She shrugged. "I'll get photographs when I show Julia, I promise."
"I'll see you at home. I also have to drop some stuff off at Mr. Mitchim's office. If you get home before I do, tell Emmie I am on my way."
"I will," Jenny promised, lingering as she stretched up to kiss her husband. "Thank you for last night."
Josh's eyes softened. "I think we figured out how to survive business trips. It was tough while I was away, but the homecoming made it worth it."
Chapter 14
Jenny ran a few errands before stopping at Julia Scarlett's store. She bought supplies, dropped off her art pieces, and talked to her friend for a while. Julia was sure her New York gallery contact would be interested in buying Jenny's new pieces and she did promise to take photographs. She asked Jenny if she was interested in having a show, not in her small gallery, but in an elite Denver Galley.
She was thrilled with the offer, but Jenny knew she still had to complete the pieces she was working on for the main house. The offer actually frightened her a little. She had been at this point once before as the darling of the SoHo art scene in Manhattan, and then everything fell apart. She wanted to see if her pieces continued to sell before committing to a show. Besides, it was not a decision she could make on her own. The costs of supplies for such an undertaking far exceeded her earnings so far. She also had to think of the time it would take to complete enough pieces for a showing. She had to consider her husband and children.
When Josh arrived home, Emmie nearly leaped into his arms. She babbled away a mile a minute telling him everything she had done while he was gone. Her five-year-old enthusiasm excited him. Josh kissed her and swung her around in love and appreciation. His Emmie was back. She had found her voice and was talking. He could not have been more delighted.
Mila waggled her fingers goodbye at Josh as she plucked Davy out of his port-a-crib and tucked him inside her coat for the short trip across the open deck to her part of the house. When she got there, she popped him into his bassinet in the living room. She shivered involuntarily and adjusted the thermostat. She grabbed the book she was reading and sat down on the sofa. A few minutes later, she reached for the couch throw and realized the room still was not any warmer. She had changed the thermostat to a higher setting. She tucked her baby under the throw before going through the house checking windows to make sure the wind had not tossed something against one and broken it. Instead, she found the back door ajar about two inches.
She backed away to open a bottom kitchen drawer where she kept a few tools for easy access. She pulled out a hammer and returned to the door, her makeshift weapon raised and ready to strike. The closed-in porch was piled with boxes of items removed from her house after Kevin and his crew had redone it. What they considered worthy of giving away to charity had been packed and set aside on the back porch. The boxes were still there since the weather had been horrible for the last couple of weeks.
Mila looked at the boxes and then backed into the kitchen again, closing the door, and turning the deadbolt. She went into the living room, tucked Davy under her coat, and ran back to Josh and Jenny's place.
"What's wrong?" Josh and Jenny said together as soon as Mila burst through their door without knocking. She always knocked.
"Someone has broken into my place," Mila said returning Davy to the port-a-crib. "Someone has been through the boxes stored on the back porch."
Josh handed Adam off to Jenny. "Take the kids, go into the bedroom, and lock yourself in. Mila go with her."
"Like hell," Mila responded angrily.
"Kevin's truck is outside, where is he?" Josh demanded.
"I think he is doing the finish trim in the kitchen, but…."
"Go upstairs," repeated Josh to Mila. He left the room and came back carrying the rifle.
"Let's go," insisted Jenny nudging her sister. "Let the men check it out. Josh, Mila has been sleeping here all week with me, Kevin was staying at her place. He could have sorted through the boxes for some reason."
"Lock the door behind me," Josh ordered, checking the kitchen door lock before leaving through the front door.
Mila locked the door and they retreated to the upstairs bedroom.
Josh first went to find Kevin who was cutting trim boards on a miter saw, wearing goggles and earphones. Josh waited until the carpenter released the blade, the blade stopped, and Kevin's hands were in a safe zone before he moved into the man's line of sight.
Kevin yanked his safety gear off. "What's wrong?"
