by Laura Durham
Mack took Buster’s place, lowering himself onto the stool so the baby’s feet rested on his thighs. “I’m sure she’s missed you. Do you want to hold her?”
Prue looked longingly at the tiny baby, then shook her head. “I can’t keep her. I don’t want to get any more attached to her than I already am. It nearly killed me to walk away the first time.”
“Come on.” Mack lifted the sleeping child out of the front carrier, keeping one hand on the back of her head. “I’ve been wearing her for hours. It would give me a break.”
Prue accepted the now-sleeping baby and cradled her in her arms, tracing one finger lightly down the side of Merry’s face. Mack cleared his throat and looked away, blinking hard. Buster faced the coffee machine as he fiddled with the nozzles and handles, but I saw him wipe his cheeks furtively.
“Isn’t there anyone else you and Merry could stay with aside from your father?” Leatrice asked, hopping onto a stool and letting her legs swing beneath her.
Prue didn’t look up as she shook her head. “Everyone I know is in the church. They won’t help me. They’re just like my father.”
Kate touched a hand to her bruise. “No, they didn’t strike me as the forgiving and accepting types.”
“What about the baby’s father?” I asked, suspecting the answer before she gave it.
“He’s my age and doesn’t want to deal with a baby,” the girl said. “He freaked out when I told him, and now he won’t even look at me.”
Kate muttered some choice words under her breath, and Mack nodded in agreement, even though I knew he normally didn’t approve of cursing.
Prue choked back a sob. “Even if I got away from my father, I don’t have any way to support Merry. I haven’t even graduated from high school.” She closed her eyes and gave a shake of her head. “What kind of life would that be for her? I want her to end up better than me.”
The steam nozzle hissed as Buster finished off a pair of cappuccinos. He turned and set one in front of Prue and another in front of Kate, then turned back to the coffee station before I could get a good look at his face.
“Then why were you following us?” I asked.
She looked up. “I just wanted to make sure she was okay. I saw you two yesterday and heard you mention Merry, so I figured you knew where she was and might lead me to her. I read your T-shirts, and it was easy enough to find your business address online.”
Kate looked confused for a moment, then snapped her fingers. “We both wore our Wedding Belles T-shirts.”
“Not exactly the marketing we’d imagined,” I said.
“I waited outside of your building for a few hours before you came out,” Prue said. “I almost gave up, but then you appeared.”
Leatrice bounced up and down in her stool. “That’s when I saw you and thought you might be a spy.”
Prue’s eyes drew together in obvious confusion, but I waved a hand. “Don’t mind her. She thinks everyone is a spy at some point. So you thought we’d lead you to Merry?”
She shrugged. “I hoped, although I was about to give up when you started acting weird.”
“That would be when we realized Leatrice was following us,” Kate said.
“I thought you’d seen me, so I went the opposite way and happened to see the Harleys outside this shop.” She gazed down at her baby. “I came inside here and pretended to be looking around in hopes that Merry would be here.”
“That was quite a long shot,” I said. “What if she’d been somewhere else?”
Prue bit her lower lip. “I guess I would have kept coming back.”
“It doesn’t sound like you want to give up your baby to me,” Leatrice said.
The girl took a shaky breath. “I don’t have any other choice.”
“Of course you do.” Buster drank a shot of espresso in a single gulp and turned back around. “You and Merry can live here.”
Everyone’s mouths dropped open, including Mack’s.
Kate glanced around the industrial-style flower shop. “Are you planning to put a cot between the flower buckets?”
Mack sat up straighter. “He means the apartment upstairs. We’ve been using it for storage, but it’s got two bedrooms and would be the perfect size for a mother and baby.”
“It’s the obvious solution,” Buster said. “You don’t want to lose Merry and neither do we. This way you’d have someplace to live, and we’d still get to see her.”
Mack nodded. “We’ll watch her while you’re at school.”
Prue’s eyes lit up, then she frowned. “An apartment in this neighborhood would be expensive, and I don’t have any money.” She set her mouth. “And I can’t take charity.”
