“I didn’t see your truck,” she said after greeting Margaret.
He tilted his head. “It’s parked around back.”
Did it mean something bad that he didn’t come forward to hug her?
“Would you like to leave your coat and purse on the hall tree?” Margaret asked.
After divesting her outerwear, Kelsey followed Tyler’s mother into a dining room where an apple tree with greenery graced a long, polished table. A couple of silver platters offered homemade cookies, fruit and nuts, while a hot pot and mugs waited on the sideboard. “Are you expecting company?”
“Yes, dear, you! And Sheriff Dooley, of course. Please help yourself.” Margaret indicated the stack of holly-rimmed plates. “No need to make our gathering unpleasant, even if the reason for it is.”
At Kelsey’s incredulous glance, Tyler chuckled, hands in his pockets. Kelsey wondered if the more formal setting made him uncomfortable, or if her presence did that. “Mother loves to entertain.”
“Well, I’ve surely done enough of it. Here, let me pour your coffee.”
Certain she would be too nervous to eat, Kelsey hovered over the snacks.
“You have to try her famous blondies,” Tyler said. After stuffing one into his mouth, he grinned at her, wagging his eyebrows. “Delicious.”
Margaret gave her son a laughing, chiding look. “You can see how it is, can’t you, Kelsey? I’m glad to have a young lady here to appreciate manners.”
Kelsey smiled, taking a blondie and some cashews. She didn’t share that life on a military base didn’t tend to produce refinement. Any appreciation she had for life’s niceties came from her love of the arts. Following Margaret into the formal living room, her intimidation amped up a notch when she saw Callahan Jackson tucked behind a newspaper. He eyed her over his dark glasses, then slowly folded his paper, rose and extended a hand. Several nuts spilled off Kelsey’s plate when she leaned forward for the handshake.
“Oh, dear. I’m sorry.”
“No problem,” Margaret said as Tyler swooped in for the clean-up. She diverted Kelsey’s attention to her tree. “See why I love your store? I adore your gold and white ornaments and the tree skirt Angel made.”
“Well, let’s get down to business before the sheriff comes,” Callahan said. “He doesn’t need to know my grandfather’s story, but I feel we owe it to Kelsey.”
Nodding, Kelsey settled her coffee on a coaster next to her chair and crossed her ankles. “Tyler, and of course Nick, already shared some. I’ve just been wondering how Nick’s grandmother—Lesa—knew the will was in the desk.”
Tyler took the seat nearest her. “It was a guess. She’d seen him in secret papers there before.”
“When Lesa Franks threatened my mother about the new will, Mom questioned Connor’s lawyer,” Callahan said. “He told her that Connor had considered Lesa’s situation, and even drawn up the codicil, but never signed or filed it. Mother assumed Connor destroyed it.”
“She told you all that?”
“Only when she was much older. When I was a boy, she always talked bad about Germans. I thought it was just because of the war, but eventually she told me that a German housekeeper had set her sights on my father before he died.”
“We think the fact that Grandfather chose not to sign the codicil means he had doubts that Lesa’s child was his,” Tyler added.
Margaret leaned forward in her chair and said in a low voice, “She was known to be … somewhat loose. Although to be fair, her desperate situation probably influenced that.”
“I see.” Kelsey lowered her cookie to her plate, unable to nibble it in the face of this family’s painful secret. “But Nick could still be … Connor’s grandson?”
Callahan rumbled a growling sound that made Kelsey regret her question. “I plan to offer the man a DNA test so we can answer that with a resounding ‘no’ once and for all.”
Kelsey’s lips twitched in a tentative smile. “Good idea.”
When the doorbell rang and Margaret hastened to answer it, Kelsey breathed a sigh of relief to no longer be the focus of attention. Relaxing her posture a bit, she sipped her coffee. She noticed Tyler watching her as his mother led the sheriff into the room.
“Thank you so much, ma’am, but if it’s all the same to you, I’ll talk first, then eat,” Dooley told Margaret.
After shaking hands with Callahan, the officer lowered himself onto a leather recliner. He nodded at Kelsey. “Well, Nick Standard has confessed to breaking into the antique store in an attempt to locate the desk, then throwing a brick through the front window and dipping into the register to cast suspicion on Martin Spivey. The boy’s alibi checked out, so he had nothing to do with the robbery.”
“I’m so glad to hear that,” Kelsey exclaimed.
“Dad, I think we can offer Martin some work in the area we talked about,” Tyler murmured to Callahan.
Tyler’s father nodded. “I’ll let you approach him.”
As much as Kelsey yearned for details, she bit her tongue, respecting the flow of conversation. But she sent Tyler a glow of approval.
“Why was the will so important to Nick?” Margaret wanted to know. Kelsey liked the reassuring way the older woman reached for her husband’s hand. The look he gave her softened his demeanor. “Was this all just an act of retribution?”
