Mist on the Meadow (34 page)

“This is all happening so fast.” Mrs.
Maitland dabbed at her cheeks with a tissue. “How can you possibly
know how you feel in such a short time? Love isn’t the same as sex,
you know.”

“You’ll pardon me for saying so, but I do
know the difference.” Wolf said.

“And if we don’t give you our permission?”
Mrs. Maitland asked.

Mr. Maitland patted her hands. “He doesn’t
need our permission. I’m guessing they’ve already discussed it.
He’s asking for our blessing.”

“If they’ve already discussed it, then what
difference does it make what we say?” she asked.

Wolf leaned over his knees. “Family means
everything to Marissa. I can see that. You took me into your home
on Christmas Eve, and that meant a lot to me. I can’t promise we
won’t get married without your blessing, but we would both rather
have your approval. If you are against this, I would abide by
whatever decision Marissa makes, even if that means we don’t get
married.” He swallowed hard to hold his emotions at bay. “It’s been
a long time since I’ve had real family, but I certainly understand
if you’re not willing to take me into yours.”

Mr. Maitland smiled, but Mrs. Maitland tossed
her head. “With everything that’s happened in the past few weeks,
how do we know you aren’t taking advantage of her frame of mind?”
she asked.

Wolf chuckled. “She’s a strong woman. She
knows what she wants and I sincerely doubt she’d take me if it
wasn’t what she wanted. I am amazed at her composure and
single-mindedness. I assume she told you what happened with my
uncle?”

The Maitlands exchanged glances. “Your
uncle?” Mr. Maitland asked.

Wolf glanced at the television. The football
game was going to half-time and a news brief popped with his
uncle’s picture. He pointed and Mr. Maitland restored the
volume.

Mrs. Maitland rose to her feet and put her
hands over her mouth. “He tried to kill her? And she didn’t tell
us? What happened?”

“I think it would be better for her to tell
you,” Wolf said.

“She might have called,” her father said, his
eyebrows drawn together. He stared at Wolf again, his jaw set. “How
do I know you can keep her safe?”

“I’m trying.” Wolf said. “If she’d only let
me.”

Mr. Maitland’s jaw slacked into a smile. “It
seems you do know her better than we thought.”

Mrs. Maitland shook a finger, but didn’t say
anything.

“Invite them to dinner tonight,” Mr. Maitland
suggested.

Mrs. Maitland nodded. “Yes. Tonight.”

“Yes ma’am.”

“Bonnie,” she said. “Call me Bonnie. Ma’am
sounds like an old lady.”

Mr. Maitland rose from his seat and extended
his hand. “If Marissa’s willing to take you, then you have my
blessing.”

* * *

Marissa hung up the phone and grabbed hold of
Angela’s arms.

“What?” Angela asked with a scowl.

“My parents saw Wolf’s uncle on the news. I
haven’t had a chance to tell them anything yet.”

“What are you talking about?”

Marissa rolled her eyes. “I went to talk to
Wolf yesterday, to tell him . . .” she wasn’t ready to tell anyone
about the baby. Until she could go to the doctor, the pregnancy
wasn’t quite real. “Well, I just went to talk to Wolf
yesterday.”

“Yeah, I heard about that. You mentioned
something about being engaged. So what about his uncle?”

“He locked me in the garden shed and burned
it down.”

Angela dropped the pastry bag she’d been
working with and held Marissa’s arms. “Oh my God! How did you get
out?”

“I broke a window and crawled through.”

“And you want to marry into this family?”

Laughter bubbled inside. Marissa rolled her
eyes. “So much has happened. My mom is so upset that I didn’t call
her sooner. She insisted I come to dinner. What if they blame
him?”

“Your parents? Not likely. These are the same
people who took me in when my parents moved. The same people who
invite sailors over for Christmas. They’re going to look on Wolf as
a poor orphan boy who needs somebody to love him. Have you told
them you want to marry him?”

Marissa let go and turned around. “How am I
going to tell them now? ‘Oh, and by the way, even though his uncle
tried to kill me, I want to marry Wolf?’”

“You might work on the presentation.” Angela
resumed her cake decorating.

Marissa glanced at the dining room. All the
tables were full and closing time was still an hour and a half
away. Max worked the lunch grill. Three more special orders were
lined up on her end of the prep table and she was only halfway
through Mrs. O’Malley’s Irish cream cake. She turned the mixer on
and added the last of the ingredients, then poured the cake into
the pan and passed it into the oven.

