Whatever those were.
When he got back to the vintage store about forty-five minutes later, she looked better. She sent him a smile as he strode in, and his quick assessment said whatever was wrong had abated, and at this time of year, viruses swept through town in waves. Still, he couldn’t resist crossing the room for a closer look, just to make sure.
Those eyes, so brown, a deep, rich tone with no pale lights, so dark they overwhelmed the pupils within. Pale gold skin, the kind that tanned like crazy, without a freckle in sight. One tiny mole sat to the right of her mouth.
And that tumble of hair, clipped back but determined to flood over her left shoulder, getting in her way. “You look better.”
She sent him a sassy smile, teasing. “Which means I looked horrid before. Thank you!”
He mock scowled and then laughed. “You know what I mean.”
Her smile matched his. “I do, and I appreciate your concern. Some smells get to me, and that’s what happened when we walked by The Pelican’s Nest. I got caught by surprise.”
Fresh-cooked bacon and sausage with a side of home fries. That was the exhaust scent on any given morning outside the restaurant. He’d been passing that diner for over a dozen years, and the breakfast smells on a cold winter morning? Temptation itself. But not for everyone, it seemed, and that made him wonder what kind of food folks ate in the Adirondacks.
He moved back where he needed to be and teased, “Life as I know it might come to an abrupt end if the smell of cooking bacon made me sick. Meat—it’s what’s for dinner.”
“You’re talking to a fellow carnivore, ninety-five percent of the time. Hopefully it won’t happen again. I’d be okay with that.”
He picked up the to-go mug of coffee he’d grabbed at Tina Marie’s and sipped it, scalded his tongue and frowned. “Ouch.”
“We’ve got coffee,” she reminded him. “You don’t have to buy coffee on your way over here.”
“I could have made it at my place, too.” He nodded toward the east-facing window as he picked up his measuring tape and pencil. “But I like to give Tina whatever business I can. She’s a great gal.”
“I can’t disagree,” Gianna said. “She’s straightforward and down-to-earth. She told me she was raised working in a restaurant and by the time she got out of high school, she knew exactly what she wanted to do.”
“From the beginning,” he added.
She swiveled in her sewing chair and looked up, surprised. “And you know this because?”
“We were raised together. Went to the same school, although she’s younger. And she and Max dated for years. Max is my youngest brother,” he explained as he tested the wall for proper placement.
Gianna scooted the wheeled sewing chair closer, eyes wide. “Tina and a big, blond, bruiser Campbell? What a fun mix.”
Seth sent her a look that said she was way off course. “Max is dark haired, dark eyed, about five-ten and totally Latino. But nice try. My parents had four kids biologically, then adopted three more. Max, Cass and Addie are adopted, but they’re one hundred percent Campbell. Despite the difference in looks.”
“That’s awesome, Seth. And I love stories of unrequited love. What woman doesn’t?”
“You’re romanticizing Max’s stupidity. He let her go. But that’s a story for a different day.”
“Or not at all, because Tina would probably like us to respect her privacy,” Gianna replied. “I like it when folks offer me that option. I didn’t realize Tina was from Kirkwood, though. Because the only restaurant around is—”
Seth nodded east as realization widened her eyes. “The Pelican’s Nest. Her parents owned it. She worked there until she was twenty, when they sold it to her aunt and Tina was told her services were no longer needed.”
“Whoa. Harsh.”
“Her father hadn’t foreseen that. His sister had promised to make Tina the manager. Tina would have had the job she loved and he’d have retirement money. Didn’t work out that way. And that came on the heels of her breakup with Max. When your boyfriend dumps you for a slot in special ops as an army ranger, it’s a fairly obvious breakup, so I’m not gossiping. I’m sharing history.”
The sympathetic curve of Gianna’s mouth said she was in Tina’s corner 100 percent, but then she surprised him by saying, “That had to be rough. I wonder if it was just as rough for him. Does he have a new girlfriend? Did he get married?”
“We went from privacy to twenty questions. Quite a jump, Gianna.”
“It’s not disrespectful to ask the obvious.” She adjusted the material beneath the needle and walked the machine through the thicker fold, one stitch at a time. “So does he?”
“Not that I know of, but he hasn’t been home for a few years. And he’s not a letter writer. He calls Mom once a week to check in.”
“The family rogue. A wanderer. An adventurer. Every family’s got one.”
“Then that would be Max.” Seth stood back, surveyed the finished look and began stowing his supplies.
“You’re done?”
“For today.”
“Oh.”
A man could read a lot into a single syllable expression like that, Seth knew. Or he could pretend oblivion, put things right and go on his merry way.
Chin down, she kept working the material through the presser foot, inch by tedious inch. “Unless...?”
“Hmm?” She looked up, and the light in her eyes, a light she doused quickly so that he wouldn’t see, said plenty.
“Unless you need me to stay.” He crossed the room and crouched next to her machine so her face was quite close. “Want me to stay.”
“I... Umm...”
He grinned, used the curve of his index finger under her chin to close her mouth and then stood. “Gotta get home. But I’m glad you weren’t in too big a hurry for me to go.”
