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Eli grinned. “Not this morning. Holly’s not feeling all that great.”
“Why does that put a smile on your face?”
“She’ll feel better in a few weeks. After the first trimester.”
“First tri— Oh.” Holly was pregnant. A pang shot through him, and grief hit him in the gut. Covering the split-second reaction, Reese cleared his throat. “Ah, well, congratulations.”
The smile slipped from Eli’s face. “I’m sorry.”
“For what?” Reese forced a lightness into his voice that he didn’t feel.
“It still hits hard, doesn’t it?”
Reese didn’t bother to try to avoid the question. “Yeah. It does. Not as hard as it used to, so time’s helping, but it still hurts.” This time his smile was real. “But I’m happy for you and Holly. That’s great. I hope it’s a girl for her sake, though. Even things out with you males in the family.”
Eli slapped him on the back and gave his shoulder a friendly squeeze. “Me, too. Come on, I’m starving. Let’s eat while we have a chance.”
On the way to the diner, Eli stopped residents of the town and introduced Reese to each one. Friendly faces welcomed him, and Reese felt a small sliver of peace slide into his heart.
Coming to Rose Mountain had been the best choice he’d made in a long time.
“By the way, don’t forget about the church potluck dinner Wednesday night. When I was a bachelor, I looked forward to those things like a kid does Christmas. Best home cooking you’ll find.”
Reese nodded and smiled. “I heard the announcement in church last Sunday.” One thing he’d done as soon as he’d moved to town was find a church. He’d settled into his house on Saturday a week ago and gotten up and gone to church with Eli and Holly and Cal and Abby the next morning.
He wondered if Maggie Bennett would be there.
When he walked into the diner, his eyes landed on the woman his thoughts couldn’t seem to stay away from. Belle sat in her lap, picking Cheerios out of Maggie’s hand and eating them one by one. Like a homing pigeon, he made his way to her, drawn by her deep brown eyes. He was vaguely aware of Eli following along behind. She smiled when she saw him. “Good morning, Reese.”
“Morning. How’d you sleep last night?”
“Pretty well, thanks to you. Knowing you were watching was—well, it made a big difference. Thanks.”
He returned her smile. “It was no problem.”
Eli cleared his throat, and Maggie looked past him to greet the man. “Hi, Eli.”
“Maggie. No classes this morning?”
“Not until 11:00 today. I started on paperwork about 6:00 this morning and decided I had definitely earned a break. So here we are.”
Reese thought about that question he’d wanted to ask her. “Hey, do you go to the bank every Monday?”
She lifted a brow at him. “Yes. Usually. I get paid by electronic deposit on a weekly basis. I go to get my cash for the week and then go to the different places to pay my bills.”
“You don’t use checks? Pay online?”
She shook her head. “No. I do it this way on purpose. It gets me out of the house. I spend many hours online with my job.” She shrugged. “I could do everything online, but I like getting out, visiting with people and...” She flushed. “I know it sounds silly. I just need that personal interaction.”
“It doesn’t sound silly,” he reassured her. He understood what she was saying, and his mind was already clicking through what it meant.
Belle jabbered at Reese and held her arms out to him. He backpedaled, almost knocking Eli over. Maggie jerked and lifted a brow at him. Feeling like a fool, he stammered, “Um, well, I guess we’d better get a table. See you.”
He turned and headed for the table in the far corner, feeling Maggie’s puzzled gaze follow him until he was able to slide into the seat and out of her line of sight.
Eli seated himself on the opposite side and shook his head. “What in the world was that?”
A cold sweat broke across Reese’s brow and he closed his eyes on a groan. “I don’t know. I’m an idiot.”
“Have you talked to anyone about this? Like a professional counselor?”
Eli’s soft question sent darts through Reese’s heart. “Yeah. I did.”
“And?”
“It helped, but...”
“The grief is still there. And it will be for the rest of your life, I know, but...”
Guilt shook him. He opened his eyes and looked straight into Eli’s compassionate gaze. “For Keira, the grief is less sharp. It’s more of a sadness for what could have been, the loss of what we had. I miss her. A lot. And I’m sorry she died. I wish I could change that, but I can’t.” He sighed. “It’s hard to admit it, but I’m ready to move on. To find someone to spend the rest of my life with. But...”
“But?”
