by Cindy Kirk
“What about the thin blue line?” Nina asked pointedly.
Even if he hadn’t known, the question told him there was a cop in her family.
He kept his gaze on her face. “The thin blue line breaks for dirty cops.”
“I bet not everyone saw it that way.”
Cade resisted the urge to glance at Alice. He shrugged. “I had to follow my own conscience.”
“My father and granddad would agree with you on that.” Nina shifted in her chair and winced, a hand moving to her back.
“Are you okay?” Cade asked.
When he started to rise to his feet, she waved him down.
“This last month, I’ve been having a lot of what’s called Braxton Hicks contractions. False labor pains.” Nina took a breath, then relaxed. “Over for now.”
“What other questions can I answer for you?” Cade asked. “Or if you’d prefer to wait until you feel better, I can come back.”
“Thanks.” The tightness around her mouth eased. “I appreciate your concern and you meeting with me on such short notice. But I’ve put off this decision too long already.”
That’s what had Cade worried. “Are you considering keeping the baby?”
Shock flickered across her face. “Absolutely not. He deserves parents who can give him time and attention. Both things are in short supply in my life.”
“We’d give him a good home,” Cade told her. “One filled with love. I grew up with three brothers, so I know boys. My wife is one of four girls, but—”
“When can I meet her?”
“Name the time and place. We’ll be there.”
“Tomorrow at ten?” Nina glanced at Alice. “We need to get moving on this.”
“I’m available then,” Alice told her.
Pushing back her chair, Nina stood.
Cade rounded the table and held out his hand. She was only an inch or two taller than Marigold and possessed a cool composure he wouldn’t have expected in one so young.
“It was a pleasure meeting you, Nina.”
The hand that closed over his was ice-cold.
Not as steady as she appeared, he thought.
“I look forward to meeting your wife.”
“You’ll love her.” His voice warmed the way it did each time he mentioned Marigold. “She’s an amazing woman.”
Marigold’s heart began to pound when she heard the garage door lift. She glanced at her phone. Two in the morning. Anger warred with the fear that had gripped her as the hours ticked slowly by.
What had Cade been doing?
She thought of the salmon and asparagus. Of the coconut lime sherbet in the freezer that was Cade’s favorite. And of the bottle of sparkling cider.
Somewhere around eleven o’clock, anger and hurt and a dozen other emotions that were so tangled together she didn’t know how to separate one from the other had peaked in a righteous fury.
Then she came to her senses.
Cade loved her. That’s what he’d said. That’s what she believed. She would trust him. For now.
Marigold looked up when her husband walked into the living room. She had dimmed the lights and was sitting on the sofa, sipping a glass of cider. She’d changed from the pretty dress she’d had on earlier into the bright pink silk pj’s he’d given her for Christmas.
“Sorry I’m so late.” He raked a hand through his hair and plopped down on the other end of the sofa. “It’s been a long day.”
He looked tired, she thought, and stressed, with little lines etched deep around his eyes.
“For me, too,” she said.
“You didn’t have to wait up.” His eyes met hers. “But I’m really glad you did.”
It was an opening, and she stepped through, somehow even managed to offer a tentative smile. “Why don’t you tell me what’s going on?”
Cade took a deep breath, let it out slowly. The serious look on his face had her body going rigid.
“Alice has found us a birth mother who is due in the next month. She’s down to two couples, and we’re one of them.”
Marigold felt her heart leap, the same way it had when she’d seen the plus sign on the stick. “Why is this the first I’m hearing about this?”
“Her father and grandfather are in law enforcement, and Nina—that’s the birth mother—wants an adoptive father with ties to law enforcement. Her other preference is that the couple have another child. Apparently, Nina is an only child who’s always wished for a sibling.” Cade blew out another breath. “Alice hopes she’ll make an exception once she meets you.”
“So…Alice handles adoptions at her firm.” Marigold spoke slowly as the puzzle pieces began falling into place. “Did she want you to keep this from me?”
“No.” Cade expelled yet another heavy breath. “That bad idea was totally my own.”
“How could you think it was a good idea?” While the other puzzle pieces were fitting nicely together, this one stuck out.
“We’ve been through so many disappointments. You said you didn’t think you could handle another one right now.” Cade scooted over and took her hands in his.
A little of the tightness of her body released at his touch. The coldness inside her began to warm as she realized the truth of his words.
“We don’t meet one of this young woman’s two criteria, and moving forward depended on the meeting I had with her this evening.”
“How did it go?” Marigold asked.
“It went well, I think. She wants to meet with us both at ten a.m. tomorrow.” His words came quickly now. “I realize it’s short notice, and you’ll probably have to cancel a million appointments, but Alice believes we have a real chance.”
Before she could speak, his hands tightened on hers. “If things go well tomorrow, we could be the parents of a baby boy by the end of the month.”
“You really think that’s a possibility?”
“She liked me. Or rather, I didn’t blow it, so yes, I think it could happen.”
Cade studied her face for a long time, and she saw the puzzlement in his eyes.
“You don’t seem as excited as I thought you’d be,” he said carefully, as if searching for footing on unfamiliar terrain.
