On the Edge (The Gregory Series - Last Book)

by SUE FINEMAN

  She’d already written her last column for the Tacoma Tribune, an accounting of the events leading to the captures of Jack Blackburn and Alistair Walden. One of the Houston papers had asked her to write for them, but she turned them down. She’d write a book instead, a full accounting of the case and all its twists and turns. It was an interesting story involving a manipulating brother who’d found the twin brother who’d had most of his common sense beaten out of him as a child. Alistair used Jack without remorse. He’d even framed his brother, so he’d take the blame for the killings. Yes, it would make a good book, and Baylee had the time to write what she wanted now that she didn’t have to earn a living.

  “Edwin, I need to buy some toys.” And something else. “Is there a costume shop in Houston?”

  <>

  Nine days later, Chance drove the kids to Baylee’s house in Houston. As he pulled into the long drive, he said, “This is it, kids. This is Baylee’s house.”

  “Wow, that’s a big house,” said Steven. “Does she live her by herself?”

  “Yep, but she has a man who works for her in the house and another who works for her outside. He mows the grass and cleans the pool.”

  “Does she have horses?”

  Chance parked in front of the house and turned off the engine. “No horses. This isn’t a ranch, Steven.”

  He unstrapped Susie from her car seat and she scrambled out of the car with her sister and brother. Baylee rushed outside to greet them. She wrapped Sarah in a big hug and then hugged Susie. Then she turned to Steven. “I know you’re probably too big to hug, but I really need one today.”

  He gave her a quick hug and then stepped back, fighting a grin.

  Chance took the kids inside and sent Susie to the bathroom with Sarah. When they came out, Baylee said, “Go ahead and explore, kids, and then I’ll show you where your rooms are. Stay inside the house.”

  While the kids ran through the house, Baylee said, “I thought we could fire up Cody’s barbecue and make hamburgers for lunch.”

  “Sounds good. The kids will like that.”

  “I bought them some things. Do they have bicycles?”

  “No, we had to leave theirs in Tacoma, and they’ve been riding horses at Bo’s ranch.”

  “I don’t have horses, but there are new bicycles in the garage. Sarah’s has training wheels, but they’ll come off. There’s a tricycle for Susie. I thought about getting them those little motorized scooters, but Edwin thought they might like skates better. I got their sizes from your mother.”

  Chance shook his head. “You’re going to spoil them.”

  “I hope so,” she said softly as the girls bounced into the room.

  “Are you hungry?” Baylee asked them.

  “Yeah,” they said in unison.

  “How about hamburgers?”

  Chance turned on the gas barbecue in the outside kitchen while Baylee and Steven talked in the kitchen and the girls played with their new Barbie dolls beside the pool. A typical family Saturday afternoon that mirrored ones he and Emma had spent together before the divorce. Only they didn’t have a pool, and he wasn’t happy then. He couldn’t remember ever feeling this content.

  “Can we go swimming?” Sarah asked.

  “Maybe later,” he replied.

  He wondered what the intense conversation in the kitchen was all about when Steven and Baylee came outside together. She set the table under the umbrella, and the kids helped carry out hamburger buns and all the fixings. Knowing her, she’d bought them teddy bear cookies and ice cream, too. Steven loved ice cream.

  After they ate and the girls went back to playing with their new Barbie dolls, Chance said, “Somebody want to tell me what you two talked about in the kitchen?”

  Steven shrugged. “I asked her if she liked dogs and horses.”

  “Still lobbying for a horse of your own?”

  His son grinned. “I figured it wouldn’t hurt to try.”

  Amusement shown in Baylee’s eyes. “I told him he’d have to teach me how to ride.” She paused and smiled at Steven. “And how to be a mother. Because I don’t know how to do that either.”

  “It’s okay, Dad. You can ask her to marry us.”

  “Even if it means moving to Houston?”

  “Yeah, but Baylee said she’d build a house in Caledonia and we could live there next year.”

