The Guarded Widow (21 page)

“You’re in with love her. I see it when you look at her. Gavin, I’m so happy for you.”

Panic stricken, his eyes checked the door way to ensure Olivia wasn’t still nearby, and then he immediately tried bringing his mother back down a couple of notches.

“Mom, I’m begging you, please calm down. You’re going to scare her to death. Yes, I do care about her a great deal…”

His mother interrupted him. “Humph, I know you. You’re my son and I know as plain as the nose on my face that you are in love with this woman.”

Gavin winced. He hadn’t realized at thirty seven years of age, his mother still had the capacity to completely embarrass him.

“Mom, please keep this to yourself. I mean, Olivia just sat here and shared that her husband died two years ago, on the twenty ninth of this month.
And we just explained to you why I ended up deciding to stay here, temporarily, until this case is resolved.”

In frustration, he glanced out the window, barely listening as his mother tried to voice another argument to support her opinion, and noticed another car was coming up the driveway.

Thank God, he thought as his mother continued prattling away. Taking advantage of the opportunity to escape, he jumped up from the living room sofa and bolted for the door.

As he exited the room, he wore a boyish grin. “That must be Olivia’s Dad.”

Then he walked outside fully prepared to meet the father of the woman he intended to marry.

Walter Spangler was a friendly, jolly man and it was easy to take a liking to him right off the bat. Especially after he’d called Gavin a strapping young fellow as he greeted him with a warm handshake. Mr. Spangler or Walter quickly confided to him that Maddy had given him a call a few days ago, bringing him up to date on the recent events in Olivia’s life. So the older man, being quite grateful, even became misty eyed as he thanked Gavin, profusely, for taking care of his little girl.

Frank and Walter seemed to hit it off right away too and as the afternoon wore on the two older men decided they wanted to make a trip into town to patronize Mulligan’s for a while. After relaying their request to Gavin, he then broached the subject with Olivia, who was in the kitchen, where she was putting together homemade lasagna and meatballs for their Christmas Eve dinner.

“Are you sure you don’t mind?” he asked again, not feeling totally comfortable with idea of leaving her there, without him, at the house.

Olivia smiled, gently pushing him toward the hallway.

“Go and have fun. Your mom is here, it’s not like we’ll be by ourselves. We’ll enjoy having some time to get to know one another.”

So Gavin took the two fathers into town and as they pulled into Mulligan’s parking lot, he decided to steal a few minutes, alone, to stop in and see Ron.

“Hey, I’ll come in for a beer, but then I want to head over to the station,” he informed them.

The older men, deep in conversation, barely acknowledged his statement as they squabbled over the outcome of a recent professional foot ball game.

Considering it was the afternoon of Christmas Eve, Mulligan’s bar was fairly busy so Frank and Walter selected a table near the bar and promptly ordered their drinks. As the waitress delivered their first round of drafts, Walter winked at Frank, and then turned his head toward Gavin.

“So young man, what do you think of my beautiful daughter?” he asked before downing a third of his beer in one sip. “Be prepared, Gavin, my boy. My Olivia is one passionate, feisty woman.”

Gavin smiled at her boastful father. “Yes, I’d gathered that about her fairly quickly.” Walter kept on talking as though Gavin had never even answered him.

“I will never forget the time I came home from work and my wife was fit to be tied because Olivia had slammed her bedroom door so hard she broke a picture frame which had been hanging on the hallway wall. She used to have a terrible habit of slamming doors,” Frank said, happily reminiscing.

Gavin grinned into his draft of beer. “You don’t say?”

Walter chuckled at his memory. “Yes, she sure did. That girl had a heck of a temper. So the next day while she was at school, I took her bedroom and closet doors right off the hinges. Needless to say, she was furious with her mother and me but that certainly stopped the door slamming issue.”

“I’ll have to remember that one,” Gavin replied, dryly. He couldn’t begin to imagine the depth of Olivia’s wrath if he ever decided to remove a single door. Tipping back his glass, he drained the remnants of his beer and placed it firmly onto the table.

“If you’ll excuse me gentlemen, I’m going to stop in to see Ron.”

Within minutes of Gavin exiting Mulligan’s, another man discreetly slipped into the bar. He took a seat in a far shadowy corner and ordered a double shot of whiskey. Johnny Johnson had a very keen interest in the two older men who’d arrived with the cop in Olivia Jones’s vehicle. Vigilantly watching them as they talked and laughed together, he wondered who they might be in relation to Mrs. Jones. And wondered how they could help him to achieve his goal of cornering Olivia Jones.

Ron was thrilled to see Gavin walking toward his desk. He’d really been missing his partner and friend.

“Hey man, this is a surprise,” he said, craning his neck to see if Olivia and the kids were with him.

Gavin swung his desk chair around to make himself comfortable in front of Ron’s desk. He straddled the chair, resting his brawny arms upon the back support.

“They’re not here, Ron. As a matter of fact, they’re at Olivia’s with my Mom,” he said while studying his friend’s face as he deliberately emphasized his last two words.

Ron’s eyebrows lifted in mock surprise, but then judging by the expression on Gavin’s face, there was no doubt in his mind his partner knew about the conversation with Elsa Rafferty so he guiltily cleared his throat.

“Why in the hell would you tell my Mother I’m head over heels for a woman?”

Ron warily eyed his friend before giving him an answer.

“Well, you are. Anyway, I was just making conversation with your Mom. What else was I going to talk to her about?”

“Gee, I don’t know. Maybe the weather, “Gavin said with disgust.

Although he’d already resigned himself to the fact that he was indeed head over heels for Olivia Jones, he didn’t like it being a topic of a conversation, especially with his own mom.

An insinuating grin crossed Ron’s face. “So I take it you’ve been enjoying your stay?”

