“Some treats, toys, and…the bed.” He said the last two words slowly and with the light of an idea in his brain. “She said she couldn’t ever be apart from it. She had to sleep in it, all day, all night.”
“Yeah? So…do you think something is in the bed? Something she wants?”
“But why would she give it to me?”
“Because…”
“She’s hiding something in it,” he said.
“Gran’s jewelry?” She spun around to the door. “Let’s go.”
“Whoa, wait.” He managed to get her arm. “Let me go.”
She angled her head and narrowed her eyes.
“Let’s go together,” he amended with a nudge on her back. “I want you to be safe, not stupid.”
“I get that.” She didn’t particularly want to go alone anyway, with the possibility of a crazed Savannah waiting to jump out of the closet and attack. Or even the possibility that Savannah had been in her apartment, rooting around. Although, payback was fair; Darcy had rooted through Savannah’s apartment.
Upstairs, they stopped at her door, and she handed him the keys, taking the dogs’ leashes and stepping back to let him go first.
The door was locked, which gave her some hope, and when his shoulders sank with a quick breath of relief, she knew they were in the clear.
“It looks fine,” he said, stepping aside to show her. “I was worried because she was pounding on this door last week demanding to get in.”
“Probably because she heard dogs barking and assumed this was where Stella was.” Darcy followed him in, and they both went straight to the fluffy pillow that Stella had long ago forgotten about once she’d discovered the cradle. “In fact,” she mused, “Stella never actually seemed to prefer that dog bed at all.”
Josh lifted the fluffy, puffy, round bed, turning it over slowly, looking for a zipper. “Maybe she wanted to make sure it was in a safe place and—”
“You’d always have Stella in a safe place,” she finished.
He found the zipper for the fleece covering, drawing it along the side slowly as if something might fall out. Darcy watched, her heart hammering, her throat actually dry.
But nothing fell out.
“Here,” she said, setting the dogs’ leashes down to help him pull out the foam rubber cushion that formed the round “mattress” of the bed.
She tugged at the foam, and he pulled at the fleece until a satin bag rolled like a fat burrito popped out and fell to the floor.
“Whoa.” Darcy jumped back in surprise, and Kookie headed right in the direction of the noise, but Josh beat her to it.
They both knew what it was before he unwrapped the covering to reveal a blinding display that belonged in a museum. There was the sapphire bracelet and emerald brooch, ridiculous yellow diamond earrings with silver twin Bs dangling from each, a solid diamond choker, and at least a half-dozen rings with rocks the size of almonds.
Josh’s shoulders dropped as he let out a breath of pure disgust. “I didn’t believe it,” he said. “I didn’t want to believe it, I know, but deep inside I didn’t think she was capable of this.”
“But why tear up your apartment if she told you not to separate the dog from the bed? Stella wasn’t there, and neither was the bed. Why not leave the place alone?”
He shook his head. “She must be desperate. Maybe she knew I’d been to Cornelius and heard what she’d done. Of course I’d look for the jewels in the stuff she left me, and maybe she thought I hid them in my apartment.”
“Wow.” She gingerly lifted one of the earrings. “Hideous but worth a fortune.”
He closed his eyes. “I can’t believe I trusted her.”
“What do we do? Report it?”
“That would send my mother into a tizzy.”
Darcy recalled the woman’s horror at the idea of bringing the police in on family dirty laundry. “Return it all, then.”
“Yeah, I will. But for the moment…” He raised his brows. “It’s a way to get Savannah back here.”
“Why do you want that?”
He searched her face for a moment. “Bargaining power.”
“For?”
His gaze shifted to Stella, who’d curled into a ball on the floor. “I can’t let her go,” he said quietly. “Blind or with vision, we can’t let that dog go. I want Savannah to sign whatever she has to so that dog is mine forever, with no legal question in the air.”
“No argument from me.” She plucked a ring from his hand. “I wonder why she didn’t take the jewelry and sell it.”
“Maybe she’s waiting for Gran to die.”
Darcy made a face. “In the meantime, there’s a safe in my grooming salon office where we can keep this. She could show up anytime.”
“And you, Stella, and Kookie will never be in this building alone.” He inched closer. “Don’t give me any grief, Miss Independent. You have to be as safe as these jewels.” He added a kiss on her forehead. “Because you are the real jewels.”
She smiled up at him, getting up on her tiptoes to kiss him. “Call the police or not?”
“I think I’ll take a page out of the Bucking handbook and wait on this one.”
“Are you going to tell your family?”
He looked at her like she was out of her mind. “They’ll want it all back right away, and then I lose my bargaining power.”
“At least tell Gran,” she said. “She should know the jewelry’s safe, and I bet she’ll understand enough to let you keep it until Savannah comes back.”
“I will, but not quite yet.”
Darcy rolled her eyes. “Suit yourself, but communication is at the heart of a family that works. Try it.”
“Soon.”
And Darcy knew how huge that concession was for him.
Chapter Twenty-three
Two weeks later, and they still hadn’t heard from Savannah.
