by Kathi Daley
“I heard Mike adopted a pup.”
I nodded. “Leonard. He sure is a cute little guy. Sort of a handful right now, but trainable. And Mike adores him, as does Bree. It’s like a Christmas miracle.”
Hap chuckled. “Yeah, neither Mike nor Bree strikes me as the puppy type. I’m glad to hear things are working out.”
“How are you getting along with Bruiser?” Bruiser was Hattie’s dog. He hadn’t liked Hap at all when Hattie first adopted him.
“I think we’ve come to an understanding. I bring him treats and he doesn’t bite me. We both love Hattie, so we have that in common.”
“I’m really happy to hear that.” I glanced at the clock. “I need to get going, but I’ll drop by at the end of the day and pick out some lights and bulbs for my tree. I know if I don’t do it today, I’ll get busy and forget about it and everything you have will get picked over.”
“I’ll set some things aside for you. Is Tony going to need lights as well?”
“Yeah. The kittens did a number on his tree last year too. Hopefully, whatever we buy now will survive.”
I chatted with Hap for a few more minutes, then continued on my route. It seemed most of the town had gotten busy over the weekend to put up lights and decorations along Main Street. I really love this time of year. Everything somehow seems brighter and happier. It’s during these winter evenings when I look back and remember the magic that can be found during the holiday season.
As he’d promised, Tony was mostly off work until after the first of the year. He was staying at my place during the week, then we’d stay at his place Friday through Sunday. Tonight, we planned to dig in and start decorating the cabin. It wasn’t very large, so it wouldn’t require a lot of decorations, but I was excited for us to spend our first Christmas as a couple. Tony had talked to Shaggy about the dinner party, which I found I was a bit nervous about.
“Morning, Aunt Ruthie,” I greeted after entering Sisters’ Diner.
“Morning, Tess; Tilly.”
“I hear congratulations are in order.”
Ruthie grinned. “I can’t tell you how excited I am to be having another grandbaby. I had such a good time with the family over the holiday. It really reminded me of the importance of making time for those you love.”
I nodded toward the back wall, where a flattened outline of the globe had been drawn. “I see you’re doing your Christmas cards from around the world again.”
Ruthie nodded. “It was a huge success last year.”
I reached into my bag and pulled out a pile of mail that included at least ten cards. “It looks like you have a good start this year.” I looked around the room. “Where’s Mom?”
Ruthie tossed the pile of mail on the counter. “She ran down to the home furnishing store to see if the new ornaments were in. You know if you don’t get them early, they get picked over.”
My eye caught one of the envelopes and I felt my heart slow. “Hap has his decorations out,” I said as I slowly nudged the top envelope from the mail Ruthie had tossed on the counter aside.
“Hap’s is a good place to get lights and whatnot, but he doesn’t have the specialty items we’re hoping to find.”
“True. I should get going. Do you have outgoing mail?”
“We do. Hang on and I’ll get it.”
I picked up the second envelope down in the stack I had given to Ruthie. It was postmarked from Norway. I gasped when the return address indicated that the sender was no other than Jared Collins.
“Are you okay?” Ruthie asked as she returned.
I waved the envelope. “Look. Norway.”
Ruthie’s face lit up. “Oh good. Our first international card.” She looked at the postmark. “Oh look: it’s from your mom’s pen pal.”
“Pen pal?” I croaked.
“Ruthie nodded. “Jared Collins. I’m sure your mom must have mentioned him. They’ve been pen pals since before you were born.”
Okay, what? My mom had stayed in touch with Jared Collins? I distinctly remembered her saying that while she loved him and he loved her, they knew they couldn’t be together, so they made a clean break. “Are you sure she’s been writing to this man for that long? She never mentioned him.”
Ruthie’s cheeks brightened. “Perhaps I spoke out of turn. It’s possible your mother might not have chosen to share her friendship with this man with her children. He was an old flame, and I suppose mothers don’t discuss old flames with their children. Please don’t tell her I mentioned him. Whatever they had was years and years ago.”
“I won’t say a word.”
After I left the restaurant, I called Tony. “According to my Aunt Ruthie, my mom has continued to stay in touch with Jared Collins. She received a card at the restaurant from him today.”
“Why would she lie?”
“I don’t know. I know we decided to stop digging into his past—and his present, for that matter—once we realized he and my father weren’t the same person.”
“But now you want me to continue my search.”
“I do.”
“Has your mother received mail at the restaurant before from this man?”
“I don’t know. The name didn’t mean anything to me until recently, so I wouldn’t have paid any attention. Besides, I’m not the one who sorts the mail, and I don’t look through it.”
“Okay. I’ll dig around a bit.”
“Thanks, Tony. Don’t mention this to Mike. He had a hard time with everything I told him as it was. I’m afraid Mom having a pen pal who looks exactly like Dad and used to be her lover might put him over the edge.”
“I won’t say a thing.”
I hung up the phone and headed toward the home decorating store. Ruthie had said Mom would be there, and suddenly I had an overpowering urge to ask her about the card. She was just coming out of the store with two large Christmas bags, which provided me with the perfect opportunity to try to slide my way into a conversation with her about the man I suspected she still loved.
