by Lexi Blake
He was so worried. That was why he seemed off. He was worried about her and the baby, and he’d been through something terrible. She was awful for thinking differently.
“Nell is pregnant?” Cam was a big presence in her living room. “I thought they were all about overpopulation…”
“Cameron Briggs,” Laura began.
“I meant congratulations. That’s awesome news.” Cam reached down to take his own baby. “Come on, Sierra Rose. Let’s get you home now that everything’s been sorted out. Seth has come through the surgery and everyone’s fine. We’ve survived another Bliss disaster. Holly, will you be all right driving home?”
Holly patted Nell’s back before she joined Laura and Cam at the door. “I’ll be fine. Since we moved down the river, it’s so much quicker to get here, though I do miss the valley. Nell, call me tomorrow and we’ll talk some more.”
“Or we can meet for lunch,” Laura offered. “The special at Stella’s tomorrow is eggplant parmesan, and I happen to know that Hal is doing one up with vegan cheese in case you come in.”
Henry had moved to her side, though his arm was around her. “That’s thoughtful of him.”
“I’ll see you there at noon.” Now that the news was out, she could talk about it. She had a million questions to ask about pregnancy. She could ask Holly and Rachel and Callie and Jen. Beth McNamara had recently had a baby girl. They were having a baby boom in Bliss, and she could be a part of it all.
Henry hugged her tight as the door closed behind their guests. “You’re really all right?”
This man meant the world to her. He was her everything. Pregnancy was making her paranoid, and he’d had a rough day. She held him close. “I’m perfect, and so are you. We’re all fine. I hope you don’t mind me telling Holly and Laura about the baby. I needed to talk to some women. It’s not that you…”
He interrupted her with a kiss and then let her go and locked the door. “I’m happy for you to have some women to talk to. You need your friends.” He stopped. “I want to upgrade our security. What happened at Seth’s made me think. I know we’re in a small town, but with Seth close, we might have to worry about people who want to steal from him.”
“If you think so.” She wanted him to be comfortable. If a few locks could do that, then she could handle it. “How did it go with Nate?”
“Good, but he wanted to be thorough. Logan couldn’t talk for long because he needed to be at the hospital. The same was true for Georgia, so until tomorrow I was pretty much the only one he could ask questions of. I’m sorry I left you here alone. It’s why I called Holly and Laura to see if they would come by and visit you.”
Of course he had. He always thought of her.
She forced those silly questions out of her mind. Henry was the best man she’d ever met and he wouldn’t lie to her. She wasn’t going to insult him by asking.
“I kept some dinner warm for you.” It was time to take care of her husband. “And I kept a second plate for me.” She winced. “I ate earlier, but I’m so hungry these days.”
“Then let’s get you some food. I could definitely eat.” He took her hand and led her to their kitchen table.
She sat beside her husband and let all of her worries go.
It was the next morning when she went out and found his tool kit sitting on his table in the shop. It hadn’t been moved in days. She could tell from the slight dust coating it.
It was later that day, she found the guns.
Chapter Two
“What do you mean you found guns? Where did you find guns?” Holly asked, leaning across the table.
Laura’s eyes had gone wide, too. “Like on your property?”
“What’s wrong with your property, Nell?” Stella Talbot walked up with a pitcher of water in her hand and started to fill all their glasses.
She might be ready to bring her best friends in on her worries, but she wasn’t ready to alert the whole town, and that’s what would happen if the rumor started going around. It wasn’t that Stella would mean to spread a rumor. She would inevitably talk to her husband, Sebastian, about the problem, and then Sebastian would ask Stef who Henry was—because he was still learning the town. Stef would go to Jen, Jen would mention it to Rachel, and Rachel wouldn’t want Callie left out. From there it would grow to Blissian proportions, and Henry would be in league with the aliens or something equally ridiculous like he was some kind of secret spy.
“Nothing at all.” Nell gave Stella her brightest smile. “Although you know I don’t believe anyone can truly own property. The land is alive, too.” She saw the minute Stella’s eyes went from concerned to slightly dead inside. Sometimes her lectures could be excellent deflection. “Did you know that Aspen trees have a sort of collective consciousness?”
Stella finished with her task. “That’s so interesting. I’m glad to know there’s no trouble after what happened with Seth yesterday. Craziness, I tell you. I was worried it might have spilled over to you since you’re so close to their cabin. We went by the hospital and he seemed real good this morning.”
“I’m glad to hear it. We’re going to visit him this afternoon.” She’d made muffins to take over to their cabin, but Georgia and Logan had stayed at the hospital with Seth. She’d left them on the table. She had a key since she and Henry took care of the place when Seth was in New York.
She’d stood and looked down at the rug and the blood stains on the floors. She’d seen bullet holes and wondered how on earth Logan had taken down so many men on his own.
If she’d been writing it as a scene, her editor would have told her it wasn’t realistic unless the hero was some kind of supernatural creature.
Her husband was her editor. Had her husband helped Logan with more than his plumbing?