  Baylee winked at Chance. “He’s a good negotiator. He’ll make a good attorney someday. I can see the sign on the office now. Gregory and Gregory, Attorneys at Law.”

  Steven’s grin threatened to eat his face.

  Chance twisted around and called to the girls. “Hey, girls. Do you want Baylee to be your new mother?”

  “Yeah,” they both squealed.

  “Can I call Grandma and tell her?” Sarah asked.

  “Sure.” Chance pulled out his cell phone, punched in Mom’s phone number, and handed it to Sarah.

  “Tell her we want to get married in Caledonia,” said Baylee.

  Chance glanced at Baylee and Steven. “Do I have anything to say about this?”

  “No,” Baylee and the kids told him, and he chuckled. Steven and Baylee had already negotiated all the details. He didn’t even have to propose. It wasn’t as romantic as he’d envisioned it, but they’d take care of that tonight, after the kids went to bed.

  He didn’t care where they got married, as long as they did it soon. He’d wasted enough time wallowing in self-pity and kicking himself for not staying in a marriage that shouldn’t have happened in the first place. Emma had never been the right woman for him.

  Baylee was the right woman, the woman he’d love and cherish for the rest of his life.

  Steven helped Baylee carry the leftover food inside while Chance washed off the table. Steven chattered about his baseball team, about riding horses at Uncle Bo’s ranch, and about his mother. Baylee assured him it was okay to talk about her, and the boy seemed relieved. Everyone in the family had been hush-hush about Emma, and these kids needed to remember the good times. They needed to know Baylee wouldn’t try to step into Emma’s shoes. They’d form a new relationship and make new memories, but she wouldn’t let the kids forget their first mother.

  Chance walked inside with the tray of condiments. As he put them in the refrigerator, he asked, “When are we getting married?”

  “In two weeks,” Steven said.

  His eyes sparkled. “Did you plan the honeymoon, too?”

  “Yeah, we’re going to the Bahamas.”

  Chance started laughing, and Baylee smiled. “I have a house there, remember? I also have an airplane to fly us there, and caretakers who will watch the kids while we go out.”

  “I thought you had to go to Tacoma to take care of some things there.”

  “I did. I just got back.” She counted off on her fingers. “I paid my rent for a year and gave my apartment and all the contents to the women’s shelter. I gave the shelter my car and a donation in Emma’s name, and I gave the underground network a donation in Melissa’s name. I spoke with Detective McBride. I quit my job. And I said goodbye to all my friends.”

  The phone rang. Baylee answered and Neen said, “I’m absolutely delighted to hear about you and Chance. Now, how can I help with the wedding?”

  “You can sing for us and check to see if the church in Caledonia is available in two weeks.”

  “I’ll be glad to sing, and I think Carol has already spoken with the pastor at the church. She’s determined to see Chance and the kids happy.”

  “Then she’ll be disappointed to hear we’ll be living in Houston for a year or so.”

  “Do you plan to move to Caledonia at some point?”

  “After I have a house built there and Chance finishes studying for the bar exams.”

  “The property next door is going up for auction next month. Twenty acres, with a barn and an old house that needs to be torn down. I was thinking about buying it myself, but if you’re interested—”

  “You bet I am.
It’s a beautiful site, and it’s big enough for horses.”

  “Ah! Steven got to you.”

  “We negotiated.”

  “The little stinker.”

  Oh, yes, he sure was. Baylee had a feeling this would be an interesting marriage. Chance hadn’t proposed, although she knew that was what he wanted. Steven was the one who asked her to marry ‘them.’ She wouldn’t just be getting a husband, she’d have a ready-made family. Two precious little girls and an ornery little boy who desperately needed a mother.

  After calls from Carol, Mia, and Callie, all asking how they could help with the wedding, Baylee knew she’d been accepted into the Gregory family. All she had to do was find a wedding dress. The Gregory women would take care of the rest.

  A family of her own. It was what she’d always wanted, what she’d longed for as a child. Now she’d have it, including her almost sister, Olivia Wheeler.

