Deadly Desperados (14 page)

Mandy laughed, lightening the mood in the room with one exquisite smile. “You already gave me my gift when you didn’t laugh at my gift.”

“Oh, baby, that’s not even close to all you’re getting tonight,” James said, scooping her up and moving toward the bed. “Get ready for a thunderstorm of special gifts, baby. You have no idea what’s coming your way.”

“What is everyone doing today … and why do you all look so shiny?” Mary asked the next morning, her eyes sparkling as she placed a platter of French toast at the center of the dining room table.

“Well, I’m taking Ally on a picnic,” Jake said, rubbing her hand on top of the table. “I promised to chase her through the meadow and pretend we’re in
Little House on the Prairie
times.”

“Does that mean you’re going to get a case of the vapors, Ally?” James asked, his mood bright as he teased his sister.

“Ha, ha,” Ally said, her eyes narrowing as she studied Mandy and James. “You gave him your Valentine’s Day gift last night, didn’t you?”

“What?” Mandy was surprised.

“You did,” Ally said. “He’s all gooey and you’re much more relaxed. I told you he would like it.”

“What was it?” Jake asked. “Wait … do I even want to know?”

“It wasn’t anything kinky,” Ally replied. “Mandy took a bunch of stuff from over the years and put it on this really cool board she found and made a remembrance plaque for him. Mom even found a photo of just the two of them when they were younger.”

“Oh, that sounds sweet,” Mary said.

“It is sweet,” James said, massaging the back of Mandy’s neck. “It’s so sweet that I’m taking Mandy into town this afternoon so I can try to find a better Valentine’s Day gift for her.”

“No,” Mandy said, immediately shaking her head. “I didn’t buy your gift. I made it out of things I already had. Whatever you got me is fine.”

“You didn’t get your gift?” Ally was scandalized. “He owes you after flirting with the waitress.”

“I don’t need a gift,” Mandy countered. “I’m perfectly fine. He bought me forty gifts for Christmas and I’m getting a fancy arboretum. I’m good.”

“Oh, you’re getting a gift today,” James muttered. “We’re going back to that general store and we’re not leaving until you find something you like.”

“I already found something I like,” Mandy said, planting a kiss on his cheek.

“Oh, everyone is basking in the afterglow,” Mary said, shaking her head. “Do you remember those days, Ben?”

“Remember? Who says I’m not basking in the afterglow today?” Ben’s eyes twinkled.

“Uncle Ben,” Jake groaned. “You’re going to freak me out if you don’t stop that.”

“That’s my intention,” Ben said. “So Jake and Ally are going for a picnic and Mandy and James are going shopping. Do we have any updates on the case?”

“Just one,” James said, wiping his hands off on a napkin and gesturing to Mandy. “Baby, let me have your phone. I want to show that photo to Ben.”

Mandy did as instructed, pulling up the photo before handing it over. James tilted the screen so Ben could study it.

“Do you know who that is?”

Ben’s face slackened as he studied the photo, taking the phone from James so he could see it up close. “I do.”

“Who is it?”

“Jessica Stanford.”

“And who is she?” James prodded.

“She was Charlie Dawkins’ fiancée,” Mary supplied, her smile slipping as she looked at the photo over her husband’s shoulder. “Are they holding hands?”

“They were very lovey-dovey,” Mandy replied. “I … what does this mean?”

“That’s a pretty good question, baby,” James said, digging in his pocket for his own phone. “I need to add a name to Grady’s search list. He keeps banging into walls and he’s not happy about it.” James typed out a text and sent it, waiting for confirmation from Grady that he got it before pocketing the phone again. “What can you tell me about Jessica?”

Ben shrugged as he set the phone on the table. “She hasn’t been in town for very long,” he said. “I would say she hit Lakin about six months ago.”

“But you said she and Charlie were engaged,” Jake reminded him. “They couldn’t have dated for very long before Charlie popped the question if that’s the case.”

