Blood Strangers: Behind Closed Doors: Family Secrets

by Hinze, Vicki

  Forget irony. Life mystified her.

  And she liked it.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Monday, December 14, 9:30 p.m.

  Gabby sat at the bar refining a recipe for peppermint soap. Her grandmother’s recipes were time-tested and perfect. Unfortunately, she hadn’t memorized them. Some of the oils and supplies she’d ordered had arrived, but then she’d found a familiar named peppermint oil that could be the one in her grandmother’s book. As soon as it arrived, she intended to make another test batch of soaps with it for Lys. She’d give Gabby her blunt and frank opinion. Friends were just invaluable for that. They didn’t sugar-coat a thing.

  Lifting her glass of milk, Gabby took a sip and debated eating a brownie she’d baked that afternoon. She’d made several batches of soaps and of brownies to take with her tomorrow, thinking the festival workers might enjoy samples of the soaps and a snack. It could help her get to know some of the residents. Sometime during her days there and interactions with the triple threat, she decided she wanted a life here among them, and she meant to become one of them.

  The doorbell rang.

  Gabby nearly dropped her glass. Medros? Shaking, she set the glass down and moved toward the door, heard a man on the porch mumbling. She peeked out.

  “It’s me, Gabby,” he said, looking right at her.

  She didn’t know his face, but his voice . . . “Shadow—” she started.

  “Plumber,” he cut her off. “It’s Plumber.”

  Gabby opened the door, her every nerve fraying. “What’s wrong?”

  He stepped inside, shut then locked the door and finally grabbed her into a hug. “Thank God. Thank God, you’re all right.”

  His crisp scent surrounded her. She hugged him back. It was the most wonderful hug she’d felt in her life. “Why wouldn’t I be all right?” she asked, pinned against his shoulder. Then she recalled they’d had a close call while she was on the road. “Did the close call develop into a problem?”

  “No, we handled it.” His breath warm on her neck, he didn’t let her go. A slight tremble coursed through his huge body.

  She reared back, looked up into his handsome face. His hair was light brown with golden streaks, his beard short and stubbled as men seemed to favor right now, but his eyes . . . his eyes stole her breath. Green and deep and, at the moment, clouded with worry. He was tall and muscular, lean like an athlete rather than the computer geek locked in an office all the time she’d imagined him. “Plumber, what’s wrong? Why are you here?”

  He stepped back and actually smiled. “A couple of reasons,” he said. “I’m home for Christmas. And I wanted to see with my own eyes that you’re okay. The whole time you were on the road, I was a wreck. Oh, and I bring good news on your assets, which I am happy to report have been deposited into your new bank account.”

  Her heart lurched. “I have a new bank account?”

  “Gabby Johnson does indeed have a new fat account. It routes through—never mind. You’ll see all that on the transaction report. The important thing is the deposits eventually wind up here at First National Bank in the Cove. It’s on First and Main. Very convenient.”

  She’d seen it on her trips to town. Her mind jumped into mental gymnastics. “So, if I write a check, then anyone can track me here?”

  “No, they can’t, because funds funnel out the same route in reverse.” He stepped away and tousled the hair over his right ear. “It appears Gabby Johnson is in the Caribbean.”

  That relieved her. “Thank you.”

  “You’re welcome.” He shrugged out of his black jacket and smiled. “Why am I smelling brownies?”

  “I spent part of the day baking them. Want one?”

  “I’d love one.” He sniffed. “I’m smelling peppermint, too.”

  “I’ve been making soap, too.”

  “Great.” He walked over to the breakfast bar, then hung his jacket on the back of the barstool. “You haven’t asked how good the news is on your assets.”

  She served them both brownies and him a glass of milk. “Honestly, I’m afraid to ask.” Enough for an online store beginning, or a brick-and-mortar store, or both? She had no idea what to expect.

  “There’s no need for fear.”

  “Seriously?”

  He nodded. “I told you it was good news. We were largely successful.”

  That surprised her. “How did you make that happen?”

  An enigmatic smile curved his broad mouth. “You don’t want to know.”

  “TreasureSeeker can be very creative,” she said, figuring that member of Troop Search and Rescue would take the lead on asset recovery. He typically did.

