Thirty-Two and a Half Complications (17 page)

“You remember that?” I asked in surprise.

“Of course I do.”

I filled him in on our phone conversation but left out the part about her missing the loan payments.

“That helps put what she did tonight in context. Joe probably brought her along to spy on you, but she wanted to sink her claws into him to prove to you that she could.” He grimaced. “I thought Neely Kate was going to rip her throat out. She’s definitely a good friend.”

“Yeah, I’m lucky to have her.”

“So Violet went out with him to piss you off and he went out with her to spy on you and perhaps make you jealous?” He paused. “Sounds like a match made in heaven.”

But I couldn’t ignore the fact that it
had
made me jealous to see the two of them together. That was a conversation I needed to have with Jonah. And soon.

“Would you mind if I asked Jonah to join us for Thanksgiving?” I blurted out.

His eyebrows rose. “Um… That seems out of nowhere, but yes. Of course.”

I lifted my head to kiss him. “Thank you.”

“This is your house. You can invite whomever you want.”

“But it’s your Thanksgiving too,” I said, suddenly worried.

“Hey. I didn’t mean that how it sounded. Your friends are my friends. The more the merrier, truly, Rose.”

I closed my eyes, suddenly overwhelmed with sleepiness. Mason pulled me close and tugged the covers over us.

“Do you really have tomorrow off?” Mason murmured before I drifted off to sleep.

“Yep. We can stay in bed all day long.”

“You have no idea how much I like the sound of that.”

I smiled to myself as sleep overtook me. Actually, I did. After all the storms that had been blustering around me and inside me, I needed a moment of calm.

Chapter Twelve

I woke up to the sound of Mason groaning, and was instantly alert in the pitch-black room.

“Mason?”

“No!” he shouted, still lying next to me.

I breathed a sigh of relief. He was dreaming. “Mason.” I touched his arm and he jolted, his hand grabbing my arm roughly as he pushed me down on the bed.

“Mason!” I shouted, terrified.

He dropped his hand and bolted upright. “Oh, my God. Rose.”

I tried to catch my breath as he turned on the light, his eyes filled with terror.

“Did I hurt you?” His hands roamed my arms, looking for nonexistent bruises.

I put my hand over his. “I’m fine. Don’t worry.”

He lay back down next to me and scooped me into his arms. “I’m so sorry.”

“Did you have a bad dream?”

“Yes.”

“Do you remember what it was about?”

He hesitated. “Yes.”

When he didn’t say anything else, I rolled over so our chests were touching. “What was it about?”

“Him. Savannah’s killer.”

I gasped. “Oh.”

He scrunched his eyes closed. “I used to get nightmares right after it happened. More like night terrors. But they went away. I haven’t had one for months.”

Until he hit Joe.

“What made them go away before?”

“I don’t know.” He sounded short. “Everything in my life changed when I moved here. The dreams just went away.”

I reached my hand up to his scalp and played with a strand of his wavy dark blond hair. “Mason, it’s okay.”

“No, it’s not, Rose. I see the proof of it on your arm.”

I glanced down at the red marks on my bicep from his fingers. “I’m fine. It’s nothing.”

“This time. What if it happens again? What if I hurt you worse?”

“That’s a lot of what-ifs.”

He started to get up, but I pulled him back down. “Where do you think you’re going?”

“I’m going to sleep in the other room.”

My hold tightened. “No. You’re not. You’re going to sleep right here next to me.”

“Just hours ago I swore to you that I wouldn’t hurt you and look what I did.”

“Mason, you were sleeping. It was one dream.”

I finally convinced him to sleep with me, but when we woke up in the morning, he was quieter than usual.

He studied my face, gently brushing the hair off my cheek.

“When did you first know you loved me?” I asked. “You said it for the first time last night, but I’ve suspected for a while. Was it when you were in the hospital after the Crocker ordeal?”

A smile lifted the corners of his mouth. “Longer than that.”

“When you came over in September and told me about Savannah?”

His smile fell, making me instantly sorry to have brought up his sister. “Longer.”

I refused to lose our moment. “Then tell me.”

He laughed. “If I tell you, you’re going to think I’m lame. I don’t want you to kick me out of your bed.”