"Mila says someone has been in her house."
"Yeah, me."
"Did you go through the boxes on her back porch?"
Kevin frowned. "No. Let's check it out." He reached down and pulled out a locked tray at the bottom of his toolbox. After unlocking it, he pulled out a handgun. "I'm legal to carry. When did you get home?"
"About twenty minutes ago, Jen was right behind me. Mila returned to her place and two minutes ago came running back over to say someone had broken in."
Kevin took the lead entering the little house. They looked around, searching rooms and closets, but found no one. Kevin opened the back door to look at the boxes. Where his crew had left neatly taped and stacked boxes, now there were jumbled boxes with items half hanging out. He stepped over to the porch door and checked the lock.
"Someone jimmied the lock, it wouldn't have taken much." He handed his gun to Josh. "Take this back to your place and lock it in your gun safe for now. Then call the Sheriff's Office. Meanwhile, send Mila back over. Maybe she can tell if anything was stolen."
Mila returned to her house still peeved that Josh had sent her into hiding.
"Look around carefully," suggested Kevin. "See if anything looks out of place and check those boxes for anything missing."
"I don't know what was in those boxes," Mila grumbled. "Your crew packed them when I was in the hospital, remember?"
"Yes, I do," said Kevin patiently. "Mrs. Dougherty was a borderline hoarder and eighty percent of what was in here was garbage that we threw out. I told the crew to only box what they thought might sell at a yard sale. Go look in your bedroom. I changed out your personal stuff myself when we brought in the new furniture. I exchanged your things drawer for drawer so it wouldn't be a problem for you to find them."
Mila opened her mouth to complain and then snapped it shut. "Why did you do that?"
Kevin raised an eyebrow. "I didn't figure you would appreciate strange men going through your underwear. I did not like the idea myself. If anyone is going to see your panties, I would like it to be me."
Mila's eyes snapped upward to meet his, but then she turned on her heel and went into her bedroom. She was blushing. She never blushed. Years of living around and alongside men in the military had cured her of it a long time ago. She glanced at her reddened cheeks in the mirror and took a deep breath. She opened the top drawer of her dresser looking for a small wooden box she had purchased on R&R in Hong Kong. She felt around for it, pulled the drawer out further, but still did not find it.
"Kevin?"
As he entered her room, she was searching the second and third drawers.
"Yeah?"
"Do you remember seeing a small box in the top drawer of the old furniture?"
"Yeah, about six-inches long, wood carvings and inlaid ivory. Intricate work," he said. "It was in the top drawer of the old dresser and I put it in the top drawer of the new one."
"I can't find it," Mila said moving to the nightstand drawers. "Check the tall dresser drawers."
Kevin took the search a step further. He pulled out all the drawers, set them on the bed, and then put them back after making sure nothing could have fallen behind or underneath."
"What was in it?"
Mila swallowed and closed her eyes. "My wedding rings, a watch, and an antique Tiffany Art Deco diamond watch."
His eyes met hers. "Keep looking. Maybe you put them somewhere else and forgot. I do it all the time. I lost my granddad's gold watch for six mont
hs once. Only after I had found it, did I remember why I had put it there in the first place."
She shook her head no, but suddenly turned and raced into the kitchen. She grabbed a kitchen stool and stood on it, stepped on the counter and reached up and over the trim of a tall cabinet. She pulled out the missing box flipping open the lid to verify its contents. She began to leap down from the counter when Kevin stopped her and gently lifted her down.
"I did forget. I moved it after you told us about Blake stealing from you," Mila admitted.
"So, is everything still there?"
Mila opened the box and handed him a wedding set. It was an old-fashioned setting with a huge diamond. "This and the watch belonged to John's great-grandmother. It was too big to wear every day, too much of a temptation for a potential mugger. For every day running around, I wore a plain gold band."
Kevin glanced at her finger to check she still was not wearing it. "It's one heck of a door knocker. How big is the rock?"