  “Very creative.” Plumber confirmed it. “He couldn’t do much on the house or your apartment, but if your Aunt Janelle is still alive—Hunter is all over that—she’ll be shocked about your father and you, but if she’s been in a financial struggle, she’ll be relieved.”

  “I hope she isn’t—having financial problems, I mean.”

  “She was fine until a couple of years ago. Then her business went south—a string of gyms mostly in lower income areas. ThumpIt says she provided too many low-cost memberships, trying to help people get healthier.”

  ThumpIt was an excellent investigator. He would know, but . . . “Memberships wouldn’t cost her much, so that doesn’t quite make sense to me.”

  Shadow—Plumber shot her a knowing look. “It does when you factor in all the loans she made to her members.”

  “What kind of loans?” Gabby asked, then took a bite of rich, chocolate brownie.

  “Groceries, rent, utilities, childcare—whatever they needed.”

  “Admirable.” A spark of pride in her aunt flared to life.

  “Yes, but she was too generous. She failed to take care to provide for herself, which means now she’s not there to help herself or anyone else.”

  Gabby hated to hear that. “You think she’s still alive, then?”

  Empathy flashed across his face. “To be determined. Hunter is still looking. After the gyms closed, she sold her house and seemingly disappeared.”

  Fear flashed through Gabby. “You don’t think—”

  “Don’t go there.” He held up a hand. “We have found no reason Medros would go after her. There’s no evidence that he even knew she existed.”

  Gabby’s hand went to her chest to calm her pounding heart. “I found some letters from her. In one, she said she knew my father kept her away from me because she knew too much, so it’s natural my mind would go there.”

  “Too much about what?”

  “I have no idea. She didn’t say.”

  Plumber reached back into his jacket and pulled out a brown envelope then passed it over to Gabby. “Your asset info, transaction report, and some temporary checks. The bank is sending you a supply.”

  She took the envelope with a trembling hand. Her future lay in what was in this envelope. Had they recovered enough to give her a new start? He’d said the troops had been very successful. But had TreasureSeeker even found her trust fund? Her 401K?

  “You need to review the list and make sure we got everything. If we missed something, we might still be able to retrieve it.”

  She steeled herself and opened the envelope. Reviewed the neat spreadsheet, item by item. Her heart thudded faster and faster and her eyes burned then blurred. “You got it all.” Her entire portfolio of liquid assets was included. All of it! She dropped the paper onto the bar, came around and hugged him hard. “Thank you. Oh, thank you!”

  He pulled her to him and held her. “I thought that would make you happy, but if I’d known it’d get you into my arms, I’d have told TreasureSeeker to hustle even more.”

  She stilled, pulled back and met his gaze. “You want me in your arms?”

  He studied her face a long moment. “More than my next breath.”

  His sincerity warmed her, thrilled her. “I do like it here.”

  “In Christmas Cove?” he asked.

 
“Yes, but that’s not what I meant.” She was terrified but took the leap. “In your arms.” Was it possible to come to care so much for someone you knew for five years but didn’t really know?

  “I like you here, too.”

  “In Christmas Cove or—”

  “Both.” He leaned forward and covered her lips in a tender kiss.

  Apparently, it was possible. She cupped his face in her hands and kissed him back.

  * * *

  Gabby and Plumber talked and talked, moved to the sofa with glasses of wine, and talked some more. He was charming, as blunt as Lys, and he had a wicked sense of humor that appealed to Gabby on so many levels she couldn’t even label them all. And not once did it occur to her to not just relax and speak freely. By his actions and deeds, he had proven if there was anything to know about her, he already knew it. No secrets and nothing to hide was new to her, and she’d often yearned for someone to share with like this, but never had she dared to think, much less to dream, she’d actually find it. Yet, she had in him.

  Finally, he sat back. “I’m glad you like Christmas Cove.”

  “What’s not to like? It’s beautiful and cheerful and the people are amazing.”

  “You went to town.”

  “I did.” A couple of times. She couldn’t not smile. “Kelly and Sara showed me around. Lys was on the mountain checking out a poacher complaint.”

