Wisteria Winds Read online

  Also by Rachel Hanna

  January Cove Series

  Waiting For You

  The One For Me

  Loving Tessa

  Falling For You

  Finding Love

  All I Need

  Secrets And Soulmates

  Choices Of The Heart

  Sweet Love

  Faith, Hope & Love

  Spying On The Billionaire

  Second Chance Christmas

  South Carolina Sunsets

  The Beach House

  Sunsets & Second Chances

  Fireflies & Family Ties

  The Inn At Seagrove

  The Wedding At Seagrove

  A Seagrove Christmas

  Lighthouse Cove

  Beneath The Willow Tree

  Mutts & Magnolias (Coming Soon)

  Sweet Tea B&B

  Sweet Tea Sunrise

  Sweet Tea & Honey Bees

  Sweet Tea & Wedding Rings

  Sweet Tea & Christmas Trees

  Sweet Tea B&B

  Whiskey Ridge

  Starting Over

  Taking Chances

  Home Again

  Always A Bridesmaid

  The Billionaire's Retreat

  Wisteria Island

  Wisteria Island

  Wisteria Winds (Coming Soon)

  Standalone

  Back To Us

  Blue Ridge Christmas

  The Book Club On Waverly Lane (Coming Soon)

  Watch for more at Rachel Hanna’s site.

  WISTERIA WINDS

  RACHEL HANNA

  To my amazing, supportive husband. I couldn’t do what I do without you always believing in my crazy ideas. I love you!

  CONTENTS

  Foreword

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Epilogue

  FOREWORD

  Welcome to book 2 of the Wisteria Island series. Before we get started, I’d love to give you this FREE January Cove book!

  Just click the image to get started. :)

  * * *

  CHAPTER 1

  Danielle stood back and looked at Morty. "Are you sure you want to wear the wig?" she asked, laughing. Never in her life had she met someone who had fashion taste as flamboyant as Morty's, and she had lived in New York City for a while.

  "Darling, without the wig, the entire ensemble is a total miss. Don't you read the fashion magazines? Wigs are en vogue these days."

  The island was holding its first annual fashion show, and Morty was taking it very seriously. The prize was a fancy dinner and a show in Savannah, with Bennett supervising, of course. Danielle had spent all morning helping Morty prepare his “look”, as he called it.

  “What about these shoes?” Danielle asked, pulling a pair of reasonable black shoes from Morty’s closet.

  He stared at her. “Now, what man or woman has ever won a fashion show wearing clodhoppers like those?”

  “Clodhoppers?”

  Morty sighed and rolled his eyes. “Oh dear, are you even southern?”

  She shrugged her shoulders. “Somewhat.”

  “First off, those shoes are reserved for weddings and funerals,” he said, taking them from her and tossing them onto the floor of the closet. “And second, a man with my height issue needs something with a heel. Hand me those purple ones.”

  “But your suit is pink,” she said, leaning into the closet to retrieve a pair of purple lace-up boots with thick platform heels. How a man in his late sixties could possibly wear such high heels was beyond her. She was almost forty and had given up those kinds of shoes years ago.

  “Dear, you can never wear too many colors.” Danielle had to laugh at that, considering her wardrobe was mainly neutral colors and black yoga pants. Of course, moving to an island that was very hot and humid most of the year meant she’d had to invest in lots of shorts and t-shirts.

  “I don’t think that’s true, Morty. Your outfits may cause blindness. You might need a warning label on your forehead.”

  Morty giggled. “In all seriousness, do you think I have a chance of winning this thing?” He stared into the full-length mirror in his bedroom and poked out one hip.

  “Of course! Who has more style than you, Morty?”

  “Well, Dorothy Monroe is participating, and she’s got all those gowns she wore to award shows back in her heyday. The woman hasn’t gained an ounce in decades, apparently.”

  “She is beautiful,” Danielle said, looking off into space.

  “Not helpful, dear.”

  “Sorry.”

  “And then there’s Janice.”

  “The pink-haired square dancer?”

  “Yes. Janice has a closet full of designer clothing from her daughter. I’ve seen Chanel in her closet, honey. Chanel!”

  “Don’t let those women scare you! You’re Morty! You’re unique and one of a kind. Who needs Chanel?”

  He darted his eyes to the side and considered her words for a moment. “I do. I need Chanel.” He sighed.

  “Listen, I wish I had one tenth of your fashion sense.”

  He smiled, looking in the mirror at her standing behind him. “I wish that too. Those Jesus sandals you keep wearing have to go.”

  Danielle playfully slapped his shoulder. “Hey, I’m trying to be supportive!”

  In reality, she shouldn’t have been there, and Bennett would give her a lecture if he knew where she was. Danielle was the island nurse, and she was supposed to be impartial, even for a silly fashion show. She couldn’t help that Morty had become like family to her. Many people said that, but didn’t really mean it. She meant it. He was like the grandfather she never had, but better. Maybe he’d have been the cool uncle.

