“You and Grandma call me peanut. Addie calls me pumpkin. Uncle Keef calls me cupcake, and Daddy called me conductor.”
“Conductor?” Paige’s hand hesitated. “That’s a funny name for a little girl, isn’t it?”
“He said it was because I had the golden ticket.”
“What on earth are you talking about?”
“Here, I’ll show you.” She hopped down from her chair and raced out the door and upstairs. A moment later, they could all hear a thump, thump, thump on the steps.
“What are you doing?” Paige called.
“Getting the ticket to show you.” She dragged her pink-and-purple princess backpack behind her into the dining room and plopped down on the floor, legs crossed. She unzipped the top, and her two tiny hands reached inside and pulled out a book. “This is the golden ticket. Daddy told me to keep it to take on our Dora the Explorer adventure.”
Martha snatched the book from Emma’s fingers and gasped.
“When did Daddy give that to you?” Paige crouched on the floor in front of her.
“The last time he was here. He told me to hide this because it was a magic ticket, and we’d need it to go on our journey.”
Paige rifled through the backpack and looked up at Martha. “It’s filled with clothes, and her teddy bear that I haven’t been able to find. Oh my God!” Paige gasped, and clasped her hand over her mouth. “Keith, he really was planning to take her away from me for good.”
Addie glanced at the green and gold gilded cover of The Secret Garden in Martha’s hand and then at Keith. He glanced at her, and their gazes locked. A slight smile tugged at the corners of his lips. Words her father used to say after a particularly difficult family case he had to investigate came rushing back at her.“Sometimes good people do bad things for reasons they think are for good at the time.”
Simon clasped Addie’s hand in his. “It’s bittersweet, isn’t it?”
“Mommy read me the part when the garden is beautiful again like the one we made for Addie’s window.”
“Oh, peanut!” Paige cried, wrapped Emma in her arms, and placed her on her knee hugging her tight.
Addie caught a glimpse of Paige’s father’s paling face. An unmistakable look of disappointment flashed in his eyes as he shifted uneasily, gaping at the recovered book. She glanced to the young mother reading to her child perched on her lap and at Bill, who gazed adoringly at Martha as she dabbed at her tear-filled eyes with the corner of her apron. Addie laid her head on Simon’s shoulder. “You asked me if I was going to give up amateur sleuthing,” she whispered.
“Yeah?”
“I’ve decided . . . I can’t—I won’t, as long as it involves people I care about.”
“I know,” he whispered, as he laid his head on hers. “That’s just one of the many reasons why I love you as much as I do.”
His words released a swarm of butterflies in her chest, and Addie gazed up at him. The look in his eyes clearly expressed all the love she was feeling, too. Her lips quivered, but still refused to repeat the words back to him. In her life, those three little words had led to grief and pain after they were uttered. She never wanted to feel that way again. His tender smile told her—he understood what the light in her eyes meant even though her voice remained silent—as he pulled her closer to his side and softly kissed her cheek.
A Page Marked for Murder Page 25