The Milburn Big Box Set

by Nancy McGovern

  “Oh please,” Harvey said, his voice heavy with cynicism. “You were trying to protect your own precious hide.”

  “I will not be spoken to like that, young fellow. Have some respect!”

  “Sorry,” Harvey said, biting his tongue. “But come on, Father. Help us out here. Do you have any idea how it looks? You were officiating Jeremy Norton’s wedding, and nobody knew that Ashley is your daughter! It would have been awkward to say the least.”

  “Well, for one thing, she’s not my daughter,” Father Mackenzie said. “For another, I don’t see how this matters to you.”

  “Of course it matters,” Harvey said. “And what do you mean she’s not your daughter? Your name is on the birth certificate. It’s pretty clear you are her father.”

  Father Mackenzie looked at them both, then put a hand up to pinch the bridge of his nose. “I’m getting such a headache.”

  “Father, maybe we’ve been too hasty and jumped to conclusions,” Nora said. “But surely you have some explanation?”

  “I have no need to give you explanations,” he said haughtily. “You came into my home, and you made accusations. You implied that I poisoned that wedding cake—”

  “You were in the kitchen!” Harvey exclaimed. “I’m sorry but when so many coincidences stack up, it’s obvious that—”

  “Sometimes, coincidences are just that,” Father Mackenzie reprimanded him. “We live in a small town, Harvey Nathaniel. Everyone knows everyone, and everyone bumps into everyone. Surely you can’t think that just because I was in the kitchen, I was the murderer. What kind of logic is that? Why would I murder Eliza anyway? According to your own theory, if I were Ashley’s father, it would be Nora or Jeremy I was after.”

  “Well, no one could have known that Eliza was going to eat that cake first,” Harvey said. “So whoever poisoned the cake must have assumed that Jeremy and Charlotte were the ones who were going to eat it.”

  “I see.” Father Mackenzie pressed his lips together. “This is disgraceful, Harvey. You’ve been poking about in things that are none of your business, and you’ve hurt me terribly in the process. I’ve served this congregation for years, and yet you believe I’m capable of such a heinous, sinful act.”

  “If we’re wrong,” Harvey said, “I’m prepared to apologize. But I need to know that I’m not wrong. I need you to prove it. Nora’s life and livelihood might be at stake, and I can’t—”

  “You really think I’d do anything to damage Nora’s life or livelihood?” Father Mackenzie’s temper was really flaring now. “I’ve known this girl since she was a child. I’ve watched her cry her heart out, first when fate took away her parents, then when it took away the girl she loved like a sister! How could I possibly want to harm her?”

  “If you don’t want to harm her, then help her,” Harvey said. “Because fate is this close to taking away the diner she loves. Don’t let that be taken away from her. Help us out, Father.”

  That seemed to soothe him. He had half gotten out of his chair, and now he sat back down. With a deep breath, he said, “Perhaps you’re right.”

  “I don’t want to harm you or rake up the past,” Harvey said. “All I want is to find out who poisoned that cake and killed Eliza.”

  “And before you can, you need to know why my name is on Ashley’s birth certificate?” Father Mackenzie asked.

  “Exactly,” Harvey said.

  “Very well,” the pastor said. “This happened when I was about thirty. Long before I came here. In those days, I used to live in North Dakota. I hadn’t found my life’s calling yet. I used to work in a garage operated by me and my brother Hamish.” Harvey nodded. “Well, Hamish was a bad influence on me,” Father Mackenzie said. “He was the kind of man who lived his life in one bar after another. As his younger brother, I thoughtlessly followed him. One brawl after another, one night after the other wasted on alcohol. I was still far better than he was, however, I still attended church regularly, and I knew I would find salvation there, rather than in the bottom of a bottle. Still, Hamish would tease me, tell me I was being a wimp, and I’d go along to prove I wasn’t. At that age, we men have false notions of what makes a man, a man.” He paused to take a sip of orange juice. “Hamish died one night, when he got into yet another pointless brawl,” Father Mackenzie said. “I was devastated. I vowed that I would never enter another bar. Hamish was so young. Barely 35. You can imagine the pain I felt.”