  “She gets those from time to time.”

  “Sara told me.”

  “So, they trotted you around and introduced you to everyone.”

  “If there’s anyone they missed, I don’t know who it would be.” Gabby chuckled. “Most of them seemed to know about me before we met.”

  “That’s one of the challenges of a small town and, frankly, why I spend so much time away from home.”

  The secrets he keeps from them.

  “That must be hard for you.”

  “Sometimes it is. You’ve seen how close family and friends are here. I miss that. But then there are other times when I know I need to do what I’m doing.”

  Helping people like her. “It makes a difference.” She wouldn’t be alive without him and the troops. She had no illusions about that. Medros’s henchmen would have killed her the night her father’s house exploded.

  “It does. At least, more often than it doesn’t. I’ll take those results.” He nodded. “How is the new-life plan coming along?”

  “It was tough to get started, to tell you the truth. But once I made a monumental mind shift, I started making progress. Now, I’m making big strides—which I need to adjust to include all the assets you guys recovered.”

  Uncertainty had the skin between his eyebrows crinkled. “Is that a good or bad thing?”

  “It’s a great thing,” she assured him. “I have options and choices I only dreamed of before now.”

  “Gabby dreaming. I like that.” He smiled. “I’m eager to hear all about your plans, but first, there’s something I have to know for purely selfish reasons.”

  “What’s that?”

  “During this tour of the Cove where you met everyone in the area, how many jobs did you get sucked into for the festival?”

  She laughed. “A couple.”

  “Knew it.” He slapped his jean-clad knee.

  “I got recruited to help decorate the pier for the blessing of the boats.”

  “The fleet,” he said. “It’s the blessing of the fleet.”

  “Right.”

  “Kelly?”

  “Lys,” Gabby corrected him, took a tiny sip of wine. “Kelly snagged me for two hours, manning the hot-chocolate stand during the bonfire.”

  “That’s a popular spot then. You’ll be busy.” He chuckled. “What did Sara snag you for?”

  “How did you know she did?”

  “I know them well.” He pursed his lips. “Triple threat. Always.”

  “They’re wonderful.”

  “I agree.” He rubbed the rim of his stemmed glass with his thumb. “The good news is they really like you or none of them would have recruited you at all. The bad news is because they like you, you’ll be drafted onto every volunteer project from now on.”

  Gabby laughed. “I kind of like that idea.” He seemed a little perplexed. She shrugged. “When you have no one, having a lot of someones, even ones who don’t know you well, is special.” A gift truly, but maybe you had to walk in those shoes to really understand that.

  “You should be thrilled then. Just remember, ‘No is a complete sentence’.”

  She marked an “X” over her chest. “I will.”

  “Great. So tell me more about your new-life plan.”

  “That’s the best part. Well, it could be the best part. It depends on whether or not you’d mind me putting down roots here.”

  “Seriously?”

  “I love it here, Plumber.” She had to remind herself to stick with that name. In her mind, she always thought Shadow Watcher or SW first and then switched to Plumber. The last thing he needed was for her to blow his cover in his hometown. “It’s everything I always wanted and maybe more than I knew I could want. Wonderful things. But I don’t want to intrude on your turf, so if you have any objection, just let me know.”

  “Why would I object?”

  “Having anyone around who knows the other world you walk in . . .” She let her voice fade and shrugged.

  “Gabby, no. I totally trust you.” He lifted a fingertip to her chin, slid it along her jaw. “I’m happy you’re here, and even happier you want to stay.”

  Her relief was immediate and intense. “Thank you.” She clasped his hand and gave it a gentle squeeze.

  “You weren’t kidding. You’re moving at the speed of light if you have your plan worked out to the point you know you want to stay here.”

  “I am and I do.” She smiled, then worried her lower lip with her teeth. “It wasn’t a risk assessment or logical decision.” He’d probably laugh at her for that. “The triple threat welcomed me, went out of their way to help and treated me . . .”

  He didn’t laugh, but his voice did soften. “Like a friend?” he guessed.

  She nodded. “Then everyone in town was so kind. I’ve never had that, and I’ve always wanted it.”

