by JoAnn Ross
“Not that I don’t believe you’re going to be well and healthy next summer, but I think Aiden and I have some issues to work out before we even get to a point where we’re talking about weddings,” she said carefully.
“I know, darling.” Gloria ran a hand over Jolene’s head and down the back of her hair, a reassuring maternal gesture going back to those simpler childhood days. “But it’s fun to think about.”
“Why don’t you think about you and Michael instead? And what you two were talking about?” It had not escaped Jolene’s notice that Sarah had seated her brother-in-law next to Gloria. Nor had she missed what sure felt like attraction sparking between them.
Her mother ran a hand through her hair, revealing tangled nerves. “We were talking about his wine and painting nights. He thought I might enjoy one.”
“That sounds like fun.”
“It does.”
“Maybe you should take it.”
“I’m considering it. I’ve been worried that he might have heard what I said during my procedure, but if he did, he’s too much of a gentleman to bring it up.”
Jolene knew that there was no way Michael Mannion could have escaped hearing about her mother’s declaration to take him as a lover. “Perhaps that’s why he mentioned the class,” she said mildly. “To let you know that if you meant what you said while under the influence of Xanax, he’s interested.”
“I said I’m considering it.” Her mother’s tone also declared the subject closed.
* * *
IN THE END, after two days of searching for Palmer, it didn’t prove difficult. He turned out to be where the ranger had noticed him, but when Aiden called for him to come out of the tent that had heavy snow on the roof, he’d called back that he couldn’t. Because his feet weren’t working.
“Do you have any weapons?” Aiden asked, knowing that people lied all the time.
“No!” The pain sounded real. “I j-j-just need someone to come rescue me before I d-d-die.”
“He sounds authentic,” the FBI special agent said.
“Does to me, too,” the marshal agreed. “I grew up ice fishing in Wisconsin, but I sure as hell wouldn’t have wanted to spend two days and nights in a tent obviously not made for winter out here in this temperature.”
Unholstering their weapons, the three men tromped through the snow to the closed flap. “I’m going in,” Aiden said, knowing that the FBI guy could play the fed card to claim authority. “He attacked someone in my town.”
The other two men, along with the Salish County sheriff, exchanged looks, then shrugged. Unholstering their weapons, the sheriff stood back, as if he would do going through a door where a gunman might be on the other side and Aiden charged through it, pistol drawn.
And saw a man who looked as if he hadn’t been exaggerating about possibly dying. Eric Palmer was shivering violently. Having climbed to the glaciers enough times in his teens, Aiden knew shivering was the body’s way of generating much needed heat. His ski mask and sleeping bag were wet with condensation from breathing that had caused it to rain, or even snow during the colder hours of the night. His hands were tucked inside the damp bag that was lying on the ground rather than a thermal mat. Palmer was obviously a guy who’d only done California or summer camping.
“I n-n-need you to g-g-get me out of here,” he managed.
“We’re going to do that,” Aiden said as the ranger accompanying them called for an Air Force Rescue Coordination Center, that in turn contacted the Coast Guard station in Port Angeles to send a medevac copter. “But I’m going to need you to take your hands out from that sleeping bag.” No way was he going to risk the guy having a pistol under there.
Although it took an effort, with his arms so stiffened, Eric Palmer pulled his hands out. They were gloved, but held no weapon. His face, when Aiden managed to pull the wet fleece mask off was a dangerous pale gray.
They unzipped the damp sleeping bag and wrapped him in the emergency Mylar blankets Aiden always carried. He also managed to get some water down him, despite his cracked lips because dehydration increased hypothermia. They didn’t take off his boots or gloves, because at this stage it could do more harm than good. Warming up skin that might freeze again, which was possible in the copter, then warming it a second time would cause more damage, including the risk of amputation, and better left to medical professionals.
Even having to go through three layers of government services Air Force Rescue arrived within five minutes and Aiden and the others loaded him up onto the litter and watched it go up into the copter that would transfer him to Olympic Medical Center in Port Angeles. The last thing he said to Aiden was to tell his wife he was sorry.
“I’ll bet she’s heard that before,” the sheriff said.
“You’d win that bet,” Aiden said.
“We get first dibs on him,” the FBI special agent said. “Given we’re talking a serious homeland security breach and you’ve only got him for spousal abuse.”
“Perhaps if you’d seen his wife you would’ve left the only out of that sentence,” Aiden said. “But yeah, I’m fine with you having him first. But I’m still going to charge him and arrest him before you take him off to wherever it is you feds take people. Because I want an official record of the assault and attempted homicide.”
“You’re going to go with that?” the sheriff asked with an arched brow.
“Yeah.” Aiden knew he probably couldn’t win that one, since any defense attorney would argue Palmer nearly running over his wife would be accidental, but since it would probably be a very long time before the feds released Palmer for trial in Salish County, he wanted to stack the deck as much as he could to keep the guy behind bars for as long as possible. They’d undoubtedly get him back on his meds while in custody, but he’d already proven incapable of staying on them without strict supervision.
