Wedding Mints and Witnesses

by Kelsey Browning

  “Let’s talk about the purse thing again soon. Take care.”

  Stella waved and headed to her car, but Abby Ruth’s mind was already clicking away at ideas about checking into the case of the missing purse.

  A moment later, Red pulled the van to the curb in front of them. “Did you want to drive, Abby Ruth?”

  She climbed into the passenger seat. “No, you can drive.”

  His forehead scrunched in surprise, and Jenny’s expression matched his. Abby Ruth pretended to dig for something in her pocket. Anything to avoid the stares from Red and Jenny.

  “You’re sure you’re okay?”

  “I’m fine. I guess it was all the excitement.” Abby Ruth took in a deep breath, pulling in the scent of rotten eggs and…taco seasoning? She sputtered. “Did that dog just fart? How can this be my life?”

  Lord, between Jenny’s announcement, Red’s romantic overtures, and Ritter’s digestive issues, things were getting complicated.

  Chapter Four

  Once she’d waved away Ritter’s eau de stink, Abby Ruth’s gut was twisting like it had the time her dad had caught her skipping school when she was fourteen and had decided she wanted to learn to smoke cigarettes. Only this time Red was the one making her dread what would come next. He glanced at her as he weaved through Atlanta’s afternoon traffic back toward Summer Shoals. He’d been so comforting and reassuring through her treatments, but with Jenny’s announcement earlier, his knowing gaze terrified Abby Ruth.

  She knew what he’d been saying when he met her eyes in the mirror after Jenny told them about the baby. It was as clear as if he’d spoken it aloud.

  “It’s time to tell her, Abby Ruth.”

  She’d thought she had the past safely under control, that Red had come to terms with the way things had turned out. But the news of a wedding and a baby had shifted everything dramatically.

  Right now, she felt like a stranger in her own life. She didn’t want to disappoint the only man she’d ever loved, the man she might be falling in love with again. But she refused to hurt her baby girl, who was about to have a baby of her own.

  Later. Abby Ruth would figure out her personal stuff later. For now, she would concentrate on what Stella had told her.

  It only took a minute to push real life aside. Chemo brain, her butt. If Stella said someone had nabbed her purse and taken money from it, Abby Ruth believed her. Stella was a sweet lady, and anyone who took advantage of her deserved to be brought to justice. That was something Abby Ruth could control.

  Abby Ruth was picturing herself running through the city streets chasing down a skinny little turd wearing plaid golfer pants and a bad toupee when she drifted off to sleep. Three dreams later, she’d caught a bank robber, a peeping Tom, and an art forger.

  Someone shook her awake. “Ru, we’re back home.”

  “Hmm?”

  “I dropped off Jenny and Grayson, and Maggie and Lil are already inside Summer Haven. Want me to carry you in?”

  That woke her up right quick. She did not need anyone—Red or otherwise—to carry her anywhere, so she shot straight up in her seat. It was bad enough all her friends and family had seen her when she was sick, sometimes so sick and tired she couldn’t lift her head off the pillow. “I’m awake, and I don’t want you to carry me.” She shook her head to clear the cobwebs and orient herself to the fact that they were parked in Summer Haven’s drive. The big white house and the expanse of gently rolling land around it had been a haven for her over the past few months.

  “About Jenny,” Red began. “We need to—”

  “I’ve gotta pee.” She reached for the door handle. “Shouldn’t have stopped for that gigantic cherry limeade. You know that stuff goes right through me.”

  Before she could jump out, Red grabbed her by the wrist. “You can’t avoid this forever. You know that, right?”

  She pulled her hand free. “I just need a little time.”

  “I’ve given you all the time in the world.”

  “But once you found out I had cancer, we agreed—”

  “When I said we would leave everything be, you had your head in a toilet and my daughter wasn’t pregnant. Dammit, Abby Ruth, it’s time. She’s getting married. I want to walk her down the aisle.”

  So far, Abby Ruth had managed to keep Red from divulging their secret, that he was Jenny’s biological father. He wouldn’t keep quiet now that they had a wedding and a grandchild in their future.

