Finding Happily-Ever-After Read online

  “You have that thing, that greentooth—”

  “Bluetooth, Mother,” she corrected not for the first time. “It’s called a Bluetooth.”

  “Whatever,” Cecilia dismissed. “You’ve got that thing to talk into so the police can’t give you a ticket.” She got back to what she’d wanted to say. “Why do you have to be so stubborn about everything?”

  “It’s in my genes,” Jewel answered matter-of-factly. “I get it from my mother.”

  “You like him, Jewel,” Cecilia insisted. “I’ve watched you. At the cemetery, at the house. I can see that you like him.”

  Her mother was adopting far too simplistic a view of things. It didn’t matter if she liked him or not. She wasn’t about to get involved in the manner her mother was hoping that she would. “That has nothing to do with anything.”

  “Yes, it does.” Her mother’s tone said she knew better. “If I wasn’t the one who’d sent him your way, you’d probably be wondering if he was ‘the one’ by now. But because I arranged this, because I like him, you’re digging in your heels and resisting getting involved with him.”

  Jewel didn’t have time to argue. Besides, there was no winning when it came to her mother. “I am involved with him, Mom. I’m handling his case.”

  Her mother laughed shortly. “You should be handling something else.”

  “Mom!” Jewel almost swerved into the next lane. Fortunately, there was no car in that space. Recovering, she blew out a breath. She and her mother had an open relationship, but her mother had never been this bluntly direct before.

  “You’re not fourteen anymore—and even at fourteen, you were more knowledgeable than I was comfortable about. My point is that life is pretty short and if a decent, intelligent man crosses your path, you shouldn’t immediately run the other way just because he has your mother’s blessings. And if that man happens to be a hottie, well that’s all the better.”

  Her mother was obviously going through her second childhood, Jewel decided. “I’m not comfortable with your calling a guy a hottie, Mom. What’s come over you, anyway?”

  “I’m worried about you,” Cecilia said.

  “Then stop worrying,” Jewel told her. “There’s nothing to worry about, anyway.”

  “If you were a mother, you’d understand. Mothers worry. It’s what we do. And we don’t stop until we’re dead because there’s always something to worry about. The fact remains that Christopher Culhane is very much a ‘hottie’ and if you pretend that you’re not interested, some other woman’s going to come by and snatch him up,” Cecilia predicted.

  “And then she can go through the divorce instead of me,” Jewel concluded. This time, she pressed down on the accelerator, flying through the yellow light before it turned red.

  “You’re not even married yet, Jewel. Why would you even be thinking about getting a divorce?”

  Her mother lived in a very sheltered world, despite everything she’d been through. She’d married her very first boyfriend. She and her two best friends remained married to the same men until the disclaimer, “til death do us part,” became a reality. All three women had had good marriages. The world that existed these days was completely foreign to her mother and her friends.

  “Because, sadly, it happens, Mom. It happens a lot.” She thought of all the cases she’d handled since she began her career five years ago. Every one of the cheating spouse cases had ended in divorce. Those were devastating odds. “Do you think that most of my clients got married thinking they were going to be divorced within five, ten, fifteen years?”

  She heard her mother sigh. “I can’t speak for anyone else, Jewel.”

  “Sure you can, Mom.” She almost missed her turn and made a sharp right at the last minute. The driver behind her blasted his horn. “You’re trying to speak for me.”

  “That’s different. I’m your mother. Everything you do is my business, whether you know it or not. Whether you like it or not,” Cecilia added with emphasis. “Because if you’re not happy, I’m not happy.”

  “I’m happy, Mom, I’m happy,” Jewel said through clenched teeth.

  “No one’s happy alone, Jewel,” her mother stubbornly insisted.

  She had her there, Jewel thought. “I’m not alone, Mom. I have you. And my friends.”