But Darcy was constantly aware of people around her, like right now, perched on a stone wall in the shade of the main library at Vestal Valley College, studying her surroundings. But the campus was nearly empty in the dead of summer, except for Kookie, sunbathing a few feet away on the grass.
Her gaze shifted across the quad, where she spotted her father coming out of Farrow Hall, too far to read his expression. He spotted her almost immediately, holding up his hand to tell her to stay comfortable where she waited for the clearance to go get Stella, who’d completed her fourth—and final—treatment.
Stella no longer had to be held for observation after the treatments, so Darcy was planning to bring her, along with Kookie, to the salon for the afternoon. Stella did like to sleep after the stress of a morning with Dr. Walker and her shots, so Josh had carried the cradle into the salon, which was now almost ready to open for business. Except she still didn’t have a name she loved, something she was determined to finalize today.
She’d planned a quiet but productive day with the dogs in the new salon, contacting clients to arrange first appointments and finishing some of the last decorating touches. She had to order the sign, too, but kept putting that off while she brainstormed names that she—and Josh—loved.
“How’d it go?” Darcy asked as Dad got closer, unable to stand the suspense any longer. Judy Walker had invited him to observe this last round, a fact that would have been more than mildly interesting a few weeks ago. But now that it had been four weeks since they’d started, Darcy’s only concern with the veterinarian ophthalmologist was not her availability for Dad, but her capability where Stella was concerned.
“It went well,” Dad said as he reached her. Instantly, Kookie jumped up from the grass and tippy-tapped over, looking past Dad and around the quad for her best pal. “She’s doing fine.” Dad reached down and gave Kookie a pat, as if she needed to know the news, too.
Darcy pushed off the low wall to meet him. “Did she see light again?” Sadly, they’d never been able to get her to respond again after that one time, and, based on what Dr. Walker said that morning,
her retinas didn’t seem to be reacting to the antibodies coursing through her system, trying to heal her. But that didn’t stop Darcy from praying for a miracle.
“No, but Riley has full vision.”
She sucked in a breath, a burst of joy for the sweet little doxie she’d come to love when they brought Stella in early for treatments, along with a pang of deep envy. “That’s awesome. That means it can work.”
“Judy’s over the moon. And Ziggy is repeatedly responding to light. He’s bound to regain his sight, which is another huge victory. The test needs three of the five subjects to see in order for the research to be quantifiable and approval for the procedure to go through the next level of testing.”
“And the others? Penny and Angel?”
“They’re about where Stella is. Now, in one case, a dog Judy worked with regained her sight fully and suddenly. But all the rest responded to light first.”
“So that could still happen?” she asked hopefully.
He took her face in his hands and held it the way he often did when delivering news she wasn’t going to like. “Honey, you might have to accept defeat this time. If she were going to see, Judy thinks she’d be responding to light more than that one time. And since it was me testing her at home, they can’t even document it. The researchers aren’t seeing it.”
She bit her lip and fought the burn of disappointment behind her lids. “I wanted this so much.”
He drew her closer, offering the strength of a comforting hug she’d leaned into all her life. It helped, but didn’t take the ache away. “You are loving her so well, and Kookie is changing her every day. She’s a fighter, Darce. She’ll have a good and happy life without her vision.”
She swallowed the lump in her throat. “It’s not fair.”
“Think of it this way,” he said. “Since she’s disabled, maybe her owner will let you and Josh keep her.”
Dad knew everything about Savannah, and though he wasn’t thrilled with the decision not to alert the authorities about the break-in at Josh’s, he understood their position.
Now, with almost two weeks since the break-in, there was nothing they could do but wait, although they planned to take the satin bag and its contents to Gran this weekend. The Buckings might not prosecute, but Savannah had too much to lose by coming back.
“Speaking of Josh,” Dad said, looking around. “I’m surprised he’s not here. I’m pretty used to seeing him whenever I see you now.”
She laughed. “Yeah, me too. But it’s a huge day at the renovation,” she said. “They’ve removed a whole outside wall, and they’re installing the French doors. He wanted all hands on deck to get the place secured before the storms they’re forecasting roll in.” It had rained every day this week, and that had been a challenge for Josh. And this news was going to hit him hard.
“And you might be right about Savannah letting us keep her,” Darcy added. “She’s in too much trouble to come begging for her dog. What’s the statute of limitations on dogsitting in your opinion? When can we safely claim her as ours?”
“Ah, so you are a ‘we’ and ‘ours’ now.”
“And you…” She poked his shoulder with her finger. “Are freakishly gifted for matching people who belong together.”
He denied that with a solid shake of his head. “I wish I could take credit for this one, but I honestly can’t. I had no intention of sending you off into the arms of another man, Darcy. You may never believe me, but it’s true.”
“Josh believes you.”
He put an arm around her and gave a squeeze. “I would have picked him for you, though. He’s a good guy who has your best interests at heart. And Stella’s, which, as you know, tells me all I need to know about a person.”
“You really like him, Dad?” She felt a little silly asking, a little like a child who needed Daddy’s approval, but his opinion mattered so much.
“I really do. I think he’s steady, strong, and stable.”