“Now you
have
to tell me.”

“Fine.” His grin grew. “Sometime between when I found you drunk and about to make out with Skeeter Malcolm in the pool hall—”

“I was not about to make out with Skeeter Malcolm!”

“—and when you showed up outside the courtroom and asked me to help set up a meeting with Bruce Wayne’s attorney.”

“Mason,” I said, flabbergasted. “That was in July.”

He cringed. “I told you it was lame.”

“I think it’s sweet.”

“When did you know you loved me?”

It was my turn to cringe. “I’ve been thinking about it for days, but I wasn’t certain until last night. I felt like I had to tell you or I’d burst.”

He smiled. “I know exactly what you mean.” His hand covered my stomach. “When are we going to find out about this?”

“We could just wait nine months?” I teased.

“I’ve heard there are better ways to find out,” he said dryly, but he was still grinning. “They have these newfangled things called pregnancy tests.”

I cocked an eyebrow. “You don’t say?”

“You seem reluctant.”

“I’m reluctant for the same reason I was reluctant to tell you about the possibility in the first place. If the test is positive, it will become a sure thing. Right now there’s just you and me, and if we find out I am pregnant, there’ll be three of us. Let’s just give ourselves a little more time before we know…okay?”

“Sure, but how long do you want to wait? Don’t you need to go to the doctor?”

“As long as I don’t drink or take any medication, I’ll be fine. Neely Kate suggested I take prenatal vitamins to be on the safe side.”

“Neely Kate? How long has she known?”

“Since yesterday afternoon. She actually raised the possibility before I did.”

“Of course she did.” He laughed. “But seriously, how long do you want to wait?”

“A week or two, tops.”

“Okay.”

“Thanks for being so wonderful about all of this.”

“I love you, Rose. I’m not doing anything extraordinary other than that.”

“I love you too.”

We got up and took a shower, and by the time we got out, Muffy was pacing the bathroom floor.

I headed downstairs to let her out and started a pot of coffee. While I waited for Mason to come down, I mixed pancake batter and fried bacon. I was used to having Sunday mornings off from work, but Mason and I had started going to Jonah’s church together. This was the first morning I’d had completely free in ages.

After Mason came down and we sat together at the kitchen table for breakfast, I watched Muffy pace the length of the kitchen.

“Do you have any work to do this morning?” I asked him, stabbing my fork into my pancake.

His face scrunched. “I do. I thought you’d be working at the nursery.”

“I’m not asking to make you feel guilty, Mason. I told you that I’d never begrudge you your work. I’m only asking because
I
feel guilty.”

“You? About what?”

“It’s a beautiful day and Muffy’s been cooped up all week. I want to take her for a walk.”

He sucked in a breath and slowly released it. “I don’t know, Rose. Don’t get me wrong, I have no issue with you going on a walk. In fact, if I didn’t have this bum leg, I’d ask to go with you. But the bank robbers are still on the loose. And while I may fault Joe Simmons for a lot of things, there’s no doubt he wants to keep you safe. I can’t help thinking he might be right in this.”

“Mason. There has been no sign of them. At. All. Don’t you think they would have turned up by now if they had some issue with me? No one’s heard hide nor hair of them. They’re probably long gone.” I smiled sweetly. “Besides, it’s broad daylight.”

He groaned. “All right. But bring your phone. And promise you’ll call me at the first sign of trouble.”

“I will.”

We cleaned up the kitchen together after he insisted he could stand on his leg for long enough to help. When we finished, I gave him a long kiss. “Get your work done so we can take a nap together later.”

He grinned. “Why are we taking a nap?”

I grabbed Muffy’s leash and walked with him to the door. “Because I plan to get you good and worn out first.” I started to walk away, but he grabbed my hand and pulled me in for a kiss. It was almost enough to make me reconsider going on a walk, but Muffy had seen the leash and was whining at my feet.

“Duty calls,” Mason murmured against my lips. “Be careful.”

“It’s a walk,” I said, descending the porch steps. “What could happen?”

“
You
should never ask that. Just be careful, okay?”

“Okay.”

