1105 Yakima Street Read online

  PRAISE FOR THE CEDAR COVE NOVELS OF #1 New York Times bestselling author DEBBIE MACOMBER

  “Macomber’s tenth installment in the Cedar Cove series is every bit as entertaining as her prior nine.”

  —New York Journal of Books on 1022 Evergreen Place

  “Macomber deftly combines sweet romance and a breath of suspense without losing the homespun charm that’s been delighting readers for years.”

  —RT Book Reviews on 92 Pacific Boulevard

  “[A] wonderful, emotional and uplifting story.”

  —ReadertoReader.com on A Cedar Cove Christmas

  “Macomber [leaves] readers anxious for…a return visit to a wonderful town.”

  —A Romance Review on 8 Sandpiper Way

  “[This book’s] small-town charm is virtually guaranteed to please.”

  —Publishers Weekly on 74 Seaside Avenue

  “Readers new to Macomber’s considerable narrative charms will have no problem picking up the story, while loyal fans are in for a treat.”

  —Booklist on 6 Rainier Drive

  “Debbie Macomber is a skilled storyteller.”

  —Publishers Weekly on 50 Harbor Street

  “The books in Macomber’s contemporary Cedar Cove series are irresistibly delicious and addictive.”

  —Publishers Weekly on 44 Cranberry Point

  “Excellent characterization will keep readers anticipating the next visit to Cedar Cove.”

  —Booklist on 311 Pelican Court

  “Macomber’s endearing characters offer courage and support to one another and find hope and love in the most unexpected places.”

  —Booklist on 204 Rosewood Lane

  “Macomber is known for her honest portrayals of ordinary women in small-town America, and this tale cements her position as an icon of the genre.”

  —Publishers Weekly on 16 Lighthouse Road

  September 2011

  Dear Friends,

  Well, here it is: 1105 Yakima Street, book eleven of the Cedar Cove series. Each of these books is special to me in one way or another. I choose the name Yakima Street because I was born in the town of Yakima, Washington, and the first seventeen years of my life were spent in this central Washington community. To me, it will always represent home. It’s where my roots are, my parents are buried and where several of my cousins still live.

  This will be the second-last book in the series, with the final one coming out next month. In October, MIRA Books will release 1225 Christmas Tree Lane, which will be in a hardcover “gift-size” format. In that final story, I’ll revisit every Cedar Cove family and tie up all the loose ends.

  The past eleven years—during which I wrote this series—have been some of the best of my career. You probably know that I based Cedar Cove on my hometown of Port Orchard, Washington, where Wayne and I have lived since 1986. We raised our children there and it’s where we continue to make our home. To my great delight, the people of Port Orchard embraced the books and in 2009 held a five-day event called Cedar Cove Days. It’s an occasion I’ll always treasure, since I was able to meet so many of my wonderful readers.

  These novels have allowed me to create a universe that’s very much like mine—and yet Cedar Cove also became a place that took on its own reality. As well, the Cedar Cove books led directly to Debbie Macomber’s Cedar Cove Cookbook, compiled by Charlotte Jefferson Rhodes, which launched my first foray into the fascinating world of cookbooks. I always knew that collecting—and trying—all those recipes would one day pay off!

  (October will also bring you Debbie Macomber’s Christmas Cookbook. I promise it’ll be every bit as good as the Cedar Cove cookbook.)

  Saying goodbye to these characters, the people of Cedar Cove, is difficult for me, but it’s been a pleasure and a privilege to share the town with you, my readers.

  I know you’ll enjoy Rachel and Bruce’s story (and Jolene’s), along with those of all your other Cedar Cove friends. They’re waiting for you to turn the pages.

  As always, I’d be delighted to hear from you. I can be reached at www.DebbieMacomber.com or P.O. Box 1458, Port Orchard, WA 98366.

  Sincerely,

  DEBBIE MACOMBER

  1105 YAKIMA STREET

  To my very special cousins

  Teresa Seibert

  and

  Cherie Adler

  Some of the Residents of Cedar Cove, Washington

  Olivia Lockhart Griffin: Family Court judge in Cedar Cove. Mother of Justine and James. Married to Jack Griffin, editor of the Cedar Cove Chronicle. They live at 16 Lighthouse Road.

