by Cindy Kline
Kayleigh shook his hand, leaning out of Molly’s arms to where Molly almost dropped her. Luckily, Henry caught her and lifted her up into his arms.
“Whoa, we almost hit the ground!” he said, dotting her nose with his finger. He smiled as she giggled.
Molly watched the two of them, sure he was thinking about Reanna being that age. She caught him looking at her, and he smiled, she was sure of it. A few minutes later, Kayleigh said she couldn’t see, so Henry lifted her up on his shoulders, and she held onto his head.
“Can you see now?” he asked, laughing as Kayleigh covered his eyes with her gloves.
Molly laughed as she moved the gloves, “Kayleigh, Mr. Pierce can’t see if you cover his eyes.”
“Oops, sorry.”
“Mummy, Mummy, look at the giant candy cane.” She pointed to the top of the tree.
The crowd was noisy, and our little group became even larger when her parents, Aiden, Gran and Fiona came and joined them. She gave them all hugs, especially Fiona, who she hadn’t seen in a few days.
Molly introduced them all to Henry, who handed Kayleigh over to Aiden, who Kayleigh insisted was taller, so she’d get a better view.
“Where’s Dillon?” she asked, looking around.
“Here I am, sis. Did you miss me?” She gave him a hug and then noticed Reanna beside him.
She turned to Henry to tell him Reanna was here, but he was already speaking to her. She gave Molly a look and then laughed, “Molly, Mr. Pierce here says you never gave him his cinnamon roll. Did you eat both of them?”
Molly playfully hit Henry, “I did not. We just forgot about them, and they’re both in my car. I told him I’d get it to him.”
“Mr. Pierce, just stop by in the morning, and I’ll give you one on the house.” Reanna smiled at him, and he smiled back, then looked at me, and mouthed, “Thank you.”
Molly looked at Ciara. “Where are the twins?”
Henry asked, “You have a set of twins?”
“Yes, Evan and Ethan, they’re six. They’re around here somewhere. Do you have any children?”
“A son, but he’s in his first year at Trinity College. He’ll be home this weekend, though, for the holiday break. It will be good to see him.”
Before Molly could respond, a loud, masculine voice came over the loudspeaker. Although it was crowded, she was getting chilly, so she pulled out her gloves and put them on. The temperature was probably around five degrees Celsius, or forty degrees Fahrenheit—not bad for the middle of December.
The speaker was only testing the microphone, but before Molly could ask about his son, he asked, “So, Dillon is dating Reanna?”
Molly looked sideways at him, “Yes, and they’re very good together, so don’t get any ideas about breaking them up.”
He shook his head. “Do you have fairy blood or something?”
She laughed, leaning over to speak to Ciara. “Henry here thinks I can read minds and have fairy blood.”
“Well, you do have an uncanny ability to see things other people don’t. That’s how you solved Margery’s murder, wasn’t it?”
Henry’s head snapped toward Molly. “Wait, you solved a murder? When was this?”
Molly grimaced, “It was nothing. The police would have figured it out, eventually.”
He leaned his head toward Ciara as she said, “Nothing? Molly, you got shot!”
Molly was aware of Henry’s head going back and forth between the two of them, reminding her of a tennis match, but it stopped at Molly. “You got shot?”
Molly looked sideways at Ciara, who just smiled. “Yes, I got shot in the arm, which has convinced me to never get involved in another police investigation again.”
“Oh, come on, you loved it. You met Liam again.”
Henry was grinning. “Now, who’s Liam?”
“No one,” Molly said.
“Molly’s sometimes boyfriend,” Ciara answered.
“Keeping track of our conversations is making me dizzy again. Now, what is this about you being shot? It wasn’t by this sometime boyfriend, I hope.”
“No, by a gun-toting maniac, who thankfully is locked up in jail. End of discussion.” Molly ignored the two of them and looked around for Fiona to save her, but she was nowhere in sight. Her attention was diverted by a group of villagers dressed in old-time costumes singing Christmas carols, urging the crowd to sing along.
