Finding Pride (Pride Series) Read online

  Finding Pride

  Megan Kimble was traveling a long way to find the next chapter in her life, one that would not include her brother, Matt. Losing him now was tragic, even more so since she had finally freed herself from the abuse and shame of a bad marriage. She had spent years hiding things from her brother, so he would not know about her horrible life. Keeping secret her world of bruises, cuts, and broken bones, much like the one she now sported with a large white cast.

  Dealing with her loss was hard, but now she is thinking of taking over Matt’s new business venture. This could be the fresh start she needed, a new town, a new place to forget the pain, and maybe she would learn to trust again.

  Todd Jordan was a successful businessman, who had once lost it all, and now he’d just lost his best friend and business partner. But, then she came into town broken and scared. For the first time in a long time he was looking forward to his future. Breaking down Megan’s barriers would take patience and strength, and he would need that strength to keep what he loves safe.

  Other Titles by Jill Sanders

  Finding Pride – Book one in the Pride Series

  Discovering Pride – Book two in the Pride Series

  Coming Soon…

  Returning Pride – Book three in the Pride Series

  Lasting Pride – Book four in the Pride Series

  FINDING PRIDE

  JILL SANDERS

  FINDING PRIDE

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

  Follow the Pride series online at:

  Web: www.prideseries.com

  Twitter: PrideSeries

  Facebook: PrideSeries

  ISBN: 1480054542

  Copyright © 2012 Jill Sanders

  Cover Design by Jill Sanders

  No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without permission. Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the author’s rights. Purchase only authorized editions.

  Dedication

  This book is dedicated

  to the woman who

  read the first book to me.

  In loving memory of a

  great woman and teacher…

  Thank you, MOM.

  CHAPTER ONE

  Just as the sun disappeared behind a large gray cloud, a white sedan crept slowly along the long twisted road. A wall of trees on either side of the road gave the appearance that the only way out was to forge ahead. The black pavement weaved, rounding bends up and down small rolling hills. If someone were to look at the scene from above, it would appear similar to a white rat running through a large maze, no doubt on its way to find the cheese.

  Several minutes had passed since an open field was visible to the driver. Every now and then a quick glance of a farmhouse or a barn would appear. But, for now the only view was the gray of the sky, the green of the trees, and the black top of the road.

  The car was traveling toward freedom, freedom that had come at the worst price, death.

  Megan Kimble had just lost the last of her family. Now at a time when she was finally free to live, she had no one to share it with.

  For a moment the sun peeked out of the clouds, its landed on a small crowd gathered around a casket. Mist and fog hung in the afternoon air. It made the hill overlooking the small town of Pride, Oregon, appear cut off from all other civilization, an island floating in a sea of fog. Not a sound came from the gathered mourners. Each person stood with head down, looking at the dark wet wood of the casket.

  In front of the crowd stood Megan, a lone young woman who was dressed in a dark skirt and a large black rain coat. Her head was bent down, her tears silently slipping down her face. Her long blonde hair was neatly tied back with a clip. The right sleeve of her coat hung empty. Her arm tucked close to her body, encased in a white cast from her upper arm to just above her wrist.

  Looking up, she started gazing around the old cemetery, not really noticing the people, but instead the old and crumbled headstones. Her eyes stopped on a tall figure that appeared to hover above the mist. Blinking a few times to clear the moisture from her eyes, she realized it was a large headstone in the shape of an angel. The angel’s arms were stretched up to the heavens, as if reaching for a helping hand to ascend above.

  Her thoughts drifted to Matt and she looked back down at the casket. Matt had always called her his little angel. Looking at the simple dark wood through teary eyes, she remembered her brother’s face as it looked fifteen years ago. That was when she had awakened in the hospital, her little body covered in terrible bright red marks of abuse. Her memory of the violence by her father’s hands gone, along with both their parents’ lives.

  Matt had been the first face she remembered seeing in the cold sterile room. She remembered his face had been streaked with tears, his eyes red as he cooed to her, “Little Meg, everything will be okay. I’ll take care of you now. Don’t worry little Angel.”

  Her thoughts snapped back to the cemetery as they began to lower the casket into the wet ground. What, really, had she ever done to deserve such a great brother? What really had she ever given back to him? He’d given up everything for her and yet she couldn’t think of one thing she’d given him but lies.

  She felt hopelessness and uselessness sinking into her mind. Knowing it was Derek’s influence, for her dark thoughts, she tensed. Straightening her spine now, she tried to dismiss the thoughts of her ex-husband. He didn’t matter anymore, she told herself. He was out of her life now.

