A Vineyard Christmas by Jean Stone

Author:Jean Stone
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Kensington
Published: 2018-07-08T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 17

Annie convinced Earl to let her stop at the cottage and pick up some Christmas cookies for Bella’s mother. “I want her know that we come in peace.”

A slight guffaw urped from his throat, but he pulled into her driveway anyway. She ran inside, dropped half a dozen candy cane cookies into a plastic sandwich bag, and stuck a bow on top.Then she raised her eyes and said, “Murphy, I need a little help now, okay? Even though you think I’m an idiot?”

Back outside, Earl was standing next to the truck. “I think we should walk over. Otherwise, we might scare her off. In fact, we can cut through. I found a path that runs from the Flanagans’ property to the Littlefields’.”

“Which must be how she’s come back and forth.”

“More than likely.”

Of course, that still didn’t answer the questions of how she’d known where Annie lived in the first place, or why she’d picked her out of the hundreds or more women who stayed on the Vineyard in winter, most of whom were no doubt imminently more qualified to take care of a baby than she was.

Earl led the way. They ducked under a few trees and pushed back some brush, but the path definitely provided a gateway between the two land parcels. Once they reached the other side, Annie was stunned to see that, from the water, what looked like a magnificent place, had, as Earl had hinted, fallen into disrepair. Shingles, tree limbs, and litter were scattered across the lawn like seaweed and debris that had ridden in with the tide and had been left on the shore to rot. A hemline of shrubbery skirted the foundation of the house; bushes that once must have been lush were skeletal, remnants of snow clinging to their naked twigs. A broken rose trellis was slumped over, as if it had been shot.

“Wow,” Earl said in a low voice, “it’s worse than I thought.”

“Now I understand why the driveway wasn’t plowed. You were right: no one seems to care about any of it.”

“Well, you know all about family discord. Thanks to your unfortunate niece.” He grinned a toothy grin; Annie wanted to swat him. “Maybe we can get in through the sunroom on the side,” he added. “But let’s stay away from the windows. In case our young friend hears us coming.”

They stooped, they shuffled, they duckwalked to a glass door. Earl reached up and tried the handle. It was locked.

“Damn,” he muttered. Then he signaled Annie to stay behind him, and they made their way to the other side of the house. But the door there was locked, too.

Annie looked around. The sun porch was long, wide, and totally glassed in. It stretched across the entire back of the house. Inside, she could see an indoor swimming pool that had been covered. But unless she and Earl were willing to hurl a rock through a window, it didn’t look as if they’d get inside. She scanned the area; then she noticed an alcove near what might be a kitchen.

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