“Here, let me help you with those.”
“You have your mailbag,” Mom said.
“I’m used to carrying a lot of things at once.” I took one of the bags from her. “Listen, as long as I ran into you, do you think we can sit for a minute? I have something to ask you.”
A look of concern crossed Mom’s face. “Are you okay? Is Mike okay?”
“Everyone’s fine, I promise. There’s the bench in front of the furniture store. This won’t take long.”
“I can sit for a minute.”
We reached the bench, which was back off the street and currently situated in the warm sunshine. I set my mailbag and Mom’s bag at the far edge, then sat down next to her. I figured I’d jump right in. “I just delivered the mail to the restaurant,” I began. “You got your first batch of Christmas cards.”
“That’s wonderful.” Mom smiled.
“There was one from Norway with a return address from Jared Collins. Wasn’t Jared Collins the name of the man you met and fell in love with right after you graduated high school?”
Mom actually blushed. “Yes. Jared Collins is the man I told you about.”
“I wasn’t aware you’d stayed in touch with him.”
Mom hesitated. “The fact that I continued to send and receive an occasional birthday or holiday card from a man I’d once had an intimate relationship with isn’t the sort of thing one shares with her children, or her husband either. Nothing inappropriate has been going on between us, but we decided after an initial clean break to stay in touch.”
“And Dad never wondered who the cards were from?”
Mom hung her head. “I had a post office box when your dad was alive. After he passed, I asked Jared to send his cards to the restaurant.” Mom looked up at me. “We’re just friends. I haven’t seen him since that trip to Norway years ago.”
I took a deep breath. “Look, I don’t mean to make you feel defensive. Obviously, who you correspond with is your business. But it s
eems like you really care about this guy. I wonder why you didn’t try harder to find a way to make it work.”
Mom shrugged. “It seemed too hard when we were young. Then I met your father and got married, and several years after that Jared married a woman he’d known for years. After your father passed, I thought about making a trip to Norway, but Jared was still married, so I made do with a birthday and Christmas card and an occasional chatty letter.”
“And now? Is he still married?”
“His wife passed away seven months ago. I’ll admit I’ve thought of making a trip overseas, but he needs time to mourn and I’m giving it to him.”
I thought about Jared Collins and what I knew about him, including that his photo had been part of a surveillance report conducted by a private investigator working for a state senator named Galvin Kline.
“I want you to know you can talk to me about this,” I said. “It isn’t strange to me that you have a past or that the past you thought you left behind might at times bleed into your present.”
Mom hugged me. “Thank you, sweetheart. I can’t even begin to tell you how much that means to me. Jared, my feelings for him, and his presence in my life, haven’t been easy secrets to keep.”
“Dad is gone and Mike and I are adults now. The need for secrets is past. I love you. I want you to be happy.” I stood up. “I should get back to my route.”
Mom got to her feet as well.
“At the lake, you mentioned having unanswered questions. Did you find the answers you were looking for?”
Mom nodded. “I think I did.”
I smiled. “Good. I had questions about Dad and his past. Maybe someday when I don’t have a route to finish and you don’t have a restaurant to get back to, we can talk about them.”
“I’d like that.”
I hugged Mom. As I stepped away, I spotted Mike coming down the street. “You might not want to mention your friendship with Jared to Mike. He has an overprotective streak when it comes to the females in his life.”
“I totally agree and won’t say a word. It’ll be our secret.”
I smiled and nodded. I supposed when we had our talk about Dad, I’d have to let her in on the fact that Mike, Bree, Tony, and I knew a huge secret about him that I was pretty sure she didn’t. She might be upset and possibly even angry we’d kept it from her, but we were a family and we’d work it out, because despite anything else, working things out is what families do.
Up Next From Kathi Daley Books
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Preview:
Tuesday, November 13
My name is Caitlin Hart and I am marrying the love of my life, Cody West, in exactly four days, three hours, and eleven minutes. While there appear to be a few challenges on the horizon, I am determined that nothing is going to ruin my special day. Not the major storm that’s supposed to blow in by tomorrow evening, not Cody’s obnoxious cousin who showed up with Cody’s mother despite Cody’s intentionally not inviting him, not the black eye I now sport after falling into the bedroom door after tripping over my dog Max, and not the new wedding venue I must find after St. Patrick’s, the church I have attended my entire life and the church I’ve dreamed of getting married in since I was old enough to dream of getting married, has closed for repairs following a small fire that appears to have been caused by an electrical malfunction.
“We might have a problem,” my sister, Siobhan Finnegan, said to me after she’d tentatively entered my small seaside cabin through the side door.
“Of course we do,” I answered, rolling my eyes. “Did the florist come down with the plague or did the bakery burn to the ground?”
“Worse.”
“What can be worse than a bakery burning to the ground?”
“The bakery owner, Sally Enderling, was found dead this morning by her assistant.”
I placed my hand on my heart. “Oh no. I’m so sorry. What happened?”
