himself now than to uphold parking laws, he shifted his gaze. “You’re parked illegally. Again.”
“I am?” All innocence, she fluttered at him. “Why, I don’t know how that happened, Devin. I would have sworn I pulled into the right place. I just came in to check out a few books. I’d have walked, but I had to run into the city, and stopped by on my way home. Reading’s one of God’s gifts, isn’t it, Sarah Jane?”
“It is indeed.” Though her mouth remained solemn, the dark eyes in Sarah Jane’s wrinkled face were laughing. Devin had to concentrate on not shuffling his feet.
“You’re in the red zone, Mrs. Metz.”
“Oh, dear. You didn’t give me a ticket, did you?”
“Not yet,” Devin muttered.
“Because Mr. Metz gets all huffy when I get a ticket. And I’ve only been here for a minute or two, isn’t that right, Sarah Jane.”
“Just a minute or two,” Sarah Jane confirmed, but she winked at Devin.
“If you’d move your car—”
“I’ll do that. I surely will. Just as soon as I check out these books. I don’t know what I’d do if I didn’t have my books, what with the way Mr. Metz watches the TV. You check these out for me, Sarah Jane, while Devin tells us how his family’s doing.”
He knew when he was outgunned. After all, he was a cop. “They’re fine.”
“And those sweet little babies. Imagine two of your brothers having babies within months of each other. I just have to get over to see them all.”
“The babies are fine, too.” He softened at the thought of them. “Growing.”
“Oh, they do grow, don’t they, Sarah Jane? Grow like weeds, before you can stop them. Now you’ve got yourself a nephew and a niece.”
“Two nephews and a niece,” Devin reminded her, adding Jared’s wife Savannah’s son, Bryan.
“Yes, indeed. Give you any ideas about starting your own brood?”
Her eyes were glittering at the thought of getting the inside story on future events. Devin stood his ground. “Being an uncle suits me.” Without a qualm, he tossed his sister-in-law to the wolves. “Regan has little Nate with her at the shop today. I saw him a couple hours ago.”
“Does she?”
“She mentioned Savannah might be coming by, with Layla.”
“Oh, my! Well…” Being able to corner both MacKade women, and their babies, was such a coup, Mrs. Metz nearly trembled at the idea. “Hurry on up there, Sarah Jane. I’ve got errands to run.”
“Hold your horses now, I’ve got ’em for you right here.” Sarah Jane handed over the canvas bag Mrs. Metz had brought, now pregnant with books. Moments later, when Mrs. Metz puffed her way out, Sarah Jane smiled. “You’re a smart boy, Devin. Always were.”
“If Regan finds out I headed her over there, she’ll skin me.” He grinned. “But a man’s gotta do what a man’s gotta do. Nice seeing you, Miss Sarah Jane.”
“You find that copy of The Red Badge of Courage, Devin MacKade. Books aren’t meant to be wasted.”
He winced as he opened the door. “Yes, ma’am.”
For all her bulk, Mrs. Metz moved quickly. She was already pulling out of the red zone and into the sparse traffic. Congratulating himself on a job well done, Devin told himself he could take a quick ride down to the MacKade Inn.
Just needed to check and make sure there wasn’t anything that needed his attention, he told himself as he walked up the street to his cruiser. It was his brother Rafe’s place, after all. It was his duty to check on it now and again.
The fact that Cassie Dolin managed the bed-and-breakfast and lived on the third floor with her two children had nothing to do with it.
He was just doing his job.
Which was, he thought as he slipped behind the wheel of his car, a huge and ridiculous lie.
He was, however, doing what he had to do. Which was to see her. At least once a day, he simply had to see her. He just had to, no matter how much it hurt, or how careful he had to be. More careful, he reminded himself, now that she was divorced from that bastard who had beaten and abused her for years.
Joe Dolin was in prison, Devin thought with grim satisfaction as he headed out of town. And he would be there for quite some time to come.
As the sheriff, as a friend, as the man who had loved her most of his life, Devin had a duty to see that Cassie and the kids were safe and happy.
And maybe today he could make her smile, all the way to her big gray eyes.
What had been the old Barlow place—and likely would remain that forever in the mind of the town—sat on a hill just on the edge of Antietam. Once it had been the property of a rich man who enjoyed its height, its expensive furnishings, its enviable view. It had stood there while the bloodiest day of the Civil War raged around it. It had stood while a wounded young soldier was murdered on its polished grand staircase. There it had remained while the mistress of the house grieved herself to death. Or so the legend went.
It had stood, falling into decay, disuse, disregard. Its stones had not moved when its porches rotted, when its windows were shattered by rocks heaved by rambunctious children. It had stood, empty but for its ghosts, for decades.
Until Rafe MacKade had returned and claimed it.
It was the house, Devin thought as he turned up its steep lane, that had brought Rafe and Regan together. Together, they had turned that brooding old building into something fine, something lovely.
Where there had once been weeds and thorny brambles, there was now a lush, terraced lawn, vivid with flowers and shrubs. He had helped plant them himself. The MacKades always united when it came to developing dreams—or destroying enemies.
The windows gleamed now, framed by rich blue trim, their overflowing flower boxes filled with sunny-faced pansies. The sturdy double porches were painted that same blue, and offered guests a place to sit and look toward town.
Or, he knew, if they chose to sit around at the back, they’d have a long view of the haunted woods that bordered the inn’s property, his own farm, and the land where his brother Jared, his wife, Savannah, and their children lived.
He didn’t knock, but simply stepped inside. There were no cars in the drive, but for Cassie’s, so he knew the overnight guests had already left, and any others had yet to arrive.
He stood for a moment in the grand hall, with its polished floor, pretty rugs and haunted staircase. There were always flowers. Cassie saw to that. Pretty vases of fragrant blooms, little bowls and dishes with potpourri that he knew she made herself.
So, to him, the house always smelled like Cassie.
He wasn’t sure where he would find her—in the kitchen, in the yard, in her apartment on the third floor. He moved through the house