Molly heard Henry gasp. She turned to him to see him staring at the group of carolers. “Henry, what is it?”
“I have to make a phone call. I just figured it out.” She watched him leave the crowd, looking at his phone, then turned her attention to Gran, who had just joined them. “Did you leave Luna at home?”
“Aye. I thought the crowds might be a little much. Didn’t want the poor little dear to get stepped on.”
Molly’s father said, “Did your mother tell you that little rascal of yours ate my slippers?”
Molly rolled her eyes. “Yes, she did, but she’s a puppy, Dad, and you shouldn’t have left your slippers near your chair for her to find.”
“Where else am I supposed to put them if they’re not on my feet?” He smiled, putting his brawny arm around her and giving her a hug.
“Joseph, I told you to put them up when you took them off, and that is why I never allowed the children to have a dog while they were growing up. They’re chewing machines. It’s cold out here. I hope they have hot toddies at the pub.”
Molly laughed at her mother, her red curls flying around in the wind, her hat askew. Mum took it off and repositioned it, but it helped little. She looked up at my dad, love shining in her eyes. Molly hoped someday to share that deep love with someone. It didn’t work out with Keith, but maybe someday.
Once the crowd stopped singing Jingle Bells, another voice came over the loudspeaker and asked everyone to clap for the Village Crooners. When the crowd’s clapping and cheers died down, the man, who I could see now was our esteemed mayor, John Doodle, his gravelly voice trying to drown out the laughing and talking, thanked everyone associated with the event, and then finally announced the lighting. Everyone held their breath, waiting for the magnificent tree to be lit up when…nothing happened.
“What the…?” The mayor’s finesse dropped a little. “Marcus, what’s going on?” He must have realized the microphone was still on because he suddenly put his hand over it. He spoke to someone and then said into the microphone again, “Sorry folks. It will be just a few minutes. We seem to have some difficulties.”
Just then, someone bumped into Molly, so she said to her family, “Maybe we should go a bit further out. It seems to be a little crowded.” Molly didn’t really wait for an answer but walked a little further out of the crowd, noticing a booth on the street selling hot chocolate. It was then she realized Henry hadn’t returned. She tried to shrug it off but had one of those “feelings” her grandmother had spoken about, and she had a sudden urge to make sure he was all right. Unfortunately, she couldn’t call him. They’d never exchanged numbers, so she purchased a hot chocolate. She hadn’t brought her purse, but had stuck some euro’s in her pocket, but had to take her gloves off to dig for it. She finished the transaction and then wrapped her hands around the cup to keep them warm. Maybe if she just hung out, Henry would notice where she was and find her.
Before long, they fixed the issue, and the tree was lit. Everyone applauded. The mayor had an enormous grin on his face. He told everyone to enjoy the evening, have a wonderful holiday season and visit the shops, as the stores were staying open until nine.
Molly and Ciara said goodbye to their family, arranging to meet at the pub after they closed the bookstore, and set off down the road. A few minutes later, Henry caught up with them.
“Where did you disappear to?” Molly asked him. His face was red, and there were beads of sweat running down his face. “Are you okay?”
“I thought I was, but I seem to be having a relapse.” He had his arms crossed in front of him, his hands un
der his armpits, as if to keep warm. They arrived at the bookstore, and Molly unlocked it.
“Is it okay if I use your toilet?” he asked.
“Certainly,” Molly replied as she turned on the lights and turned the CLOSED sign back to OPEN.
They took off their outerwear and hung it back up. Ciara had just offered to go make tea when Henry reappeared. He looked a little better, but not much.
“Would you like some tea or coffee?” Ciara asked him.
“No, thank you. I just wanted to tell you both thank you very much for putting up with me today. I appreciate it, but I think it’s time I go home and get some rest.” He walked behind the counter and kissed each of us on the cheek. Molly and Ciara both gave him a hug, and he left.
“He seems like a lost soul. What is his story?” Ciara asked. But before Molly could answer, she said, “I’m freezing. I’m going to make tea. I’ll be right back.”