“I spoke to Finn,” Siobhan referred to her husband, Deputy Ryan Finnegan. “It looks like someone came up behind her and hit her with an object they believe, based on the size and shape of the wound, was a rolling pin. She was found facedown in the walk-in refrigerator.”
“That’s awful. The poor woman. I can’t imagine who would do such a thing.” I didn’t know Sally well, although we did run into each other from time to time, and she seemed nice enough. She’d moved to the island four years ago from Seattle, but once she settled in, she jumped right into public service by running for a board position with the local chamber of commerce. She’d done a bang-up job, from what I understood, and there was even talk of her running for a seat on the town council in an upcoming election. I knew she was married to an accountant who had an office in Seattle but had arranged to work remotely a good deal of the time. I couldn’t imagine who would want to harm the woman. “Are there any suspects?”
“One,” Siobhan said. I couldn’t help but notice that she seemed to be cringing as she spoke. “It seems, based on what we know at this moment, the last person to see Sally alive was Cody’s mother.”
I closed my eyes, took a deep breath, and blew it out slowly. “Cody’s mother?”
Siobhan nodded. “That’s what Finn said. According to Sally’s assistant, Carla, Cody’s mother went to see Sally yesterday afternoon shortly before closing.”
“Why would Mrs. West go to see Sally?”
“It seems she wasn’t a fan of the plain white cake you chose, so she decided to speak to Sally about adding a different filling to each layer. Sally very nicely informed her that you’d specifically requested a simple frosting, and that you’d stated quite clearly that you didn’t want filling of any flavor, at which point Cody’s mother started yelling at her.”
I slowly counted to ten before continuing in a much sterner voice than I’d intended. “Why on earth would Mrs. West yell at Sally?”
Siobhan crossed her arms over her chest. “Hey, don’t shoot the messenger.”
I closed my eyes and blew out a breath. “I’m sorry. It’s not your fault. I didn’t mean to shout. Go on.”
“Carla had to pick up her daughter from dance class, so she left in the middle of the conversation, but based on what Carla told Finn, Cody’s mother was very forcefully pointing out that she would be the one paying for the cake, which made her the customer, which in her mind required Sally to make the changes she was requesting.”
I tossed back my head and threw up my arms. “That woman insisted on paying for the cake. I never asked her to contribute a dime to this wedding, but she showed up a week before she was scheduled to arrive with Cody’s totally irritating cousin in tow and started making demands. Paying for the cake was one of those demands.”
Siobhan took my hand in hers. “I know, sweetie. And you’ve done such a good job of sucking it up and allowing her to participate. I don’t think the cake or the filling or the fact that Cody’s mom seems to be torturing you for not having the wedding in Florida is the point of this conversation, however. The point is that Mrs. West threatened to hurt Sally, and now she’s dead.”
“She threatened to hurt her?” I screeched.
Siobhan nodded. “Two women who were passing by the bakery told Finn that Mrs. West insisted Sally make the changes she wanted or suffer the consequences. I suppose she could have meant many things by that, but the sheriff is taking her threat seriously. Finn said he’s on his way to the island to question her himself. Finn’s been instructed to bring her in.”
I fell back into a chair, which, fortunately, was directly behind me. That was it. God was definitely sending me a sign that I wasn’t supposed to marry Cody. There really was no other explanation. “So Sally died yesterday afternoon?”
“Finn thinks so. He’s waiting for the medical examiner to say exactly when she died, but Carla said Sally had on the same clothes she’d worn the day before today, and it didn’t appear she ever went home.”
“Wouldn’t her husband know that for certain?”
“He was in Virginia visiting his mother, who’s been ill. No one realized Sally hadn’t gone home until Carla showed up for work this morning.”
I took several deep breaths as I tried to steady my suddenly very shaky nerves. “Does Cody know?”
“Finn was going to track him down and talk to him right after he hung up with me.”
This wasn’t going to go over well at all. “He went to the north shore this afternoon to take some photos for the story on the fire at the old community church. I doubt he’s back yet. Still, he should be available by cell.” I stood up and took yet another breath to strengthen my resolve. “I suppose I should head over to Finn’s office.”
“Finn said no. He was going to explain things to Mrs. West when he picked her up. He’ll call after she speaks to the sheriff, but he didn’t want you anywhere near the office when he speaks to her. I think all we can do is wait.”
Well, that was just fantastic. There was nothing I liked better than waiting on the sidelines while the world crumbled around me.
“Cait? Are you okay?” Siobhan asked when I didn’t answer.
I nodded. “I’m fine. I trust Finn. I’m sure he has everything under control.” I glanced at my dog. “I think I’m going to take Max for a run.”
******
Later that afternoon, I decided waiting was for the birds and headed to the newspaper to see how Cody was doing. Finn didn’t want me anywhere near his office while the sheriff was on the island, but the newspaper was all the way next door, so I was sure it would be fine.
It wasn’t.
After being scolded by Finn about following directions and actions having consequences and a whole bunch of other malarkey, I decided to go down the street to Coffee Cat Books, where I knew I would find people who loved me and wouldn’t yell at me.
“Cait, what are you doing here?” My best friend and maid of honor Tara O’Brian asked. “I thought you were taking the day off to work on wedding stuff.”