Authors: Mariah Stewart
“He’s doing better. Misses the wife, of course, but he’s keeping it together.”
“Glad to hear it. I always liked him.”
The waiter handed Grady and Vanessa menus.
“Did you two already order?” Vanessa asked.
“We were waiting for you,” Hal replied. “The specials are on the board there by the door. They have one of your favorites, Ness.”
Vanessa turned and looked over her shoulder.
“Yum. We know what I’m having.” She closed her menu.
“I’ll join you there,” Hal said, and closed his as well. “No one does a better grilled tuna than the man Walt has working in his kitchen.”
“That sounds great. I’ll have that as well.” Maggie added her menu to the pile.
“Grady?” Hal asked.
“I’m going with the swordfish.”
Hal signaled for the waiter and gave the orders.
“So how did you two spend the rest of the afternoon?” Hal asked.
“We just walked around a bit, then sat and watched the sun float down onto the Bay,” Vanessa told him. “That’s how we knew you never made it out of your slip.”
“Well, now, you know how old men are once they get talking about their boats.” Hal turned to Maggie. “I guess we bored you to death.”
“Not at all,” Maggie assured him. She took a deep breath and asked Grady, “Are you planning on staying in St. Dennis for a while?”
“I’m not sure,” he replied. “I’m playing it by ear.”
Hal took that to mean Grady would hang around until they figured out who was targeting Vanessa and why. He liked that about the young man, that he’d been concerned enough about Ness not to be so quick to leave when no one was really sure how serious the threat was. A man would be a fool not to know when
two young people were circling around each other the way these two were over the past four days. Hal had been hoping the circling hadn’t been all on Vanessa’s part. Knowing that Grady was willing to change his plans to keep an eye on her … well, Hal couldn’t help but approve of that.
“Hal tells me you live in Montana,” Maggie said.
Grady nodded. “Not too far from Great Falls, if you know where that is.”
“I do.” She nodded. “I was in that airport once, when my flight to Fargo got redirected due to bad weather.”
“How do you like North Dakota?” Grady asked.
“I like some things—I like all the space, and the scenery is beautiful. But it’s so cold, and the summer’s so short. But of course, you could say the same thing. We probably have similar seasons.”
“Yeah. Winter and July.”
Maggie laughed. “Yes, that’s it exactly.”
“What part of the state do you live in, Mrs. Turner?”
“Oh, call me Maggie. Everyone does. Even my children.” Maggie slanted a look at Vanessa. “I live a little southwest of Fargo.”
“Did Vanessa tell me you raised sheep?”
“Oh, no, no.” Maggie laughed again. “No, that was my late husband’s deal. He raised Cotswold sheep. They produce a very nice, long wool fleece. They tell me that people who spin their own wool like it, but since I don’t spin and I don’t knit, I wouldn’t know.”
“Who’s minding the ranch while you’re here, Maggie?” Vanessa asked.
“Oh, my late husband’s sons have been working the ranch for the past several years, since he—Carl Senior, that is—got sick. Wayne and the Carls have—”
“The Carls?” Vanessa raised an eyebrow.
“Carl Junior, and his son, Carl the third.” Maggie turned to Grady. “Yes, I know, the Turners were in a bit of a rut when it came to naming their children. Anyway, Carl’s boys have been taking care of the ranch and they say they’re staying on. This year they started raising turkeys as well, so I guess they’re determined to keep it going.”
“Is that awkward for you?” Vanessa asked. Hal glanced at her over the top of his glasses, and she rephrased the question. “What I meant was, since your husband died—”
“I understand exactly what you meant, and yes, of course, it’s awkward. Neither one of them would throw me a line if I fell in the middle of that Bay out there.” Maggie pointed out the window. “I understand why, of course—their father was an older man of some means when we married, he’d been widowed for about twenty years, and he’d neglected to tell the boys that he wanted to remarry. So I had three strikes against me going in.
“But it wasn’t what either of the boys thought. I didn’t want the property, and they are welcome to the house and the money their dad left behind.” She smiled somewhat wryly. “I’m just as happy to be someplace where it’s warm at this time of the year.”
“So, are you planning on going back there?” Vanessa asked.
Hal was pretty sure he could tell by the look on
Vanessa’s face that she was afraid of what Maggie’s answer was going to be.
