I surprised myself by not protesting.
“Finished?” MacGregor picked up the list and scanned it.
“I think so.”
“Good, then can we go back to bed?”
“Back to bed? It’s—”
“Five-thirty. And I know for a fact that you didn’t get as much sleep as you had expected to.”
“And how would you know that? You were sleeping.”
“I could feel you not sleeping.” He came around the table, took my hand and pulled me to my feet. “Come on, beautiful. We’re going back to bed. To sleep—or not.”
Again I didn’t protest. It was the first time we’d made love since the kidnapping and since my daughter had come home. We had missed each other.
I lay in his arms, savoring the feel of his naked body against mine. There was something incredibly soothing and elating about lying in your lover’s arms after making love. Something incomparable.
“Have I told you lately?” he whispered.
“Hmm, not in the past hour.”
“Well, I do, you know. I love you, McNair.”
“I do know. And I love you too, MacGregor.” I inhaled a deep breath and relaxed even more deeply against him.
The next thing I knew, I was waking up to the soft sound of his breathing. I had slept. It wasn’t that I hadn’t slept during the night. I had, better than the four previous nights. But then, I’d had an excuse. Two, actually. My daughter was home and unhappy. And a baby had been kidnapped. But Ally was home now, and four puppies had managed to thaw the icicle around my daughter’s heart. So, what had kept me awake during the night?
Yes, I had thought about the Greens and the events that had taken place. And the argument between Mike and George Green. But mostly, despite my promise to my fiancé and my father to let it go, my mind had been going around and around about the kidnapper and why he had brought Ally back without waiting for the money. And whether or not he had known that he was one of our three suspects.
I turned at the sound of a groan.
“What’s wrong?”
“You’re doing it again, McNair.”
“Doing what?”
He chuckled that warm chuckle that belongs to only him. “Playing Hamlet. Overanalyzing. It’s over. Ally is home. The Elliots are overjoyed. And Charlie has given it over to the police. If they want to pursue the perpetrator, it’s up to them.”
“I know. I know.”
“But, you can’t stop thinking about it.”
“Are you angry?”
That laugh again, only this time it was even warmer. “Darlin’, you wouldn’t be you if you didn’t keep after it. And I love you.” When he saw my single raised eyebrow, he added, “Everything about you.”
“Everything?”
“Everything.”
“Even my squeezing the toothpaste tube in the middle.”
He kissed me lightly on the mouth. “Adore it.”
It must have been left over from my days with Joe, but I asked it anyway. “You don’t mind that I’m so, you know—”
“Independent?”
I shrugged.
“No problem, lass. You’re welcome to build a fire anytime you’d like.”
He’d known that was the last vestige of dependence I’d exhibited in my marriage. Joe had needed to be needed. I had managed to not learn to build a fire correctly for his benefit. It hadn’t saved our marriage. Too many minuses, one being my channeling Hamlet and over-thinking things. Another, ironically was the opposite—my reliance on my intuition. But the sorest subject in our marriage had always been my relationship with my father. Despite Charlie’s attempt to convince him otherwise, Joe had always known that he had never embraced his son-in-law with open arms, just as he knew he could never measure up to the man who had raised me.
I turned over and rested my bent arms on MacGregor’s chest. “You don’t mind my working with Charlie?”
“How can I? I work with Charlie, albeit for the most part, reluctantly.”
“You won’t worry about my safety when I’m on a job?”
“I’ll worry about your safety when you’re crossing the street.”
Right answer. He enveloped me in his arms and held me until he felt me becoming antsy again.
“Okay, we can get up now,” he said, “As if you need my permission.”
“I want to get the kids off to the market before it gets too crowded.”
