The Lawman's Yuletide Baby
So you’d give Tee a phone? Even though you know better?
He wouldn’t, he realized, as Tee stomped into her house. He’d do exactly what Corinne was doing, but he’d hate every single stinkin’ minute of it.
But it would never be an issue because he’d had his chance once and blew it. And that was that.
And here he was, next door to a woman who kept a cool distance in what she did. Not exactly an ice queen, but not all that warm, either.
The sale was complete.
The deed had changed hands. He’d have to make the best of it. So would she.
Corinne resisted change. She wasn’t a fighter, but she quietly blocked it in her own way.
Did she know how blessed she was to have those two kids? He couldn’t look at Tee and not remember Gracie. And a fine kid like Callan, hardworking and devoted to playing ball. A young man, ready to explore so much of the world around him.
Not your business.
He knew that. And it wouldn’t become his business, no matter how pretty those blue eyes were when she looked his way.
He’d made a promise when he laid his baby girl into the ground, a pledge he intended to keep. He’d been given the gold ring once and lost it by his lack of attention.
He’d laid flowers on her grave and promised God he’d never take that chance again, and he meant every word, but when Corinne Gallagher waved from her back deck, his fickle heart tried to pry itself open.
He slammed it shut.
He’d had it all once and ruined it. He had absolutely no right to wish for more than what he had now. A great job keeping people safe, a small boat and a house on the water.
A house that seemed pretty empty compared with the busy family living next door.
Chapter Two
Gabe had just finished packing dozens of boxes when his landline phone rang the following Saturday. He almost tripped getting through the confusing maze, but when he saw his mother’s number in the display, he grabbed the call quickly. “Hey, Mom. What’s up?”
“Gabe. Do you have a minute?”
Worry wrenched her voice. He was pretty sure she was crying, and he was nearly four hours away with a moving crew on the way, but if she needed him, he’d hop in the car and head toward Albany because Linda Cutler had gone the distance for him too many times to count. And with his mother’s crazy, mixed-up, dysfunctional family, Gabe knew he’d been blessed to be on the normal end of the spectrum. “Of course I do. Take your time. I’m right here.”
“I know. I just...” She breathed out a sigh. “Aunt Maureen just got off the phone with me, screaming about life’s injustices, and how unfair things are. She’s blaming the police and the world for everything that went wrong with Adrianna. I tried to calm her down, but it didn’t work. She hung up on me, but not before she called me unkind names.”
“I’m sure she’s hurting, but that’s no reason to take it out on you. I’m sorry, Mom. You know Aunt Maureen. It’s always someone else’s fault.” His narrow-minded aunt had recently buried the daughter she’d disowned years before. Adrianna had gotten herself into a mess of trouble as a teen, then again as a young adult. She’d done time, and her parents made sure that everyone knew they wanted nothing to do with their wayward child.
She’d died in a convenience store robbery gone bad, a tragic end to a life filled with flawed choices.
“My sister is mean, Gabe. Just plain mean, and it’s got nothing to do with her faith or her church, it’s her. No wonder that poor girl went rogue. And now look what it’s all come to.”
She was right. His mom’s younger sister had a sharp tongue and always held a grudge. She and his uncle had little regard for Christ’s instruction on forgiveness. “Aunt Maureen is probably second-guessing her actions, Mom—maybe wishing she hadn’t thrown Adrianna out of the house, or been so strict with her.”
“Or she’s blaming everyone but herself for her family problems.”
That sounded more like it. “Do you want me to come down there? I can. I’ve got the next two days off.” He didn’t mention that he was supposed to be moving because she’d refuse his help if she thought she was inconveniencing him.
She’d blessed him from the day he was born, or at least as far back as he could remember. She’d been a single mom at a time when being a single mother wasn’t overtly accepted, but she’d been great. And still was.
And through it all, her sister Maureen had held Linda’s mistakes up like a banner, making sure everyone knew that Linda lived a life of bad choices.
But in the end, Gabe had turned out just fine and Maureen’s two daughters had brought nothing but trouble on themselves. That had always infuriated his fire-and-brimstone aunt. “Why did you take her call?”
“Because she just lost her daughter.”
