3 Madness in Christmas River (21 page)

He raised the gun, pointing it at her. She shrunk like a flower under the first frost of the year.

“Don’t!” she screamed.

His finger moved to the trigger.

That’s when I did something stupid.

Chapter 62

“Run, Marie!” I screamed.

I threw myself in Sully’s direction, going for the gun. I lunged into his shoulder. He recovered, retaliating like a rattlesnake going after its prey. He threw his elbow out, hitting my face and knocking me to the ground. I hit the cold snow hard, needles of pain erupting at the base of my skull.

I tasted blood.

I opened my eyes and looked back up at Sully. All I could see was blackness where his face should have been.

Like in my nightmares.

He was pointing the gun at me now.

I knew that I was beat.

And there was nothing I could do now to change that.

An image of Daniel flashed through my mind. Of him dressed in his suit, waiting at the end of the aisle in the church for me.

An aisle I would never walk down.

I thought of all of them there. Warren, Kara, Marie… None of them would be at the wedding.

Because there wasn’t going to be any wedding.

A bullet was going to put an end to all of it.  

“I didn’t want it to be like this,” Sully said, out of breath. “But you were just in the wrong place at the wrong time, darlin’. That’s all.”

I took a deep breath.

“Warren’s going to kill you for this,” I said.  

“I doubt that very much, hon.”

He lifted the gun and took his aim at me.

I closed my eyes tightly, trying to think of the wedding day, of the soft music playing as I walked down the aisle. Of the cold winter sunlight filtering in through the church’s stained glass windows.

Of Daniel’s green eyes. Of his bright smile as he watched me walk toward him. Of him slipping the ring on my finger.

Of us starting our new life together.

Then, the gun went off.

Chapter 63

I heard a scream. And then a thud. 

I opened my eyes slowly.

Sully was no longer there, standing over me.

Instead, he was on the ground, writhing and moaning in pain.

Voices echoed through the woods around me. A moment later, somebody was pulling me up off the snow.

It felt like I wasn’t even there, that I was watching everything take place from somewhere up in the trees. I was overcome with a foggy, disconnected feeling.

For a split second, I wondered if I was dead. If this was what it was like to be dead, slowly rising up over your body. Drifting away to some place in the sky.  

But then I felt someone drape something heavy over my shoulders, and then someone’s arms were around me, and I was brought back down from the trees, back into my shivering and trembling body.  

I gasped for air.

I was still alive.

He held me tighter than any man has ever held any woman.

“It’s all over, Cin,” he whispered in my ear. “I’m here. You’re okay. You’re okay.”

I held onto Daniel like he was a life preserver.

And I didn’t let go for the rest of the night.

Chapter 64

We slowly strolled to the rental car sitting on the curb outside of my house.

It was early morning, and the grey dawn had given way to a brilliant blue sky. A soft, southerly wind was blowing, and clumps of melting snow were beginning to fall from the defrosting trees. Birds whistled, filling the morning with their cheerful song.

It had been less than a week since I was almost shot by former sheriff Sully Coe. Less than a week since he’d been taken to the hospital with a hand that was no better than hamburger meat.

And in that time, the mystery behind the bout of madness that had struck Christmas River had unraveled altogether.

Sully had been behind all of it: the Christmas tree vandalism, the photos, my car getting busted, Huckleberry getting hurt, and the break-in at Bethany’s Bridal shop. He had hired men, one of whom was Craig Canby, to do these things. Henchmen who he turned in at the drop of a hat, Daniel said, trying to get himself some sort of deal.

That was Sully. Always looking for the angle to get himself in a better position.

Marie and I had been more than lucky that Daniel and deputies Trumbow and McHale had driven out to the cabin that night. After getting Evan to spill about the ornament filled with the diamond jewelry, Daniel told me that he knew Sully would come looking for them.