  He was right. She knew he was right. But sometimes when you’d waited this long to tell the truth, it became worse than a bogeyman living under the bed. Because the secret about Jenny’s father wasn’t just something that could jump out and hurt her. It could drive her daughter away. Forever.

  She turned back and lay her palm on Red’s cheek. “I will tell her.”

  “When?” Suspicion threaded his words.

  “Before the baby is born?”

  “No way. That’s months away. She’s getting married in three weeks. You tell her by this time next week, or I’ll do it.”

  Gratitude for the short reprieve overwhelming her, she leaned in to place a quick kiss on his cheek, but Red was still fast. Still sly. He turned his head so their lips met. And oh, didn’t he smell good—like leather and ocean-scented shower gel. And his mouth was as knowing and nimble as ever. He’d always had the cleverest mouth she’d ever kissed.

  They stayed like that—lips touching, his hand finding its way to her hip, hers on his face—for long sweet minutes. It felt like heaven.

  Like contentment. Real happiness.

  Until something cold and wet jammed itself into Abby Ruth’s armpit. She yelped, and laughter rumbled up in Red’s chest, and the rich, warm sound of his amusement spilled out into the van. Although she’d been holding him at arm’s distance over the past year, insisting they keep their relationship friends only, it occurred to her that she wouldn’t mind listening to the sound of Red’s laughter every day for the rest of her life.

  But for now, she had a hound dog that apparently had no concept of appropriate personal space.

  Abby Ruth gave Red another peck on the lips. “I’ll pick up my truck tomorrow.” She hopped out of the van and was about to close the door when Red said, “Not happening, Ru.”

  “What?” she asked innocently, as innocently as a woman who’d once shot the privates off a marble statue could.

  “You’re not leaving this dog with me.”

  “Fine,” she sighed. “Night, Red.” She grabbed Ritter’s leash, and to her delight he didn’t give her a bit of trouble.

  “Goodnight, and don’t forget what I said about Jenny.”

  Like she’d ever be able to do that.

  Ritter stretched his long legs, and in two bounds he was out of the van and following her up the walk to Summer Haven’s front porch.

  Lil and Maggie were there, sitting in two of the half-dozen rocking chairs spread across the white-columned expanse.

  “That was some kiss,” Maggie teased.

  Abby Ruth had hoped they hadn’t seen her and Red.

  Lil waved in front of her face as though cooling her cheeks. “You think Red has any buddies he could import from Texas? I never went for jocks before, but I do believe your young man has changed my mind, Abby Ruth.”

  Young man, that would give Red a good ego boost. She’d use that next time she needed to wheedle something out of him.

  But for now, she needed to wheedle something out of Lil and Maggie. “So…” she drawled as Ritter flopped to his side on the porch and she reached to draw a chair close to her friends. She plopped down in it, narrowly missing catching Ritter’s tail under the rocker. “Something’s come up.”

  “I knew it!” Maggie crowed. “You and Red are getting hitched too.”

  A ping went through Abby Ruth’s chest. She’d never been married, and although she’d once dreamed of a future like that with Red, it hadn’t come to pass. That it could now was an exciting and scary notion. “Not unless he proposed
while I was conked out, and I sleep-accepted.”

  Maggie’s head dropped back against the rocking chair. “Darn.”

  “Don’t look so disappointed. It’s possibly something better.”

  Lil sat up straight in her chair. “Tell me Jenny has changed her mind about a full wedding here at Summer Haven.”

  Good Lord, didn’t these two think about anything besides love and marriage? Then again, it made sense, seeing as they’d both been married for decades before their husbands passed away. “Stella told me something interesting today. Apparently, she had her purse snatched not too long ago. At the time, she thought she was foggy from all the chemo. I can understand that, but losing her purse isn’t like her.”

  Lil’s lips puckered. “That’s terrible. I’d die if I lost my purse and everything in it.”

  “She found it.”

  “Why doesn’t it sound like that was good news?” Maggie asked. “I hear a ‘but’ coming.”

  “But…all her cash was missing and someone had taken her credit card.” Abby Ruth spoke slowly, hoping to draw them in more.