  “I’m so sorry, Father,” Nora said. “I still hear the pain in your voice.”

  “Thank you.” Father Mackenzie inclined his head toward her. For a moment, he sat still, reliving the past, then he spoke again. “Well, a month after Hamish’s death, a young girl named Myrna came to me. She told me that she was pregnant, and that the child was Hamish’s.”

  Nora gasped.

  “Yes.” Father Mackenzie nodded. “That was my reaction too. Only it was more as if the air had been sucked out of my lungs. Hamish had a rather depraved lifestyle, but I like to think that if he hadn’t died, he would have stepped up and been a good father. As it was, he was gone. I couldn’t leave the young girl alone. I offered to marry her myself, and help raise the child, but she refused. She told me she only needed money.”

  “That was Ashley’s mother?”

  “Yes.” Father Mackenzie nodded. “Ashley’s mother. I gave her all the proceeds from the sale of our business. I’d already decided by then that I would devote my life to God. However, Ashley’s mother asked me for one more favor - she needed me to sign the birth certificate. She told me, just in case something ever happened to her, she needed to know that her child would be taken in by a good man.”

  “And so that’s what you did?” Nora asked.

  Father Mackenzie nodded. “As I said, I was willing to give up my idea of joining the church, if Myrna would have taken me as her husband. I was willing to do what I saw as my duty. However, Myrna said that a marriage that was only made out of duty would soon go sour. She refused to marry me. I tried to keep in touch with her, but she deliberately moved out of town, without leaving me a forwarding address. I suppose she didn’t want her past to be part of her future.”

  Nora smiled. Karen, she thought, would understand that.

  “But wait… how did you manage to find her?” Nora asked.

  Father Mackenzie smiled, and shrugged. “I set a private investigator after her, just to make sure she and Ashley were all right. When I heard they were, I could breathe peacefully. I devoted myself to becoming a pastor. I forgot all about my old life. Then, one day, when I was in my late forties, I got a chance to move to the very town where Myrna had moved all those years ago.”

  “Milburn,” Nora said.

  “Exactly.” Father Mackenzie smiled. “I couldn’t let such an opportunity slip by. I immediately agreed to it.”

  “So why doesn’t anybody in town know you are related to Ashley?” Nora asked.

  “Her mother didn’t want anyone to know,” Father Mackenzie said. “She’d lied to everyone here, including Ashley, that she was a widow. She thought that I’d ruin Ashley’s life if I revealed the truth about her father. I promised her I wouldn’t say a word. When Myrna died, I tried to be there for Ashley, but the girl was so cold. It was as though she didn’t care her own mother was dead. She only seemed to care about her husband Jeremy.”

  Nora nodded. “She was obsessed with Jeremy.”

  “I sometimes regret never approaching her,” Father Mackenzie said. “But what could I do? How could I go against her mother’s wishes? After Myrna died, I longed to reveal the truth to Ashley, but she seemed so happy with Jeremy. I didn’t want to cause strain in their marriage with my revelations. I certainly didn’t want to cause any gossip.”

  “I understand,” Nora said.

  “I don’t think you can,” Father Mackenzie said. “The guilt of it often kept me awake at night, and then, when you uncovered that Ashley had murdered Raquel...”

  “It must have torn you up.”

&
nbsp; “For the first time, I was glad that Hamish was not alive,” Father Mackenzie said. “Seeing his own daughter turn out to be a murderer would have broken him. Seeing my own niece be tried… I went to her, then. I offered to come out in public with my story, and support her. But Ashley laughed at me. She told me that I was only doing it for publicity. She accused me of being media-hungry.”

  “Oh.” Nora paused. “Yes, I can see how her twisted mind would view it that way.”

  Father Mackenzie nodded. “It was tough, but I realized that Myrna’s death didn’t mean that her wishes were no longer valid. She had wished me to stay quiet, and that is what I would do. I visited Ashley a handful of times, once a year or so. Each time, she rebuffed me. Ultimately, very recently, she died in prison. Poor girl. I know you must hate her for what she did to Raquel, but I truly believe she was one of those unfortunate souls who is born broken.”

