His Brother's Bride

“Nothing conclusive, yet,” she told him.

He asked a couple more questions, all of which she answered generally.

“So...how’d the rest of the trip go?”

She knew exactly what he was asking. What he was waiting to hear. “Fine.” At that moment, Laurel truly hated herself. What was it with her? Was she buried so deeply inside herself she could no longer open up even when she wanted to?

“Have you seen anyone you knew?”

Briefly Laurel told him about the elder Coopers. And because she felt so bad knowing that she wasn’t going to tell him about Scott—and even worse because she didn’t understand why—she went on to tell him about Bonnie, too, and her plumbing career.

As she talked—and made Shane laugh—Laurel relaxed a bit, but only enough to get through the rest of the conversation. Before hanging up, she promised Shane that she’d call him when she got back to New York.

And then she went upstairs to bed. She knew she would have trouble sleeping, so she poured herself a glass of wine from the bottle she’d brought with her.

Although she didn’t drink a lot, there’d been many nights after the accident when a glass of wine was the only thing that helped her ease up enough to get some sleep.

But tonight the wine didn’t do the trick, and she lay awake, staring out at the impenetrable darkness of the country night, and wondering if she was ever going to know who she was or where she was going.

* * *

“YOU’RE GOING TO LOVE my dad’s griddle cakes,” Keegan told Scott the next morning at the huge mahogany table in the dining room. Though the chintz-covered chairs were simple cottage-style, they were surprisingly comfortable.

“I’ve heard a lot about them,” Scott said, smiling at the solidly built boy who’d waited until Scott sat down and then plopped into the seat next to him.

Scott had just come in from filling Clint and Maureen in on the little bit of progress they’d made on Byrd’s case. He’d been in touch with Frank Quigg, Maureen’s former boss at the NYPD. Apparently Owen Nevil was on a hiking expedition and could not be reached.

The brother-and-sister team were getting ready to welcome the next batch of guests to Twin Oaks. Three families were due to arrive that afternoon and were staying for a couple of days.

“Hi!”

“Are you the...”

“...policeman we seed sometimes?”

Scott blinked, and turned to see the two identical curly-headed girls who’d just tromped in to stand beside the table and stare up at him. He’d seen the twins around town a time or two, but never up close.

“That one’s Robin and that’s Randi,” Keegan informed him.

“Girls, come get in your seats,” Maureen said, having entered the room right behind them.

“Yes,” Scott said as the pair immediately left his side to climb into a couple of booster seats across the table from him. “I am a policeman.”

“Did you know Mommy?” one of the little girls asked. Like her sister, she was wearing a pink T-shirt that read I’m An Angel across the front.

Scott believed the pronouncement.

“In New York?” the other little girl asked.

“No.” Scott shook his head just as Maureen reminded the girls that they weren’t supposed to talk about Mommy’s job in New York.

“He’s from Cooper’s Corner, dummies,” Keegan added, glancing apologetically at Scott.

Scott’s heart went out to the boy. He was at that tough age where he was too old to be a kid, too young to be a man, and aware of both.

Laurel came in and sat down next to Maureen and her girls rather than Scott. She wasn’t meeting his eyes that morning. He wondered if she’d changed her mind about the investigation and was planning to head back to New York.

And did not approve—at all—of how much he hoped that wasn’t the case.