Debbie Macomber's Cedar Cove Series, Volume 3 (134 page)

“I'm going to pick up Bailey and Sophie. We'll see you
there.”

He started to turn away, but Beth stopped him.

“Kent…”

“Yes?”

“Would you mind sitting with the girls and me?”

He smiled. “I'd be happy to,” he said.

Beth smiled back. Even if that meant Danielle joined them—well,
she could tolerate that. It was the season of goodwill, after all. The important
thing was for their family to be together.

Sixteen

E
mily Flemming blew out the last candle
after the seven o'clock Christmas Eve service at the Methodist church where her
husband, Dave, was pastor. Every pew had been filled and the choir had sounded
glorious. Both of their sons had gone back to the house with her parents. Emily
appreciated the fact that the service was relatively early. Some churches waited
until after nine, and the Catholic church always had a midnight mass.

Dave finished greeting the last of his parishioners, Bible in
hand, as Emily joined him in the vestibule.

“That was lovely, sweetheart,” she told her husband. Dave
worked hard on his sermons, heading over to the church two hours before the
first service in order to practice and pray. He took his responsibilities
seriously and looked after his flock.

“Thank you.” Dave slipped his arm around Emily's waist. “Did
you see the man with Beth Morehouse?”

Emily had noticed him, and it wasn't the local veterinarian.
Emily had suspected for some time that a romance between Beth and Ted Reynolds
was in the offing. But when she'd seen Beth with this other man, she'd changed
her mind. Judging by the electricity that sizzled between them, they were more
than acquaintances or even friends. “I saw him.”

“That's her ex-husband. His name is Kent.”

“Her ex-husband?” They sure didn't act like exes, Emily
thought. They'd exchanged frequent looks throughout the service and seemed
keenly aware of each other. At first, Beth's glances had been shy, but as the
service progressed, she'd grown bolder. Several times their eyes had met, and
neither seemed inclined to look away.

The two girls had been sitting on one side of Beth, with Kent
on the other, closest to the aisle. The girls hadn't exactly hidden their
delight.

“On her way out of church, Beth mentioned a litter of
part-Labrador puppies that were left on her doorstep. Ten in all.”

“Ten? But I thought she was leaving for a short vacation with
her daughters.”

“She is, so she needs to find homes for these puppies quickly.
She's only got two left and wanted to know if we're interested.”

“Are we?” Emily asked, almost afraid of the answer.

“I was thinking a couple of puppies would help teach Mark and
Matthew a sense of responsibility.”

“Mark's been asking for a dog,” Emily added with some
reluctance. Her fear was that her son would lose interest and she'd be the one
taking care of his dog. She had no concerns about Matthew; he was the dependable
one.

“I was thinking—”

“Dave, before you say anything, we need to consider this very
carefully. A puppy, let alone two, is a lot of work and—”

“Mark's old enough to understand that. Besides, Beth sounded
desperate to find a good home for these dogs. Especially at this late date.”

Emily could feel herself weakening. Especially when her husband
was regarding her with a puppy-dog look of his own.…

“I had a Lab while I was growing up,” Dave said.

Emily nodded, remembering his fond stories about the family
pet.

“We named him Blackie,” David went on. “Not very original, but,
oh, how I loved that dog.”

“In other words, you'd like our sons to have the same wonderful
experience with a dog that you did?”

Dave smiled sheepishly. “But only if you agree.”

While she wasn't one hundred percent sold, Emily was willing to
take a chance.

“Can we at least look at them?” Dave asked, his eyes alight
with excitement.

“Tonight?”

“Well, yes. It would be perfect. The boys are with your parents
and we can drive out to Beth's place. By the time we get back, Matthew and Mark
will be asleep. When they wake up in the morning, the puppies will be there—the
best Christmas gift ever.”

Clearly, her husband had worked this all out.

“All right,” she said, holding back a smile. “We can go see the
puppies, but there are no guarantees. Understand?”