“Charlie said it was love at first sight,” Ben replied, his expression thoughtful. “Jessica came to town in the middle of summer. Her car broke down on the road between Charlie’s farm and town. He stopped to help because it was sweltering … and they were inseparable after that.”

“Well, I hate to say it because I’ve never met this woman, but that sounds like a classic ruse,” Jake offered. “Did you see her with Charlie?”

“I did,” Ben acknowledged. “They seemed genuinely in love. I was never suspicious of her … until now.”

“And when you look back on their relationship now, what do you think about it?” James asked, sliding a slice of bacon from his plate to Mandy’s without her asking. He was so in love with the gift – and her – he would consider butchering a pig to keep her in bacon at the present moment.

“I honestly don’t know,” Ben said. “I never saw anything nefarious about her actions when they were dating. Now that I know this, though, I can’t help but wonder if all of it was an act.”

“It could have been innocent, right?” Mary asked, shuffling toward her chair. “Maybe she was upset and Mark was trying to console her. Mark might’ve been trying to feel her out about the lie we told about the farm being offered to Ben first.”

“That’s a possibility,” James conceded. “I wouldn’t put it past Mark to go after a woman who is grieving to get what he wants. My problem is that the woman in that photo does not look like she’s upset … or grieving. Mandy and Ally said she was giggling and having a good time with Mark.”

“Well, this just makes me sick to my stomach,” Ben said, pushing his plate away. “I can’t believe Jessica would use Charlie like that.”

“If Jessica was trying to get her hands on the property, wouldn’t it make sense for her to marry Charlie before he was killed off?” Ally asked. “Do we even know if Charlie left anything to her in his will? He probably wasn’t planning on changing it until after the wedding.”

“Ally has a point,” Mandy said. “If James had died when we were engaged but before we were married I wouldn’t have been entitled to anything of his. That’s the way it should be.”

“Well, in our case, that’s not entirely true, baby,” James said, shifting uncomfortably. “After I was shot and before we found out who was stalking me back then … well … I had my will changed to make you the sole beneficiary a full week before the wedding. Charlie might’ve done something similar in case of a farm accident or something. We would need to see his will to know for sure.”

Mandy’s mouth dropped open. “You changed your will before we got married?”

“Baby, you were already my wife in my heart,” James replied. “If something happened to me, I wanted you taken care of. I don’t regret it, and I’m not apologizing for it.”

“But … that means you thought there was a legitimate chance you were going to die on me.”

James’ face softened. He thought she was going to pull one of her patented “I need to work for my own money” arguments. Now he realized she was upset at the possibility of him dying, not the reality that he wanted to take care of her.

“Baby, I did not think I was going to die,” James clarified. “I knew there was nothing in the world that would stop me from marrying you. It’s just … there was also nothing in this world that would stop me from taking care of you. I needed to make sure your future was safe.”

Mandy pressed her lips together, her mind busy. James knew she was deciding how angry she wanted to be.

“You can’t be mad at me today, wife,” James said, opting to go for broke. “It’s Valentine’s Day. Not only that, it’s our first Valentine’s Day as a married couple. If you’re angry with me you’ll ruin the day forever.”

“Oh, nice,” Ally said, wrinkling her nose.

James shrugged. “I hate it when she’s mad at me.”

Mandy blew out a sigh. “Fine. I’m not mad.”

“Thank you,” James said.

“I’m going to pick out a really expensive gift, though,” Mandy said.

“I can’t wait.” James kept his gaze on her for another minute, making sure there wasn’t some meltdown he was missing in their future, and then turned back to Ben. “We can’t be sure that Charlie didn’t change his will to benefit Jessica before his death. We need to find out if that’s the case.”

“I know Charlie’s lawyer,” Ben said. “He’s an old friend. He’ll tell me.”

“Okay,” James said. “Until we get some of these background checks to go through, we’re kind of stuck. I’m going to take my wife to town and spoil her … .” He glanced at Ally and Jake. “I don’t want to see either of you looking like you’ve had a bunch of sex. If I do, you’re going to ruin my happy day.”

