Grave Demands (A Maddie Graves Mystery Book 14) Page 2
Nick remembered the night well, her frigid skin and cold lips haunting his dreams for weeks after he pulled her out of the icy depths of the water. “You’re okay.” He wrapped his arm around her back and kissed the top of her head. “You’re okay.”
“Thanks to you,” Maddie supplied. “You jumped in the water to save me.”
“I didn’t think about it. I just knew you were there and I couldn’t lose you.”
“Yeah, well ... thanks anyway.” Maddie’s smile was rueful and it eased some of the tension flying around the room, causing Nick to bark out a laugh.
“You’re more than welcome, love.” He smacked a kiss against her lips. “I don’t like thinking about it either, but we have no choice. Winthrop is finally coming up for trial. That means we both have to testify.”
The notion made Maddie uncomfortable. “Is there any way around that? I’m not sure I’ll hold up well in front of people.”
“You’ll be fine ... and, no, there’s no way around it. Your testimony is very important.”
Resigned, Maddie sighed. “I figured. I’ll get through it ... somehow.”
“Good. I ... .” Whatever Nick was about to say died on his lips when the front door of the house flew open to allow two familiar figures entrance. “Wow. Knock much?” He drawled.
John Winters, Nick’s brother, ignored the dig as he tightened his grip on Christy Ford’s waist. For her part, the effervescent redhead was practically glowing. That was a big improvement over the last time Nick and Maddie had seen their best friends. Back then, right on the heels of Christy announcing she was pregnant, nobody was certain that the relatively new relationship would survive.
“What’s going on?” Maddie asked, instantly alert. “You guys don’t look like you’ve been fighting for a change.”
“We haven’t been fighting.” Christy held up her left hand to show off a huge diamond ring. “We’re engaged.”
“Oh, wow.” Maddie slid her eyes to Nick. “Did you know about this?”
“No.” He shook his head. He knew his brother planned to propose but had no idea the big moment was imminent. He was thankful for the distraction on the heels of the Todd Winthrop news, though. “I think this calls for a celebration.”
Two
The house was too warm for a proper celebration so everyone moved to the field next to the house for an impromptu picnic.
Maude wasn’t thrilled about being forced into the great outdoors — especially since she appeared to be plotting something when Maddie roused her out of her private apartment — but she perked up when Nick grabbed a bottle of champagne from the refrigerator.
“Crack that open,” Maude ordered as Maddie set about spreading a blanket and unpacking various snacks for everyone to enjoy.
“Calm yourself,” Nick ordered, shaking his head. “This is a celebration for Christy and John. You should be happy for them ... and patient.”
Maude rolled her eyes. “I’m totally happy for them. Now ... gimme!”
“Whatever.” Nick handed over the bottle of champagne. He had his doubts Maude could open it without help, but something to distract her was in order. “So, are you guys going to tell us how this happened?”
Maddie was all smiles as she settled between Christy and Nick and immediately grabbed her best friend’s hand so she could study the ring. “This is lovely.”
Christy snorted, genuinely amused. “He already told me you helped him pick it out, Maddie,” she chided. “You don’t have to feign ignorance.”
“That’s good.” Maddie was relieved. “I wasn’t sure if he wanted to pretend he did everything himself and, if that was the case, I didn’t want to ruin anything and start another fight.”
“You’re a terrible liar, Maddie,” Christy noted. “You should work on that for the future.”
“I like that she’s a terrible liar.” Nick slung an arm around her shoulders and popped a grape into her mouth as he grinned. “I find it endearing.”
“You find everything she does endearing,” John countered. He looked more relaxed than he had in weeks, something Nick was thankful for.
“I think you’re the same way about Christy,” Nick pointed out. “You can’t make fun of me for being whipped now that you’re as bad as me.”
“Oh, I can always make fun of you for being whipped.” John lobbed a fond look in Christy’s direction as she showed off her ring. She was so happy, her face flushed with overt joy, that the fist gripping his heart over the past few weeks had finally ceded its relentless grip. “You’re not wrong about me being whipped, though.”
Nick smirked. “Well, at least you admit it.”
“Yes, I’m totally whipped,” John agreed, smirking. “It’s a fantastic feeling.”
“You guys can stop talking as if we can’t hear you,” Christy suggested, her eyes flashing. “We’re women, not deaf.”
“You’re definitely a woman.” John grabbed her hand and gave it a good squeeze. “As for being deaf, it’s the exact opposite, dear. No one could ever call your hearing into question.”
“Yeah, yeah.” Christy wrinkled her nose as she focused on Maddie. “So ... I want you to be my maid of honor. I know your wedding is coming up, so you have a lot of other things to focus on, but we plan on having a small ceremony — very small, like tiny — in the next few weeks. After the baby comes, we will probably have a bigger ceremony, but we’re still discussing that.”
The news caught Maddie off guard. “Oh, well ... I’m not sure I understand.” She looked to Nick for help. “Why not simply plan the big wedding from the start?”
“Is it about money?” Nick queried, math problems buzzing through his head. “If so, we can delay some of John’s payments on the house until after the wedding.”