“Definitely,” he assured her. “We'll go to Beth's and look at
them, and if you don't think it'll work, or you take an instant dislike to
either dog or whatever, then we'll leave.”

She raised her eyebrows. Dave knew her far too well. The minute
she laid eyes on those puppies she'd be lost. She couldn't possibly say no.
Especially since he wanted to provide his sons with the same childhood
experience that he'd enjoyed.

During a quick phone call to the house, Emily told her mother
that she and Dave had an errand to run. She explained what it was, and her
mother promised that the boys would be in bed when Emily and Dave returned.

While Emily was talking to her mother, Dave contacted Beth, who
said it would be fine to stop by the house that evening. In fact, she wished he
would, because she planned to leave with the girls early on the morning of the
twenty-sixth, so the sooner these last two puppies found homes, the better.

In the car on the way to Beth's house, Emily gazed out at the
sky. The night was clear, with a million stars twinkling like jewels, but far
more precious than any stone she'd ever seen. Her eyes fell to the wedding ring
on her left hand. She'd almost removed it when she believed Dave was having an
affair. Those had been dark days in their marriage and she'd been so sure, so
completely convinced, that her husband was seeing another woman. It wasn't as if
pastors were exempt from temptation.

In retrospect, she felt embarrassed that she'd suspected Dave
of anything so underhanded. Yet what else was she to believe? He was gone almost
every night and, well…thankfully those days were over. Probably every marriage
went through at least one rocky period.

“Dave?”

“Yes, love?”

“I think Beth and her ex-husband still have feelings for each
other.”

Dave didn't speak for several minutes. “I had the same
impression,” he finally said.

“What do you suppose went wrong between them?” Emily asked.

“Probably the same thing that went wrong with us.”

“Lack of communication,” she murmured. “I guess it almost
always comes down to that.”

They pulled into Beth's yard and saw another vehicle parked
next to hers.

“Maybe Kent's still with her,” Dave commented.

Emily had heard Kent was staying at the Beldons' B and B. Rumor
had it that he hadn't arrived alone, but if so, whoever he'd brought hadn't been
at the church.

The front door opened and Beth stepped onto the porch to greet
them. “Welcome, welcome! Please, come inside.”

Dave held Emily's hand as they walked into the gaily decorated
house.

“The girls have hot cocoa on the stove. I hope we'll be able to
interest you in a mug.”

“With whipped cream,” Kent added, joining Beth.

He extended his hand to Dave. “We met in church earlier. Kent
Morehouse.”

“Dave Flemming, and my wife, Emily.”

“Hi, Emily. Good to see you again, Dave.”

Beth led the way into the kitchen. She opened the door leading
to the laundry room and returned a moment later with two beautiful black
puppies. They wore the saddest, most forlorn looks Emily could imagine.

“These two are the last of the litter, both males.” Beth handed
one to Emily.

“They're gorgeous,” Emily said, falling hard and fast. All it
had taken was one look, and she was convinced these puppies needed to be part of
their family.

She sat on one of the kitchen chairs, holding the puppy on her
lap. The little creature licked her hand, then immediately curled up and went to
sleep. Yup, Emily was lost. Mark would love this dog and she felt confident he'd
do a good job of feeding, training and caring for this puppy. Matthew, too,
would love and train his dog.

When Emily glanced up she saw that Dave was holding the other
puppy, all the while engaged in conversation with Kent Morehouse.

“The sermon tonight really touched me,” Beth said. “I've heard
the Christmas story all my life. But I'd never really considered the role Joseph
played. How he must have loved Mary.”

Emily agreed. “It's a beautiful love story and one that's often
overlooked.” This was Dave's gift. He looked at Biblical stories in ways that
stirred people's hearts and brought them closer to God. He could take familiar
passages and study them from a different point of view, bringing contemporary
relevance and new insight.

Beth returned to the stove, and removed the pan from the
burner. Bailey and Sophie, who'd poked their heads in to say hello, were playing
a computer game in the family room.

“Girls! Cocoa,” Beth called out.