Molly hoped she’d forget about it once she came back in, as she didn’t really want to betray his confidence. However, she was dying to tell Ciara how he was Reanna’s biological father.
A few minutes later, Ciara came back with two cups of tea. “Doesn’t he have a multimillion-dollar enterprise to run?”
Molly shrugged her shoulders. “I think he’s having a midlife crisis and has latched onto me to talk to.”
“Maybe because you’re such a good listener, which makes you easy to talk to.” She laughed.
Molly couldn’t help but feel sorry for him. It seemed like he had this wonderful life, but talking to him gave her the impression that something was bothering him other than the illness and the fact he just found out he had a thirty-three-year-old daughter. She couldn’t help but wonder what else was going on. He appeared to be going through some type of crisis, but what caused it, and why now?
The store was busy until they closed at nine, and Molly was looking forward to joining her family at Shenanigan’s. Both women walked toward the door to leave, once again turning the window sign from OPEN to CLOSED. Molly reached into her pockets to pull out her gloves, but they weren’t there.
“Ciara, do you see my gloves?” They both looked around the front of the store, and Ciara checked back by the coat rack.
“I don’t see them anywhere. You had them on when we left. Did you take them off anywhere?”
She thought back, and then she realized. “Yes, I bought some hot chocolate and took them off to pay for it.”
“Well, come on. We can look on the way to the pub,” Ciara said as they closed the door, and Molly locked it.
They walked toward the town square, the two of them keeping an eye out for her gloves. “They were my favorite pair, too,” Molly murmured.
They hadn’t spotted them by the time they got to the pub, so Molly urged Ciara to go on in, “I’ll look a little further and meet you back in there in a few minutes.”
Molly walked down High Street, keeping her eye out for her gloves. They were a pair she’d bought in Michigan, and they were nice and warm, and she was sure she wouldn’t be able to replace them anywhere in Ireland. She was thinking she’d have to check Amazon, when she saw something ahead, laying on the side of the road near the square. However, it wasn’t her gloves. It was a body.
She knew from the brown leather coat it was Henry. He was lying on his side, his back to her, his hair matted with blood. She looked around, and there was a small stone where he could have hit his head on the way down, but she didn’t see any blood on it. She knelt down in front of him and reached for his arm, checking for a pulse. Finding a weak one, she turned her phone around and called 999, asking for an ambulance. She also called Callum Murphy, her longtime friend and the local constable. She could hear people yelling in the background. Was he at the pub?
“Callum, hey, it’s me. I’m okay. Look, I found a body.…”
“No, this one isn’t dead, but almost. I called for an ambulance, but please come as soon as you can. It’s Henry Pierce. Yes, the Henry Pierce from Moore Plastics. Please get here quickly. I’m in the town square. Thank you.”
She hung up the phone and stuck it in her coat pocket, bending down near Henry.
Rolling him over gently, she said, “Henry, Henry, can you hear me?”
He turned his head and opened his eyes. “Molly?”
“Yes, yes, it’s me. What happened?”
“Keys…”
“What?” She looked around the ground but didn’t see any keys. “What keys?”
“Safe. Office. File. Destroy it…”
“Henry, you’re not making any sense.”
He moved his hand toward the pocket of his jacket, “Keys.”
His voice was becoming weaker. Henry coughed, and she saw blood. Molly’s heart beat faster. “Henry! No, no, no! Don’t you die on me. What will Reanna do?” She slapped his cheek to get a reaction, but nothing. She reached into his pocket, pulled out a set of keys held by a leather keyring with the initials “HBP” in gold, and stuck them in her pocket. Looking around for the ambulance, she saw nothing. The town had one ambulance, and she prayed it wasn’t very far away, or worse, in Ballyquicken at the hospital. A wave of relief flooded her when she heard a siren. Molly looked up and could see the yellow and green ambulance coming toward them. She stood up and waved her arms so the driver could see her. She looked for the Garda car but saw a lone figure coming across the street toward her. It wasn’t until he walked under a streetlight that she saw it was Callum.
She bent down to Henry, “I hope you can hear me. You need to hold on. The ambulance is here.”