  Charlotte Jefferson Rhodes: Mother of Olivia and of Will Jefferson. Now married to widower Ben Rhodes.

  Justine (Lockhart) Gunderson: Daughter of Olivia. Mother of Leif. Married to Seth Gunderson. The Gundersons owned The Lighthouse restaurant, which was destroyed by fire. Justine then opened The Victorian Tea Room. The Gundersons live at 6 Rainier Drive.

  James Lockhart: Olivia’s son and Justine’s younger brother. Lives in San Diego with his family.

  Will Jefferson: Olivia’s brother, Charlotte’s son. Formerly of Atlanta. Divorced, retired and back in Cedar Cove, where he has bought the local gallery.

  Grace Sherman Harding: Olivia’s best friend. Librarian. Widow of Dan Sherman. Mother of Maryellen Bowman and Kelly Jordan. Married to Cliff Harding, a retired engineer who is now a horse breeder living in Olalla, near Cedar Cove. Grace’s previous address is 204 Rosewood Lane (now a rental property).

  Maryellen Bowman: Oldest daughter of Grace and Dan Sherman. Mother of Katie and Drake. Married to Jon Bowman, photographer.

  Zachary Cox: Accountant, married to Rosie. Father of Allison and Eddie Cox. The family lives at 311 Pelican Court. Allison is attending university in Seattle, while her boyfriend, Anson Butler, has joined the military.

  Rachel Peyton (formerly Pendergast): Works at the Get Nailed salon. Married to widower Bruce Peyton, who has a daughter, Jolene. Recently separated. The Peytons live at 1105 Yakima Street.

  Nate Olsen: Chief Petty Officer in the Navy. Recently returned to the area. Previously involved with Rachel.

  Bob and Peggy Beldon: Retired. They own the Thyme and Tide B & B at 44 Cranberry Point.

  Roy McAfee: Private investigator, retired from Seattle police force. Two adult children, Mack and Linnette. Married to Corrie. They live at 50 Harbor Street.

  Linnette McAfee: Daughter of Roy and Corrie. Lived in Cedar Cove and worked as a physician assistant in the new medical clinic. Now married to Pete Mason and living in North Dakota.

  Mack McAfee: A fireman and paramedic, who moved to Cedar Cove and subsequently married Mary Jo Wyse. They have a daughter, Noelle, and live at 1022 Evergreen Place.

  Gloria Ashton: Sheriff’s deputy in Cedar Cove. Natural child of Roy and Corrie McAfee.

  Dr. Chad Timmons: Previously worked at the Cedar Cove medical clinic. Has had an on-again, off-again relationship with Gloria.

  Troy Davis: Cedar Cove sheriff. Widower. Father of Megan. Now married to Faith Beckwith, his high school girlfriend. Faith had moved back to Cedar Cove as a widow and rented 204 Rosewood Lane.

  Bobby Polgar and Teri Miller Polgar: He is an international chess champion; she was a hair stylist at Get Nailed. They have triplet infant sons. Their home is at 74 Seaside Avenue.

  Christie Levitt: Sister of Teri Polgar, living in Cedar Cove. Now married to James Wilbur, Bobby Polgar’s friend and driver.

  Pastor Dave Flemming: Local Methodist minister. Married to Emily. They live at 8 Sandpiper Way and have two sons.

  Shirley Bliss: Widow and fabric artist, mother of Tannith (Tanni) Bliss. Romantically involved with artist Larry Knight.

  Miranda Sullivan: Friend of Shirley’s. Also a widow. Now working as an
assistant to Will Jefferson in his gallery.

  Shaw Wilson: Friend of Anson Butler, Allison Cox and Tanni Bliss. Now at art school in California.

  Linc Wyse: Brother of Mary Jo (Wyse) McAfee. Formerly of Seattle. Opened a car-repair business in Cedar Cove. Married to Lori.