  “She had a choice,” Harvey said. “She could have risen above whatever held her down. She had no need to become a murderer.”

  “No,” Father Mackenzie said. “She certainly committed a crime, and paid for it. But as to the rest, I believe that it is a sin to judge others. We are mere mortals and must leave that judgement to a higher power.”

  The air seemed to have been taken away from Harvey’s sails. His voice was much quieter as he said. “I’m truly sorry I suspected you, Father. I can see that you would never commit this crime.”

  “Thank you,” Father Mackenzie said. “As for Ashley, if you wish to reveal the secrets of her past, that is up to you. I will not stand in your way. But for Myrna’s sake, I hope you don’t.”

  “Of course, we won’t,” Nora said. “We have no desire for revenge on Ashley. All we wanted was to find out the murderer.”

  “Your wedding is only a week away,” Father Mackenzie said. “Perhaps, you should let Sean do his job and focus on that instead.”

  Chastened, Harvey said, “I want Nora to be happy at our wedding, Father. I don’t see how she could be if this accusation was hanging over her.”

  “And I don’t see how I could stand to marry Harvey, if his reputation gets damaged by mine,” Nora said.

  “In the end, no matter what gossip might be strewn about, it is you two who must be married,” Father Mackenzie said. “Make peace with yourselves and the rest of it will fall into place.”

  *****

  Chapter 18

  An Interlude

  They were both silent as they drove to Mrs. Mullally’s. Nora’s face was turned toward the window, while Harvey gripped the steering wheel and stared straight ahead. Finally, Harvey pulled the car off the road, and shut the engine. Nora turned to him with tears in her eyes.

  “You weren’t serious, were you?” Harvey asked. “You weren’t seriously thinking about breaking up with me so that my reputation wouldn’t get hurt.”

  “I… I mean, the thought crossed my mind,” Nora said.

  “Nora...” Harvey’s voice was soft. His eyes locked onto hers, full of love. “How could you even think such a thing?”

  “I don’t know,” Nora said. “I don’t know how to explain it. Part of me has absolutely loved planning the wedding, part of me is absolutely confident that you are the right man for me, and that you’ll make me happy for the rest of my life.”

  “But part of you isn’t?” Harvey asked. “You have doubts about me?”

  “Not you,” Nora said. “Never you. I have doubts about me. Even before Eliza got poisoned, I couldn’t help but feel like something bad was going to happen. Bad luck does have a way of following me around.”

  “I’ll say.” Harvey smiled. “Would you say I’m bad luck, too?”

  “You’ve brought nothing but good luck to me,” Nora smiled. “It’s just… Have you ever felt like no matter what you do, happiness is out of your reach?” She looked away from him. “I know it’s silly, but even now, when I’m so happy, I’m always scared. I’m always scared about when life will throw the next punch at me. It’s stupid of me, and I try not to think about it but sometimes… especially late at night...”

  She trailed off, unsure how to finish. Said out loud, her fears sounded laughably silly. Yet she had them, and couldn’t shake them off. She’d lost her parents, lost her best friend, and somehow she had managed to get over those blows and survive. But the new life she had created was so precious to her, and she couldn’t help but fear that it could be taken away any second.

  Harvey got out of the car, and came around to her side. He opened her door, and drew her out, then led her to the front of the car, where he sat her on the hood.

  “What’s this for?” she asked.

  “Well,” Harvey said, “thought I’d give you a new perspective.” He waved like a magician, in the direction of the mountains.

  They’d parked beside a river, which flowed steadily away from the mountains in the distance. The water rushing past them had once been ice adorning the crown of these mountains, and would someday merge with the salty waters of the ocean. Nora felt instantly soothed, both by the fresh air, and the music of nature. Being stuck in that cell had really been bad for her, she thought. Being back out in the open was a feast for the senses.

  “You’re afraid that you’ll fail me somehow,” Harvey said, scooting up next to her. “Is that right?”