“I hope we’re not going to need another town hall. I’m too busy with the wedding and all the parties that go along with it,” Stella admitted. “Jen’s got a caterer for her party, but Mel insisted that I make food for something called a Meeting of Men. I’m fairly certain Mel intends to explain to Cassidy’s grown sons what happens on their wedding night. That requires a lot of sandwiches. And I’m supposed to sneak beets into something the bride eats in case she won’t comply with something called a beeting ceremony. She didn’t spell that out. She’s talking about the vegetable, right? Cassidy’s not going to beat up the poor girl, right?”
“It’s merely a ritual in which the bride proves herself free of alien influence,” Nell explained. Cassidy Meyer had some firmly held beliefs about otherworldly visitors. Personally, Nell believed that the universe was a big place and all should be welcome. She’d told Cassidy that, and it was lucky Nell enjoyed beets because she pretty much had to eat them regularly around Cassidy now. “Don’t worry. I’m sure anyone marrying into Wolf’s family will be a deeply tolerant woman. I’ll make sure to send some food along.”
She always tried to make sure Henry had options when he went to parties where the majority of the attendees would be meat eaters. Which was all the parties he attended with the exception of their monthly vegan cooking class.
Stella’s expression softened. “Don’t you worry about that, honey. I’ve got Henry covered. It’s not any trouble to make sure all my friends get fed properly.” She shrugged a single shoulder and reached up to pat her blonde hair. “It’s what I do. I’m a natural caretaker.”
Stella joked, but it was true. “Thank you so much. He will appreciate it.”
If he was still around and she hadn’t buried him in the backyard.
Had she just thought that?
Stella walked away with their lunch orders and Holly leaned back in, her voice low. “Guns? Are you sure they’re real guns? Maybe they’re like toys or water guns or something. Men can be weird.”
“I know what a gun is, and these are real.” She’d had guns pointed her direction more times than she would like to count. She’d also been pepper sprayed once, and she swore it hurt less than finding those guns. “They’re not hu
nting guns, either. I thought about the fact that maybe Henry used to hunt, but they were handguns. They’re semiautomatics, and one of them has a suppressor.”
Holly’s brow rose. “What’s that?”
Laura was staring Nell’s way. “It’s what laypeople call a silencer. I find it interesting that Nell knows what a gun enthusiast would call it. Did he have any ammo?”
“A couple of…” She’d been about to say magazines. “Boxes. They’re the clippy things.”
Laura still looked suspicious, but she seemed to let it pass. “Okay, so where were they?”
“Two were in his shop, and one was in the back of the closet under some old textbooks. I went out to his shop because I’d cleaned his pliers. He’d gotten them all filthy working on our septic system. I went back to put them up on his tool wall and that was when I noticed his tool kit.”
“Did he have it with him when he came back from Seth’s?” Holly asked.
“He didn’t. And before you tell me maybe he grabbed it this morning, he didn’t. I went over there early to drop off some muffins. I checked the bathroom and it wasn’t there. Also, it looked like he hadn’t touched it in a couple of days. I put his pliers up and that was when I noticed there was something behind the organizational wall.”
“I understand how you found the guns in the shop, but how did you find the one in your closet?” Holly asked.
“Because Nell is exactly like the rest of us and she went crazy-ass paranoid and tossed her whole house,” Laura replied.
Nell bit her bottom lip and sighed. “Not the whole house. Just the parts I don’t regularly see. Like his side of the closet and his desk. Maybe I went through his wallet.”
There had been nothing special in his wallet—a couple of pictures of her, his driver’s license, two fives and a ten, a library card.
But then she’d found the small case under an old blanket at the very back of his side of the closet. It had been locked but she’d quickly figured out the combo. Their anniversary.
“Why haven’t you asked him?” Holly took a sip of her water. She seemed oddly flustered, as though she was as shocked as Nell herself. “I’m sure there’s a reason. He came from the city. He’s probably had those guns for years, and honestly, Bliss can be dangerous at times.”
That had also gone through her head. “He’s always been so in sync with me when it comes to gun control.”
“He’s got them hidden and or locked up. It sounds like they’re under control.” Laura had never seen her point on guns, but then Laura had actually been held hostage and tortured by a real serial killer, so she had her reasons.
“Honestly, my views have changed a bit over the years. I suppose I was influenced by the fact that my mother kept many weapons in our house at one point. She had several swords, a mace, knives, and some weird-looking thing she always told me was a sonic weapon I should never touch.” The weapons her mother had hidden all over any place they lived had been one of the reasons Nell had spent time in the foster care system. When her mother had regained custody, she’d gotten rid of all of them, but Nell would still find odd knives under her mother’s pillow. And bits of wrought iron sometimes.
“Was it because she was worried the bad faeries would come and take you?” Holly knew the story.
Nell nodded. “According to the state’s psychiatrist, my mom was the victim of a violent incident that her mind couldn’t process, so her brain created a more comfortable backstory. She believed she was a Fae royal who had to flee her home plane when her evil cousin killed her nice cousin and took over. It was why we couldn’t have cats. They’re familiars to hags and sent to spy on us. We couldn’t have dogs because she was allergic. But we had lots of swords.”
