The Widow's Protector

by Stephanie Newton

  She shook her head. “I hope I can be as good a person as Hunter one day.” Fiona turned to walk away, but stopped when she remembered what she’d brought. She really didn’t want to go back.

  She did though, sticking her uninjured hand in her pocket and pulling out the photos Hunter had found in the book when they were cleaning up the store. She tossed them on the table in front of her dad. “We found these in a book that Olivia Henry used to look at every time she was in my store. One of the babies is Georgina Hennessy. I don’t know who the newborn is. I heard Olivia had a baby before she came here. So, maybe the picture will lead you to a clue.”

  Her father’s face had gone slightly pale. He picked up the pictures, staring at the photographs like he’d forgotten she was standing there. “Dad?”

  Sean tugged on her arm, sending a twinge of pain up her shoulder. “Mom! They’re selling cotton candy and snow cones over there. Can I get some?”

  Her father’s eyes jerked away from the pictures to Sean. “I’ve got a five-dollar bill in my pocket I’ve been saving just for you, Sean.”

  “Pick one, Sean. Not both.” Her eyes followed her baby boy as he ran for the other side of the bleachers and sighed. She needed to try with her father. As prickly as he was sometimes, he was still her dad. “It’s really nice of you to help out with the fundraiser for Betsie and me, Dad.”

  He tucked the photos in his pocket and smiled, whatever emotion she’d seen earlier now gone from his face. “All Danny’s doing, but Uncle Mickey and I were only too happy to help.”

  His brother grumbled from the grill. “Yeah, you’re happy to help. Chatting it up with my pretty niece while I’m doing the sweaty hot work over here.”

  “You should be used to that, firefighter. Cops always get the best girls.” Her father held out his hand. “Give me the spatula.”

  Uncle Mickey slapped the utensil into Aiden’s hand. “I have to admit your Maureen was a keeper. Have fun with that. I’m going to get a snow cone with Sean.”

  Her dad sputtered and Fiona laughed, which she was pretty sure was Uncle Mickey’s goal. Her uncle walked around the table and put his arm around her as they walked toward the bleachers. “Come on, honey. You go sit down and I’ll bring you a plate as soon as they’re ready.”

  “What about the snow cone?”

  “I was just yanking your dad’s chain. I’m going back to help.” He leaned close, his forehead a few inches from hers, the crow’s-feet at the corners of his eyes witness to many years of laughter. “It was brave of Hunter to come today. I’m sure half the town knows what’s going on already and by the end of the game, the rest of them will. Your young man’s got courage to spare.”

  “He’s not my young man,” she said automatically. She lowered her voice to a whisper and hated that her throat ached. “Do you think he did it, Uncle Mickey?”

  “If I thought he did, he wouldn’t still be on the job.” He stared out over the field, the look on his face making her wish that she had the wisdom of a few more years. “But it doesn’t really matter what I think, now does it?”

  He walked away as a scratchy version of the national anthem began to play over the loudspeaker. As the first pitch was tossed, her friend Betsie slid into place beside her. Fiona wrapped one arm around her neck and gave her a gentle hug. “I didn’t think you would be here today!”

  “I didn’t think you would be here, either. You look rough, girl.” Betsie’s voice was still a little hoarse, but her shiny dark curls were bouncing in the April breeze.

  “Thanks, and here I thought bruises fading from purple to green were the ‘in’ thing.” She grinned at Betsie, whose bright fuchsia sweater matched the flowers on her pants.

  “Well, you know I wouldn’t lie to you. Best friends don’t do that.”

  Fiona’s eyes filled with tears. In horror, she blinked them back. “I’m so, so glad you’re okay.”

  “So, other than getting almost blown up, what’s been going on?”

  Fiona laughed, holding her ribs. “Oh, just a thousand things. We’ll have coffee.”

  The bat cracked on the ball and Fiona’s brother Douglas went streaking past them toward first. Her cousin Liam, at shortstop, fielded it easily and fired it to Hunter on the bag. It hit his glove with a solid thunk. Easy out for the firefighters.