  “I hope the weather isn’t going to mess up the show,” he said, trying on a new hat with a feather sticking out the side of it. Danielle had to wonder where he got this stuff. “Me too. They say the hurricane could hit this area head on, but that’s at least a week away so it could change.”

  “Tell that Bennett not to reschedule my catwalk debut. My little heart couldn’t take the devastation.” He held his hand to the center of his chest and faked fainting, falling onto the bed behind him.

  “Did you take drama in school?” It seemed like an obvious question with an even more obvious answer.

  Morty laughed as he continued to lie on his back, looking up at the ceiling. “Lord no! I was very shy back in those days. I didn’t quite know who I was yet. I mean, I was very outgoing in my mind, but I realized early on that it was too much for some people.”

  She sat down next to him. “So you made yourself smaller because you feared what other people thought of you?”

  He sat up and put his finger on his chin. “I suppose you’re right in that assertion. Hey, maybe that’s why I’m so short!”

  Danielle rolled her eyes. “I’m being serious!”

  “I know, I know. I just don’t like talking about all the serious stuff. Life’s too… short!”

  “Morty, you’re a character,” she said, laughing as she bumped her shoulder against his.

  Bennett sat at his desk, a stack of papers calling his name out of the corner of his eye. Wisteria Island wasn’t his only business, so he spent a lot of his day watching his stock portfolio and managing his other businesses. Thankfully, he had good people runnin
g most of them, and he wasn’t nearly as hands-on with them as he was with the island.

  Wisteria Island had his heart almost as much as Danielle did. Their relationship in the last few months had grown into something he didn’t even know was possible. They ran the island together, caring for each resident like they were family. He adored watching her work with the residents. Her devotion to their healthcare was admirable, and he’d seen so many of them get better under her care.

  However, caring for an island of older people who were only aging faster by the day had brought a new concern to light. Danielle was only one person, and as some residents required greater care, she was getting exhausted. They rarely went on actual dates, on or off the island. Danielle would get called at all hours of the night, and her days were filled with office visits and house calls.

  Bennett hadn’t taken the idea of aging into account when he decided to have one nurse on the island. His mind hadn’t gone to the idea that some residents would need more care, more time, and more medical procedures. He had two options - bring in more help or force residents to move off the island right when they needed their support system most. It didn’t seem fair or right to send them to awful nursing homes on the mainland just because they couldn’t care for themselves at all anymore.

  So, he’d decided to hire two new people. First would be a caregiver whose job would be to take care of the sickest residents. These were the people who would normally be in assisted living, memory care, or a nursing home. The caregiver would mainly help with medications, feeding, and transportation to and from medical appointments. Bennett had found a wonderful, experienced woman named Elise, and she was already working with a few residents who needed her.

  Today he was interviewing a doctor for the island. After resisting it for so long, Bennett could now see that a full-time doctor who could do house calls, write prescriptions and diagnose more complex issues would not only help the island’s residents, but would also free Danielle up a bit more. Maybe it was selfish, but he was hoping the doctor would give him more time with his own girlfriend.

  “Doctor Emerson is here,” Naomi said, popping her head through the doorway of Bennett’s office.

  “Oh, great. Send him in.”

  Doctor Zachary Emerson had come highly recommended from the recruiting agency Bennett hired. He didn’t have the time or the inclination to sort through dozens of resumes, so he’d hired a medical recruiting firm to do it for him. One thing he’d learned as an entrepreneur was to hire people who were great at their jobs and not to try to do everything himself.

  To his surprise, Doctor Emerson looked young, maybe even younger than him. He looked like he belonged on the front of a men’s fitness magazine instead of in a white jacket with a stethoscope around his neck.

  “Bennett Alexander?” he said, smiling as he walked through the door. He reached out his hand to shake Bennett’s, his pearly white teeth almost blinding him. Bennett rarely felt insecure or inferior, but right now he felt like sucking in his stomach and making an appointment with his dentist for teeth whitening.

  “Doctor Emerson, it’s nice to finally meet you. I was very impressed with your resume. Have a seat.”

  “Please, call me Zach. This is a beautiful place you’ve got here. Eddie took me on a quick tour. This island was a very innovative idea.”

  “Thanks. And sorry you had to ride with Eddie. Do you need treatment for whiplash?”

  Zach laughed. “It wasn’t all that bad. I grew up on a farm in Tennessee, so we rode four wheelers every single day. A golf cart doesn’t scare me.”

  Manly and smart. He must’ve been popular with the girls in high school.

  “So, it says here you’ve worked with the geriatric community?”

  “Yes. I’ve been exclusively working with them in hospitals and rehab centers for about six years now.”

  “You look too young for that to be true.”

  He chuckled. “I’m actually forty, but I’ve always had a baby face.”

