by Lori Ryan
Phoebe picked up the knitting and fingered the soft wool. “It’s so sad. She was still so young, when you really think about it.”
They began looking through books. “We’re going to need a lot more boxes for this,” Laura said.
Ashley sat back and looked around. “I can run over to the library and grab some. I’m not sure how many we have, but we have a few. I could stop at the liquor store and grab some from there.”
“Sounds good.” Laura looked out the window. “It’s getting close to dinner time. Do you guys want me to grab a pizza and we can keep going?” She looked at Phoebe. “Unless you want to go grab it. You’ve been here the longest if you want to take a break.”
Phoebe shrugged. “I’m fine here.”
The two women left and Phoebe pulled her phone from her pocket to text Shane.
Going to eat pizza here with the girls. Meet you at home in a few hours? She pressed delete and adjusted the question. Meet you at your house in a few hours?
She had started to think of his place as her home. No, that wasn’t right. She was thinking of it as their home, but she wasn’t sure if Shane was on the same page as she was. She knew in her heart, she loved him. She wanted to build a life with him more than anything. She just wasn’t sure he was ready for that step. Her feelings seemed to have come so quickly. As far as she could tell with her less-than-perfect judgment of men, it took more time for men to feel the same way about a woman.
Minutes later, Shane texted back.
I’m leaving my mom’s place in a bit. I can swing by there and help you guys.
Phoebe looked at the piles of books she’d been sorting and hurriedly typed back a yes, please! Having Shane to carry the books to the car wouldn’t be a bad idea at all.
She began sorting through the books again, setting them in stacks by genre and type to make it easier for the Friends of the Library organization to decide what to do with them. From what Ashley had said, some of them might go right into the library lending collection, but others would be sold in the used book sale the Friends held each year to raise funds for library projects. She looked up at the sound of someone entering the room, realizing she’d lost track of the time.
“Miriam! Are you all finished with the kitchen?”
Miriam nodded, but Phoebe saw her eyes flick to the small table in the corner. It held an electric tea kettle and a few tea cups. There were several little jars of tea as well.
“I’ll just get these taken care of,” Miriam said as she crossed and lifted the jars of tea. “We don’t want bugs coming in here.”
Phoebe turned and stood, assessing the other woman. Miriam turned and froze when she realized Phoebe had gotten up. “Miriam, tea doesn’t smell when it spoils and it doesn’t attract bugs.”
Phoebe said this gently. She had thought the woman might be overwrought about her friend’s death. That maybe she might need someone to talk to. That she might need a friend to open up to. Phoebe and Miriam weren’t close, but if she could help, she’d like to.
A fierce flash of anger and something else crossed Miriam’s face. Was it panic?
“I just need to get rid of it.” Miriam’s words came out harsh and angry.
Phoebe stepped back in surprise.
Miriam pushed past Phoebe, her lips pressed together as though she’d said something she hadn’t meant to.
Phoebe watched her go, then shook her head as Miriam’s words came through the surprise. Get rid of what?
Phoebe began to move before she really thought things through. She caught up with Miriam on the stairs and pulled on the woman’s arm.
“Get rid of what, Miriam? What’s going on?” Questions whirled through her head so fast, she didn’t process that Miriam had spun on her.
Miriam screamed, and the sound was guttural, almost inhuman, as she launched at Phoebe. “It wasn’t supposed to happen this way. None of it was supposed to happen!”
Miriam dug her nails into the still tender flesh of Phoebe’s face and Phoebe cried out. She raised her arms to try to ward off the blow, and maybe to strike back, but her body seemed to be moving in slow motion, like it simply couldn’t catch up to what was happening.
Then they were falling, tumbling down the stairs, her screams mixing with Miriam’s. Phoebe heard Shane shouting as pain tore through her body. Her head, her back, everything seemed to hurt.
She lay, battling against the pain in her head, feeling sick. But, then Shane was there, his hands running over her. “Are you all right? Talk to me, Phoebe.”
“My head.”
Gentle hands felt her head. When he got to the back of it, she couldn’t stop the cry of agony. White hot pain blinded her.
“Stay still, Phoebe. You’re bleeding. I’m calling an ambulance.”
“Miriam?” Phoebe couldn’t get out more than the one word.
“She’s unconscious,” Shane said. “What happened?”
“I don’t know. She’d been acting strange and then she said something about destroying something. I tried to talk to her…”
She closed her eyes.
“Open your eyes Phoebe,” Shane said as he spoke into the phone telling the nine-one-one operator where they were and that they needed the police and an ambulance.
Phoebe tried to open her eyes, but she was so tired. Her body was beyond tired. She was exhausted. She just needed to rest.
“Phoebe, open those gorgeous eyes, baby. Open up and talk to me.”
Processing his words didn’t seem to be a problem, but getting her body to actually do anything in response seemed to be impossible. The last words she heard as she slipped away were words of love. Shane Bishop telling her he loved her. That she couldn’t leave him.
“I’m sorry, Shane,” she wanted to say, but there was no way to make the words come. The exhaustion took over and she gave in.