“It’s not that,” John said hurriedly. “Christy wants to get married as soon as possible, which means she can’t have the wedding of her dreams. There’s simply not enough time. That’s why she wants to do it twice. I’m fine with it.”
He said it in such a manner that Nick assumed he was more confused than excited, but given the way John and Christy had been fighting since news of her pregnancy broke, Nick understood that his brother was willing to do whatever it took to keep the peace. “I understand.”
“I don’t,” Maddie persisted, confusion washing over her. “If we work together, we can probably get your dream wedding ready in four months or so. Why not wait until then?”
“Because I don’t want to be showing at the wedding,” Christy replied simply.
“Oh.” Realization dawned on Maddie. “I get it.”
“It’s not that I’m embarrassed about getting pregnant before being married,” Christy explained. “I don’t care about that. My mother is mortified, though. I mean ... she won’t shut up about it. You would think it’s the worst thing that ever happened, which is rich because plenty of terrible things have happened in this town over the years. Getting pregnant before being married is somehow the worst thing ever, though.”
“I’m not sure I get it,” Nick admitted after a beat. He was willing to let things go when he thought Christy might melt down. Since she’d shown a willingness to talk about it, though, he decided to plow forward. “What’s the big deal about showing at your wedding?”
Christy offered up a “well, duh” look that caused Nick to shift closer to Maddie in case she started yelling.
“I have very specific ideas for a wedding dress, and I don’t want a maternity option,” Christy replied. “I want my dream wedding dress. If we get married in a few months, I won’t fit into my dream dress so ... we’re waiting.”
“Why not wait until after the baby is born for the wedding?”
“Because ... I don’t want that.”
Nick scratched his nose. “I feel like I’m missing something, but I don’t know what it is. It must be a girl thing.”
“It’s an image thing,” Maude corrected, finally popping the top on the champagne and crowing when the cork flew across the blanket and hit George square in the chest. “Now that was aiming, huh?”
George merely rolled his eyes. “Yes. You’re a crack shot with the champagne, Maude.”
“That’s Wild Maude Hickok to you.”
Maude and George’s relationship was a work in progress. Maddie wanted nothing more than a truce, but they weren’t quite there yet. She knew she had to muddle through until they were there ... although it was getting increasingly difficult.
“Tell me what the plan is,” Maddie prodded, desperate to change the subject. “Are you going to have a backyard wedding or something?”
Christy shook her head. “We’re going to have a backyard reception with just close friends and family. We’re going to get married at the county clerk’s office and then invite people to the small reception. The bigger party will be after the baby is born.”
“That sounds pragmatic.”
“That’s my middle name.” Christy’s eyes sparkled in conjunction with her ring as she begged off when Maude offered her the champagne. “I think I’ll pass.”
“She can’t drink, Granny,” Maddie admonished. “She’s pregnant.”
“That’s an old wives’ tale,” Maude shot back. “I drank when I was pregnant with your mother and everything turned out fine.”
George muttered something under his breath that Maddie couldn’t quite make out, but whatever it was had Maude’s hackles rising.
“What did you just say about my daughter?”
“Okay, I think
we should divide these festivities by gender,” Nick announced, hopping to his feet. The warning look he shot Maude was pointed, practically daring her to push things further. “George, you’re officially the owner of Mildred’s new house on the hill, right?”
The conversational shift threw George, but he nodded. “Yes.”
“I think we should go up there and check out the construction,” Nick suggested. “I see there’s a lot of equipment arriving daily. You can show us what’s being done. Men love construction, so we can go and the ladies can stay here talking about wedding dresses.”
“Smooth,” Maude deadpanned, rolling her eyes. “I can’t tell you how smooth that was.”
Nick merely shrugged. “I have to work with what I’ve got.”
ONCE THE MEN WERE GONE, Maddie asked the question she’d been dying to ask since Christy showed up with the ring.
“How did it happen?”
“Well, it was very romantic.” Christy adopted a far-off expression. “He took me out for a romantic dinner to the restaurant on the lake. I ordered my weight in prime rib and potatoes and was feeling very full — like I needed to change into stretchy pants full — when he took me for a walk on the beach instead of home.
“I wasn’t expecting that,” she continued. “Once we got out there, though, I saw all these candles were lit. I found out after the fact that he hired the cart kids at the golf course to light them and was in contact on his phone, giving them a heads-up when we would be out there.
“Anyway, when we got out there, he dropped to one knee in the center of the candles and said he knew exactly how he wanted his life to go and he couldn’t live the proper way without me,” she said. “He asked if I would marry him. I was crying so hard I could barely get words out, but I agreed. Then we went home to celebrate.”
“It seems to me that’s how you got in trouble in the first place,” Maude noted, taking a swig of the champagne. “There should be a way to celebrate without getting pregnant. If only there were something to stop pregnancy.”
Maddie lightly cuffed the back of her grandmother’s head, not hard enough to hurt her but strong enough to send a message. “Don’t be a jerk. Accidents happen.”
“In my day accidents never happened.” Maude’s annoyance was clear as she rubbed the back of her head. “We weren’t slaves to our hormones.”
