Good Tidings (21 page)

“
Okay, that’s reasonable.”

“
I’ll take someone with me if I go shopping or take any local trips,” she added. “I won’t be alone in a place I can get snatched.”

“
That sounds good too.”

She looked at him, standing in the corner of her office, his arms crossed over his chest and his stance determined. She sighed. “And I suppose you will be sleeping in my guest room for the next little while.”

He nodded. “Oh, without a doubt.”

“
Bradley, I really don’t need a babysitter,” she argued.

“
Who said anything about you,” he asked, walking over to the rack and grabbing his coat. “I’m expecting you to protect me.”

She couldn’t help it… she grinned.

“
I’ll be back here in an hour,” he said, “To help you carry whatever you need from the office to your house. In the meantime, I’m calling a patrol car to hang out in front of your shop, so you can close your blinds.”

Mary stood and followed him to the door. “Just remember you aren’t his favorite person either,” she said. “You need to take precautions, too.”

He nodded. “So much for normal.”

“
Yeah, it was fun while it lasted.”

*****

”
Is it safe?” Stanley called from the doorway.

Mary jumped and then caught her breath. “Of course it’s safe,” she said. “What did you expect?”

Stanley shrugged. “Well, you have your blinds drawn in the middle of the day and I saw our favorite Police Chief head this way,” he explained. “I figured you and he were finally… well, you know… and you needed a little privacy.”

“
So, you came over?” she asked.

“
I yelled before I came in,” he said. “Besides that busy-body Rosie is headed down the street, so I wanted to give you two a chance to get decent.”

Mary laughed. “Yeah, Rosie is the busy-body.”

The bell over the door announced Rosie’s arrival. “I’m a busy-body?” she asked. “Well, of course I am. But really, you don’t need to advertise it.”

Mary laughed. “Stanley and I were discussing the actuality of which one of you is more nosey.”

“
Well, when I saw your blinds drawn in the middle of the day, I just had to see what was going on,” Rosie admitted.

She glanced around the room. “Chief Alden isn’t hiding in the closet, is he dear?”

“
No, he’s not,” she said. “And we are not planning on having sex in the middle of my office in the middle of the day.”

“
So when are you planning on having sex?” Stanley asked.

The bell over the door rang once again. “Who’s planning on having sex?” Bradley asked.

Mary laid her head in her hands and shook her head. “I’m living in a sitcom.”

“
You think having a murderer gunning for you is funny?” Bradley asked. “You really have a weird sense of humor.”

“
A murderer?” Rosie gasped.

“
Gunning for our Mary?” Stanley added. “Well, what the hell are you going to do about it, Chief?”

“
Stanley, Bradley is here to help me move things to my house, so I can work from there for a while,” she explained. “And I’ve assured him that I won’t go anywhere without a friend. So, I’ll probably be bugging the two of you when I need to go somewhere.”

“
Oh, Mary, that’s no problem at all,” Rosie said.

She turned to Bradley. “Should I be packing heat?”

“
Rosie, as a sworn law enforcement officer in the state of Illinois, I have to inform you that it is illegal to carry a concealed firearm on your person,” Bradley said.

Stanley snorted. “What he’s saying is, yes, you ninny, pack heat, but don’t tell him about it.”

“
That’s not exactly what I was saying,” Bradley began.

“
Don’t worry about it, Chief,” Stanley interrupted. “We know what to do. So how are you getting Mary out of here?”

Bradley shrugged. “My cruiser is at the curb in front of the office.”

“
Ain’t you got no imagination?” Stanley blustered. “If she’s a sitting duck with her blinds open, don’t you think both of you carrying her stuff out to your cruiser will be open season? I’ll pull old Betsey around back and Mary can pile her stuff in there.”

Rosie peered at the door. “Do you think he’s on top of one of the buildings, waiting to shoot us?”

Bradley shook his head. “I don’t think he’s a sniper, Rosie,” he said. “But we really shouldn’t discount any possibility.”

“
Well, I think it’s horrid that someone would try to kill you at Christmastime,” she said.

“
Yeah, after the holidays is much better,” Stanley muttered. “Darn fool woman.”

“
I heard that Stanley,” Rosie said.

“
I’m going to get my car,” Stanley said, “I’ll be back in five minutes.”

Stanley walked to the door, peered out and then left.

“
Well, it looks like it’s safe,” Rosie said. “Mary, I’ll go and pick up some groceries for you. What do you need?”

“
Diet soda,” Bradley and Mary said at the same time.

Rosie turned to Bradley. “Are you staying with Mary?”

Bradley nodded. “Yes, we thought it would be safer if I stayed at Mary’s,” he said, “In her guest room.”

Rosie smiled. “That’s wonderful! Wait until I tell Stanley! He’ll be so excited. I knew you weren’t gay.”

Rosie hurried out the door, so excited about her news she didn’t remember about the potential threat.

“
What was that all about?” Bradley asked.

Mary smiled innocently. “They’re just really happy you’re protecting me.”

*****

”
So, what did you learn about Private Kenney?” Mary asked, as she dished beef stew out of a large pot on her stove.

“
Well, his mother is the Kenney I was thinking of,” Rosie said, tossing a salad at the counter. “And he went to Freeport High School, graduated with the class of 1964.”

“
His best friend was Bob Sterling,” Stanley added, standing at the counter buttering a hot roll.

“
Hey, I know Bob Sterling,” Bradley said, sitting at the table. “He’s on the Fire and Police Commission. He’s a good guy.”

“
Yeah, those two were thick as thieves when they were young,” Stanley said, chuckling and buttering another roll. “Can’t remember the number of times I caught them in my crab apple tree.”

“
Did they serve together in Vietnam?” Mary asked.

