The Cat of Christmas Future

by Kathi Daley

  Fortunately, Siobhan thought of some couples immediately and even agreed to call them as the mayor to ask if they’d be free for a couple of hours the next day. I could hear Cody on the phone with Hank, so I asked Siobhan to call me back with a time and place, then headed out onto the deck to let Max run around for a few minutes. It was beautiful when the beach was covered with snow and the clouds had cleared. The reflection of the moon on the sea was just about the most awe-inspiring sight I’d ever seen.

  I was about to call Max back to go inside when my phone rang.

  “Hey, Tara, what’s up?”

  “Willow got a call from the Plimptons. Apparently, they’ve thought things over and have decided not to require the father’s signature given Willow’s situation. They want to proceed with the adoption whether he’s found or not.”

  I wasn’t sure whether to be relieved or concerned. “How did Willow take the news?”

  “I’m not sure. She said she was relieved, but she didn’t look that way. I asked her if she was still planning to remain on the island, and she said she wasn’t sure. She told me she was tired and headed into her room with Harley. I’m pretty sure I heard her crying. I don’t know what to do.”

  “Don’t do anything,” I recommended. “I need to call Tansy to see if she can tell me anything more. I’ll come into work early tomorrow and we can talk more then.”

  “I’ve been expecting your call,” Tansy greeted me when she picked up her phone.

  “You know the potential adoptive parents have waived their requirement of the father’s signature?”

  “I do.”

  “And…?” I asked. “Is this good news or bad? When you first told me about the baby and that he needed to be raised in an affluent family I was sure the reason Harley was here was to make certain we found the baby daddy. I suppose that might still be true, but somewhere along the way Willow and Alex Turner became friends, and it’s possible their friendship could turn into something more. Both Alex and the Plimptons can provide Willow’s baby with a top-notch education. I guess my question is, does it really matter which path the child takes?”

  Tansy seemed to hesitate. I hated that she seemed uncertain. I’d always been able to count on her being sure.

  “I believe it does matter,” Tansy answered. “Having the ability to financially provide the education the child needs is only part of the equation. My sense is that there are other opportunities that will mold the boy’s future that exist on only one of the paths open to him.”

  “Okay, so then do you know which path we need to steer him toward?”

  Tansy took a breath. “No. I wish I could say I have a clear sense, but I don’t. All I really know is that the child is at a crossroads. One path will lead him to his destiny and the other won’t.”

  I suppressed the urge to scream in frustration. “Okay. Help me out here. Willow no longer needs the father’s signature to continue with the adoption. For all I know, she might be thinking of leaving the island tomorrow. Do I allow her to leave or do I stop her? Do I support her plan to give the baby up for adoption or do I try to convince her to wait to make a final decision, thereby giving her time to work out her relationship with Alex?”

  “My best advice is to follow the cat.”

  Of course. I had almost forgotten about Harley and his role in all of this. Not only had Harley gone to Alaska with Willow and Alex, but after they’d returned Willow had taken Harley back to Tara’s with her. There was no doubt in my mind that Willow and the cat were linked. All I needed to do was watch the cat and try to support whatever action he made.

  I thanked Tansy and hung up. Then I called to Max, who was busy chasing the waves.

  “Aren’t you cold out here?” Cody asked when he joined me on the deck.

  “I was just coming in. Did you work out a lunch with Hank?”

  “Sort of. Siobhan and Hank are going to meet with three couples. He didn’t want to do lunch, so they’re getting together in Siobhan’s office. She didn’t think I should be there, so she’s going to call me afterward to let me know how it went.”

  Max joined us and we went into the cabin. “Siobhan is very persuasive. I think this could work.”

  “I agree,” Cody said. “Did I hear you talking to someone before I joined you on the deck?”

  I explained that the Plimptons had waived their requirement and filled him in on my conversation with Tansy.

  “It’s somewhat alarming that Tansy isn’t getting a clear reading,” Cody said. “I feel like we’re being asked to manipulate the lives of Willow and her child without having a firm grasp on the situation.”

  “I’m not loving it either. I suppose there wouldn’t be any harm in trying to convince Willow to stay here at least through Christmas. As far as we know, she doesn’t have anywhere else to go, and it would give us longer to figure things out. I hate to jump in on one side or the other until we know more.”

  “Agreed.”

  “There is one thing that occurred to me as I spoke to Tansy, though: regardless of whether Willow needs his signature, Bryce is the baby’s father. He has the right to know of his existence.”

  Cody nodded.

  “It’s my opinion we should continue to look for him.”

  “So where do we start?”

  “In the past week or so we’ve tracked him from Madrona Island to Homer, Alaska. I’m wondering why he went to Alaska when he had a prepaid room for an entire month here. Once he arrived in Alaska he was involved in a bar fight that ended with a stint in jail. What was he fighting about and who was he fighting with? And he’s been out of jail for a week, yet he hasn’t shown up back on Madrona despite having a room and possessions waiting for him. Willow and Alex didn’t find him in Alaska. Where is he?”

  “That’s a lot of questions.”

  “It is. And I have no idea what to do next.”

  Cody leaned over and kissed me on the lips. “We’ll figure it out.”

