Buried in Bargains (Good Buy Girls) (21 page)

Chapter 26

“Stop!” Blake shouted.

Maggie froze. Ginger and Claire, who had regrouped and were about to jump back into the fray, held their positions.

“Get up!” Blake said to Maggie, and then he turned to the others, and said, “Get back against the wall.”

Maggie rose slowly to her feet while Ginger and Claire scooted back.

“You’re coming with me,” Blake said to Maggie. “If either of you interfere, I’ll cut her.”

He turned the knife, letting the overhead light shine down on its blade. Ginger swallowed and nodded, and Claire let out a small whimper. They both looked at Maggie with wide, frightened eyes.

Maggie gave them a small nod, letting them know they should do what he’d said. She couldn’t have borne it if anything had happened to her friends.

Blake opened the door. He gestured with the knife for Maggie to lead the way. “After you—ah!”

Maggie jumped as Blake let out a high-pitched shriek. He dropped the knife and began spinning, as if trying to reach something on his back. Maggie kicked the knife through the open door and out of the room.

Ginger and Claire jumped to their feet and, as Blake whirled around yet again, Maggie saw a small ball of gray fur digging into the center of Blake’s back for all he was worth. Marshall Dillon had disarmed a killer.

Blake seemed to catch on that it was an animal on his back, and he turned his back to the wall and looked like he was going to slam backward into the concrete to dislodge the cat. Maggie jumped between him and the wall, lifting her knee to block him. He tried to slam against her, but she didn’t move her leg and used his nearness to snatch the cat off of his back.

Blake was shoved forward off her knee, and Claire cracked him on the head and back with one of the interrogation room chairs. Blake hit the ground with a sickly smack, his forehead bearing the brunt of the impact. Ginger put her foot on his back while Claire loomed over him with the chair, ready to hit him again.

Blake didn’t move. Maggie hugged Marshall Dillon close, and he rubbed the top of his head under her chin. She had no doubt that the kitten had saved her life.

“What do we do—?” Ginger began, but a ruckus sounded from the front of the station house, interrupting her.

“Maggie!” Sam called. “Maggie, where are you?”

“Back here!” she cried. She would have run out to greet him, but her legs were shaking, and she didn’t think she had the strength.

“What are you doing?” Sam asked as he entered the room. He took the scene in at a glance, and then he visibly paled. “Are you all right?”

They all nodded. Sam stepped forward and checked Blake. Maggie could see that he was breathing, but he had a rapidly growing knot on his temple. With a head injury, it wasn’t safe to move him. Sam seemed okay with that as he reached for his cuffs and secured Blake’s hands behind his back.

Sam stood up and gestured for Claire to put the chair down. She seemed to have forgotten that she was holding it and lowered it quickly, letting it bang off the linoleum floor.

“Everything all right, Sheriff?” Deputy Dot Wilson poked her head in, and then she gasped.

“Deputy, keep an eye on him until the paramedics get here,” Sam said.

“Yes, sir.” Dot stepped into the room and took up a post out of reach of Blake and in between him and the door.

“If he comes to, call me,” Sam said. “Ladies, let’s get you out of here. Maggie, I’ve got a young lady outside who is pretty anxious to see her mom.”

“Is she okay?” Maggie asked.

“She’s fine,” he said. “Shaken up but otherwise fine.”

Sam gestured for them to leave, and Ginger and Claire practically ran him down, so eager were they to get out of the room of terror. As Maggie went to walk by him, Sam caught her in a quick hug that included Marshall Dillon. He kissed her head and exhaled a huge sigh.

“You’re aging me, Maggie Gerber,” he said.

“Just be glad you brought your fuzzy deputy in with you today,” Maggie said. “Marshall Dillon attacked Blake when he was going to take me away as his new plaything. He—” Maggie’s voice cracked, and she had to clear her throat before she could continue. “He saved my life.”

“Did he, now?” Sam said. He scooped the kitten out of Maggie’s arms and clutched him close with one hand while he put his other arm around Maggie and locked her against his side. “I think he’s going to have to be officially deputized, then.”

“It’s the least you can do,” Maggie said. “I really think he has a promising career in law enforcement.”