"It's eight carats not counting the smaller diamonds. It was handed down through my husband's family. I never really liked the ring set, but I do like the watch."
"You will go to the bank and get a safe deposit box," Kevin said firmly. "You shouldn't have this kind of thing lying around. It must be worth a fortune!"
"Don't get bossy!" Mila warned.
"No, don't you get stubborn," replied Kevin, taking the box from her. "There's a safe in my office. I'll stop by on the way home and lock this away. When you get a safe deposit box, I'll return it to you. Do you have it insured against loss? Do you even know what it's worth?"
"Yes," Mila exclaimed. "It will probably pay for my son's college education at an Ivy League institution. I had it in a safe deposit box before moving here, but I hadn't gotten around to getting one here. No one knew it was here."
"I know, but thieves don't usually have any idea what someone has before they break in and steal it! Jesus, Mila, that was a bonehead move on your part," Kevin growled. "Look around carefully. Does anything look disturbed except the boxes on the porch?"
Mila shook her head. "No, and I think I would be able to tell. It's not as if there's a lot of clutter around anymore. You threw out all the awful stuff. I didn't notice anything until I saw the back door was open."
Kevin looked out the front window and saw a Sheriff's Department car pulling into the driveway. "The law is here, Deputy Rick Koffman. Don't mention the rings. If no one except you knew they were here, whoever broke in couldn't have been after them. Rick is straight out of training and tends to get sidetracked."
They walked across the room, but Mila stopped at the front door and spoke over her shoulder to Kevin.
"Thank you for personally moving my things. I wouldn't have wanted strangers touching my personal items. It would have been creepy."
"You are welcome," Kevin said, opening the door to Deputy Koffman and Josh.
After forty-five minutes of questioning for which there were no answers, the Deputy wrote a report and Mila signed it. After the Deputy had taken pictures of the broken lock on the back door and the tossed boxes, Kevin went into the main house for boards to barricade her back door.
The three of them stood outside her door watching the Deputy drive down the lane.
"What a waste of time," Josh grumbled. "Mila, you are temporarily moving back to our place."
"You don't have room for two more," Mila said, shaking her head.
"It's okay, Josh," Kevin said. "I will sleep on Mila's couch until I get the back door fixed and an alarm system installed."
Josh looked between the two of them and shrugged. "Okay. Do you have time to go over what you and your crew worked on while I was gone?"
"Actually, I don't have time right now," Kevin said. "Now, I have to go into town and run by my shop. I will swing by the hardware store and get what I need to fortify this place. It is first on the agenda tomorrow morning."
"Get an alarm system for the guesthouse too," Josh instructed. The two men nodded in agreement.
Mila rolled her eyes, went back inside her cottage, and shut the door.
Kevin opened Mila's door to snag his jacket from the coat rack and let Buddy inside. "Is there anything you need from town while I am there?" he asked.
"You don't have to stay here," Mila complained.
"It is a done deal," Kevin said picking up the hand-carved wooden box. "I'll put this in my safe, get my errands run, and return in a few hours. Buddy will keep an eye on you."
"You don't have to," Mila repeated without much conviction in her voice.
"Yes, I do," insisted Kevin, leaning over to kiss her. "Stop fighting me, sweetheart. I really want to see you in the black thong and push-up bra… the ones with the price tags still on them."
Mila whirled around furiously. "You pervert!"
He laughed. "I'm not the one who bought them, but I sure would like to appreciate them."
* * *
While Josh watched their kids, Jenny slipped over to Mila's cottage.
"Are you okay?" Jenny demanded.
"I'm okay now. I was a little spooked when I realized someone had broken in," Mila declared. "I swear the men around here are all overcharged with testosterone!"
Jenny laughed. "You say it as if it were a bad thing."
Mila shook her head. "I don't know what to do with him. He drives me crazy, but…."
"You like him," Jenny finished.
"It's too soon," Mila whispered. "It has only been nine months."
