Elijah Markham straightened his posture when he noticed me approaching. “Captain Roman-Wyatt?” he asked.
“And you must be Detective Markham.” We shook hands and I indicated for him to follow me to the office. I glanced over my shoulder and Adrian gave a thumbs-up before he and Wen headed out to extend the neighborhood canvas.
“Adrian seems like a standup guy,” Detective Markham said, earning brownie points.
“He’s the best,” I replied. “Tell me a little bit about yourself and why you think Blissville would be a good fit for you.”
“Well, I did eight years in the military right after high school—most of it spent in combat—then pursued a degree in criminal justice before I applied for the police academy. I was promoted through the ranks in Columbus at a fairly quick pace and jumped on my first opportunity to make detective. I probably should’ve thought it over a little longer because undercover vice was never my dream job and it seems the only way out is for me to transfer.” I had seen that with my own eyes and knew he spoke the truth.
“Tell me something about you that I won’t find in here.” I rapped my knuckles against the file that contained his employment history sitting on my desk. I saw his aptitude tests, his psychological exams, reports that extolled his accuracy with a firearm, and several commendations from when he was a patrol officer that told me he’d pull his weapon as a last resort. He was the kind of guy I wanted on my team.
“I had a four eighty-five batting average the last year I played on the police department softball team.”
“How long ago was that?”
“Two years, sir. I just couldn’t work it into my schedule when I was working undercover in a motorcycle gang,” Detective Markham said.
I’d known many undercover cops who took the wrong paths in life for a multitude of reasons. Most of them were placed in unfathomable conditions and often had to make some dicey decisions. Doing the right thing could get you killed. To some, staying alive meant crossing a line and justifying their actions without regard for those they hurt. I only wanted individuals with the highest integrity on my police force. I looked him square in the eyes and asked, “When you look at yourself in the mirror each night, what do you see?”
“A man who is proud of his service—both to his country and to the citizens I have sworn to protect. I see a man who knows the right decision is often the hardest, and I’m not afraid to make it. I’m a man who goes to sleep with a clear conscience, sir.”
“I think you’d make a great fit here, Detective Markham. Are you sure moving to Blissville is what you want?”
“I discarded the posting more than a dozen times, but I kept coming back to it. It just feels right to me.”
“I’m glad you feel that way because I think you’d make a fine addition to our team. I’d like to offer you the position.”
“Thank you, sir. I’m grateful for the opportunity, but I need to be upfront and tell you that I won’t be able to start until I can wrap up my current undercover case. I’d love to tell you that it will only be a few weeks, but…”
“I understand, Detective Markham. I have no desire to undermine your case or put another officer in harm’s way by pulling you off a case too soon. I know how deep in cover you have to go sometimes. The position is yours.”
“I’m honored.” He reached across my desk and shook my hand.
“Welcome to Blissville, Detective Markham.”
Warmth, laughter, and the delicious aroma of baked apple pie greeted me when I stepped inside our home. An easy smile spread across my face because I loved my life. No matter how tough my work day was, I got to come home to my beautiful family. My smile turned into delighted laughter when Destiny and Dylan squealed happily when I walked into the family room. I squatted down, opened my arms, and held my breath when they both toddled toward me a few steps before falling down on their butts. Dylan started to cry, and I’m pretty sure Destiny rolled her eyes at his theatrics.
I scooped them both up and cradled them against my chest. “Did you miss Papa?”
“Paaaapa!” they both chanted.
“I missed you too.” I kissed them each on top of their heads then accepted Josh’s welcome home kiss. “So, what did you guys do today?”
“The town folk tried to pump me for information about the crime committed at Santa’s Village,” Josh informed me.
“What did you tell them?”
“I told them I needed more time to work the scoop out of you.”
I laughed then asked, “Is that why you baked a pie?”
“No, I figured you could use comfort food after a long day,” Josh responded then stood on his tiptoes and leaned closer so that his lips touched my ear. “I’ll bring out the heavy guns later to get the information out of you.”
