The One Safe Place (10 page)

She turned to the mayor. “And Alton. If you think Reed Fairmont got your daughter pregnant, you're even dumber than you look, and what are the odds of that?”

“I'm not saying I think he did,” Alton said slowly. “I don't know what I think.”

“Precisely.” Theo handed him his hat and jacket. “Now you run on home and sort it out in your own house. People are trying to eat here, and the smell of burning brain cells puts them off their food.”

Even the mayor of Firefly Glen wouldn't dream of arguing with Theo. When she bounced you, you stayed bounced. Alton shot them both a dirty look as he exited, which made Theo laugh.

“Idiot,” she said. “Wouldn't he just love it if he could pin this on you? He's spent the past two months trying to prove it was poor, besotted Mike Frome.”

Reed had considered that possibility himself. “You don't think he could be right?”

“Hell, no. Anybody can tell that boy's never gotten to first base with Justine. He still thinks she's some vestal virgin goddess. She can breast-feed that baby right in front of him, and then have sex with the milkman, and he'll still think she's a saint.”

Reed had to agree. “Poor kid,” he said. Love was hell.

“Yeah, well, Daddy Millner has gone ever so slightly psycho, so don't be surprised if you really are his next target. If Justine can't be forced to give the kid up for adoption, he desperately wants Mr. Paternity to be any rich Glenner with a good pedigree.”

Theo chuckled. “Truth is, he's scared to death it's going to turn out to have been some doped-up ski bum who blew into town last winter for a little cold-weather fun and games.”

Suddenly Faith returned, her hands full of hot-fudge sundaes. Spencer was lagging behind, poking curiously into a basket of Indian corn and colorful gourds Theo had set up by the cash register.

“Everything okay?” Faith asked quietly as she set the sundaes on the table. She looked worried, and he wondered how much she'd heard. He realized suddenly that he would absolutely hate for Faith to even
consider the possibility that he had fathered an illegitimate child by his teenaged receptionist.

“Oh, everything's fine,” Theo said, patting him on the shoulder merrily. She smiled at Faith. “Don't mind grumpy young Doc Fairmont here. He just doesn't much like the feel of a shotgun at his back.”

 

“I
WON'T TAKE FOREVER
in here, Spencer, I promise.”

Spencer looked up at Faith with a look of resigned skepticism that was so typically male she had to laugh. “Really. I
promise,
” she said again. “Cross my heart.”

He nodded. That had been their solemn vow since he was a baby, and he obviously still believed it.

Which meant she had to make good on it. She couldn't linger in the Firefly Glen Home and Hearth store, no matter how tempting it was. She hadn't been shopping in a long time, and she did love creating special looks with beautiful colors and textures.

She hadn't expected a small town like this to have such a lovely selection. Obviously Firefly Glen was a town of well-heeled, tasteful millionaires. Home and Hearth could rival any similar store on Fifth Avenue.

As she moved through the aisles piled high with fluffy pillows and elegant knickknacks, she could almost read Spencer's mind. She would bet a dollar that he wished he had gone with Reed to the hardware store down the street. He stood by her side like a
patient little soldier, but he sighed heavily every thirty seconds or so to remind her of her promise.

She picked a shower curtain as quickly as she could, a nice manly forest green one that would go beautifully with the few towels she hadn't yet ruined. She bought a new bathmat to match, and some replacement towels.

Ten minutes. It had to be a personal record. “Tada!” she said, holding up the receipt for Spencer to see. With an I-told-you-so smile, she gestured formally toward the door.

They were supposed to meet Reed at the pet shop, which was midway between Home and Hearth and the hardware store. Obviously Reed hadn't expected them to finish up so quickly. They got there first.

Which was fine with Spencer. The sign out front announced that every Saturday the store and the Humane Society jointly hosted a pet giveaway. Tables, boxes and cages full of puppies and kittens and hamsters and gerbils lined the sidewalk.

With a low gasp of delight, Spencer knelt immediately in front of a litter of basset hound pups. He loved dogs, and dogs loved him. These were no exception. They squealed and tumbled and yipped and licked with joy.

