The Mill River Redemption (33 page)

“Oh, Andy, that would be wonderful! I’ll do whatever you need to set it up. I don’t dare tell her aunt Ivy just yet—she can’t keep anything secret for long—but, goodness, I’ve got goose bumps just thinking about it!”

Now, the day of Andy’s surprise proposal had finally come, and it was time to pull everything together.

“Em?” Josie stepped into the living room where Emily was sitting on the sofa reading. “That was Ivy calling. She’s got some new
books to stock, and she wondered if you could go over and give her a hand? She can’t heft those boxes around like she used to.”

“Sure, I’ll go,” Emily said as she closed her book.

“Thanks, hon. I’m going to finish up making dinner. I’ll call you when it’s ready, and you should ask Ivy to come over, too. Is Rose still asleep?”

“Yeah, I think so,” Emily replied as she opened the front door. “She had to work late and then get up at the crack of dawn to catch her bus up here. She’ll be in a better mood at dinner if we let her sleep a little longer.”

Once Emily was safely out of the house, Josie called upstairs to Rose.

“Rose, it’s time. Can you come down?” When she heard Rose’s mumbled reply, she went into the kitchen and began removing dishes and glasses to set the table. She’d purchased new champagne flutes especially for the occasion, and there was a bottle of bubbly chilling inside the refrigerator.

“Everything’s ready?” Rose asked in a sleepy voice as she came into the kitchen.

“Yes, Andy’s at the train station in Rutland. Can you take my car and go pick him up? I’m going to set the table and arrange everything so it’s perfect for when everyone gets here. Emily’s over helping Ivy unpack some boxes, and Ivy knows she’s supposed to keep her busy until I call.”

“Okay.” Rose giggled. “I haven’t driven for a long time, you know.”

“You’ll be fine,” Josie said. “This is Vermont, not New York City. My keys are in my purse.”

“And your purse is—?”

“On my desk in the office,” Josie said. “And, hey, if Andy wants to stop somewhere to pick up some flowers, take him over to Hawley’s on Center Street. They always have such nice arrangements. But try to get back here as soon as you can.”

Josie vaguely heard the door opening and closing as Rose left, followed by the sound of the car engine starting. She flew around the table, positioning plates and napkins, silverware and delicate stemware, until everything was perfect. By that time, the lasagna had filled the house with its spicy aroma, and she removed it from the oven and set it on the stove to cool. She prepared a green salad and mixed a cruet of balsamic vinaigrette. When she finally glanced at her watch, she was surprised to see that more than an hour had passed since Rose had left.

They’ll be here any minute
, she thought. She wondered whether she should call over to Ivy’s and then decided against it. Her impatience was driven by giddy anticipation, and it would be better to call after Rose had returned with Andy. Josie sat down in a kitchen chair to wait.

Another thirty minutes dragged by before she heard the front door open. She hurried around to the foyer to see Emily coming through the door. Ivy followed her with an apologetic look on her face.

“We finished up everything, and we figured you had dinner about ready,” Emily said with a smile. “Smells great in here.”

“Yes, we’re about ready. Just waiting for Rose. I sent her out to fetch a last-minute something, but she should be back any minute.” Josie glanced out the window. It was almost seven o’clock and nearly dark.

“Wow, Mom, you went all out,” Emily said as she lifted one of the champagne flutes. “What’s the occasion?”

“Oh, I just thought it would be nice to have a fancy dinner, since we’re all together.”

“You know you’ve got an extra place setting here,” Emily said as she examined the table. “With Rose, there’s only four of us.”

“I wonder what’s keeping Rose?” her mother asked, completely ignoring her comment about the place setting. “Em, do you know whether she has a cell phone? She said something about wanting
one a while back, but the only number I have is for her apartment.”

“I don’t think she has one yet,” Emily said. “What did you send her to get?”

Josie didn’t reply. Instead, she looked at Ivy, who shook her head and shrugged.

“What?” Emily asked, looking back and forth between them. “Something’s going on. What is it?”

Ivy pursed her lips for a moment, as if she was struggling to keep from speaking, but Josie could see her aunt’s resolve slipping away.
Here she goes
, Josie thought as Ivy started to blab.

“It’s just a little surprise we have for you. We didn’t want to say anything, but Andy decided to come for a quick visit. Rose went to Rutland to pick him up.”

“Really? He’s coming here?” Emily asked as a smile stretched across her face.

