Snowfall on Haven Point(59)
Charlene’s glower looked remarkably like her son’s. “Why on earth would you do that? I’m your mother. I have the right to know when one of my babies is hurt.”
Her “baby”—a tall, hard, dangerous lawman who was well over six feet tall—grimaced. “What you had the right to was an uninterrupted honeymoon. You and Uncle Mike both deserved it. I was fine and there was nothing you could do about the situation anyway.”
She looked as if she wanted to strenuously disagree, but after taking a moment to collect herself, she gave her son a steady look. “I cannot understand why you, Elliot and the girls had to keep me in the dark and I certainly don’t agree with it. I’ll have a thing or two to say to them, you can be sure, but what’s done is done, I suppose. The important thing is, I’m here now, ready to take care of you.”
She took off her coat and hung it on a kitchen chair, looking for all the world as if she wanted to move right in. Andie fought a laugh at the panicked look on Marshall’s face.
Apparently the tough, dangerous sheriff of Lake Haven County was intimidated by his round, sweet mother. She found it rather adorable.
“You don’t have to fuss over me, Mom. I promise. The accident was nearly a week ago and the leg hardly even hurts anymore.”
Andie was quite sure that was a bold-faced lie. She’d seen the winces he tried to hide, those white lines around his mouth when he was trying to soldier through the pain. He had been up and moving all day. Though he would rather be tortured than admit it, she could see he needed nothing so much as to sit down.
She didn’t feel it was her place to point that out, however. If he wanted to fib to his mother, it wasn’t her business.
“I’m getting around now without too much trouble and I even went back into the office today.”
“How? You can’t drive, surely.”
He inclined his head in Andie’s direction. “Andrea kindly agreed to drive me and then hung around in Shelter Springs for a few hours so she could bring me back here.”
Charlene’s eyes widened at that particular piece of information and she sent Andie an appraising look she found nothing less than ominous.
“Why, that’s very neighborly of you, my dear.”
Neighborly. That was one word for it. Her mind flashed back to the heated embrace they’d shared mere minutes earlier and she had to fight a shiver.
“It was nothing. I was more than happy to help.”
“She’s been a lifesaver, actually,” Marshall shocked her by saying. “With Katrina gone and Wyn busy with school, Wynona persuaded Andrea to help me out. She’s done a wonderful job. I couldn’t ask for more.”
He aimed a smile in Andie’s direction, brimming with so much affection she might have fallen over without the kitchen counter at her back.
“I don’t know what I would have done without her,” he said, with a warmth in his voice she had never heard there.
After a pause pregnant with shocked speculation, Charlene looked at Andie with an expression of pure delight.
“Oh, I’m so happy to hear that. Thank you so much for watching out for my boy.”
What was happening here? She did her best to gather her tangled thoughts.
“Um, you’re welcome.”
“As you can see,” Marsh went on, “I’m in very capable hands. Really, I’m fine. Andie has been amazing. There is absolutely no reason you can’t climb back in your car and trot back to your new husband. Now that you’re back, the two of you can get to work creating a life together. Have you finally decided where you’re going to live?”
Though an obvious ploy to change the subject, Charlene followed the temporary detour. “We haven’t made a final decision. We do know we’re selling both houses and buying something together. It will be a new start for both of us. Who knows? Maybe we’ll build. Mike has that property on the other side of Redemption Bay that would be a lovely spot for a new house.”
“That is a nice place.”
“We’ve decided we’ll live in my house for now, since it has more space for all of us to get together. Which reminds me, I’m planning Christmas Eve. This is the first year in forever you haven’t been working, so you’ve got no excuses.”
She turned to Andie. “You know, my dear, we would be absolutely delighted to have you and your children join us. I don’t have any grandchildren yet, but I usually invite friends over who do, so your children would have others to play with.”
His mother was under the very mistaken impression there was more between them than one ill-fated kiss, but that didn’t make the invitation any less appealing. Wyn was Andie’s dearest friend in Haven Point. It would be lovely to spend Christmas Eve dinner with her and her family.