They trudged back through the snow to their vehicles. “Well, since he’s yours for now,” he told the FBI agent, “I’m going to go have some turkey and cheesy corn and bacon with my family.”
But first he had to call Amanda and let her know that her husband had been found and was reasonably safe. He informed her she could receive his condition from the hospital after a while, but he advised not going there. Because he’d probably soon be moved. He’d keep her updated.
After she’d thanked him profusely, he drove out to the farm. Because he had a dinner to eat and a kiss he needed to finish.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
AIDEN HAD CALLED Jolene as soon as he was on the way, so his mother already had a plate fixed up and waiting for him. Everyone else had moved on to Gloria’s warmed cranberry apple pie topped with the vanilla-bean ice cream Aiden knew his father would’ve made that morning. John Mannion had always been the ice cream maker in the family, that had him thinking again of his family traditions and how he’d want to create his own, along with adding his past ones with his own family one day.
He’d always believed that cops had no business being married because the job became your life, you only hung out with other cops, and the hours, stress, and not big bucks pay could take a toll on a family that never got the time they needed to fully bond.
He bent down and gave Jolene a quick kiss, effectively revealing to probably no one’s surprise that they had a relationship. And, although Aiden knew it was undoubtedly sexist and Jolene would probably call him a Neanderthal, he was effectively staking his claim.
Which she didn’t seem to mind all that much, because, when he sat down beside her, he could see in her eyes that her smile came from her heart.
He gave a quick rundown of the Eric Palmer situation, since he knew everyone would be wanting to know the details, then, realizing he was starving, dug into his dinner. Beginning with the cheesy corn. “You’re right,” he said to her. “This is insanely good.”
“Thank you. That means a lot. Espec
ially since it’s the only thing I can cook besides frozen pizza.”
“Aiden can cook,” Sarah offered from the end of the long table. “I made sure all my boys could. Some of them, especially Aiden and Burke, complained that cooking was a girlie thing, but I pointed out that every man should be able to feed himself.” She smiled down the table at her husband. “John cooked me the same dinner we’d once had at a famous Boston hotel,” she told Jolene and Gloria. Everyone else in the family, and Seth, had heard the story every year. Especially when their dad recreated the meal every year on their anniversary. “The next day he proposed right here at the farm.”
“And you made me the happiest man in the world,” he said, lifting his glass to toast his bride of so many years.
“Thank you, darling.” Her warm smile assured him it was the same for her. “Proving,” she said, “that men cooking is not a girlie thing. But a very manly, even sexy thing.” Her smile suggested that her husband could get lucky once everyone had gone home for the night.
Even as Aiden cringed a bit inside at the thought of his parents having sex, he decided that he was going to cook Jolene dinner. He hadn’t done any cooking for a very long time, but he figured the same way she’d gotten the cheesy corn recipe from her friend’s husband, Quinn and Jarle could undoubtedly come up with a recipe he could pull off.
“That’s true,” Brianna said. “I love all those food shows and have a mad secret crush on Tyler Florence.”
“You never told me that,” Seth said, seeming surprised, but unperturbed.
“I suppose it never came up. But don’t worry. I have an even bigger thing for hot guys wearing a tool belt with a big hammer.”
Aiden, who’d just taken a drink of water, nearly spit it out. “Isn’t there some rule about sisters not discussing their personal lives with family over dinner?”
“Just saying,” Brianna replied with wide-eyed innocence no one at the table believed for a minute.
“I like Tyler, too,” Jolene said. “But Michael Symon is my chef crush.”
“You like bald guys?” Aiden asked. It wouldn’t be his first choice, but he’d be willing to shave his head if it made Jolene happy.
“Not especially, although he rocks it. Most of all, I love his laugh.”
That kicked off a conversation among all the women comparing the various celebrity chefs. Aiden thought about suggesting they may just be objectifying males, but not wanting to risk blowing up his plans for the evening, decided to just keep eating.
“You know,” his grandfather said, “it’s good to have two of my grandsons back home again. Especially when they’re both proving to be as smart about choosing their women as I was with my Harriet.” Who was, Aiden knew, his second wife, after he’d been widowed young. Just like Seth.
“You’ve always been such a sweet talker,” Harriet fussed, obviously enjoying the comment after decades of marriage.
“It’s easy when I’m talking about my sweetie,” he returned. “And good thing I was or you might’ve married Frank Jensen.”
“I’ve told you time and time again that I never had any intention of marrying Frank. I just let him dance with me at the Snow Ball to make you jealous so you’d finally get around to proposing.” She shook her head. “I swear, that stroke did something to your memory.”
“It was a TIA,” he corrected. “And it didn’t do anything to my memory. I just like hearing you tell the story of how I was always your true heart’s beau.”
“Stop that,” Harriet said, her remarkably still-smooth cheeks turning nearly as red as the cranberry base of Gloria’s pie. “You’re embarrassing everybody.”