  Fiona’s cousin Danny flipped back his catcher’s mask. “Hey, Nate, I think the cops might’ve been eating too many doughnuts lately.” He grinned and pulled down his mask.

  Nate Santos, on the pitcher’s mound, shifted his toothpick to the other side of his mouth and blasted another pitch toward home plate.

  Nick Delfino swung and missed.

  Betsie leaned over. “I wouldn’t have missed this for anything. Not just because they’re doing this for us, which is really, really nice, by the way…but where else are you going to get this many single guys together in a town the size of Fitzgerald Bay?”

  Fiona rolled her eyes. “I don’t know, Bets. Church?”

  Her friend blurted out a laugh, which ended on a cough. “Don’t do that to me. My lungs can’t take it.”

  The game went quickly and in the bottom of the seventh inning, the firefighters were down by one and Hunter went up to bat. The stands went quiet. Quiet except for the whisper that went through the now quite-large crowd.

  Fee sighed.

  “What’s that about?” Betsie’s fuchsia sweater made her easily visible as she turned to scan the crowd.

  “Nothing, sit down. I’ll tell you later, I promise.” Fiona didn’t take her eyes off Hunter. Come on, Hunter, get a hit.

  The first pitch was a swing and miss.

  Fiona’s brother Owen was pitching. He smirked at Hunter and said, “Maybe you firefighters should work out more instead of playing video games all day.”

  Hunter smiled.

  Fiona closed her eyes. Come on, Hunter.

  On the next pitch, the bat connected. Fiona jumped to her feet, wincing as her ribs pinched. “Go, Hunter, go!”

  Hunter ran, his long legs eating up the distance to first base.

  Next up to bat was Nate Santos, the firefighters’ pitcher. He’d whiffed every at-bat. Owen waved the outfield in a little closer. Nate chewed his toothpick and held the bat at the ready.

  Owen threw the ball. Nate swung and the bat smacked the ball with a resounding crack. The dugout full of firefighters leaped to their feet, shouting. Hunter rounded second and sprinted toward third as Nate’s ball flew past Keira in center field and rolled to the fence.

  “All right, Hunter!” Fiona screamed as he stepped on home plate. He shot her a grin and there it was, that zing.

  He quickly got out of the way as the cops’ catcher stood on home plate yelling for the ball.

  Nate rounded third. He glanced back at center field where Keira was just now throwing the ball to Nick on second base. Nick turned and reared back. Owen, on the pitcher’s mound, crouched. The catcher ran out to catch the ball and Nate strutted into home, his toothpick still intact.

  Firefighters poured out of the dugout, Liam and Danny leading the pack, screaming and shouting. Nate threw his arms up in the air, leaning his head back in a victory yell.

  Betsie turned her head to look at Fiona, her lake-blue eyes full of questions. “What is up with you? You’re usually like Switzerland because you were born into a cop family and married a firefighter.”

  Fee shrugged. “Hunter.”

  “Well, it’s about time. I was going to hog-tie you two together if you didn’t get things figured out soon.” Betsie wrapped her arm around Fiona’s waist, giving a happy sigh.

  “That’s not what I mean.” Fiona chuckled. Was it? No, she’d decided earlier that it wasn’t worth jeopardizing their friendship to explore any other kind of relationship. “There’s a lot going on and I guess I just figured he needed the support.”

  Betsie narrowed her eyes. “Mmm-hmm. We’re having coffee together ASAP. We have a lot of things to figure out about rebuilding the busines
ses anyway. May as well work together.”

  “You got it.” Fiona watched out of the corner of her eye as Sean, covered in red dirt from running and playing with the kids, tackled Hunter. Hunter grabbed Sean and tossed him over his shoulder as he started for the truck, catching her eye.

  She knew he didn’t want to get in this crowd and be subjected to questions and stares. She picked up her purse and started down the bleachers. “I’ll call you tomorrow, Bets.”

  Betsie raised an eyebrow. “Yeah, girl, cause you got some ’splaining to do.”

  * * *

  Hunter watched the coffee drip into the pot as the sounds from upstairs went from elephants stampeding, to mere cows, to sleepy quiet. He poured himself a mug of the strong brew that Fiona favored and wondered what he was still doing here, turning on the gas logs in her fireplace and making himself at home in Fiona’s cozy house.