  At that moment, as she stood in the old cemetery surrounded by a hundred strangers, she felt truly and wholly alone. Matt had been her family, well, the only family that had really mattered. She had an aunt somewhere, but she hadn’t seen or heard from the woman in over fifteen years.

  Looking up she saw the priest walking towards her; she quickly wiped the tears from her face. The priest looked short and stout dressed in his long black robes. He wore a wide-brimmed hat which covered his curly silver hair. His face was kind and she could see his eyes were red from tears. He had been very generous in the words he’d spoken over her brother.

  She wasn’t Catholic, neither was her brother. At this point, she wasn’t going to object. It had been a nice service, and so many people had turned out. She didn’t know who had organized the service, but she was sure the Father had a large hand in it.

  “Hello dear, I’m Father Michael. We spoke on the phone a few days ago.” He said taking her left hand in his warm one. “Matt was such a nice young man, I’ll miss him dearly.” He cleared his throat.

  “Thank you. I’m sorry I wasn’t able to get here sooner. I would have helped plan his service.”

  The Father interrupted. “Don’t mention it. We all pitched in to help out, that’s the nice thing about small towns. If you’re looking for someone to thank, there is no need around here. People in Pride don’t usually take too much to strangers, but Matt just fit in. He became part of the family, you might say. I know he wasn’t Catholic, but he did enjoy a good sermon. He also enjoyed coming to our social events; they always put a big smile on his face. He was very well liked around here.”

  It didn’t sound like he was talking about her brother. Matt had always been somewhat of a loner. He had never really taken to crowds, but then again she’d grown away from him after he’d moved out west.

  As he continued talking to her about her brother and the town, she started looking around at the crowd of people in the muddy cemetery. It appear
ed that the whole town of Pride had braved the wet weather for her brother’s funeral. There were families, older couples, men who were weather worn from years on fishing boats, faces young and old, none of which Megan had ever seen before. She was used to being in crowds, having lived in a large city most of her life, but now it felt like all eyes were on her.

  Taking another look around, she could see that in fact almost no one was looking directly at her. As her eyes scanned around, something caught her gaze. A pair of the lightest silver-blue eyes she’d ever seen looked back at her through the crowd. Maybe it was because the man stood a head taller than everyone else around him, or maybe it was the fact that he was the only one who was actually staring directly at her. But for a moment, she forgot everything including blinking.

  The man had dark brown wavy hair which was a little long and reached over his coat collar. What she could see of him under his leather coat, he appeared to be thin. His face could have easily been etched in marble and put on display. His jaw was strong with the smallest of clefts in his chin. His lips were full and his nose was straight, but it was his eyes that caught her attention again. He was staring at her like he wanted to say something to her from across the crowded cemetery.

  Father Michael stepped in between them and broke her trance; blinking, she tried to re-focus on the short priest. He was attempting to encourage her to stop by the church for services.

  “Megan, I feel like you are already part of the flock, I’m sure we’ll be seeing you next week. If there is anything we can do for you, just let us know,” the Father said while patting her left hand. “You will let us know if you need help moving in, what with your hurt arm and all.”

  She looked down at her right arm encased in its large white cast. She had it tucked closely under her rain coat, which was left unzipped. The pain was a dull throb now, but that didn’t make the terrible memories go away.

  “The Jordans are your nearest neighbors, they were very good friends of Matt’s. The two boys are young and strong, I’m sure they’ll be glad to come down and help you move in your things.” There was a match-making look in the man’s eyes that had her trying to take a step backwards; however her hand was still encased in his larger one. “And I’m sure their sister is looking forward to getting them out of her hair for a few hours.” He said with a slight wink.

  “Thank you Father. I’ll try to stop by the church for services. I don’t have much to move in, just a few bags, but thank you anyway for offering.” It was the truth; Megan had sold what little furniture she had left. In fact she’d been living out of suitcases for the past few weeks.

  “Well now, if you change your mind, just let me know.” The Father said patting her hand one more time.

  Just then a stout woman walked up, she had on a very bright blue dress with large white flowers. Over it she had a slick black rain coat that covered only half of the dress and the woman. She reminded Megan of a peacock all dressed up with its feathers ruffled out.

  “Well now, Father Michael, you just let go of that girl’s hand so I can shake it. It’s a great pleasure to finally meet you Megan.” The woman said while shaking her hand with a firm warm grip. “I’m Patty O’Neil; I run the local grocery store. I’ve heard lots about you from your dearly departed brother, God bless him.” The woman quickly crossed herself and continued. “I’m sure proud to finally meet you. O’Neil’s Grocery, that’s my store, it is just down on Main Street, can’t miss it.” She said. “The store has been in my family for generations. Well, if there is anything we can do…” she said trailing off as the next person approached.

