Family Matters (DiCarlo Brides book 4) (The DiCarlo Brides) (25 page)

She glanced away, hunching into her seat a little. “Sorry. I won’t do it again. I just like the bird sounds outside.”

“I know you do, but until Joel says it’s safe, we need to keep the windows locked, okay, and always while we’re not at home. Always, always.” Rosemary didn’t think she quite managed to keep the exasperation out of her voice.

“Okay.” Cleo sounded thoroughly chastened.

Rosemary pushed the hair back from Cleo’s face and pressed a kiss to her forehead. “No harm done. Let’s go inside.”

“You better cook up a storm,” Joel advised. “Our crowd always demands food.”

“Great. Decisions by committee are always so much fun.”

“Don’t smile too wide, it might stick there,” Joel teased, straight-faced.

“That’s highly likely.” Rosemary turned back to her daughter. “All right, kiddo. Let’s go inside and warm up. You have homework, too, don’t you?” She fought the shivers inside her, the way she wondered what would happen next and if they’d really be safe at home alone even as she tried to act unconcerned for her daughter’s sake. If they went back to normal routines, would that help Cleo feel safer?

“I don’t feel like doing homework.”

“All right, you twisted my arm. You can do the dishes first.”

“Rosemary!” she whined.

Rosemary laughed. “All right, if you insist, you can do homework and I’ll do the dishes.”

Cleo stomped inside, but at least she was irritated now instead of scared, so Rosemary considered it a win. “Thanks,” she said to Joel before going inside.

“You’re welcome. Call if anything looks hinky or I’ll see you in a couple of hours. I’ll queue up the surveillance system from work while I finish reports.”

“Okay.” That made Rosemary feel better too. If Joel kept an eye on the house via camera, she could breathe a little easier.

Harrison had been feeling twitchy all afternoon. The hair on the back of his neck kept prickling and he couldn’t focus on work. He stood to take a walk around the halls; a few minutes away from his desk might help him focus for what was left of his day.

He had taken only a few steps away from his office door before Joel stopped him.

“We need to chat.” He set a hand on Harrison’s shoulder and guided him back into the office, then closed the door behind them.

“What’s wrong?” Harrison’s twitchiness increased.

“Rosemary ran into a little trouble downtown. She and Cleo are completely fine, but I have the feeling she might not call and I didn’t want you to hear about it from one of the staff.”

Alarm ripped through him. “What happened?” Rosemary
hadn’t
called him; was she really okay?

“They were downtown shopping and someone shot at them.” Joel shrugged as if it weren’t a big deal, but the dark blankness in his eyes said differently. “The police haven’t ruled out anyone else as the target, but it’s pretty clear to me that it’s about Rosemary. She texted me after the police arrived and I got them out of there and back home. They’re perfectly fine, not even a scratch on them, just shaken up. I double-checked the house before I let them inside and everything’s locked down.”

Harrison felt both relieved that they were okay and more worried than ever that someone was so determined to kill her—and the shooter had put Cleo at risk as well. His stomach churned at the thought of either of them being hurt.

And then there was the nagging thought that she hadn’t called him herself. She hadn’t thought to let him know what was going on or apparently considered that he would worry about her or that he could help. How could he get her to think about him as part of her world, as someone she could lean on if she needed something?

“Hey, you okay, man?” Joel asked.

Harrison nodded, making himself push back the worry. “If she’s okay, I’m okay. Is there anything I can do?”

“Get someone to take you out to get her car?” Joel passed over Rosemary’s keys. “It’s just down the street from the frozen yogurt place. I told her to cook for a crowd tonight.”

“I’ll do that.” He clenched the keys in his fist and told himself that their relationship was still new, even if his feelings weren’t. It might take a while to get her to think of herself as part of a couple.

Joel excused himself, mentioning something about dinner on his way out the door. As if anything would keep Harrison away that night. He turned his fist over and noticed his knuckles had gone white, felt the key digging into his palm and decided he needed that walk more than ever.

As much as he wanted to run straight to her place and check on her, in his current mood it would start an argument, and that was the last thing he needed to do. So he’d walk it off, then close things out for the day and pick up her car. There would be time to discuss their relationship that night—when he got her alone.

Dinner was nearly ready when everyone started to trickle in through the garage doors a couple of hours later. Rosemary stood over the stove checking the vegetables when Harrison walked in from the garage. He set her keys on the edge of the counter and crossed the tiles, wrapping his arms around her. “Joel told me what happened. You should have called me. How are you doing?” He pulled her tight and she returned the hug, needing the warmth and reassurance when everything had gone so haywire.

“I’ll live, apparently, but I’m scared to death. I spent the past two hours thinking of all the ways it could have gone wrong.” She tucked her face against his shoulder, grateful for his strength and comfort. “I should have called, but I didn’t want to bother you when we were safe.”

He touched her chin and tipped her chin up until their eyes met. “Next time, bother me, okay?”

“Okay.” It was all she could say before he touched his lips to hers, the contact brief but reassuring.