Gabe would have done the same. “Do you want to come up here for a visit?”
“No, I just needed to vent. Maureen is just...” She paused, then drew a deep breath. “Well, you know. She needs to lay this at someone else’s door, and that finger of blame will never fall back on her. Maybe if she’d shown those girls a little kindness, a little understanding—” She paused again. “No use rehashing all of that. And you’re right, if she calls again, I’ll let it go to voice mail. I’m working overtime this weekend, so that will gain me some distance.”
His mother worked at a manufacturing facility outside Albany. “You sure you’re okay?”
“Yes, I just needed someone to talk to. It’s been a rough couple of months down here, and losing Adrianna like that has stirred some old pots.”
“Aunt Maureen and Uncle Blake had choices, Mom. So did Adrianna.”
“I know. And I knew I could only do so much when their mother was dead set against anyone helping those girls out, but it weighs on me, Gabe, knowing Adrianna longed for help and thought no one would provide it.”
Guilt.
It was an emotion he knew well. Too well. “We pray, Mom. And we keep our eyes open for other ways to help people. Like you taught me all along.” The noise of pickup trucks pulling into the driveway made him turn. “You sure you don’t want me to head down there? I can be there by lunchtime.”
“I’m sure. Just glad you don’t mind talking with your mom now and again.”
“Mind?” He laughed because throughout his times of trouble, Linda Cutler had been the calm voice of faith, hope and reason. “I love it, Mom. And I love you.”
He pictured her smile in the softer note in her voice. “I love you, too. Bye, honey.”
He hung up, knowing she’d be okay, but it wasn’t easy to dodge angry family members, especially when proximity allowed them access.
That was another reason he’d moved four hours northwest when everything fell apart. Distance from his mother’s family wasn’t a choice, it had been a lifesaving measure.
The first two trucks rolled to a stop, and half a dozen boys and men aimed for his door. He swung it wide in welcome.
He might not have family here, but between the troopers and the baseball team, his needs were covered.
By ten o’clock they were on their way to 2312 Lakeshore Drive with the first wave of belongings.
He thought it would take all day to move things.
He was wrong.
A single guy who worked long hours and coached three seasons of baseball didn’t accumulate a lot of stuff.
They pulled the trucks into the lakefront driveway one at a time. Tee spotted them and raced across the narrow yards, hurdling the short privet hedge on the property line. “Can I help?”
He spotted Corinne’s bemused expression next door. Hands up, she gestured to the tables and chairs she’d been setting out and then her daughter. “You help here,” he told her. “I’ll go help your mother move the tables.”
“Oops.” Looking a little guilty, Tee spun and waved. “Sorry, Mom!”
“I’ll bet she is,” Corinne noted as Gabe drew closer. “She’d much rather help the team than be stuck helping her mother.”
“Pretty normal, I expect. But I can help her mother,” Gabe added as he lifted one of the tables. “Tell me where you want them and I’ll get them in order for you.”
“You’ve got a whole house to arrange,” she scolded. “I can handle this.”
Gabe moved the first table closer to the lake as he replied, “I’ve got bedroom stuff, kitchen stuff and living room stuff, which means half the rooms of the house will sit empty. I bet they can figure it out, Corinne. And my buddy Mack is over there with his wife, and when Susie MacIntosh takes charge, we all smile and nod and follow orders.”
“My kind of gal.” Corinne started setting up folding chairs. “Should we start the fire now, if you guys don’t have to make too many more trips back to your old place?”
“One more trip should do it, so that’s probably a good idea.” He settled the next table close to the first. “And if I’m setting these in the wrong spots, tell me. Don’t wait until I’m gone, then change them.”
“Well, it’s a simple afternoon barbecue, so I’m pretty sure anywhere is good.”
Her tone was easy, but it didn’t take a real smart guy to sense something amiss. “Listen, Corinne. I didn’t get a chance to talk to you after the committee meeting the other night.” He was working as the safety liaison for the upcoming Christkindl festival, a huge annual event that netted tens of thousands of dollars for the Police Benevolence Fund. The fund helped widows and children of fallen officers. As a widow, Corinne had headed the committee for half a dozen years, but the current committee had voted in some major changes she didn’t like. Changes he approved, which might make him persona non grata with his new neighbor.