Max scraped the grill and cast a glance over
his shoulder when Marissa approached. “What? Am I doing something
wrong?”

“Mom invited me to dinner.”

“So?”

Marissa put her hands to her hips. “Did they
say anything to you last night? This morning?”

Max straightened and faced her. “Like
what?”

He was going to find out at dinner anyway.
“Yesterday, Wolf’s uncle tried to kill me.”

Max’s eyes widened. “Excuse me?”

“I stopped at Harper Manor to tell Wolf
something, but he wasn’t there. His uncle was.” Marissa wrapped her
arms around herself. “Wolf’s cousin sent me out to the garden shed,
and when I got there, Wolf’s uncle locked me in and tried to burn
it down.”

“What’s the punch line? How come you’re not a
crispy critter?”

Tears streamed down her cheeks. “I broke the
window and crawled out.”

Max took her in his arms. “You’re not
kidding. Are you all right?”

She nodded.

“And Mom and Dad?”

“They saw a story on the news.” Marissa
sniffled and pushed out of Max’s embrace.

Max rolled his eyes. “Oh, that’s not
good.”

She swiped at her nose with her sleeve. “Max,
Wolf asked me to marry him.”

Max leaned toward her, eyebrows raised.
“What?”

Marissa shrugged.

“Holy monkeys. Anything else?”

She nodded, but she couldn’t tell him about
the baby. Max rolled his hand to invite her to continue.

“I don’t want to say anything else right
now,” she said.

Becky handed Max another lunch order along
with a coy smile. He responded with a sideways grin of his own. Max
watched Becky walk away and Marissa slugged his arm.

“Oh no, you’re not,” she said.

Max raised his eyebrows again. “What?”

“You and Becky?”

He flashed that sideways grin again. “Give it
a rest. I’m going back to school tomorrow.”

Marissa laughed. “Man-whore,” she said as she
returned to the prep table.

It wasn’t going to be just another dinner
with the Maitlands.

“Well, you were right about one thing,”
Marissa’s father told her. “If trouble wants to find you, it
doesn’t matter where you are, but I’m still not comfortable with
you living alone. You sure you don’t want to move home until your
lease is up?”

The heat rose in her cheeks. Would her
parents object when she told them she wanted to move in with Wolf?
And how had he managed an invitation to dinner? They probably
wanted to grill him on his involvement in the whole fiasco.

“I think I can help with that,” Wolf said. He
pushed away from the dinner table, reached into his pocket and
dropped to a knee beside her chair.

Marissa’s heart rate sped up. He wasn’t doing
this now, was he? She shot a glance to each of her parents and when
she returned her attention to Wolf, he held a jewelry box open in
front of her. A beautiful sapphire and diamond ring took her breath
away.

“Will you marry me?” he asked.

Her parents were smiling. Smiling? Max wore a
smirk.

“Evidently he stopped over while we were
slaving away at the café,” Max said.

“You told my parents?” She touched the box,
her eyes glued to the ring.

“I wanted their blessing.”

Marissa’s hands shook as she took the ring
and slipped it on her finger.

“Isn’t there something you want to say to
Wolf?” her mother asked, one eyebrow arched.

Spots danced before her eyes. Marissa fanned
her face. “Yes?”

Wolf smiled and took her hand. He raised the
ring to her face. “It matches your eyes.”

From the end of the table, Marissa heard her
mother sniffle. “You asked for their blessing?” she whispered.

He nodded.

“At least now the baby will have a father,”
her father said.

Marissa’s heart skipped a beat. “You told
them about the baby?”

“Baby?” Max echoed.

Wolf shrugged. “They already knew, didn’t
they?”

She winced. “But I didn’t even know for
sure.”

“You must have said something.”

“Baby?” Max asked again.

The secret was out. Marissa exhaled a sigh
and shrugged at her brother. “Uncle Max.”

Max blew out a whistle. “No wonder you were
so nervous about dinner. When it rains, it pours.”

Wolf rose to his feet and kissed her hand. He
mouthed the words, “I love you.”

Marissa nodded. “Me too.”

Her mother sniffled and pushed away from the
table. “Dessert?”

