Page 5 of The Lake House (Southern Charm #2)

Chapter Five

The sound of birds outside her window pulled Matilda Berry-Merritt out of a deep slumber.

At first she couldn’t understand where the honking sound was coming from.

Finally, her eyes blinked open, and she took in the room.

She was lying in bed with her new husband in their house by Jackson Lake around fifty miles outside of Atlanta.

And the honking was a goose flying overhead.

With a yawn, she rolled over towards him and was met with a barrage of kisses all over her face and gentle tickling of her ribs until she broke into gales of laughter. Then Ryan pulled her close into a warm hug. She snuggled against his chest.

“Good morning, wife,” he said.

She yawned again. “Good morning, husband.”

After a while, she got up and showered, then padded out to the kitchen where Ryan was stirring pancake batter while wearing nothing but a pair of boxer shorts. His muscular chest was tanned from working in the sun on the house renovations.

“Hungry?” he asked.

She nodded, searching through the fridge for bacon. She set it on the counter and began frying it in batches. By the time the bacon was done, Ryan had a plate full of steaming hot pancakes ready for them to eat.

“There are only two of us,” she joked.

He shrugged. “I’ll freeze the leftovers and eat on them for the rest of the week.”

“So efficient,” she quipped as he tried to grab her. She spun past him with the plate of bacon and set it on the table with a laugh.

They sat down to eat together. Matilda slathered her pancakes with butter and syrup.

She hadn’t felt this happy in her entire life.

The past months had been a roller coaster of emotions.

She’d learned that her biological parents lived in the USA and weren’t the couple who raised her in Australia.

That she’d been swapped at a fertility clinic as an embryo with Julie, the woman whose aunt lived next door.

It was all very complicated and thinking about it made her head ache, not to mention her heart.

She was still coming to terms with all of the implications of what she’d learned, and now that she and Ryan were married, she was beginning to realise she might not be going back home to Australia for a long while.

He was embedded in Georgia, with his own construction company, a house and his extended family all close by.

She missed her own family, who lived back in Brisbane.

She’d begun to feel homesick, even though she was blissfully happy with her new husband and life.

“What do you have on today?” she asked.

Ryan swallowed a bite of pancakes. “I have to head to the site. The construction on the new strip mall is starting today.”

“That’s exciting.”

He waggled his eyebrows. “Yes, it is. Super exciting.”

She laughed. “I think it is. I’ve never worked on a construction site.”

“Well, there’ll be some digging today, but not much more than that. It’ll be pretty dull. How about you?”

“I’ve got a shift at the café. Rita wants me to keep an eye on things.

She has chemo. And Cathy is still learning, so someone has to be there to make sure she doesn’t burn the place down.

” She was joking, but only sort of. Ever since Cathy had started working at the Honeysuckle Café, it’d been challenging dealing with her abrupt manner, her interference in every aspect of the business, and her overconfidence.

“How’s it going with Cathy? Is everyone playing nice?”

“Amanda isn’t a fan.”

“Who’s Amanda again?”

“She’s the café manager, and sometimes the cook as well.”

“So, it would be bad to annoy her.”

Matilda nodded vigorously. “Yes, very bad. We need her. She’s the glue that holds that place together most days, especially with Rita gone so much.

Last week, Cathy told Amanda that the way she was seating people was too casual, that she could learn a few lessons from Miss Manners.

And that the reason people were leaving without ordering dessert was because we’re offering ‘boring options . ’”

Ryan laughed. “I’m sure Amanda loved that.”

“Oh, yeah. She was thrilled. I thought her head would explode, her face was so red.”

After breakfast, Matilda got dressed for work.

She wore a pair of jeans and a buttoned black shirt.

She’d add an apron when she arrived at the café, since she often moved between the kitchen and the customers, depending on where she was needed throughout the shift.

They’d been low on cooks and kitchen hands lately, and she could easily plate meals, throw together salads, and so on.

Ryan called out a goodbye while she was still getting dressed.

He’d been under a lot of pressure lately with his construction business.

They’d taken on a big project, and he was spread thin.

But they did their best to spend time together whenever they had the chance.

And so far, she was loving married life.

She couldn’t quite believe they were married.

They’d done it first out of convenience for her green card, but now they were living as a married couple and learning more about each other every day.

It’d been an adventure, and one she still wasn’t prepared for.

Her family were upset when she told them.

