Read Online An Autumn to Remember: A Novel (Elmtown Series Book 1) by Joy Galloway - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Joy Galloway
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craving for her favorite breakfast meal: pumpkin waffles with maple-walnut cream. Maybe it was just the hunger. She was too lazy to cook again that morning anyway. She made scrambled eggs and toast just for Tyler so he could have something to eat before he went to school. She didn’t feel like eating eggs and Chelsea didn’t like eating breakfast.
Then she remembered the leftover chocolate chip zuchini bread she baked the day before and decided it would be good enough with a cup of sweet tea. She hid the rest from Tyler and Chelsea. Unlike their father, they both liked anything she baked. At first she thought it was because of his diabetes but she later realized he really just didn’t like pastries. How in the world did she miss that after twenty-five years of marriage? That was just one of the many things they were now discovering about each other. Sometimes he looked at her strangely and asked questions like “Do I know you anymore?” She had questions of her own too. Why wasn’t he as ambitious as he used to be anymore? Why did he stop enjoying the thrill that success had always given them?
Teresa didn’t want anybody from church or the community for that matter asking questions about her husband’s absence from the home, so she was going to have to be careful with Helen. Chelsea knew about the separation but they had been careful enough not to let Tyler know because he was very attached to his father and they weren't sure how he would react. If it was left to Cameron, they would have told Tyler by now but Helen vehemently opposed the idea.
The only perception she wanted people in Elmtown to have of her and her family was one of perfection–a happy and successful unit. She knew she could handle it though, if Helen ever asked she was going to tell her exactly what they told Tyler. It was simple. Cameron was away doing business in New Jersey, that was it and she thought people needed to mind their own business. They still needed time to sort out their differences and if they could finally work through them successfully, it would be like he had completed his project in New Jersey and rejoined her in Elmtown.
She poured some more red wine into her cup, inhaled its aroma, took a sip and held it in her mouth before swallowing. It was soft on the tongue and it warmed her throat gently. She always preferred her wines light-bodied. Cameron and Chelsea didn’t drink much but when they did, they preferred those full-bodied ones that tasted like drinking acid to her. Eeew! she thought. They allowed Chelsea to start sharing their wine since eighteen was the legal age for drinking in England. It was interesting to her that now that they were back in the US, Chelsea could not legally drink until her twenty-first birthday.
Taste in wine aside, there were things she just didn’t understand about her dear daughter. First, Chelsea didn’t know how the world worked because she ignored class and social hierarchy. Not a single one of the boyfriends Chelsea dated in London impressed Teresa. They were either from working class English families or they were from poor immigrant families. She wondered what she had done wrong while bringing up her daughter. What a relief it was when she brought John home that evening.
Even before she found out who the boy really was, she already knew from his appearance that he was one that belonged to the upper class. God answered her prayers, finally, someone deserving of her daughter. One day she too would be able to dine with the rich folks in the Hamptons. That had always been her dream, to wine and dine with the filthy rich of New York. She thanked the Lord everyday for bringing John Stanley into her daughter’s life. In her opinion, that deserved a thousand Hail Marys.
Teresa thought that Cameron Braithwaite-the man for whose ambition she chose to marry-would have at least been able to make more than a mere half a million dollars a year at this stage of
Then she remembered the leftover chocolate chip zuchini bread she baked the day before and decided it would be good enough with a cup of sweet tea. She hid the rest from Tyler and Chelsea. Unlike their father, they both liked anything she baked. At first she thought it was because of his diabetes but she later realized he really just didn’t like pastries. How in the world did she miss that after twenty-five years of marriage? That was just one of the many things they were now discovering about each other. Sometimes he looked at her strangely and asked questions like “Do I know you anymore?” She had questions of her own too. Why wasn’t he as ambitious as he used to be anymore? Why did he stop enjoying the thrill that success had always given them?
Teresa didn’t want anybody from church or the community for that matter asking questions about her husband’s absence from the home, so she was going to have to be careful with Helen. Chelsea knew about the separation but they had been careful enough not to let Tyler know because he was very attached to his father and they weren't sure how he would react. If it was left to Cameron, they would have told Tyler by now but Helen vehemently opposed the idea.
The only perception she wanted people in Elmtown to have of her and her family was one of perfection–a happy and successful unit. She knew she could handle it though, if Helen ever asked she was going to tell her exactly what they told Tyler. It was simple. Cameron was away doing business in New Jersey, that was it and she thought people needed to mind their own business. They still needed time to sort out their differences and if they could finally work through them successfully, it would be like he had completed his project in New Jersey and rejoined her in Elmtown.
She poured some more red wine into her cup, inhaled its aroma, took a sip and held it in her mouth before swallowing. It was soft on the tongue and it warmed her throat gently. She always preferred her wines light-bodied. Cameron and Chelsea didn’t drink much but when they did, they preferred those full-bodied ones that tasted like drinking acid to her. Eeew! she thought. They allowed Chelsea to start sharing their wine since eighteen was the legal age for drinking in England. It was interesting to her that now that they were back in the US, Chelsea could not legally drink until her twenty-first birthday.
Taste in wine aside, there were things she just didn’t understand about her dear daughter. First, Chelsea didn’t know how the world worked because she ignored class and social hierarchy. Not a single one of the boyfriends Chelsea dated in London impressed Teresa. They were either from working class English families or they were from poor immigrant families. She wondered what she had done wrong while bringing up her daughter. What a relief it was when she brought John home that evening.
Even before she found out who the boy really was, she already knew from his appearance that he was one that belonged to the upper class. God answered her prayers, finally, someone deserving of her daughter. One day she too would be able to dine with the rich folks in the Hamptons. That had always been her dream, to wine and dine with the filthy rich of New York. She thanked the Lord everyday for bringing John Stanley into her daughter’s life. In her opinion, that deserved a thousand Hail Marys.
Teresa thought that Cameron Braithwaite-the man for whose ambition she chose to marry-would have at least been able to make more than a mere half a million dollars a year at this stage of
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