Unhurriedly he released me and we got dressed for the second time that morning. He was sitting on the edge of the bed, pulling on his socks. I was watching him from across the room as I buttoned my sweater. How had I gotten here? It wasn’t so long ago I was standing across the room while Joe was putting on his socks. I had to force myself to remember that because the memories seemed to be fading already. It was as if it had been a different life, and if it hadn’t produced Matt and Holly, I would have been able to tuck it neatly inside a box and shove it onto a shelf in the garage.
MacGregor looked up at me and observed the pensive expression on my face. “What?”
“Nothing.”
“Not nothing.” He held up his arms and I walked into them, settling onto his lap.
“Okay, it’s not nothing.” I wasn’t sure where it was coming from. Possibly my relationship with Joe. Or possibly Shelby Elliot’s relationship with the two men in her life. “Promise me something? Promise me you’ll never treat me as if I’m fragile?”
“I never have. I never would.”
“You and Charlie tried to protect me by keeping me out of the loop when you were busy saving Sharkey.”
His shoulders slumped in defeat and he looked down at his socks, a safe place. They would not hold him accountable.
“I’m sorry, lass. I was just doing what I felt I needed to do. You were overwhelmed with keeping Josh safe and trying to capture the men who were after him, and solving the mysteries of Three Dog Island, so I thought it best not to give you more cause for concern.”
I simply stared at him. It didn’t take more than that for him to get it.
“It will never happen again.”
“Good.”
“But as I told you before, I was following my intuition.”
“So you said.” And I believed him. At least I believed that he thought he was following his inner guidance. I just wasn’t convinced that it would tell him to keep me out of the loop.
* * *
The giblets were cooking, my fiancé was peeling potatoes, my boys were chopping onions, my daughter was still sleeping, my father was not making his stove-top stuffing, and I was staring out the window at the park.
As usual, MacGregor read my mind. He leaned down to kiss the top of my head. “It’s possible that I was completely off. For all we know, it could have been someone who knew a runner and stole his sweatshirt and shoes. It could have been anyone, not necessarily the three lads we had tails on.”
“Right. You really believe that. You really think that you persisted in returning to the park over and over again, only to have it lead you to an incorrect conclusion?”
He winced. “It’s Thanksgiving, McNair. Can we enjoy ourselves and be thankful we’re all together and that Ally is home with her family?”
I stood on barefooted tiptoes and kissed him squarely on the mouth. “I promise to do my best.”
“Can I help?”
I looked up at the sound of a female voice. For a moment I’d thought it was Holly, but I knew my daughter’s voice. I suppose my thoughts had taken me in that direction because I wanted it to be her. I wanted my little girl standing at the kitchen counter, alongside her brother, helping with the holiday meal as she had so many times in the past.
“Happy Thanksgiving to you, Maureen.” MacGregor put the last potato in the pot, wiped his hands on the makeshift apron around his waist and went to hug her.
“Back at you. The door was unlocked so I just came in. Oh my God!”
The four of us followed her gaze directly to the yawning pup
pies at the far end of the kitchen. She wriggled out of MacGregor’s arms and, after giving Rocky a giant hug, stepped over the barricade. MacGregor and I exchanged glances and smiles.
“Holly said you rescued some puppies but I didn’t realize you still—Oh my God, they’re so precious. What are you going to do with them?”
“Take your pick,” MacGregor told her.
“My pick?”
“Aye, lassie, one of them is yours if you want it.”
“Want it? Are you kidding?”
“Your father won’t mind, will he?” I asked.
“No, I don’t think so. I hope not.” She looked up from the puppy that was nipping at her chin and giggled. “And if he does, I’ll move out, which I’m planning to do anyway.”
“Do you think Declan would like one?” MacGregor asked.
“No. Dec wants to do some traveling. Once he sells his house, I think he’ll take off for a while.”
“Scotland and Ireland?” MacGregor asked.
Maureen smiled. “Of course.”
Matt and Josh left behind the chopped celery and onions and joined Maureen in the puppy haven. They sat cross-legged on the floor while they played with the other puppies.
“So, which one?” Josh asked.