“When it comes to babies, I just... It’s hard. I don’t know why it’s so hard.” Frustration at his inability to put his feelings into words washed over him. “It just is. And I need to find a way to move on, to accept the loss and deal with it, but...”
“You lost your wife and daughter, Reese. That’s huge.”
Reese swallowed against the lump in his throat. “I know.” He stirred in his seat, restless with the direction of the conversation. Fortunately, the waitress arrived before he had to contribute further to it.
Then Eli changed the subject. “What was that about? Maggie and her trips to the bank?”
“She has a routine. A routine someone has figured out in her short time here in Rose Mountain.”
Eli nodded, knowledge lighting his eyes. “And they hit the bank at the time she was going to be there. Just as she was every Monday.”
“Coincidence?”
“Maybe.”
“But you don’t think so?”
“I think time will tell. I also think we need to keep a really close eye on her.”
Reese stared at the woman who’d already made such an impression on his heart. “I don’t think I’m going to mind that.” He also wouldn’t mind finding out exactly why the pretty mother came to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.
In fact, finding that out might require spending a lot of time with her and getting to know her better.
He couldn’t help the small smile that slipped across his lips.
* * *
Maggie pushed the sippy cup from Belle’s grasping fingers, tired of the “throw it on the floor so Mommy can pick it up” game.
Belle protested with a loud squeal so Maggie stood, trying to juggle the baby, her purse and the diaper bag. Her wallet fell to the floor when it tipped out of her tilted purse.
With Belle on her hip, she squatted, attempting to keep her balance while she retrieved the wallet.
“Let me hold her a minute.”
Maggie looked up to see Mrs. Adler standing behind her. Belle grinned when she saw her.
Grateful for the woman’s intervention, Maggie handed Belle over. While Belle grabbed a handful of Mrs. Adler’s graying shoulder-length hair and tried to get it in her mouth, Maggie picked up her wallet.
When she stood again, she nearly mashed her nose into the uniform-covered broad chest. “Oh!”
Reese’s strong hands came up to grasp her upper arms, and she shivered at the contact. He gave her a crooked smile that didn’t match the look in his eyes. He handed her a dusty pacifier. “This fell out of your purse and bounced almost to my table. Would hate for you to need it and it not be there.”
Maggie took it from him and stepped back to catch her breath. Being so close to him did crazy things to her pulse. She swallowed hard. “Thanks.”
“No problem.” He smiled at Mrs. Adler. “Good to see you, ma’am.”
“And you, Deputy Kirkpatrick.”
He smiled. “You can call me Reese.”
Reese returned to his seat, and Maggie tucked the dirty pacifier in her purse to wash later. As Reese settled himself onto the plastic-covered seat, she saw Eli raise a brow at his new hire.
The flush on Reese’s cheeks made her wonder if perhaps she triggered the same crazy feelings in him that he did in her.
While thankful for the return of the pacifier, she still frowned as she watched the two men engage in conversation. Because while Deputy Reese Kirkpatrick seemed to have a soft spot for her, she couldn’t help but notice that when he offered her the pacifier and addressed Mrs. Adler, he never once looked at Belle.
* * *
In the small bedroom that served as her office, Maggie clicked out of her virtual classroom and took her headphones off. She was pleased with the five students who had shown up, and the class had gone well. In fact, all her classes this morning had had lively discussions and productive work. Satisfaction filled her.
Mrs. Adler entertained Belle in the den while Maggie worked. Now that Belle was getting older, Maggie needed someone to help out during her class times and for four hours a day, four days a week, Mrs. Adler was happy to do it. Not only that, the woman liked to cook. She seemed to feel as if it was her personal duty to keep Maggie in casseroles and pies. Maggie didn’t argue with her.
She pictured the food-laden tables she knew would be spread out tomorrow night in the church gym and her stomach growled. The sandwich she’d downed in a hurry a couple of hours ago had worn off. She’d find a snack in a minute. Right now, she had something on her mind and needed to think a bit.
Maggie got up and walked toward the closet where she had a small portable file box. As she passed the window, movement caught her eye.
Stopping, she glanced out. The bedroom was in the back corner of the house. The view from the window was part lake to her right and part woods to her left. The sheer curtains allowed light to flood the room during the day. But now, Maggie wished she had something heavier and more concealing over the windows. She shivered and waited. Watching. Her mind flashed to the robber’s threat that he would kill her.