Daniel told me he’d had a hunch about Sully Coe after looking over the old cold case file of Anthony Matthews. He said the work on the case was sloppy. Almost deliberately sloppy. Daniel had called Sully to ask him questions about it, but Sully had said his memory was going, and that he couldn’t tell him much more about the case than what existed in the files.

Daniel said he felt something was wrong about the old sheriff, and it had nothing to do with an old man’s bad memory.

And then Evan told the police all about the blackmail scheme Sully had going with Marie, and Daniel knew it was only a matter of time before the old sheriff was out at the cabin looking for the ornament. The ornament that Owen had already collected and logged into police evidence earlier that day.

Daniel had no idea that I would be out there that night.  

He figured it all out just in time. Just as Sully was about to pull the trigger.

If he’d been just a half a second later, then I would have been dead.

It had been a few days since it happened, but I still got goose bumps when I thought about how close I came to being six feet under.

I had been in the wrong place at the wrong time.

But someone was looking out for me that night.

I thought about my mom, about Daniel’s brother, about Anthony Matthews. About all the people who died young because of bad luck.

I shivered, thinking about all the old photographs of them. The ones that they would always be trapped in.  

And I was thankful, with my entire being, that I hadn’t joined them.

There was so much to live for. So much to look forward to. So much I still wanted to do.

Daniel noticed me shivering, and rubbed my back.

“You okay?” he asked.

I leaned against the car.

“I was just thinking about—” I started.

“Don’t,” he said, knowing what was on my mind. “I don’t want to think about how close we came either.”

I nodded.

“Then let’s not,” I said.

He smiled.

“So you’ll call me when you get on the plane?” I asked.  

Though Daniel had tried to push it off as long as possible, they still needed his help back in Fresno. But I had insisted that he take a plane back out of Redmond, and drop the rental car there. There’d be no more driving over icy passes in the dark as long as I had a say in it.

“It’ll only be a couple of days,” he said. “Don’t worry about me. I’ll be back with plenty of time to spare before the wedding.”

“You promise, Sheriff Brightman?” I asked.

“You have my word, little lady,” he said, kissing me like a character in a Robert Mitchum movie.

Then he sighed, and glanced at his watch.

“I better get going,” he said.

He started breaking away from me.

“No, wait, Daniel,” I said, pulling him back close to me.

I took a deep breath.

“I’ve been doing some thinking,” I said.

“Oh?” he said, furrowing his brow.

“Yeah. I’ve made a decision,” I said. “I, uh, I’m moving into your house after the wedding.”

The worried expression on his face transformed into a bright grin.

“I knew you’d come around,” he said. “I just knew it.”

His smile was infectious, and I felt my lips curling up as the happiness lit up inside of me like a fire on a cold winter’s night.

“We’re going to be so happy,” he said. “But don’t start moving anything in there just yet. I’ve got some redesign ideas I want to talk to you about when I get back.”

“Oh?” I said.

“Yeah,” he said, kissing me on the forehead.

We embraced one more time. I was finding it hard to let go of him.

But finally, I had to.  

“I’ll be back for you, Cinnamon Peters,” he said, breaking away and climbing into the car.

“You better,” I said.

I watched as he pulled away down the street, my heart full of hope for the future.

The future that I was lucky to have.

Chapter 65

I had just finished making my last batch of pies for the day and was enjoying a steaming cup of pomegranate tea in the kitchen when I heard a tap at the back door.

Huckleberry got up and started barking. He was healing nicely, and his hobble was lessening with each day.

I glanced over at the window.

He was standing there on the back porch.

I dusted my hands free of flour, stood up and opened the door. A cold burst of air nipped at my nose and cheeks.

I stuck my head out, and he walked toward me slowly, his boots sounding loudly against the deck.  

“Do you want to come in?” I said.

He shook his head.

“I just came by to say I’m glad that you’re okay,” he said. “And, uh, I just wanted to tell you that I’m going back home. For good.”

“You’re what?” I said.

I stepped outside on the deck, closing the door behind me to keep Huckleberry inside.   

“You’re leaving?”