  Maybe Olivia would like to help her shop for a wedding dress.

  She sent the kids out to the garage to find their new bikes and pulled a box from under her bed for Chance. “This one is for you.”

  “What is it?”

  “A present for the man I love.”

  He opened the box and pulled out a Superman cape. And grinned. “I love you, Lois.”

  “I love you, too, Superman. I always will.”

  He swung the cape around them, wrapping her in the cape and in his love.

  THE GREGORY FAMILY SERIES

  by Sue Fineman

  ON THE RUN – the macho brother

  Former DEA agent Adam Gregory tried to get Neen Summers out of the drug lord’s house before the raid three years ago, but he was stabbed in the back by one of his own people. Neen has been on the run since the raid, staying one step ahead of the drug lord’s hired killers. Greg is desperate to find the dirty agent who stabbed him and protect Neen from the killers. He finally finds her in the cemetery, visiting her mother’s grave, but the killers have spotted her, too.

  Greg takes Neen on a wild ride across the country, protecting her from the killers, but not from his love. Neen tries to keep her distance, but the macho cop is hard to resist, and he's determined to make her love him again.

  ON THE LAM – the wounded brother

  With his shattered elbow, a reminder of the war in Iraq, Bo Gregory has enough on his hands without getting involved in someone else’s problems. He doesn’t need a battered wife and her kid living over the bar, especially when he and his brother are trying to renovate the building.

  Callie Caldwell left her abusive husband, the big, bad sheriff of Caledonia County, Texas, and filed for divorce, but the sheriff has stolen her ranch and tricked a judge into giving him custody of her son. Broke and scared, she desperately needs Bo's help. Bo wants to know why the sheriff wants Callie's ranch so much he'd force her to stay in a loveless marriage. Unable to fight his growing love for Callie and her little boy, Bo searches for answers.

  ON THE HUNT – the rejected sister

  Mia Gregory walks away from her job as a police officer in Tacoma and unknowingly steps into more danger in Clover Hills. She knows FBI Special Agent Dave Montgomery, her brother's best friend, wouldn't be in disguise in the little mountain town without good reason.

  Three girls are missing, and the local police refuse to get involved. One girl turns up dead and one is found alive, and the search for the third girl intensifies. But someone not only wants the FBI out of Clover Hills, they want Mia dead.

  Years ago, Mia had a huge crush on Dave and he still has the power to stir her senses. It would be so easy to fall in love with him, but she can't allow it to happen. With a killer on the loose and lives in jeopardy, it would be foolish to go beyond friendship.

  ON THE EDGE – the troubled brother

  Chance Gregory is still mourning the loss of his ex-wife, the mother of his children, when her killer kills again and leaves an explicit message written in blood in Chance’s law office. The killer also left a knife in Baylee Patterson’s pillow. She’s a local newspaper reporter who wrote some not-so-nice things about the killer. Chance had a one-night affair with Baylee after his divorce became final, and he’s determined to protect her as he wasn’t able to protect his ex-wife.

  When the detective in charge of the murder cases advises them to leave town, they go together, hoping the police find the killer before he finds them. The more time Baylee spends with Chance, the more she wants the one thing she knows she can’t have. Chance Gregory.

  About the Author

  Sue’s Website

  Sue Fineman is a grumpy old lady who lives with an even grumpier old man in a small town in Washington state. She writes romance, romantic suspense, women’s fiction and light paranormal romance novels about the people who live in her warped mind.

  Although she doesn’t write comedy, there’s a little humor in everything she writes. It helps balance out the grumpiness in her life.

  The Mitchell Money will be available in April, 2011, from The Wild Rose Press. By romance standards, the characters are older, but not too old to enjoy each other in every way. Gary’s old blue truck is on the book cover. Find out why Rachel calls the beat-up pickup “lovely” and won’t let him talk on his cell phone when he’s driving.

  Table of Contents

  Title Page

  Copyright

  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

  The Gregory Series ~ Blurbs

  About the Author