46
Treasure the people who bring you joy and love. They are, in the end, the most valuable gems you will ever collect.
Fiona O’Malley’s Journal
“I think we’re going to have a problem if this becomes a habit. Strike that, it seems to be becoming a habit.”
Shane turned at the words of General Brophy behind him.
“Believe me, Sir, I’m as upset as you are about that.” He offered his hand and the man took it, but held it firmly as he eyed Shane for a long minute. A very long minute.
“I believe you are,” he said as he seemed to come to some kind of decision. “Tell me how it is that they had the murderer in custody when I left here and my little girl is still laying in a hospital bed.”
“I’m not sure I can be considered your little girl anymore, daddy. I’m twenty-nine.”
Both men turned, each going to one side of the bed.
“Always, my Phoebe.” The General looked over at Shane. “Your guy was about to tell me what the hell happened.”
A nurse stepped in then, coming to the bed on Shane’s side. It killed him to step aside, but he did it long enough to let her check machines and tubes and monitors. She asked some questions and Phoebe answered, sounding better than he’d thought she would with all she’d been through. With her other recent head injury, their main concern had been watching for swelling of the brain, but so far, Phoebe seemed to be acing the questions.
“The doctor’s going to be in shortly. We’ve let him know you’re awake.” The nurse turned to the men. “Don’t wear her out, gentlemen. She needs to rest right now more than anything.”
When she’d left the room, Shane went back to Phoebe’s side, lifting her hand. He was pretty sure if the doctor walked in right now, he was going to have to fight Shane for access, at this point.
“All right, out with the story.” The General grumbled.
Shane looked across at him and started at the beginning since the man didn’t know the players like he and Phoebe did. “There’s a senior center in town where Fiona spent a lot of time. Do you remember I said Fiona’s ex-husband was worried because Fiona seemed
to be losing large chunks of money?”
The General gave a single nod and Shane continued. “The center has been run by Miriam Green for the last ten years. Apparently, a few years ago, she realized she was getting closer in age to the center’s patrons, and she didn’t have any plan in place for someone to take care of her when she hit the age where she would need it. She started to manipulate money out of people a little at a time.”
“How did she do that?” Phoebe asked.
“She was using a date rape drug. Rohypnol,” Shane said. “She was feeding it to them a little at a time both at the center, and in tea she sent home with them. She would only lace some of the tea bags with it so none of them connected the tea to the onset of symptoms. They’d begin to experience periods of confusion, lapses in memory, mood swings. She would show up and say they told her they planned to donate money to the center and she’d counted on their donations. She managed to convince most of them to give her cash, saying the center had lost its tax-exempt status and they would be helping her out if they paid her cash. She pocketed the cash. She would then show up weeks later saying the same thing; that they’d promised the money and hadn’t gotten it to her.”
Shane took a deep breath. “It was why she was so upset over Fiona’s death. She thought she’d driven Fiona to kill herself. It was the first time one of her targets had died of anything other than natural causes.”
“That’s horrible,” Phoebe said. Shane agreed. The people who went to the center had trusted her. Hell, the whole town had trusted her.
Tears filled Phoebe’s eyes. “Poor Fiona. She was targeted by two people. She was such a wonderful person, and yet two people who should have cared for her went after her.”
“I have a feeling Miriam’s going to spend a lot of years in prison for her crimes, and Aengus is looking at premeditated murder. They’ll pay for their crimes.”
“I think I might need you to move back to the big, bad city, Pheebs. This small-town living is going to kill me.” The General sank down into a chair, putting a hand over his heart in a mock gesture of defeat.
Phoebe’s eyes flew to Shane’s and he wondered if she knew that if she was leaving, he was following. There was no way he was staying without her. No way he wouldn’t follow her to the ends of the earth.
“Sorry, Dad. I really like it here.” She grinned, like she knew the rest of that sentence should have been, “despite the repeated close brushes with death.”
Shane leaned close. “I’d follow you, you know.”
“You would?” Her eyes went round and soft and she had the look in her eye of a woman who couldn’t let herself believe that. “You would follow me?”
Shane heard the door shut and turned to see the General had slipped out. He turned back to Phoebe, pulling his chair closer. “In a heartbeat, Phoebe. I don’t plan to let you go.”
“You don’t?” she asked, still with disbelief threaded through her tone.
Her expression tugged at Shane’s heart. “Hell no. I love you, Phoebe Joy. I love you with all my heart, with all that I am.”
“You do?”
Shane laughed. “Do they have you on the good meds again and they forgot to tell me?”
47
There are good ships, and there are wood ships, but the best ships are friendships.
Irish proverb recorded in Fiona O’Malley’s Journal
“Listen, woman,” Ashley said as she walked into Phoebe’s hospital room an hour later. “If your plan is to keep getting attacked to lure Shane to your side, we have better ways. We can give you a few pointers.”
Laura and Katelyn stood by Ashley on either side grinning. Ashley had that effect on people and Phoebe was no exception. She smiled wide.
“When are they letting you bust out of here?” Ashley asked.
“Soon, I hope,” Katelyn said with a shiver. “I hate hospitals. They should let you go home to heal. I swear, you’ll heal much faster that way.”
