The Possum Hollow Hullabaloo (The Penelope Pembroke Cozy Mystery Series) (14 page)

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

“I made a fire in the living room,” Sam said to Penelope as he watched her light the candles on the antique buffet where several polished chafing dishes caught the flicker of the flame and added to the soft glow of the room.

“Did you put up the fire screen?”

“Yes. It looks nice in here, Nell. Cozy. And there’s enough food to feed an army.”

“Wait until Mary Lynn and Harry get here with their haul. And
Rosabel and Bradley.” She put the box of matches back in the drawer. “Rosabel said they’d be a little late because Bradley had something he had to do. Hopefully he’s checking to make sure Archie Hadden is locked up good and tight where Santa won’t find him.”

“How do you know he’s locked up at all?”

“Because you said it was over, so he’s either locked up or dead.” She shook her head. “God forgive me for not minding the latter.”

“I can tell you this much, because it’ll be in the papers tomorrow or the next day. The state police saved the school by a whisker.”

“You’re joking! Tell me no one tried to blow up the school!”

Sam nodded. “They brought in some bomb-sniffing dogs who found it, and this time it was the real thing.”

Penelope sagged against the buffet. “Whoever did it wasn’t looking for buried treasure under the school, I guess.”

“Nope.”

“Anything else that needs bringing in from the kitchen?”

“No, it’s all in here.”

“Then come in the living room with me for a minute.” He held out his hand. They paused under the mistletoe between the pocket doors of the living room and shared a brief kiss, then a longer one. “I want to give you your Christmas gift from me now while we’re alone.”

“You didn’t have to get me anything.”

“You knew I would.”

“I guess I did.”

“Close your eyes, and hold out both hands.”

Penelope did both, then closed her fingers around a small box.
A jeweler’s box. A ring? Surely not. He’s never even said he loves me.

“You can open your eyes now.”

She looked at the small box, wrapped in some of the red paper she’d used for Bradley’s and Rosabel’s gifts. “Sam, I…”

“Just open it.”

Her hands shook as she untied the ribbon and peeled away the paper, revealing not a ring case but a box bearing the name of a jewelry store in Little Rock. When she fumbled with the lid, Sam lifted it off, pushed aside the layer of cotton, and took out a flat silver heart etched with something she couldn’t read.

“It’s beautiful, Sam,” she murmured.

He picked it up. “
Mae hyn yn fy annwyl
.” He showed her the inscription. “It’s Welsh.”

“What does it mean?”

He took her hand and led her to the sofa. “First let me tell you a story. Do you know who St. Dwynwen is?”

“I’ve never heard of him.”

“Her. She lived in Wales in the 5
th
century. According to some sources, she was the daughter of a king who forbade her to marry the man she loved. Other sources say the man betrayed her. Whichever happened, she never married and became a nun, but because she prayed for God to give happiness to all lovers, she—not St. Valentine—is the patron saint of lovers.”

Penelope’s eyes blurred with tears. She wondered if Sam could see her heart beating beneath her red sweater. “That’s a beautiful story, but I still don’t know what the inscription says.”

Sam fastened the thin chain around her neck. “The inscription is Welsh, and it’s from the Song of Solomon.
Mae hyn yn fy annwyl
means ‘This is my beloved.’”

Her tears spilled over.
“Oh, Sam.”

He tipped her chin and extracted a handkerchief to blot her cheeks. “It’s a promise, Nell, the only one I can make right now.”

She laid her forehead against his chest and felt him rest his chin on her hair. “It’s enough. It really is.”

****

When they heard the Hargroves in the kitchen, Sam tucked the necklace under Penelope’s sweater. “Just for a while,” he said.

She nodded. “Right. I don’t want to share this, not now.”

“Someday, Nell.”

She smiled.
“Someday.”

Sam followed Harry as he carried a silver platter of ham into the dining room and wedged it between two of the chafing dishes on the buffet. “Have you heard the latest?”

“I know the story,” Sam replied.

“Bradley’s going to be late,” Penelope said.

Harry nodded. “Probably just some last minute details to tend to.”

Harry took out a red and green plaid handkerchief and wiped his forehead. “You couldn’t pay me to do what Brad does.” He cut his eyes over to Sam. “Or you either.”

“What do I do?”

“Heck
, I don’t know and probably don’t want to.” Harry chuckled and pocketed the garish accessory.