  And so it went, the entire town shaking her left hand and offering their help in any matter possible.

  Todd Jordan silently watched Matt’s younger sister. He’d recognized her instantly from the picture Matt had kept on his desk. She was a lot thinner now and very pale. She looked lost, her broken arm held closely against her tiny body made her look even more so. And what a body it was. He’d scanned her from head to toe when she arrived at the cemetery. The rain coat she wore reached halfway down her slender body, and her heels looked very sensible as they sat halfway sunk in the mud.

  He remembered Matt telling him that she was recently divorced, but couldn’t remember any details. All he knew was that his friend hadn’t been happy about the circumstances.

  His thoughts were interrupted when Father Michael approached him.

  “Well now young Todd.” The Father always called him “young” even though he was now in his mid thirties. “It’s a shame, yes sir. Her heart is broken. It would be your duty, as Matt’s best friend, to make sure you and your family help her settle in. Such a lovely thing too. To think she’ll be living in that old drafty house all by herself.”

  Matt’s house wasn’t drafty. If anything, it was in better shape than his own. He could tell the good Father was up to some match-making scheme.

  “And to think, the poor girl will be moving in all by herself, and in the state she’s in too. She could hardly shake my hand.” Here it came; he thought as his gaze once again swept over to where the object of their conversation stood. She was now being surrounded by half the town.

  “You need to do the right thing by Matt and make sure his little sister gets settled in safely. God has some answers for her, coming half way across the world to bury her poor brother.” Father Michael shook his head. “I want you to promise me, that you and your family will stop by the house often, you hear me?” he said with a sad look on his face.

  Todd’s gaze swept back to the Father’s. He knew the humorous look that the older man had on his face. That’s the look he and a friend had gotten for sneaking in the cemetery with the Blake girls to try to scare them on Halloween night, years ago. The father had tried to scold them, the entire time he was laughing at them.

  “Yes, Father.” He murmured. Father Michael nodded his head then turned away to greet another group of people.

  Todd looked back over at Megan and saw that she was even paler than before. Reaching over he grabbed his sister’s arm as she was walking past him and nodded in Megan’s direction.

  “Someone needs to go save her.” He said under his breath.

  “Just what do you suggest I do?” Lacey said with a stern look, placing both hands on her small hips.

  “I don’t know. You’re the one that’s good at breaking things…up.” He added after his sisters eyes heated. Then he grabbed her shoulders and pointed her in Megan’s direction.

  He saw Lacey’s shoulders slump a little after taking in the sight of Megan, being swamped by the whole of Pride.

  “Humph.” Lacey grunted and started marching towards the growing crowd. His sister was small, but she packed the biggest punch in town.

  “I didn’t know Matt all that well, but he was a nice young man. He always had nice things to say about my bar, never once starting a brawl. Broke a couple up though.” The bar owner said with a crooked grin. Megan hadn’t quite caught his name when he’d barged to the front of the line and grabbed her hand in a death grip. “Always such a nice m-m-m.” He started to stutter.

  Concerned, she quickly looked up from the man’s hand which was tightly gripping her own. Standing right beside the bar owner was a pixie. Megan didn’t believe in fairy tales, but there was no other way to describe the woman. She had a strong urge to walk around the petite creature, and see if wings were tucked under her dark purple raincoat. She was perfect, from the tip of her pixie cut black hair to the toes of her green galoshes. Galoshes, Megan noted, which didn’t have one speck of dirt on them. She was shorter than Megan and was slight of build with rounder curves. Her skin was fair and her eyes were a crystal gray blue. She had a cute nose that turned up slightly at the end and full lips that were a light shade of pink. She also had the most commanding look on her face.

  The bar owner literally backed away without even finishing his sentence and quickly walked away without so much as a glance back. Within seconds, everyone who’d gathered around he
r had wandered off, all without a single word from the pixie.

  “How-?” Her voice squeaked, so she cleared her throat and started again, “How did you do that?”

  “Well, it takes years of practice.” The pixie said with a smile. “I’m Lacey Jordan;” her voice was smoky and laced with sexuality, “I was very good friends with your brother. I’m sorry he’s gone.”

  The simple words touched something inside her. She could tell there was truth behind them. Lacey lightly grabbed Megan’s good arm and started leading her towards the row of parked cars.

  “I’m also your neighbor. Let’s get you out of the weather and home where you belong. We’ve made some meat pie for dinner. I’m sure by the time we get there, the whole town will be right behind us. I’ll just go get my brothers and we’ll take you home.”

  “Oh, please I don’t want to be a bother, I’ll be just fine.” Megan felt compelled to follow the small woman who still had a light grip on her arm and an air of command that surrounded her.