  “That is not the same thing, Jewel, and you know it. I’m talking about someone to share your life with—and that doesn’t mean a dog, either,” Cecilia interjected quickly, anticipating her daughter’s next words.

  This was going to go on indefinitely unless Jewel took some drastic measures.

  “What, Mom? What did you say? Sorry, Mom, I seem to be losing you. I’m going through an underpass.” To underscore that, Jewel cupped her hand around the headset and made some garbled, swishing noises, doing her best to imitate static.

  “I’ll talk to you later,” Cecilia said, raising her voice to be heard above the so-called static. With a sigh, she hung up the phone.

  Jewel followed suit, shaking her head. Only her mother could make a promise sound like a threat, she thought. And this was only the beginning. She knew her mother wasn’t about to back off. Not now that both her friends had finally been successful in their matchmaking efforts. They’d brought their daughters together with men they’d met through their chosen careers—even Jewel had to admit they were practically perfect for her friends in every way. So her mother was not about to just give up because she’d asked her to.

  If anything, that was like waving a red flag in front of a bull. Her resistance just gave her mother more of an incentive to keep pushing. And no one under the sun could push like her mother could. Not even Maizie. Her mother could keep this up indefinitely.

  She didn’t have to ask to know that this—not running a house-cleaning service—was what her mother felt was her calling, her destiny. Her mother was going to get her married or die trying.

  “I appreciate the effort, Mom,” Jewel said out loud to her absent mother as she made her way up a free way ramp, “but there are no guys out there who won’t break your heart without a backward glance. All the good ones are spoken for or dead.”

  While she fervently prayed that Nikki and Kate had lucked out and gotten two very rare men who meant what they said about loving them until the day they died, she truly doubted that lightning would strike a third time in a given space.

  These days, if you knew three couples, chances were better than even that two of those couples were on their way to getting a divorce for one reason or another. And if they weren’t now, they would be soon. She should know. She’d handled the back end of too many cases, gathering proof for a spouse who was either vengeful, grieving or, on rare occasions, in denial, and she’d hoped that she could somehow prove that they had a right to be optimistic.

  Those were always the toughest cases for her because, once she’d collected evidence to the contrary, she knew her news would not be well received. Once or twice she’d actually thought of lying, of burying the information and telling the client that her husband really was working late rather than seeing a younger woman.

  But she had an obligation to her clients to do the best job she could, even if it ultimately meant that her report would be greeted with tears or rants.

  What all these broken marriages and broken promises had taught her was that it was better just to enjoy the moment, to enjoy the temporary thrill. Forever was a word for storybooks. Realistically, it had nothing to do with the vows exchanged in a marriage. She had made her peace with that, which was why she wasn’t even looking for the “perfect mate.”

  However, if she were looking for the perfect specimen of the male gender, she doubted that she could come up with anything better than Professor Christopher Culhane. On that score, her mother was right. She certainly wouldn’t kick the man out of bed if the occasion arose.

  She smiled to herself, thinking of her mother’s response to that. More than likely, her mother would see it as the beginning of something lasting.

&
nbsp; “Sorry, Mom,” she said as she wove her way around a slow-moving SUV. “That’s the best I can do.”

  The “best” seemed pretty good to her from where she sat, Jewel mused. The more she thought about it, the better it sounded to her. The very thought of winding up in bed with Chris, of making love with him, got her blood moving very quickly through her veins.

  If the man made love the way he kissed, she might just have to invest in fireproof sheets if they wound up coming together at her place.

  Her mouth curved as she thought about that. It was definitely something to consider.

  Jewel shook herself free of the fantasy that was taking hold. Right now, she had to follow up a hunch she’d had earlier. She didn’t want Chris to think that he was wasting his money by hiring her.

  With effort, Jewel focused her mind on the case and not on the man who was asking her to find Ray Johnson. It wasn’t easy, but after a while, she managed.

  Chapter Eleven

  Like an evening shadow slipping across a room, it slowly dawned on Chris that he was looking forward to seeing Jewel.

