Snowfall on Haven Point (16 page)

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

“M
ARSHALL
?” C
HARLENE
CALLED
AGAIN
.

“Did you lock the door behind you?” he asked Andie, a hopeful note to his voice.

She shook her head and he sighed. “In the kitchen, Mom.”

“Oh, your tree looks beautiful! So charming!” his mother called from the entryway. “I bet it's stunning with the lights on. Did Wynona come back to decorate it for you?”

Before he had a chance to answer, Charlene Bailey née Bailey—who had just married her late husband's brother—came into the kitchen.

She was round and tanned, blue eyes like his, glowing with happiness. She stopped short when she spotted them together, surprise flaring in her eyes.

Andie knew all about mother's intuition. It had come in handy more times than she could count with her own children. Could Marshall's mother sense that the two of them had been locked in an embrace a few short moments earlier?

“Here you are,” she exclaimed. “And with Andrea, too. Hello, my dear. This is a lovely surprise!”

Charlene had been nothing but kind to her the last few months. Despite Andie's worries, the Bailey matriarch didn't seem to blame Andie for her part in the incident that had culminated with Wynona being shot by Rob Warren while trying to protect Andie and her children.

Whenever she was around her friend's mother, Andie was always aware just under the surface that she and Charlene shared a bond, the grim sisterhood of those who had lost loved ones in the line of duty.

She hated they had that bond in common, that the sweet Charlene had suffered not only the loss of her husband but also one of her sons.

That didn't mean the woman was necessarily quick to forgive those children still walking the earth for their perceived mistakes. After that first moment of shock and greeting, Charlene marched over to Marshall and smacked his arm.

“Ow. What was that for?”

“Trust me, son, you're getting off easy. That's not half of what I'd like to do to you—and to your brother and sisters, too. Why didn't anyone tell me you'd been hurt? Look at you! Oh, Marshall. What have you done?”

Andie couldn't help being charmed when the ears of the big, brusque sheriff started to turn red.

“Nothing,” he mumbled. “It's just a broken leg, Mom. I'm doing better.”

She imagined he was grateful the bruises and scrapes on his face had mostly faded. At least his mother had been spared the worst of those.

“Imagine my shock and horror when we came back into town this afternoon and found the rumor mill burning up with gossip about
my son
.”

Andie winced. Honeymoon or not, Wyn should have told her mother. She couldn't imagine hearing that kind of information about one of her children by accident.

“Who knows? If I hadn't stopped for groceries right after we pulled into town, I still might not know. Just my luck, the first person I bumped into in the produce section while I was buying bananas was Linda Fremont.”

Andie winced again. Linda was the
last
person in town she would choose to tell her bad news. She loved the woman's daughter Samantha, but Linda was fatalistic in the extreme.

“As you can imagine, she had an earful for me. According to Linda, you were all but at death's door, in a coma on life support. I thought I was going to pass out, I'll tell you that much. If your uncle hadn't been there, I might have. Lucky for us, McKenzie Kilpatrick came along just then and heard every word Linda said. The mayor set me straight, but still. You were hit by a car and have a broken leg! And you didn't say a word to me! I'd like to horsewhip the lot of you.”

“You were on your honeymoon, Mom. And I was fine, really. Wyn was on the fence about telling you, but I told her not to bother you.”

Charlene's glower looked remarkably like her son's. “Why on earth would you do that? I'm your mother. I have the right to know when one of my babies is hurt.”

Her “baby”—a tall, hard, dangerous lawman who was well over six feet tall—grimaced. “What you had the right to was an uninterrupted honeymoon. You and Uncle Mike both deserved it. I was fine and there was nothing you could do about the situation anyway.”

She looked as if she wanted to strenuously disagree, but after taking a moment to collect herself, she gave her son a steady look. “I cannot understand why you, Elliot and the girls had to keep me in the dark and I certainly don't agree with it. I'll have a thing or two to say to them, you can be sure, but what's done is done, I suppose. The important thing is, I'm here now, ready to take care of you.”

She took off her coat and hung it on a kitchen chair, looking for all the world as if she wanted to move right in. Andie fought a laugh at the panicked look on Marshall's face.

Apparently the tough, dangerous sheriff of Lake Haven County was intimidated by his round, sweet mother. She found it rather adorable.

“You don't have to fuss over me, Mom. I promise. The accident was nearly a week ago and the leg hardly even hurts anymore.”

Andie was quite sure that was a bold-faced lie. She'd seen the winces he tried to hide, those white lines around his mouth when he was trying to soldier through the pain. He had been up and moving all day. Though he would rather be tortured than admit it, she could see he needed nothing so much as to sit down.

She didn't feel it was her place to point that out, however. If he wanted to fib to his mother, it wasn't her business.

“I'm getting around now without too much trouble and I even went back into the office today.”

“How? You can't drive, surely.”

He inclined his head in Andie's direction. “Andrea kindly agreed to drive me and then hung around in Shelter Springs for a few hours so she could bring me back here.”

Charlene's eyes widened at that particular piece of information and she sent Andie an appraising look she found nothing less than ominous.

“Why, that's very neighborly of you, my dear.”

Neighborly.
That was one word for it. Her mind flashed back to the heated embrace they'd shared mere minutes earlier and she had to fight a shiver.

“It was nothing. I was more than happy to help.”

“She's been a lifesaver, actually,” Marshall shocked her by saying. “With Katrina gone and Wyn busy with school, Wynona persuaded Andrea to help me out. She's done a wonderful job. I couldn't ask for more.”

He aimed a smile in Andie's direction, brimming with so much affection she might have fallen over without the kitchen counter at her back.

“I don't know what I would have done without her,” he said, with a warmth in his voice she had never heard there.

