One Lavender Ribbon by Heather Burch Read Free Book Online Page B

love with, the woman that kept him from giving up during the war.
    Leo was perturbed—maybe even angry—and Adrienne felt like she’d somehow opened an old wound.
    Scratching his balding head of sparse springy white hairs, he pushed himself away from the table, piercing gray eyes locked on the window pane.
    Maybe she didn’t have the stomach for this. “I’m sorry.”
    Leo remained silent.
    She shook her head to clear her fear. “I have some letters written by William. He talks about Grace like she was an angel.”
    Leo flashed a disgusted smile. “Yeah, she was good at making people think of her that way.”
    Adrienne’s eyes fell to the photo. “I thought she loved him.”
    “Oh, she did.” Sarcasm edged his words. “Until he left. Then she quickly fell in love with the new guy in town. William deserved so much more. He’s a good man.”
    Her journey and the hope of William and Gracie ended right here with Leo. For all she knew, they were both dead, and there’d been no one in the upstairs window of Will’s house. She’d probably imagined it, just like she imagined a neat tidy life for William and Grace.Then Leo’s words sank in. “Did you say he is a good man?”
    But Leo was taking his own trip into what was proving to be a painful past. “He came home to learn that Gracie had run off with a traveling salesman—a draft dodger no less—and that she died in a car wreck not a hundred miles from town. William lost everything for her.”
    “The picture. Was it Grace on the other side?”
    “I suspect.” His hand touched the jagged edge. “Probably tore herself off to give to that poor excuse for a man she ran off with.”
    Adrienne’s head began to pound with slow rhythmic force. She needed to leave. Just go home, stop prying, but even as her mind agreed, her mouth was asking more questions. “What do you mean William lost everything for her?”
    “He came home crippled from the war. A hero, though,” he added as an afterthought. “Screaming Eagle, one of the best.”
    The twinkle in Leo’s eyes made him seem younger. Or maybe it was a mistiness that accompanied wizened old men as they chatted openly about difficulties most people would never endure. Either way, it was rare. Beautiful, tragic, and very rare.
    “I’d like to know more about him, if you don’t mind.”
    Leo shot a glance up to the wall clock. “Sorry. Past my nap time.” He rubbed a hand across the back of his neck. “If you want to know more about William, maybe you should go ask him.”
    “He is still alive, then? Do you think he’d be open to talking with me?” Adrienne blurted.
    “Sure. Can that little sports car make it to Naples? Far as I know, he still lives there.”
    “Naples,” she echoed. Her car could make it. She’d just been there last week. “He lives with his grandson, doesn’t he?”
    Leo nodded. “Need directions?”
    “No.” She could find William Bryant’s house without directions or the help of her GPS. Will Bryant. She thought back on the conversation the two had shared. He had never said he didn’t know another William Bryant, just that he couldn’t help her. “Men,” she mumbled. Maybe the younger generation was all the same. In Chicago and here in Bonita Springs, telling half-truths whenever it suited their needs. Like Eric telling her they’d move to Florida. That one wasn’t even a half-truth.
    Before buying the house, she’d never heard of Bonita Springs, Florida, but had found it while searching property for sale on the Gulf Coast. She’d always wanted to live by the sea. But Eric had refused after promising her in college. Chicago was the only place for a brilliant young cardiologist. Plus, it was on Lake Michigan, so she convinced herself it would almost be like living on the coast. But a lake, even a massive one, was vastly different from the ocean. She’d grown to love the city but never sank roots. Her heart yearned for something else. Someplace with sand and