“I did have a ring in mind,” Charlie confirmed. “I also thought I’d buy that brooch.” He pointed at a tray in the window. “Do you think she’ll like it?”
“I like it,” Sally confirmed.
“But Penny’s probably got lots of jewelry with diamonds and sapphires.” Charlie pressed his lips tougher, uncertain of himself.
Lilly put her hand on his shoulder. “Since when did a gift mean more because it had a high price tag?”
Charlie looked up from the brooch and gave Lilly a smile. “I knew there was a reason I let you come live with me.” He leaned across and kissed her cheek. “You always give the best advice.”
“You are welcome.” She reached out for Sally’s hand. “Come on, let’s go and buy the brooch before you start second-guessing yourself.”
Charlie opened the door to the jewelers and went inside. “Hi, I’d like a brooch from the display in the window, please.”
“What about a ring?” Sally asked, looking at all the diamond rings in the display cases.
“I already have one.” A pang of loss pierced Charlie’s heart.
“Your mother’s?” Lilly asked as the jeweler brought the tray with the brooch on it and placed it on the counter.
“Yes. I’ve kept it all these years thinking, hoping I’d one day put it on my mate’s finger,” he confided.
“Oh, is this for your mate?” the store owner asked.
“It is.” Charlie nodded. “I think she’ll like it.”
“I’m sure she will.” He leaned forward. “Is it a resemblance of someone you know?”
“Yes!” Sally said excitedly, threading her fingers through Charlie’s.
“Then I am sure she’ll like it.” The jeweler took it off the display case and showed it to Charlie. “This one.”
“That one,” Charlie said with certainty. It was even more beautiful close-up. “It’s perfect.”
The jeweler smiled. “I’ll gift wrap it for you.”
“Good, because Charlie wraps gifts as if he has two left hands,” Lilly teased.
“Thanks. I take back what I said about how fortunate I am to have you in my life.” Charlie made a face at Lilly who just laughed.
“When I get married, I want all the rings,” Sally said as she drooled over the diamonds. “One won’t ever be enough.”
“Then you need to marry a rich man,” Lilly told her daughter.
“I want to marry a prince,” Sally announced. “If Charlie gets to marry a Lady, then I might find one, you know.”
The store owner took the payment and handed over the carefully wrapped brooch. “Merry Christmas.”
“Merry Christmas, and thank you,” Charlie said as they exited the store.
Once outside, they stood huddled together against the cold. Lilly and Sally pressed against his warm body as he checked his phone. “No message from Penny.”
“She’ll let you know when she’s ready. This is something she needs to do alone.” Lilly looked around. “Why don’t we go and get a coffee and cake at the diner?”
Charlie nodded. “I thought you had things you needed to get?”
“We already got them,” Sally told him. “Kit had to come into town early.”
“He had some last-minute shopping of his own to do before he visited a patient.” Lilly guided them across the road and into the diner, where they sat down near the window and waited for Betsy to take their order.
“Hi, Betsy,” Sally said brightly.
“Hi there, Sally.” Betsy looked at the three of them and asked, “One coffee, two hot chocolates.” She winked at Sally. “Just the way you like them?”
“Yes, please,” Sally loved that Betsy knew their order without being asked.
“And a cake, too?” Betsy arched an eyebrow in question.
“How did you guess?” Lilly asked in mock surprise.
“Want to come choose one?” Betsy asked. “I have some special Christmas themed cupcakes, they are decorated with snowmen and Santa and reindeer.”
“Really?” Sally got up from the table. “Can I, Mommy?”
“Sure, pick three.” Lilly smiled brightly at Betsy. “Thank you, Betsy.”
Lilly watched Sally as she went behind the counter with Betsy. Then she turned to Charlie. “How is Penny this morning?”
“She’s putting a brave face on for things, but this is going to be difficult.” He passed the sugar bowl from one hand to the other. “Laurence is an alias. His real name, if it is his real name, is Paul Taylor.”
“Wow. But they were legally married?” Lilly asked.