“I am excited,” she told him, meaning every word. “It’s just I have a wrinkle to toss into the mix.”
While it was an amazing wrinkle, and one she knew he’d love, it was definitely unexpected. Her heart began to pound an erratic rhythm.
Marigold thought of her sister Fin, who’d recently learned she was pregnant again after giving birth to her first child about four months earlier. She hadn’t understood why Fin and Jeremy had deliberately waited to share their news with the family.
Fin’s claim of being in shock hadn’t rung true to her. Now, Marigold understood. The idea of having two children under the age of one was a heady, yet also frightening, thought.
“What kind of wrinkle?” His voice hitched. “Are you ill?”
For a second, she wondered why he’d be concerned she was sick. Until she remembered her symptoms over the past month. Ones that now made perfect sense.
“I’m not ill, Cade.” Marigold fixed her eyes on his. “I’m pregnant.”
He blinked. Her lawman, a guy who caught on to everything so quickly it usually made her head spin, appeared to be having difficulty processing her words. “Pregnant?”
“Yes.” She smiled and pulled his hand to her belly. “You and I are having a baby.”
Tears filled his eyes. “A baby?”
Marigold nodded, the lump in her throat making speech impossible.
“I can’t believe it.” He let out a whoop, took her in his arms and spun her around.
When he stopped, she closed her eyes and held him tight.
He stilled. “Is that what you wanted to tell me tonight?”
She nodded, her head still buried in the crook of his neck.
“I ruined it for you.”
“You didn’t ruin anything.” She raised her he
ad and looked into his eyes. “You were simply busy doing your part to expand our family.”
“Would you still want to go forward with an adoption?” He brushed the curls back from her face. “If Nina chooses us, we’d have two little ones.”
“Two babies to love,” Marigold told him. “We want a big family. We’d be off to a most excellent start.”
“Have I told you lately how much I love you?”
She pulled him to her with a fierceness that surprised them both. “I feel horrible for doubting you for even one second.”
“I should have told you everything from the start. Keeping things from each other isn’t our way.” He kissed the top of her head. “It won’t happen again.”
“Good.” She smiled and pulled back. “It’s time we got to bed.”
“You’re right. You need your sleep.” He stood and pulled her to her feet. “I still can’t believe it.”
“The pregnancy explains so much. The symptoms I’ve been having are classic, but I didn’t make the connection.”
Without warning, he wrapped his arms around her and once again spun her around. She was laughing by the time they came to a stop. “What was that about?”
Joy filled his eyes. “Celebrating this most momentous occasion.”
“I have another way we can celebrate.” She smiled. “I’ll give you a hint. It involves getting naked.”
Chapter Five
Marigold glanced at the time on the dash as she slid into the passenger seat of Cade’s truck. They’d allowed themselves three and a half hours for the drive to Milwaukee.
With the sun up and the sky clear, it should be smooth sailing all the way. Marigold had gotten together snacks for them to munch on as well as bottles of water. Cade had brought a huge travel mug of coffee as well.
The city limit sign for Good Hope was in their rearview when her phone pinged with a text.
“I thought Charlotte and I had everything settled,” she told Cade with a puzzled frown.
Though annoyed at being awakened at six a.m., Charlotte had agreed to contact Marigold’s customers about the change in plans for the day. If they were willing, she’d fill in. Otherwise, Charlotte would reschedule their appointments with Marigold.
When Marigold retrieved her phone from her purse, it wasn’t Charlotte’s name on the readout. A shiver of unease slithered up her spine at the sight of David Chapin’s name.
“The text is from David,” she told Cade. “It’s a group text.”
“What’s does it say?”
Marigold’s heart stopped. Just stopped. Nononono, she thought. This couldn’t be happening.
“Marigold?” Cade’s voice remained soft and low, as if he sensed her distress. “What’s wrong?”
“We have to go to the hospital in Sturgeon.”
“Okay. We’re not far.” He veered off the highway in the direction of the hospital. “Tell me what’s happened.”
“It’s my dad. Lynn called 911. Possible heart attack.” Tears slipped down Marigold’s cheeks. “I can’t lose him, Cade. Not my dad.”
“You won’t.” Reaching over, Cade clasped Marigold’s hand. “Did you know that ninety percent of people who have a heart attack survive?”
“I didn’t, but I’m glad to hear it.”
Cade pulled into the Emergency parking lot. He’d barely stopped when Marigold flung open her door. She was at the sliding doors leading into the ER by the time he unbuckled his seat belt.
The red-headed nurse at the desk looked up when she rushed to the counter. “My dad, Steve Bloom, came in—”
“Marigold.”
She whirled at the sound of her name. Seconds later, she was clamping her fingers around David’s forearms. “Where is he? Where’s my dad?”
“The second the ambulance arrived,” David told her, “they took him back. They’d already started an IV and hooked him up to a heart monitor en route.”
“They insisted we stay out here.” Frustration filled Lynn’s voice. “They wouldn’t let me go back with him.”
