The Deputy's Unexpected Family

Chapter Two

The next morning, Harper unlocked the front door for Blessings Bridal and let Zoey go in first. She paused and looked along the street. It was the same familiar road—sun dappled with intermittent trees spreading long branches over the asphalt. All was quiet, as it normally was this time of day, the only sound that of a chattering squirrel. A police cruiser eased slowly down the street. The officer—a woman—gave her a quick wave.

Harper had slept terribly the night before. Her father was worried now—which was to be expected even after she’d assured him that she had it all under control. And now Harper was faced with the paperwork from the insurance company.

“Let me help you, sweetheart,” her father had said. “I’m retired, not dead!”

But Harper didn’t want his help; she needed to take care of the robbery paperwork on her own. If she was going to be opening a second store in Comfort Creek—a maternity shop—she’d better prove to more than just herself that she could handle the stress and the demands. There had been more than one well-meaning person who had questioned if she could raise a young child while running this shop... So while it was all well and good to say she had nothing to prove to anyone, she did.

Running Blessings Bridal was satisfying in its own right, but she wanted more—a store with her own name on the bottom line, not her father’s. Besides, this store was all that her father had to will to Harper and Heidi, and since it would be the bulk of their inheritance, that was going to be complicated. Eventually, at least. The second shop, Blessings Maternity, was going to be Harper’s first personal foray into the business world, and she wanted it so badly that she could taste it.

“It’s all messed up!” Zoey said, looking around the store. Harper pulled the door shut and locked it after them. She and Gabe had boarded over the broken window yesterday, and the glass and mess was mostly cleaned up. The display case still sat vacant.

“I know, sweetie. Someone broke in. I told you about that, right? So now we have to clean it up.” Harper put the boxed wedding dress on the counter. She’d brought it home with her last night—not taking any chances on a family heirloom—but the sewing machine and all the tools she’d need for the fitting were here in the shop.

Zoey went to the display case and sighed. “The crowns are gone.”

Zoey loved the tiaras, and when the shop was closed, Harper would let her try them on in front of the full-length mirror. It had started when Andrea would visit after hours, and Zoey would sit on her mother’s lap and stare at her reflection with a crystal tiara on her little head.

“I know. The insurance company will give us money so we can get more. You can help me choose them.”

“Today?” Zoey asked hopefully.

“Not today. We’re going to do a fitting for Aunt Heidi’s wedding dress,” Harper said. “And you get to help.”

Since the store was temporarily closed, Harper had pulled Zoey out of preschool for a few days. Preschool had been a constant for Zoey from before her mother passed away, but a few days of girl time would be good for them, too, Harper decided. Besides, it was broad daylight, and she highly doubted that anyone would come back to rob the place at this time of day.

“It’s our wedding dress, right?” Zoey was still working out how all of this worked.

“Yes, it’s our dress. My grandmother wore that dress when she got married a very long time ago. And now Aunt Heidi is going to wear it for her wedding. And maybe you’ll even wear it for yours.”

If there was enough of it left. If Heidi didn’t demand so many alterations that there was nothing salvageable for another bride...

“Grandma Jane...” Zoey said softly.

“No, Great-Grandma Kemp.” Harper sighed. Six months wasn’t really long enough for Zoey to embrace all the extra family, let alone fully understand what ancestors were. She was four. She knew about the family she saw on a regular basis, which included Andrea’s mom, Grandma Jane, and Harper’s mom, Grandma Georgia. Having two grandmas was as much as Zoey seemed able to wrap her mind around right now. And having a new mother...

Harper opened the box on the counter and looked down at the familiar material. It was a gown from 1950—A-line taffeta covered in lace with sheer lace sleeves and décolletage. The dress had fit their grandmother at ankle length, but Grandma Kemp had been a petite woman, and Heidi was significantly taller, so Harper was guessing it would fit her sister at a tea length—perfect for today’s fashion.

There was a tap at the front door, and Harper looked up to see Heidi through the unbroken window. She wore a leather jacket and a pair of jeans, a floppy leather bag tossed over one shoulder. A pair of sunglasses was perched on top of her short-cropped auburn hair.

“Auntie Heidi!” Zoey announced, and Harper crossed the store and unlocked the door. As Heidi came inside, she glanced around. She’d dropped by yesterday and seen the state of things—as had a quarter of the town—so it wasn’t a shock.

“So where’s Gabe?” Heidi asked.

“I don’t know. He’s not going to be here every second,” Harper replied. “The police are doing a lot of drive-bys, though.”

“Hmm.” Heidi ruffled Zoey’s hair. “And how’s my favorite flower girl?”