  Forty? Bennett decided he had to get some wrinkle cream and fast.

  “What kind of work did you do with them?”

  “It has varied over the years, but I ran the geriatric unit at a rehab facility for a couple of years. We had patients who’d had hip and knee replacements, or who were recuperating from major falls. I also worked in the hospital in the geriatric unit. Then I started doing studies to figure out how we can increase longevity and the quality of living in our geriatric community.”

  Bennett realized this doctor was the only one he’d met with who had the experience to really help his residents. He could easily hit the ground running.

  “What makes you want to work on our remote little island? I mean, I’m sure you have a social life?”

  Zach chuckled. “Well, my last serious relationship was three years ago. I’m pretty focused on my work, and this place is perfect for the kind of research I’d like to do.”

  “When would you be able to start?”

  “Immediately. My lease back in Nashville just ended, so I’m living in a hotel right now.”

  “I’d love to offer you the job then.”

  “Great! I can’t wait to get started!”

  Bennett stood up. “My assistant, Naomi, will help get you set up in one of the cottages. You’ll be right next door to the island nurse, who also happens to be my girlfriend.” For some reason, Bennett felt like he needed to say that, like some dog who peed on the neighborhood fire hydrant to mark his territory. Not that Danielle was anybody’s territory. He figured that particular analogy was better kept to himself.

  “Sounds good. I can’t wait to meet with her to discuss our plans.”

  Danielle stood by the dock as she watched Jeremy drive the boat closer to the island. Bennett had asked her to wait for a new arrival. Getting a new resident on the island was always an exciting time for her because she loved to meet new people and see how she could help them. However, the island’s residents weren’t always so welcoming.

  They seemed to be naturally suspicious of people, and she’d felt that when she first came to the island. It took a long time to build their trust, and even now, she was still working on that.

  “Man, it’s a windy day!” Jeremy said as he pulled the boat close to the dock and tied it off with a thick rope. The woman stood up carefully as the boat rocked back and forth a bit on the waves. This time of the year was particularly windy, with it being hurricane season. It would be Danielle’s first hurricane season, and she was constantly watching the weather reports.

  One worry she had about the island was the lack of transportation to the mainland. They had a couple of small boats, but there was nothing big enough to transport all one-hundred or so residents plus the employees.

  “Welcome to Wisteria Island,” Danielle called to the woman, smiling, as she stepped out of the boat. She was short, but on the rounder side, with curly brown hair and a paler complexion. Being a nurse, Danielle immediately wanted to check her iron and make sure she wasn’t diabetic. There were signs she looked for in the residents, and she never wanted to miss an opportunity to treat someone before they had a major health event.

  “Thank you. I’m Mamie Patterson. And you are?”

  “Danielle Wright, the island’s nurse. You’ll be seeing a lot of me.”

  Mamie looked at her and furrowed her eyebrows. “Well, let’s hope not.”

  “Oh, I didn’t mean anything by that. I’m just very involved with the residents here. We believe in preventative medicine whenever possible.”

  “Honey, I’ve found that staying away from doctors and nurses is the very best kind of preventative medicine.” She walked past Danielle and sat down in the golf cart while Jeremy loaded her bags. Danielle was also tasked with taking her to her new home and helping her settle in. Eddie was apparently busy with some other pressing matter.

  Danielle slid behind the steering wheel and looked over at Mamie, who was clutching her large handbag to her chest and staring straight
ahead. Every new resident that came to the island arrived with their own baggage, both figuratively and literally. A student of the human psyche, Danielle wondered what Mamie was going to be like.

  “Well, let’s get you over to your new home,” Danielle said as they started moving. She wasn’t nearly the crazy driver that Eddie was. Instead, she liked to take a more leisurely pace as she showed new residents all that the island offered. “Your cottage is over on Seashore Road. It’s one of the most beautiful parts of our wonderful island.”

  “That’s nice. I lived in a landlocked area for most of my life, so I’m quite looking forward to a pretty view.”

  “You’ll also be close to the cafeteria, which is actually more of a diner. And my office isn’t far from there.”

  “Good to know.”

  Danielle turned down one road and continued pointing out important places. “This is where you can get mail, and over here is the activity center.” Mamie turned her head and looked, taking in her new environment. “So, what brings you to Wisteria Island?”

  She looked at Danielle. “Well, I’m getting old, and I had the money to live here. What else would bring me here, dear?”

  “Of course,” Danielle said, feeling like a scolded child. “And here we are. Your house is that adorable little yellow one there.”

  Mamie groaned. “I hate yellow. Such an ugly color. Nobody wears it well.”

  "Oh, I don't know. I think yellow is a sunny color," Danielle said, smiling as she pulled up in front of the cottage.

  It really was a cute place. It was one of the newer cottages, with a front porch that extended the entire length of the house. With bright white spindles and two rocking chairs on either side of the front door, Danielle kind of wished she lived there.