The Carson Springs Trilogy: Stranger in Paradise, Taste of Honey, and Wish Come True Read Online Free PDF

was it simply the day itself, one of happy beginnings and sad reminders? Either way, it left her feeling as if she’d been turned inside out, every nerve ending exposed. She was acutely aware of the layers of chiffon sliding coolly against her thighs as she stepped down from the van.
    Together they strolled up the steep drive. As they neared the top, Isla Verde rose into view, the twin silo towers flanking the gated courtyard at its entrance, the steeply pitched terra-cotta roof and high, arched windows beyond. After all these years—a lifetime—its clean beauty still brought a small measure of wonderment. The house her grandfather had built, much of it with his own hands. The house she and her brother and sister had grown up in.
    The pergola sheltering the front walk was ablaze with climbing black-eyed Susan, and the coral bells along the path glistened from recent watering. She was glad to see that Guillermo had trimmed the rosemary and cleared the grass under the grapefruit trees.
    On the lawn in back groups of people stood chatting, their champagne glasses catching the sunlight in bright, heliographic flashes. A mariachi band played under the striped tent. Even the piñatas had been hung. They swayed from the arches along the columned porch, bright splashes of color against the cream-colored limestone.
    Her sister caught up with her as she was heading inside. “There you are. I’ve been looking all over for you.” Audrey looked more relaxed than usual, maybe from the champagne.
    She caught hold of Sam’s hand, pulling her over to the bench under the huge old sycamore they’d climbed as children. Sam sank down reluctantly, hoping to be spared the usual veiled barbs.
    “Everyone seems to be having a good time,” she remarked pleasantly.
    Her sister smiled. “It’s a lovely party.”
    Sam’s gaze wandered to the circle that had formed about the newlyweds, Wes’s and Alice’s friends mostly. Alice, in her gown, appeared to float, cloudlike, against the scarlet cascade of bougainvillea at her back. Wes, an arm draped loosely about her shoulders, had his head thrown back in laughter at something funny one of their friends had said.
    With an effort she brought her gaze back to her sister. If Sam favored their mother in looks, Audrey, with her high forehead and pronounced chin, her sallow complexion and crinkly Delarosa hair, took after their father. Unfortunately, she hadn’t inherited his sweet nature. For her sister life’s glass was forever half empty. It was cosmic irony that her married name was Payne.
    “Between you and me, Alice would have been just as happy eloping,” Sam confided with a laugh.
    Audrey looked appalled. “I’m glad she came to her senses. Think what she’d have missed!” Her sister ought to know; both Audrey and Sam had celebrated their weddings on this lawn.
    Sam, adept from years of practice, was quick to sidestep an argument. “I just wish Mami and Poppi were here.”
    “They wouldn’t recognize the place. Honestly, Sam, I don’t know how you keep it up. Even the orchard. But,” here came the barb, “I suppose that’s why Mami left it to you instead.”
    “It wasn’t exactly a gift,” Sam reminded her.
    “Oh yes, I know.” Audrey cut her off with an airy little wave. As if their parent’s decision to move into something smaller might have been coerced somehow. As if the hard-earned money for the down payment had been nothing but a token offering. The truth was, Sam had been as surprised as Audrey, when their mother’s will was read, to find the remainder of the debt forgiven. “Look, don’t get me wrong. I don’t envy you one bit. It’s more than Grant and I could manage.”
    “I have help,” she said.
    Her sister gave a dry little laugh. “You mean Lupe and Guillermo? God, they must be a hundred years old. They were ancient when we were growing up.”
    Sam focused on Audrey’s moving lips while trying to block out her voice. Her sister wasn’t completely to