Sweet Holidays: The Third Samantha Sweet Mystery (The Samantha Sweet Mysteries)
Page 21
Beau had been a harder giftee. They’d become very close but she still was a little uncertain where the relationship was going. Beau had fallen harder and faster than she, but she was getting used to the idea of a committed relationship. She hoped her gift wouldn’t be taken the wrong way—it was at once frivolous and serious.
There was something about watching an older person at Christmas that reminded Sam so much of Kelly’s childhood holidays. Perhaps we really do come full circle. Iris truly delighted in each gift. She raved every bit as much over the bed jacket as she did later over the box of chocolates Kelly brought and then the books and wristwatch that Beau gave her.
When it came time for Sam to hand over her gift to Beau, she waited until Kelly and Iris were sitting together across the room, Kelly reading the opening chapter aloud from one of Iris’s new books. Sam reached into her pack and drew out the slender rectangular box.
Beau took it and gave a little shake. “A watch? The box is the right shape.”
She shook her head, having severe qualms.
“Well, I better just tear into it,” he said. He ripped off the paper, opened the lid of the box and stared. “A toothbrush.” He picked it up. “A pink toothbrush.” Turning it over, “In fact I’d guess that it’s a used, pink toothbrush.”
Sam felt about fifteen again. “It means that I hope you might be willing to put this in your bathroom and have me stay over sometimes.”
He set the package on the nearby coffee table and took both her hands in his. “Darlin’, I’m willing to have you stay over always.”
She blushed. They were face to face kneeling in front of the tree, their knees almost touching. “It’s not awkward? I mean, would Iris be okay with it?”
“I mean, Samantha, that I would be honored to have you stay over, always and forever, permanently.”
Her heart stopped. “Oh, my gosh, Beau, is this a proposal?”
He nodded. “I think it is. I mean, I know that’s what I want. I just didn’t quite get around to picking out a ring and getting flowers and really doing this right.” Now it was his turn to look flustered. “Oh, man, I’m really messing this up.”
She reached for his hand again, the one he’d raised to his forehead. “You’re not messing anything up, Beau. It’s a downright beautiful, totally surprising proposal.”
“That’s not quite a ‘yes.’ See, I knew I was messing it up.”
“It’s a yes,” she said.
Chapter 34
The reality of the proposal didn’t quite hit Sam until she got home that evening. Amid the shrieks from Kelly and the smiles from Iris and the toasts with eggnog and the turkey dinner that they prepared together in Beau’s kitchen, Sam let herself be carried away with the dreamlike quality of the day.
They talked about when, where and what the wedding might be.
“Valentine’s Day,” Kelly said. “It’s the absolutely most romantic day of the year.”
Sam couldn’t remember a whole lot of romantic Valentine celebrations in her own life. She’d never actually come close to being married and there were only a few half-serious relationships in her past. She’d conceived Kelly in the heat of a quickie while working in an Alaskan pipeline camp and never even told the father that a child existed. She’d spent her youth being a mom and working her tail off to support her daughter. The men she’d dated were good for movies, dinners, the occasional sex at their place while Kelly and a babysitter waited for her to come home. Beau was truly the first man she’d become emotionally close to.
“We’ll talk about all that later,” he’d said. “I think Sam is maybe a little bitty bit overwhelmed. This whole month has been a tough one.”
He had that right.
The conversation trailed off to other areas as dinner wound down. Sam and Kelly were clearing plates when the phone rang. Beau took the call and came into the kitchen with a solemn expression.
“William Montague’s SUV was found. It went off I-40 near Gallup. He was alone and didn’t make it.”
“Was it the storm?” Sam asked.
“No, the highway was clear and dry. The snow we got here stayed north of the interstate.”
Sam stared at the open dishwasher with its racks of cranberry encrusted plates. How sad.
“There’s a little more,” Beau said. “State Police said there were skid marks and broken glass on the roadway. Not from Montague’s vehicle. They think someone may have run him off. They knew just where to do it too, a place where the dropoff is real steep.”
Sam swallowed hard. Someone had killed him; she knew it. Bobul was right about there being dark forces out there. Will Montague was out of the picture. Bunny was dead. Tiffany was still out there. Bunny might have told her all about the wooden box and now Tiffany could come after it. Or Lissano’s goons. Sam got a sudden image of the two hulking men following Will out to that dangerous stretch of road.
All of this ran through her mind as she drove home from Beau’s house. Kelly had offered to stay overnight with Iris, but Beau said he was under orders to get his mother back to the rehab facility by nine p.m. They’d come on home while he took Iris back.
Now, with Kelly asleep in her own room, Sam realized that there were some crucial things to be addressed before she could marry Beau. Things he didn’t know about her.