He didn’t wait for a reply, but he didn’t rush out the door, either. He’d let her think about all the snappy repartee she could have shot back at him at her leisure, but as he let himself out the kitchen door, he caught a sideways glimpse of her through the shop window.
And she was smiling.
Chapter Five
Women’s Health Services of Kirkwood Lake.
Gianna studied the sign, then pulled open the heavy door. Excitement and reluctance battled inside her. So did the twins, as if sharing her anxiety.
Starting a relationship with a new doctor wasn’t easy, especially midpregnancy. She hung her coat in the broad office closet and eyed the divided waiting room. One half teemed with young mothers and an assortment of small children around an interactive play area. The other side held older women for the most part, and she wondered if it was chance, choice or noise level that pushed the older clientele to the right.
The sprawled-out play area and easy-clean tile floor were two reasons for the young mothers to turn left. She approached the desk, gave her name, accepted the sheaf of paperwork affixed to a clipboard and settled into a neutral seat to register herself as a patient. Once done, she handed everything back in, tried to breathe easy while they pulled multiple vials of blood from her arm, then waited as she pressed a gauze pad to the needle mark.
“Mrs. Costanza?”
She almost didn’t turn. It wasn’t until the nurse called the name a second time that Gianna stood. “I’m here.”
“Good.” The nurse smiled and extended her hand. “I’m Natalia Forrest, and I’ll walk you through your appointment today. You’re new to us, and this office can get a little manic—” she cast a smile to the kid-friendly area of the waiting room “—so if you feel you need to ask a question or have a quiet moment, just let me know.”
Did this young woman have any idea how her words calmed Gianna’s nerves? Most likely not, but her presence and her confidence-inspiring spiel
meant Gianna wasn’t the only nervous first-time mother they’d had.
“Come right in here, sit down and the midwife will be right in.”
“Okay.”
She should have brought Grandma along. Carmen had offered, but a do-it-herself streak had reared its head and she’d put her off. If she couldn’t have Michael, she wouldn’t have anyone.
Right now, facing this next step alone, she wished she’d chosen differently.
“Mrs. Costanza?” A woman stepped into the office from an anteroom to the left. “I’m Julia Harrison, the nurse/midwife.”
Gianna put out her hand. “You’re related to Zach?”
The midwife smiled. “You know my brother?”
“Not well. My grandmother and I are making vintage uniforms for him and Seth Campbell.”
“You’re Carmen’s granddaughter.”
Gianna shouldn’t have been surprised that her grandmother was already fairly well-known throughout the town. “Yes.”
“Nice to meet you. I met Carmen at Tina Marie’s, and we had a great chat, which may keep me from locking up my two boys until I send them off to college. Amazing what five minutes of adult conversation will do.”
Julia’s normalcy relaxed Gianna more. “My grandmother has a knack.”
“Yes.” Julia took a seat and tapped the chart in front of her. “So. Are you scared to death?”
Emotion shifted upward. “Yes and no. Yes, because this wasn’t supposed to happen this way. Me. Here. Pregnant and single.”
Julia made a sympathetic noise but just nodded.
“No, because my other choice was to abandon these babies as frozen embryos.” She looked down, breathed deep and brought her gaze back up. “So here I am, pregnant with twins.”
Julia’s expression reassured her. “I’ve got the records they shared from the fertility clinic and the original OB report from Adirondack Medical, but I’m going to start from the beginning if you don’t mind. A full workup, tummy check and we’ll schedule your twenty-week ultrasound.”
“You don’t need one earlier than that?” The thought that she could just move ahead and have a normal pregnancy from such abnormal beginnings seemed unlikely.
“As long as everything looks normal, from this point forward you’re like any other expectant mother. Except you’re carrying twice the load. Alone.”
Gianna sighed and shrugged. “Well, that got taken out of my hands, so right now it’s just me and Grandma.”
“And the town of Kirkwood,” Julia told her. “I haven’t been here long myself, but this town isn’t afraid to rally around their own. New and old.”
Like Seth, Gianna thought. And his mother. Tina and the reverend. They’d gone out of their way to make her and Grandma feel at home and involved.
Of course, keeping Grandma uninvolved was next to impossible.
“I’ll see you in a few minutes. And, Gianna?”
Gianna turned, expectant. “Yes?”
“Welcome to Kirkwood.”
* * *
Seth hit the hands-free button on his dash and waited for someone to answer as the system dialed Zach’s cell phone. “Zach, you home?”
“Yeah. What’s up?”
“Can I take ten minutes to go over the plan I’ve got for a couple of bicentennial things?”
“I drove to Barrett’s Orchards to get apple fritters the minute they opened the doors this morning, so yes. Come on over. We’ll feed you, if you hurry.” His intentional stress on the last phrase told Seth that Piper was right there, listening. “I think Piper’s on her third. Possibly fourth.”
Seth laughed. “I’ll be right there.”
Piper Harrison pulled the side door open for him a few minutes later, and Seth wasn’t surprised to see a fritter in her hand. “Is that really number four?” he teased as he stepped in.