“I’m good!” Zoey sang out. She was excited to be in Heidi’s wedding, and Harper was grateful to her sister for including her new daughter. Anything that made Zoey feel more accepted and at home was a plus.

While Heidi deposited her bag and sunglasses on a nearby chair, Harper pulled the antique dress out of the box. It had been stored impeccably over the years, and while the lace had darkened over time, it was still a stunning dress by any standard.

“Is he still as good-looking as he used to be?” Heidi asked.

“Good looks only go so far,” Harper replied. But yes, he was—more so. He’d matured into a ruggedly handsome man with a steely gaze that could make a woman’s stomach flip. But what use was that when a man’s character didn’t match up?

“Does he...know?” Heidi murmured as Zoey took the sunglasses to the mirror to try them on.

“No.” Harper knew what her sister was asking, and she didn’t want to say too much within Zoey’s hearing distance. “He seems completely oblivious.”

“Are you going to tell him?” Heidi glanced toward Zoey, too, but the girl seemed rapt in her game of dress up.

“I don’t know,” Harper admitted quietly. “I feel like I should. He deserves to know at least, doesn’t he?”

“Andrea didn’t think so.” Heidi met Harper’s gaze and held it.

“That was a personal grudge, though,” Harper said. Andrea had been deeply hurt by Gabe’s inability to commit to her, and she’d never been able to forgive him. She said he hadn’t wanted to be a husband or a father, and she was protecting her daughter from the ultimate rejection. But Zoey was his daughter, and meeting her in person might change that.

“Something can be both personal and the right choice,” Heidi replied softly.

“One day, Zoey’s going to ask about her dad, and what then?” Harper asked. She couldn’t lie to her daughter, and without a really good reason otherwise, Harper couldn’t lie to Gabe, either. “I’d hoped to be able to put off thinking about Gabe until another time. But with him in town, I’m going to have to face this sooner than I thought.”

Zoey tired of her game and came back to where they were standing. She wore the sunglasses perched on the top of her little head the way she’d seen Heidi wear them, and they slipped and dropped to the floor. Heidi bent to pick them up.

Harper gently shook the dress out of its folds and held it aloft for her sister to see in full length. Heidi slowly rose from her crouch to collect the glasses, her gaze moving over the dress in wonder.

“This is it...” Heidi breathed.

“Grandma’s dress.”

No one had worn the dress since Grandma Kemp, and while Harper had done a few repairs where the lining had fallen apart, nothing else was changed.

“I’m thinking it will fit you at about a tea length.” Harper went on. “We’ll have to let out the waist a little bit...since I’m pretty sure you don’t want to be squeezing yourself into a 1950s girdle. And Grandma was tiny.”

Heidi chuckled. “No girdle. And I want to shorten it to above the knee.”

“Above the knee?” Harper gathered the dress back up and put it on top of the box. “That’s not even funny.”

“I’m not joking,” Heidi retorted. “I don’t see myself as a traditional bride anyway.”

“Not traditional?” Harper retorted. “Heidi, you quit your job to marry this man! If that isn’t traditional, I don’t know what is!”

“Planning a society wedding is going to be a full-time job in itself,” Heidi said. “Besides, I obviously won’t need the income anymore. It’s not like the job was my dream career. I was a receptionist.”

“That job was yours,” Harper countered. “That matters. Keeping something that belongs to you...” Harper sighed. In her humble opinion, her sister was fighting the wrong battle over keeping some independence. Heidi was waging war for a dress, but she’d given up her job. “I’m just saying, Chris’s family is very traditional. You’re marrying into one of the wealthiest families in the county. If you leave the dress as is, it’ll be tea length. So midcalf.”

“That’s long, Harper.”

Harper rolled her eyes. “Do you have to be so different all the time?”

“I’ll still be me,” Heidi quipped. “Difficult as always. Thankfully, Chris thinks I’m pretty.”

“You’ll want nice pictures. And so will he, for that matter.”

“I’ll want pictures that show me as me,” Heidi countered. “I have never in my life worn a long dress anywhere. I’m a jeans girl. So I think a short, flirty dress is a nice compromise.”

“And hack apart Grandma’s dress?” Harper gaped at her sister.

“We could use the leftover material in a flower girl dress for Zoey.” Heidi shrugged, a smile coming to her face. “It would be perfect!”

It would be perfect for Heidi, but what about any chance of Harper wearing her grandmother’s dress for her own wedding one day? What about Zoey’s wedding?

“I want to wear it, too,” Harper confessed.

“We always said that the first sister to get married would wear it,” Heidi interjected.

“We were teenagers at the time,” Harper replied. “And quite frankly, being the older sister, I’d assumed that would fall to me.”