  He told himself that it was only because she was so good with his nephew, understanding the boy in ways he couldn’t even begin to fathom. And it was because of that, not any deeper, more personal reason, that he kept glancing at his watch every few minutes. When he wasn’t looking at his watch, he was looking out the window, anticipating the moment that she’d pull into his driveway and stride up the front walk.

  Somehow, he couldn’t quite snow himself.

  For the most part, Chris felt he was keeping his thoughts pretty much under wraps—until Joel’s voice penetrated his thoughts. “Do you think that she won’t come?”

  “What?” Preoccupied, Chris only heard the question after several seconds had gone by. It was as if there were a five-second time delay going on in his brain.

  Patiently—with far more patience than he felt—Joel explained, “Jewel said she’d be here.”

  Chris didn’t know if Joel was distressed, or if he was trying to reassure himself—or Chris. In any case, Chris felt compelled to take on the role of the calm adult, even though he was hardly feeling calm.

  “If Jewel said she’ll be here, she’ll be here.” He glanced again toward the window, from this angle seeing only the withering olive tree directly in the front yard. “She’s probably just stuck in traffic.”

  Joel took this as a plausible excuse, nodding his head. “It’d be easier if she stayed here.”

  “This isn’t her home,” he explained to the boy.

  Joel looked at him as if the answer he’d just tendered didn’t really make sense. “It’s not yours, either, but you’re here ’cause it’s easier.”

  Chris laughed, shaking his head. He’d love to see this kid in high school on the debating team. “How old are you really?”

  Joel’s small eyebrows narrowed, scrunching together over the bridge of his nose. “Five.”

  Chris wasn’t given to touching, to drawing in close, but something kept cutting through his reserve. He ruffled Joel’s hair. “You’re very bright, you know that, right?”

  Joel nodded. When he responded, he sounded like a learned old soul. “Yeah, I know that.”

  It was at that moment that it occurred to Chris that per haps placing Joel in kindergarten in the public school system could be a disservice to the boy. He was far too bright to waste his time playing dodgeball and making paper-clip holders.

  Maybe he’d look into finding a private school that could develop the potential that was obviously there.

  The next moment, he forced himself to pull back. One step at a time, Chris silently warned himself. First they needed to get Joel into a school, then he could look into someplace better.

  Not your problem, he reminded himself. If Jewel was successful, Joel would be turned over to his father and Ray could handle the boy’s education. He had a life waiting for him, Chris reminded himself.

  The thought left him feeling oddly hollow.

  “She’s here!” Joel suddenly declared with no small measure of enthusiasm.

  Chris hadn’t seen or heard anything to indicate that Jewel had arrived. “So now you have x-ray vision?” he teased the boy.

  “No, I heard her car,” Joel tossed over his shoulder as he rushed to the front door.

  “Okay, no x-ray vision, superhearing,” Chris amended under his breath. Because, heaven knew, he hadn’t heard the car—or any car—approaching. But Joel obviously had. Since he had told Joel not to open the door to strangers, the boy went through the motions of looking out the window beside the door to make sure that it was Jewel coming up the walk. It was.

  Jewel’s index finger had barely made contact with the doorbell before the front door was swinging open. The next moment, she found herself looking down at Joel’s beaming face.

  “Boy, you certainly are excited about registering for school.” She laughed as the small arms went around her hips in a greeting hug. Her hand tightened around the cell phone she was holding to keep from dropping it. The call to her mother had almost made her late.

  “No, about seeing you,” Joel corrected, pulling her into the house.

  At that moment, she thought, Joel was every bit the five-year-old. She put away her phone and paused to smooth down his ruffled hair. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Chris approaching them and nodded a greeting. “Hi.”

  “Hi.” The turquoise jacket and skirt made her look like a businesswoman. A sexy businesswoman, he thought, then pushed the idea away before it could run off with him. “Any luck locating Ray?” he asked, needing something to fill the quiet.

