Linnette was dating a farmer but Corrie doubted the relationship was serious. At least, that was the impression she had, based on meeting the young man briefly and on what Linnette had to say. In their previous conversation, Corrie had asked about Pete Mason, and her daughter had quickly changed the subject. She surmised that the relationship hadn’t developed and Linnette was easing her way out.
“Gloria’s doing well…I think,” Corrie said.
“How does she like working with the sheriff’s office here?”
“Fine, as far as I know.”
Gloria had made the transfer from the Bremerton police to Cedar Cove as soon as an opening became available. She had only praise for Sheriff Troy Davis and his department. Corrie was delighted that their oldest daughter had gone into police work. Roy’s career had been with the Seattle police until he was forced into early retirement because of a back injury.
They arrived at the outlet center just before ten, and stopped for coffee and a muffin before tackling any serious shopping. Peggy described the rehearsals for the community theater’s new production. Bob had won the role of Jacob in the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. Peggy, as usual, had volunteered to work on costumes.
“I ran into Olivia the other day,” Peggy said between bites of her bran-and-cranberry muffin. “She’s looking more like herself these days.”
“I’m glad to hear it.” Corrie had ordered the same muffin and felt it was nowhere near as good as the ones Peggy baked.
“Olivia said she plans to return to work in September.”
Corrie smiled on hearing that. The last time she’d talked to Olivia, the family-court judge was weighing her options and considering early retirement. Apparently Olivia had made her decision.
“Oh, and I had lunch with Faith Beckwith last week,” Peggy said. “She’s busy making plans for the wedding. You’ll never guess where Troy wants to go for a honeymoon.”
“Hawaii?”
“No—Alaska. Some lodge up near the Arctic Circle. To fish.”
Corrie wrinkled her nose and laughed.
Peggy dug the paint samples from the bottom of her purse and sorted them out. Then they went in search of bedspreads.
For some reason Corrie didn’t really understand, she found herself wandering through the baby section while Peggy visited the bedding department. Maybe it was because of Peggy’s earlier question about being a grandmother, but Corrie couldn’t make herself leave.
Holding up a tiny yellow sleeper, she felt a stirring deep inside. “I’m buying this,” she said to no one in particular. Then, almost immediately, she muttered, “That’s ridiculous!” She put it down again. Roy would think she’d gone crazy, buying baby clothes when she didn’t have the slightest idea when, or even if, she’d become a grandmother.
She rejoined Peggy and they discussed bedspread choices for the different rooms. They went to three other stores, and Peggy made purchases at each. Corrie helped carry the bulky packages to the car.
“I think that about does it for me,” Peggy said. “What about you?”
“Ah, I’m finished.” Corrie glanced over at the outlet where she’d stumbled on the infant jumper.
“You don’t look like you’re ready to go.”
“Okay, this won’t take long.” Corrie rushed back to the store while Peggy waited in the car. She grabbed the yellow sleeper and two others, along with a set of receiving blankets. Before she could stop herself, she added more and more clothes, and blankets and toys to her load. All the while she told herself this was crazy. Roy would laugh his head off, but she didn’t care.
They managed to squash the bags in the backseat. Corrie didn’t tell Peggy what she’d bought. They resumed their easy camaraderie, discussing movies they’d recently seen and books they’d read and exchanging gossip of the unmalicious but still enjoyable variety.
“Thanks for coming with me. I appreciated the company,” Peggy said, parking in front of 50 Harbor to let Corrie out.
“Anytime,” Corrie said. “It was fun.” She started to walk away when Peggy called her back.
“Don’t forget your bags.”
“Oh, yes!” Corrie had nearly left them behind.
Roy, of course, was at the office, which was just as well. She dreaded telling him the only purchase she’d made was baby clothes—for a nonexistent baby. Even now, she wasn’t sure why she’d done it. Guiltily, she shoved the packages in the spare-bedroom closet.