“Well, sorry to beat you to it!” Tears sparkled in Heidi’s eyes. “So what are you saying—you won’t alter the dress for me?”

Harper didn’t answer. She wasn’t sure what she was saying.

“Why don’t you use the veil,” Heidi said. “I never wanted a veil anyway. I want a little fascinator like people do in London weddings.”

“The veil is gone,” Harper said woodenly. “It was taken in the robbery.”

She met her sister’s gaze and they were both silent for a moment. Heidi sighed.

“I didn’t know...”

“It would have been fair, though,” Harper said after a moment. “I might have agreed to that.”

Tears misted Harper’s gaze and she looked down at Zoey, who was staring up at them, her gray eyes wide.

“It’s okay, Zoey,” Harper said. “Auntie and I are just like little girls sometimes, and bicker. It’s nothing to worry about.”

“No biting,” Zoey whispered, and Harper and Heidi burst out laughing.

Harper scooped her daughter up into her arms and gave her a squeeze. “That’s solid advice, Zoey.”

They’d figure out something, and Harper sent up a silent and slightly selfish prayer that their solution would leave her a piece of her grandmother’s legacy for her own wedding day...and that she might be as blessed as her sister in the romance department. Heidi’s fiancé, Chris, was a great guy—smart, loyal, sweet...

But even if she didn’t find her own Mr. Right anytime soon, Harper had her daughter, whom she loved with all her heart. She’d never worn maternity clothes or given birth, but she knew that she was every bit a mom. Some blessings came along unexpected paths.

* * *

Gabe drove past Blessings Bridal on his way to the police station that morning. Everything looked as quiet as he expected. Passing the shop was out of his way, considering that he was staying at Lily and Bryce Camden’s bed and breakfast. The department wouldn’t pay for the entire cost of the B and B, but they subsidized it, which helped. And it was a whole lot more comfortable than the dive of a hotel he was going to be staying at originally. The breakfast that his hostess had prepared for him—apricot oatmeal, yogurt and a bowl of fresh fruit—made his stay feel more like a vacation than the reprimand that it was supposed to be. But this morning’s meeting with Chief Morgan should take care of that.

He parked in the lot next to the precinct and glanced at his watch. Gabe had been dreading this part—the discipline. It would come in the form of training, but everyone knew what this was. Granted, Gabe should have kept his mouth shut when his boss irritated him, but he didn’t think he’d been altogether wrong, either. Unfortunately, when it came to the chain of command, being right wasn’t everything.

Gabe remembered Chance Morgan from the local force when he’d been a troubled teen in Comfort Creek. Chief Morgan had been a sergeant back then, and Gabe hadn’t known him personally, but he still cared what the man thought of him. Gabe headed through the front doors and nodded to the receptionist, Cheryl. She was on the phone, but put the receiver against her shoulder to shield the mouthpiece and pointed toward the bull pen.

“The chief says to go straight to his office. He’s waiting for you,” she said with a smile.

Easy enough for her to smile. She wasn’t the one facing binders full of sensitivity training. He’d heard horror stories of those questionnaires and required reading...all about how to “constructively approach disagreements and negotiate a win-win solution.” Yeah, he’d had a buddy who did some sensitivity training in Fort Collins—apparently, not quite as in-depth as he was about to experience out here in Comfort Creek. If they had to physically send him away for the experience, he could only imagine what was in store.

He gave the receptionist a nod of thanks and headed around the bull pen toward the chief’s office. He could dread it all he wanted. There was no way out of Comfort Creek but through the program.

“Come in,” Chief Morgan called when Gabe knocked, and he opened the door.

Chief Morgan sat behind a desk. He looked to be about forty with sandy-blond hair that was just starting to gray. He appeared to be finishing some paperwork, and when Gabe came in, he flipped shut the folder and gave him a cordial nod.

“Have a seat, officer.”

“Thank you, sir.” Gabe shut the door behind him and eased into a chair.

“So, why are you here?”

Gabe sighed. “Insubordination, sir.”

Chief Morgan nodded, pulled another file out of a pile and opened it. “You’re a good officer. You work hard, take extra shifts, volunteer delivering food for the elderly during the holidays...” He pulled his finger down a page and flipped to the next, then the next. “So what happened?”

“I was out of line, sir,” Gabe said quickly. If he could speed this along, he would. There was no need to convince Gabe of the error of his ways. He’d accepted that he should have handled this differently if he wanted to avoid this lovely autumnal two-week stay in the dullest town in Colorado. The changing leaves were beautiful this time of year, but he’d trade them for some Fort Collins city streets in a heartbeat.