  “Did she report it to the police?”

  “No. Like I said, at the time she was doubting herself. But apparently, the more she thought about it later, the more it bothered her. By that time, she felt like too much time had passed to tell anyone. Honestly, I think she was embarrassed that she hadn’t noticed right away.”

  “Was it a lot of money?”

  “Close to a thousand dollars.”

  Lil’s jaw dropped. Abby Ruth could just imagine Lil checking off a list of things she’d have done with an extra grand in her pocket.

  “But the trail is weeks old,” Abby Ruth said casually. Take the bait, gals. “Probably completely dead.”

  Maggie and Lil both nodded, but slowly, thoughtfully.

  “I didn’t say anything to Stella because I didn’t want to get her hopes up, but what would the two of you say to poking around a little?”

  The chairs rocked faster, which was an excellent sign.

  “I know my being sick has slowed us down some. Lil had all those great G Team business cards made over a year ago, and we’ve barely used them.”

  Maggie’s eyes softened. “You didn’t slow us down. You gave us a reason to stay close to home, and I choose to believe Summer Haven and you are better off for it.”

  So true. Abby Ruth wouldn’t have survived if these women hadn’t been around to help her through the treatments and lethargy.

  “What did Stella say when you mentioned that we could investigate?” Lil asked.

  “I didn’t get a chance to officially offer our services.”

  “We can’t take a case without the person’s consent,” Lil said.

  Abby Ruth’s earlier excitement shriveled up. The girls would shut down this investigation before it even started.

  But Lil held up a finger. “How about you call Stella and ask her to meet us at the diner tomorrow?”

  “We’re out of practice,” Maggie said. “And without Sera? It won’t be the same.”

  Lil glanced over at Maggie. “If we don’t take action we’ll be more out of practice.”

  Abby Ruth grinned so hard it strained her cheek muscles. Damn, she loved these gals.

  She sent Stella a text message.

  ABBY RUTH: Meet me @ Atlanta Highway Diner in Summer Shoals 2moro? Cake 4 brkfast. 10am.

  She and Stella had talked about those five-layer cakes when they were both too sick to keep anything down, much less a piece of cake. They’d vowed then that one day they’d get together for cake. For breakfast, because apparently that felt totally wild and reckless to Stella.

  Abby Ruth’s text alert sounded like a pistol at the start of a race, and seeing Stella’s enthusiastic yes made her feel as if she was back on the track and ready to run for the blue ribbon.

  Chapter Five

  The morning after Abby Ruth’s bell-ringing ceremony, Lil pulled back the heavy parlor drapes to watch Maggie wield a hammer like a twenty-something-year-old construction worker as she pounded one of the loose rails surrounding the gazebo in front of Summer Haven. Lil’s great-granddaddy Jessup Lee Summer had built the quaint structure for his crazy bride in 1867 when they’d gotten married here on the estate.

  Maggie’s gentleman friend, Bruce Shellenberger, was beside her and handing over a new nail each time she’d pounded in the one before it.

  Ladylike or not, Maggie had skills, and they’d sure come in handy since she’d moved to Summer Shoals a few years ago. The past year they’d actually gotten the old house in pretty good shape with help from Sera’s financial contributions, but the gazebo hadn’t been high on the priority list. Not since the Cocklebur Cloggers had stomped a hole in the gazebo floor and moved their practices to the big room at Gypsy Cotton Art Gallery. Since Sera hadn’t yet decided what she was going to do with the gallery building Marcus had bought for her, she’d let the townspeople use the space.

  But that gazebo was the perfect spot for a wedding, and Lil and Maggie had decided they would try to talk Jenny into getting married at Summer Haven, which meant the gazebo needed to be repaired in a hurry.

  The phone jangled. She rushed to the kitchen and picked up on the third ring. “Helloooo.”

  “Lil? It’s Sera.”

  “You must be missing us as much as we miss you. I was just thinking of you.”

  Sera was such a big part of Summer Haven now. The community had fallen in love with her, and half the town had taken at least one yoga class on the front lawn with her.