“He changed his name legally. But he took on the persona of a man in a coma.” Charlie gripped the sugar shaker tightly. “Do you have any idea how much I want to rip his head off?”
“I think I do.” Lilly reached out and took her hand in his. “But that wouldn’t do anyone any good. He would get sympathy and you would get a jail sentence and we would lose you.”
“Straight talking as always.” He glanced across to the counter where Sally was giving her opinions on Betsy’s cakes. “We never had a chance to talk about you moving out.”
“You want me to move out soon?” Lilly asked, withdrawing her hand.
Charlie reached for it and pulled it back toward him. “No. We kind of, might have, come up with a solution.”
Lilly relaxed. “What kind of solution?”
“What if we built a new cabin? For you and Sally, right next door to mine.” Charlie watched as Lilly’s eyes misted over with tears. She covered her mouth with her hand.
“Do you mean it?” she asked in shock.
“There might be one catch,” Charlie teased.
“Only one?” Lilly asked.
“Sally and Penny have been conspiring about puppies. They want to share one.” Charlie shrugged. “I’m happy if you are. Penny was never allowed a puppy when she was a child. I’d hate for Sally to grow up still pining for a pet when she’s thirty.”
Lilly laughed, tears spilling down her cheeks. “I think a puppy would be a wonderful addition.” She leaned forward. “Can we afford it?”
Charlie nodded. “We can, and no, not because Penny offered to pay for it. With the extra hours I’ll be able to work now that I won’t be doing school runs, we can afford it.”
“I’ll add in some of my wages to the pot,” Lilly promised. She let out a long sigh. “It’s such a relief. I know I said I was big enough and mature enough to stand on my own two feet, but we’d miss you like crazy.”
“That’s settled then.” Charlie looked up as Betsy and Sally returned to the table. Betsy carried the coffee and hot chocolates, while Sally carefully carried a tray with plates and three cupcakes, each one decorated differently.
“We have one of each.” Sally proudly placed the cakes down on the table. “Mommy, do you want to choose first?”
“Oh, thank you. I’d like the reindeer.” Lilly pointed to the cake with the reindeer on it with a very red nose.
“There you go,” Sally placed the cake in front of her mom. “Charlie?”
“The snowman, please.” He had a feeling Sally would like the cake with Santa on it.
“And this one is mine.” Sally sat down after passing Charlie his cake. “I hope Santa brings us all just what we wish for.”
“Me, too,” Betsy agreed. “Enjoy.”
“Thanks, Betsy,” Lilly said while Charlie took a bite of his cake.
“These are amazing,” Charlie congratulated Betsy.
“Thank you, honey. I hope you all have a happy holiday.” Betsy moved on to her next customer.
“You know,” Charlie said. “I really do think we’re all going to get exactly what we wished for this year.”
Although he hoped some people, like Laurence, got what they deserved, instead.
Chapter Nineteen – Penny
“Thank you so much for meeting with me.” Penny shook Sasha’s hand as she got ready to leave Bear Creek News.
“The pleasure is all min
e. I’ll write the story and get a copy to you to proof. If you still want to go ahead, we’ll publish it in the next issue. And then we’ll sell it nationally.” Sasha looked Penny straight in the eye. “There is no pressure. This is a sensitive story and I don’t want you to think you can’t change your mind.”
“Thank you. But I won’t. I need to get this out there. I don’t want Laurence to have the chance to do this again. If his face and his aliases are online then other women will hopefully avoid him.” Penny put her coat on. “Of course, he could just change his name, couldn’t he?”
“He could. But we’ll do what we can to make sure every woman who reads a newspaper or goes online knows what he looks like.” Sasha grinned. “I’m also going to dig around a little bit more and see if I can figure out if Paul is his real name.” She walked Penny to the door. “Thanks again. I know how hard this must have been for you.”
“Admitting I was a fool in love who got duped?” Penny arched an eyebrow. “Piece of cake.” She sighed. “You know, it was easier to tell you than it was to tell my parents. That was the worst thing I’d ever had to do. All they wanted was for me to be happy. They thought I was when I married Laurence.”