Spencer giggled as one rambunctious puppy nearly knocked him back on his heels. Faith held her breath, listening for every glorious note of the little boy's laughter.

“Faith! Spencer!” Justine's voice called from a nearby table. “Want to adopt a kitten?”

Faith looked over. With Gavin sleeping in a carrier at her side, Justine presided over the most motley litter of tiny kittens Faith had ever seen—some tiger-striped, some cream-colored, one even a Viking red. But, tumbling together in their box, all mixed up and fuzzy, not much bigger than the hamsters at the next table, they were so cute it took your breath away.

Faith couldn't resist picking one up. It was warm and wiggly and as soft as a cloud. It immediately began to wrestle with a curling strand of her hair. “Oh, Justine,” she said. “How darling.”

“Yep. He likes you. You should definitely take him. Only four more to adopt out, and then I'm safe.”

“Safe?” Faith could feel the kitten's heart beating under her fingers. “You mean then you can go home?”

“No, I mean I'm
safe.
You know, from their evil little kitten charms.”

Faith smiled. “They are dangerous, that's for sure.”

Justine picked up the Viking-red kitten and rubbed its head against her cheek. “Don't you go falling in love with me now, Leif,” she said with a transparently mock severity. “As if I could afford an animal. Every cent I make goes to buying Gavin diapers.”

“I can imagine.” Faith remembered the constant emergency trips to the corner drugstore for more diapers when Spencer was a baby. Grace had bought
boxes of them by the busload, but it was never enough.

How did a single mom, living on a receptionist's wages, manage? Faith had told herself she wouldn't speculate on the bits of conversation she'd overheard between Theo and Reed. It wasn't any of her business, really.

But it was hard to remain objective when she looked at Justine now, the teen's face sweetened by the innocent pleasure of cuddling the kitten. Over the past few weeks, Faith had wondered whether Justine might be growing up—sobering up, just a little.

The responsibilities of motherhood could do that, no doubt—especially if you had no support. No husband to make some of the diaper runs, handle some of the middle-of-the-night colic bouts, wash a few sheets and tiny little shirts and socks.

She gathered that Justine wasn't revealing the name of her baby's father, which apparently infuriated Mayor Millner. Faith had even clearly heard Theo say that the Mayor was desperate enough to consider Reed as a candidate.

The man must be insane. Faith hadn't known Reed three weeks, and she already knew such a thing was categorically impossible. Reed was a nurturer, that was all. He took in strays, and he didn't count the cost.

Faith should know. As different as they might seem, she and Justine had two things in common. They were both desperately unprepared single moth
ers, and they were both dependent on Reed Fairmont's protection.

“You lying punk-ass creep!”

Lost in thought, Faith had only half registered the commotion that had started on the sidewalk behind them, but at that moment it grew too loud to ignore. Just ten feet away, a couple of teenagers were having a completely uninhibited squabble.

Spencer left the puppies and came to stand close to Faith. He didn't like arguments. She put her kitten down so that she could hold his hand.

“Man! I can't believe I'm such a fool!” The teenage girl slammed the heel of her hand against her forehead so hard her shiny black ponytail danced. Wearing a black turtleneck sweater and black corduroy slacks, she was all big dark eyes and lanky arms and legs.

“Damn, Suzie, chill. Keep it down, for God's sake.” The boy with her looked pained. He was very young, no more than eighteen, but his still-developing face and rangy athletic body promised that, in a few years, he would definitely join the Firefly Glen glamour brigade. Faith might have smiled at the thought—where did all these gorgeous genes come from?—if the two kids hadn't looked so upset.

“Yessir, I'm a fool—but you're a double-barreled bastard.” Suzie apparently had no intention of keeping it down. She was on fire with fury. “Like you'd ever just do me a favor. Like you'd ever just spend
your precious Saturday taking me to the pet store. I should have known
she'd
be here.”

The boy glanced nervously at Justine. “How could I have known she'd be here?”

But his cheeks colored. He wasn't much of a liar. Faith glanced over at Justine, too. She was pretending to be oblivious to the fracas. She was murmuring something to the kitten and stroking its ears without even looking up.

