Falling for the Mom-to-Be by Lynne Marshall

Author:Lynne Marshall
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2015-10-10T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Eight

Over the weekend, Sgt. Norling caught the misguided college students who’d defaced public property. They’d left a note at the scene stating that all history of Heartlandia was bogus. Thanks to Marta’s input, Gunnar had called in the National Park Service experts on graffiti removal. The granite sculpture would require a special restorative cleaning agent for porous stone surfaces, applied with natural bristle brushes. Then, to prevent further damage, the cleanser would be removed with potable water using fan-tipped garden hoses.

Just what Heartlandia needed, another town project focusing on their shaky beginnings.

To keep Marta’s project safe, Leif built a sliding protective barrier for the entire length of the mural that could be rolled closed and locked each day. His goal was to give Marta peace of mind. Depending on the state of the city once the mural was completed, the college could elect to leave the weatherproof cover in place or take it down.

Grumbling and heated debates continued all over town during the weekend, and the police had to step up their watch, but no fights had been reported. The biggest protestors were the college students, who’d held a peaceful sit-in at the Ringmuren to make their point.

Monday morning before heading to the mural site, Marta read Lilly’s article about Friday’s meeting, the outcome and the citywide reaction. The Herald reporting was evenhanded. The reader couldn’t possibly tell whose side she was on, even though Marta knew personally that Lilly was against any intervention on sacred soil. Lilly ended her weekly column asking the question: “Did the students make a good point, even though choosing the stupid method of vandalism to make it? Or is it possible for a couple of new pieces of information—Captain Prince discovering Heartlandia and potential buried treasure in sacred land—to change everything else this town has been built on?”

Now, as Marta painted the college wall, she considered the article. She expected that in the heat of everything going on, there would be an onslaught of responses to the questions posed for weeks to come.

Having done the lion’s share of work in the preparation for painting the mural—Marta had used the schematic grid over the smaller version in transferring the painting to scale on the college history quad walls—transferring the project seemed like a breeze. Things were moving along quicker than she’d expected. Most important, she was proud of the results so far. She stood back and smiled at the day’s work. The mural looked great, if she did say so herself.

Getting back to painting, Marta called out the next color she needed, and almost immediately Desi handed up the paint to her with a clean brush.

“I don’t know what I would have done without your fiancé coming to Leif’s house when I was sick,” Marta casually mentioned through the respirator mask while feathering dove-colored clouds on top of the cornflower-blue sky.

“He’s the most caring man I’ve ever met.”

Funny, Marta thought she’d already met the most caring man in all of Heartlandia. Leif.

“You’re a lucky woman,” she said rather than debate the matter.

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