  I smiled. “I know we will. We always do. Siobhan’s going to be busy with Hank tomorrow, so we should see Finn. Maybe he can help us find at least some of the answers. I need to go into the bookstore and I promised I’d come in early, but maybe we can have Finn come by once the rush from the first ferry clears out.”

  “That sounds like a good plan. In the meantime, I’ll do a search to see if I can figure out what Bryce might have been up to in Homer. It’s a good possibility he’s still there even though Willow and Alex didn’t find him.”

  Cody was going back to Mr. Parsons’s tonight, so we said our good-byes and I went up to bed. I rested my back against a mound of pillows and looked out the window at the calm sea. Knowing the outcome of this latest task had such huge implications for mankind was making me uncomfortable. Tansy didn’t seem to have a clear read on things, which was a departure from the norm, but somehow I knew it was my own intuition I’d need to trust as we navigated the next few days.

  Chapter 13

  Friday, December 22

  I arrived at Coffee Cat Books sixty minutes before opening. The tree was already lit, carols were playing, and a fire was dancing in the fireplace. Tara was busy setting up the coffee bar, so I got the cats settled in the cat lounge, then jumped in to restock shelves while we talked.

  “How was Willow this morning?” I asked.

  Tara added paper cups to the stack in front of her before answering. “It was obvious she’d been crying, but she joined me for breakfast and I could see she was at least attempting to put on a happy face.”

  “Did she happen to mention what her plans might be?”

  Tara broke down the box she’d just emptied and set it aside. “Yes, she did. She told me that she’d thought long and hard about the situation. On one hand, if there was no longer a requirement of obtaining Bryce’s signature on the adoption form she didn’t have a reason to stay on the island, but she’d made a commitment to us to help out through the holidays that she very much wanted to keep.”

  “That’s good. I f
eel it’s important she stay at least for now.”

  “I agree. I reminded her that we wanted her to stay until after the baby was born. I pointed out that she had a secure job with us and a safe place to stay, and she agreed to think about it. She asked if I knew Alex’s plans and I answered honestly that I wasn’t sure what he’d be doing after the holidays. She tried to make it sound like she was just asking in passing, but I could tell there was more going on in her mind than she wanted to share.”

  I stacked the books in my arms on the shelf. “I feel so sorry for her. All the uncertainty must be really difficult to deal with.”

  “Yeah, she’s in a tough spot.”

  “Did she say where she stood on her search for Bryce?” I wondered.

  “We talked about that and agreed that even though the Plimptons weren’t insisting on his signature anymore, Bryce deserved to know he was going to be a father. She had no idea how to continue the search, other than to hope he came back to Madrona on his own, but if new leads turned up she wanted to follow them.”

  “That’s good. Cody and I feel the same way. We’re meeting with Finn later to try to come up with a strategy. Something must have happened in the past couple of weeks that made Bryce change his plans. Jennifer told me he paid cash for a room at the Inn for an entire month. Why would he do that if he planned to head to Alaska? Why not just rent the room for the nights he needed it? I don’t think the trip north was planned.”

  “It does seem like there may be something going on.”

  “The other part of the puzzle is that Bryce was at the Inn during the time Willow was looking for him. Sure, she was looking for a man named Trace and she didn’t have a last name or a photo, but this is a small island. If she was here for more than a month asking around about him don’t you think he would have heard?”

  “You think he was intentionally avoiding her?”

  I shrugged. “I don’t know, but it seems unlikely Willow could be asking everyone about him without him finding out she was here. I hope he didn’t take off for Alaska because he spotted her and didn’t want to deal with the situation.”

  “He might not know the baby is his even if he did see her,” Tara pointed out.

  “True, but he would at least suspect.”

  Tara glanced toward the door. “It looks like Willow, Alex, and Harley are on their way, so maybe we should change the topic.”

  “Did you ever order any more peppermint syrup?” I asked immediately.

  “I did, and it should be with the shipment we still need to unpack. I want to run a special on peppermint-flavored drinks for the next two days because tomorrow will be the last day we’ll be open until after Christmas. I want to use up the entire inventory.”

  I paused. “Wow. I hadn’t even thought about the fact that we only have two more sales days before Christmas. I feel like the holiday has really snuck up on me.”

  “Doesn’t it always?”

  I grabbed a new box of inventory from the pile. “Yeah, I guess it does.”

  I watched Willow and Alex as they entered the store. They were both smiling as Alex set Harley on the Santa chair and Willow placed her elf cap on her head. Alex asked if they could help us prepare for opening, so Tara had him bring the last of the boxes in from the back.

  “How are you feeling today?” I asked Willow.

  “Good. I had a bit of a rough night, but I think I’ve sorted things out in my head and I find I’m excited for whatever the future brings.”

  I smiled. “That’s great. Tara mentioned you still want to track down Bryce Barrington, even though the adoptive parents are no longer requiring it.”

  “It’s the right thing to do. I’m seeking a private adoption, so the rules are somewhat less stringent than with a public one, but I still think I should do everything in my power to notify the baby’s father of what I’m doing. If I’m unable to find him after giving it my best try I’ll be able to proceed with the adoption with a clear conscious.”