"If you think it is, tell him," Jenny urged. "From what you told me, though, it is really more like two years. You got pregnant between tours. You and John were having problems. You were both thinking and talking divorce before he shipped out the last time. Don't put your life on hold. When something good comes along, jump on it."
Mila rolled her eyes.
"I didn't mean literally," teased Jenny. "If Kevin is right for you, you can take your time and be sure before you do any jumping. Don't toss him aside simply because the timing seems awkward. Do you want to come back to our place until he returns tonight?"
"No, I'm okay," said Mila. "You need private family time and I need thinking time."
* * *
Josh spent time playing with his children. Emmie would not leave his side for the first few hours until she felt assured he was back for good, and then she wandered off to play on her own. Adam was turning into a little speeding bullet. He had one speed, an awkward run. No matter how many times he fell, he was determined and back on his feet quickly. At sixteen-months-old, he was a happy child, putting together sentences of two or three words… more commands than sentences. 'Want cookie, Daddy!' 'Hungry, Mommy!' Then there was the helpful command: 'Wet!'
"How much longer before this guy is potty trained?" Josh asked after changing a diaper.
"It won't be long," Jenny replied. "He is aware of being wet and wanting to be changed. Verbalizing it is the first step. I want him to be a little steadier on his feet. Most mothers I talked with said potty training a girl is easier than with a boy. We will see."
"Make 'em eat those words, Adam," Josh advised his son as he snapped together the legs to his son's overalls. "When Kevin gets back, I am going over the schedule with him. He should be finishing the carpentry soon. I also have to balance the checkbooks. Do you have all your receipts?"
Jenny nodded and tapped an envelope stuck to the refrigerator with a magnet. "All here, except three and I don't know what happened to them."
"Jen," Josh said, his voice changing and going stern. "Are you over budget?"
She turned around looking worried. "A little bit, I ran out of cash and had to use the card. I will pay the bill out of the money I got for my art pieces," she promised.
"I don't want to be paid back. I want you to be more responsible upfront. I'll see what damage has been done."
Later in the evening, Josh pushed his desk chair back looking grimly at the computer screen. The missing receipts amounted to less than a couple hundred
dollars, but the principal of the matter bothered him. Jenny had stayed on track and within budget since the debacle in Waterbury. He had been gone less than a week before she had regressed into her bad habits.
He had thought enough time had passed so he could trust her with an ATM debit card, but apparently not. He had given her the Visa charge card with strict instructions to use it only in case of an emergency. None of her purchases were remotely in the emergency category. All of them could have waited until they had discussed them to see if they fit into the budget and there was also the fact that they talked every day at least twice a day and she'd never said a word to him about being over budget.
The Christmas season was approaching fast. Josh did not want to be a Christmas Scrooge, but he also did not want Jenny to go as madly overboard as she had in the last few years while still under her mother's influence. He wanted to institute his parent's rule of six gifts per child, one of which the child had to give to another child in need. Parents did not need to overwhelm their children with presents. They needed to demonstrate that a few thoughtful gifts were more than enough, not to mention teaching their children about charity and giving.
As he shut down his computer, the phone rang.
"Hey, Tyrell," Josh said.
"Hey, Idiot," his brother returned. "Don't you answer your email?"
"Not today," Josh admitted. "I just got home from Montrose after being gone four days. I owed my family some quality time. I'll catch up on correspondence in the morning. I figured if it were important someone would call me. Why did you call?"
"I ought to make you wait until you do open your email," Tyrell grumbled. "DQ&H has officially settled. You had better stay on top of your taxes this year, little brother, because they are going to be something else."
"How much," Josh demanded.
Tyrell quoted a figure twice as high as Josh had expected on his second go round with Pugh and Barkley Designs.
"Great," Josh admitted. "It will pay for the rest of my property renovations. I heard a rumor David Pugh was going to be retired, is it true?"
Broken Vows (Domestic Discipline Romance) Page 23