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Authors: Lexi Eddings

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BOOK: The Coldwater Warm Hearts Club

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“Easy there, marine.” One of them was Lester.

The other was Daniel. “Come on back, Jake,” he said softly. “It's OK. We got this.”

Jake drew a shaky breath as the pent-up fury subsided. “I would have killed him.”

“I know. But you didn't.”

“Thank you, man.”

“You did the same for me one time. Let's call it square.” Another deputy lifted the man to his feet, cuffed him, and frog-marched him to the waiting cruiser to join the other guy in the back. Jake looked around for Lacy. She had been cornered by an EMT, who was checking her out.

“How did you know to come?” Jake asked Daniel.

“Lester called to report some suspicious-looking characters parked behind this building,” Daniel said, giving his father a grudging nod.

“When you've people-watched as much as I have over the years, you get so you can spot the ones that are up to no good pretty darn quick,” Lester said. “After I seen them guys hanging around, I hotfooted it over to the Regal and used the phone in the lobby to call it in.”

“And you believed him?” Jake said to Daniel.

“Let's just say I gave him the benefit of the doubt this time,” Daniel said. “Everyone's entitled to it once in a while.”

Lester beamed. It wasn't a full-blown reconciliation, but at least father and son were on speaking terms now.

Jake left them to find Lacy.

As soon as she saw him approaching, she pulled away from the EMT who was trying to take her blood pressure and ran toward him. He hugged her close. It felt like a miracle that she was hugging him back.

“Jake, oh, Jake, you're hurt.”

There was a cut on his temple that was bleeding like a son of a gun, but he didn't feel any pain. That would come later.

“I was bringing you dinner,” he said, feeling stupid after the words came out. It wasn't at all what he wanted to say. Then he realized if he didn't say what was in his heart right now, he'd regret it for the rest of his life. “I was coming to tell you I'm seeing a shrink. I'll do anything to keep from putting you in danger. I'm going to get better, Lacy.”

“That's not possible, Jake. You're already the best.”

That was so far beyond what he'd hoped she'd say, it almost didn't register in his brain.

“I was coming to . . . to . . .” Words failed him. Instead, he fished around in his pocket and came up with his grandmother's ring. He should do this right. He should drop to one knee, but if he took the time to assume the position, he might lose his nerve. “I love you, Lacy Evans. I'll love you till they lay me in the dust. Don't go back to Boston.”

“I love you, too.” She leaned down and palmed his face. “As long as we have each other, Coldwater Cove is the happiest place on earth. I'm not going anywhere.”

Epilogue

Re: Mr. Bradford Endicott
The defendant has been arrested by Belizean authorities for running a real estate scam on tourists in San Pedro. Mr. Endicott is incarcerated in the country's central prison while he awaits trial. The Endicott family's lawyer has indicated that they will no longer resist our efforts to extradite him to the U.S. to stand trial for embezzlement in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
How do you want to handle this matter?

âa note from Percy Junket, personal assistant
to Deputy District Attorney Ethan Hopkins

D
DA Hopkins scribbled a note to his assistant, telling him to “misplace” the paperwork connected with the Commonwealth's extradition request. Hopkins would have Junket find them again in a year or so. By then, Endicott would be more than happy to face the music closer to home.

A Belizean prison was no day at the beach. Sometimes, the scales of justice balanced just fine without any help from him at all.

He couldn't have arranged matters better if he'd tried.

From the
Coldwater Gazette
Society column

Mr. and Mrs. George Evans are pleased to announce the engagement of their daughter Lacy to Jacob Tyler, decorated veteran and oldest son of the late Marvin Tyler and his wife, Mary, who survived him. Not that he was any bother, she says.

A November wedding is planned.

The bride predicts “a good time will be had by all.”

Recipes from the Green Apple Grill

W
hen I was first married, I didn't know how to cook. At all. I could set a table and throw together a passable chef 's salad, but that was the extent of my culinary expertise. As a result, my poor husband received more than his share of burnt offerings that first year.

Likewise, Jake Tyler hasn't always been a great cook. He looked for recipes all over the place and then experimented and made his own tweaks. Here are some dishes that appear in
The Coldwater Warm Hearts Club.

Belgian Waffles

Ingredients

2 cups cake flour (You can use all-purpose flour instead, but cake flour is finer and lighter. Fair warning: It requires sifting first.)
Â¾ cup sugar
3Â½ teaspoons baking powder
2 eggs, separated
1Â½ cups milk
1 cup butter, melted
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Powdered sugar, sliced fresh strawberries, blueberries, or your favorite syrup
Nonstick cooking spray

Directions

Preheat your waffle iron.

Combine flour, sugar, and baking powder in a big bowl. In a medium bowl, lightly beat egg yolks. Add milk, butter, and vanilla. Gently stir into dry ingredients until combined. Do not overmix. Beat the egg whites with a whisk until stiff peaks form. Fold into the batter. Do not overmix! (
This is starting to be a theme, isn't it?
)

Spray your waffle iron with nonstick spray. Pour in batter and bake according to manufacturer's directions until golden brown.

