aunt and her friends run this one-horse town. If it wasn’t for her, we’d still be—”
“The creek no one ever heard of.” Jack put the cruiser in Drive. “True, but you’re definitely in her sights for the next few weeks. Just so you know. I won’t be down the street before she calls me wanting to know all.”
“I’m good with it. She makes great chocolate chip cookies.”
Jack grinned. “I know. By the way, I was told to give you a nudge to snoop around your wife’s flower shop.”
Seagal’s cup didn’t quite make it to his mouth. “What am I looking for?”
Jack shrugged. “Anything suspicious. Especially check out the employees, and anyone who seems to hang around a lot. You get the idea.”
“Yeah, but—” Seagal considered what Jack was saying. “The drugs could have been moved after Capri put the arrangements out at Christmastown.”
“Probably. Just check around.”
Jack drove off. Seagal grabbed the newspaper lying on the sidewalk and waved to Mrs. Penny before heading inside the small painted house, ruminating on how he could snoop around Capri’s shop without getting her annoyed at him. She’d always been super-independent. And they weren’t on the world’s best terms.
Now he had to scope out her business and her home.
Nothing good could come of this.
“Good morning.” He looked at Capri as he walked into the kitchen. She seemed pale, not her usual sparkly self. “You all right?”
Capri picked up her purse. “I had a little stomach upset last night. It kept me up, so I’m going to let Dr. Blankenship check me over.”
“I’ll drive you,” Seagal said quickly.
She looked at him. “Kelly’s going to take me, thanks. Don’t you have work?”
He did—her. “Nothing I can’t handle. Cancel Kelly and let me sub in. A dad should be there if his young son is causing his mother heartburn. And anyway, isn’t Kelly part of the Christmastown cleanup team this morning?”
Capri hesitated. He loved how she’d pulled her blond hair up into a bouncy ponytail to get it out of her face. She no longer wore the skinny jeans and cute cropped sweaters she’d once favored, but she was still all kinds of beautiful as far as he was concerned. Sexier than ever, actually. He felt his own heart get a little burn in it that had nothing to do with anything he’d eaten and everything to do with his wife keeping him at arm’s length.
“Yes, she is. So am I, but Dr. Blankenship said I could cross that fun off my list immediately.” She looked at Seagal. “I guess you can take me to the doctor. Thank you.”
“Great.” He grabbed his keys and tried to help her to the front door. Capri waved him off. “Because I was about to play the guilt card on you.”
“That would be a new one,” Capri said.
He thought she sounded tense and realized she didn’t feel well at all. “Hey, you want me to carry you?”
“No,” Capri said. “I want you to walk very slowly and don’t do anything to get Mrs. Penny in a lather.”
“Too late,” Seagal said, waving again to Mrs. Penny. It seemed rude not to acknowledge her at her lace-festooned lookout.
“It’s going to be all over town that you spent the night,” Capri said, not thrilled.
“Yeah, well. Could be worse, right? Could have been her nephew, my buddy Jack.”
He helped Capri into the car. She eased in as though she was trying not to disturb fragile packaging. “Are you sure I shouldn’t take you straight to the hospital?”
“I’m fine.” Capri put a hand on her stomach and looked out the window, deliberately avoiding his gaze. He pulled out of the drive, resisting the urge to mash the pedal to the floor.
“You’re almost seven months pregnant,” Seagal said. She’d kicked him out—though she claimed he’d left—four months ago. “How did I not notice?”
“Even I didn’t know.” Capri sighed. “The first trimester was a dream. I didn’t realize I was pregnant until the end of the third month. The second trimester was more difficult, at least for me. I didn’t start showing for quite a while, I guess because I’m tall.” He felt her gaze on him. “I did have a little bit of stomach distress when you were still here, but I assumed it was extreme annoyance. So I ignored it.”
He grimaced. “Turned out it was a baby?”
She sighed. “You might as well know. There are two. Not even Kelly knew that.”
Seagal slammed the brakes at the stop sign out of pure reflex. “Two what?”
“Babies.”
Shock. Brain-hit-with-a-stun-gun shock. “We’re having twins?”
“That’s right. Drive. I don’t want to be late.”
Seagal couldn’t get any words past his throat. No wonder Capri seemed so big. She was big. “When were you going to tell me?”
“When you got over the initial shock of finding out you were going to be a father.”
He grunted, his heart racing. Two? There were no multiples in his family, or hers, as he recalled. “How did that happen?”
“You made love to me a lot,” Capri said, “and something hit bingo would be my guess.”
He had made love to her as often as possible. To be honest, making love to Capri was pretty much the best part of his day. He missed it like crazy.
He missed her like crazy.
“I should never have left,” he said. “You talked me into a separation, but I knew better at the time. I was right. We belong together.”
She shrugged. “Not because we’re going to be parents, Seagal. Children won’t fix what was wrong with our marriage.”
He parked in front of the doctor’s office. “Sit right there and do not move, Miss Independence. I’m coming around to shoehorn you out. I’m afraid if you move the wrong way, we’ll have babies sooner rather than later.”
Seagal hurried around to help her out of the car, amazed that his wife actually remained seated, patiently waiting for him. The soft blue dress fell around her tummy, catching his eye. It looked as if a watermelon had taken up residence inside his delicate wife. He eased her from the seat, trying to brace her. “I came back not a moment too soon, I can tell. I’m not leaving your side, Capri.”
“Obviously,” she said, sounding as though she was gritting her teeth a bit. “You’re assigned to me.”
“That’s right,” he said cheerfully, reminded that she couldn’t dislodge him even if she wanted to.
“Assigned
