Abandoned Memories by MaryLu Tyndall Page B

of the doctor—aside from him being a man, of course—stemmed from their brief encounter over a year ago in a Tennessee tavern. Though she doubted he remembered her, was he now confessing the sins of that night?
    “We’ve all made mistakes, Doctor,” she said, releasing Stowy to wander around the branches. “The important thing is that we move past them and become better for them.”
    He scrubbed the dark stubble peppering his jaw. “Indeed. And also that we repent and allow God to change our hearts.”
    She scoffed inwardly. It was she and she alone who had changed her life. Not God. But she wouldn’t tell James that and start another theological debate.
    “So what were these sins, exactly?” She raised a brow, half teasing, half desperate to know.
    “Ah, who is being overbold now?”
    She smiled.
    “Drinking.” He hesitated, searching her eyes, then lowered his gaze. “Women.” Was that red crawling up his neck? “Too many of both.”
    Memories of him lying on a ratty, stained bed above a tavern that blared and thumped with music and laughter drifted through her mind. He’d been so drunk, he could hardly stand. And covered in blood. Too much to have come from the gash at the side of his mouth. But he’d been kind. And sad. Terribly sad about something. Which is why she remembered him from all the others.
    Now, she laid a hand on his and said the words that screamed true within her—words she wanted so desperately to be true. “You are right. You’re not that man anymore.”
    This brought his eyes up to search hers, the hope within them conflicting with the pain and despair that had filled them that night long ago. He pressed a thumb on the scar on the right side of his mouth. “Thank you for saying that.”
    If only she believed it of herself. Shoving aside her morbid thoughts, she offered him a smile. “And now we both know a secret about the other.”
    “Mine is much more incriminating.”
    “But safe with me.”
    He nodded, and his trust in her caused her heart to swell.
    Stowy pounced on James’s leg and began gnawing at his trousers. “Hey, you little rascal!” Clutching the cat, he flipped him on his back and knuckled his tummy. Stowy pawed James’s hand in a mock battle for dominance he was sure to lose.
    Watching how gentle and playful James was with Stowy, Angeline’s heart felt lighter than a feather. Perhaps she could trust this man. He had changed, hadn’t he? He’d made mistakes, but he freely admitted them. And when he could have lied about his past, he’d been honest with her. Besides, hadn’t Angeline changed? Hadn’t this new life in Brazil offered her a second chance? How could she deny the same to James?
    Setting Stowy between them, James raised his gaze to hers. A breeze ripe with oranges and mossy earth swirled around them, toying with the hair at his collar as they stared into each other’s eyes, searching, wondering, hoping…daring to trust.
    Raising his hand, he cupped her jaw and swept a thumb over her cheek. Angeline’s heart quickened. A tingle ran across her skin. He glanced at her lips and licked his own. And she knew he wanted to kiss her. More than that, she desperately wanted to kiss him back.

HAPTER 9
    J ames! Angeline!” Blake’s baritone shout jarred them apart, drew them embarrassed to the edge of their tree terrace to see their friends combing the jungle below. With an odd reluctance, James had assisted Angeline and Stowy to the ground, ending their precious time together—moments that had given him hope for a promising future.
    A hope, however, that was dashed as he now stood beside Hayden and Blake and some of the other colonists before their desolate fields. Where once stalks of sugarcane had poked through fertile ground, where once coffee seedlings budded fresh leaves, now there was naught but barren dirt dotted with bare twigs. Stunned silence shrouded the group, save for the occasional sob from the women and curse from the men.
    A few