I used to have a handle on life, but it broke.
Glancing out his office window, Axell saw the unmarked police car parked in front of the building next door and cursed. He didn’t need this now. The police had been all over the bar Saturday night after he’d gone home. One of the local yokels had pulled a knife on a city salesman, and his new manager hadn’t realized the seriousness of the situation. He’d been too scared to call Axell.
So now he had police reports scattered across his desk, lawyers and insurance companies calling about liability, and a curt message from someone at the ABC board to deal with. The damned mayor had made certain they’d heard about it. He didn’t need more police at Cleo’s shop — his shop. He was a damned partner, thanks to Maya.
Flinging his pen down and striding out, Axell faced a fleeting regret for the days when a leggy Katherine in her red suit used to greet him in the mornings with nothing more noxious than gossip about the latest backyard panther sighting. Now he had cops and knifings and drugs and a skinny college graduate assistant in too-narrow ties anxiously waiting to be thrown out on his ass. Life had been so much simpler...
Before Maya.
Axell rubbed his brow. He couldn’t reasonably blame any of this on Maya. True, Katherine had quit because he’d married Maya, but he couldn’t blame anyone but Katherine for that. And Maya had nothing to do with the knifing, other than luring him home when he should have been here. Maya had nothing to do with her sister’s drug habits, either. She was completely innocent of everything except existing. Maya just needed to exist to attract trouble like honey draws bees.
As Axell threw open the Curiosity Shoppe door, evil laughter erupted over his head. Startled, he stopped in the doorway and glanced upward for the chimes he’d personally installed himself. A grinning demon lit from within beamed down on him. Swell, now Cleo was probably into demonology or worse.
With images of Satanic rituals ballooning in his mind, Axell scanned the interior where a plainclothes detective had stopped talking and turned to stare. Cleo, looking rattier and more tired than usual, glared in his direction. So much for the once cheerful atmosphere of the playful shop Maya had created.
“I haven’t done the weekend’s receipts yet,” Cleo declared, as if Axell normally came in every day and demanded them. “And tell your wife I want my teapot back.”
“You tell her. She’s your sister.” Determined not to be shoved aside by Cleo’s machinations — he knew enough about human nature to know her rudeness had a purpose — Axell nodded at the detective. “Morning, Rick. Anything I can do for you?” Calm and controlled. He could do that. That’s how he functioned.
The detective’s expression remained unreadable. “Morning, Axell. Just having a word with the lady.”
“I’m no lady and never will be,” Cleo retorted. “You’ve had your say. You can find your own way out.” She glared at Axell. “That goes for you too.”
It struck Axell that Maya’s sister was in need of a good spanking, but that didn’t fall in his line of duty. He walked out with the detective.
“All right, Rick, now tell me what that’s all about. That’s my building, my wife’s sister, and I own half the shop. I’ve a right to know.”
The detective looked uncomfortable. Axell was a council member and on the police oversight committee. His vote was one of many, but his influence in the town was considerable. Axell didn’t normally use his influence for the purpose of intimidation, but he was tired of being on the defensive.
“She had a known dealer in the shop the instant she hit town.” The detective shrugged. “That’s all I’m free to say, and I shouldn’t have said that. Forget where you heard it.”
Axell waited for the pain to grip his stomach, but miraculously, it only twisted a little. With a nod, he acknowledged the detective’s request. “She wants her kid back. She’ll stay clean, if she can. We’ve got to get the dealer off the street.”
“That’s what I intend to do.” The detective slammed into his car and drove off.
Axell took a deep breath and prepared to beard the lion in her den. This gladiator intended to rip the lion’s damned head off.
***
“Selene, you’ve got to be there. You’re the only one I can trust. Axell will be furious, absolutely furious. He didn’t want anyone to know about our relationship to Pfieffer, and now we’re actually heirs... Heirs! Can you imagine? I’m an heiress.” Dizzily, Maya paced up and down with the cordless, ramming her hand through her hair and almost giggling at the absurdity, except its implications were too enormous.
“People will think we murdered that poor old man. You know how they’ve been whispering about the mayor and Mr. Pfeiffer’s nieces and nephews. Now they’ll accuse us. I think I’ll throw up.” She glanced out the window at the new maple for reassurance. If she could only believe it meant love...
“Hurling is one alternative,” Selene said dryly through the phone. “Calling Axell and a lawyer is another. Your choice, girl.”
“I want it all to go away,” she whispered, sinking down beside Alexa, who was resting in her infant seat, and stroking her daughter’s petal-soft cheek. “I just want to live my life and love my kids and make the world go away.”
“Seems to me, that’s why you married Axell. Call him.”
Maya was terrified the world would make Axell go away.
“What happens if we own the school free and clear?” she whispered.
“We have a bonfire, whoop war cries, and circle the wagons, ’cause the rednecks will be after us with a vengeance,” Selene replied grimly. “You call Axell. I’ll call my attorney. And then we’d better consider a security fence and armed guards, or selling out.”