  He’d spent the past two days telling himself he had to stay away from her and here he was. But he had to wonder, what did a life without Fiona look like? He’d spent the majority of his life with her, if not by his side, then somewhere in the vicinity, cheering him on.

  “You look so sad. Something you want to share?” She came in from the kitchen with her own cup of coffee.

  He looked up. “Not really. Sean get to bed?”

  “You would think, with the mess in the bathroom and in Sean’s bedroom, that there are hordes of children living here, but no, just the one.” She sat on the other end of the couch from him, tucking her feet underneath her and setting her cup on a stack of books on the end table. “One very tired six-year-old who fell asleep fast.”

  He stared at the fire. The silence held. He didn’t know what to say.

  She spoke first. “So, I messed up the other night.”

  He didn’t move, really, really not wanting to talk about this.

  Her voice was soft and sweet. “Hunter, please tell me I didn’t mess up our friendship forever. I love you way too much to let anything, really, get in the way of our friendship.”

  He turned to look at her, and his determination wavered. She was so pretty, her red hair shining in the firelight. Maybe he’d been lying to himself all these years, believing he’d gotten beyond being in love with her. Her kiss had awakened emotions he’d thought long buried. He clenched his fist to keep from sliding his fingers through the cool red strands. “Nothing’s going to change our friendship, Fiona. I just— Why did you do it?”

  The corner of her mouth tilted up in a tired smile. “I don’t know. It was impulsive and crazy and I just wanted to see.”

  As crazy as it was, he wanted to know what she’d discovered. Whether the kiss had held the same kind of magic for her. But talking about it was dangerous. It made him want to forget about all the reasons that loving her was a bad idea.

  With some difficulty, he held her eyes. “Jimmy was my best friend, Fee. I can’t pretend that it doesn’t matter.”

  She sighed, rubbing her forehead with a weary hand. “He was my best friend, too. But I have to go on with my life. The timing may be terrible, but I can’t keep pretending like this is enough for me. I want to share my life with another person. All of my life.”

  Hunter got up and paced to the fireplace, the guilt and shame he felt tumbling inside with the complicated feelings he had for Fiona. “Sharing everything, like you did with Jimmy.”

  “I suppose.” Something in her voice caught his attention and he turned around.

  “What aren’t you telling me?” He didn’t move from his position in front of the fire, but he studied her face carefully.

  She looked around the room, shrugged her shoulders, like she was searching for words out of the air. “I don’t know, Hunter. He wasn’t happy.”

  “Jimmy?” Hunter was literally taken aback. “He loved you, he loved his life.”

  Fiona took a deep breath. “I can’t believe I’m about to say this out loud. I think Jimmy might’ve been having an affair.”

  He couldn’t even compute the words she’d just said with what he knew of Jimmy Cobb. “Not a chance.”

  “Hunter.” She was serious and she wanted him to take her seriously.

  Sitting beside her, he knew the lines and contours of her face as well as—better—than he knew his own. She’d suffered keeping this secret. “What makes you think he was having an affair?”

  “The last couple months before he died, he was secretive. He went out without telling me where he was going. Came home at random hours. He wasn’t himself.”

  “What about his relationship with Sean?”

  She shook her head. “Sean doesn’t remember, but Jimmy had stopped spending his off days at home. I was leaving Sean with Mrs. Mulroony on the days he didn’t have preschool.”

  “Why didn’t I know this?” And more to the point, why hadn’t he noticed that his friend, the guy he went through doors with, had been preoccupied and distant? Another layer of guilt slapped onto those he already carried.

  “I was about to get you to come over for dinner to talk it out with him and then there was the fire at the warehouse. After Jimmy died, it didn’t seem like there was any point in saying anything bad about him. If he was having an affair, I never found out who it was with.”

  “He wasn’t having an affair. If there was something bothering him, it wasn’t that he was cheating on you. Fiona, listen to me. I know this.” Could he honestly say that? He thought back to the days before Jimmy died. Maybe he had been a little distant.

