The Baby Plan: A Cozy Mystery

by Kathi Daley

  After setting the note aside and taking the books out of the box, I realized they were actually the Spy Dad books Dad had read to us as children. Had he kept them all these years?

  “What’d you find?” Tony asked.

  I handed him the note.

  “Your dad was here?”

  “Apparently. I guess Dad stopped by on his way from the cabin to wherever he’s headed next. He wanted Mike and me to have the books he read to us when we were kids. I can’t believe he still had these.”

  “I guess he might have kept them in one of the storage lockers that he apparently still has in the area.” Tony looked down at Titan. “I’m surprised Titan didn’t take his leg off.”

  “He was outside when we came home, so I’m going to assume he put up a fight, but Dad probably has a way of dealing with dogs.”

  Tony ran his hands through Titan’s thick coat. “He seems fine. I would have been pretty upset if he was injured.” He looked down at the books. “Should we call Mike?”

  “We’ll tell him about the books later. Even though Bree stayed home all day, she looked exhausted when we were there. I don’t want to give Mike a reason to think he needs to come over again.” I set the book I was holding on the table. “Was everything okay downstairs?”

  “He nodded. The door to the safe room was still locked and alarmed. It looks like your dad just came in, dropped off the books, and left again.”

  “It seems like he could have left the box on the porch,” I pointed out.

  Tony frowned. “Yeah. I was thinking the same thing. I’m going to change the code on the alarm just in case, and I’m going to think about upgrading our security system. The one we have for the upstairs is a few years old.”

  “It might be a good idea.” I glanced down at the box. “It seems as if our visitor was Dad, and I really don’t know who else would know about these books other than Dad, but whenever something like this happens, it only serves to remind me how vulnerable we really are.”

  Tony put his arms around me and pulled me to his chest. He didn’t say as much, but I suspected that he felt as vulnerable as I did at that moment. I’d been pretty adamant when I’d told Dad that Tony and I weren’t interested in moving, but there were times when I suspected that going into hiding might one day be the only option open to us. When I stopped to think about it, I realized that if Dad could get past the security system so easily, then anyone with the caliber of training that Dad had undergone would be able to get in as well. Dad liked to present himself as a man who lived in obscurity and isolation, but recent events had shown that the security that Dad thought he’d built around himself was, in reality, nothing more than an illusion.

  Chapter 20

  Friday, June 25

  “Morning, Hap,” I greeted on my last day as a substitute mail carrier.

  “Tess, Tilly. I can’t believe it’s been a month since you’ve been back.”

  “It’s been a good month.” I smiled. “A lot of fun. But I guess I am ready to get back to the dogs at the shelter.”

  “So who will be taking over this route now?” Hap asked.

  “Actually, Wanda Middletown is going to take over the route, at least for the rest of the summer. I’m not sure if it will be a permanent placement, but I suppose it might work into one.”

  He passed the jar of butterscotch candies toward me. “Well, I, for one, am really going to miss you.”

  “I’ll miss you too, but I promise I’ll try to do a better job of coming by for a visit than I did the last time I made that promise.”

  “I’m going to hold you to that. These visits only when you need paint aren’t nearly enough.”

  “I agree.”

  “Speaking of paint, are you still working on the nursery for Bree’s baby?”

  “We finished it last weekend, and just in time, I think.”

  Hap chuckled. “I guess that poor girl is about to pop. I stopped by the bookstore last week, and she looked pretty miserable.”

  “She has been pretty uncomfortable. She finally decided to stay home and wait for the baby, so at least she’s no longer overdoing it. My guess is that Baby Ella will be born in a few days. Bree’s been having a lot of discomfort, which seems to me to be a precursor to delivery.”

  “I can’t wait to meet the little gal,” Hap said. “I bet she’s going to be real pretty like her mama.”

  “I’m sure Bree will bring her by when she has the all-clear to do so.” I glanced at the clock. “I guess I should get going. Any outgoing mail?”

