“We’re coming in,” Greylen MacKeage said, herding the women toward the house. He turned back to Jack. “Need any help getting in? I’ve been looking forward to speaking with you, Chief Stone. I have some ideas on how ye might capture your young hoodlums.”
“I was just headed home.”
“Then I’ll walk with ye, to make sure you don’t fall again. You don’t happen to have any cold ale at your house, do you, Chief?”
Chief? Did that mean he supposed to call the man laird? “I have some Canadian lager,” he offered, tucking his crutches under his armpits and carefully making his way out the driveway.
“Wayne? Where are you going?” Megan called from the porch.
Jack kept walking.
“I mean Jack. Jack, you can’t fend for yourself yet.”
He finally stopped and turned to her, acutely aware that the man standing beside him had gone perfectly still, and that his hands were balled into fists at his sides. “I’ll be okay,” Jack assured her. “Your father can build me a fire.” He looked at Greylen and shrugged. “She calls me Wayne sometimes.”
“I’d give my right arm for five minutes alone with Wayne Ferris,” Greylen growled. “He’s the bastard who got her with child and then discarded her like trash.”
Jack started for home again. O-kay, then. When they reached the driveway, he asked, “You wouldn’t happen to prefer something a bit stronger than beer, would you, laird?”
“I never turn down scotch, Chief.”
“Then what say we build a nice crackling fire, I’ll dig out my good scotch, and then I’ll tell you an interesting story?”
Greylen shot him a curious look, then nodded curtly, going up Jack’s porch stairs ahead of him.
“The key’s under the mat,” Jack told him, following at a more labored pace.
Greylen peeled back the mat and picked up the key. “Ye haven’t much sense for security, for a policeman.”
Jack merely shrugged. Greylen opened the door and snapped on the light. “What is your story about, Chief?” he asked, walking to the woodstove in the middle of the back wall.
“Oh, it has a little of everything,” Jack told him, limping to the cupboard that held the scotch. He took down the unopened bottle and two tumblers, then filled both glasses three-quarters full. “There’s a mystery, a murder, and even some romance.”
Greylen placed paper and kindling in the firebox. “And I will be interested because?”
Jack carried both drinks over, handed one to Greylen, then touched their glasses together. He took a long gulp, letting the liquid fire slide down his throat as he hobbled back to the counter to put some distance between them. “I believe you’ll be interested because it’s about me and Megan and our child, and the fact that the mystery and murder I was trying to protect her from may have followed her home.”
Chapter Eleven
“J ack Stone is Wayne Ferris?” Grace whispered, plopping down on the single bed in shock.
Camry’s announcement brought utter silence to the tiny bedroom. Megan also froze in surprise, torn between wanting to strangle her sister and wanting to hug her for taking the burden off her shoulders—though she probably wouldn’t have been quite so blunt about it.
Camry straightened with a box of baby clothes in her hands. “And he’s claiming he broke Megan’s heart so that she would come running home, because he thought she was in danger.” She shot Megan a frown. “Seems Meg forgot to mention that a man was murdered in camp just before she realized she was pregnant.”
Grace looked from Camry to Megan. “But why was he calling himself Wayne Ferris?”
“It was an alias,” Camry said. “He claims he was working undercover to get close to one of the students; that the kid was a runaway, and his parents had hired Jack to find him.”
“Is this true, Meg?” Grace asked. “A man was murdered on your study? And Wayne—Jack—was trying to protect you?”
“That’s the story he’s telling.”
“Meg’s just angry because Jack came to Pine Creek to win her back before she could go after him herself,” Camry continued, as if Megan hadn’t spoken. “Jack’s here because Meg and the baby are all the family he’s got left. His parents died in a car crash when he was nine, and his great-grandfather raised him. But then he died when Jack was fifteen.”
“Oh my God,” Elizabeth said, hugging a bundle of baby blankets to her chest. “He broke your heart to save your life, Meg. He really does love you.”
“And he’s taken a job here,” Chelsea interjected. “So you can raise your baby in Pine Creek after all.”
“Hell-oo!” Megan said, waving her arms vigorously. “Are you all forgetting that not only did he break my heart, but that he’s all but admitted he’s a liar?”
“He’ll fix your heart,” Grace said, her smile warm and motherly as she stood to take hold of Megan’s shoulders. “And he has to lie for a living, if it helps him find runaway kids. The important thing, Meg, is that he’s here. I told you he would come for you, didn’t I?”
“Damn,” Camry said with a groan, dropping her box on the bed. “I just realized this means the curse is still intact. There goes my love life again.”
Megan stepped out of her mother’s embrace and scowled at her sister. “No, the curse is not intact, because I am not marrying Wayne.”
“Right. You’re marrying Jack.”
“I am not! He lied to me four months ago, and for all we know, he’s lying now.”
Camry looked at Chelsea. “You must know a good private investigator. Let’s get Jack checked out, and if he is lying, then we get Winter to turn him into a toad.”
“And if he’s telling the truth?” Grace asked, directing her question to Megan.
“Do you honestly expect me to simply forget what he did, and how he did it? You have no idea what he said to me that day. He nearly killed me.”
“But he didn’t,” Grace said softly. “And if he really does love you, and only said what he did to protect you, then yes, you have to forgive him.” She smiled sadly. “But if your heart says Jack Stone is not the man you want to spend the rest of your life with, your father and I will respect your decision.”
Grace turned to Camry, giving her a warning glare. “Winter is not turning anyone into anything. The magic’s been messed with enough lately. Let’s just let Providence get used to our new resident wizard for a while, shall we?”
“Speaking of Winter, why isn’t she here tonight?” Camry asked, obviously anxious to change the subject.
“Matt had to fly to his New York office this afternoon, and she went with him.” Grace turned and surveyed the bedroom, shaking her head. “I think we’ve overdone it with the hand-me-downs. This poor baby won’t have anything new to call its own.”
“Chelsea, could you come upstairs with me?” Megan asked, heading into the hallway. “I have a box up there I need to go through. You can carry it down for me.” She stopped in the door and looked back at the others. “The closet has built-ins and the bureau is empty, so you can put everything away as you sort. We’ll be back in a few minutes.”
The moment they reached the top of the stairs, Megan looked down to make sure no one had followed, then turned to her twin sister. “I’m going to do as Camry suggested and have Wayne checked out. Your law firm must use private investigators. Can you give me the name of a good one?”
“Are you sure you want to do that, Meg? It’s been my experience that their reports never tell the whole story.”
“You know the saying ‘fool me once, shame on you, but fool me twice, shame on me’? Well, regardless of what Mom says about following my heart, this time around I’m listening to my left brain. I don’t care what it costs, just find me an investigator who can travel all the way to Medicine Lake if he has to. I want more than a report filled with public documents; I want pictures and personal interviews, right down to what Jack Stone’s favorite food was when he was five years old.”