  Lori Wyse (formerly Bellamy): From a wealthy area family.

  Leonard and Kate Bellamy: Lori’s parents, who live in Bremerton.

  Beth Morehouse: Dog trainer and Christmas tree farm owner. Recently moved to Cedar Cove. Divorced and mother of two college-age daughters. Beth lives at 1225 Christmas Tree Lane.

  Contents

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  Chapter Thirty

  Chapter Thirty-One

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  Chapter Thirty-Three

  Chapter Thirty-Four

  Chapter Thirty-Five

  Chapter Thirty-Six

  Chapter Thirty-Seven

  One

  Sunshine splashed into the windows of the Bremerton waterfront café. Rachel Peyton sat in a booth, gazing out at the street and taking occasional sips of the apple juice she’d ordered. It was Friday, late afternoon, and she’d come here after work to meet a friend. She couldn’t stop thinking about her marriage to Bruce, wondering how it had disintegrated so fast. They’d gone from an impromptu wedding last December to separation less than ten months later. She turned her head to look in the direction of Cedar Cove. The town was situated on the other side of Sinclair Inlet but might as well have been across the Pacific.

  Rachel felt she couldn’t go back home to Cedar Cove—to Yakima Street—and yet she had no other viable choice. She’d left after the latest argument with her stepdaughter, Jolene. Although Bruce was aware of the tension between her and Rachel, he’d never adequately addressed it, believing it would eventually resolve itself. Oh, sure, he’d made a halfhearted offer to go to counseling with, or more likely without, Jolene. But that was too little, too late. Nothing had changed, and, as a result, the stress in their home had become intolerable. Now that she was pregnant, Rachel had decided to leave…for the sake of her sanity and for her own health and that of her baby.

  She’d lied to Bruce, saying she had a place to stay—with an unidentified friend. Instead, she’d checked into a Bremerton hotel.

  The problem was, she needed her job if she was going to support herself, which meant she’d need to find an apartment in Cedar Cove or at least nearby. Everything was complicated by the fact that this hadn’t been an easy pregnancy. She had severe morning sickness and her blood pressure was dangerously high. That was understandable, considering the tension in the house. If not for the baby, Rachel might have found the strength to deal with Jolene. She might’ve been willing to devote all her energy to sorting out the complicated tangle of the girl’s emotions, giving her the constant reassurance she seemed to require.

  Since Jolene had learned about the baby, the whole situation had become that much more difficult. Not only did her stepdaughter see her as competition for Bruce’s affections, but now Rachel had committed an even worse crime by bringing another child into the family, robbing the girl of his undivided attention.

  What shocked Rachel was how close she and Jolene had been before she married Bruce. As a motherless child herself, Rachel had taken a special interest in Jolene, part maternal, part friendly. They’d bonded when the girl was just six, a year after Jolene’s mother was killed in a car accident. Bruce had brought Jolene into the salon for a haircut and Jolene had sadly told her how much she missed her mommy. Rachel had been drawn to the child because she’d identified with Jolene. She still recalled in vivid detail how she’d felt when her own mother had died and she’d gone to live with her mother’s sister, a woman she barely knew.

  Through the years, the closeness between Rachel and Jolene had grown—until she’d made the mistake of marrying Jolene’s father. To be fair to the teenager, Jolene had wanted Rachel and Bruce to wait until she’d had time to get used to the idea. Bruce, however, wouldn’t hear of it. He’d wanted them married. Well, so did Rachel, although she’d asked Bruce to delay the wedding because of Jolene’s qualms. But by then…the momentum of their plans had taken over.

  In the beginning, after first meeting Bruce, she hadn’t considered him anything more than a friend. He was Jolene’s dad. He relied on her help with his daughter. For years there hadn’t been the slightest indication of romantic interest on either part. Rachel was seeing Nate Olsen, a navy warrant officer she’d met after bidding on him at a fundraiser for the local humane society—the Dog and Bachelor Auction. Shortly after the wedding, Nate was deployed out of state, but now he was back. They’d been in contact recently and, in fact, he was the friend she’d arranged to meet here.