Would he really? She remembered the look in his eye as he spewed the threat and decided, yes, he really would.
Fear trembled through her and she pulled in a deep breath. For the next few minutes, she simply stood and watched the area outside the window, then she moved to Belle’s room and looked out. Again, she saw nothing that caused her concern. Before she left Belle’s room, she checked the window latch. It was fastened securely.
Feeling a bit better, thinking it was just an animal or something that had captured her attention, she let herself relax slightly. Returning to her office, she went straight to the closet. The file box she wanted sat on the top shelf.
Maggie pulled it down and brought it to the desk.
Before she went any further, she couldn’t resist one more glance out the window.
Nothing.
She turned back to the box, opened the latch and lifted the lid. Ever since the attempted bank robbery, she’d been troubled by the fact that she could have been killed. She wasn’t ready to die, of course, but it wasn’t so much the act of dying as it was dying and leaving Belle to face the world without her.
Maggie sorted through the files until she came to the one she wanted. The one marked WILL. When she’d lived with her husband, she’d learned fast to hide things she didn’t want him to know about. He was suspicious and mean and went through her things often, accusing her of hiding money from him.
Guilt pulled at her. Well, he’d been right about that. She’d been hiding things from him. She’d been planning her escape from the man for several months because she knew if she didn’t get away from him, she would eventually wind up dead. And now she had more than herself to think of. She had to take care of Belle.
Maggie pulled the one sheet of paper labeled LAST WILL AND TESTAMENT from the file, sat in the chair and simply looked at it. She really had to do something about guardianship for Belle in case something happened to her. The attempted bank robbery yesterday had hit home the fact that Maggie had no other living relatives. None.
Except for her deceased husband’s sister, Shannon Bennett. And she wasn’t even a blood relative. The woman was thirty-seven years old, had never married and seemed to prefer it that way. She was listed as the person who would get custody of Belle in the event of Maggie’s death. And while Maggie knew without a doubt that Shannon was crazy about Belle, that she would take care of her, provide for her and love her, Maggie hesitated. She just wasn’t sure she wanted to leave Belle with her. For a number of reasons.
The doorbell rang and she jumped.
Mrs. Adler called, “I’ll get it.”
Maggie relaxed and went back to trying to make a decision about what to do about Belle in the event of her death. Not something she planned on happening, but the bank robbery still had her shaken.
A high-pitched scream echoed through the house. Maggie jerked, bolted to her feet and raced down the short hall to find the woman standing in the doorway, hands clasped to her mouth.
“What is it?” Maggie’s heart thudded as she stepped around Mrs. Adler and stared down at the dead squirrel on her porch. He lay on his back, feet in the air.
The words painted in red next to him read, “You’re next.”
FIVE
Maggie’s shaky phone call still echoed in his mind as Reese stood on the porch looking down at the dead animal. The bright sun in the blue cloudless sky cast a cheery glow around him. A direct contrast to the chilling message next to the carcass.
Eli stepped forward and placed a hand on Mrs. Adler’s shoulder. The woman still trembled as she twisted a tissue between her fingers. “Let me call Jim to come get you,” Eli offered.
“No, I have my car. I’ll be fine.” She bit her lip. “I’d rather he not know about this. We’re going to Asheville day after tomorrow for some heart tests. This wouldn’t be good for him.”
“I’m so sorry,” Maggie whispered, her face pale and drawn.
Mrs. Adler reached over and took Maggie’s hand in hers. “It’s not your fault, honey. Someone is just getting his kicks in a twisted way.” She fluttered her hand as though to say she was going to try to ignore it.
Reese wished he could.
But the would-be bank robber’s threats still rang in his ears. He hadn’t thought the two who’d escaped would have hung around the area. But maybe one had revenge on his mind. Maybe the person Maggie saw running from her home yesterday had indeed been the robber who’d threatened them. But why go after Maggie? Reese was the one who’d shot him.
Then again, if Maggie hadn’t pulled the rope, everything would have ended differently. They would have gotten away with their money and Slim wouldn’t have a bullet hole in him.
Eli looked up from the squirrel. “He was already dead. Been dead a couple of days, I’d say. Our joker probably came across him and decided it’d be a good way to scare Maggie.”
She grunted. “It worked.”