  Hunter stabbed his fingers through his hair, frustrated with himself for not knowing the answers. “Listen, I’ll dig around and see what I can find out, but you need to know that Jimmy loved you and Sean, more than anything. You know that his last thoughts were for you.”

  It hurt to even say the words, let alone bring the memory back, but if she needed to know so she could remember her marriage with integrity, so be it.

  “I know, Hunter.” She put her hand on his. “We’ve been through a lot together, you and me. You’re my best friend. Do you think there’s too much water under the bridge for there to ever be anything more?”

  Her eyes were huge and dark with emotion. He couldn’t deny what she was asking for. “I don’t know, Fee.”

  She dropped her head and he couldn’t see her eyes anymore. “With everything going on, I feel like we’re at war and you’re the only stable thing in my whole world.”

  He pulled her into his arms and held her, letting her rest in his strength. “I won’t let you go. I promise, I won’t let you go.”

  NINE

  Fiona walked through the shell of her bookstore with her list in hand. The books were definitely ruined. She would have to replace all the stock along with the upholstered furniture, but the bookshelves and the tables in the front of the store were going to be okay.

  She’d hired a few guys to clean out the place. And as depressing as it was, at least it wasn’t completely trashed. In the back of the main part of the shop, the wallboard had been cut out where it was wet and the storeroom had been taken down to the studs.

  The spiral staircase to the apartment upstairs had remained intact. There was very little evidence of the fire upstairs, other than some smoke damage and one area of flooring that would have to be replaced. All in all, she’d been lucky.

  Lucky didn’t seem like a very appropriate word, but no one had been seriously injured. She had insurance and she would rebuild. It could have easily been different. She was grateful. She’d discovered after Jimmy died how gratitude could make a difference, and she was grateful. She had her family. She and Sean were safe. And while her business was temporarily disrupted, she still had a business.

  At the front door she heard a noise. Expecting the contractor, she walked toward the front of the store.

  Brennan Fox stuck his head in. His dark hair stuck up in tufts all over his head and the circles she’d seen under his eyes a week ago had deepened into crevices.

  “Brennan, what are you doing here?” She frowne
d. “Today is B-shift. You’re not at work? Again?”

  “I called in sick again. Can I come in?”

  She’d known Brennan a long time and she liked him, but with everything that had been going on, she didn’t trust him. She waved her arm out to the side. “I’m not open.”

  “I know. Please? It’s important.” He stepped inside. And she saw what the edge of the door had been hiding. He had a baby carrier wrapped around him and his hand was on the tiny lump in the middle.

  She stared at the baby carrier, but dragged her eyes back to his tired face, wondering how nosy she could be, or should be. “You know, you’re going to get fired.”

  “I know. I can’t help it. I can’t deal.” The misery on his face proved that he had no desire to be fired, he just didn’t know how to handle his life.

  “What’s going on?” She took a hesitant step toward him. “May I?”

  At his nod, she pulled back the soft cloth edge of the carrier to reveal the tiny pink face of a newborn baby. “Oh, Brennan.”

  “My sister dumped them at my door. She showed up a couple weeks ago and then a few days ago, she just split. The baby cries all the time when she’s not asleep. There’s a two-year-old, too.” He wasn’t so far gone that he couldn’t laugh at her horrified face. “Don’t worry. She’s with a neighbor for an hour.”

  That explained the woman at Brennan’s house. “So that was your sister?”

  His bloodshot gaze shot to hers. “You met Elsie? When?”

  “Hunter and I came by on Sunday afternoon to check on you. You weren’t home.”

  “I went to the store to get diapers. When I got back, she was gone. The kids were there alone. Can you believe that? She left them by themselves in my house. Anything could’ve happened to them.” His eyes watered and he sniffed back the tears, pinching his nose. “I’ve never been this tired in my life.”

  “So, why are you here?” She considered asking what was going on with the sister, but since he didn’t seem inclined to share, she didn’t want to pry. And it seemed pretty obvious.

  “Fiona, I can’t figure this out. You’re a single mom. There has to be some secret to it.”