Marissa wanted to follow her mother into the
kitchen, to explain, but she couldn’t manage to break away from
Wolf. “They gave you their blessing?”

Wolf cocked an eyebrow in her father’s
direction. “He said if you were willing to take me, he’d give us
his blessing.” Wolf furrowed his brow and reached into his pocket
for his cell phone. “Will you excuse me a minute? It’s my aunt.” He
disappeared into the foyer.

Marissa glanced at her father. “Really?”

He smiled at her. “I trust you, baby
girl.”

“A baby,” Max said. “I knew there was more
when you told me at the café.”

“You will tell us the next time someone tries
to kill you?” her father said.

Marissa erupted with a laugh. “I hope that
isn’t necessary.”

Marissa’s mother backed into the dining room
carrying a tray with a bottle of wine, four wineglasses and one
glass of milk. “A toast.”

Wolf returned at the same time, his brow
furrowed.

“What’s wrong?” Marissa asked.

“A toast,” he repeated. “But then I have to
go. My aunt tells me there’s a problem at the Manor.”

“You’re not rushing off,” her mother
said.

“I’m sorry,” Wolf replied. “It sounded
important.”

“Marissa, you’ll stay for a while yet, won’t
you?”

Marissa glanced at Wolf. “I’m going with
you.”

Her mother set down the tray and poured out
the glasses of wine. “Sorry, honey. No wine for you.” She smiled
and handed Marissa the glass of milk.

Her father toasted their engagement, her
mother toasted the baby and Wolf raised his glass but only took a
sip. He entwined his fingers with Marissa’s and the now-familiar
current surged silently between them.

* * *

“What did your aunt say?” Marissa asked
Wolf.

Wolf drove through the gates of Harper Manor,
past his aunt’s Prius and into the garage. “Only that something was
wrong and that I had to get to the Manor right away.” Whatever it
was, it couldn’t be good. He shrugged to ease the tension, hoping
Chuck hadn’t done something stupid. “I wish you would have stayed
with your parents.”

“Not a chance. Whatever’s going on, we stand
a better chance at fixing it together.”

Marissa reached for his hand, but he wouldn’t
take it. Wolf didn’t want her to know how panicky his aunt had
sounded, how nervous he actually was.

They walked through the back door into the
kitchen without any signs of visitors. For once, Wolf wished Chuck
was sitting there to greet them. His aunt couldn’t have gained
entrance unless Chuck let her in. Wolf held up a hand to stop
Marissa. “Let me go find them.”

“Not without me.”

He should have expected that.

They crept through the corridor toward the
parlor. Whatever he’d expected to find, this sure wasn’t it. His
Aunt Corrine was locked in an embrace with a man he didn’t
immediately recognize. The guy had silver hair and was only a
couple of inches taller than his aunt. His aunt pushed the man away
and slapped him. Hard enough to leave an imprint. Wolf cleared his
throat.

Wolf folded his arms. “Are you alright, Aunt
Corrine?” The man turned to face him and Wolf’s pulse rate
quickened. His arms dropped to his side. “Senator Blankenship?”

The senator extended a hand and walked toward
him. “We meet again.”

Wolf didn’t take the hand.

Senator Blankenship straightened his shirt.
He smiled at Aunt Corrine. “Your aunt’s a lovely lady. I merely
meant to console her after hearing about your uncle, but I guess I
got carried away.”

The lie was too easy, too transparent.
Marissa’s hand slipped into Wolf’s. He drew on her strength, but
Wolf struggled to keep his temper in check. “Not a smart thing for
a married politician to be doing,” he said.

He wanted the senator out of Harper Manor.
Now. “Why are you here?”

“And Miss Maitland. How nice to see you
again,” Senator Blankenship said.

“What do you want?” Wolf asked.

The senator raised an eyebrow. “To the point.
I like that.”

Marissa’s second hand wrapped around Wolf’s
elbow.

“Aren’t you the young lady that Wolf’s uncle
tried to kill?” Blankenship asked. “That must have been quite an
ordeal.”

“What do you want?” Wolf repeated.

“I have a business proposition for you.”

“And it wouldn’t wait until I was in the
office tomorrow?” Wolf asked.

“I thought it might be better presented in a
less formal atmosphere.”

Wolf recalled the image he’d gotten at the
café, the one of Uncle Pete and Senator Blankenship, and the stolen
inventory from Harper Electronics.