She found her screwdriver, went into the quiet living room and took the air conditioner vent cover off. The towel encasing the wooden box was a little dusty but the box was reassuringly sound. She pulled it out, replaced the metal louvered cover, and carried the box to her room. She sat cross-legged on her bed with the bundle on her lap.
She couldn’t imagine keeping the secret of the box from him. She’d told him very little so far, and always managed to explain away her sudden bursts of energy, her odd powers of observation. But he didn’t have a clue as to the depths of the box’s magic or any knowledge of its history. And she wasn’t yet sure she could tell him.
Solid, country boys just didn’t go in for this sort of woo-woo stuff. She imagined telling him the stories of Lorena and witches, and the visit to Bobul’s sad little cabin that really wasn’t even livable. If he didn’t immediately have her committed, he certainly would think twice about wanting to marry her. Her heart ached at the thought of hurting him.
But how could she not tell him? Keeping secrets was a sure way to ruin a relationship. She’d tried to get rid of the box and the responsibility of it, and that didn’t work. She stared at the lumpy little thing in her lap.
Cold and abandoned for several days, the box was dark and gloomy when she unwrapped the towel. She looked at it. You won’t ever be beautiful, will you? she thought. As if reading her thoughts, the box began to warm in her hands. Soon the carved wood began to glow with a golden hue and the stones radiated color.
Okay, I guess you’ve proved me wrong more than once. I don’t know why this fell to me, but I guess I’m meant to keep you, to safeguard your secrets and try to use your powers for good purposes. I would say that I’m supposed to take care of you, but I have a feeling it’s just the opposite. You are going to take care of me.
Sam let go of the box and sat up straight. What on earth was she doing talking to a box? Okay, she hadn’t spoken out loud—had she? But she was having a conversation. She looked up to be sure Kelly hadn’t gotten up and that she wasn’t observing.
Sam was alone.
Now that she’d heard the legends about the box and witnessed the lengths some might take to attain it for themselves, Sam knew that she had to be careful. She had to protect herself, and her loved ones. It went beyond simply not appearing to her friends like a nutcase. There were powerful forces out there in the world, and people who would do anything to gain that power.
This harmless-looking little chunk of wood had been given into her care. Like it or not, Sam knew this was somehow part of her destiny. She went to her dresser and began to neatly sort her jewelry and place it inside.
Sweet Holidays
P
ublished by Secret Staircase Books, an imprint of
Columbine Publishing Group
PO Box 416, Angel Fire, NM 87710
Copyright © 2011 Connie Shelton
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by an information storage and retrieval system without permission in writing from the publisher.
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental. Although the author and publisher have made every effort to ensure the accuracy and completeness of information contained in this book we assume no responsibility for errors, inaccuracies, omissions, or any inconsistency herein. Any slights of people, places or organizations are unintentional.
Book layout and design by Secret Staircase Books
Cover illustration © Robisklp
First trade paperback edition: October, 2011
First e-book edition: October, 2011
My eternal thanks to Susan Slater, for your editorial suggestions and for all the good catches you make in reading my work. And to my readers, my thanks for your loyalty and for recommending my books to others; you make it all worthwhile. You are the best!
For Dan, the most wonderful partner a writer could ask for.
Books
by Connie Shelton
The Charlie Parker Series
Deadly Gamble
Vacations Can Be Murder
Partnerships Can Be Murder
Small Towns Can Be Murder
Memories Can Be Murder
Honeymoons Can Be Murder
Reunions Can Be Murder
Competition Can Be Murder
Balloons Can Be Murder
Obsessions Can Be Murder
Gossip Can Be Murder
Stardom Can Be Murder
Holidays Can Be Murder - a Christmas novella
The Samantha Sweet Series
Sweet Masterpiece
Sweet’s Sweets
Sweet Holidays
Sweet Hearts (February, 2012)
More stories with Samantha and Friends!
Samantha Sweet breaks into houses for a living.
But she’s really a baker with a magical touch,
who invites you to her delightful pastry shop—Sweet’s Sweets.
Don’t miss the next book in this series!
Sweet Hearts
Will it be Valentine wedding bells for Sam and Beau?
Samantha’s pastry shop, Sweet’s Sweets, is busier than ever this Valentine week, as Sam struggles to replicate the magical chocolate-making techniques of her prized chocolatier, the man who boosted her winter holiday sales into the stratosphere.
However, candy classes take second place to a new mystery, when Sam meets a woman whose missing son’s case seems to have been dropped by the authorities. Marla Fresques learns that she is dying and needs for her son to come home and raise the daughter he left behind.
Sam agrees to help, hoping that Sheriff Beau’s inside connections will bring about a quick and happy resolution. But what about Sam and Beau’s wedding plans? They may be in jeopardy when an entirely new development appears in the form of one of Beau’s former lovers.
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