Serve your waffles dusted with powdered sugar, garnished with fresh strawberries or blueberries. Or you can drown them in syrup if you like.

The recipe makes about 10 waffles and I'm sorry to have to tell you that two waffles have 696 calories. But Jake says if you enjoy them with someone you love, the calories don't count.

Happy Man Meat Loaf

Of course, men aren't the only ones who appreciate this dish. Kids love it, too. Moms like the fact that extra veggies can be sneaked into this one-dish meal and no one will ever be the wiser.

Jake decided it was the perfect “welcome home” meal to bring to Lacy when she was moving into her new place in Coldwater Cove. The meat loaf is warm and satisfying.

Just like him.

Ingredients

8 ounces tomato sauce (Try picante sauce for a Mexican flair. My husband likes Jack Daniel's Original No. 7 barbecue sauce in this recipe. Use your imagination and your family's preferences.)
1 small onion, diced
1 potato, coarsely grated (You can also add grated carrots or any other vegetable you want. I've even made this recipe with grated zucchini. Just add more meat and perhaps another egg to make sure the loaf holds together.)
2 pounds ground beef (Or ground pork, chicken, or turkey. This is a very flexible recipe.)
2 eggs
Sea salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
8 ounces cheddar cheese, coarsely grated

Directions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Set aside â cup of tomato sauce. In a large bowl, mix onion, potato (and any other veggie you care to add), ground meat, Â¾ of the grated cheese, the remaining tomato sauce, eggs, salt, and pepper. Roll up your sleeves and mix it together with your hands to form a loaf. Press the mixture into a loaf pan and top with the â cup of tomato sauce you set aside.

Bake at 375 degrees for one hour. Sprinkle the remaining grated cheese to melt on top, return to oven for another ten minutes.

Serves 4â6 with some left over.

My husband never minds leftovers. He says sandwiches the next day are the best part of having meat loaf!

Three-Cheese Deviled Eggs

Every family has secret recipes. The only way my sister teased the recipe for icebox rolls from my grandmother was to stand over her and write it all down as she made them. She was known to leave a few things out when she wrote a recipe down so no one else's rolls would ever be quite as good! ;-) My mother-in-law never did divulge the secret to her homemade chocolate sauce. We've cobbled together an approximation. It's good, but it's not the same.

Jake knew he was getting someplace with Lacy when she gave up the recipe for her mother's three-cheese deviled eggs!

Ingredients

6 hard-cooked eggs
Â¾ cup mayonnaise
2 tablespoons finely shredded Monterey Jack cheese
2 tablespoons finely shredded Swiss cheese
2 tablespoons minced chives, divided

teaspoon ground mustard

1â8 teaspoon pepper
2 ounces processed cheese, cubed (Velveeta. Yes, I know it's not considered haute cuisine, but we're feeding a family, not trying to win
Top Chef
!)
Dash paprika

Directions

Boil the eggs and let them cool. Cut eggs in half lengthwise. Remove yolks and set whites aside. Mash the yolks in a bowl. Add the mayonnaise, shredded cheeses, 1 tablespoon chives, mustard, and pepper.

In a microwave-safe bowl, melt the Velveeta on high for 1â2 minutes. Stir until smooth and then add to the yolk mixture.

Spoon into the egg white shells. Sprinkle with paprika and the remaining chives. Refrigerate until serving.

If your family is like mine, there won't be any leftovers. That way you don't have to worry about refrigerating them after the meal!

Sweet Cream Raisin Pie

This is a very old country recipe from “Tiny” Simon, of the very real Simon family of Oklahoma. Tiny is the oldest of eight children. She won't reveal her age, but her youngest sibling is seventy.

Here is Tiny's raisin pie recipe exactly as it appears in the Simon family cookbook. With a comment or two from me tossed in, of course!

Put 1 cup of sweet cream in a pan. Rinse cup with Â¼ cup of milk. Add to cream.

Mix 1 cup of sugar, 1 tablespoon of flour, 1 teaspoon of cinnamon. Add to hot cream. (Okay, somehow the cream heated up. Use your imagination.)

Beat 3 egg yolks and add to cream. Also add 2 cups of cooked raisins. (I'd never cooked raisins before and Tiny doesn't share her secret, so I Googled it. Martha Stewart recommends soaking raisins for half an hour in hot water, laced with cognac or orange liqueur. Drain thoroughly.) Cook until cream thickens. (You have to stand over the pan stirring almost constantly to keep it from scorching.)

Pour into baked pie shell. (If you don't have a good pie crust recipe, check out Jake's Perfect Pie. The link is at the bottom of the Green Apple Grill page at LexiEddings.com)

Cover with meringue from 3 egg whites. (Tiny expects a lot of me. I had to Google how to make meringue, too.)

Thanks to my friend Jan Dold, who shared Tiny's recipe with us. Of course, as rich as this pie is, it'd be hard for anyone who eats it often to stay “tiny.”

But everyone deserves a little sweetness in their life from time to time. It may not be politically correct, but at a very basic level, food is love.

Who's ready for a meringue-topped hug?

BOOK: The Coldwater Warm Hearts Club

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