  He set a stack of envelopes on the counter. “Now, I expect you to keep your promise to come around,” he said once again, appearing to almost tear up as he stepped out from behind the counter and gave me a hug.

  “I will. I promise,” I said, hugging Hap back.

  After I left Hap’s place, I made a few more stops and then crossed the street when I got to Sisters’ Diner. When I walked in, the diner was packed, and Mom was all smiles.

  “Morning, Mom. It’s busy today.”

  “It’s been busy ever since Memorial Day. I have news.”

  “Oh?” I asked, slipping my mailbag off my shoulder and settling it at my feet. “What sort of news?”

  “Remember I told you that the house next to mine sold a few weeks ago.”

  “Yeah. I remember.”

  “Well, the new owner began moving in this morning. You’ll never guess who it is.”

  Someone named Sam, I supposed. “I have no idea,” I said. “Who’s moving in?”

  “Sam Parker. I don’t know if you remember him. He was a friend of your dad’s when you and Mike were kids. I guess you must have been seven or eight when his job transferred him to the east coast, but he used to come by quite often before the transfer.”

  “I do remember him,” I said, grateful that Mike and I had been right about who Dad would send to watch out for Mom. “You seem happy that he’s back.”

  “I am.” She grinned. “Very happy. Sam was your dad’s friend, but he and I got along well. In fact, he was the one I’d call if the sink backed up or the pipes froze when your dad was away. I was sad when he moved away. It was nice to have someone I could depend on to help out around the house when your dad wasn’t there.”

  “So is Sam married?” I asked.

  “No. When I talked to Sam this morning, he told me that it was just him moving in. We didn’t have a lot of time to chat since I told Ruthie I’d open this morning, but we’re going to grab some dinner this evening and catch up.”

  I smiled. “I’m happy for you, Mom. It will be nice to have an old friend you already know you can depend on right next door.”

  “It really will. I remember that Sam liked to play cards and watch detective shows, same as me. I’m hoping he still likes to hang out in the evenings. It’s been lonely since you kids moved out of the house. It will be nice to have someone to talk to every now and again.”

  I hugged my mom. “I hope it all works out the way you hope.”

  When I entered the police station, Frank told me that Mike had taken Bree to the doctor and wasn’t expected back until later that afternoon. As he knew he would have to, Mike had continued to investigate Anton’s murder for a while longer, knowing that if it had been Dad who’d cleaned up after the murder, then there would never be any evidence to find. Eventually, he let the whole thing die and filed the case with the other unsolved cases. I knew Mike hated to do that, but in this case, it seemed to be the only viable option.

  Mike was still irritated with Dad for the way things had turned out, and I wasn’t sure how that would work out. Before we’d left the cabin, Dad had given Mike and Tony a protocol to follow should either have an emergency. He’d also promised to check in more often, but I sort of doubted he would. I honestly believed that Dad loved us, but I also believed that his life was the sort where when he was away, he probably rarely, if ever, even gave us a second thought.

  I wondered what Mike would think about Sam coming on the scene
. He’d seemed supportive of the idea when we’d first discussed it, but now that Sam was actually here, I supposed other emotions might rise to the surface. As for me, at this point, I think I was just happy that Mom had an old friend she enjoyed hanging out with back in her life. If there ever had been a spark and it still existed, I supposed with Dad out of the picture, they could allow that to develop over time. Of course, Sam knew Dad was still alive even if Mom didn’t, so I supposed that might complicate things.

  By the time Tilly and I’d made it to the end of the route and were heading to the post office to turn in my mailbag, I was ready for the weekend and ready for my life to return to normal the following week. Tony and I had both been busy, and I felt like a few days to simply relax would be welcomed by both of us. If it wasn’t for the fact that I was sure Bree would be delivering any day now, I might have even suggested a romantic trip somewhere tropical. Sunday was, after all, our first anniversary.