The phone rang as she entered the kitchen, and a quick glance at caller ID told her it was Linnette’s cell. Hearing from her daughter in the middle of the week, let alone the middle of the day, was highly unusual. Linnette was often so busy at the clinic that she didn’t get home until six or seven at night. Thankfully Buffalo Valley had provided housing close by, so her daughter didn’t have far to go when she finished at the end of the day.
“Hello, sweetheart,” Corrie greeted her cheerfully. “Is the weather in North Dakota as nice as it is here?”
“Where were you?” Linnette asked. “I tried earlier and no one was home.”
“Shopping with Peggy. Is everything all right? Did you try your father at the office?”
“I didn’t want to talk to Dad. I wanted you.”
Corrie sat on the kitchen stool she kept near the phone. “I’m here now. What’s wrong, Linnette?”
Her question was met with silence. “I guess there isn’t any easy way to say this.”
“Say what?” Corrie tried to control the stomach-churning anxiety she immediately felt.
“I should’ve told you before and I didn’t, and then the longer I put it off, the harder it got, and now…now it’s going to come as a shock and I apologize. Please, please, don’t be mad at me.”
Inhaling deeply, Corrie said, “Linnette, of course I won’t be angry with you. Just tell me what’s wrong.”
“Nothing’s wrong, Mom. In fact, this is really good. At least, I think it is.”
A tingling sensation went down Corrie’s spine. “You’re pregnant, aren’t you?”
“Yes.” The response was half laugh and half sob.
“Oh, my goodness…” Corrie slid off the stool and stood upright. Excitement bolted through her—excitement followed by anxiety. Who was the father? Would Linnette, single and self-supporting, keep the baby? Somehow Corrie felt sure she would. “I must’ve known. Somehow I must’ve suspected. I was shopping with Peggy Beldon and I had this irrepressible urge to buy baby clothes.”
“Um, there’s more,” Linnette said.
“You’re having twins,” Corrie blurted out.
“No. I’m married.”
“Married.” For some reason, this second shock hit her harder than the first. “To whom?”
“Pete, of course.”
“Pete Mason? The guy we met at Christmas?”
“Yes.”
Pete had driven Linnette home so she could visit her family for the holidays. Corrie had liked him, but hadn’t sensed that he and Linnette were anywhere close to marriage.
“Do you love him?” Corrie’s biggest fear was that her daughter had married on the rebound.
“Oh, yes… We got married when we were driving home. We stopped in Vegas on December twenty-ninth. We didn’t plan to get married. I know it sounds insane, but we could only find one hotel room, and then Pete said we should take it even if it just had one bed. I joked that I wasn’t that kind of girl and he said, Well, why don’t we get married, and I said, Let’s do it, and we did.” Linnette hadn’t paused for breath, and this all came out in a rush. “I think I must’ve gotten pregnant that night.”
Corrie needed to sit down again. Looking at the calendar, although it hardly seemed necessary, she realized her daughter was five months along. “You mean you’ve known all this time and didn’t tell me?”
“Yes. Mom, I’m sorry. I wanted to say something but I was afraid you and Dad would be upset with us, so like I said, I kept putting it off.”
/> “I’m not upset. I’m thrilled!”
“Will you tell Daddy for me?”
“Of course.”
Linnette hesitated. “Do you think he’ll be mad?”
“No, sweetheart, I think he’ll be overjoyed. Can I tell Mack and Gloria?”
“Oh, of course. Except…Mack already knows.”
“Mack knows.” Corrie found it hard to believe her children had been able to keep this secret—hard to believe and a little hurtful.
Swallowing her disappointment, she asked, “What about Gloria?”
“I haven’t told her yet. Do you want to do it or should I?”
“I will,” Corrie said. It would be a good—and legitimate—reason to visit her.
Linnette expelled her breath loudly. “I feel so much better, Mom. I can’t tell you what a relief it is finally to let you know about Pete…and the baby.”