He stuffed his hands in the pockets of his deputy jacket and looked down at the ground.

“I thought this would work,” Owen said. “Moving out here. Away from… her. I wanted it to. I really did. But it hasn’t. If anything, the circumstances have made it worst.”

I bit my lip.

“I mean, you…” he said, trailing off.

He cleared his throat.  

“I’ve kind of fallen for someone,” he muttered, not meeting my eyes. “And it’s not right, and I know it’s not right. And I just don’t think I should be here any longer.”

My heart sank a little.

I understood that he wasn’t talking about someone else.

I hadn’t actually allowed myself to believe that it was possible, even though there had been small clues along the way.

It didn’t make much sense, Owen McHale falling for me. I had a decade on him, and I didn’t have the looks to match his by anyone’s measure. And frankly, we seemed to argue more than converse most of the time.

But then again, maybe it did make sense. I’d been a shoulder for him to cry on, or at least, to fall on. He’d been lonely and lost, and I’d been somebody to talk to.

I had been kind to him when he needed kindness more than anything. Maybe it was a case of just misplaced feelings. Maybe he hadn’t fallen so much for me, as he had for the idea of what I represented. A kind woman to take care of him and tell him that everything was going to be okay.

We all needed somebody to tell us that from time to time.    

I didn’t want to hurt him anymore than he’d already been hurt.

But it was inevitable.

“I’m sure this woman you’ve fallen for is really flattered,” I said. “But she’s already got someone. Someone she’s crazy about.”  

“I know,” he said. “I just… I know.”

He met my eyes for a split second, then looked away quickly.

“Well, that’s all. I just wanted to make sure I got a chance to say goodbye.”

He started walking away.

“Wait,” I said.

He turned back around.

“You, uh, you haven’t quit yet, have you?” I asked.  

“I’m putting my papers in when Sheriff Brightman gets back,” he said. “I figured I owed him that much.”

I cleared my throat.

“You know, Daniel likes you a lot, Owen,” I said. “He thinks you’re going to make a great cop one day.”

He didn’t say anything.

“I think so, too,” I said.

He looked off into the trees and squinted. I took a step closer to him.  

“Listen, don’t give up on Christmas River just yet,” I said. “I know it’s a small town in the middle of nowhere, and that it can be a real pain in the ass sometimes, but this is a good place. Don’t give up on it.

“Don’t give up on yourself either, Owen.”

He looked back at me, and then through the glass at the kitchen.

“I just don’t see how I’m going to—”

He stopped mid-sentence as something caught his eye in the window.

I followed his gaze, seeing that he was looking at Chrissy. She had just walked in carrying a stack of empty pie dishes.

Chrissy was all dressed up for a date she was set to go on in half an hour. Her black hair was nicely straightened, and she was wearing tights and a sweater dress that hugged her hips nicely. She moved gracefully and with ease as she placed the pie pans in the dishwasher, not realizing that anyone was watching.

I glanced back at Owen, who hadn’t taken his eyes off her.

He suddenly looked thunderstruck.  

I smiled.

Maybe there was hope for Owen McHale yet.

“C’mon,” I said. “It’s too cold out here to be standing around. Come on in for some pie.”

He looked back at me and nodded reluctantly.

“Okay.”

I opened the back door, and he shuffled inside.

Chapter 66

A loud knock came from the other side of my bedroom door.

“Come in!” I yelled.

I glanced back at myself in the mirror.  

I was pleased as pumpkin pie with a dollop of whipped cream and a sprinkling of candied pecans.

The dress was beautiful, elegant, and classy. And most importantly, it was 100 percent me.

There was no garish rhinestone-studded bodice. No sweeping train. No over-the-top frills.

Instead, there was simplicity, tradition and meaning.

Though there had been a few alterations and a few cuts here and there to make it look more modern, the wedding dress was still my mom’s. A lace bodice, cap sleeves, and a simple v-neck that framed my face perfectly. 

And there had been no squeezing, pulling or pushing to get me into the dress.