“I don’t think Henry keeping a couple of guns around for protection is the same thing,” Holly said gently. “Why don’t you ask him about them? You’re going to have a baby in the house.”
“Were they loaded?” Laura asked.
“No, but the magazines were close at hand. It wouldn’t have been at all hard to…” Nell stopped.
Laura pointed her way. “I knew you knew more about guns. What the hell is going on? Last week you left a bunch of notes at my house about how to defuse a bomb. What are you planning, Nell? I know you’re upset about the practices at the new water treatment plant in Alamosa, but you can’t blow it up.”
They thought she was going full-on anarchist, blow everything up? It was good to know she could still surprise someone. So many people assumed she would be nonviolent—likely because she preached nonviolence—and she’d found that made many of them think she was weak.
She’d once lived in a massive tree for two weeks in order to save it from being turned into someone’s mulch. There were no bathroom breaks when protesting. She wasn’t weak.
“I’m not blowing anything up. I’m merely researching for my book.” The one her friends thought she’d been writing for years.
Laura’s eyes narrowed. “The book about the Dust Bowl? You needed modern-day bomb technology for your romance about the Dust Bowl? You know that happened in the last century.”
Laura seemed to be zeroing in on her secrets. The last couple of weeks her friend had asked some incredibly specific questions that made Nell think Laura was suspicious. It should be annoying, but it was kind of a fun game. The good news was she had a creative imagination. “There’s now a time travel element. I finally figured it out. It’s what’s been missing all along. You see, there’s this odd artifact in the barn and when my heroine touches it, she meets her own great granddaughter, who also happens to be a bombmaker.”
She saw the minute the light in Laura’s eyes died. Score another one for Nell. Sometimes she thought her superpower was being able to drain a person’s will to live simply by talking.
It was kind of a sucky superpower.
Henry always listened to her. He never zoned out or shut her down no matter what she was talking about. She could be talking about the most boring aspects of public policy and Henry would stare right at her and ask intelligent questions.
“All I’m saying is it seems to me Henry’s being responsible. Yes, he should have told you he had the guns, but you can be hard to talk to about these things,” Laura said with a sigh.
Her heart ached. “Henry’s never found it hard to talk to me.”
“I have to think there’s a reason.” Holly sat back. “How much do you know about who he was before he came to Bliss?”
She’d thought about this all morning. “I thought I knew a lot. Like when we’re talking it feels like he’s told me things, but I look back at the conversations we’ve had about his past and I realize he always deflects. I know he’s an only child and he doesn’t know who his father is. His mom died when he was young, but he doesn’t like to talk about that. He went to college and discovered a love of history and that’s about it.”
“Have you ever read anything he’s published?” Laura asked, seemingly diverted away from the other mystery.
“Of course. He’s got a bunch of papers he published on his computer. He didn’t bring the copies of the journals with him. He had a roommate who threw them out. He thought they were supposed to be recycled with the other paper products.” She’d thought about trying to hunt down copies for their anniversary. It might be a good project.
“That’s sad.” Holly waved at someone walking in.
“It’s weird.” Laura nodded, greeting someone behind Nell. She leaned in. “Rachel’s on her way over. Nell, I think you should talk to Henry. You have to be open and honest about what you’re worried about.”
“I’m not truly worried about the guns. I’m worried about the lies. He lied by omission, and I worry he’s lied about other things,” Nell admitted.
“Would it change how you feel about him?” Laura asked, her voice low.
That was the question she didn’t want to ask at all. “I think I need to consider that. I need some time before I confront him. It could be pregnancy hormones.”
“Who’s got pregnancy hormones?” Rachel Harper stood at the head of the booth, her strawberry blonde hair up in a ponytail. “Because I’ll trade stories with that lady. The best way to deal with hormones is to follow all your homicidal impulses.”
Laura had flushed and Holly’s mouth closed.
Rachel’s face lost its snarky look. “I’m sorry. Is it a secret thing? I won’t say anything. I promise.”
Should she tell Rachel? If she told Rachel everyone would know, and she’d wanted to wait for a while longer. Telling Holly and Laura was one thing, but…
“It’s not a secret that Alexei, Caleb, and I are trying.” Holly gave Rachel a bright smile. “But I’m not pregnant yet. Although I am full of hormones.” Holly gave Nell a wink. “I’ve already told both my men to buckle up because being pregnant can make you do crazy things.”
Like suspect her husband was anything but prepared for trouble that might come their way. Henry was a good man. He’d proven it to her over and over again.
She would find those journals for him. She would replace something he’d lost and she would forget about accusing him of something she was sure he hadn’t done.
“Well, I hope it works and soon. I would love to have another pregnant lady to hang out with.” Rachel’s hand went to her barely there belly. “I’m almost sure this one is a boy, and I fear for my sanity. Now I came over to let you know we’re moving book club out to Jen’s because I have feelings about this one. Deep, personal feelings.”
Nell had missed the last two book clubs. They were held on a monthly basis, and every month one of the ladies picked a book to read and discuss. “Why would your feelings mean we need to change locations?”
Laura snorted slightly. “I was wondering if you would pick up on that.”