Snowfall on Haven Point(40)

“Why don’t you talk about your childhood?”

She picked up a cloth and used it to wipe down the countertops. The smell of lemon dish detergent mingled with the apples and spices from the oven.

“What’s the point?” she said after a moment. “It’s the past and I can’t change it. It wasn’t horrible, anyway. I was never physically abused or starved or locked in a closet or any of the ugly things you can encounter in your line of work. It just wasn’t a very loving place for a child to thrive or feel secure.”

“I’m sorry. Every child deserves to feel loved.”

“I agree. I promised myself when I left home at seventeen that I wouldn’t look back. I don’t very often. I also vowed that I wouldn’t for one moment ever give my children a reason to feel unwanted or unimportant.”

Again, all she didn’t say about her childhood seemed to expand to fill the kitchen. His heart twisted with compassion—and admiration that she had come from that and then had suffered great loss and trauma in her own life yet still struggled so valiantly to make a beautiful world for her children.

“You’re a very good mother,” he said quietly.

She gave a laugh that sounded self-conscious. “Here’s a news flash for you, Marshall. No mother ever thinks she’s good at her job. We do our best. That’s all.”

He couldn’t help thinking of Charlene, who had been a very loving—if somewhat smothering—parent. He loved her dearly and didn’t tell her that often enough.

“I’m sure those happy kids in the other room would tell you what a good job you’re doing.”

As if on cue, Chloe and Will rushed into the room, their faces bright with excitement.

“Okay. I think we’re all done,” Chloe said. She looked like she could hardly contain her enthusiasm.

“Come see!” Will ordered, reaching for his hand to tug him toward the living room.

When the boy’s fingers slipped between his, Marsh felt a weird jolt in his chest.

“William Jason Montgomery, be careful,” Andie exclaimed. “You don’t want to knock over Sheriff Bailey.”

“Sorry,” the kid said, pulling his hand away quickly. Marsh wanted to tell both of them it was fine, but he decided it was probably better not to say anything.

He followed the kids back to the den. They had turned all the lights off and only the tree was illuminated, glowing bright and cheerful.

“Oh, kids,” Andie breathed. “It’s beautiful!”

He had to agree. As far as Christmas trees went, it wasn’t exactly a professionally designed job. Some of the ornaments were clustered in bunches and there were a few uneven spots, but it was clear the two kids had taken great care to hang the ornaments.

It touched him to the core that they had done such a kind thing for him.

“Your mom is right,” he said gruffly. “That is, without a doubt, the prettiest tree I’ve ever had.”

“Really?” Chloe looked as thrilled as if he had told her Santa Claus lived upstairs.

“Honest. It looks like a different room in here. I can’t help but catch a little Christmas spirit, with such a beautiful tree.”

The children grinned at each other and at their mother, who gave him a bright smile that hit him like a sunbeam in July.

“Thanks a lot for going to all this trouble for me,” he said, his voice gruff. “I feel really honored, especially since you made so many of the decorations yourself.”

“It was fun. I’m glad you like it,” Chloe said.

“Yeah, because if you didn’t, we would have to take all the ornaments off and that would be a lot of work and I’m already starving,” Will said.

Andie brushed a hand across her son’s head. “Let’s clean up the bag and the boxes now and leave Sheriff Bailey to enjoy his tree in solitude.”

That’s what he wanted, right? For everyone to leave him alone so he didn’t have to work so hard to be nice.

Right now, it somehow didn’t seem at all appealing.

“You don’t have to rush off,” he said on impulse. “Why don’t you stay for dinner? I was thinking pizza sounded good. We could order from Serrano’s—and we’ve got apple brown Betty and ice cream for dessert.”

“Pizza and ice cream!” Will exclaimed.

“Can we?” Chloe implored her mother.

Andie looked caught off guard at the invitation. “I think we’ve bothered Sheriff Bailey enough for the evening.”

It was an obvious reference to his words of earlier in the day, the ones he suddenly would have given just about anything to take back.

“But he invited us!” Will pouted.