“Then I would steer clear of our cabin,” Ally replied, guileless.

“Yeah, I think that’s going to be the rule of the day,” James said. “Come on, wife. Let’s go shop until I drop.”

MANDY
rethought her demand regarding an expensive Valentine’s Day gift before they hit town. The more she dwelled on it, the more she realized James was trying to do something good – even if he had considered the very real fact of his death before they got a chance to walk down the aisle.

“I don’t need anything, James,” Mandy said, sighing as he pulled her toward the store. “I have you. Can’t we just … I don’t know … find a place to be alone all day? Let’s go back to the cabin and get naked.”

James snorted. “We’re definitely doing that, baby,” he said. “I’m also buying you something.”

Mandy dug her heels in by the front door, causing James to pull up short.

“What, baby?”

“Love isn’t buying things for people,” Mandy said. “Love is … this.” She gestured toward their joined hands. “Love is this.” She pressed her free hand to his heart. “I don’t need a gift.”

James wet his lips, tilting his head to the side as he considered how to respond. “I know that, baby,” he said finally. “Do you think I’m stupid? I know that you don’t need a gift. I want something to commemorate this day. It’s not about buying you something just because I want you to have a gift.”

“Oh,” Mandy said, faltering. “I … why do you want to commemorate the day?”

“Last night I found out you kept a flower I pilfered from my mother’s garden for twelve years,” James explained. “My heart is … full … of love for you. I can’t explain it. The simple fact that you kept that flower makes me believe we were always destined for each other.

“Go ahead and laugh at me if you want,” he continued. “I knew there was something special about the way we love each other even before I found out about the flower. I want to get you … something … for this day. Okay?”

Mandy gave in. “Okay.”

“Thank you,” James said, pressing a sweet kiss to her lips. “Now, come on. Let’s see what they have.”

“WHAT
do you think?” James asked, studying the antique silver locket. “You could put photos of us inside of it.”

“It’s beautiful,” Mandy said, lifting the price tag and cringing. “Let’s pick something else out.”

James slapped her hand away. “The price doesn’t matter. Do you like this?”

“I do,” Mandy said. “I wouldn’t put photos in it, though.”

“What would you put in it?”

“Other things,” Mandy said. “Things I want to keep close to my heart. This locket is old. You don’t want to open it a lot. I would put things in here and then close it for good.”

“Like what?”

“I’m not telling you,” Mandy answered. “You’ll make fun of me.”

“I would never make fun of you.”

Mandy arched a challenging eyebrow.

“Okay, I wouldn’t make fun of you
today
,” James clarified. “Just … tell me.”

“I would put another section of my notebook in here … and I would put one of the tissue pages from the box the shark necklace came from on the day of our wedding.”

“You kept the tissue paper, too?” James was dumbfounded. “You’re a sentimental little thing, aren’t you? How did I miss that?”

Mandy shrugged. “I would also want a little of your hair to mix in with a little of my hair.”

“That’s weird but cute,” James said.

“Have you made a decision?”

James glanced at the perky saleswoman as she returned to her spot behind the counter. “We’ll take this,” James said, taking the locket from Mandy and handing it to the clerk.

“It’s expensive.”

“I don’t care,” James said, pulling Mandy in for a hug. “Wrap it up.”

Mandy and James ran into a familiar face as they left the store twenty minutes later, slowing their pace when Fern popped into view.

“Oh, hey,” Fern said. “It’s weird I ran into you guys. I was just thinking about you.”

“I think she means that she was thinking about
you
,” Mandy clarified.

James ignored her. “What’s up? Did you run into Nadine again?”

Fern nodded. “She was drunk as a skunk at the bar last night,” she said. “She was going on and on about her husband and his wandering dick.”

Mandy snickered. “I’m sorry. It’s not funny. It’s just … .”

“It’s a little funny,” Fern said. “Anyway, I remembered what you said last night about the Dawkins farm and she said something that I think you’d be interested in.”