  “That sounds best.”

  “How’s your other project coming along?” Willow asked. “The one to help Burt get his house back?”

  “We still have some kinks to work out, but it’s coming along. We hope he’ll be back in his house before the New Year.”

  “It’s really nice how you and Cody have gone out of your way to help everyone. Not a lot of people would have done that. Most would have stood back and let us all be tossed out in the cold whether we had anywhere to go or not.”

  “We try to do what we can.”

  Willow’s expression grew serious. “I hope I’m in a position to help others the way you’ve helped me someday.”

  I didn’t respond. Alex returned to the room with the boxes Tara wanted and Willow and Alex turned their attention to unpacking the last of the inventory, including the bottle of peppermint syrup.

  ******

  Later that morning, Cody came by to let me know we’d be meeting Finn in his office at noon. That worked out for me because I could take my lunch then, and for Cody as well, because he had work he needed to finish at the newspaper and supplies he needed to pick up for the Christmas Eve party that morning.

  At Finn’s office we gathered around his desk and let him get started. “I spoke to the officer who arrested Bryce after the fight with a man named Cliff Peterman. It seems Bryce had been asking around about Peterman since arriving in Homer, and from what I’ve been told, he isn’t the sort to take kindly to anyone messing around in his personal affairs.”

  “Bryce must have tracked him to the bar, which angered him,” I suggested.

  “It does sound as if Bryce confronted Peterman in the bar, which led to the fight. Both men ended up in jail. Peterman is still there, but Bryce, who didn’t have a record, was released a few days later.”

  “I don’t suppose the officer knows where Bryce is now?” I asked.

  “He didn’t, but he said Bryce had adequate cash to leave town.”

  “What do we know about Peterman?” Cody asked.

  Finn shifted in his seat before he answered. “He moved to Homer eight years ago after spending several years in the San Juan Islands. He’s been referred to as a bully, has strong opinions, and is likely to engage in physical altercations with anyone who disagrees with or challenges him. The officer indicated Peterman has been in and out of jail for most of his adult life.”

  I immediately wondered if the fact that Peterman had once lived in the islands was relevant. “Do we know why Bryce was looking for him in the first place?” I asked.

  “I believe we do,” Finn confirmed. “Buck Barrington died eight years ago as the result of an injury he sustained while intervening in a liquor store robbery. There were no witnesses except for the clerk, who also died, and the image picked up by the security camera was grainy. There were a lot of folks in the area, including the resident deputy at the time, who thought the man whose blurry image was caught on camera was Cliff Peterman, but there wasn’t enough evidence to arrest him. He disappeared shortly afterward.”

  “So Bryce really came to Madrona to find the man who killed his grandfather,” I hypothesized.

  “It seems that may be exactly why he was here. During the bar fight, Bryce goaded Peterman into admitting he’d been responsible for his grandfather’s death in front of witnesses. He’s being held on other outstanding warrants while the matter is investigated.”

  “I guess that makes sense, but Bryce found Peterman and was arrested for his efforts. Peterman is still in jail, so where’s Bryce?” I asked.

  “At the Inn,” Finn said.

  “Our Iinn?” I asked.

  “I received a phone call from Jennifer Conroy shortly before you arrived. She told me Bryce showed up this morning only to let her know he’d done what he’d come to the island to do and would be on his way. He plans to leave on the three o’clock ferry. If Ms. Wood wants to speak to him she’d best do it now.”

  I stood up in preparation for heading back to the bookstore to speak to W
illow. “Why didn’t you just lead with that?”

  “I thought it was important you had the whole story.”

  Cody drove me back to the bookstore, where I pulled Willow aside and told her what I knew. It was after one o’clock, so she’d need to make a quick decision about how to proceed. She still said she wanted to speak to Bryce, so I drove her to the Inn.

  Jennifer called up to Bryce’s room and told him he had a visitor. When he came down the stairs and saw Willow the look on his face confirmed, at least to me, that he hadn’t seen her on the island or known she was pregnant. He pulled her into the dining area, which was empty. I watched as he hugged her, then asked her a question. She nodded, and he touched her stomach. She said whatever she intended and he kissed her, then signed the document, which she’d brought with her.

  Willow hugged Bryce again, then headed back to me.

  “So?” I asked.

  “He was naturally surprised, but he didn’t have a problem with the concept of adoption. Neither of us is interested in pursuing a relationship and Bryce made it very clear he isn’t ready to be a father. We’re just getting started in life and have no way to care for a child even if we wanted to try. I never expected he’d want the baby, but I’m glad I had the chance to tell him that he was going to be a father.”

  “And he wants you to go through with the adoption?”

  “He said he’d leave all decisions regarding the baby to me. He’s leaving on the next ferry and flying out of Seattle tomorrow. He’s on his way home to Chicago to try to work things out with his father. I wish him all the best.”

  I took Willow’s hand. “Do you want to go back to the bookstore?”

  Willow smiled. “Of course. Santa needs his elf.”

  Chapter 14

  Saturday, December 23

  “Don’t be nervous, Miss Cait,” eight-year-old Hannah said to me as I stood frozen in fear as the auditorium filled up.