They spoke for another ten or fifteen minutes, and by the time Corrie hung up, any hurt or disappointment had disappeared. She felt…ecstatic. Okay, so she’d hoped to arrange the perfect wedding for her daughter someday, but she reminded herself that the marriage was more important than the wedding. She wondered if this baby would be a boy or a girl; Linnette had chosen not to know. So…yellow was the right color, at least for now.
Caught up in her musings, she did some housework and prepared a special dinner of pork tenderloin and sautéed spinach, Roy’s favorite meal.
“Hello, darling,” she said when he walked into the house shortly after six. She met him in the living room, and slipped her arms around his waist.
Roy eyed her suspiciously. “Okay, what did you buy? How much is it going to set us back?”
“Roy,” she chided. “I spent less than two hundred dollars.”
“On what?”
“Baby clothes.”
“Baby clothes?” he repeated, his forehead creased.
“Yes, Grandpa. We’re going to have a baby in…oh, late September.”
“We are?” He looked as if he needed to sit down. “Who’s having the baby?”
Corrie started to laugh. “You’ll never guess. Linnette and Pete, and before you say anything, they’re married.”
Eleven
Gloria Ashton paced the small living room of her apartment as she waited for her dinner date. She’d gone out with the doctor only once before, nearly three years ago. From her point of view, the evening had been a disaster. Afterward, Chad had made numerous attempts to ask her out a second time, but Gloria had declined repeatedly.
Just thinking about that long-ago date made her cheeks burn with mortification. She’d spent the night with him. One date, and she’d fallen into bed without a single thought to the consequences. She’d never done that before or since and would never do it again. Such irrational, impulsive behavior went against everything Gloria believed. In her opinion, lovemaking should be reserved for committed couples. All she could attribute her conduct to was the fact that she was lost, lonely and unsettled. She’d moved to Washington State in search of her birth parents shortly after the death of the two people who’d adopted, raised and loved her. She was alone and vulnerable, and for reasons she still couldn’t fathom, she’d lowered her natural reserve with this stranger. Afterward she’d felt embarrassed and frankly humiliated by her own behavior, so she’d refused to see him again.
Then she’d learned that Chad intended to move away from Cedar Cove and she realized she didn’t want him to go. Overwhelmed by unfamiliar emotions, she recognized that she didn’t want to lose him but equally disturbing was her fear of what might happen if she allowed him back in her life. Before she could properly assess her feelings, she’d accepted this date. Their second in three years.
In retrospect, she thought she understood why she’d reacted to him the way she had that first night. Chad had been wonderful, listening to her, offering encouragement and support. That time with him had been like finding a lifeboat after losing the safety of the ship. She’d told him everything, about the death of her parents, the search for her birth family, her doubt and anguish. She’d bared her soul to this man who was virtually a stranger.
The doorbell chimed. Gloria closed her eyes, took a deep breath and let Chad into her apartment.
“Hi,” he said with an easy grin. He was casually but smartly dressed in a well-fitting beige sports jacket and a blue shirt that reflected the color of his eyes—deep blue with dark lashes. Gloria knew other women found him attractive, too. But his appeal went far beyond his all-American good looks. He exuded confidence and genuine charisma.
Gloria managed a return smile. “Hi. Would you like to come in for a few minutes?”
“Sure.” He stepped inside the apartment and shrugged off his jacket, draping it over the sofa arm. “I’m glad you agreed to dinner.”
A thousand times since, she’d wondered what had possessed her to say yes. He frightened her, intrigued her and mystified her, all at once. She’d never wanted to see him again and yet she was convinced to the very marrow of her bones that if he walked out of her life, she’d always regret letting him go.
Her hands felt moist and she rubbed her palms against her thighs.
“I’m not going to bite, you know,” Chad said, grinning again.
She blinked. “Do I look that tense?”
“Yes,” he said with a chuckle. “Sit down.”