Jake joined them in the living room and took Penelope and Mary Lynn by turn under the mistletoe for a quick peck on the cheek. “These two nearly drove Wynne and me out of our minds when they were in high school,” he said
to Sam. “In and out, up and down, slumber parties all over this parlor…they were a pair, they were.”

Sam tucked a stray strand of hair behind Penelope’s ear. “I’ll bet they were.”

“What’s taking Brad and Rosabel so long?” Mary Lynn asked as the clock struck eight. “I’m hungry, and we’ve still got gifts to open.”

On cue, they heard the back door open. “We’re here,”
Rosabel called. “Sorry we’re so late, but we ran into Santa Claus on the way over.”

Mary Lynn and Penelope exchanged looks and shrugged.

“Bring your dish into the dining room,” Penelope called. “Do you need any help?”

“I think I have all the hands I need.”

“Santa asked us to deliver some gifts,” Brad called.

Penelope frowned. “
Rosabel brought your gifts this morning and put them under the tree.”

“Everybody ready?”
Brad called.

“We were ready an hour ago,” Harry hollered. “At this rate, it’ll be Christmas morning before we get through with everything.”

Penelope thought she heard soft giggles, and then she was sure she recognized the sound of children’s feet. She’d half risen from the sofa when Ellie and Evie, wearing the identical red velvet dresses Mary Lynn had sent up by Tonya Cisneros, appeared in the foyer. They hesitated, suddenly shy.

“Oh, thank You, God,” Penelope murmured.

Turning almost as one, Harry and Mary Lynn caught sight of the little girls, rose, and held out their arms.

****

Sam met Penelope at the top of the stairs when she returned from midnight Mass. He sat down on the top step and snuggled her against him. “Did Brad have a chance to tell you much?”

“The girls were right there the whole time. He said you’d explain.” She brought the necklace out from under her sweater and rubbed it between her fingers.

“You didn’t hear it from me, but this is how it plays out. Ellie saw her mother die, but not at her father’s hands.”

“Archie.”

“And a cousin named Lafe. He’s the one who was giving you grief, and they picked him up the other night. Anyway, they’d gotten Jeremiah hooked into this wild scheme of finding buried treasure, but they needed more equipment to look for it. So, they got Jeremiah to agree to give him the money Yvonne had put up for coats and shoes for the girls this winter. It wasn’t much, of course, but it meant a lot to Yvonne. When she confronted Archie—or Lafe—or both of them about their idiocy, he knocked her down, picked up a shovel from the fireplace, and bashed her head in. Then he told the girls if they said anything to their father, he’d kill them, too.”

“So Jeremiah really thought she’d gone off and left them.”

“Who knows what he thought? All he’s telling the police is that he didn’t kill his wife—which he didn’t—and he went crazy when he found out the girls were gone, too.”

“That’s believable enough. It’s what goes on out there in the Hollow.”

“Maybe a jury will see it that way, but as far as Archie killing Yvonne, shooting George Harris and kidnapping Miss Maude, that’s going to send him away for a stretch.”

“So what about the girls?”

“Brad called Tonya Cisneros and told her they weren’t in any danger now. She pulled some strings to get the girls a ‘leave’ from their foster home for Christmas.”

“So they have to go back?”

“Something tells me they won’t.”

“Did you see Harry’s face?
And Mary Lynn’s?”

“I saw.”

“I’m not sure they could let those girls go again.”

“I don’t think they’ll have to.”

“How can you be sure?”

Sam lifted her face. “I know things, remember?” he said before he kissed her.

Later he walked her to her door and kissed her again. “Someday,” he murmured, opening  the door for her to go in before he turned and headed for his own room.

Penelope lifted the cool silver charm to her warm cheek. “Someday, Sam,” she whispered into the darkness. “Oh, yes, someday.”

Look for more Penelope Pembroke Cozy Mysteries coming soon at Amazon.

Book 5:
 
The Larcenous Legacy

The new priest of St. Hyacinth’s brings a breath of fresh air to the parish, but something about an ordination gift from his immigrant grandfather is rattling the bones of evil past and present.

Book 6: 
Sam’s Last Stand

Tiny the biker, aka Sam, is back again, and Penelope is head over heels in love—but if Sam can’t let go of his dark past, they have no future.

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