“Who said anything about charity?” Buster asked. “We all work hard, and so can you. We need extra hands around the flower shop, especially during the holidays. We’ll pay you just like we pay our other employees, and you can pay a small amount back for your room and board. But you have to finish up school before you can start working full-time.”
Prue looked at both men, her eyes narrowing as she took in the hulking figures with multiple piercings wearing black leather. “But I don’t know you.”
Kate crossed one leg over the other, and her coat fell open to reveal plenty of bare leg. “They took care of your baby happily and with no questions asked. What more do you need to know?”
I reached a hand across the table. “I’ve known Buster and Mack for years, and there aren’t two people I would trust more.”
Kate made an indignant noise, but I ignored her.
Prue held my eyes for a moment, then looked at Buster and Mack and smiled tentatively. “Are you sure? You don’t know me.”
Mack shrugged. “You came back. What more do we need to know?”
Leatrice pulled a tissue out of her pocket and blew her nose. “This is even better than busting open an international spy ring. Well, it’s as good.”
“Don’t worry.” Kate patted the sniffling Leatrice on the shoulder. “The day’s still young.”
Chapter 19
“Where is your wine opener?” Richard called from the kitchen over the sounds of opening and slamming drawers in rapid succession. Forget hearing the Harry Connick Jr. holiday music I had playing from my portable iPhone speaker on top of the bookshelf.
“Drawer next to the fridge,” Reese called back from the stepladder where he stood wrapping white lights around the Christmas tree. He looked down at me holding a spool of string lights between my hands and dropped his voice. “I hope he’s opening a bottle for himself. He definitely needs to relax.”
“This is standard pre-event Richard,” I said. “He won’t unwind until people have tasted his food and declared it the best thing they’ve ever eaten.”
“I thought we were keeping the food simple. Didn’t you nix the three-foot snowman cheese ball and the gingerbread people made to look like each of us?”
“I think he gave up the gingerbread people only because he couldn’t find a cookie cutter that looked like Hermes, but you know Richard doesn’t do low-key.” I inhaled the savory scents of baked Brie and the sweet and spicy nuts he’d put in the oven to warm. “Luckily, he’s got holiday parties booked, and our wedding nixed all the holiday-themed food, so we’re eating what he made for those. I’m just glad I’m not cooking.”
Reese wisely didn’t make a comment as he wrapped the end of the last string around the top of the tree and stepped down off the ladder. He stood back to admire his handiwork and wrapped an arm around my waist. “This place is starting to look pretty good.”
I had to agree. My apartment—correction, our apartment now—usually erred on the side of minimalism, but the Christmas tree, pillar candles, and hanging paper stars made it look positively festive. And the combination of the fresh fir tree and Richard’s cooking made it smell as good as it looked.
“That should be the last of it,” Kate said as she appeared from the hallway with an armload of leftover items from our past weddings. She d
umped it on the couch. “We’ve got a variety of cocktail napkins; striped straws in pink, gold, and lavender; and even some ‘Eat, Drink, and Be Married’ stir sticks.”
“Perfect.” I picked up a stack of cream “Heather and Jeff” napkins and fanned them out across my coffee table. “Once this party is over, I hope never to lay eyes on any of this stuff again.”
“It was a great idea to have a party to use up all of this,” Kate said, arranging the stir sticks and straws on the countertop between the kitchen and living room. “You know what we could have done to make it even more fun? Wear old bridesmaids’ gowns.” She waved a wooden stir stick at me. “Boy, do I have some doozies.”
“So we’d be in awful bridesmaids’ dresses and the men would be in regular clothes?” I asked. “That doesn’t seem fair.”
“I’ll bet we could get Fern into a bridesmaids’ gown.” Kate wagged her eyebrows at me. “I have a burgundy velvet he’d look great in.”
“Make way, make way,” Richard cried as he appeared from the kitchen holding a large tray in front of him and set it in the center of the coffee table.
Kate leaned down and breathed in. “They smell amazing. What are they?”