A quick glance at his friend’s expression, told him exactly what was being implied so Gavin decided to end that train of thought, pronto.

“I really have. But just for the record, Olivia and I aren’t sleeping together.”

He watched with sadistic delight as Ron, who’s normally not at a loss for words, opened his mouth and then closed it again. So Gavin decided to continue on, while he still had the chance.

“As a matter of fact, I’ve decided that once Johnny Johnson is in custody, I’m going to ask her to marry me.”

A wide grin spread across Gavin’s face as Ron’s eyes nearly bugged out of his head.

Ron had forever been a bachelor at heart. The very idea of marriage and commitment, with one woman, had always struck fear in his soul. Although over the years he’d occasionally go full circle and end up in the arms of Maddy Spangler, it had never lasted for long. He’d always end it, whenever he thought Maddy was warming to the idea of a real relationship. And to be honest, she’d never been the type of woman who’d ever stay with one man for very long. Gavin had often thought they’d been drawn to each other since they were so similar.

“What the hell? Rafferty, are you kidding me?” Ron leaned forward to emphasize his next words. “You’re sitting here trying to tell me that you’ve been living with this good looking woman for the last few weeks, you’re definitely attracted to her, and you’re not tagging it?”

Cold blue eyes narrowed dangerously in Ron’s direction. Regardless of the blatant warning, Ron continued on anyway. “Why would you want to marry her without even test driving her first?”

The words barely escaped his lips as Gavin’s hand shot across the desk and grabbed him by the front of his uniform, hauling him to his feet.

“You will never talk about Olivia that way again,” Gavin growled and then quickly released him.

Disgusted by his own actions, he momentarily stalked away while Ron was trying to adjust his shirt.

“Sorry Gav, it just surprised me is all.” Ron shrugged his broad shoulders. “I guess I didn’t think about how I worded it.”

Gripping his hand onto the back of his own desk chair, Gavin faced him with a cool, level glare. “She’s got values, something, some of us don’t have.”

“I’ve got values. I just, apparently, have different values,” Ron claimed as he gathered up the papers which had been scattered by Gavin’s lunge across his desk. Then he glanced back up.

“Besides, I don’t recall you heeding those same kinds of values in the past,” he quipped. Then witnessing the flash of sheer annoyance cast in his direction, Ron decided it would be a good idea to drop the subject.

Instead, he tried to smother a grin and asked sarcastically, “Are you going to have a long engagement then?”

Gavin dropped back down on the chair with a painful groan. “No, not if I can help it. I don’t think I can survive more than another month or two as it is.”

After noting the agonized expression on his partner’s face, Ron threw back his head and roared with laughter.

Gavin on the other hand, was not nearly as amused.

Olivia and Elsa spent the afternoon baking cookies with the boys, enjoying the casual atmosphere in which they learned more about each other. When the men returned home from their afternoon sojourn, they enjoyed a Christmas Eve dinner together. Afterwards, they all settled in with freshly baked Christmas cookies to watch a classic holiday movie.

As everyone attempted to find seats Olivia tried to slide onto the family room couch, but Gavin wouldn’t have it.

He deliberately reached up and pulled her down beside him. While she tucked her feet underneath her bottom, trying to get comfortable, he leaned over and whispered in her ear, “I’ve missed you today. Right now, I want you near me.”

Struggling to put a little distance between them, he abruptly tugged her back to where he wanted her.

“Gavin, the boys and our parents are right here,” Olivia whispered as she again sought to separate their bodies.

“I promise not to grope you during the movie,” he quietly stated, casually draping his arm over her shoulders.

However, as soon as the room darkened, he teasingly started lowering his hand down toward her chest. Gavin chuckled as she elbowed him, hard in the ribcage, but then he couldn’t help but laugh out loud when was shushed by his own mother.

“We can’t push Olivia out of her own bedroom,” Elsa argued for the third time since she’d entered the house that day.

“Mom, just go to bed,” Gavin firmly whispered, trying to tiptoe back down the staircase. It had been difficult getting the boys to bed; he didn’t want to risk anyone waking too soon.

As he rounded the corner into the hall, he noticed the powder room light was still on. Out of curiosity, he tried the knob but door was locked. Just as he lifted his hand to knock, Olivia threw open the door.

In the mornings she’d always made sure she was dressed appropriately before possibly running into Gavin. So when she stepped out wearing only a thigh skimming cotton night gown with her hair piled high upon her head, she felt embarrassed.

Gavin, on the other hand, felt as though he’d just been punched in the gut. The physical need which exploded through him was so powerful, he couldn’t move. He just stood there, staring.

His searing gaze began with the loose curling tendrils of hair lying softly against her neck, swiftly traveled to the short line of her night gown, and then back up again. He swallowed hard before giving her a lazy sensual smile.

“Do you wear anything under that, Olivia?”

She hit him with her handful of clothes and smiled coyly.

“That’s none of your business, Gavin.”

He groaned as he backed away, muttering, “You’re killing me here.”

She smiled with delight, experiencing a sense of female satisfaction as she witnessed his reaction to her.

“Actually, I forgot to bring down my robe, this wasn’t intentional.”

He continued torturing himself by watching her walk further down the hallway. The kitchen lights shone brilliantly behind her as she turned around and looked at him. He groaned again, a little louder this time, as he caught a glimpse of her curvy silhouette lurking beneath the thin fabric of the nightgown.

“Good night,” she told him, completely unaware of the torment she was continuing to cause him.

After flipping off the lights and verifying that the security system was armed, she retired to the living room sofa.

I’m never going to be able to sleep now, he realized as he pulled off his shirt and dropped down onto the family room couch. Not with the mental image running through his head of Olivia standing before him, in only her nightgown. His own overactive imagination kept him awake for quite some time as he tossed and turned in sexual frustration.