  As for further discussions about our own bundle of joy, Tony and I had talked about the idea of having a baby in the general sense. We’d identified reasons we wanted to start a family sooner rather than later, and we’d discussed reasons it might be better to wait. We hadn’t settled on a date to start trying, but I think we were getting closer to that decision the more we worked through the various obstacles as I saw them. Bree thought I was overthinking things, but having a baby was a life-altering decision, and I wanted to be sure. Once I was pregnant, there would be no changing our minds or going back to the way things were.

  I’d just pulled into the drive at the house when my phone dinged, letting me know I had a text. It was Mike letting me know that Bree’s doctor had admitted her to the hospital. He didn’t elaborate, but he did say that the doctor felt that it was time for the baby to come, so they planned to induce her if she didn’t go into labor in the next few hours. I figured I’d call for more information once I got inside. I wanted to be there for Bree, but if they were just getting started, it was likely it would be hours before the baby came.

  “We’re having a baby,” I said to Tony after entering the house through the front door. “Well, Bree’s having a baby.” I held up my phone. “Mike texted. He said they are going to induce her. I’m going to call and see what’s going on.”

  “I made dinner. I’ll go ahead and wait to serve it until you talk to Mike. We can put it in the refrigerator if we need to head out right away.”

  Mike informed me that Bree’s blood pressure was high and that it had been high for the past week. The baby was full-term, so even though Bree hadn’t gone into labor yet, the doctor felt it was best to go ahead and deliver. He’d admitted her, and they were monitoring her vitals. The doctor thought the baby might decide to come on her own, so they were going to watch things for a few hours before starting the IV drip to induce. Mike assured me it would be hours and hours, so there was no need to come yet. He promised to keep me updated.

  I shared the content of my conversation with Tony. We decided to go ahead and eat but to skip the wine. By the time the dishes were done, Mike had called back to say that Bree had gone into labor on her own. He suggested we might want to go ahead and come down to the hospital since once the regular contractions had started, things had begun to progress quickly.

  By the time we arrived, Bree was in heavy labor.

  “I’m glad you’re here,” Bree groaned when I walked into the room. “You can sit with me while Mike takes a break.”

  “I don’t need a break,” Mike countered.

  “Take a break, Mike,” Bree said in no uncertain terms.

  Mike glanced at me. I nodded. “Tony’s in the lobby. Why don’t the two of you get a cup of coffee. I’ll sit with Bree until you get back.”

  “Okay,” he said reluctantly. “I won’t be long.”

  I noticed that Bree physically relaxed when Mike left the room.

  I sat down on the side of her bed and took her hand. “So is it bad?”

  She nodded. “A lot worse than I thought it would be. I love Mike. You know I do. But he’s been driving me crazy.”

  “Crazier than usual?”

  She nodded. “Mike hates that I’m in pain, which I understand, but every time there’s a contraction, instead of letting me experience the pain and get through it, he tries to talk me out of it.”

  “Talk you out of it?”

  Her body began to tense. The hand I held tightened, and she let out a loud groan as a contraction gripped her small frame. I wasn’t sure what to do, so I just sat there holding her hand and praying she wouldn’t break mine.

  Once it passed, she continued the conversation as if it hadn’t been interrupted. “We took birthing classes, and as part of those classes, they taught us to breathe through the pain. The woman who taught the class went so far as to say that having a child was a sensual experience and that if you control your breath, the pain would be manageable. Boy, was she wrong!”

  “So when the pain is bad, Mike thinks it’s your fault since if you’re in pain, then you must not be breathing right,” I took a stab at a guess.

  “Bingo. Maybe there are women in the world who can breathe through the pain, but I’m afraid I’m more of a scream through the pain sort of person. I need Mike to be okay with that. I need for him to stop making me feel like I’m doing this wrong.”

  “Yeah. I get it. I’ll talk to Mike.” I rubbed her arm with the hand she wasn’t holding. “Is there anything I can do?”

  “No. I just need to get through the next couple hours without killing Mike, and everything will be fine.”