  She shook her head as she slipped her arm around Joel’s shoulders. “Sorry, not yet.”

  It made no sense to Chris why her words prompted a feeling of relief within him, but now wasn’t the time to explore that. He merely nodded at the information and said, “We’d better get going. The appointment’s for eight-thirty.”

  Joel looked up at Jewel rather than him. “I’m ready.”

  She smiled at the boy. “Yes, you certainly are.” She struggled to resist the urge to ruffle the hair she’d just smoothed down. “Let’s go,” she coaxed. Glancing over her shoulder at Chris as they walked out, she asked, “I’ll drive. Okay?”

  It made no difference to him. He wasn’t one of those men who felt his car was an extension of his persona. It was just a means of getting from one place to another.

  “Fine with me.” As he approached her vehicle, he noted the new addition in the backseat. “You’ve got a child seat.” Pausing, he looked from the seat to her. “You bought that?”

  She opened the rear passenger door behind the driver’s seat. “Had to if I’m going to be taking Joel anywhere. It’s the law.” Something that she had become aware of only yesterday. Before then, there had been no reason for her to pay attention to rules pertaining to children in cars. “Kids five and under have to sit in the back in a child seat—no matter how bright they are,” she added with a wink at the boy. She nodded toward the seat. “Why don’t you get in, Joel?”

  He looked a little uncertain as he climbed in and shifted around until he was comfortable. “Where does this go?” he wanted to know, holding up the end of his seat belt.

  “First we buckle you into the seat, then we put this around the seat,” she explained, securing first the belt that came with the car seat, then the one that came with the car. “It’s to keep you safe,” she added as Joel looked down at the belts. She couldn’t quite read his expression, but she could guess. Most kids didn’t like restraints.

  “How much do I owe you?” Chris asked as soon as he got in next to her.

  Buckling up herself, she started up the car. “You mean the bill up until now?”

  She’d quoted him a per diem rate, saying that it remained constant unless there were added expenses. She hadn’t mentioned any of the latter so he was fairly confident he knew what that tally was.

  “No, I mean, for the child seat,” he clar
ified.

  The seat was something she’d taken it upon her self to get. She wasn’t about to charge him for it, not unless he wanted her to buy one for his car, too.

  “It’s okay. I’ve been meaning to get one.” It was a lie, but it was a small one and in the larger scheme of things, Jewel felt she could be forgiven.

  The thoughtful look on Chris’s face bordered on a frown. “You have?”

  “I’m thinking of expanding my clientele to include kids.” The deadpan tone was so convincing that he almost believed her before he realized that she was pulling his leg. After a moment, the grin gave her away. “You never know when one of those things can come in handy. I plan on keeping it so, no,” she told him, driving down the through street and out of the development, “you don’t owe me anything.”

  He wasn’t all that sure about that. She was helping him with Joel, putting herself out and doing things that he was fairly certain weren’t part of her job description. Contrary to what she said, he owed her. A lot.

  But, for now, he made no comment, merely nodding his head in response. Some things you couldn’t settle up by writing a check.

  “You just blew him away,” Jewel declared a little less than two hours later as they were returning to her car. It was obvious when they arrived at Los Naranjos Elementary School that the principal, Dr. Randall Taylor, had very low expectations of the little boy who hardly spoke above a whisper when he was introduced. That soon changed as Joel read clearly and confidently from a third-grade reader.

  Opening the rear door, she waited for Joel to climb onto his seat. “I don’t think he’s ever met anyone as bright as you before, Joel.”

  Looking down at the boy’s face, she had a feeling that flattery was something new to him. He was absorbing her words like the drought-parched earth taking in the first rain in a very long time.

  “You think I made a mistake, turning down his offer to have Joel skip a grade.” It wasn’t really a question Chris posed as he got into the car again. He had a feeling that he knew the answer.