sight of Mack early today. The young boy she’d admired as a teenager had grown into an amazingly handsome man.
Who was more than likely married, Thea reminded herself. A faint sense of disappointment settled over her. Best if she kept her distance. No sense giving folks around here any more reason to talk about the Miller girls if she could help it.
A soft sound, something between a coo and a whimper, drew her attention to a tiny bundle of pale pink ribbons and ivory lace squirming in his arms. A baby? Well, of course, he’d have a child if he were married. Even in high school he’d talked of settling down and having a large family. But wait, she’d seen this child before—recognized the ribbons and lace of her outfit. Yet it hadn’t been Mack holding the little girl when Thea had seen her before. She was certain of that. So who had it been?
There was something distinctly familiar about this child, about the sunny blond curls that hugged her head like a Sunday bonnet. Mack lifted the baby to his shoulder and the little girl staring out at the small crowd, her piercing blue eyes watchful, absorbing everything around her. Recognition caused Thea’s lungs to constrict in her chest, a joy so overwhelming, it threatened to shoot out of her fingertips and her toes.
She recognized the outfit from seeing that precious baby with Aurora Adair. The baby in Mack’s arms was the mirror imagine of her sister, Eileen.
“Look who I found wondering around the yard.”
Mack turned at Maggie’s exclamation, his heart picking up tempo as he raked a glance over Thea, startled to find blue eyes the color of a summer storm staring back at him, causing the muscles in his shoulders to bunch and tighten. An uneasiness gathered in the pit of his stomach. Why was Thea here?
And why had she been nosing around Ms. Aurora’s place?
“Can you believe it, Mack? Thea’s finally come home!” Maggie pulled Thea closer. Had the two of them been good friends in school? He couldn’t remember. Thea had pretty much kept to herself between classes. He’d only gotten to know her during her junior year when they’d both worked at the movie house in town.
Maggie was right. No one, especially not him, had ever expected Thea to come back to Marietta. What had brought her back home now? Settling his hand against the baby’s back, he took a step back to put some breathing room between them. “Theodora.”
Thea stiffened, her delicate chin lifting at a stubborn angle. “Sheriff Worthington.”
He didn’t know why but the sound of his professional title on her lips felt like more of a dig than a proper show of respect. Maybe she’d done it because he’d used her proper name rather than the nickname she preferred. He’d have to tread lightly, then. No sense starting a war with the woman, not until he had some idea as to why she’d been snooping around Aurora’s. Mack forced what he hoped was a relaxed smile against his lips. “Welcome home.”
She gave him a curt nod that reminded him of the pretty teacher he’d had a crush on back in fourth grade. “Thank you. I just wish I was here under better circumstances.”
“That’s an odd statement seeing how we’re at a wedding.”
Her fingers clamped down on her purse like a vise. “I mean...”
Thea still had that same little habit of nibbling at her lower lip when she was uncertain about how to act or what to say. Whatever had brought her here made her uncomfortable.
“Always suspicious, aren’t you, Mack?” Maggie tilted her head slightly toward Thea as if to share a well-kept secret. “I guess that’s a good trait for a sheriff to have. Probably why the town council hired him in the first place.”
That, and the fact he’d been about the only man left after Pearl Harbor was bombed and men shipped out to serve in the war. Mack turned to Thea. “Sorry about that. Occupational hazard.”
She nodded, then turned her attention to Sarah, the tension he’d noted in her earlier softening as the little girl reached out for the slender finger Thea held up for her. “How old is she?”
Mack studied her for a long second. Most people chose to ignore Sarah, or worse, asked questions about the bright pink scar that had connected her nose to her mouth. Why hadn’t Thea fallen into that pattern? “Five months. She was born on Victory in Europe Day.”
A gentle smile bloomed across Thea’s face as the baby grasped her finger and gave a playful squeal. “She’s so beautiful.”
“Thank you.” Mack narrowed his gaze. Sarah had been called many things in her short life, but never anything close to beautiful—at least, not by anyone but him.
“We were just talking about what happened to Eileen,” Maggie said, patting the baby’s back. “Maybe you could answer some of her questions about that night.”
“You were there?”
“Yes.” Mack’s gut tightened at the note of sadness in Thea’s voice. As the top law enforcement agent in the county, he’d seen his share of car accidents, most fender benders, others deadly. But the scene he came upon the night Eileen died had haunted him for weeks after the accident. Two people just a couple of years younger than he lost in the blink of an eye, so close to the happiness they both spent most of their lives in search of, only to lose it in one unthinkable instant.
Of all the losses the town had suffered during the war, watching Eileen Miller die was the one that had driven him to his knees.
“Why don’t I take Sarah while you two talk?” Maggie slipped her hands beneath the baby’s arms and lifted her away from Mack’s shoulder. “I need the practice, anyway.”
They stood in awkward silence as Maggie shifted the child. Oddly enough, Thea seemed to drink in even the slightest movement Sarah made until the child was nestled against Maggie’s shoulder.
“Goodbye, sweet pea. See you again soon,” Thea whispered as Maggie carried Sarah down the stairs and out into the yard. Soft strands of blond curls fell against Thea’s shoulders as she tilted her head back to meet his gaze. “So you’re a...daddy?”
The words brought a smile to Mack’s face despite himself. “Not yet, but I will be soon.”
A tiny line of confusion creased the smooth area between Thea’s brows. “How...?”
“I’m adopting her.”
Thea’s pleasant chuckle felt good to his ears. “You make it sound like your wife doesn’t have anything to say about it.”
Was she fishing to find out if he was married? The thought sparked a warmth in his chest that he immediately tamped down. It had been years since he was a smitten teenager who cared what Thea Miller thought of him—he wouldn’t make that mistake again. “Considering I don’t have one, she doesn’t.”
Thea stared wide-eyed at him as if she were searching for answers and coming up short. How could he have forgotten the soft silver sparks that rimmed the deepest blue around her irises, turning the color from indigo to violet? He found himself noticing the tiny dimple in her right cheek, the different facets of pink that colored her bottom lip, the pale scar high on her forehead.
“What