Without makeup and wearing cotton pants and a simple tee, Lynn looked every day of her sixty years. But there was a fierceness to her expression and a resolve in her voice that told Marigold no one was going to push her around.
Marigold lightly touched Lynn’s arm. “Can you tell me what happened?”
Before Lynn had a chance to respond, the doors to the ER slid open, and her sisters rushed in. Their husbands weren’t with them, which told Marigold they’d stayed home with the children. Except for Fin. Jeremy held Eddie as Fin joined her siblings, who quickly surrounded Lynn.
“Where’s Dad?” Fin demanded.
“How’s he doing?” Prim asked.
“I want to see him,” Ami insisted.
The doors opened again, and Lynn’s other two children, Clay and Greer, joined the group. Wyatt, Greer’s husband, paused to speak with Cade.
As the waiting room was otherwise deserted, there was no need for Lynn to keep her voice down.
“Before bed, Steve complained he just didn’t feel right.” Lynn’s voice trembled slightly before she steadied it. “He thought it might be something he ate, but we’d had the same dinner, and I felt fine.”
Lynn closed her eyes, her fingers tightly curled together.
“What happened then,” Fin demanded, rather than asked.
“Is that when you called 911?” Prim offered Lynn an encouraging smile and shot Fin a warning glance.
Fin was worried—heck, they all were—but when Delphinium Rakes got worried, she pushed and pushed hard.
The trouble was, as strong as Lynn was, right now she looked as if she was on the verge of breaking.
“He woke me up at six, and he was nauseous. He said he was having pain in his chest.” Lynn’s voice hitched. “It reminded me of Robert.”
“Steve said no, this wasn’t a heart attack. He told me he was going to take an antacid and go back to bed.” Lynn’s jaw set in a tight line. “I called 911 and insisted he chew an aspirin while we waited.”
“Bet he loved that.” Ami managed a chuckle.
“He wasn’t happy. I didn’t care. I wasn’t taking any chances.” Her lips pressed together for several seconds. “I only regret not bringing him in before we went to bed.”
“You couldn’t have known things would get worse.” David put a hand on his mother’s shoulders. “You did all the right things, Mom. He’s in good hands now.”
“They have an excellent cardiology program here.” Jeremy spoke for the first time. “When they were talking about my grandmother having heart surgery, we did our research.”
“What was that doctor’s name?” Prim asked him. “The one who took care of your grandmother?”
“Nolan Passmore,” Jeremy told her.
“I don’t know who is taking care of Steve.” Lynn pushed to her feet. “But I’m going to find out.”
While Lynn was doing her thing, Cade motioned to Marigold, and they stepped to the side.
“What is it?” she asked, casting sideways glances at Lynn, who appeared to be in a deep discussion with the nurse.
“I’m going to text Alice and cancel the meeting.”
Marigold stared blankly at him.
“The ten o’clock with Nina?” he prompted.
“Oh yeah, that.” Her gaze once again slid to Lynn. “Yes, go ahead and cancel. There’s no way I can leave my dad.”
“I agree. We need to be here.” He bent over and kissed the top of her head, then pulled out his phone.
“You could still go.”
He shook his head. “Today was for her to meet you. Besides, I’m not leaving you.”
Marigold gripped his hand. “I’m glad.”
“I love him, too.” Cade pulled her close. “It’s going to be okay.”
She expelled a breath. “Nina will probably pick the other couple if we don’t show.”
Cade thought of the young woman he’d met. “Probably.”
“I guess th
at’s the way it has to be.” Marigold rested her head against Cade’s chest. “I can’t leave my dad.”
Four hours later, after a plethora of tests, Steve was in the operating room. But not for his heart.
“The doctors said he can go home in the morning,” Lynn told the assembled brood. “Apparently, laparoscopic removal of a gallbladder isn’t all that big of a deal.”
“Except probably to the guy having it done,” Beck quipped, making them all laugh.
Once the spouses had found sitters, they’d also gathered at the hospital. Pastor Marshall had arrived, as well as other close friends of Steve and the family.
“Let’s take a walk down the hall.” Marigold looked up at Cade, and in answer, he took her hand.
“You look tired,” he told her once they were out of earshot of the others.
“I am tired, but so relieved.” Her big blue eyes met his. “Hearing this was just his gallbladder and not his heart…”
“Beck is right, a gallbladder attack is serious, but—”
“—not on the level of a heart attack,” Marigold finished.
“Exactly,” Cade agreed. “Definitely not of the same magnitude as a heart attack.”
“I’m glad Lynn was with him and that she acted quickly.” Marigold’s lower lip trembled. “While she was relaying what led up to her calling 911, all I could think of was what if dad was still living alone? Something could have happened to him, and none of us would have known.”
“Well, he doesn’t live alone anymore. The doctors are confident he’ll make a full recovery.”
She paused for a long moment. Cade knew his wife well enough to know she had something to say.
“I’m sorry about missing the appointment with Nina.” She expelled a breath. “We’d have been fabulous parents to her little boy.”
“Staying was the right decision,” Cade told her. “Besides, I firmly adhere to the philosophy that if it’s meant to be, it will happen.”