“Three,” she confessed, then shut the door. “I keep telling myself they’re small, but I should probably figure out my own personal quantitative easing when it comes to food these days. And my husband isn’t nearly as funny as he thinks he is.”
“This is better than seeing you sick,” Zach told them both as Seth moved into the warm kitchen. “Seth, you want coffee?”
“No. Gotta sleep, then shovel. Again.” He handed Zach the papers he’d carried in. “I can email this stuff to you in its final form, but I wanted to go over these two events.” He tapped the information for the Founder’s Day parade, the event that had inspired the town to dress them up in old-time gear. Then he indicated pages about the lakeside communities’ famous annual Sidewalk Sale, an event that ringed the lake and included several villages. At the height of the summer tourist season, this event drew people from the entire Western New York region and upper Pennsylvania, but this year they’d added a new component to the event with real-life demonstrations at historic sites.
Keeping traffic moving on the interstate was no problem. But once folks veered onto the two-lane roads linking the lakeside villages? Whole different story.
“I’ve been thinking about how to make the Sidewalk Sale traffic flow more organized, too, but I’ve got nothing.” Zach crossed his arms over his chest and frowned. “If we had more parking...”
Summertime parking was at a premium in their waterfront communities, but for a big event like this? The problem was magnified.
“If it were a stationary event we could shuttle folks in from the high school.” Seth aimed a look at the quick outline he’d drawn. “For the Around-the-Lake Sidewalk Sale that would mean multiple shuttles in varying directions.”
“Not if you make everything one-way going clockwise around the lake for the weekend,” Piper inserted.
“One-way? You’re kidding, right? Convincing our locals they can’t turn as desired? We’d be strung up for even suggesting that.”
Piper made a face at her husband and shook her head. “The old folks love this yearlong bicentennial celebration, and they all know that if you get stuck in your driveway on Sidewalk Sale weekend the long-range benefit to the town is worth it. And people clear out by five in the afternoon and don’t come around again until nine the next morning, so it’s only an eight-hour window.”
“Eight hours of torture,” Zach interjected.
Seth grinned. Piper rolled her eyes and didn’t show her husband anything close to sympathy. “Arrange to have school bus shuttles from the high school like you suggested, only instead of going to one destination, they go to three—A, B and C. That way the three different villages are taken care of. Folks can hop off from village to village, see the lake, not fight the traffic, and you could make the inner lane bus-and-right-turn only so folks in the outer lane could navigate more easily.”
“That could actually work.” Seth raised an eyebrow to Zach. “We’ll have to figure out the details, and we’d need to barricade all left turns—”
“Except at a few designated exit points,” Zach mused. “And use the auxiliary police to make sure the barricades are respected...”
“Which would keep Han Solo out of our hair for three days.”
The two men exchanged grins. “Han Solo” was their name for an old-timer whose love of Star Wars meant wearing various Han Solo costumes throughout the year. Currently he was honoring winter by sporting the futuristic movie’s ice planet episode, making Han Solo’s fur parka a mainstay around town.
“My new neighbor is making him a new replica outfit,” Seth told them. “They were mulling material for the vest while I was updating the shop lighting the other day.”
Piper reached for a fourth fritter, slapped her own hand and sat down. “I saw your tenant at the doctor’s office yesterday.”
“Yeah?”
She nodded as she scanned his initial patrol plans, then looked up. “She doesn’t know me, so I didn’t accost her t
he way I usually do.”
Zach snorted, holding back a laugh. Piper wasn’t known for her low-key personality.
“She was coming out as I walked in.”
“And you’re all right? Everything’s fine?” Seth asked.
“So far so good.” Piper’s face took on that strange, funny maternal look that hinted a greater understanding of life and the world in general. “I wonder if we’re due around the same time.”
“Due?” Seth stared at her, hard, as comprehension dawned. “You think Gianna’s expecting? She can’t be. She’s—” He was about to say “single” but then realized he really didn’t know a thing about Gianna’s marital status except that she didn’t wear a ring. Therefore single, right?
Obviously not. Unless Piper was mistaken.
She read his face and held up her hands, palms out. “All I know is what I see. She was carrying the little bag of things they give expectant mothers on their first-time visit, but maybe they do that for other procedures, too.”
Seth doubted that. And while Piper’s observation surprised him, it made perfect sense, too. The aversion to coffee. The smell of meat making her sick. The solicitous way Carmen looked at her, took care of her.
But if Gianna was here and pregnant, then somewhere there was a father, pushed out of the picture. Did he know Gianna carried his child? Did he care?
Fatigue wrapped itself around Seth’s brain. Piper’s observation gave him plenty to think about, but right now none of it made sense. Six or seven hours of sleep would take care of that, he hoped. He said his goodbyes, headed for home and parked in the upper end of his driveway. But as he trudged toward the house through the steadily falling snow, he glanced across the street.
The lights in the store glowed softly through the front windows, which meant Gianna was there, with Carmen, working. Setting up displays, unpacking goods, sewing vintage-look clothing.
Gianna. Pregnant?
His heart didn’t want to believe it. Suffering the loss of Tori made him appreciate a father’s role, a role he’d undertaken gladly for several years.
Loving the Lawman Page 6