Page 52 of The Clover Chapel (Jamison Valley 2)
“You will be. I won’t. I’ve liked having you all to myself these last couple weeks.”
He could be so unbelievably sweet. “I’d be lying if I said I didn’t feel a little of the same.”
“We’re going to make it, Emmy.” He pulled me inside before I could respond.
The garage was decked out with balloons, streamers and crepe paper. Across the back wall was a huge banner that read Happy Kidnap-versary!
“Ms. Austin!” Rowen called at the same time her mother exclaimed, “Emmeline!”
Nick was not wrong. I hadn’t been inside for more than five seconds before Gigi pulled me into the huddle of women standing next to the snack table. It was filled with so much food that it rivaled some of the spreads I’d had catered for my father’s fundraising galas.
“Emmeline, meet Maisy Holt,” Gigi said, introducing me to a beautiful blond woman with doe-shaped gray eyes and a warm smile. A cute brunette baby with dark brown eyes was perched on her hip. “And this is her son, Coby. Isn’t he the cutest thing?”
“He’s adorable,” I said, leaning in to coo at the baby. “How old is he?” I asked Maisy.
She smiled. “Five months.”
I knew about Maisy Holt from the news archives I’d dug up last fall. Coby’s father was the drug-dealing whacko that had kidnapped both Gigi and Maisy with the intention of murdering them.
“This is my mother-in-law, Noelle.” Gigi continued with the introductions. “And this is Sara Phillips. She works with me at the hospital, and her husband, Milo, is one of Jess’s deputies.” Sara was a young woman with strawberry-blond hair and green eyes.
“Where’s your baby?” I asked Gigi when the introductions were finished. “I’ve been dying to meet him.”
Every day, Rowen had come to school and given me a report of what baby Ben had done the previous night. He’d been born two weeks before Christmas and his proud big sister talked about him nonstop.
“I’ll go steal him from Jess. He’s a Benny hog.” She smiled and went to the other side of the garage where the men had congregated.
“Ms. Austin, do you want to see my kitties?” Rowen asked, yanking on my hand.
“Oh, I’d love to,” I said as she led me to a small alcove. I met all of her cats before Gigi came over with a bundled, sleeping baby in her arms.
“He’s big, isn’t he?” I asked as she placed him in my arms. I hadn’t been around a lot of babies but I was surprised at how heavy he was for only being six weeks old. Ben wasn’t all that smaller than Coby Holt, despite the age difference.
“He’s huge. Ninety-fifth percentile on the growth charts.”
“Oh, my,” I said. “So, what’s the party for? I didn’t get a chance to ask Nick when we got here.” The unique banner had me wondering.
“Maisy and I were kidnapped a year ago and we decided that instead of hiding out at home, we’d throw a party.”
Nick’s overreaction to my unarmed security system made more sense now.
She gave me a mischievous grin. “Jess was none too happy with our party idea. Ever since Ben was born, he won’t hardly let me do a thing. But I’ve been going stir-crazy on maternity leave so Maisy and I just planned the party while he was at work. Then this morning I went to the station and told him to bring home some drinks and tell his friends.”
I giggled. The way that she’d outmaneuvered her husband’s overprotectiveness was entertaining.
“Emmeline,” Jess said at my side.
“Hi, Jess. Congratulations on little Ben here. How are you?”
“Doing good. Be even better if my wife would listen to me.”
“Not happening, Sheriff,” Gigi said.
“Been meaning to swing by the school and talk to you. Care if we do it now?” he asked.
“Not at all.”
“Gotta talk about those shoes,” he said.