Neither seemed to hear her, too engrossed in their game.
Shaking her head, Beth finished filling the mugs and brought two of them to
Emily and Dave, both sitting at the kitchen table.

Kent picked up the other two, then he and Beth sat down with
her guests.

“I see they've taken a liking to us,” Dave said, motioning to
the puppy on his lap. The second one was asleep, too, chin now resting on
Emily's arm.

“You know what a soft touch I am,” she complained
laughingly.

“Yeah, I guess we're a two-dog family now.”

“Dave was telling me he likes to golf,” Kent said to Beth a
moment later.

“It's a prerequisite for pastors,” Dave joked. “A lot of men
bond over the sport.”

“There was a time not so long ago when Dave gave it up,
though,” Emily said. “We were going through a difficult financial period and he
didn't want me to know how bad things were. The idiot let me think he was out
golfing when he was actually working at a second job.” Emily wasn't sure about
confiding anything so personal, but she felt this was something Beth and Kent
might benefit from hearing.

“How did you find out?” Beth asked.

“Peggy Beldon casually mentioned that Bob missed seeing Dave on
the golf course.”

“Of course, Emily didn't say anything at the time. She just
waited for me to come back to the house. She was cool as a cucumber—until I
walked in the front door.”

“Was that before or after I dyed my hair blond?”

Beth stared at her. “You went blond?”

“It was stupid, but we do stupid things when we're
desperate.”

“We do,” Kent agreed far too quickly.

“In the end we worked everything out, thank God,” Dave said. “I
made such a mess of my marriage. I nearly destroyed my wife's faith in me.”

“And then there were those missing jewels,” Emily added. There
was far more to the story.

“Oh, yes, the jewels.” Dave sighed, lifting his mug of
cocoa.

“Missing jewels?” Kent asked, looking from one to the
other.

“It's a long story, so allow me to condense it. One of the
older ladies in the church, Martha Evans, died and several pieces of her jewelry
turned up missing.”

“Dave was the last person to see her alive,” Emily said. “Which
immediately threw suspicion on him.”

“So everyone assumed I was the one who took the jewelry—even my
wife,” Dave said, grinning at Emily.

She smiled back. “What else was I supposed to believe?” she
murmured. “Besides, I found Martha's earring in his suit pocket. Only I didn't
know it belonged to Martha or that someone had purposely placed it there. At the
time, I imagined my husband was having an affair.”

“My goodness, you two had quite a few troubles, didn't you?”
Kent glanced at Beth.

“What saved your marriage?” she asked.

“Prayer,” Emily said, “and the two of us talking honestly. Dave
finally admitted we had more bills at the end of the month than money, and that
he was doing two jobs.”

“And Sheriff Davis was instrumental in capturing the man
responsible for the theft of Martha's jewelry,” Dave explained, “with Roy
McAfee's help.”

“What an incredible story!”

“It really is, and I'll fill in the missing pieces the next
time we see you,” Emily promised. She took a last swallow of her cocoa and
stood, the puppy in her arms. “We need to head home. My parents are looking
after the boys.”

“Wait,” Kent said. “I want to know who actually took the
jewelry?”

“Someone who worked on Martha's will, a paralegal,” Dave
explained. “His name is Geoff Duncan. He's serving prison time now. He was
trying to impress his fiancée's family, so he stole the jewelry, pawned it all
and spent the money.”

“Lori Bellamy, the fiancée, didn't have a clue what Geoff had
done,” Emily said. “She's Lori Wyse now. She got married not long ago to Lincoln
Wyse, who opened a body shop in town earlier this year. They seem to be a good
match, although they had a few problems with Lori's family. But apparently
that's all settled now.”

“This Geoff guy. Did he have a grudge against you?” Kent
asked.

“Not that I know of. I was just the perfect candidate for him
to frame because, as Martha's pastor, I spent a lot of time with her. Like I
said, I seemed to be the last person to see her alive, and I was also the one
who found the body. The obvious suspect.” He shook his head. “Thank goodness
Sheriff Davis and Roy McAfee looked beyond the obvious.”