffing several times, Elaina finally said, “Fine. You can stay. But I’m not taking your cats. Bill is allergic and—”

  “They died in the fire,” Marta interrupted quietly.

  “Oh. Well that’s fine then. You can stay with us until we leave next week.”

  “I appreciate it, Elaina. I’ll be over in a little while.”

  The line went dead without so much as a goodbye from Elaina, and Marta stared at her cell phone in disbelief. Elaina had not a shred of empathy in her, and Marta knew her sister really didn’t care about her. She had no idea what she’d do when they left next week, but that was a bridge she’d have to cross when she got there.

  Once she had given the fire chief all of her information, she said goodbye to Eloise and drove to Elaina’s house. The house loomed large in front of her as she pulled into their expansive driveway. Marta rang the doorbell and waited quietly. After a few moments, Elaina answered with a martini in one hand and her cell phone cradled between her ear and her shoulder. She left the door open and wandered away, leaving Marta to wonder whether or not that was an invitation to enter. When her phone call finally ended, she drained her glass and fixed her eyes on Marta.

  “So your apartment burned down, huh? How long is it going to take them to fix it?”

  “I’m not sure, but probably at least a month, maybe two. It depends on how much structural damage there is to the building. Eloise is hoping to get the flower shop opened up within a month. There wasn’t as much damage to the lower half of the building.”

  Elaina heaved a long sigh as she poured herself another martini from the crystal decanter on the bar. “Well, Bill and I are leaving first thing Monday morning for our month-long vacation. He’s out having the RV prepped as we speak. I know he’d never be comfortable letting you stay here without us.” Elaina paused mid sip and looked curiously at her sister. “You don’t have any friends you can stay with?”

  Marta knew exactly where this conversation was going to go. She’d had the same conversation with her sister many times, and it always ended up with the same result.

  “No, I really don’t. I have a few acquaintances, but no one I’d feel comfortable staying with for an extended period of time,” she answered.

  “If you didn’t always have your nose stuck behind the cover of a book or in a bouquet of flowers, maybe you could actually get a life! How anyone can be so socially withdrawn is completely beyond me. Daddy was right. You’ll never amount to a thing.”

  No matter how many times she’d heard them, the words still stung.

  “Well, there’s an empty bedroom on the left at the end of the hall upstairs. Bathroom is across the hall. It’s not fixed up or anything. We mainly use it to store crap, but you can use it. I’ll find you some bedding.”

  “Thank you, Elaina,” Marta answered.

  Elaina disappeared into her master bedroom, leaving Marta standing awkwardly in the hallway. When she returned, she walked to the end of the hall and opened the room Marta would be staying in. Elaina tossed a pile of bedding onto a bare mattress lying on the floor, and kicked a few boxes out of the way before heading for the door again. Marta quietly cleared her throat.

  “Elaina? Do you have some pajamas and maybe a toothbrush I could use? I lost everything but the clothes on my back in the fire. I’ll go to Goodwill tomorrow to find some clothes, but . . .”

  Elaina sighed heavily before stalking out of the room. She returned a few moments later with a flimsy nightgown which she tossed at Marta.

  “There are some extra toothbrushes in the closet in the bathroom. Help yourself.” Turning on her heel, she left the room once again, closing the door behind her.

  Tears streamed down Marta’s face. When she had woken up that morning, her life had been as normal as any other day. Now, just hours later, she was homeless, void of any possessions other than her car, and her heart was broken with the loss of her cats. She slowly turned toward her makeshift bed, lifting the pile of sheets and blankets to set them on a dusty box. Slowly, she made her bed with shaky hands, doing her best to stifle her sobs.

  Finished, she took the nightgown and walked across the hall to the bathroom. Still shaking, she donned the nightie and looked at herself in the mirror. The generous bodice sagged over her small breasts, and the hem barely reached mid-thigh. She certainly wasn’t blessed with a beautiful body like her sister had been. Feeling ridiculous and out of place, she pulled the hair tie from her dishwater blonde hair, letting it fall past her shoulders. Removing her glasses, the mirror reflected her faded blue eyes rimmed in red.

  Rummaging briefly through the bathroom closet, she found a toothbrush and a travel-sized tube of toothpaste and proceeded to brush her teeth. When she had finished, knowing she had to cross the hallway in the skimpy nighty, she carefully opened the door. Confirming the hallway was clear, she quickly tiptoed to her room. She heaved a heavy sigh as she leaned against the cool wood of her bedroom door. Trudging over to the bed, she retrieved the Agatha Christie book she had been reading from her worn, yellow, flowered sling bag and crawled into bed. Marta propped her pillow against the wall and leaned back, listening to the crackle of the plastic covering on the library book as she opened the pages so that she could get lost in another world, because her current world was too much to handle.

  Marta wasn’t sure how long she had been reading when she heard voices coming from down the hall. William was home, and he and Elaina were having a heated discussion in their bedroom. The voices were muffled, but Marta was certain she heard her name mentioned more than once. As stealthily as she could, she pulled back the covers, got up and cracked the door open. The voices were clearer from the hallway, so she opened the door a bit more so that she could hear better.

  “You know we’re leaving next week, El! You can’t fucking expect me to let her stay here while we’re gone for a month! She’ll either steal shit or we’ll come home to a house full of cats. No. Not happening.”

  “I already told her that, Bill. I asked her if she has any friends she could stay with, but she says she doesn’t.”

  “Now there’s a big fucking surprise . . .”

  “Bill, be nice. She lost everything she owns, including her cats. She’s not my favorite person either, but she’s my sister. I can’t
just put her on the street.”

  There was a long pause, and Marta figured they had come to a stalemate. She was just about to close the door again when the murmuring began again.

  “Bill, just listen to my idea. What if we let her come along with us? She could sleep . . .”

  “Are you out of your mind?” Bill’s voice was much louder than a murmur now, making Marta cringe. “I’m not going to spend my vacation with that sniveling simp . . .”

  “Bill!” Elaina chastised. “Keep your voice down. Just listen to me. She could sleep in the bed space above the cab. Think about it. We’ll make her cook and clean, do our laundry . . . we’ll have a completely peaceful vacation! She barely ever talks, so I can’t imagine that will be a problem. She’ll keep to herself when she’s not waiting on us hand and foot. Then, when we get back home, with any luck, her apartment will be finished.”

  After some further mumbling, the knob on their bedroom door rattled. Marta silently closed her own door. She wondered what William’s response had been as she heard him stomp downstairs. Deciding that she would deal with whatever would happen in the morning, she returned to her book and, soon after, fell into a fitful, nightmare-ridden sleep, hearing the desperate cries of her kitties as they perished.

  CHAPTER 2

  Marta woke early, as she normally did. Opening her bedroom door, the house was still quiet as she padded across the hall to the bathroom carrying her clothes from the day before. She showered quickly and dressed, putting her hair up into a simple ponytail before brushing her teeth with her borrowed toothbrush. Back in her room, she made her bed and placed her meager belongings back into her yellow sling bag. Knowing it was far too early for the Goodwill store to be open, she ventured downstairs to the kitchen, hoping to find something for breakfast.

  Marta filled the tea kettle from the stove and turned on the burner, then searched the nearby cabinets for tea and cups. To her left was a coffeemaker, so she held out little hope of finding tea, but she did manage to find an old box of cheap orange spice teabags. She cringed inwardly, but decided it was better than nothing to take the chill off the emptiness in her soul. She detested coffee.