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But there was something about her, a kind of fragile sweetness, that made him want to blindly promise her everything would work out—and then tuck her against him to protect her from further harm and do everything in his power to keep his word.
“I’ll see what I can do,” he said.
He spent a few more moments talking to the girl while the paramedics were working on her mother and learned, much to his surprise, that she and her mother weren’t from Haven Point.
“We were just moving here. All our things are in boxes,” she revealed. “I was going to sleep in my new bed tonight, but then my mama’s new job burned down. See?”
She pointed down the hill toward the lake, where he could see the charred remains of the comfortable inn where he had stayed on his first visit to the area.
“Your mother was going to work at the Lake Haven Inn?”
Maddie nodded, curls bouncing. “Yes. Only now she can’t and the lady was really sad. She cried and my mama told her not to worry, that we would figure something out. That’s what she always says.”
He was still mulling that and the atrocious luck that had hit Eliza Hayward in the past hour when the woman who had first come out of the store to help after the accident approached him.
She was young, he could see now, no more than twenty-seven or -eight. This was the new mayor of Haven Point?
“You’re Aidan Caine, aren’t you?”
She said it bluntly and without any of the kind of embarrassing awe he sometimes encountered. In fact, her voice and expression were completely devoid of any kind of warmth.
“I am, yes. I’m afraid I didn’t catch your name.”
She wasn’t overtly hostile but there was definitely a coolness in her tone and expression. “I don’t think I told you. I’m McKenzie Shaw. That’s my store over there. Point Made Flowers and Gifts.”
Was she trying to drum up business? This really wasn’t the time.
“I like your Christmas tree,” Maddie said.
The woman smiled at her with considerably more warmth than she had shown Aidan. “Thanks, honey. If you come in with your mom, I’ll give you an ornament made out of a pinecone. I make them myself.”
“Wow! Thanks,” Maddie said.
“You’re welcome.”
Ms. Shaw turned back to Aidan. “I’m also the newly elected mayor of Haven Point and will take office in January.”
“So you said.”
“I apologize again on behalf of the town for the poor road conditions,” she said stiffly. “You can be assured, it won’t happen again.”
Was she afraid he would pursue legal action against the town? The fault was entirely his own. If he had been driving a vehicle with better tires, this wouldn’t have happened. He was already planning on purchasing an additional vehicle besides the ranch Suburban and pickup truck—one with excellent tires—that he could leave at the Lake Haven airport and use for ground transportation on future visits.
Before he had the chance to tell her that, a police officer approached them. “I’m Officer Bailey with the Haven Point police department. I understand you were the driver of the vehicle that struck Mrs. Hayward while the light was red and she was in the crosswalk,” she said sternly.
“Yes,” he answered. By her unfriendly tone and set jaw, he had to wonder if he was going to end up behind bars over this whole thing. He wasn’t sure the town even had a jail but he had a feeling he was about to find out.
“I saw the whole thing from my shop window, Wyn,” McKenzie Shaw said. “He wasn’t speeding and definitely tried to stop in time.”
He blinked, shocked by the would-be mayor’s unexpected defense.
“It’s that stupid patch of black ice,” she went on. “How many times have I tried to get the road department to lay down extra salt solution there?”
“Plenty,” Officer Bailey said. “Regardless, it’s still considered a failure to yield situation. I’m going to need to see your license and registration.”
“You know who this is, don’t you, Wyn?” McKenzie said, giving him a significant look.
The police officer—who looked only a few years older than the new mayor—gave a shrug. “Sure I do. No matter what Mr. Caine might think, owning half the town doesn’t give him any special privileges, as far as the law is concerned.”
Why the hell were all the women in this town pissed at him? This was only the second time he had even stepped foot in Haven Point. What had he done?
“I don’t expect special privileges,” he insisted.
“Good.” She smirked. “Then you’ll understand that I have to give you a citation with a hefty fine.”
“Absolutely,” he said, with a coolness to match hers.
“Mr. Aidan! Where are they taking my mama?” Maddie spoke in a frantic voice, adding several progressively more insistent tugs on his shirt for emphasis.
While he was talking to the new mayor and the police officer, the EMTs had started to load the stretcher into the back of the ambulance, he realized.
“Where is the closest medical facility?” he demanded of the two women.
“Lake Haven Hospital,” Officer Bailey answered. “It’s the closest and only medical facility around here. You’ll find it at the halfway point between Haven Point and Shelter Springs.”
Maddie tore away from him and raced over to the ambulance. “No! Don’t go, Mama. Don’t go!”
Eliza looked equally distressed. “Please. My daughter. I can’t leave without her!”
One of the EMTs, a man with a completely bald head and a bit of a paunch, gave her an apologetic look. “It’s against our department policy, ma’am, to take uninjured minors in the ambulance. But Officer Bailey over there can transport her to the hospital in her patrol vehicle. She might even beat us to the hospital.”
“I want to go with my mama!” Maddie exclaimed. “I’m hurt, too! I scraped my knee!”
“It’s true,” Aidan offered solemnly. “She definitely needs medical attention.”
“I’m sorry, but—”
“She’s a little girl who’s been through a terrible ordeal, seeing her mother hurt like that. It’s cold out here and she’s frightened. What’s the harm in letting them stay together?”
“The rules—”
“Just let her ride the bus, Ed,” the police officer said, her voice weary. “I’ll clear it with Chief Gallegos. He’s too busy dealing with the fire at the inn to mind a little breach in protocol this once.”
After a moment and another whispered conversation between the EMTs, the bald dude shrugged. “Fine. Come on up here, little lady. You have to promise not to touch anything, though.”
“I won’t,” she promised.
Aidan lifted her up into the ambulance and she paused in the door opening to give him a little wave before the EMTs climbed in after her and closed the door. A moment later, the ambulance pulled away, lights flashing, and drove away from the scene.
He shivered a little and realized his coat had disappeared somewhere. Maybe they had used it to cover the woman in the ambulance. He hoped so.
“Mr. Caine. I need your license and registration, please.” The police officer’s expression had once more returned to a stern, uncompromising line.
He found the necessary information inside the rental vehicle—not an easy task since the glove compartment was packed with all kinds of paperwork, from the last time the tires were rotated to a receipt for pizza from a place called Pie Guys Pizza.
By the time they finished, he was freezing. The mayor had long since returned to the warmth of her store, with its cheery Christmas tree in the window.
“That should be all,” Officer Bailey said, still without smiling once. “You can find all the necessary instructions for paying your citation or where and when to appear before the judge if you want to contest it. If you have any questions, there’s also a number there you can call.”
“Thanks. Am I free to go, then? You’re not going to arrest me?”
“Not today, anyway.”
Was that a joke? It was tough to tell, since she seemed completely humorless.
“Can you tell me again how I get to the hospital?”
“Take a left and go a block until you hit Lakefront Drive, then head north about a mile. You can’t miss it. Big redbrick building. The storm is picking up. Drive slowly and leave plenty of room to stop, especially with those tires.”
He nodded and climbed back into the rental SUV. His headache had ratcheted up about a dozen notches. He wasn’t in any hurry to drive anywhere except his lodge at Snow Angel Cove after the trauma of actually hitting a person, but Dermot and Margaret Caine had raised him to do the right thing, even when it hurt.
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