“Cuffs? Rope? Your favorite burgundy silk tie?”
“I was thinking more like a scalp massage, perv.”
I followed him into the kitchen, admiring his round ass every step of the way. I had big plans for him after the babies and grandparents went to sleep for the night. Until then, I kept my mind out of the gutter and listened as he talked about his day while I fed the twins. Of course, I got held up on the part where he talked about it being a make out spot for teens during off season.
“Which you don’t know from personal experience though, right?” I asked.
“Ummm.”
“Sunshine?”
He turned around slowly, his fingers coated in egg and flour from battering the country fried steaks. “Baby, you knew I wasn’t a virgin when we met.”
“How often?”
“Really, Gabe?” He rolled his eyes and turned back to his task. “I was like every horny misfit who wanted to find affection and acceptance any way he could. It was just sex and I usually felt pretty shitty afterward.” Josh paused for a second then added, “I can’t regret it though, because it sure makes me appreciate what I have with you.”
“Who were they?” Yeah, two years later, and I was still dragging my knuckles. “Never mind; I don’t want to know.”
“I wasn’t going to tell you anyway.” Josh laughed then changed the subject. “Tell me about the parts of your day that you can share.”
“You won’t believe it,” I said, using a familiar phrase.
“Try me.”
“I hired a new partner for Adrian,” I announced.
“How did that feel?”
“What do you mean?”
“Are you worried that he’s going to replace you in Adrian’s life?” Josh asked.
“I hadn’t even thought about it.” Until now. I had expected things to get a little awkward when I was promoted as Adrian’s supervisor, even though it was his idea, but it never happened. Things had been blissfully slow in Blissville and not a lot of investigating was required until someone decided to hang Santa from a flagpole. The burglary and vandalism cases from the previous year had gone cold. Was this the same person starting back up again, or was this a new threat to our community?
The grandmas snatched my children away from me before I could take them upstairs for their nightly bath. Josh chuckled at my scowl and pointed toward the newspaper folded neatly on the table. “Why don’t you make the most of it and read the paper since you didn’t get the chance to this morning.”
“Where’s my glass of sherry, pipe, and slippers?” I asked.
“The fifties are calling and they want their Neanderthal back,” Josh replied sassily.
“You love it when I go caveman on you.”
“Yes, in bed. You just keep it up and see where it gets you.”
“Oh, are you threatening to withhold sex again? I wonder if you can make it past ten minutes this time.” I scanned the front page and didn’t see anything too interesting. I opened to the second page and all my good humor vanished when I saw a smug, smiling face of a man I wanted to punch. “Did you know about this?”
“Can you be more specific, dear?”
“Did you know your ex-lover is the newest res
ident at Blissville Family Medicine?”
“Uh, I might’ve seen something about it on their Facebook page last week.”
“Last week?” I asked hotly. “When were you going to tell me?”
Josh snorted and said, “I was hoping for never.” My husband washed and dried his hands before he turned to look at me. “He won’t last long around here, babe. He’s a big city boy not suited for a small town. He’ll get bored and move on to someplace else. I didn’t see the need to upset you.”
“Of all the places he could’ve gone, he chose your hometown?”
Josh shrugged. “It doesn’t really matter though, does it? He’s not you.” Josh returned back to his beloved stove and lowered the battered meat into the hot oil. To him, the conversation was over, but my mind was still rolling the new information as I processed it from every angle.
“When is Dylan and Destiny’s next checkup?” I asked.
“January,” Josh answered. “Trust me, Trent will be long gone by then.”
I wanted to believe Josh, but I was a big city guy who loved the change of pace in a small town. Plus, I found the love of my life in this tiny town. Doctor Douche would just need to cast his eyes in another direction because Josh Roman-Wyatt was off the market.