  “I’m so sad I wasn’t there for Abby Ruth’s bell ringing.”

  “You know how she is about that stuff. She’d never let on that it meant anything to her. You can hand it to Red that we found out about it at all. Abby Ruth planned to sneak off and watch Stella ring the bell.”

  “She’s one tough cookie, but she’d do anything for a friend. Maybe I’m sorry I missed it more for me than for her. I feel so out of touch.”

  Lil chuckled. “That bell was the least of Abby Ruth’s concerns. She was way more interested in something that happened to Stella than ringing the bell.”

  “Is Stella okay?”

  “Physically, she’s fine, but she ran into some G Team type trouble recently.”

  “Trouble? What happened? You mean like a case?” The words tumbled out, each one higher pitched than the last.

  “We’re looking into something as a favor to Abby Ruth,” Lil said. “Might turn out to be nothing. You know how it is, dear.”

  “I miss those cases.” Sera’s voice softened. “Maybe I could fly home earlier.”

  “It might not be anything. You should just sit tight for now.” Lil felt a teensy pang of guilt for saying that, but the truth was this Stella thing didn’t seem like a real case. She’d only gone along with it because Abby Ruth seemed like her old sassy self again, which was way overdue.

  “Okay, but let me know if you need my help.”

  “Of course,” Lil said, picking up a pad and pen from the desk tucked near the back door. She doodled a few hearts and floral arrangements.

  “Meanwhile, I’ll start thinking about how I can help from here. Three weeks sure is fast.” Sera chattered on. “I still can’t believe they’re getting married and having a baby. It’s so exciting. Are Maggie and Abby Ruth there with you?”

  “No. Abby Ruth is at Jenny’s house, and Maggie is out—”

  “I’m out what?” Maggie said.

  She lifted her chin from the phone toward Maggie. “I was going to say you were out working on the gazebo with that sweet man Bruce.” Speaking into the phone, she said, “Maggie just walked in.” Lil put her hand over the phone. “Maggie, go pick up the extension in my bedroom. It’s Sera!”

  Maggie hustled past Lil, her hammer thumping against the thigh of her khakis with each step. She came back, stretching the cord of the harvest-gold princess phone as far as it would reach into the kitchen. “Hey, Sera. I thought you’d be on set with Marcus tod
ay.”

  “I was so excited about Jenny’s news that I stayed home to look for baby shower ideas. But before we get into all that, I want to ask how things are going with Bruce?”

  “Good, but you know no one will ever replace my George.” Maggie’s eyes glassed a little like they always did when she mentioned her late husband. “Unlike George, Bruce isn’t very handy, but he’s so sweet. He’s been right by my side fetching tools and nails as I repair the gazebo.”

  “He’s crazy about you. You know that, right?” Sera said.

  “We’re just friends. The male companionship is nice, but that’s all there is to it. On a more important note, we’re all excited about Jenny and Teague having a baby. I was thinking we could work on a grandmother’s quilt. You know, with squares of fabric from you, me, Lil, Abby Ruth, and Teague’s mom too. Do you think you could bring a couple old shirts or skirts when you come?”

  “Absolutely. That’s a great idea. I know just the things I’ll donate.”

  “Lil and I can put it together,” Maggie said. “It’s been too long since she’s done any quilting. It’s perfect timing for this project.”

  “I hope they have a girl. Can you imagine how beautiful she’d be?” Sera said.

  “Let’s get her married first,” Lil said.

  Maggie laughed. “Folks don’t always do things in that order these days.”

  “She’s right,” Sera echoed.

  Maggie said, “I’m hoping if I can get the gazebo back in tiptop shape we can talk Jenny and Teague into having the wedding, or at least a reception here at Summer Haven. Can’t you picture Jenny and Teague’s first dance together there under twinkle lights? That would be so romantic.”

  The screen door slammed, and Abby Ruth strode into the kitchen, with Ritter plodding along behind her. Lil could swear he was casing the fridge and cabinets every time he snuck his way into this room. “There won’t be any first dance,” Abby Ruth announced. “Didn’t you hear her yesterday? Jenny said that they’ll be going to the courthouse.”