After a pause pregnant with shocked speculation, Charlene looked at Andie with an expression of pure delight.

“Oh, I'm so happy to hear that. Thank you so much for watching out for my boy.”

What was happening here? She did her best to gather her tangled thoughts.

“Um, you're welcome.”

“As you can see,” Marsh went on, “I'm in very capable hands. Really, I'm fine. Andie has been amazing. There is absolutely no reason you can't climb back in your car and trot back to your new husband. Now that you're back, the two of you can get to work creating a life together. Have you finally decided where you're going to live?”

Though an obvious ploy to change the subject, Charlene followed the temporary detour. “We haven't made a final decision. We do know we're selling both houses and buying something together. It will be a new start for both of us. Who knows? Maybe we'll build. Mike has that property on the other side of Redemption Bay that would be a lovely spot for a new house.”

“That is a nice place.”

“We've decided we'll live in my house for now, since it has more space for all of us to get together. Which reminds me, I'm planning Christmas Eve. This is the first year in forever you haven't been working, so you've got no excuses.”

She turned to Andie. “You know, my dear, we would be absolutely delighted to have you and your children join us. I don't have any grandchildren yet, but I usually invite friends over who do, so your children would have others to play with.”

His mother was under the very mistaken impression there was more between them than one ill-fated kiss, but that didn't make the invitation any less appealing. Wyn was Andie's dearest friend in Haven Point. It would be lovely to spend Christmas Eve dinner with her and her family.

“Thank you,” she said sincerely. “I'll think about it.”

“I do hope you come, but if you have already made plans, we completely understand.”

“We haven't. This is our first holiday in Haven Point and the children and I are building our own traditions together.”

“You really must make my Christmas party one of them. It's always great fun—though don't ask Marshall here about it, since he's missed the last dozen or so working double shifts. One might almost think he doesn't like Christmas.”

He shrugged. “Mom, you know how it goes in law enforcement. Somebody has to work during the holidays. If I'm working, that means one of my deputies can be home with his kids.”

Oh, he was a hard man to resist. Every time she thought she had, he managed to sneak in and topple a few more barriers.

He was a police officer, she reminded herself sternly. Yes, he might be a compassionate one to his fellow officers, but that didn't make his job any less dangerous.

He had been hit by a car less than a week ago because of his job. He could have died that night. She couldn't afford to forget that.

She had vowed she would never let herself care for another police officer. She couldn't endure the agony of waiting by the door, wondering if this was the day he wouldn't come home.

“I need to go,” she said abruptly. “I'm sorry. I need to let my dog out and do a few more things before my kids are done with school.”

She did need to leave, but she had also noticed those lines of pain had returned around his mouth. He would rather yank his fingernails out than admit to his mother he needed to sit down.

“Oh, I'm parked behind you in the driveway,” Charlene said. “Let me move my SUV to the front, then I'll come back in.”

“Mom, you don't need to stay, I promise. Right now, I just want to grab a beer and watch a basketball game. I'm sure Uncle Mike needs help packing up what he needs to take to the house. If you're not there directing him, he might just load up that terrible tweed sofa he's got in the living room.”

Charlene looked torn between her maternal duty and the challenges of creating a new home with a longtime bachelor. She shuddered slightly, then sighed. “Fine. Since you obviously don't want me around, I'll go where I
am
wanted.”

She gave a small, private smile that made Andie want to laugh—and made Marshall shudder this time, though it was barely perceptible.

His mother deserved every bit of happiness she had found, this new chance at a happy ending. From what Wynona had told Andie, Charlene had spent more than two decades as a devoted police chief's wife and then tirelessly visited him in the nursing home every day of his final two years.

Andie, for one, was delighted to see her enjoying this new phase of her life.

“I'll call to check on you later tonight and stop by again tomorrow morning,” Charlene assured her son.

“Again, not necessary. Andie has things covered.”

“I'm so glad.” Charlene looked torn between her own need to step in and coddle her son and her obvious delight that someone else was allegedly doing it.

“We'll talk tonight,” she promised. She kissed her son's cheek, then enfolded Andie in a warm hug that smelled of lavender and vanilla.

“Thank you for watching over my boy. I hope he hasn't been a terrible bear.”

“Not terrible,” Andie temporized with a sidelong look at Marshall.

“I'm sure I'll see you both very soon,” she said, then hurried out of the room humming a Christmas song.

Andie waited until she was certain the door closed behind his mother before she turned and faced him.

“You just threw me under the bus,” she accused.

He focused on a spot above her head. “I don't know what you're talking about.”

“Oh. Not true! You purposely gave your mother the idea there was something...romantic between us.”

“We did just kiss,” he pointed out.

She narrowed her gaze. “One kiss does
not
make a relationship.”

“I love my mom. She's wonderful, really she is, but she can be overwhelming. If you let her, she'll sweep in and try to take over everything in your life. She has always fussed over us, but just typical mom stuff. Those maternal instincts seemed to go into overdrive after Wyatt died and then became even worse after Dad was shot. She thinks it's her life's work to worry and fret over us.”

“Sounds like normal mom behavior.”

Andie didn't want to tell him how jealous she was over it. She couldn't remember if her own mother had worried and fretted over her those few years she was sober. If she had, it hadn't lasted long—and her grandmother had been too busy trying to keep Andie's grandfather happy to have much room left for a sad little girl.

“It might be normal,” he said, “but I could easily see her feeling like she has to abandon her husband of less than two weeks so she can move into my spare bedroom and make sure I don't fall on my way to the bathroom in the middle of the night.”

It wasn't completely impossible, judging from what Wynona had told her about their mother's tendency to go into overdrive.

“You're using me as a ploy to keep your mother at bay,” she said slowly. “I don't believe I've ever been a mom-beard before.”