Josie glanced at Ivy and nodded, thankful that her aunt hadn’t revealed the whole reason for Andy’s visit. “I guess a week apart from you was too much for him to handle,” she said to Emily.

“I guess,” Emily replied.

“But, you should act surprised when he gets here, okay?” Ivy asked. “Andy didn’t want you to know he was coming, and if he hears that we told you—”

“You mean, that
you
told her—” Josie interrupted, with a playfully stern look at Ivy.

“—yes, well, there’ll be hell to pay,” Ivy finished.

“Don’t worry,” Emily said as she smiled and reached over to grab Ivy’s hand. “He’ll never know.”

L
ATE
S
UNDAY AFTERNOON
, C
LAUDIA SMILED AS
K
YLE
’
S
pickup truck pulled into her driveway. Rowen grinned and waved from the small backseat as Claudia opened the passenger’s side door.

“Hey, Claudia! What are you bringing to the cookout?” The little girl looked with curiosity at the foil-covered dishes Claudia was holding.

“Hey yourself,” she said. “I’ve got deviled eggs and fruit salad. Nothing fancy, but I hope Jean doesn’t have either one already.”

“Even if she does, there’ll be plenty of people at the cookout,” Kyle said. “Just those two boys of hers could probably clean up half the food themselves.”

“I can’t wait to see Jimmy and Johnny again. They have a lot of cool stuff,” Rowen said.

“I’m sure they miss having you around,” Claudia said. “I know you had a good time staying with them while the bakery was being rebuilt.”

“Yeah,” Rowen said. “It would be nice to have a brother. Or a sister.” She looked at her father and raised her eyebrows meaningfully.

“Uh-huh.” Kyle’s ears turned pink as he rolled his eyes at Claudia, and she smiled in return. Rowen had been dropping hints like that for a while now.

As Kyle pulled into the Wykowskis’ driveway, the smell of charcoal smoke and grilled meat was in the air. The Fitzgeralds’ SUV was there, along with the police department’s Jeep. Rowen spotted the Wykowski boys playing with a Frisbee and was out of the pickup and running before Claudia’s feet had hit the ground.

“Stay in the yard, now,” Kyle called to his daughter. Rowen turned back and waved briefly to show that she’d heard him.

“I love cookouts,” Kyle said. He took a grocery sack of hamburger- and hot-dog buns from the truck, and together they walked around back. The Wykowskis had a large deck that spanned the width of their house. A table was set up on one end and covered with condiments and all sorts of wonderful-looking but very fattening side dishes.
Maybe I’ll splurge on a little potato salad
, Claudia thought as she examined the spread. She noticed two beautiful pies at the far end of the table, almost certainly Ruth’s contribution.
On second thought, maybe I’ll save the calories for dessert
.

“Hey Kyle, Claudia,” Ron called. He was flipping burgers on a grill at the opposite end of the deck. Fitz stood next to him, along with another man Claudia didn’t know who was wearing a police uniform. “There’s drinks on ice over there. Help yourselves to some and come on over.”

Kyle reached toward a tub of ice at the end of the food table. “You want the usual?”

“Sure, that’d be great.” He handed her a Diet Coke and took a beer from the ice for himself.

“You haven’t met Matt yet, have you?” Kyle asked her. “Fitz hired him a few weeks ago to replace Leroy. He’s on duty right now—took over for me when my shift ended earlier—but I think Fitz let him leave the station to come out here and get to know everyone a little better. C’mon, I’ll introduce you.” He put his hand at the small of her back as they approached the grill.

“Hullo, you two,” Fitz said.

“Glad you could make it,” Ron said as he turned to greet
them. “Haven’t seen you in a while, Claudia. How’s your summer been so far?”

“Great,” Claudia said. “When you’re a teacher, the summer’s always great.”

“Well, you look rested and happy,” Fitz said.

“Actually, I don’t think she’s met Matt yet,” Kyle said. “Claudia, this is Matt Campbell, our new officer. Matt, meet Claudia Simon.”

“Hi,” Claudia said. She smiled at Matt, who had dark hair and eyes and a friendly face, and shook his hand. “Nice to meet you.”

“Likewise, ma’am,” Matt said. Claudia felt her surprise register on her face. It had been a long time since someone had called her “ma’am.”

“You’ll have to excuse him,” Fitz said as he clapped Matt on the shoulder. “Matt here just got out of the service—the Marines—but the formality hasn’t gotten outta him yet.”

