by Edie Claire
“Oh, bother,” Frances had muttered to Leigh as the procession began. “What is he doing here?”
Leigh didn’t need to ask to which “he” Frances was referring.
“He’s family, Mom,” she replied.
Frances tutted. “He’s not my family.”
Leigh felt a distinct twinge of foreboding. Her aunt was doing the right thing, and now was as good a time as any. But that didn’t mean it would be pleasant.
“What’s this?” Frances said more good naturedly as the six happy faces beamed up at her. “Did someone win the lottery?”
“In a manner of speaking,” Cara said cheekily.
Lydie shot her daughter a warning look. Then she looked at Leigh. They both knew that however intense Frances’s reaction, she would not erupt in front of the grandchildren. She would hold in her feelings and let them brew, gathering force for some later, greater explosion. Lydie’s announcement tonight only marked the beginning of what promised to be a long and thorny process. But at least it was a beginning. The lies and the sneaking around were over. And for everyone else, at least, it was a joy that deserved to be celebrated.
Leigh nodded her encouragement.
Lydie swallowed and nodded back. “Frances,” she proclaimed, her voice admirably steady. “I know I told you I’ve been seeing Cole Harbison again, but that was a lie. He’s engaged to someone else now. I only said that because you were hounding me so, and I didn’t want you to—”
“Cole Harbison is marrying someone else?” Frances interrupted. “But he was so fond of you! And you know I always thought—”
“I told you I didn’t love him.”
“Well, that’s hardly all that matters!” Frances lectured, seeming to forget that the two of them were in the midst of a crowd. “But if you’re happy being alone, you know that’s fine with me. I wasn’t trying to push you into marriage at your age. It’s just that Harbison is such a stable man, and I thought it might be prudent to—”
“Oh, to hell with it,” Lydie murmured. She turned around to where Mason stood behind her, threw her arms around his neck, and kissed him.
She kissed him passionately. In fact, she kissed him so passionately that all three kids and Gil found it suddenly necessary to avert their eyes. When at last Lydie released the man, only Cara and Leigh were still watching, frankly unable to look away.
Mason himself was stunned speechless. No one else moved.
Lydie wiped her swollen lips gingerly with the back of her hand, then took a step forward to face Frances. “We’re in love and we’re getting married. The sooner the better. And you can scream and fuss all you want, but it’s still going to happen. I hope you can make peace with it, because I’d really like to have you there. At the wedding, I mean.”
Leigh braved a look at her mother. The only apt description for her mother’s face was “apoplectic.” For a long time, Frances didn’t move. She hardly even seemed to breathe. Her skin was deathly pale and her eyes bugged. Lydie continued looking at her, and Frances looked back. The twins’ eyes seemed to lock in an endless round of unspoken communication Leigh couldn’t begin to interpret.
Then finally, slowly, color began to suffuse back into Frances’s face. Her jaw moved slightly. She blinked.
The crowd all stared at her, motionless with anticipation.
Frances cleared her throat loudly, making them all jump. Then she swallowed and sat up straighter. Her thin lips pursed. She made her response.
“Well. We’ll see.”
The crowd breathed a collective sigh of relief, and nearly everyone smiled again. Even Cara took the words as the equivalent of “Fabulous! I’m so happy for you!” But as Lydie withdrew from the porch, she and Leigh exchanged a knowing look.
The battle was far from over.
“Let’s celebrate,” Gil suggested, stepping over toward the van. “How about if I run out and bring back some ice cream?”
Lenna practically jumped up and down. “Oh, yes, Daddy!”
Lydie let out a huge breath and smiled. It was a smile at all of them. A smile of pure joy. “That sounds perfect!”
She called back to her twin. “You’re welcome to join us,” she said pleasantly. “Shall we bring some chairs out and have a lawn party?”
“Don’t trouble yourself on my account,” Frances said shortly. “It’s late. I need to turn in.” She began to struggle up, and Leigh leaned in to assist her.
“Come on, Mom,” Leigh cajoled in a whisper. “Just look at her! I can’t remember ever seeing Aunt Lydie so happy.”
Frances looked. For a moment, the lines of her face seemed almost to soften a bit. But then her lips pursed once more.
Leigh helped her mother through the door and back to her walker. “I can manage perfectly well from here,” Frances insisted. “You go on home, now. You’ve fussed over us enough.”
“All right,” Leigh agreed. She started to say something else, but thought better of it. Some things just took time.
Leigh waved a pointless goodbye to her sleeping father and opened the door. “Tell your Aunt Lydie,” Frances called out suddenly after her, “that she can bring me some ice cream later.”
Leigh smiled warmly. “I’ll do that.”
She returned to Lydie’s house just long enough to deliver the message, enjoy another round of hugs, and collect Allison. They had ice cream in the freezer at home, and she was anxious to check on Ethan and spend some time with the man she married. Tonight, the Harmon family would have its own celebration.
Allison didn’t argue as they buckled themselves in the van and drove off.
“Did you know, Mom?” Allison asked after a moment. “About Grandpa Mason and Grandma Lydie?”
“Not until earlier today,” Leigh admitted.
Allison sighed dreamily. “I can’t believe no one saw it. It was so obvious tonight. And I thought I was good with reading people, you know?”
Leigh smiled. “You are very good with reading people, Allison. I was proud of you tonight.”
The girl swung her head toward her mother with surprise. “Really?”
“Really.”
“I just thought you’d be mad. You always get mad.”
Leigh sighed. “It’s not that I don’t think you have valuable skills to offer in these situations. It’s just that I’m your mother. My first priority is always to keep you safe.”
“Mom,” Allison protested sternly. “When have I ever done anything in the slightest bit dangerous? What did you think I would do? Run right out and burst into the middle of a sting operation?”
Leigh’s face reddened. She shot a sideways glance at Allison. The girl was grinning.
Smart aleck. And she was only eleven. In a year and a half, she would be a teenager.
God help them all.
“If you really were proud of me tonight,” Allison suggested, “then maybe next time something like this comes up, you can tell me what’s going on and let me help without me having to sneak around. Okay?”
Leigh tensed at the thought. “Well, we’re not going to have to worry about that,” she replied. “This was a highly unusual situation. It’s not like we’re ever going to find ourselves caught up in another police investigation.”
“Oh, Mom!” Allison giggled, stifling a snort. “Sure, we will.”
Author’s Note
I hope you’ve enjoyed Never Steal a Cockatiel. If you’d like to receive an email announcement when the next book in the USA TODAY bestselling Leigh Koslow Mystery Series is released, please sign up for my New Book Alert! The series currently includes nine novels (Never Buried, Never Sorry, Never Preach Past Noon, Never Kissed Goodnight, Never Tease a Siamese, Never Con a Corgi, Never Haunt a Historian, Never Thwart a Thespian, and Never Steal a Cockatiel) and a short story (“Never Neck at Niagara,” which takes place chronologically right after Never Preach Past Noon). If you’re new to the series and would like to start reading where it all began, click here! Several of my novels are also available as aud
iobooks narrated by the award-winning Gabrielle de Cuir.
I enjoy writing in a wide variety of genres, but always with the same feel-good, humorous voice and guaranteed happy ending. To find out more about my works of romantic fiction, women’s fiction, ghostly YA, humor, and comedic stage plays, please visit my website, or my Facebook or Pinterest page. You can check out the first book, Alaskan Dawn, in my newest romantic series, Pacific Horizons. (The second will follow in Fall 2015!) I always enjoy hearing from readers via email, so if you’re so inclined, please drop me a note. Thanks so much for reading!
Table of Contents
Dedication
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Author’s Note