The two ambulance attendants got out of the lorry, went to the back, swung open the doors, pulled out a stretcher and carried it over and set it next to Henry.
“You need to look out, ma’am,” the one gentleman said as he took Henry’s vitals. The other person put an oxygen mask over his head and after determining there were no broken bones, lifted him onto the stretcher. The one pulled out a bag of liquid and ran an IV to his hand, then wrapped him up in a thick blanket before lifting him into the ambulance.
She didn’t realize Callum was by her side until about halfway through the process, watching the saga unfold as intently as she was. The ambulance driver said they would take him to Ballyquicken General Hospital, forty-five minutes away.
As they watched it drive away, Callum turned to Molly. “Are you okay?”
She looked at him, her eyes wide. “I don’t know. I was just looking for my gloves, and I came across him.” She looked at Callum. “I just saw him a couple of hours ago. He said he was going home to rest. Why was he here?” She looked around. “What happened?”
Callum took Molly’s statement and told her he’d let Henry’s wife know he was being taken to the hospital.
“I don’t know if you’ll reach her. She’s in Dublin. I’m not sure when she’ll be back.”
“I’ll call dispatch and have them try to find a phone number for her.”
Callum looked at her face. “Are you going to be okay?”
Molly nodded. “I think so. I’m just wondering if I should go to the hospital. He doesn’t have anyone with him.”
“We’ll find his wife, so there’s really no reason for you to go, Molly. I will let you know what I find out, okay?”
Callum walked her back to her car near the bookstore, and on the way, she texted Ciara, telling her she changed her mind about going to the pub and was going home. She gave Callum a hug and got into her car. Molly was about to pull out of the parking spot when she realized she never found her gloves.
Chapter Seven
Callum watched Molly pull out of the parking lot at the bookstore and made a call on his mobile.
“Hey Liam, it’s Callum.”
“Good. How are you?”
“Listen, I just wanted you to know, Molly found another body.”
“Not quite, but almost. She called an ambulance, and they’ve taken him to Ballyquicken General. It’s Henry Pierce.”
“Yes, that Henry
Pierce.”
“Not sure. There was a gash on his head, which could have been caused when he fell, but I didn’t see any blood on any of the stones near where we found him.”
“No, sir. Molly is fine. I sent her home.”
“I’m sure she would appreciate a visit from you, yes sir, but aren’t you in Ballyquicken now?”
“Oh, then you’re fairly close to Rose Cottage.”
“Yes, sir. I will stay at the hospital until you arrive.”
Callum disconnected the call and got in his car. He let dispatch know he was driving to the hospital in Ballyquicken, then headed north.
That Molly! They’d been friends since they were twelve years old. The four of them, Molly, Ciara, Reanna and himself, had been the Four Amigos growing up. It wasn’t until they’d left school that he thought of Molly as more than a friend. Things were just heating up between them when she went to America to visit her cousin and came home engaged. None of them were very fond of her fiancée, but they all pretended they were happy for her. He’d hoped she’d change her mind at the last minute, but it didn’t happen. Instead, she broke his heart into a million pieces. Six months later, he entered his disastrous marriage to Margery, and six months after that, they divorced. It took a while, but he learned to live on his own. Then he heard Molly and her husband were getting a divorce, and Molly planned to move back to Ireland. He’d hoped for a second chance.
His heart had swelled when he saw her for the first time, almost running her over on the road out of town toward her parent’s house—well, manor, actually. It was huge. It wasn’t until Margery’s death he learned she’d met Liam on the plane, and his chances with her had gone from ten to zero in a matter of minutes. You could practically see the sparks fly off them when they were together. Over the past six months, they’d slipped back into their old friendship, and he was back thinking of her as a sister. However, Molly’s sister, Fiona, was a different story. They’d been dating the past two weeks in secret, nervous about saying anything to Molly. They were both sure she’d be fine with it, but Fiona also knew how upset Molly had been over Liam being on a special assignment. Hopefully, Callum’s call to him tonight would give them the kick start they needed. He smiled. Just call him Cupid.