  I used my free hand to brush a stray lock of hair from Bree’s cheek. “I can’t believe Ella is going to be here in a few hours. I’m so excited to meet her.”

  “Me too,” Bree said. “I’ve been longing for her for so long.”

  I noticed her face begin to contort. “Go ahead and scream as loud as you want,” I said, looking around. It was good that she had a private room.

  Bree let out a loud groan and, once again, came close to shattering all the bones in my hand before she began to relax.

  “That was a big one,” she said.

  “Should I call the doctor?”

  “They have me on a monitor so they can watch my progress from the nurse’s station.”

  “Okay. If you’re sure. So tell me about the nursery. You said you were going to paint a mural.”

  “I am, and it’s going to be adorable.” She actually grinned.

  I sat with her through several more strong contractions before the nurse came in and informed us it was getting close to the time for her to start pushing.

  “Go and get Mike,” Bree said to me. “I don’t want him to miss the actual delivery.”

  I nodded, happy to be able to get out of the room before I actually needed a cast on the hand I was sure was bruised if not broken. After Mike joined Bree, I joined Tony in the waiting room.

  “You know how we’ve been discussing having a baby,” I said once we’d bought some really awful coffee from the vending machine.

  “Yeah.”

  “Well, I changed my mind. We’ll adopt.”

  Tony took my hand in his, and I actually flinched. Bree was much stronger than I gave her credit for.

  “I know we arrived at an unfortunate point in the process, but I don’t think the whole labor is that bad,” Tony said.

  “Have you ever had a baby?”

  “Well, no.”

  “Then you don’t get an opinion.” All I could think of at this point were Bree’s screams of agony as she crushed the life from my hand.

  “Fair enough. I guess you can talk to Bree about it after the baby is born.”

  I was sure that when I did talk to Bree, she’d tell me to run away and run fast from any future talk of children, but when I finally did get around to talking to her weeks later, she’d actually ended up telling me that it wasn’t that bad and that she’d decided she wanted at least three children.

  It was after midnight by the tim
e Ella finally came into the world, so her birthday would actually be June 26th, the day before Tony’s and my anniversary. When I saw Bree holding the dark-haired little angel, I had to admit I was back on team baby in a big way.

  “Do you want to hold her?” Bree asked.

  I nodded, sitting down on the chair next to Bree’s bed. Mike had called Mom, who was on her way over, so I knew I only had a few minutes with my niece before Mom came in, demanding grandma time.

  “She’s the most beautiful baby I’ve ever seen,” I said.

  Bree smiled. “She is, isn’t she? I think Isabella looks a lot like her Auntie Tess.”

  “Do you really think so?”

  Bree nodded. “She definitely has your smile.”

  “She does have my smile,” I said as I rubbed her cheek. “But I thought I heard that babies don’t smile until they get older.”

  “I think that might be an old wives tale, but whether it is or isn’t, this baby smiles. I’m not sure if it’s because she’s happy, has gas, or if it’s just a reflex, but she smiled immediately after the nurse handed her to me, and when I handed her to you, she started smiling again.”

  Okay, I was in love. If Tony was in the room, I’d probably demand that he take me home and make a baby right now. Of course, by the time we actually got home, my rational mind would most likely kick in.

  “Thanks, Tess,” she said after a minute.

  “For what?”

  “For letting me do my labor my way. I was seriously on the verge of killing Mike when you walked in.”

  I opened and closed my still sore hand. “You’re welcome. I’m glad I could help.”

  “I know that Mike just wanted to help. I know he hated seeing me in pain. But trying to get through all that while comforting him and trying to make it seem like things weren’t bad so he wouldn’t freak out was exhausting.”

  “I suppose the next time, you can discuss this with him upfront.”

  “The next time, I’m asking for an epidural. I let the woman who taught the class convince me that I wouldn’t need one, but I did.”

  “How long will you be in the hospital?” I asked.