“Because you were mobbed by triumphant town retailers and I had to get home to the kids.”
That was true, but law enforcement was schooled in undercurrents, and the one on this deck rivaled an East Coast riptide. “I don’t want you to think we were trying to undercut your position.”
A momentary pause of her hands was her only outward reaction, which meant she was hiding her feelings, a move he recognized because he’d hidden his share. Watching her, he realized she was just as good as he was at disguising his true emotions. Maybe better. “When you, Lizzie and Maura took places on the committee, it meant we all needed to work together,” she replied in a soft, even voice. “Although neither Kate nor I was invited to the impromptu meeting you guys had on Tuesday.”
It hadn’t been a meeting at all. He’d run into two other committee members at the Bayou Barbecue, and the two women had hijacked his quiet supper with committee talk.
“It wasn’t a meeting. I was having supper at Josie’s place. Lizzie and Maura came in and sat down, so we compared notes. Then I got a call on the south end of the lake, and Josie bagged my food for later. That’s all it was, pure coincidence.”
“You don’t owe me explanations, Gabe.”
He didn’t...but he did. Corinne had invested years in this festival because she’d buried a first responder, and he didn’t take that lightly. Nor should anyone else. “I do, because Lizzie made it sound like we held a prearranged meeting. It wasn’t anything of the kind.”
“And yet there’s no reason it couldn’t be, is there, Gabe?” She paused again, watching him from the far side of the deck, holding a floral porch pillow in her hands. She looked...cautiously beautiful, if there was such a thing, and there must be, because he was seeing it, right now.
No reason...
“Of course there’s a reason. To go behind your back and usurp the time and effort you’ve put into this whole thing would be ludicrous. I can’t imagine someone doing that, and if they did, they’d have to answer to me. That’s not how things are done, Corinne. Not in police brotherhoods, anyway.”
She watched him, still clutching the pillow, and when he was done with his little spiel, she still watched.
And then she smiled, ever so slightly, as she set the pillow down.
Her smile intrigued him.
He wasn’t sure why, because she did absolutely nothing to try to intrigue him. In fact, she went out of her way to be carefully level and polite, like the model nurses you saw on TV.
As she looked down, her lips quirked up, as if he’d pleased her.
He wasn’t looking to please anyone. He’d won the race once. He’d had it all until he lost it, way too quick and far too easy.
Yes, he was older. Smarter. But he was just as guilty now as he’d been when Gracie climbed into his SUV all those years ago. A stupid football party, parents, kids, pizza and beer...
He swallowed hard. “I just didn’t want you thinking we were plotting behind your back. Or Kate’s back.” Corinne’s mother-in-law had built a highly regarded event business in Grace Haven. She’d shared her expertise by helping with the festival for years.
“Kate’s a smart woman. She saw the way things were trending from the beginning, and that’s why she volunteered to work with Lizzie and Maura.”
“To keep an eye on them?”
“That sounds far too sinister, even for a small town.” She crossed the decking and moved more chairs into place. “More like she wants to keep her finger on the pulse of the area. When you run an event center, it’s important to be on the inside informational loop. And I’m sure she wanted to keep me updated so I wouldn’t get clotheslined by whatever changes came about. Kate knows I’m busy, and she takes an understandable special interest in the benevolence fund.”
Of course she did. She’d buried a son, and her husband had been chief of police for over twenty years. The Gallaghers appreciated law enforcement like few families could. They’d lived it for over two generations. “She’s protective of you.”
“Sure she is.” She drew up more chairs. “They love me, and they love these kids. That’s pretty much how the family rolls. And they know being a single mom isn’t easy. But we’re doing okay.”
After being raised in a single-parent house, he knew the truth of it, and it was never an easy gig to be top provider, rule maker and beloved parent to kids. “I’d say you’re doing great, Corinne.”
“Well. Thank you.” She took the compliment lightly. Maybe too lightly. “It’s too early to start the grill, but if you call me from the truck, I’ll have it heated up when you guys get back.”
“Sounds good.” He touched a long-nosed lighter to the kindling in the fire pit, waiting for the first flickers of success. “If you ever need anything...” He waited until she looked up, and when she did, there it was again. A tiny spark of connection when his eyes met hers. “Call me, okay? I’m right over there, and I’m happy to help.”