“This one, I think.” She held up the puppy with the most speckles on his face. “I think he likes me most. He came to me right away. What do you think?”
“I think you’re going to have your hands full,” Matt said as the puppy yanked on the yarn at the V-neck of Maureen’s sweater, pulling it loose.
She snatched it out of his mouth before he could do more damage and leave her exposed in front of two appreciative boys. “You scoundrel!” She kissed him on the head and jumped to her feet. “I think I’d better go change. I’ll come right back. Do you need help with dinner?”
“You could help decorate and set the table,” I told her. Eyeing the giblets that were still simmering on the stove, I added, “Unless you don’t mind chopping giblets.”
“Either one is fine. Or both.” She was grinning as she left and trotted off to change. There was something about being part of the preparations that made a holiday feel more like a holiday.
“One down, three to go,” Josh said. “I’d offer to take one off your hands, but that would pretty much mean you’d be keeping it.”
“Do you want one?” I asked.
“I think I’ll just enjoy having Rocky around for now. Too many changes in my life coming up. Who knows at some point, assuming I get into college, I might live in a dorm.”
“I want one!” This time there was no mistaking my daughter’s voice. Sassy, brazen, with just a hint of a whine.
“One what?” I asked innocently.
“A puppy, of course. I just saw Maureen. She said you gave her one.” Holly walked past us and stepped over the barricade, joining the boys on the floor. Before Matt knew what had hit him, she snatched the puppy he was holding out of his hands and nuzzled it. Apparently she’d already picked one out.
“Yes, but Maureen is living in a house. With a yard. You live on the East Coast in a dorm.”
“Sooo?”
“So, I doubt your college would take kindly to your taking a puppy to class, to say nothing of its living in the dorm with you.”
“I’d keep it here, of course. You could take care of it while I’m gone.” The whine had been replaced with presumptuous haughtiness.
“That would be difficult, honey. I don’t know if we could take on a new puppy and train it and everything, particularly with our going back and forth to the island and with the upcoming— events.” I knew better than to say the words, wedding and honeymoon. “And we’ll be doing some traveling.”
MacGregor looked at me with those warm brown eyes that gave the puppies a run for their money and tilted his head to the side. He spoke softly so only I could hear over the yapping. “Between the four of us, we should be able to handle raising a puppy, don’t you think, McNair? Particularly since we’ll be training one for Jasper anyway?”
“I suppose when you put it like that.”
Holly jumped up, leaped over the barricade, and threw herself into MacGregor’s arms, kissing him on the cheek. Funny how her hearing improved when words she wanted to hear had been spoken. “Thank you, Mac! Thank you, Mom!” But it was short-lived because as soon as she realized what she’d done, she pulled away and ran back to her puppy—the one with one black ear and one white ear. At least it was a move in the right direction. And hey, if it meant she’d be ingratiated to MacGregor and would be coming home more often, I’d be more than happy to raise a puppy.
“Two down, two to go.” Josh climbed out of the puppy zone and went to the sink to wash his hands before retrieving the mushrooms from the refrigerator.
“Hopefully by the end of the day it will be three down,” I said.
His eyes opened wide. “Jillian?”
“Un huh. If her family is okay with it. What do you think?”
“I think it’s a great idea. She seems, you know, kind of—of course she may be better now that her baby sister is home, but still, she just seems kind of, you know—”
“Withdrawn?”
“Yeah, I guess. Even lonely.” So he too had noticed.
That was the same reason I wanted to take one up to my artist friend, Jasper Rosenthal, on the Island. It was amazing what a rambunctious bundle of fur could do to improve one’s quality of life.
Happily it was a busy Thanksgiving. When they weren’t playing with their puppies, Holly pitched in with the preparations, helping Maureen decorate and set the table. She actually took a break to join me at the kitchen table for tea and a store-bought scone that MacGregor had run out for since I hadn’t had a chance to bake any. And we talked. Nothing deep or particularly significant, but oh how I enjoyed hearing her ramble on about her classes and her sore toes from dancing so hard and the cute boys on campus. All music to my ears, considering that it came willingly out of my daughter’s mouth.