Dooley shifted, creaking the recliner. “Apparently he overextended himself on his last investment. If he could legally claim the land in the codicil, he’d have a leg up on developing it, even if y’all refused to sell him the entire farm. But the only investment in Standard’s future will be an orange jumpsuit. He’ll be held at the county jail until his court date for breaking and entering at your house, Kelsey, and the robbery at Flea An’Tweak.”
“Exactly what he deserves, coming up here trying to swindle and steal what doesn’t belong to him,” Callahan muttered.
“Remember grace, dear,” Margaret whispered.
Dooley grinned and pointed a thick finger. “I got your back, Callahan. I’m thinking more of justice than grace at the moment myself. And we’ll see to it that you get back the money Nick took from you, Kelsey.”
Kelsey stirred. “Oh, that won’t be necessary. The amount Nick deposited for my December lease was almost exactly the amount he took from the register. At least he has some conscience, right?”
In the strange silence that followed, she waited for someone to respond. The sheriff looked confused. When Tyler gave him a slight shake of the head, Kelsey asked, “What?”
Tyler stared at her. “Nick didn’t pay your lease, Kelsey.”
“Of course he did. He told me so. At least … he let me believe so. Oh …” With Tyler’s parents watching her, Kelsey felt her face flush, probably as red as the poinsettias on the brick hearth. She buried her cheeks in her hands and only glanced up when she heard the recliner creak as Dooley stood.
The sheriff placed a hand on her knee and repeated, “We’ll get your money back.”
“Come get yourself a plate, John, or all this will go to waste,” Margaret said, leading the way into the dining room. Kelsey saw her make a rapid come-hither motion to her husband, who reluctantly discarded his newspaper to join them. Margaret slid the pocket door closed behind him.
Kelsey turned to Tyler, although she could hardly bear to look at him, knowing the debt she owed him. “Why did you do it?”
“You and Miss Margaret gave me a chance at doing something I loved more than life. I owed you the same thing.”
He owed her. He felt sorry for her. Kelsey lowered her trembling hand from her mouth and said with more firmness than she felt, “Thank you. That was incredibly … kind. I don’t deserve a friend like you. And because you’re such a good friend, I know you’ll allow me to pay you back.”
Before she finished speaking, Tyler jumped up from the sofa, came over, bent down, and sealed her mouth with a kiss. “Remember this?” he whispered, pulling back only a fraction.
Every nerve ending in
her body quivered like figgy pudding. “I forced that on you in the middle of a stressful situation. It’s something that happened between two lonely people—”
“Stop talking.”
“Two people otherwise completely unsuited—”
Tyler’s mouth clamped over hers, stifling any protest, drawing a response Kelsey couldn’t deny. He pulled her up into his arms, wrapping her tight against him, rubbing his hand over her back and tangling his fingers in her curls. His lips grew increasingly demanding, but she had no trouble keeping up with his passion.
“Tyler!” Kelsey gasped, terrified his parents might pop back through the door. And terrified of her own reaction to him. She put her hands on his chest in an attempt to establish a little distance between them.
But Tyler’s grip locked behind her back, denying her escape. “I warned you. Now I want you to stop talking once and for all about how different we are. I love your creativity, your bright mind, your kind heart. It was your idea for us to keep the farm, and we’re going to do it, Kelsey. I’m going to develop it as a trail riding facility and live there.”
“Oh, Tyler, that’s perfect. That’s where Martin can work?”
“Yes, and I want you to be a part of it, too. I don’t care how. I just want you around. Because when you’re not, well, I can’t stop thinking about you.”
Kelsey couldn’t believe the words coming out of Tyler’s mouth. But his eyes told her he spoke from the heart. “I feel the same,” she whispered. “And I’ve never felt this way before.”
He grinned, rubbing his nose against hers. “Good. Because I seem to recall there were a lot more adventures on your bucket list. What do you say we check them off together?”
She could think of nothing more exciting, because with Tyler at her side, the unknown didn’t scare her. She cradled his face and kissed him one more time. “I say ‘yes.’”
A Note from the Publisher
We at Celebrate Lit Publishing just want to take a moment to thank you for reading our collection Holly, Ivy & Intrigue. We are so grateful that you chose to pick up this book and read it. If you enjoyed this collection, please check out our previous collections and keep an eye out for our future releases.
Celebrate Lit Publishing Collections
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A Spring of Weddings by Toni Shiloh and Melissa Wardwell
Springs of Love by Laura V. Hilton, Rachel J. Good, and Thomas Nye
Love’s Thankful Heart by Laura V. Hilton, Rachel J. Good, and Thomas Nye
Table of Contents
HOLLY, IVY, & INTRIGUE
CHRISTMAS MURDER MIX-UP
Dedication
Holly, Ivy, & Intrigue Page 16