Debbie Macomber's Cedar Cove Series, Volume 3

“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 ali
ve,” 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.”

  “It must’ve been a terrible time for you,” Beth said sympathetically.

  “The worst, but we made it through and I’m so grateful we did.”

  “I can imagine.”

  “Some people are far too willing to give up on…” She let the rest fade once she realized what she was about to say. Emily didn’t want to embarrass the divorced couple.

  Kent moved closer to Beth. “I agree.”

  “So do I,” Beth said, almost before the words had left Kent’s mouth.

  They looked at each other, but the moment was broken by the sharp peal of Kent’s cell phone.

  He answered it on the second ring, and although Emily couldn’t make out what was being said, the person calling him was clearly female—and clearly upset.

  “Yes, of course,” he said. “Yes, I know.” He closed his cell with a snap. “I apologize, but I need to leave.”

  He reached for his coat and, after a few words of farewell, was out the door.

  “I know it’s none of my business, but who was that?” Dave asked Beth.

  “His…friend,” Beth said.

  Emily looked at Dave just as he turned to look at her. So the rumors of a female companion had been correct, and for some reason this woman had stayed back at the B and B. There were more obstacles to a reconciliation between Beth and her ex-husband than either of them had guessed.

  Seventeen

  “Did you see the way Dad looked at Mom during the service?” Bailey whispered to her sister in the darkened bedroom. Sophie was in the twin bed next to hers. Although she’d turned out the lights several minutes ago, Bailey was too excited to sleep.

  “Yes, I know but—”

  “They’re falling in love all over again,” Bailey broke in. “I can feel it.”

  “Well, maybe, but…”

  “But what?” Bailey muttered. Sometimes her sister could be so…negative. Well, she refused to allow Sophie’s skeptical remarks to dampen her good feelings. For a time it seemed that everything they’d planned was about to fall apart. Then, at the very last minute, their father had shown up at the church…alone. It’d been perfect. Just perfect.

  Bailey hadn’t asked about Danielle and neither had Sophie. Their dad had slipped into the pew next to Beth, and their mother had smiled over at him and…

  Oh, it’d been sheer bliss. Love radiated between them. If this were a movie, a crescendo of music would have burst forth, and there would’ve been joyful singing in the background. Actually, there was music, but it had come from the church choir. Still, the effect was pretty satisfying.

  “Can I talk now?” Sophie asked impatiently.

  “Oh, all right.”

  “I have a question.”

  “Ask away.” Bailey sighed, suspecting that Sophie was going to ruin Bailey’s Christmas Eve by casting doubt on the likelihood of their parents reuniting. Her father had introduced Danielle as a “friend.” They were the ones who’d made the assumption that she was more than that.

  “What about when Danielle phoned? Dad left in a mighty big hurry after that.”

  “Yeah, I know,” Bailey admitted with more than a little reluctance.

  “He’s still at Danielle’s beck and call.”

  “But we can’t be sure of all the circumstances and—”

  “There are no buts here,” Sophie fumed. “I don’t know what Dad sees in Danielle, but there’s obviously something.”

  “Whatever it is, I trust Dad to do the right thing.” Bailey rolled onto her back and stared up at the ceiling. Leave it to Sophie.... Now she was worried again. Their father was smart—she hoped. Deep down, she couldn’t believe he was involved with Danielle. In fact, the more she thought about it, the more certain she was. He might have brought Danielle with him, but from the moment he arrived Kent only seemed interested in Beth. Danielle was far more attached to her cell phone than she was to their father.

  “Mark my words, Dad doesn’t care about Danielle,” Bailey insisted in a confident voice.

  Sophie sighed loudly. “I wish I could believe that.”

  “Maybe we should help him along.”

  “Bailey, no!”

  “No?”

  “No,” she repeated. “If we step in now, it’ll just complicate everything. Dad has to do this on his own. Otherwise, we’ll sabotage the whole reconciliation.”

  Bailey slowly absorbed her sister’s words. Although Sophie was younger—and not studying psychology—she could occasionally be really smart. “Have you ever thought of going into diplomacy? You’d be great.”

  “You think so?” Sophie loved getting compliments.

  Well, everyone did, but her sister was so transparent. She made no effort to hide how much she enjoyed hearing nice things about herself. Bailey could almost see Sophie’s self-congratulatory little smile.

  “Trust me,” Bailey said, returning to the subject at hand. “Mom and Dad are going to remarry. I can feel it.”

  “Well…we can wish.”

  “Oh, come on,” Bailey urged. “Believe it.”

  “You really buy into that positive thinking idea, don’t you?”

  “Yes,” Bailey concurred. “And you should, too.” In her opinion,
it would go a long way toward raising Sophie’s spirits.

  “I’ll consider it,” Sophie said.

  Pulling the sheet and blanket up over her shoulder, Bailey shifted onto her right side, her back to her sister. Despite Sophie’s pessimism, Bailey believed with all her heart. She remembered the look her parents had exchanged in church that night. The look of love, of regret and the promise of reconciliation.

  Tomorrow morning, when it was Christmas, the biggest and best present wouldn’t be under the tree. It would be the fact that her parents still loved each other and wanted to remarry.

  On Christmas Day, they’d finally acknowledge their feelings, and the rest of their lives would begin.

  Bailey was sure of it.

  Eighteen

  “Merry Christmas,” Bruce Peyton whispered as he drew Rachel into his arms.

  Smiling, Rachel arched her back and yawned. “Is it morning already?”

  “It sure is. I’ve got coffee brewing and Jolene’s up.”

  Rachel turned her head to look at the clock. “Bruce, it isn’t even eight.” She could easily have slept another hour. Or two.

  “I know, but Jolene’s anxious to get to the presents.”

  With some effort, Rachel sat up. She was noticeably pregnant now and the baby was more active every day. Thankfully the worst of the morning sickness had passed.

  The pregnancy had been unplanned and Jolene, her thirteen-year-old stepdaughter, hadn’t yet adjusted to her father’s remarriage when she was forced to deal with the news about the baby. The marriage itself had resulted in a difficult transition for the girl, but the pregnancy complicated everything that much more.

  Her relationship with Jolene had grown tense. The stress became too much for Rachel and eventually she felt she had no choice but to move out of the family home. Only recently—just weeks ago—had she returned.

  The counseling sessions had helped a great deal and they were learning to coexist and work together as a family. Rachel was excited about spending Christmas with her husband and stepdaughter. She and Jolene had planned the dinner menu together and they’d spent most of yesterday in the kitchen, preparing vegetables and side dishes and dessert.