As soon as we got outside, Muffy started running in excited circles at my feet. I stooped to put on her leash, then stopped mid-action. For the most part, my little dog minded me well and she was happier roaming free, not that I blamed her. I figured I’d let her have her way.

We’d been on a few walks since moving to the farm and we’d always gone north, toward the acres and acres of fields I owned. Today I wanted to go south. I knew I owned a few acres of grassland scattered with trees in that direction and a neighboring farm jutted up against my property. I wanted to check the area out.

We found a natural path close to the woods, and I tried to ignore the unease that crawled up my back. I couldn’t avoid the woods forever. Maybe once things died down I could take Muffy on a walk through them, create some new memories.

Muffy bounced down the path, thrilled to be roaming outside. I needed to make more time for her. I supposed I’d have the opportunity if the nursery folded.

The knowledge slammed through me: Unless something changed, I was about to lose my business.

White-hot fury burned in my gut when I thought about Violet destroying our business and my credit. I couldn’t sit idly by and let it all fall apart, but I didn’t see any way to pay off the loan, let alone finance our other bills. Finding the robbers and getting back my cash from the O’Leary job was starting to seem like the only solution.

A world with me and Neely Kate playing amateur sleuths was a world turned on its head. But since the world had already gone crazy, maybe the only thing we could do was follow suit. We just needed to figure out what—or who—to investigate next.

Still, money aside, part of me wondered if closing the doors to the nursery wouldn’t be for the best. Violet and I were definitely at odds and I couldn’t imagine us working together peacefully any time soon. But if the nursery closed, I was out hundreds of thousands of dollars. And if I was really pregnant, I couldn’t afford to lose all that money. Mason and I would have another person to take care of. The thought was sobering.

Jonah was right—one problem at a time.

Then it hit me. Maybe I was going the wrong direction. Perhaps we should concentrate our efforts on finding Mr. Sullivan. Then maybe he could tell Mr. Burns he’d given Violet an extension, buying us more time to get my money back. That is, after I beat him with a shovel until he told me who’d robbed the bank.

Muffy ran up to a dilapidated wooden fence and I realized that this area had to have been a horse or cow pasture at one point. It was just missing a few sections of fence, which had most likely fallen down. A wooden gate hung on one hinge, leaving a gap big enough to walk through, which Muffy took as an invitation.

“Muffy,” I called after her as she slipped through the opening.

She stopped and turned to look at me, tilting her head to the side and giving me a sad look.

“Oh, okay,” I groaned. The way that gate hung open told me that the field couldn’t possibly be in active use, so I didn’t have to worry we’d be trampled by cows. I knew there was a farmhouse on this property. Maybe I could I introduce myself to my neighbor.

When I didn’t continue to protest her movements, Muffy took off running in the overgrown grass, finding a narrow dirt path. I traipsed through the grass after her as she bolted toward a gravel road. By the time I caught up, Muffy was waiting at the edge of the road. There was a field of miniature goats in an enclosed pen on the other side, and the animals were totally captivating her attention.

As soon as she saw me, she ran straight across the gravel street toward the barbed wire pen and started barking at the animals. Without warning, all but one of the ten goats fell to their sides, their legs sticking straight out from their bodies. I released a shriek. “Muffy, you killed them!” Then the last standing goat fell over.

Muffy had already lost interest in the goats by then. She’d trotted over to the ditch between the penned area and the road and started whining at something inside it.

I hurried over, panicked by the possibility that we’d somehow killed a field of goats. How had it happened and how in the world would I be able to reimburse the farmer who owned them? As I walked toward my little dog, one goat began to revive, thank God, and several were climbing to their feet by the time I’d made it across the road. Muffy almost immediately released a loud, smelly fart. I waved a hand in front of my face, as I peered into the ditch.

“What are you looking at?” I moved her slightly to the side, the blood rushing from my head when I saw what had grabbed her attention.

The good news was that finding Mr. Sullivan had been easier than expected.

The bad news was that he wouldn’t be of much use, seeing how he was dead.

His pale, bloated face stared up at me with vacant eyes, and I screamed even louder than I had the first time.

The goats bleated, then fell over like they were frozen solid.