  “So, what you’re saying is you’ve made your decisions based on emotion.” He paused, weighed that and when she nodded, he added, “Is this life one you will love?”

  “I will totally love it,” she said, looking him right in the eye. “I already do.”

  “This just keeps getting better and better.” Genuinely happy, he pressed her for more details. “What do you have in mind?”

  Gabby could barely contain her excitement. “I want a shop on Main Street.”

  “What kind of shop?”

  “Selling handmade soaps and lotions and bath crystals and exotic teas and whatever else I come across that I love.”

  “That’s an interesting line of products.”

  “I know they’re disparate, but I think I can make it work. I will only carry things I love. Life’s little indulgences. Nothing too expensive but those little touches that make us feel pampered and nurtured and loved.”

  “All the things you didn’t feel, growing up.”

  “Yes.” She answered honestly. “I’m going to call it Gabby’s Treasures.”

  He studied her face. “You’re really excited about this.”

  “I am. Christmas Cove is a perfect market for what I have in mind, and I can do online sales, too. It’ll be awesome. Some of the locals expressed interest in carrying my products—if I had to build online before opening a store on Main Street. But thanks to you and the troops, I can launch the Main Street store right away. Even Pastor Ruther says it can work.”

  “Pastor Ruther?” That seemed to surprise Plumber.

  She nodded. “On the rare occasion, he needs a get-out-of-the-doghouse gift for Mrs. Ruther.”

  Plumber laughed. “I hadn’t thought of that angle. I can see it,” Plumber ad
ded. “He’s a bit of a cynic now and then.”

  “Aren’t we all?”

  “Pretty much.” Plumber drank, then set his glass back down on the coffee table. “Considering the dog-house angle, I predict Gabby’s Treasures will be a huge success.”

  “Do you really think so?”

  “You love it, Gabby. You’ll make it work.”

  “I will.” She studied his face. “You’re loving this.”

  “Honestly, yeah. I am.”

  “Why?”

  “It makes you happy.”

  “And that pleases you?”

  “It does.” He let out a little grunt. “You have no idea how much time I’ve invested in the past five years wondering what it would take for you to be happy.”

  Her heart lurched. “Why?” He constantly surprised her.

  “Because you should be happy. It makes me happy to see you happy. To think of you being content and happy.” He stood up. “In fact, I have a surprise for you that’s going to make you even happier.”

  “I don’t know if that’s possible. I’m bursting at the seams already.”

  “Oh, it will.” His eyes lit with a beautiful little twinkle. “I’ll bet on it.”

  She tilted her head. “What’s the bet?”

  He thought half a beat, then suggested, “A kiss?”

  As if that would be a hardship. Women would stand in line. “You’re on.”

  He walked over to the door. Was he leaving? No, he stopped and retrieved something from the narrow table near the door, atop of a stack of books. A wrapped package with a big red bow. How had she missed seeing that?

  Walking back over, he passed her the box. “For you.”

  A gift. On top of everything else, he’d gotten her a gift? “Should I open it now?” Part of her wanted to rip into the package, but another part of her, that part that had spent so many Christmases alone, wanted to wait for Christmas morning.

  “Absolutely now.”

  That settled it. “Okay.” Carefully, she removed the ribbon, her hand shaking. Green tissue paper inside. She couldn’t imagine what lay beneath it. Whatever it was, it had some weight to it. Easing a fingertip between the sheets, she folded the paper back . . . “Oh, Plumber.” She couldn’t believe her eyes. Tears surged up from deep inside and clogged her throat. “My Grandmother’s book of soap recipes?” She fingered through the pages of soaps and the sections for lotions and oils, all of which Gabby had dreamed about, imagined making, and noting the little tick marks beside the ones she had made—and seen in her mind’s eye, her and her grandmother there in her kitchen, reading the same recipes, measuring the same ingredients, shaping the same soaps with her hands that Gabby shaped with her own. She’d never met her grandmother, but she had come to know her through this book, through their shared passion for creating soaps with care and love. Gabby swallowed hard, blinked rapidly, but the tears leaked anyway and slid down her cheeks. “I thought I’d never see these again.” She sniffed and looked up at him.