“No, you just lied about wedding dates when someone got pregnant so people wouldn’t figure it out,” Maddie shot back.
Maude’s eyes widened. “Who told you that? I didn’t lie about my wedding date. I simply didn’t have a calendar.”
Maddie’s mouth dropped open. “Are you serious?”
Maude realized what she said too late to take it back. “Of course not. That was a joke.”
Maddie didn’t believe her for a second. “Were you pregnant with Mom before you got married?” Her voice was unnaturally screechy.
“I don’t even know what you’re talking about.” Maude averted her eyes. “We’re supposed to be talking about Christy. Don’t be selfish, Maddie.”
Christy snorted, genuinely amused. “Oh, this conversation just keeps getting better and better. I can’t wait to hear this story.”
“You’re not the only one,” Maddie grumbled. “Spill, Granny, and keep in mind, I have ways of finding out the truth.”
“And what ways are those?” Maude scoffed.
“I’m engaged to a cop who can pull public records.”
Maude’s smile slipped. “This isn’t my day.”
“Talk!”
“I’M GLAD THINGS WORKED out for you,” Nick offered as the three men circled the huge tractor sitting on George’s lawn. In truth, he was interested in the construction process because he planned serious work on the Victorian he now shared with Maddie. He simply felt he should acknowledge John’s impending life change before focusing on construction.
“I’m glad, too,” John admitted, a sloppy grin washing over his handsome features. “Right up until I proposed, I wasn’t sure it was a good idea. I had your voice — and Maddie’s voice, for that matter — nattering in the back of my head. I knew it was the right thing to do, but I was unbearably nervous.”
“Obviously you pulled it off.”
“Yeah. She started crying before I even got the question out. Do you think that’s normal?”
“Maddie shed a few tears when I proposed to her,” Nick noted, trailing his fingers over the tractor as he rounded to the front of the house to stare at the faded facade. “I took her by surprise. It was Christmas and I picked a moment when we were screwing around outside in the snow. She wasn’t expecting it, which I think made it better.”
“I was there for that,” George offered. “I was hiding in the trees, deciding if I should approach the house. Then you guys came outside and I couldn’t move without discovery so I sat there for a long time and watched you play.
“When you finally pulled out the ring, I wasn’t sure what I was seeing,” he continued. “Part of me was angry because I had no idea who you were. Angry at myself, mind you. A man should know who his daughter is dating. The look on her face, though, made me forget all of that. She was so happy that I could feel nothing but happiness for her.”
“You left, though,” Nick pointed out. “You disappeared for another few weeks.”
“I didn’t want to ruin things. She was engaged and I knew my return would wipe away that smile, at least for a little while. That was the last thing I wanted.”
“Fair enough.” Nick held up his hands in capitulation. “Things worked out. You and Maddie seem to be doing well. Heck, things are going well enough that you bought the house next door.”
“It’s not really next door,” George argued. “It’s a good five lots away. That means it’s close, but I’m not on top of you. Besides that, I still have to travel for work. That means I’ll only be in town one or two weeks a month until I retire.”
“And after that Maddie and Nick will probably have kids,” John offered philosophically. “You’ll like how close he is when you need a babysitter.”
“That’s exactly what I was going for,” George teased, sobering a second later. “In truth, I liked the location of the house and thought it was a good investment. Since it burned down, I got the property for a song.”
“What’s the next step?” Nick asked.
“Tomorrow they demolish the house and tow away all the garbage. After that, new construction begins. The house won’t be ready for me to move into until the fall.”
“Well, you must have plans,” Nick prodded. “Why don’t you show us? That will give the girls more time to talk.”
“And Maude more time to calm down or get drunk,” George surmised.
“Pretty much.”
“A tour it is.”
“I GOT A LETTER, TOO,” Christy admitted.
Once talk about the wedding had petered out — and Maude had finished the bottle of champagne and returned to the house to take a nap — Maddie and Christy were free to talk about serious things.
“A letter from the prosecutor’s office?” Maddie couldn’t contain her surprise. “But ... why?”
“I was part of all that,” Christy reminded her. “I was with you when we were staking out the Blackstone Greenhouse. We thought it was Henry at first, remember? The prosecutor is trying to paint a solid timeline to explain how everything went down.”
Maddie wrapped her arms around her knees as she considered the statement. “Nick seems worried.”
“I think he’s worried because he doesn’t want you dwelling on what happened. That was more than a year ago. You guys were in a vastly different place. You’ve grown a lot since then, become more self-assured. I’m sure he doesn’t want you to be swept up in the memories.”
“I don’t think he wants to be swept up in the memories,” Maddie corrected. “He had it worse than me that night.”
“How?” Christy wrinkled her forehead. “You were stalked through the woods by two killers. You thought you were going to die in that lake. How was it easy for you?”
“Once I was in the water, it didn’t hurt anymore. It was like falling asleep except ... Nick. I didn’t want to leave him.”
“Of course you didn’t.” Christy patted Maddie’s arm. “You didn’t die. He arrived in time to take down Todd and Dustin and he saved you. That was the beginning of something new for you guys.”