Rosie nodded, carrying the salad to the table. “Yes, they did,” she said. “Bob was with Pat when he died. They said it changed his life. He never married.”

“
Yeah, death is a life changing event,” Mary said, “no matter which side of the fence you’re standing on.”

Mary carried the bowls to the table and snatched the basket of rolls from Stanley. “You know we were going to share these,” she scolded.

“
Well, if you’re going to be selfish,” Stanley grumbled, taking his place at the table.

“
Thanks for saving them,” Bradley said. “I was getting worried.”

Rosie laughed. “I think there’s plenty of food to go around.”

“
So, getting back to business,” Mary teased. “Was there anyone else in town that was his friend?”

“
You know, he was sweet on that gal over at the Courthouse… Linda Lincoln,” Stanley said.

“
Really?” Mary replied. “Linda? She is the sweetest person in the world.”

“
Yeah, she lost her husband back about a year ago,” Rosie said, “Poor thing.”

“
Wow! I didn’t know.”

“
Well, I think you’d just come into town,” Rosie explained. “You probably hadn’t even met her yet. Must be hard to lose two people you love.”

“
I can’t imagine,” Bradley said.

“
Well, maybe you don’t love the second one as much as the first,” Stanley suggested. “Maybe you play it safe, so your heart won’t get banged up.”

“
Seems to me that you can’t pick when you fall in love,” Rosie said. “You can only choose to accept it and enjoy it, or run away from it.”

“
Spoken like a gal who has enjoyed her fill of being in love,” Stanley said.

“
Nothing wrong with being in love,” Rosie grinned. “It’s my favorite pastime.”

“
Getting back to Private Kenney…I wonder if his personal effects were sent home,” Mary said. “It seems the letter he’s looking for is the key.”

“
Do you want me to approach his mother?” Rosie asked. “I can say the Historical Society is thinking about doing something to honor Veterans next year and wondered if she still had some of his things we could borrow.”

“
That would be wonderful, Rosie,” Mary said. “Then we aren’t opening up too many old wounds.”

Rosie and Stanley left after dinner; Mary pulled her laptop out and sat in front of the fireplace. Bradley sat on the couch flipping through some reports. Suddenly Mary sat up straight. “What?” Bradley asked, instantly alert.

“
I just realized,” Mary said, a little bit of panic in her voice.

Bradley sat down next to her on the floor. “What? What is it?”

“
It’s after the first of December and I still don’t have my Christmas tree up.”

Bradley exhaled deeply. “You’re kidding right?”

Mary shook her head. “No, my family usually puts the tree up the day after Thanksgiving. I’ve wasted a whole week.”

“
I don’t think I would classify what we did last week as
wasting
,” he said.

She smiled. “Yeah, but we don’t have any excuses now.”

“
What? It’s dark outside,” he protested. “We can’t find a tree in the dark.”

“
Oh, I already have my tree,” she said. “I went to the tree farm and cut it the day before Thanksgiving, to beat the rush. It’s in my garage in a bucket of water.”

“
And you want me to…”

“
Please Bradley?”

He rubbed his shoulder. “I don’t know, I have this wound,” he began.

“
I’ll make popcorn,” she said.

“
Real popcorn? Not microwave?”

“
Real popcorn with real butter.”

Bradley sighed. “You run a hard bargain, Mary O’Reilly,” he said with a smile. “Where’s the tree stand?”

“
In the box next to the tree,” she said.

A few minutes later Bradley came back in carrying the tree. “This is it?” he asked. “This is your tree?”

Mary looked at the slightly lopsided and scrawny tree and nodded.

“
I thought you went early,” he said. “This was all they had left?”

“
No,” Mary admitted, feeling slightly embarrassed. “It’s a Rudolph Tree.”

“
A what?”

“
You know,” she sang. “All of the other reindeers used to laugh and call him names; they never let poor Rudolph join in any reindeer games.”

Bradley shook his head. “Sorry, still not getting it.”

“
Well, all of the other trees were big and bushy and symmetrical, and there was my tree, lopsided and a little bare and all by himself.”

“
Because all of the other Christmas trees wouldn’t let him join in any Christmas Tree games?” Bradley asked.

“
Exactly!” Mary said with a smile.

“
Mary,” Bradley said patiently, “there are no such things as Christmas Tree games.”

“
Ha! A couple months ago you thought there were no such things as ghosts,” she countered.

He paused, looked at her and looked at the tree. “You’re kidding, right?”

She giggled. “Yeah, but I did feel sorry for it,” she said. “Do you think it will look really bad?”

“
No, Mary, I think it will be the most beautiful tree because it’s the best loved.”

“
Bradley, you’re a poet.”

“
No, I’m just beginning to see the world from a different perspective.”

Two hours later, the popcorn was popped and devoured, and Bradley was putting the angel on the top of the tree. Mary stood back, watching him, her hands clasped in excitement. “Oh, this is just beautiful, you did a great job,” she said.

“
Yeah, imagine my surprise when I found that all of your lights weren’t neatly put away in last year’s containers,” he grumbled.

“
But didn’t that make you feel more at home?” she asked.

He turned and glared at her. “No!”

She laughed out loud. “Okay, a little more to the left and she will be perfect,” Mary directed.

Bradley twisted the angel to the left and stood back.

“
Now comes the best part,” Mary said. “When I say three, you need to switch off the living room lights.”

Bradley positioned himself next to the light switch and Mary knelt down next to the tree. She plugged the tree in and yelled, “Three!”

Bradley flipped the switch, now all of the lights in the house were off . The little tree illuminated the room in sparkles of white, green, red and blue. “Isn’t this great?” she asked, moving next to him and looking at the tree.