  For a while she and Nate had seriously thought about marriage. However, by the time he’d asked her to make a decision, Rachel had come to realize she was in love with Bruce. Surprisingly, miraculously, Bruce loved her, too. From there everything had moved quickly. Too quickly…

  She had to acknowledge the truth of that old cliché about marrying in haste. Rachel had been all too willing to accept Bruce’s assurances that Jolene would adjust. After all, he’d pointed out, it wasn’t as though Rachel was a stranger.

  But Jolene hadn’t adjusted. Whatever affection she’d had for Rachel had changed into passive-aggressive behavior and then escalated to open antagonism. Not wanting to distress her husband, Rachel had done her best to deflect Jolene’s hostility. The pregnancy was unplanned, and she’d hoped to keep it a secret for a few months, but Bruce insisted it was only right to tell Jolene. That, too, had backfired. And it had led to this.

  The café door opened but Rachel didn’t look up until Nate Olsen slid into the booth across from her.

  “Rachel?”

  She glanced up and offered him a weak smile.

  Nate’s blue eyes narrowed slightly. “You okay?” he asked, sounding concerned.

  “You don’t have to say it. I look terrible.”

  “Not terrible,” he said. “Just…very pale.”

  Nate had emailed her when he returned to Bremerton. He felt she should know so that if they inadvertently ran into each other, she’d be prepared. With everything else that was happening, Rachel hadn’t paid much attention to his email and hadn’t responded. Nate was someone she’d loved in the past. She was a married woman now.

  With time on her hands at the hotel, she’d gone to the business center and logged on to her email account. She’d impulsively answered his message, telling him that her marriage was falling apart. After they’d exchanged a few short emails, Nate suggested they meet. She’d accepted his invitation.

  “At my last doctor’s visit I learned I have an iron deficiency.” It didn’t help that she hadn’t been able to keep down a meal. Her morning sickness lingered for most of the day, making her feel too queasy and uncomfortable to eat. She’d lost weight when she should be gaining.

  “I’m glad you got in touch.”

  “I probably shouldn’t have.” Only Rachel didn’t know who else to contact. She couldn’t reach out to her friends; they were th
e first people Bruce would approach. This separation was difficult enough without dragging her friends into the middle of it.

  “I meant what I said,” Nate continued. “If you ever need anything, call me. You know I’ll do whatever I can.”

  When the waitress came over to the table with a coffeepot, Nate turned over his ceramic mug and she filled it.

  At his words, tears of appreciation sprang to Rachel’s eyes. “I know…”

  “What can I do?”

  She wasn’t sure. “Like I said in my email, I…I’ve left Bruce and Jolene.” It went without saying that this fit right into her stepdaughter’s plans. Undoubtedly Jolene was ecstatic about having her father to herself again.

  “So it’s come to that?”

  Rachel’s dark hair fell forward as she looked down. “I…talked to Teri and she wants me to move in with her.”

  “Are you going to?”

  “I can’t. That’ll be the first place Bruce goes. I told him I was moving in with a friend… . At the time I thought I might take Teri up on her offer, but I can’t do that to her. She and Bobby have their hands full with the three babies.”

  “Three?”

  “Teri had triplets.”

  Nate laughed. That seemed to be a common reaction when people heard about the triplets. “She always does everything in a big way, doesn’t she?” he murmured.

  He knew Teri, so he also knew that if anyone could handle this, it was her friend. But capable though she was, Teri didn’t need a miserable friend to deal with, in addition to caring for three babies.

  “So, if you don’t move in with Teri, where will you go?”

  “I…I don’t know.” All that mattered was getting out of the house as fast as possible. She got a hotel room, but that was far too expensive to be a permanent solution. At this rate she’d drain her bank account in a week. Besides, it wouldn’t take Bruce long to discover where she was, and once he did, he’d do whatever he could to convince her to return home. Rachel couldn’t allow that to happen, not while the situation with Jolene was still unsettled.