Richard wiped his hands off on his Santa apron. “Pepper jelly palmiers and pimento cheese puffs. But no touching until everyone gets here.” He spun on his heel.
Kate pulled her hand back and frowned, shooting a look at Richard’s retreating back. “Fine. Why don’t I get the drinks going since someone is being such a despot with the food?”
“Don’t forget we need a nonalcoholic option,” I reminded her as she followed Richard into the kitchen. “Not only are Buster and Mack teetotalers, but one of our guests is only eighteen.”
“I’m on it,” she said.
Reese pulled me closer and brushed a strand of hair off my forehead. “I’m glad everything worked out with the baby and her mother.”
“Who knew the floral business was so lucrative that Buster and Mack could own their entire building?” I gazed up at him. “What would you have done if the mother hadn’t found us, and Buster and Mack had wanted to keep the baby?”
He let out a breath. “I don’t know. I couldn’t in good conscience have put the child into the system right before the holidays, but you also can’t just keep a baby you find. I’m glad I wasn’t forced into an impossible decision.”
“I’m sorry I put you in another difficult situation,” I said. “I seem to do that a lot.”
He grinned at me. “This time it wasn’t actually your fault, and there was no dead body, so it really pales in comparison to all the other times you’ve meddled in police investigations or the many occasions I’ve had to save you from a violent criminal.”
I swatted at him. “You wish you needed to save me.”
He pulled me closer. “I do wish you needed me to save the day more.”
“I never said I didn’t need you.” I felt my face flush. “There are a lot of other ways I need you.”
He arched an eyebrow as he lowered his head and his lips brushed over mine. I wrapped my arms around his neck and let myself sink into the kiss, feeling it all the way to my fingertips.
“Yoo hoo!” Leatrice called as she opened the door without knocking.
Reese pulled away from me and sighed. “Tomorrow I’m going out and buying a dead bolt.”
I eyed Leatrice as she walked into the room, the eight blue-and-white candles on her headband bobbing as she set a round tray down next to Richard’s hot hors d’oeuvres display. She wore her brightly colored Christmas tree skirt with the plug dangling from the back and a red sweatshirt.
“Better get two just to be safe,” I said.
Hermes, who she’d been watching while we prepared for the party, scampered in with her, jumping onto the couch and yipping happily as he ran from one end to the other.
Sidney Allen came in behind the small Yorkie, holding a foil-topped bottle in a shimmering red velveteen bag and two small wrapped presents. He wore a dark suit, like he did at every event, and the pants were hiked up high on his chest so the belt appeared to be nearly looped around his armpits. For once, he wasn’t wearing the headset I was so used to seeing him scream into as he coordinated his performers.
“Glad you could make it,” I said, taking the bottle from him. “We aren’t quite ready, but we’re getting there.” I pointed to the tree in the corner. “Grab bag gifts go under there.”
Leatrice waved a hand at me. “The only reason we’re early is I wanted to get a good place for my pigs-in-a-blanket wreath.”
I peered down at the circle of hotdogs wrapped in golden-brown pastry. With the bow at the bottom cut out of strips of red peppers, it did indeed look like a wreath. It smelled, however, like a plate of hotdogs. I couldn’t wait until Richard saw it sitting beside his delicately shaped palmiers and cheese puffs dusted with finely grated parmesan.
Reese rubbed his hands together. “Now we’re talking.”
Richard came out of the kitchen holding the baked Brie topped with cherry compote and stopped dead in his tracks when he spotted Leatrice. He inhaled sharply when his eyes dropped to the hot dog wreath. “What in the name of—?”
“It’s a pigs-in-a-blanket wreath,” I said before he could make a snarky comment. “Isn’t it clever?”
Hermes leapt off the couch, ran to Richard, sniffed his leg, then ran back to the couch. Richard’s frozen expression didn’t change as he nodded, setting the baked Brie on the counter between the living room and kitchen.
He came up behind me, giving Hermes a pat, and whispered, “What’s on her head?”
“Interesting hat, Leatrice,” I said. “Where did you get it?”