She sighed at that, in complete agreement, needing to ask one more question about one more important opinion. “Do you think Mom would like him?”
He stayed very still for a moment, staring straight ahead before answering. “One time, when you were, oh, maybe twelve or thirteen, your mother and I were discussing you.” He stopped for a moment and closed his eyes. “In the morning,” he added, “before we’d get up to take care of any kids or dogs, I’d sneak down and get coffee and bring it up so we could talk in bed.”
Darcy’s heart softened at the memory of tiptoeing past her parents’ room—a sanctuary children never entered when the door was closed—and hearing their voices. The sound of her mother and father quietly planning their day or discussing their kids or laughing in the predawn light reminded her of all things good in her world. And it reminded her of something else…mornings with Josh, planning, discussing, and laughing.
“You’d been going head-to-head with Aidan that week,” Dad said. “Arguing over everything and creating a constant level of stress that we both abhorred.”
“Oh, I’m sorry.”
He chuckled, like the issue was so far in the distance that he couldn’t give her apology any credence. “I was furious with you and wanted to rein you in, discipline you, take something away or give you extra chores. But your mother had a whole different approach.”
“Which was?”
“She gave you and Aidan a dog to care for together. Do you remember Dagwood?”
“Oh my gosh, yes. That big black Lab mix? He was deaf.”
Dad lifted his brows.
“I forgot about that foster. No one wanted him because he couldn’t follow commands until Aidan and I figured out how to teach him hand signals.”
“And I don’t think you two have ever had an argument since then.”
Maybe a few, but nothing serious. “She forced us to work for a common good. But also, Aidan and I had so much fun that summer.”
“And that’s what Stella has done for you and Josh. So if anyone deserves the credit, it’s Stella. And maybe your mom, who I swear does my backup work from the great beyond.”
“It’s like she’s still conferring with you during your mornings in bed with coffee.”
Dad let out a sad sigh, barely able to hide the sudden punch of pain.
“I’m sorry,” Darcy whispered. “I didn’t mean to make you grieve.”
“Don’t be silly.” He slipped his arm around her and headed them back to Farrow Hall, waiting long enough for Kookie to catch up. “It’s just that remembering those talks sort of makes me…”
“Lonely?” she suggested.
He started to answer, then closed his eyes in resignation. “Maybe. Maybe I am lonely, sweet Darcy,” he sighed. “Maybe I am.”
A month ago, she’d have launched into a speech about the power of independence and how wonderful it could be, but now, those words would sound hollow. Dad was right…there was a fine line between lonely and independence. And now that she was on the other side of it, she wanted to drag him over, too.
But not until he was ready, and not a minute before.
* * *
Josh was up to his eyeballs in subcontractors, problems, and setbacks all afternoon and into the early evening as the clouds rolled into Bitter Bark. Except to let Darcy know he’d be working late, he ignored everyone and everything but the construction. They’d finished reinforcing the balcony, but the metal screws weren’t up to his standards, so they’d bagged the railing for today.
And the next blow to his construction plans was delivered at nearly seven o’clock by a clueless truck driver who showed up two and a half hours late with a replacement window, not the French doors.
Josh could practically feel the steam coming out of his ears.
“We cut space for doors,” he explained to the man, pointing to the gaping opening that took up much of the eat-in kitchen wall.
The other man shrugged. “I can have the doors here tomorrow, but it’s almost seven and the distribution center is cl
osed.”
Josh looked away to dig for composure, but his gaze landed on the fat, dark, and ominous late afternoon clouds gathering beyond the courtyard.
“Come back first thing in the morning,” he instructed the man. He turned and damn near slammed into the wall of man that was Bill Bainbridge, who’d turned into one of Carlos’s most reliable assistants.
“I can get the poly sheeting from my truck,” Bill said. “We can close up that hole real good, sir.”
Josh considered that, and the amount of damage the storm could do. “That sheeting is for floors and probably wouldn’t keep us dry.” He headed to the opening to check the clouds. “The cabinets are out, the floors are gone, and all that’s left is one counter that could get wet, but it’s coming out.”
“Okay.” Bill reached for his toolbox, lingering long enough that Josh turned to look at him and catch the color rise in the other man’s face.
“Something wrong, Bill?”
He cleared his throat. “I don’t know if this is my business, sir, but I feel like I gotta say something.”
At the serious tone in the question, Bill had Josh’s full attention. “About what?”
“I mean, I don’t want to step into private family business, but…”
“Family business?” For a second, he wondered if he meant the Kilcannon family, since that was the only family around him for the last month.
“But when I saw your brother in town, I—”
“What?” Josh backed up in disbelief. “Gideon? He’s not here.”
“Uh, yeah he is.” Bill stabbed thick fingers in his hair and pulled back, clearly uncomfortable. “I saw him going into the Bitter Bark B&B this afternoon with that same queen of England woman who was knocking on the other apartment door a while back.”
A slow, cold sweat tingled the back of Josh’s neck. Gideon and Savannah were here. Why?
All of the day’s irritation disappeared under the weight of this new travesty.
“Like I said, sir, I don’t want to poke my nose where it doesn’t belong.”