Suzie knew the boy was lying, obviously. She blinked a couple of times, as if she might be holding back tears. Then she drew her skinny body into a rigid line, lifting her chin in a way that gave her a sudden, shocking elegance.

“No, you know what, Mike Frome? I take that back. I'm not a fool. You are. If you don't see how that bitch is stringing you on…” She blinked again. “Well, you're the only one in town who doesn't. Maybe you ought to start thinking with your brain for a change. If you've got one.”

It was a good line, and she knew it. She turned on her heels and stalked away. Mike Frome stared at her, then looked over at Justine, who had finally stopped petting the kitten and was smiling at him sympathetically.

“Don't sweat it,” Justine said. “Suzie Strickland's a freak.”

The boy frowned. “No, she's not,” he said. “And maybe, just maybe, she's right.”

Justine tilted her head, her soft blond hair cascad
ing over one shoulder. “Is that really what you think, Mike?”

It was like watching a fisherman reel in a marlin. The boy kept casting anxious looks toward Suzie's departing figure, which was by now only a black speck in the Saturday afternoon crowd. But his feet were moving slowly, edging him closer to Justine, who had begun to file her nails.

Poor Mike Frome. Faith suddenly remembered where she'd heard that name. This was the boy Mayor Millner wanted to nominate as the baby's father.

Oh, dear. This wasn't just a teenage tiff. It had the potential to be a very serious entanglement. Maybe they needed some privacy.

Faith put her hand on Spencer's shoulder.

“Let's walk down to the hardware store,” she said. “To see if we can find Reed.”

He nodded vigorously, apparently as eager as she was to get away from the scene. They moved off. Faith called a polite goodbye, but Justine didn't seem to notice. She was handing a kitten to Mike Frome, who took it like a robot, as if he had been programmed to do whatever Justine Millner ordered.

Poor kids. All three of them were too young to be in such a mess. Mike Frome ought to be heading off to college soon, just beginning his life. Faith remembered that Theo hadn't believed Mike was the father—and Theo seemed extremely perceptive. She was probably right. Faith held on to that thought.

She and Spencer made slow progress down Main
Street, because all the store windows were charmingly decorated for Halloween. Spencer wanted to stop and look at every pumpkin, every maple-leaf wreath, every corncob-pipe-smoking scarecrow wearing overalls and a straw hat.

But finally they reached the hardware store, just as Reed was coming out.

He walked beside another man, a hefty blond farmer-type in faded jeans who was talking very fast, bending his head toward Reed and worrying the rim of a soft cap between his hands.

The other man fell silent as Faith and Spencer came up.

“Hi,” Reed said. He glanced at her packages. “I guess you were able to find what you needed?”

“Yes.” She smiled a hello over at the other man, who tried to smile back and didn't quite succeed because he was busy gnawing on his lower lip. “Is everything okay?”

“It will be.” Reed gave the big blond man a reassuring smile. “It will be, Mark, you know that.”

The man nodded, but he didn't let go of his lip.

Reed turned back to Faith. “I hate to do this, but I need to go over to Red Tree Farm with Mark. His prize mare is about to foal, and she's acting a little edgy. Mark's afraid she might hurt herself, so I'm going to take over a tranquilizer.” He winked at the other guy. “For Mark.”

The blond giant actually blushed. “I hate to be a bother, Reed, but she means a lot to me—”

“It's not a bother.” Reed raised one brow questioningly. “As long as Faith doesn't mind driving the car home for me. Are you okay with that, Faith? Mark will take me to Red Tree in his truck.”

“Of course I don't mind,” she said, smiling. “If you trust me with your car.”

Reed chuckled. “I might not trust you to clean it, but I trust you to drive it. And there's only one road back to Autumn House, so there's no way you'll get lost. You sure you're okay?”

“Of course.”

Reed knelt in front of Spencer. “Have you ever seen a baby horse be born?”

Spencer shook his head slowly.

“Would you like to?”

Spencer hesitated. Faith could feel that he was rigid with excitement and anxiety. If he hadn't found the courage to go to the hardware store alone with Reed, could he possibly go all the way to Red Tree Farm, wherever that was?

And yet, what six-year-old boy could resist such an offer?