“Holiday sale last year at Filene’s.” Leatrice reached up and touched the stuffed fabric candles. “You don’t see many Christmas hats with candles, do you?”
“That’s because it’s a menorah,” Richard muttered.
“Who wants some bubbly?” Kate asked as she came out of the kitchen holding a tray of champagne flutes with cranberries floating on top.
“Yes, please.” Fern walked through the open door taking small steps and barely moving anything above his knees. His crimson suit was skintight with gold piping along the edges, and he wore a snowy-white ascot with a jeweled star at his neck, making him look very much like a slimmed-down version of Santa Claus. A green-and-red gift bag hung from one wrist. “I had to walk two blocks. This suit is barely made for standing, much less walking distances.”
“I wouldn’t call two blocks a distance,” I said, taking the gift bag from him since he clearly couldn’t lift his arm to hand it to me.
“You would if you were trying to fit into your skinny suit.” He let out a tiny breath, straining the one gold button on his jacket. “I hope you have some keto diet food.”
I didn’t even know what foods counted as keto, but I felt sure that anything Richard had made contained enough butter, cheese, and real cream to float a barge. “You’re starting a diet before the holidays?”
Fern glanced at the trays of food and looked pained, either from the suit cutting off his circulation or the fact that he couldn’t eat anything.
“Do like I do, and go on a liquid diet.” Kate handed him a champagne flute and popped a gold-striped straw in it so he barely had to raise his arm to drink.
“Good thinking.” Fern drained the glass in a single sip. “I feel thinner already.”
I didn’t have the heart to tell either of them that a liquid diet did not mean drinking only booze.
Fern scanned the group, his eyes settling on Leatrice, and he shuffled over to her. “Sweetie, did you know your skirt has a plug hanging from the back?”
“It lights up,” she said, pointing to the tiny lights embedded in the fabric. “But it’s not very practical. You have to stand right next to an outlet and not move a lot.”
Only Leatrice would be undeterred by a plug dangling from her clothing.
Richard motioned to our tree. “Don�
��t you actually need a Christmas tree skirt? I say we plug her in and lay her down under there.”
I elbowed him. “Be nice. It’s a holiday party.”
“I’m always nice, darling.” He gave Reese a simpering smile. “Right, Detective?”
Reese nodded a little too eagerly as Richard left us to return to the kitchen. “I think I liked it better when Richard ignored me.”
“Too late,” I said. “There’s no going back now.”
He laughed and entwined his fingers with mine. “Good.”
I felt a flutter in my stomach and picked up a glass of champagne. I was still getting used to the idea of having a boyfriend, not to mention a hot one, and much less a live-in one. Sometimes I felt like pinching myself to make sure it was real.
“Look who we found on our way up,” Mack said, walking in with baby Merry strapped to his chest and Buster and Prue both carrying armfuls of colorful boxes. Mack swept an arm behind him to reveal a tall, broad-shouldered man with dark hair flecked with gray at the temples.
“Daniel!” Kate nearly dropped the tray of glasses when she saw Reese’s older brother.
“I take it you didn’t warn her he was coming?” Reese asked me.
I shook my head. “I was afraid of what she’d wear if she thought there were going to be any eligible men here.”
As it was, her white angora sweater left little to the imagination.
Kate set the tray down without spilling anything and hurried over to Daniel Reese. “I had no idea you were coming.” She glanced over her shoulder and narrowed her eyes at me.
Daniel smiled, looking very much like his brother. “I wouldn’t miss it.”
“Come on in, everyone,” I said, ignoring Kate’s pointed look and waving everyone inside. “Presents for the gift exchange go under the tree.”
I turned up the volume on the holiday jazz as Leatrice began walking around the room holding the tray with her hotdog wreath, the plug to her skirt bouncing around her legs. Richard passed glasses of booze-free punch over the counter, and I noticed Prue smile as she took one of Leatrice’s pigs-in-a-blanket. Mack bounced the baby gently on his chest in time to “Deck the Halls”, which she seemed to be sleeping through, and Buster produced several boxes of glass ball ornaments I recognized as one of the holiday items they sold in their shop.