“Nothing embarrassing about loving your wife.” He narrowed his eyes first at Seth, then Aiden. “As you’ll both be finding out soon enough.” That said, he shot a look at Quinn. “And you’d get busy finding yourself a girl. Because you’re not getting any younger and heaven knows I’m not. And I’ve every intention of dancing with my bride at each and every one of my grandchildren’s weddings.”
“Okay,” Sarah said in an obvious attempt to rescue her sons and the man who would soon be marrying her daughter. “Who’d like to help clear the dessert dishes off the table?”
After everyone pitched in to clean up, the evening ended early because the family had to get up before dawn to set up the festival. Fortunately, the forecast was chilly but sunny. Which was the way of life in the Pacific Northwest. As their bodies touched, one of them trembled. It could have been her. Or him. Or maybe, since they’d always been so in sync, until he screwed it up, both of them.
Aiden kissed Jolene again, with a tenderness that he’d never felt for anyone else. “There’s something I want to get out of the way. So, we might as well do it, now. Fast and quick. Like pulling off a Band-Aid.”
“All right.” She glanced over her shoulder back toward the main room.
“Your mom’s fine with waiting a moment more.”
“How do you know that?”
“Because I saw her talking to Uncle Mike.”
“Oh.” He felt her relax again in his arms. “Do you think they’re going to get together?”
“I wouldn’t bet against it. Mike can be very persuasive when he puts his mind to it.”
“I don’t want her hurt. She told me he dated Seth’s mother this past spring.”
“I’ve heard it wasn’t the kind of relationship we have. It was more of a friendship. Though, he may have been testing the waters.”
Admittedly, that’s exactly what they were doing, too, because Aiden didn’t get the feeling Jolene was all in yet. Yet being the definitive word.
“But he never would’ve done anything with Ben Harper still in the picture. From what Seth told me at the wedding, his parents had some things to work out. Which they did. And Mike, being a pragmatic guy, isn’t the kind to carry a torch.”
“Perhaps, because he doesn’t get committed, so it’s easier to move on.”
And wasn’t that like what she’d told him about herself? Until she’d admitted, today, that he’d been the exception. That was enough to give Aiden hope. “But I don’t get the feeling he’s a player, because there have been lot of women suddenly taking his art with wine classes and, according to Mom, he hasn’t dated any of them.”
Jolene laughed. “Maybe my mom and I should go to the next one.”
“It’d probably be fun. I was watching him talking with her while I was eating your seduction side dish, and he sure seemed focused in on her.”
“That’s the feeling I got, too.” She slapped his shoulder. “And it is not a seduction dish.”
“Hey, it had bacon. For a guy, that’ll work every time.”
He stopped her midlaugh by kissing her again. Longer, deeper, a kiss that went straight from their lips to below his belt. Damn. He had no control over himself when it came to this woman. And never had. He couldn’t count how many times he’d gone home from being with her and jacked off in the shower because that old saw about cold showers had never worked for what she’d done to him.
“We’re going to have to wait a minute,” he said. “Before I go out and embarrass us both.”
Her eyes drifted down. Her lips curved in a smile that was definitely meant to seduce. “I’m not sure I’d have anything to be embarrassed about. Actually, I should feel pretty smug about my female power.”
He touched her cheek that was as soft as silk. If this was what her skin cream did, she was going to make a bundle. “All those women’s magazines that tell you about how to satisfy your man’s burning need, and men ranking their top fifty favorite sex moves would go out of business if you knew that you women have always had the power.
“How about this? If your mom gets an all clear tomorrow, we go out to dinner.”
“Like a date?”
“Yeah. Dinner, drinks and whatever.”
“We neve
r had a real date.” There had been a reason for that, but it had dawned on him that she might have gotten it backward.
“I know, that’s the Band-Aid I intended to rip off. But I always seem to get sidetracked when I’m with you.” He kissed her again a warm, lingering kiss filled with promise. “We’ll save it for tomorrow.”
Gloria and Mike were deep in conversation as Aiden and Jolene returned to the main room.
“Ready to go?” Jolene asked.
“Oh.” Her mother looked up, appearing surprised to see her. That wasn’t all that surprising since they’d seemed to be in their own private world. Gloria’s cheeks were as flushed as a teenage girl’s. “Yes, we should let everyone get to bed.”
After more exchanges of goodbyes, and thanks, they were out the door and on their way back to the lighthouse.
The phone rang while Aiden was driving away from the lighthouse, following Jolene and her mother down the long, tree-lined driveway. It was the FBI, calling from the hospital.
“So,” said Bodhi, who had been absent during the search and dinner was back riding shotgun and had obviously heard the call through the speaker. “I guess everything was copacetic.”
“Yeah. It was frustrating not being able to find him right away, but Palmer was camping out in the snow, got hypothermia and is currently at the hospital in Port Angeles.” The agent had reported that once they got him warmed up, they’d be moving him to Seattle because it looked as if he could lose a couple of toes. And maybe the tips of some fingers.
“Good deal. How did things go with Gidget?”
“Jolene,” Aiden reminded him. “And right now it’s push-and-pull baby steps while waiting to see what happens with her mother.” He glanced over at his former partner, lifted questioning brow and waited.