Sam smiled, but then his gaze met Maggie’s in a look that was equal parts fear and relief. He pulled her close and kissed her as if he was afraid it might be his last chance. Maggie grabbed his shirtfront and pulled him in even closer. She didn’t want to think about the fact that she might never have gotten to kiss Sam or be this close to him again.

When they finally broke apart, Sam pressed his forehead against hers, and said, “You know, now that I’ve got you, I’m never going to let you go.”

Maggie grinned. “I think you’ve got that backward. I’m the one who is never going to let you go.”

Sam blinked at her, and a small smile played on his lips and spread into a full-on grin as their words created the new promise between them.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa,” he said, still grinning. “I’m not the one who cut and ran all those years ago.”

“Huh!” Maggie scoffed, her grin mirroring his. “Who left for college and never bothered to find out why I dumped him?”

“Who did the dumping?” he countered.

They stared at each other as if they were about to engage in a tiff, but the blinding smiles on their faces made it clear that they couldn’t be any happier to be giving each other a hard time.

Sam pulled her close and kissed her again. “It’s never going to be boring with you around, is it?”

“Nope, and I’m sure you’ll keep me on my toes, too,” she said.

“I love you, Maggie.”

“I love you, too, Sam.”

• • •

At five o’clock on the dot on Christmas Eve, there was a knock on Maggie’s front door. Maggie’s mother and sister had arrived earlier in the day and were on the sunporch playing with Josh and visiting with Jake. Meanwhile, Maggie, Sandy and Laura were in the kitchen fixing the holiday dinner.

It was toasty warm in the kitchen, and Maggie was happy to excuse herself to go answer the door and feel the cold air on her face. Well, that and she was longing to see Sam. The arrest of Blake Caulfield had taken up all of his time over the past two days and, other than hurried phone calls, she hadn’t seen or heard from him at all.

Blake Caulfield had been arrested for the murder of Leann Winthrop, the assault on Michael Claramotta, the kidnapping of Laura Gerber and the attempted kidnapping of Maggie Gerber, as well as the assaults on Claire Freemont and Ginger Lancaster. Sam was quite certain that Blake was never going to see daylight again.

Maggie opened the door, and there stood Sam. A light snow had begun earlier and was still coming down, coating his brown hair and clinging to his eyelashes. He had a bottle of wine in one hand and a bouquet of calla lilies in the other.

“Are those for me?” Maggie asked as she pulled him inside and shut the door behind him.

“The wine is,” he said. He leaned down and gave her a quick kiss on the lips. “But the flowers are for your mother.”

“Oh, really?”

“Hey, if I want permission to keep dating her daughter, I know I need to get in good with your mom.”

“Indeed,” Maggie said. She was more than a little nervous about her mother’s reaction to Sam.

“Well, if it isn’t Sam Collins,” a voice said from across the room.

Maggie glanced over her shoulder to see her mother standing in the doorway, staring daggers through her bifocals at Sam. Lizzie O’Brien was a compact version of Maggie and her older sister. Her red hair had long since gone to white, and she wore it in a topknot on her head. She dressed in comfy slacks and tailored blouses and always accessorized with a nice piece of jewelry. She might be pushing seventy, but Maggie had no doubt that she could take Sam if she put her mind to it. Because if there was one thing that got her mother’s temper up, it was someone who messed with her family.

“Now, Mom,” Maggie began.

“Don’t you ‘Now, Mom’ me,” her mother said.

Maggie looked back at Sam and gave him an apologetic smile, but her mother kept right on going.

“You broke my baby’s heart,” Lizzie said to Sam. “Now, what do you have to say for yourself?”

Sam looked her square in the eye and said, “I’m sorry.”

“Huh.” Lizzie didn’t sound impressed.

“Mom, I told you it wasn’t Sam’s fault,” Maggie said. “Summer Phillips fooled me into thinking that it was him she was fooling around with, but it wasn’t.”

Lizzie tipped her head back and studied Sam through her glasses, clearly not satisfied.

“It’s true,” Sam said. “But I should have demanded to know why Maggie refused to see me.”

Lizzie’s eyebrows lifted, and her face cleared a bit. “Well, you did save my granddaughter from a maniac, and you appear to be learning to communicate.”