“We’ll nail him, Penny. Don’t worry.” Sasha opened the door and Penny walked down the stairs, feeling as if a weight had been lifted off her shoulders. She was under no illusion this would get worse before it got better, but she also felt as if she had the upper hand. Laurence was not running this show anymore.
All she had to do was break the news to her parents.
Penny took her phone out of her purse. She could call Charlie and get him to come and meet her, or she could call her parents and tell them about the story. “I don’t think I could ruin Christmas any more.” She tapped the screen and dialed home.
“Hello, Penny.” It was her dad. This was going to be harder than she thought.
“Hello, Dad. How are you? How is everything there?” Penny asked.
“I’m okay. We’re all okay, but missing you. Are you sure you don’t want to come home for Christmas? I don’t like the idea of you being alone.” It was unlike her dad to be so direct, he usually went around in circles, never getting to the point when it came to feelings or emotions.
“I miss you. But I’m happy here in Bear Creek. I’ve met some great people.” And one special person. But Penny didn’t want to tell them about Charlie. Not yet.
“As long as you are happy.” Her dad let out a long sigh.
“I am. Very happy.” She paused. “I’m sorry, Dad. I thought coming here was for the best.”
“It just doesn’t feel right. This is the first Christmas you haven’t been at home. But times change. Children grow up.” Her father was in a melancholy mood.
“Is everything okay there?” she asked with concern.
“Yes, I’m just feeling sorry for myself. Without you here I have to small talk our guests. I don’t think your mother and I actually appreciated how much you do each year.” Her father often disappeared into his library with a glass of his favorite scotch and a good book.
“I’ll be there next year,” she promised. “There’s another reason I called.”
“Are you sure you’re okay?” Concern filled her father’s voice, which stung. Until Laurence, her parents had never worried about their daughter and the choices she made.
Which made her more pissed with her ex-husband than she thought possible. If she were a lion shifter, she would be ripping Laurence’s head off for sure. But she needed to quell that anger and remain calm as she told her father her news.
“There is something I have to tell you. It’s about Laurence,” she warned.
“You haven’t gotten back together with him, have you?” her father asked quickly.
“No, that is never going to happen.” She shook her head even though her dad couldn’t see her.
“Are you missing him? This is a tough time of year to be alone. Come home, sweetie.” Her dad’s voice filled with anguish.
“No, I’m not missing him. And I’m not alone,” she assured him.
“Then what is it? You can tell us anything.”
“I’ve told my story to the press.” She waited for her father’s voice of disapproval, which she’d only heard on a couple of occasions her whole life.
“You told your story to the press,” he repeated, but there was no disapproval.
“Yes, I want everyone to know what Laurence did so that he doesn’t get the chance to hurt someone else in the same way.” She paused. “Are you there, Dad?”
“I’m here.” His voice was thick with emotion. “I’m proud of you.”
“You aren’t mad?” Penny asked. “I thought you would be mad. I thought you would rather this whole thing was hushed up and forgotten.”
“Forgotten, yes, but only because I’d like us to go back to how we were before. You were happy. I hate what his treatment of you has done. I hate that you second-guess yourself.” He banged his fist down on the table and she heard glasses clink. “Sorry, Penny. It makes me so crazy to know what he did to you, but he didn’t break the law.”
“I know, but now I’m more determined than ever to put him behind me and find happiness.” She closed her eyes, she desperately wanted to tell them about Charlie. But was it too soon, was it too much for her father to hear in one phone call?
“You sound happy,” her father told her. “What happened to give you the strength to tell your story?”
“I met someone,” she confessed. “Someone special.”
“A male someone?” her father asked warily.
“Yes, but not like Laurence. This man...Charlie...he’s a good guy.” Her voice faltered, her tone weak and without conviction.
“He sounds like a special guy.” He paused. “Will you make me one promise?”
“Yes, if I can.”