“That’s a really nice offer.” Sincerity deepened her tone, while her expression stayed matter-of-fact. “The Penskis were gone a lot, so I’d only seen them twice since we moved in last year. And when the weather turns, it’s kind of desolate down here. Like Tee said, most folks use these as summer homes, so there aren’t too many neighbors during the winter. It will be nice to have you nearby.”
He puffed on the kindling until a curl of smoke burst into tiny licks of flame. “I saw that little park at the end of the road by the turnoff. It’s got a small baseball field.”
“A relic from times past, when neighborhoods got together to play ball. That’s Welch Grove Park.”
“It’s quiet and I can practice ball with the kids there whenever they’re available.”
“I played ball on that field when I was a girl.” She tapped the grill as if tapping home plate and took a batter’s stance.
“You lived here?”
“Off and on, with my grandparents.”
She didn’t elaborate and it wasn’t his business to delve, but why hadn’t she been with her parents?
Not his business, so he kept to baseball. “They had softball there?”
“Hardball.”
She’d surprised him again. “You played hardball?”
“Seven years. When I got to high school girls could only play softball, and that’s a whole other game.” She moved a chair that didn’t need moving and shrugged. “I moved on to other things. That’s why I loved seeing Amy make the team when Drew Slade came back to town. A girl with that kind of talent shouldn’t be relegated to a minimal role in anything.”
“If you’re good enough, you play.” It made sense to him, regardless of gender.
“That’s something you and I can agree on.” She didn’t mention the festival controversy per se, but he understood the meaning behind the words.
“Gabe.” Mack called his name from across the yards. “We need to know how you want some of the things set up.”
“Coming.” He tipped his ball cap slightly. “One more load to get, and that should do it on our end. I’ll be happy to man the grill when we get back.”
“I am delighted to accept the offer.”
“Good.”
He jogged back to his place.
He’d hurried over there to clear the air over Thursday’s meeting. She’d lost an important battle, one that meant she’d be facing angry vendors at the upcoming holiday festival. The out-of-town vendors had paid a significant fee to contract their space on the grounds of the historic Gallagher farm at the edge of town. They weren’t expecting to have local buses transporting their shoppers downtown every fifteen minutes. There would be backlash, mostly directed at Corinne because she headed the committee. It wasn’t her fault, and he felt bad about that. He’d sided with the local businesses from a practical angle. Putting Corinne in the crosshairs hadn’t been the intention, but it was a probable outcome.
Would she hold a grudge?
He hoped not, but her guarded nature didn’t make her an easy read.
“Coach, I can’t wait for you to see how many fish there are in the lake! Grandpa showed me so many hot spots, it’s amazing! Do you like perch and bass?” Tee grabbed his hand in an excited grip as he crossed the yard.
He loved both. He nodded as the old weight redescended.
“Then maybe we can go fishing sometime together,” Tee exclaimed. “I can ask Mom, I bet she won’t mind, and I won’t be noisy. I know not to be noisy on the boat, because Grandpa threatened to toss me overboard if I scared the fish. And I love eating fish, so why would I scare them?”
She talked at light speed, like Gracie had.
Her hands danced in the air, alive with excitement.
Her eyes so blue.
Gracie’s had been a lighter shade of blue, tinged green, but with that same kind of sparkle and joy.
Gone.
His heart choked.
So did his voice, because he couldn’t form a word around the massive lump clogging his throat.
He’d thought it would get better in time, and it had, but when he was around Tee Gallagher and her crew of funny, adolescent girlfriends, all he could think of was how sweetly Gracie would have fit into their crowd. Laughing, dancing, climbing...
“Come with me.” Susie MacIntosh thrust her arm through his and propelled him into the house. “Focus on the simple and the mundane.”
Susie had known him all those years ago, years before they both moved upstate to Grace Haven.
“You’ve got to forgive yourself, Gabe. God doesn’t want you to spend your life beating yourself up. He wants you whole and happy again.”
Susie’s opinion was similar to the reverend’s talk last Sunday.