“I will.” Maggie nodded. “But mostly just to pick up my things. These past few years, I spent most of my time taking care of Carl. Now that he’s gone, there’s no place for me there.”
“So where
will
you go?” Vanessa’s eyes narrowed as they focused on her mother.
“I have no idea, and right now, I have no plans.” Maggie flashed her best smile. “Why, dear, were you thinking of asking me to stay with you for a while?”
“I was just curious,” Vanessa replied, ignoring Maggie’s obvious plea for an invitation.
“So, Grady”—Maggie turned her attention back to him—“what do you do in Montana? Do you ranch?”
“No. I only have a few acres, not enough to raise much of anything,” he told her.
“What do you do for a job? I understand you’re no longer with the FBI.”
He nodded. “I left the Bureau a few years ago. Since then, I’ve qualified as a wilderness guide. I take groups or individuals camping, hiking, backpacking; that sort of thing.”
“Can you make a living that way?” Maggie asked.
“Maggie,” Vanessa admonished. “Why would you ask him that?”
“Well, sweetie, you’ve been spending a lot of time with this young man this weekend.”
“He’s … sort of … a bodyguard.” To Hal, Vanessa sounded defensive.
“Well, then, let’s just say it’s maternal prerogative.”
Vanessa set her glass on the table. “Where was your motherly concern when your just-turned-eighteen
daughter wanted to marry a man who was twelve years older than she was?”
“Vanessa, I told you at the time that I did not think that marrying Craig was a good idea.” Maggie’s glass hit the table as well.
“You didn’t try to stop me.”
“I could never stop you from doing a damned thing you wanted to do. You said you wanted to marry him and—”
“No, no. I said
he
wanted to marry
me
. You were supposed to stop me. You were supposed to say he was too old and you weren’t going to let me do it.” Vanessa’s eyes flashed anger, and for a moment, Hal thought she was going to get up and walk out. “What did I know? I was only eighteen years old.”
The ensuing silence was so dense, Hal thought he could cut through it. He cleared his throat, trying to think of something to say that might salvage the moment. Fortunately, the waiter appeared with their dinners.
“Well, now, the tuna looks great, doesn’t it, ladies?” Hal said. He got a nod from Vanessa and a distracted glance from Maggie, which was, he supposed, about the best he was going to get.
The silence returned and lingered right through the rest of the meal. When it came time to order dessert, Vanessa excused herself.
“I’m going to have to call it a night,” she said. “I have to be in the shop first thing in the morning to start my inventory, and it’s been a very long weekend.” She leaned over and kissed Hal on the cheek. “Thank you for dinner.”
“You’re welcome.” He leaned close and whispered,
“Thanks for humoring me. I appreciate the effort. Oh, I almost forgot.” He stuck his hand in his shirt pocket and removed a set of keys. “The keys for your new locks. The locksmith left them at the station.” He handed them to her. “They both fit all the locks on the house.”
“Thanks, Hal.” Vanessa rummaged in her bag for her key ring.
While she was removing the old and sliding on the new, Grady asked Hal, “Do you happen to know if anyone’s working on getting a match for those prints?”
“Garland worked on it this afternoon, but so far, nothing. Of course, there were so many prints in the shop, it’s going to take some time,” Hal explained.
“I thought it was premature, but I thought I’d ask anyway.” Grady stood and shook Hal’s hand. “Thanks for dinner, Hal. I’m sure I’ll see you again. Maggie, it’s been a pleasure.”
“You don’t mean that, but I appreciate the thought, Grady,” she replied. “It was nice meeting you. Take care of my little girl. Don’t let anything bad happen to her.”
“Oh, Maggie, for God’s sake,” Vanessa muttered.
“I will try my best to keep her safe,” Grady promised.
“Good night, you two.” Vanessa took Grady’s hand and headed for the door.
“What do you suppose his intentions are?” Maggie murmured after Grady and Vanessa were gone.
“Well, now, I think he’ll do whatever it takes to keep her from harm’s way, just like he said.”
“You could do that just as well.”
“Maybe, maybe not. He’s a lot younger and stronger, and he’s had the benefit of a lot of training that I didn’t have.”
“Yes, but you’ve got a gun, right?” Maggie asked. “Do you think he has a gun?”