Stella, her sister, had dreamed of being a bridesmaid since they were little kids.

But there wasn’t much Matilda could do about that now.

Matilda’s brothers had already forgotten that they were upset with her and had moved on.

One of the advantages of having two brothers who were reasonably self-absorbed was that they didn’t hold on to grudges very long.

Besides, she was deliriously happy. They couldn’t stay mad at her for that. She knew that deep down, they all wanted her to be happy. But they missed her, and she missed them. She wished things could’ve gone differently. It wasn’t as though she’d planned the whole thing—it just kind of happened.

On her way out the door, she dropped her keys in the mud. They still hadn’t finished the landscaping around the house yet. The renovations Ryan had begun on their house by the lake were underway before she’d even met him. He said it sometimes felt as though it might never end.

He was used to managing construction crews rather than doing it all himself, but he enjoyed it, at least most of the time.

He liked putting their home together with his own two hands.

And it was almost done, but the mud around the outside of the house and down the walkways to where her car was parked was driving her crazy.

She had to wear flip-flops to the car and then change into her shoes at work.

She’d started calling thongs “flip-flops” because that’s what Ryan called them.

With a grimace, she picked up the keys out of the mud, then tiptoed along the timber plank Ryan had laid out through the mud as a kind of footpath.

When she reached her car, she sighed with relief and set her purse on the passenger seat.

As she made her way around the outside of the vehicle, she spotted Julie sitting on the back porch of Rita’s lake house next door.

She raised a hand in greeting, giving a smile as well.

Julie looked so much like Stella, it was easy to feel familiar with her, but Julie didn’t respond.

She’d clearly seen Matilda, but turned away to stare out over the water.

Matilda sat in the driver’s seat, feeling a little deflated.

She understood that Julie might not be ready to deal with the truth around their background, the fact that the two of them were raised in families across the world from their biological ties.

But it hurt to think that she might blame Matilda for that.

Matilda had hoped the two of them could be friends, could talk about their childhoods so she could learn as much as possible about her biological parents.

And she was happy to tell Julie all about her own parents, but it seemed Julie wasn’t interested in having anything at all to do with Matilda.

She started the car and set off towards the café. After she moved in with Ryan, he’d bought her a brand-new Toyota hybrid as a wedding gift. It was red and zippy, and she loved it. It was just like him to be so thoughtful and generous.

While she drove, she connected her phone to Bluetooth and called Rita.

“Hey, girl,” Rita said. “Where are you?”

“I’m headed to the Honeysuckle. How about you?”

“At the hospital.”

“Everything okay?”

“Yeah, I have another treatment today.”

“Is Julie picking you up afterwards?”

“She is. She’s been a big help lately. I couldn’t do it without her.”

Matilda hesitated. She didn’t want to cause trouble, but she had to ask Rita about Julie. “I saw her a few minutes ago, and she acted like I wasn’t there.”

Rita sighed. “I’m sorry, honey. She’s a little het up about the whole IVF situation.”

“I know—me too. But I really hope she gives me a chance sometime. I’d love to get to know her. Maybe even be friends.”

“Give it time, hon. Just give it time. She’ll come around. She’s a sweetheart, but she has a lot on her mind right now. You know she left college?”

“I heard that.”

“Right in the middle of her dissertation. And she’s been working towards getting this degree for a long time.

So, it’s a pretty big deal, even if she’s acting like it’s not.

The IVF news threw her for a loop, and I think she’s still trying to find her feet.

But in the meantime, she’s taking me to treatments, keeping house, cooking and generally taking good care of me.

I’m so grateful to her, but I don’t want her to give up on her studies.

She’s worked so hard. I hope she goes back before too long. ”

“I’m sure she will,” Matilda offered, although she had no way of knowing what Julie planned to do, since the woman wouldn’t even talk to her. “Is there anything I can do to help?”

“You’re already helping at the café for me. You’re practically running the place.”

“Well, not exactly running it.” Matilda laughed. “At least, not according to Cathy.”

Rita huffed. “Don’t you worry about Cathy. She’s going to be okay. But we need you at the Honeysuckle. It’s my baby, and I feel better knowing you’re there. You can’t let Amanda and Cathy tear the place apart. You’ve got to keep the peace. Okay?”

“I’m doing my best,” Matilda replied.

As she hung up the call, she couldn’t help wondering how on earth she would be able to manage that.