And maybe it would have worked out that way, if Elise had been okay. But she wasn’t all right, ever again. Then she was gone, too.
“We make choices, Gabe. All of us. You, me, Mack. Elise.”
He couldn’t listen to this, because there was no way he could lay any of this on Elise. He’d left the door of the SUV slightly open. He must have. He was the last person in it. He’d pulled into his buddy’s driveway and parked. Then he’d gotten Gracie out of her car seat and walked into the broad backyard of Jim Clayton, another state trooper.
He was the designated driver, so he grabbed some cold iced tea and talked NFL prospects, waiting for the four o’clock kickoff in Jim’s man cave–style barn toward the back of the property.
And then came the scream.
Nine years later, he still heard the scream.
Elise’s voice, screaming his name, screaming for help, and Gracie Lynn, their beautiful little girl, lying so still in the grueling heat of the SUV.
Her death was ruled accidental, but he knew better. He was her father. She was his responsibility, and he’d failed her over football stats and arguments about team superiority. All while his baby girl lay perishing in the unyielding temperatures of an SUV parked beneath a brilliant September sun.
No, there were no second chances for stupid fathers.
God was big enough to forgive because he was God.
But Gabe was a mere man, and there was no way on this earth he could forgive himself. And that was that.
Chapter Three
The group of young movers crossed from Gabe’s yard into hers when the final load had been brought and distributed, but Corinne’s heart went into overdrive as the tall, square-shouldered policeman followed in their wake. Gabe Cutler, chatting with “Mack” MacIntosh, another local trooper.
“Mom, we’re going to check out the cove, okay?” Callan and five of his teammates got to her first.
“No swimming,” she reminded them. “It’s too cold for that.”
“No swimming. But we might throw Tee into the water, just because she’s a pest.”
Tee pretended innocence, but Corinne knew the truth. Tee was a hoot, but she could be a pain in the neck to her big brother, and no way did she want the twelve-year-old hanging out with fourteen- and fifteen-year-old boys. “I’m keeping Tee here to help me. You guys did all the heavy lifting. We’re doing food.”
“Mom.” Tee folded her arms and scowled. “Girls don’t have to stay home and cook while the brave hunter goes in search of food anymore. We can actually do things, just like they can. It’s called the new millennium.” She hooked her thumb toward the teenage ballplayers, heading for the cove up the beach. “I could have helped move things. And I should be able to go to the cove. I’m twelve.”
“I know how old you are. I was present at your birth, remember?”
But Tee saw nothing amusing in her reply. “We’ve got food ready, and everything’s done. Why can’t I go?”
What could she say? That she wasn’t sure the boys’ conversations would be okay for Tee’s ears? And that Callan deserved some time away from his nosy little sister?
The boys were good kids, but they were hormone-struck teens, and she wasn’t ready to have to deal with Tee and crushes and heartbreaks. Why had the idea of kids spaced so close together appealed to her a dozen years ago?
Oh, that’s right.
Because she didn’t know any better.
Tee huffed into the house as Gabe, Susie and Mack climbed the short steps on one side while the boys raced across the short stretch of open beach. “They did a great job today.”
“I’m so glad.” She opened the grill, judged it ready and pointed out the grilling tools hanging from a head-high two-by-four. “Tools of the trade. And the meat is in the cooler. Where’s Tucker?”
“I put him in the house. He’ll need to get a feel for his boundaries, so for now he’s napping on the floor. Or staring at us through the sliding glass doors, which seems to be more accurate at the moment.”
They all turned. The black, brown and white dog peered at them through the glass, tongue lolling, hoping they’d notice.
“That’s a tough face to ignore,” noted Mack.
“And he knows it. But better safe than sorry.” He moved toward the cooler. “I’ll save him a hot dog. Tucker forgives anything if there’s a hot dog involved.”
“I wonder if there’s a similar system that works on kids,” Corinne mused. “It’s definitely cheaper than a cell phone, which is our current argument of the day.”
“Tee doesn’t let things go, does she?”
“No. And I hate being the bad guy 24/7, but that’s kind of how things shake down.”
Understanding marked his gaze. “My mom said that, too. She raised me on her own, and she always said the hardest part was being the tough one, all the time. No respite. But it worked out in the end.”