“The Marines? Wow,” she said. “Where were you stationed?”

“The Middle East, mostly,” Matt said. “Two tours in Iraq and another in Afghanistan. When it came time to re-up, though, I felt like I was ready for a change. That, and I realized that I really didn’t want to spend another couple years in the desert.”

“After going through one of our winters, you might reconsider that decision,” Claudia said, and they all chuckled. She was pleased to feel Kyle’s hand move around her waist and gently pull her against him.

“Don’t worry, I know what’s coming,” Matt said. “I grew up in Maine, and I’m really looking forward to the cold and snow.”

“He flew through his certification training at the police academy,” Fitz said. “I think we got ourselves a good one here.”

“Agreed,” Kyle said. “And a massive improvement over the prior occupant of the job. Speaking of which, have you heard anything about what’s going on with Leroy’s trial?”

Claudia shuddered. Just hearing the name of the former police
officer who had stalked her gave her the heebie-jeebies. It was Leroy Underwood who had set fire to the bakery in the misguided belief that he would be able to rescue her from Kyle’s apartment above it and win her affection.

“As a matter of fact, I just spoke with the D.A. on Friday,” Fitz said. “Looks like Leroy’s about to accept a plea deal. They’re working out the final terms, but he’ll definitely be doing some hard time.”

“That’s wonderful news,” Claudia said. She had no desire to hear anything more about Leroy. “I think I’m going to go see if Jean needs any last-minute help,” she said to the men. She squeezed Kyle’s hand before she slipped through the sliding door that led into the kitchen.

“Hey ladies,” she said to Jean and Ruth as she entered. “Kyle and I just got here. I set a few dishes on the table outside. Can I help with anything?” Ruth was standing at the sink juicing lemons for a pitcher of lemonade, while Jean was removing a casserole dish of baked beans from the oven.

“We’re about ready,” Jean said. “But, could you be a dear and set these beans out on the table? I’ll start slicing up some fixings for the burgers.”

“Of course,” Claudia said. She took the oven mitts and trivet Jean handed her and carefully carried the casserole dish outside. The rich, brown sauce was still puckering at the sides of the dish, and the smell of bacon and brown sugar wafting from it made her stomach growl.

It took her a few seconds to rearrange the food already on the table to make room for the beans. As she shifted the bowls and platters, she could hear Kyle and the other officers talking at the far end of the deck.

“Now that you’ve got yourself a job, you oughta start looking for a nice girl to settle down with,” Fitz was saying.

“Yep, a nice girl would warm up your winter,” Ron added. “You should check out that younger DiSanti sister, what’s her name? Emily? I hear she’s single.”

Claudia’s back stiffened at the mention of Emily’s name. Immediately, she slowed her movements so that she could linger at the table.

“She is a pretty girl,” Fitz agreed. “Weren’t you out at her place today, Kyle?”

“Yeah,” Kyle said. “Her older sister actually called the station to report some vandalism on her property. Somebody used herbicide to write the word ‘lush’ in her lawn. Rose was all jacked up about it and adamant that Emily was responsible, although there’s no way to prove that. I just took a report from Rose and then went over to talk with Emily. Of course, Emily denied knowing anything about it.”

Lovely
, Claudia thought.

“Ruth says their mother’s plan to get them to reconcile isn’t working too well,” Fitz said.

“I’d say that’s accurate,” Kyle said. “The two of them are hardly speaking, and Emily had a tire slashed on her car a while ago.”

“Now, Matt, you should know that stuff like that rarely happens around here,” Fitz said.

“So, you think Rose did the slashing?” Ron asked.

“That’d be my guess. I could’ve sworn she was lying today when I asked her about it, but again, no one saw anything,” Kyle replied. “As for Emily, well, I feel sorry for her. She’s been through a lot, and she strikes me as being a nicer person than Rose. Still, I think Rose is right that Emily’s the one behind the lawn vandalism. And now that they’re damaging each other’s property, there’s no telling how bad things’ll get.”

“Just what I need, a vengeful woman who’s into weed killer,” Matt joked, and the men laughed.

“Aw, c’mon,” Ron teased. “I think you just might be able to overlook those things once you see her. Besides, you’re a former Marine who survived three tours in hell. I’m sure you could handle her.”

The sliding door to the deck opened, and Jean and Ruth stepped outside with a pitcher of lemonade and a plate of sliced tomatoes and onions.