“Because we all saw the way you were looking at her at the party.” Dakota slapped him on the back, then hiked past him. So did Matt. “Far as I’m concerned, you couldn’t get involved with a better lady. I think the world of her. Far as I know, so does this whole town. So mostly I was just trying to get a rise out of you-but it does keep occurring to me that this situation is getting seriously complicated. Right now, the police don’t know about the jewels or the theft-much less that there could be any connection to the problem with the Asterland plane. Maybe that information has to come out? There may be no choice.”
Justin nodded. “But we all know what’s at stake-the reason we’ve guarded our privacy all these years.” The Club members could hardly have taken off on their private causes across the world if their comings and goings were regular headline news.
“Hell, doc, I’d trust you with my life. You already know that. For that matter, I couldn’t think more of Winona. It just crossed my mind that we could be putting her on the spot if she knew something that was being kept from the local cops. At least until we know more facts about the jewel theft and decided what we need to do.”
Justin had no trouble agreeing. The three split up swiftly. Everyone had their own lives and work to attend to. But as Justin headed for his car, the wind whipping a burn on his cheeks, his plan to see Winona for an early dinner went on a front burner.
He’d left her alone for two days now-except for phone calls-to consider marrying him. He’d known she needed time to think. More than likely, she’d had enough time to have a cow and a half over his proposal.
He never intended to put her on the spot about the jewels. He only wanted to put her on the spot about a relationship between them. And nothing as annoying as some priceless stolen jewels was going to keep him from her. Not today. He’d waited as long as he could stand.
Five
“Winona!”
Winona had barel y pushed open the door to the Royal Diner before the waitress shrieked her name. Sheila abandoned her customer and bustled straight toward her.
“I been hearing all over town about you and that baby! Let’s have a look!” Although it was barely the dinner hour, the diner was already filling up. This was not a crowd worried about eating at a fashionably late hour-more likely they were worried about how fast they could get the kids home to bed. Sheila popped her favorite Juicy Fruit gum as she herded Winona and the baby carrier toward a booth in the back, talking the whole while-loud enough, of course, for the whole town to hear.
“Dr. Webb called. Said to put you in a spot away from the drafts and get you started, he’d be here, but he got held up with a patient for a little bit. So you’re seeing Dr. Webb, huh? God, he’s such a hunk. Could make a girl think about getting a breast reduction just to get his hands on her…but I guess that’s a little tasteless, huh? If you’re seeing him and all. But you don’t have to worry about me, honey, he’d never look my way…and I can’t wait to hear the whole story about that baby. Let’s see her, let’s see her…well, aren’t you a beauty, darlin’.”
Sheila tugged down her waitress uniform, which tended to ride up her thighs with every other step. Years ago, Winona had realized that buying another size uniform wasn’t a possibility-not for Sheila. She’d been fighting to stay in a size twelve for half a decade now, and there was no way she was going to let a fourteen win. But right then, she peeled back Angel’s blanket and picked up the baby with a long refrain of oohs and aahs.
Because the baby chortled happily for the attention, Winona decided to let Sheila live. Actually, she was too tired to kill her and too old to feel embarrassed at the waitress’s loud personal gossip. Still, she pushed off her jacket and sank onto the booth seat, wishing for a long, tall whiskey instead of straight water-and she didn’t drink. The thing was, over the last two days, Sheila wasn’t the only townsperson who’d made wild, presumptuous assumptions about Winona’s relationship with Justin.
It didn’t make sense. Folks should have been gossiping ten for a dozen about the plane crash. That was the crisis in town. That was the big news. Who Winona happened to be seeing-or not seeing-shouldn’t have mattered to a soul.
And the really crazy thing was that she wasn’t even seeing Justin. At least not exactly. Yeah, he’d offered to marry her…and for damn sure, that was why she’d insisted on seeing him right now, today, over dinner, and specifically chosen this public place for the occasion…but there was still no reason from here to Austin that anyone should leap to the conclusion that she was “seeing him.” Heaven knew he’d proposed to her fifty times before this. And most folks in Royal had seen her slug him probably that many times-or more.
“Well, okay, honey, if you want to keep it quiet, I won’t tell a soul,” Sheila boomed, as she settled the baby back in the carrier. “But I hope you realize that no one’s curiosity is intended in a mean way. We all love you. We all know you. Anyone who’s had a kid in trouble, for years you were the one who stepped in. This here baby, though…” Efficiently she slapped down two paper place mats that read: The Royal Diner-Food Fit For a King! and then extracted her pen and pad from her front hip pocket. “She doesn’t look Spanish or Indian or Mexican. Not with that blond hair and blue eyes…but you haven’t found the mama yet?”
“Not yet.”
Sheila motioned with her pen. “So, what’ll you have? Dr. Webb, remember, he said for you to order.”
“Really, I’d rather wait for him-”
“No, no. He said you’d be tired from working and from carting the baby around all day. He’ll be here. Just ten minutes late, he said. But he wanted you to start eating. Manny-” she motioned toward the grill cook in back “-he says the pork chops are extra tender today.”
“I was thinking a salad-”
“Now, you can’t build up your strength on leaves and rabbit food, honey. Much less can you build up a bust, and men do tend to like a substantial woman, you know. Did you see my pies up front?” She motioned toward the revolving pie stand near the front door. “Strawberry rhubarb today. And I got a banana cream to die for. You need me to warm up a bottle for the baby? You sleeping with Dr. Webb?”
“Cobb salad. No dessert. Yes, thank you on the bottle, I have one in the diaper bag here. And none of your business.”
Sheila cocked up an eyebrow. “Now, hon, with the Gerards gallivanting on vacation the winter months, who’all’s gonna give you advice if your friends in town don’t? But I don’t see the question made you blush, so I’m thinking, no, not yet. Ask me, I’d nail that man fast and any way I could. There’s some men you can string along, they like the hunt and chase. But him, I wouldn’t risk nothing like that. Too many girls got their eyes on him. He’s too cute and too rich. You get a chance, you get that boy in the sack and you don’t give him a chance to even look at anyone else.”
“Thank you so much.” Winona swiped a hand over her eyes. “Is there anything else you want to offer me advice on? Deodorants? Hemorrhoids? Constipation?”
“There now. You won’t be so crabby after you have some food. I’ll bring you the chops and my cheddar cheese mashed potatoes. Trust me. You’ll like them. And the whole town’s been asking whether Wayne’s gonna actually let you bring that baby to work right in the police station.”
“It’s only a temporary circumstance, my having the baby. It’s worked out for a few days. But obviously, I wouldn’t have the baby around any situation that could be dangerous. It just takes time to find an answer for-”
“Yeah, yeah.” Sheila waved off the politically correct answer. If she couldn’t have dirt, she didn’t want anything. “So, did you tell the Gerards about the baby yet?”
Winona sighed. To a point, it was easier to answer the questions than exert all the energy it took to duck them. “Yes. They’re still vacationing in Japan and having an outstanding time. But I talked to them on the phone two nights ago.”
“They love you.” Sheila set out the silverware, working around the baby’s carrier in the middle of the table. Two other customers waved hands to get her attention, but she clearly didn’t want to move quite yet. “And I just know they’d be happy if you were involved with Justin, because the Webb and the Gerard families were always so close. And really, at your age, hon, I think they’d expect you to be, how should I say it, physically involved-”
Winona propped her chin on her knuckled hand. “Okay. I give up trying to deny it. I’m having wild, unprincipled sex with Dr. Webb. If it’ll make y’all happy, tell the town, tell the whole universe-”
She was stunned into immediate silence when she suddenly saw another face appear behind the waitress’s-and