“If you think this man, Charlie, is a good man and you like him, don’t let what happened with Laurence hold you back. You deserve happiness. I know this might seem sudden for you, but if you trust your heart, and you should, then grab hold of love and don’t let go.”
Penny expelled a lungful of breath. “You aren’t going to tell me it’s too soon?”
“Who cares whether it’s too soon? If you love him then you go for it. We’re proud of you and that has not changed.” His voice changed tone. “Of course, if you want to bring him home for Christmas, we’d be happy to see you both.”
“Nice try, Dad. I’ll try to bring him for New Year’s. But if he does come, there might be two more guests, too. He has a friend and her child staying with him. They’re like family to him. Not in any kind of romantic way,” she added quickly.
“The more the merrier.” Her dad laughed. “At least you know he likes kids.”
Penny’s voice hitched in her throat. “He’s the best man I’ve ever met.”
“It sounds as if you found the one this time, sweetie.” Her dad didn’t ask further questions to judge her and Penny loved him for that.
“I have. And he has a lot to live up to since my expectations are high. I love you, Dad.”
“I love you, too, Penny.”
Penny ended the call and took a moment to compose herself. She looked at her phone, her finger hovering over Charlie’s number, but she wanted a couple of moments alone, she needed to let out the tension built up in her.
Looking around, she decided to walk toward the main street. Charlie was there somewhere, and she could walk to meet him rather than him coming to meet her. She would give him a call when she reached the main road. If she got lost, she could use Google Maps.
Confident in her decision, she left the parking lot of the newspaper. With one last glance at Charlie’s truck, she focused on the call she’d had with her dad. She hadn’t expected him to be so supportive. His reaction confirmed that telling her story and exposing Laurence for what he was, a lying, cheating scumbag, was the right thing to do.
As she crossed the street, her phone beeped. A text. She
checked the message, it was from her mom telling her how proud she was of her daughter. Penny quickly texted back and then stopped to look around.
“Lost?” Laurence appeared out of nowhere.
“What do you want?” Penny frowned. He’d been waiting for her in an alleyway. “Are you following me?”
“Just keeping tabs on my wife,” he replied smoothly.
“I am not your wife,” she reminded him, struggling to keep the bitterness from her voice. She didn’t want him to know she still hurt over the way he’d duped her. It smarted like a slap on the cheek.
“I was just trying to look out for you,” Laurence said, pulling his phone out of his pocket and looking at the screen.
“I don’t need you to look out for me, I can look after myself.” She sidestepped him and headed down the alleyway toward the main street.
“You know, I saw you in the dining room at the hotel. Kissing a man.” He looked up and tapped his chin. “And I thought, damn, Penny has rebounded so fast it might give her whiplash.”
“It’s not a rebound relationship,” she told him, wishing she could simply ignore him.
“So you weren’t kissing this man in the dining room of the restaurant?” Laurence held up his phone, there was a photograph of Charlie leaning down and kissing her.
“Yes, that’s me.” She stopped walking and faced him. “I didn’t say I wasn’t in a relationship. I just said I wasn’t on the rebound.”
“I have more images.” He swiped across his phone screen.
“You are a pervert.” Penny turned away from him and started to walk away but he grabbed hold of her arm.
“You don’t want to see the picture of him kissing another woman then?” He held the screen up to her face. It was an image of Charlie, Lilly and Sally outside a jewelers. “I don’t want you to have your heart broken again.”
“Don’t you dare pretend to have my best interest at heart. Not after what you did.” She jabbed her finger in his chest. “Now let me go.”
“Maybe I’ll pass this along to the journalist who is running the story about you.” He let go of her arm and tapped the screen of his phone.
“Do it. It’ll just prove what a complete asshole you are. And while you’re speaking to them, why not tell them your other name, Paul Taylor.” Her voice rose as the blood pumped through her body. This was the fight or flight reaction. She’d seen it in the young people she worked with. Well, she was not running from Laurence. “Maybe I should call the person who put you in the hospital and tell them you’re up to your old tricks.”
The Lion Loves a Lady Page 13