Being a good hostess demanded that she ask him if he’d like a drink first. “Wine? I have both red and white. The white’s from New Zealand. Roy recommended it.” She couldn’t quite think of him—or refer to him—as her father.
“That sounds nice.”
Gloria was grateful for something to do. She made a beeline for the kitchen and got the bottle of sauvignon blanc from the fridge. Taking two glasses from the cupboard next to her sink, she deftly filled them and carried them into the living room.
Chad, watching the view from her front window, turned as she approached.
Gloria handed him a glass and squared her shoulders. “I’d like to start over, if we could.”
“Start over? You mean you want to forget our first date?”
She didn’t blush often, but she did now. Lowering her gaze to the carpet, she nodded. “Please.”
Holding his wineglass, Chad turned back to the window that overlooked Sinclair Inlet. “I don’t know if I can. I treasure that night. I always will.”
“It won’t be repeated, if that’s what you’re thinking.”
He faced her again. “I don’t think it could be,” he said softly. “I met the most incredibly warm, beautiful woman that night.”
She was embarrassed by what he’d said. “I’ve never done anything like that in my life.”
“And I have?” he countered.
“I…I wouldn’t know. I don’t know you. We don’t know each other.”
“Ah, but we do,” he insisted. “You’re Gloria Ashton and you’re generous, loving, courageous—”
“If I’m so courageous, then why am I shaking like a leaf?” She held out her hand so he could see how just being close to him made her tremble.
“But you agreed to see me again.”
“I didn’t feel I had a choice,” she blurted out.
“No, you didn’t,” he said. “And I had no choice but to keep asking you. I fell in love with you that night, Gloria. Why else would I stand up to the kind of rejection you constantly threw at me?”
“You can’t love me,” she told him sharply. These were the very words she’d been afraid he’d say. “You don’t even know me.”
“Why are you fighting me so hard?” He set his wineglass on the coffee table and moved to her side. Placing his hands on her shoulders, he stared down at her.
Although it was difficult, she met his eyes.
“Okay,” he finally said. “If you want to start again, we will.” He dropped his arms. “Hello, my name is Chad Timmons.” He held out one hand in a gesture of mock solemnity.
“Gloria,” she said. Her voice w
as breathless and quavery. “Gloria Ashton.” She briefly touched her hand to his, suppressing a shiver at the contact.
“Pleased to meet you.”
“Likewise. So…we’re going out to dinner this evening,” she murmured.
“Yes.”
It all seemed a bit ridiculous, but she’d asked for this. “Good,” she said in response. She was able to offer him a small grateful smile.
“Are you ready to leave now?” he asked.
“Okay.” She took a quick sip of her wine, then brought both glasses back to the kitchen. Standing by the counter she closed her eyes, praying she could get through the evening without making an idiot of herself.
“I made reservations at D.D.’s on the Cove,” Chad said as he retrieved his jacket.
“Sounds good,” she said, joining him again.
Chad helped her on with her sweater. Gloria had fretted over what to wear; she didn’t want to appear too casual, nor did she want to overdress. In the end she chose white linen pants, a sleeveless white top and a pink sweater with a rose pattern.
She locked her apartment and they walked to the restaurant. “I parked my car there earlier,” he explained. “I thought after dinner we could go for a ride, if you’d like.”
“Sure. That would be nice.”
He reached for her hand and she let him take it. His hold was gentle; she could feel herself beginning to relax. If they could start over, they might actually become friends—and then they could see if friendship led to anything else.
The dinner was everything she’d hoped it would be—and feared. Once the awkwardness left her, they talked for two hours over succulent crab cakes and the same wine she’d served at the apartment. Chad told her about his experiences at the clinic and she responded with stories from her years of police work.
“I’d accepted a position in the E.R. in Tacoma,” he said at one point.
“Were they upset when you changed your mind?” If so, Gloria would have to take the blame.
“Not too much. They said if I ever wanted a job to let them know.”