“They are. Shane and my dad went to grab lunch but by the time they get back, the doctor should have cleared me.”
“How did you get those two to leave? I can’t imagine it was easy.” Laura shrugged apologetically. “What? I can use some tips. Cade is alpha and overbearing, too.” She looked at Katelyn and Ashley. “You two could use some ideas, too. She was raised by a general. Surely, she has ideas for us.”
Katelyn and Ashley seemed to think on it for a minute before nodding. “Truth,” Ashley said.
“I lied.” Phoebe blinked at them as though the answer should have been obvious.
All three women were quiet for a minute before Ashley burst out laughing. “About what?”
Phoebe grinned. “I told my dad the nurse was coming in to give me a sponge bath and he should get Shane out of here for a little while. He practically lifted Shane by the collar and hauled him down to the cafeteria.”
“Where he only stayed long enough to get you a sandwich, little minx.” They all swung to see Shane standing in the door with a take-out container. He walked around the other women and planted a kiss on Phoebe’s lips.
“But, how did you get away from my dad?” Phoebe asked.
“We ran into Gina on the way out. She was coming up to see you.” Shane visibly shivered. “That woman actually flirted with him.” He paused. “In front of me. And he flirted back. You owe me for that one, Phoebe.”
Phoebe grinned and whispered up at him. “I’ll make it up to you later.”
“Oh! That’s our cue to leave,” Laura said.
The women leaned in for hugs and promises to have lunch as soon as Phoebe was feeling up to it.
When they’d left, Shane opened Phoebe’s food for her. “Scoot over,” he said, sitting next to her on the bed. He hung off and didn’t look at all comfortable, but he handed her the sandwich and acted like there was no place he’d rather be.
Phoebe took a bite. It might come from the hospital cafeteria, but it was better than the food they’d brought to her room. “So, how did you know I wasn’t getting a sponge bath?”
“You had your hair in a headband when I left last night.”
Phoebe looked up at him and waited, but he looked as if that explanation should have made the answer plain. “And?” She prompted.
“When your hair is in a headband and you take it out, it looks different than it does now. So, I know you showered this morning.”
Phoebe wasn’t sure what it said about her that her heart did a little flip-flop at that. But somehow, knowing he paid that careful of attention to her sent the butterflies in her stomach flitting about. “Oh,” was all she thought to say.
He grinned and dropped a kiss to her mouth. “I pay attention.”
He really did, she realized, and she knew he never would have been with her for over a year without knowing what she had wanted, like Michael had. She could see that Michael truly hadn’t known she wanted to be married someday. He saw her as the fun girl, the one who just wanted to flit around and have a good time.
Shane knew her in ways other people didn’t. He saw her for who she was, but also for who she could be. He looked at her and saw all the possibilities, and he cheered her on.
He smiled at her. “What are you thinking about?”
“I thought men were supposed to run from that question, not ask it.”
He shrugged. “I told you I knew you showered and you seemed to go someplace else for a bit. Can’t help but wonder where you went.”
“Just thinking that you know me.”
He seemed to puzzle on her face for a minute, before his mouth broke out in a smile. “I do.” He leaned in and kissed her. “And I love you. Every bit of you.”
48
I will hold you in my heart forever, Mom.
Emmaline O’Malley Shannon in a letter to her mother, Fiona, written after her mother’s death
Phoebe knelt and reached into the back of her closet. The studio above the garage still reeked of smoke. There wasn’t much that could be salvaged. Mrs. Sa
sson had decided to tear the structure down rather than rebuild, and Phoebe was fine with that. She was happy at Shane’s. But there was one thing she’d wanted to come in and get before the wrecking crew got to work.
She pulled the large box out. The water from the firefighters hadn’t drenched everything in her closet since most of the flames had been in the other room.
She opened the box and pulled out the two smaller boxes inside. One held things she’d collected over the years. Notes her dad had sent to her during deployments, pictures and the fan her grandmother had given her when she was little. There were a few pieces of jewelry from her grandmother and the tassel from Phoebe’s high school graduation cap. She pulled that one out and set it aside.
The other one, she laid in her lap. She had opened it only a week ago to look at the letters she’d written to her mother, but it seemed like ages had passed since then. She’d only ever sent one letter to her mother. These others, she hadn’t ever mailed. She supposed in a way, they were for herself, not for her mother.
They were for a little girl who desperately wanted to hold onto the idea that maybe the woman who gave birth to her would come back one day. That maybe one day she’d realize she’d made a mistake in walking away. That she might want a chance to know Phoebe. To hold her and love her.
Phoebe looked up as Shane entered the room. He scanned the area and she thought she saw him shiver.
“It’s hard to come in here. I keep picturing…” he swallowed and didn’t finish the sentence. She knew what he meant.
“I have a feeling it’s harder for you than it is for me. I was out cold during all of it,” she said.
He came and sat next to her. “What have you got there?”
Phoebe opened the box and pulled a letter out, handing it to him. When he had opened it and scanned the contents, he nodded, handing it back. “You said you wrote to her once?”