After Charlie arrived, we called my sister Bryn and my brother Cameron who both promptly apologized for declining the invitation I had extended them well in advance. But they did promise to come up for the wedding and stay through Christmas. Where we would put everyone, I had no idea, considering that Cam was married with a brood of his own. But it would be a dilemma I would look forward to solving.
Scott Morrison called to tell me Marsha Green had declined the invitation to his party. She did not feel like subjecting herself to the discomfort of being in the same room with her ex-husband and his new wife again. I didn’t blame her, but I did call her and beg her to come. Just as I knew she was innocent, I knew it was important that she be there.
“Bring a date,” I suggested. “Maybe that will help.”
She laughed. “You’re not setting me up, are you? You’re positive you know I’m innocent?”
I liked that she had used the word know instead of think. I assured her that I did, and I assured her that it was not a set-up. She agreed to come. I didn’t know why it was important. I only knew that when I hadn’t been consumed with worrying about Holly ever speaking to me again and Ally coming home to her family, Marsha had been at the forefront of my mind. I was still pondering why George had divorced her when he still loved her. I realized it was something I might never know, just as I might never know who had kidnapped Ally and why they had returned her without receiving the ransom money.
That’s how the PI business was. Most of the time there were unanswered questions that we needed to let go. Unfortunately that stubborn streak of mine fought me every time. It sometimes got me into trouble. Hopefully this time I’d do better and would be able to walk away and not gnaw on it the way a dog would a ragged old bone.
Maureen’s brother, Declan, arrived early to hang out while we put the finishing touches on the meal. Being a bartender, he set up a makeshift bar and stood at the ready to serve anything that was requested. He was even prepared to raid his father’s incomp
arable bar if necessary. There was a suggestion that we take the meal over to the Sharkey abode, but we pointed out that as magnificent as Sharkey’s pub-size bar was, the meal was more important.
Charlie and MacGregor did consider heading over there after dinner for a wee dram of his thirty-year-old single malt whisky. They did promise to stay away from the forty-year-old bottle that they claimed cost somewhere in the vicinity of ten-thousand dollars, but Declan quickly informed them that his father, upon learning that they had discovered it, had hidden it under lock and key. They were not at all surprised to hear that, and had actually considered accepting the challenge of finding it for a second time. I reminded them that this was Thanksgiving.
It was a lovely gathering even before the Elliots arrived. The house was filled with laughter and repartee, and despite the age differences, the kids, as I called them, got along well. I was happy to see that when Jillian, the youngest, arrived, she seemed to fit in easily. It helped that Josh gave her plenty of attention, and that she already knew Holly and Maureen.
The first thing I noticed was that, for the first time in days, Ally’s family looked rested. They had all slept, undoubtedly the better part of the three days since her homecoming. The second thing I noticed was the seemingly permanent smiles on their faces. Third was that there was not a shred of animosity or jealousy among the adults. Unusual, I thought. And extremely mature. Not too many spouses and ex-spouses could have a pleasant meal together and not reveal a flicker of hurt, anger, or envy.
Jillian made a beeline for Maureen and Holly who were in puppy-land when she arrived. Other than when Holly had burst into the house upon learning that Maureen had been given a puppy, that was the first flicker of envy I had seen in anyone’s eyes.
I pulled Shelby away from the men who were flanked on either side of her and Ally as they stood in front of the fireplace as if playing the role of royal guards.
“What is it, Jenny? Is something wrong?”
“No, no.” I leaned down to give Ally a kiss on the forehead. I knew better than to ask to hold her. “She’s beautiful.”
Shelby looked down at the baby in her arms and grinned. “Thank you.”
“Have you put her down in three days?”
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