I had learned the first year of business that it made no sense to keep the salon doors open the week of Thanksgiving. Very few people were thinking about their hair on the Tuesday or Wednesday before turkey day, and they were all shopping on the Friday and Saturday after. It became known as Josh’s mini vacation and my favorite time of the year.
The grandmas went out to do some shopping with an ornery gleam in their eyes that made me nervous, while my dad took Al to the VFW to introduce him to some of his old poker buddies. Gabe had a crime to solve so that left me blissfully alone with my babies and pets. Before Gabe and the babies, I’d enjoy a leisurely pumpkin spice latte and pumpkin nut muffin at The Brew on Tuesdays before the holiday to enjoy the calm before the storm. Fast forward a freakishly short period of time and my life was completely different. I still sipped a pumpkin spice latte and ate a pumpkin nut muffin, but they were brought to my house by my best friends and consumed fast before the twins could find too much mischief.
Mere squatted down and held her arms open wide. “Come show Auntie Mere how fast you’re growing up.” Dylan and Destiny squealed in delight at the sight of our visitors and were too excited to get many steps in before gravity won the battle. Mere scooped them up and held them tight against her chest and kissed their round, rosy cheeks clean off.
“Leave some cheeks for me to kiss,” Chaz playfully whined.
“I have a cheek you can kiss,” Mere retorted, but she passed Destiny and Dylan to Chaz.
My Mere always wore a smile on her face. In fact, it was impossible to know if she was upset about something until she chose the time to reveal it to you. The smile she wore that morning was just as brilliant, but there was a slyness to it that told me Meredith Richmond-Sutherland had a secret. I narrowed my eyes as I studied her. She declined caffeine and was sipping ginger ale instead. I suspected I knew exactly what her secret was too. The old Josh would’ve blurted out his suspicions right away, but the new Josh was mature and knew it was better not to ruin Meredith’s big moment.
“Have you guys heard any gossip around town about the Christmas Bandit?” I asked my friends, referring to the headline I saw in the paper that morning.
“Ho ho ho!” Savage screeched. I suspected he was insulting us rather than imitating Santa, but I chose not to call him on it. He was making an effort to clean up his act.
“Gobble gobble gobble,” Sassy replied. They sounded like an old married couple. Savage would say something and Sassy would either join in or contradict him depending on her mood.
Chaz snorted. “Plenty of gossip, but none of it sounds practical.”
“Which is your favorite theory, Chaz?” Mere asked him.
“That someone vandalized Santa’s Village because it opened before Thanksgiving this year.”
“Things are getting out of control. I saw Halloween candy on shelves at the end of July!” I told them.
“Leave it to you guys to be practical in your theories. I’m going with the alien theory,” Mere said with a smirk. She loved her sci-fi movies and television shows, so her choice wasn’t a surprise.
“Gabe discovered last night that Trenton is doing a rotation at our pediatrician’s office,” I told my friends.
“How’d that go over?” Chaz asked.
“I’m thinking about as well as a lead balloon,” Mere added.
“Pretty much,” I conceded. “He wasn’t happy that I didn’t tell him and was suspicious why I chose to keep that tidbit to myself.” I smiled at the memory of the way he imprinted upon me that I belonged to him and no one else. I tugged on the sleeves at my wrist to make sure the slight marks his handcuffs left behind remained hidden. Gabe was horrified that he’d gotten carried away, but not me. I caught myself running my fingers over the abraded skin and thinking back to the way Gabe captured my ecstatic cries in his mouth so that I didn’t wake our parents.
“Let me guess,” Chaz said, “he wants you to find a new pediatrician.”
I nodded my head. “He did say something about that, but I assured him that Trent would get tired of small-town life soon enough and be on his way. I made a bet with Gabe that he’d move on before the babies’ next checkup appointment in January.”
Chaz and Mere looked at one another, sharing a grimace.
“What?” I asked
“I hope you didn’t make a big wager because I’m pretty sure I saw Kyle’s real estate agent showing Trent a house in our neighborhood,” Mere said. “He looks to me like he’s digging in, not bugging out.”
