by Joy Avon
“At least Iphy is happy,” Ace said. “I couldn’t believe the change that came over her when Strong asked her to come with him.”
“She’s just accepting an old invitation. Fifty years after the fact.” Callie had to smile despite her personal dejection about facing a separation from Ace, even if it was temporary. Iphy was indeed very happy now, also because in her absence her beloved Book Tea would continue to flourish in the hands of family. Even Grandfather Achilles would have approved of that. It made Callie warm inside and also confident that her bond with Ace could stand the test of being apart. They had something very special.
“Yes, well, I still have a lot to do,” Ace said. “To ensure Delacorte will pay for what he did. Not just the murder but also the whole fraudulent scheme with antiques for the black market he was the mastermind of. I still can’t grasp how a quiet type like him could be the real crook.”
“Maybe just the bigger crook,” Callie corrected. “King wasn’t exactly innocent either. Think of the poor women he duped all those years ago.”
Ace nodded. “I will contact them again, and we can see if something can be repaid to them. This will be a very big and complicated thing, so”—he rubbed his face—“I better get on it.”
“Sure. And thanks for coming to save Iphy.”
A smile lit his features. “I wouldn’t have done anything less. She is one of the citizens I vowed to protect.”
Yes. If Delacorte had been armed, Ace might have risked his safety in a confrontation. He might have been injured, or worse. Callie’s stomach tightened just thinking about that. He had such a dangerous profession. Did she really want to be with him, get closer, marry, and then end up like Peggy? Losing her husband as he tried to save a life he had vowed to safeguard?
She let him out the door and watched as he hurried down the steps in front of Haywood Hall and into his police car. He looked back at her and waved. She waved back, feeling a bit of a burn behind her eyes.
Iphy had once said no to Sean Strong because her family’s opinion, her comfortable life, security, and a place to settle had been more important to her than following her heart. Now she had made a choice again, this time chasing her feelings, choosing happiness, maybe only temporarily, as she knew Sean Strong so little, really, after all the years that had passed. But she had made her choice and taken a chance for it.
Maybe Callie just wasn’t ready to do that? Maybe she was just holding on to too many securities, wanting to know exactly what the future would bring before surrendering herself to feel how much Ace actually meant to her. Maybe he wasn’t the only one who had some thinking to do about their relationship and how they could make it work.
Ace drove off to the station, but soon he’d be going to another post. It would be for a while, not forever. He’d be back, and she might know better then what she wanted and how he might fit in to that.
And however things turned out and whatever she decided, she’d still have Book Tea, the tea parties, Daisy, her new home. Her friendship with so many people who had also helped her with this case. And Haywood Hall, the place she had signed up to conserve and care for.
Callie smiled up at its majestic front before going back in to where the others were waiting with their sandwiches. Valentine’s Day might not have turned out the way she had imagined it, but it had shown her she was part of a community where people cared for one another and braved the storms together. A community with a lot of heart.
Also available by Joy Avon
Sweet Tea and Secrets
In Peppermint Peril
About the Author
A lover of books, tea and sweet treats, Joy Avon decided to combine these in a mystery series about an organizer of the book-themed tea parties Joy herself would love to attend. When not writing or reading, Joy can be found buying bonbons, fluffy socks or notebooks with pretty patterns to write down her next idea. This is her third Tea and a Read mystery.
This is a work of fiction. All of the names, characters, organizations, places, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to real or actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Copyright © 2020 by Joy Avon
All rights reserved.
Published in the United States by Crooked Lane Books, an imprint of The Quick Brown Fox & Company LLC.
Crooked Lane Books and its logo are trademarks of The Quick Brown Fox & Company LLC.
Library of Congress Catalog-in-Publication data available upon request.
ISBN (hardcover): 978-1-64385-288-1
ISBN (ebook): 978-1-64385-309-3
Cover illustration by Brandon Dorman
Book design by Jennifer Canzone
Printed in the United States.
www.crookedlanebooks.com
Crooked Lane Books
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New York, NY 10001
First Edition: February 2020
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