“I want to know what actually happened,” the chief said, meeting his gaze evenly. “I want your version.”

Gabe cleared his throat. “Well, sir, my supervising officer ordered me to make an arrest, and I chose to let the perp go.”

“And why would you defy an order?”

Why indeed? His supervising officer was a bully and had a personal vendetta against a twenty-year-old kid. The perp had bullied his supervisor’s son in high school, and while Gabe could appreciate the seriousness of bullying, his supervisor’s son wasn’t exactly innocent, either. He was a twit who figured he could get away with anything because his dad was a cop.

“The perp was caught stealing baby clothes and diapers, sir,” Gabe said. “I talked to him, and he said that his girlfriend needed some extra help in providing for their baby daughter. The perp and the girlfriend are no longer in a relationship, but he was trying to contribute—misguided as it might have been.”

“So you felt sorry for him,” the chief concluded.

“I recognized a spark of self-respect in the guy,” Gabe replied. “And I didn’t want to snuff it out.”

“But it says here that when your supervising officer reprimanded you, that you...had words.”

Gabe smiled grimly. That was putting it mildly. “That’s the part I regret, sir. I should have kept my opinions about my supervising officer to myself.”

“So what made you vent?”

Gabe paused, wondering how much he should say. The chief was regarding him with a look of sincere curiosity on his face.

“Between you and me, sir?” Gabe said. “The perp wasn’t a complete unknown to my supervisor. He had gone to high school with my supervisor’s son. The perp was a troublemaker from way back, but my supervisor’s son wasn’t exactly an innocent lamb, either. He’s been let off with a warning for numerous infractions over the years because of his father’s position. This one seemed...personal, I guess. And that wasn’t fair. My supervisor’s son is already off to college and he’ll have a bright future despite his youthful mistakes because he got special treatment. The perp? At least he was trying to provide for his child. And by the way, I paid for the merchandise and recommended a warehouse that was hiring.”

“Do you think he’ll take you up on the sound advice?” Chief Morgan asked.

Gabe shrugged. “No idea. I wanted him to have the chance.”

Chief Morgan nodded and made a few notes on his pad. “You were a bit of an underdog here in Comfort Creek when you were a kid, too, weren’t you?”

“A bit,” Gabe admitted.

“And do you think your issues with authority stem from that?”

Issues with authority... Okay, maybe he had a few. “No.”

Chief Morgan laughed softly. “Tell me about your teenage years here in Comfort Creek.”

“Not much to tell, sir.”

Frankly, Gabe wasn’t interested in talking about his personal history. He wasn’t a problem to be fixed, and as the chief had pointed out, he had a pretty solid service record.

“I knew your grandmother,” the chief added. “She was a good woman. I’m sorry for your loss.”

His grandmother... She’d been the one to raise Gabe, and while he’d loved her, he’d hated her in equal measure. She’d been a bully, too, but she’d hidden it better. No one would believe that Imogen Banks, pillar of the church and knitter of baby booties, could have been a mean and spiteful woman in private. But she was, and her constant flow of cutting words had torn Gabe to shreds. Her passing didn’t leave the hole in his heart that most people assumed.

“Thanks.” It was the expected response, and he always provided it.

“So getting down to business, then,” the chief went on. “I’m going to let you choose between two options. The first option is book work. In the basement, we have all sorts of binders with step-by-step lessons about dealing with our feelings in constructive manners. Or, we could do this another way.”

Was there really a way to avoid the humiliating book work? He leaned forward and immediately regretted it. He didn’t want to show weakness—an old habit that died hard.

“Is there another way, sir?” he asked hesitantly.

“Well...you could carry on doing patrol, keeping an eye on the bridal shop, and during the course of your stay here, you would record fifteen locations around town and your associations with them.”

“My associations...” Gabe frowned.

“Memories.” Chief Morgan leaned forward. “I want you to write down fifteen individual memories connected to fifteen individual locations in this community.”

“That’s rather personal, sir,” Gabe replied.

“It is.” The chief confirmed. “The thing is, Gabe, you’re one of ours. You were raised in Comfort Creek, and I know that you’re doing your very best to distance yourself from that fact. I have a feeling if you can make your peace with this town, and whatever it is that you hold against us, that your career will benefit.”

“With all due respect, sir—” Gabe began, but the chief held up his hand and started reading from a page in front of him.

“‘A bully. A twit. An overcompensating father making up for his pathetic son’s inadequacies. A coward hiding behind a badge’...and a few more turns of phrase that you probably don’t want to hear repeated.” The chief looked up.

“Yeah...” Those had been his words, pretty much exactly.

“Are you sure all of that was referring to your supervisor?” the chief asked.