A wolf whistle split the air and Rosemary pulled away to see Cami grinning at her.

“I couldn’t help myself, not after the way you teased me when I got together with Vince.”

“You’re funny.” Still, Rosemary extricated herself and returned to the food on the stove. “We’ll be ready to eat in ten minutes if you lazy butts will get out the dishes.”

Cami and Jonquil set into motion while Cleo called Harrison over. He sat beside her, holding her hand while she talked to him earnestly about what had happened that afternoon. Rosemary could only hear occasional words through the chatter going on around them, but Harrison’s soothing tone seemed to calm the little girl. A moment later Cleo crawled into Harrison’s lap, though she was getting a little too big for lap sitting. He interlocked his fingers as his arms surrounded her and Cleo fidgeted with his shirt collar as she had her dad’s when she was younger.

Rosemary felt a sharp pain as she remembered how close Cleo had been to her father, how she had always hung on him, kept him company by playing on the floor of his office while he worked. She loved going out on the job with him.

Tears rose to Rosemary’s eyes and she brushed them away, trying not to let the others see—it would damage her reputation as the tough one in the house. Thankfully Lana entered through the garage door with her six-month baby belly preceding her and attention shifted toward her. Blake came up behind, but didn’t garner nearly as much attention. By the time everyone was finished patting the belly—something they didn’t do at work—Rosemary was in control of herself again.

“I smell something awesome,” Lana declared as she approached the stove.

“And it’ll stay awesome if you don’t touch,” Rosemary said, shifting so she stood between Lana and the food. “Go take a seat and rest.” While Lana may not be bad luck in the kitchen, she wasn’t exactly skilled in the culinary arts, either.

“I’ve been sitting all day. Seriously, I’m pregnant, not disabled.” Lana grumbled some more under her breath as she moved away.

Rosemary would have agreed with her, knowing how it felt to be over-protected while pregnant, but Lana looked like death warmed over. They were gearing up for the prince of Denmark and his entourage to visit in a couple of weeks and everyone was on overtime making sure things would go perfectly.

She opened the oven and smiled as the cheese bubbled nicely on the enchiladas. “Dinner is served. Where are the others?”

“Just in time,” Delphi swept in with Sage and Joel right behind her. “Smells good. I’m starving. Do you think the snow is going to go away anytime soon? I need to get out for a ride.”

“Wishful thinking,” Rosemary said, imagining buttoned-down Delphi on her motorcycle—an incongruous image, if she’d ever seen one.

“I’ll have to settle for a big helping of whatever you made, I guess.” She smiled—something she didn’t often do—or at least Rosemary rarely saw it.

“It’s a nice consolation prize if you need one.” Rosemary set the first pan of enchiladas on the trivet and went back for a second.

“Where’s Vince?” Sage asked as Cami joined her at the kitchen island.

“Coming. He’s still pushing snow in a couple of parking lots and he has one more driveway to clear before the owners arrive this weekend.” She snagged one of the chips Rosemary had baked up from the extra tortillas.

“Did he come home last night?”

“For about five hours. The new plow’s arrival was pushed back again. At this rate it’ll be June before he has it.” Cami frowned a little.

There was a knock at the front door and Joel opened it to let Vince in.

“Great, the whole family’s home. Guess it’s time for solution by committee,” Joel said, shooting Rosemary a look.

She rolled her eyes—because it was expected—and plated up some dinner for Cleo and Harrison, who were still snuggled on the sofa. Cleo’s head rested on his shoulder, her eyes at half mast. Rosemary watched them for a moment while she waited for Jonquil to finish with the veggies. Then she took a moment to survey the room. Six months ago she’d thought there was no way the six half-sisters would come together the way their father wanted them to. Now she wasn’t so sure. Imaginary boundaries were being erased or redrawn, friendships had formed and she was starting to think maybe they wouldn’t return to being total strangers when this all ended.

Maybe.

She’d been mostly without a family of her own for so long, she hadn’t thought she could get used to so many other people surrounding her, in every pocket of her life, but she’d been wrong. She wondered what other surprises were still in store for her.

Cleo stayed awake long enough to eat, but then started to drift off again—still in Harrison’s lap.

“Hey, bug, let’s get you to bed.” Rosemary was surprised Cleo was sleeping so early; it was barely seven pm and she usually had to be dragged to bed at eight-thirty. She touched Cleo’s forehead, but didn’t feel a temperature. Maybe the days’ excitement had worn her out.

“Don’t wanna go. Stay here. All night.” The corners of her mouth tipped up like she was trying to hold back a smile.

Rosemary shook her head, but had to keep her own smile in check. “Let’s get you ready for bed anyway, then we’ll see.”

Harrison shifted Cleo in his arms and stood—a significant feat considering the almost-ten-year-old was tall for her age. “I’ll take her up.”

Rosemary didn’t protest, enjoying the play of muscles under his shirt as he shifted Cleo in his hold. She followed him up the stairs to Lana’s old room. He removed Cleo’s shoes while Rosemary grabbed pajamas and then he returned to the living room while Rosemary helped her daughter change.