“Fuck,” I said under my breath so that my children didn’t hear me.
“What will you lose if he stays?” Chaz asked.
“My sanity.”
“You bet your sanity that Trent would move on?” Chaz shook his head in disbelief. “I know you got more creative than that. Naughty sexual favors?”
“Oh, stop! He’d lose that bet on purpose,” Mere told Chaz.
“Okay, technically it wasn’t a bet. It was more like a cocky statement that I know Gabe won’t let me back down from.”
After my friends left, I sprawled on the rug and let my babies crawl all over me while they giggled. Buddy joined me and lay patiently while the twins cuddled up next to him where they eventually fell asleep on his chest. They looked so peaceful that I didn’t want to disturb them, but I knew Buddy couldn’t be comfortable, so I risked ruining naptime by moving them to their beds.
When we first brought Dylan and Destiny home, they got fussy when we put them in separate cribs. They were used to sharing a tight space and both appeared to feel lost without their sibling near. They quieted and became peaceful the second we put them in the same crib, and we decided that they’d let us know when they wanted their own individual space. Ten months later, Destiny still reached for her big brother as she drifted to sleep beside him. It was quiet moments like those, little snapshots in time, that were so beautiful that my chest hurt from the tight hold my angels had on my heart. I wished that I could slow down time because they were growing up so damn fast. Before I knew it, they’d be starting preschool. That was more than I could handle, so I went back downstairs and grabbed a sketch pad and began planning my surprise for Gabe.
“Wait until you see what we bought,” my mom said when they returned a few hours later. She and Martina proudly held up their shopping bags and my suspicions from earlier returned. “Josh, knock that off,” she said after I groaned. “Ugly Christmas sweaters? Pilgrim costumes? What have you done, Mother?”
“Don’t be silly,” she said, waving her free hand at me before she reached inside the bag and pulled out a pair of red and black flannel pajama pants and a red Henley style pajama top with a snowman embroidered on it. “Matching pajamas for Christmas Eve for the entire famil
y. We’ll have our pictures taken by the big fireplace in the formal living room.”
“A new family tradition,” Martina added, grinning broadly. I could see where Gabe got his love for the holidays. “I’m worried that Gabriel is going to hate this, so I’m counting on your help, Josh.”
I was pretty certain that Gabe would happily go along with our mothers’ plan without complaint, but I never passed up an opportunity to earn brownie points with my mother in-law. “You can count on me, Mom.” The brilliant smile I earned made me dance happily on the inside.
“You ladies have been gone all day. What else did you buy?”
“Um,” my mom said hesitatingly. “We did some window shopping too.”
I tipped my head to the side and studied her. While I was blessed with a poker face, my mother was not. The fact that she broke eye contact and began looking in her purse for something was a tell that she was hiding something from me. I really got suspicious when I saw Martina start to fidget too. I was about to press them, but the dads returned home and greeted their wives like they had just came home from war.
“I’m making dinner tonight,” Martina announced to us.
“Yes!” I said, punching the air. “Can I help? I want you to teach me how to make authentic Latin food for Gabe. I’m sure he’d appreciate taco Tuesday if they were more like the kind you make and not the watered-down store version.”
“I’d be honored.”
When Gabe came home from work, he found me in the kitchen with Martina making tortillas from scratch.
“Oh my God,” he said as he inhaled the aroma of the spicy shredded chicken and beef that we had already prepared. He came up behind me, wrapped his strong arms around me, and kissed a path from my collarbone to my ear. “You smell more delicious than the food.”
Al called excitedly from the enclosed porch, and Martina went to see what he wanted. Gabe took that opportunity to pull up my sleeves and inspect my wrists. The marks had faded already since that morning.
“I got a little carried away,” Gabe huskily said. “I love being physical with you, but I never intended to hurt you.”
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