  “Pretty much,” she said.

  “You asked me if I’d ever believed happiness was impossible for me,” Harvey said. “The answer is, I did. Then I met you.”

  “Harvey—”

  “I’m not being cheesy, for once,” Harvey said, and his face was very serious when he turned to her. “I’m telling you the truth, plain and simple. I thought life was about proving something, proving to my father that I wasn’t worthless, proving to the world that I was smooth and charming. Then I met you. I didn’t even realize when it happened, but you managed to draw past all the masks I’d put up, and see me for who I was. As if that wasn’t surprising enough, you seemed to like me for who I was. I was deliriously happy, and I was extremely scared.”

  “Harv—”

  “Hang on a second,” Harvey said. “So there I was, head over heels in love with you, and you seemed to like me too, and every second of every day, I was worried something would snatch you away, and you’d take my happiness with you. I did some stupid things then, like try and force you to stop investigating things. Obviously that didn’t last. The girl I love is far too brave to stop just because someone tells her so.”

  “You can’t expect me not to kiss you after saying that,” she said, and leaned forward. For a time, the two of them stayed locked together, then Harvey slowly drew apart. Nora’s heart was fluttering as she looked up at him. His eyes were the color of melting chocolate, and just as delicious.

  “I had a point somewhere.” Harvey smiled. “Before you drove all thoughts out of my head with that kiss.”

  “You’re not a bad kisser yourself,” she said. “You managed to drive out all my fears.”

  “Ah, yes…fears. I was making a point about fear,” Harvey said. “See, I’ve always been scared you’re going to be hurt, or that something is going to happen to you, but over time, I guess, I developed confidence in both of us. I became confident that even if you insist on putting yourself in dangerous situations, you won’t be silly about it, and you’ll take the help that’s offered.” He grinned. “Case in point, for once in your life, you called me for help when you needed it at the diner. A few years ago, you would have gone charging in without telling anyone.”

  “It was instinctive,” Nora said. “I knew you’d be there for me.”

  “I know the same about you,” Harvey said. “Since you were talking about reputations, how about the many, many times when people have thought I may have committed a crime, and you found the proof that bailed me out?”

  “Hey, you killed a man who had me at gunpoint,” Nora said. “I think we’re more than even when it comes to saving the other person.”

  “Exactly,” Harvey said
with a laugh. “So that’s the thing about fear, it’s like darkness. It always exists. The key is to just figure out the light switch in your brain. In my case, when I feel afraid that I may lose you, I tell myself I’m going to do everything I can to make sure you’re safe, and that you’re going to have to deal with it, and after that, it’s really not in my control.”

  “So you stop worrying about it?”

  “So I just focus on other things,” Harvey said. “Like how beautiful you’re going to look walking down that aisle.”

  “Aw.” Nora blushed. “You’re so...”

  “I’m so in love with you,” Harvey said. “And I know somehow, I lucked out and you’re in love with me too. A wise woman told me that when you find love like that, you hold tight to it. That’s what I’m going to do.”

  “Fine,” Nora said. “You know what I’m going to do?”

  “What?”

  “I’m going to hold tight to you, and I’m going to make sure that even if the rest of the world is pitch black, our wedding is one shining light in the dark.”

  Harvey leaned down and began kissing her, and then, all the worries that had gathered in her mind seemed to melt away.

  *****

  Chapter 19

  The New Newberry

  By the time they reached Mrs. Mullally’s house, Nora’s smile was as bright as sunshine, and twice as warm. Harvey had his arm thrown around her shoulder, and for the first time in days, the lines around his eyes seemed to have lessened. Eliza’s killer was still out there, but for now, they were fine. Nora told herself that a few hours of peace might be just the antidote to the dark feelings that were dragging them down.

  In fact, she told herself, it’ll clear our head and help us see things we couldn’t see before.

  They entered the house through the side door, leading directly into the kitchen. To Nora’s delight, the entire dining room was covered with streamers and balloons. Covered dishes sat on the dining table, as well as a big jug of iced tea.