Sam and Maggie waited while she studied them, and Maggie abruptly felt like she had just gone back in time about twenty years. Ridiculous.

“Are those flowers for me?” Lizzie asked.

“Yes, ma’am,” he said, and stepped forward to hand them to her.

“Thank you,” Lizzie said, and gave him a small smile. “Looks like you’re staying for dinner. Don’t you think you should be serving soon, Maggie?”

“It’ll be just a few more minutes, Mom,” Maggie said. “Maybe you could tell everyone to wash up?”

Lizzie studied them both for a moment and then gave them a warning look. “Just remember, Sam Collins, I have my eye on you.”

She turned and left the room. Sam gave Maggie a concerned look.

“Does that mean she approves?” he asked.

“Well, she didn’t toss you out into the snow,” Maggie said, “so, we’ll just cling to that victory for now.”

“I’d rather cling to you,” Sam said. He put the wine down and pulled her close, and then he kissed her like he meant it.

As if by mutual agreement, no one spoke about the horror of the past few days during dinner. Talk was kept light and teasing as everyone watched Josh get more and more excited for the coming morning. Maggie glanced around the table, studying the faces of everyone she loved and gave silent thanks that they were all here together.

Jake and Sandy were just taking Josh to bed when the faint sound of singing came from outside. Maggie went to the front door to peer out, and there in front of her house were the GBGs and all of their families—Claire and Pete, Joanne and Michael, Ginger and Roger and all four of their boys—as well as Bianca and Max and, in a happy surprise, Doc and Alice Franklin.

Josh hurried to the front door and his round little face split into a grin as he joined in with his favorite song, about a red-nosed reindeer. When it was over, Maggie ushered everyone into the house for cookies and cocoa.

The small house was now full to bursting with people. Michael and Joanne were talking to Jake and Sandy while they watched Josh with the wonder of being new parents. Pete and Claire were in the kitchen with Max and Bianca making more cocoa for everyone. Laura and the Lancaster boys had taken over the living room and were watching
It’s a Wonderful Life
. Maggie’s mother was talking with Doc and Alice while Maggie’s sister chatted with Ginger and Roger, and Maggie noted that the six of them frequently gave Maggie and Sam knowing looks. Whatever.

When Sam slipped his arm around her shoulders and pulled her close, he whispered in her ear, “Are you all right?”

“Never better,” Maggie said.

She didn’t know what the future held for her and Sam, for her daughter or for any of the GBGs. But if the past week had taught her anything, it was to be grateful for the perfect moments, like this one, for they were what made life worth living.

Money Saving Holiday Tips

Maggie likes to send holiday cards to all of her friends, but since she is a single mom and now owns a small business, she has to get the most bang for her postal buck so she sends festive holiday postcards that she creates by cutting regular holiday cards, that she bought on sale after the previous Christmas, in half and mailing them as postcards.

Joanne loves to decorate for the holidays and she does it by bringing the outdoors inside. Pinecones and pine boughs, which make the house smell wonderful, as well as holly berries and dried vines are all favorites for the mantel piece as well the table centerpiece.

Claire loves to send gifts to her family, who live far away, but she also wants to make it personal, so she and the Good Buy Girls get together with several of their friends and have a cookie exchange. Each of the participants bakes a dozen of one type of cookie for each person attending. Once the exchange is done, Claire has enough to send to her family as gifts.

Ginger has four growing boys to feed and the holidays give her plenty of opportunities to save money on groceries. When buying produce, she always makes sure it’s dry. Vegetables that have been sprayed with water weigh more and cost more. Also, when her boys don’t eat every bit of meat and vegetables, she takes what’s left in the serving dishes and scrapes them into a one gallon sealable bucket that she keeps in her freezer. When it’s full, she puts it in a big pot with some canned tomatoes or broth along with some cooked cubed chicken or beef and makes a hearty soup.

Maggie has lived in St. Stanley her entire life and her list of people to give gifts is almost as long as the phone book. The most economical way for her to give gifts to everyone is to make them herself. Her favorite gift to give is a consumable gift. To fight off the winter’s chilly weather she recommends hot chocolate.