“Probably not,” Hal said after thinking it over. “I doubt he set out for his sister’s wedding thinking he needed to come armed.”
“Maybe he should have a gun.”
“Maybe he should.” Hal thought it over. Maybe he should …
Maggie turned to Hal. “I know what you were trying to do tonight, and I thank you from the bottom of my heart. I know you want for Vanessa and me to get along, and I appreciate that so much.” She paused. “It didn’t go too badly, do you think?”
“Not too,” he agreed, and signaled for the check. He’d hoped for better, but he knew it could have been much worse.
Well, he thought as he finished the rest of his beer, it was a start. They were talking—maybe not so much friendly talk, but at least they were talking. Judging by what Maggie had told him last night, it had been a long time coming.
He felt protective of both of them, the woman he’d once loved and the girl he’d taken into his heart and come to love as his own. Over the next few days—for however long Maggie was staying in St. Dennis—he’d do his best to help them make their peace. But in the end, he knew, it was up to them. And then there was Beck. Hal shook his head. If he thought it was rough trying to get Maggie and her daughter on the same page, the thought of getting Beck to come around to
even discussing Maggie made Hal’s head hurt. Well, he reminded himself, he had almost two full weeks before he’d have to deal with that. One problem at a time, his father always told him. One problem, one solution. He smiled as he signed the credit slip for their dinners, remembering all his father’s clichés that could apply. Rome wasn’t built in a day. You can lead a horse to water but you can’t make him drink. And Hal’s personal favorite: miracles take time.
Well, maybe a miracle was what it was going to take to make this all work out right for all of them. Where to find one … now, that was another matter altogether.
“You’re awfully quiet,” Vanessa observed as she and Grady walked the last block to her house.
“I’m just trying to stay observant,” Grady replied.
“You mean in case someone’s following us? It’s still light out. It’s tough to stalk someone in this neighborhood when all the kids are still outside playing and so many people are sitting on their porches or out for an evening stroll.”
“Someone came into this neighborhood in broad daylight and broke into your house,” he reminded her.
“True enough. But they weren’t following me down the street before they broke in.”
She waved to a neighbor across the street.
“I heard about your shop, Vanessa,” the woman called to her. “I’m shocked.”
“So was I, Andrea,” Vanessa called back.
They reached Vanessa’s house and she took the keys from her bag as she started up the walk.
“Wait.” Grady took her by the arm. “I want to check around the outside first.”
“Why?” She frowned.
“In the unlikely event that someone’s been back while we were gone, I want to know before we go in.”
“Oh.”
Grady walked up the driveway and to the backyard, and Vanessa followed. He checked the plants under the windows and found none of them trampled down. Next he looked over the area around the back porch and the door that led to the stairs down to the basement, then he walked around to the other side of the house. Vanessa paused to pull a few weeds from one of the flower beds as she passed.
“Doesn’t look as if anything’s changed since this morning when I looked, so I guess we’re okay so far,” Grady told her when he returned to the backyard.
“Good.” She shook the dirt off the weeds. “Oh, these smell nice. I wonder if this is one of Alice Ridgeway’s herbs.” She looked up and smiled. “The previous owner grew a lot of herbs and some flesh-eating plants as well. Isn’t that an interesting combination?”
She raised the thin stalk to her nose and sniffed. “It’s definitely something.” She passed it to Grady, who took a sniff of his own.
“I can’t place it, but it’s nice.”
“Well, I guess I have my work cut out for me back here,” she noted. “I should get all these beds cleaned up, but I’m afraid of pulling out the wrong things. I don’t know the herbs from the weeds from the flowers.”
“From the man-eaters?”
“Flesh eaters,” she corrected him. “Mostly Venus flytraps, the Realtor said.”
Grady walked around the entire yard, pausing to
take a closer look at this or that. At the back corner, he stopped.
“Fishpond?” he turned and asked.
Vanessa nodded. “I heard she used to have koi. As soon as I find some time, I’m going to clean that out and refill it, buy some koi and some water lilies. Maybe I’ll get one of those little stone waterfalls.” She loved the thought of having a little water garden and the sound of the water trickling over her very own falls, no matter how small they might be. She’d never appreciated how soothing the sound of water in any of its many forms could be until she lived near the Bay.