Maya would rather throw up. Hanging up the receiver, she crooned a silly love song to Alexa. Maybe she could call Stephen and he would agree to send her back to California. Maybe she could take Axell’s credit cards and book passage to Australia.
Maybe she could call Axell.
Cradling Alexa in her arms, changing her diaper and watching her kick with sheer exuberation, Maya remembered the moment Axell had delivered her, the astonishment and wonder on his face as he brought this living, breathing human being into the world for the first time, and she knew she couldn’t run any more.
She’d reached the destination Fate had intended for her. She could let the current carry her away on a slow and lonely journey through life, or she could fight to stay here — in her spawning grounds. She grinned at the reference. Axell had said fish have spawning grounds, not nests. That was probably true. She’d spawn with him any day. But first, she had to find a way to anchor herself.
***
The demon screamed as Maya opened the shop door. She almost dropped Alexa in surprise, but the furious shouting match at the counter distracted her sufficiently from the demon to keep her grip.
“I’ll not have Maya — ”
“Don’t give me that crap, you — ”
“Don’t interrupt me!”
Maya blinked in surprise at this last roar. Axell. Axell never shouted. Axell never raised his voice. Axell looked as if he were about to murder Cleo.
Both of them ignored the screaming demon and her arrival. Well, she was an heiress now. She expected a little attention.
Wickedly, she leaned over the counter and plugged in the current to the dragon mobile.
The multi-hued dragon began to rotate slowly. Small trolls and elves orbited around him. The duo at the counter continued shouting nonsensically. The dragon spun faster and swung in wider arcs.
Maya hummed a little tune, set Alexa’s seat on the counter, and pushed the button wired to the mobile motor.
The dragon’s trap door flew open and his treasure exploded in a bright swirl of glittering confetti, hard candy, and dried rose petals. She hadn’t been able to make up her mind about the contents, and she’d never tested the results. The effect was quite as amazing to her as to the others.
Cleo screamed and dodged ricocheting peppermints. Sparkling metallic confetti drifted, caught in the air currents from the overhead fans, and scattered in rainbow flurries across the contents of the store.
Axell merely turned and arched a questioning eyebrow in her direction, before gathering up Alexa and stepping out of the hail of destruction.
“Party pooper,” she pouted as Axell caught her elbow and pulled her toward the door where the confetti didn’t reach.
“Too bad there’s no way it could shoot out helium balloons,” Axell replied reflectively, examining the spinning dragon.
Looking mildly abashed, Cleo warily stood up, and in wonder, watched the cloud of confetti settle and swirl in dying eddies. She picked up a peppermint and absently unwrapped it as a small tornado of petals pirouetted over the wicker chairs.
“You’re not happy unless you’re blowing things up, are you?” she asked.
Maya smiled and wrapped an auburn curl around her finger. A rose petal drifted to the floor. “I showered you with treasures, Cleo. You never learned to appreciate them.”
Beside her, Axell choked. She couldn’t tell if it was from laughter or not. Axell didn’t laugh often, but she knew he had a sense of humor.
“Well, it’s more colorful than dust,” Cleo acknowledged, blowing purple and red stars off her cash register. “You had a point?”
“I’m celebrating.”
Axell watched as Maya sailed into the center of the room with all flags flying. He knew that airy look. The ditzier Maya got, the worse the situation. She was swimming so fast downstream right now, she’d be over the falls before she knew it.
“People commonly do that with champagne. Are you going to enlighten us?”
He didn’t dare approach Maya when she had that dangerous glint in her eye. He didn’t know if the tree had been delivered yet. He didn’t know if she’d seen it or understood. For all he knew, she considered it an insult, and she was here to smack him in the face.
Now that she had everyone’s attention, she slipped into full Maya mode, curled up in the high-backed chair, and beamed. Axell wouldn’t be surprised if rainbows formed over her head. Blissfully stricken by the power of her smile, he didn’t even have to look lower to recall every sensual detail of her bare breast against his palm, her lithe body arching into his. Her siren call...
“We’re heiresses,” she announced sweetly.
Black clouds obliterated any rainbows. Axell groaned and covered his eyes.
Cleo ignored him and waited patiently for Maya to explain. Instead, Axell had the distinct feeling Maya was waiting for him. It was frightening how easily he read her sometimes, as if there were some unspoken current of understanding between them. He’d never known anything like it before. The responsibility was not only frightening, but overwhelming.
He could handle responsibility. With a sigh, Axell uncovered his eyes and glared at his wife. She didn’t flinch, just waited expectantly. Damn, but he loved the way she did that.
“Pfeiffer?” he asked wearily.
She nodded. Cleo turned to Axell for explanation.
“He named you and Cleo and the relationship?” Axell clarified. At Maya’s nod, he pinched the bridge of his nose. “The school?”
“Don’t know,” she finally replied. “The lawyer blathered on about deeds. He’s driving down this afternoon to explain.” She looked a little less certain. “They’ve already filed the will at the courthouse. There’s nothing we can do.”
“A vacation in the Bahamas until this blows over would be nice.” Leaning against the counter, Axell covered his face and wished escape was an alternative.
Idly, Cleo fished another petal from her hair. “Inheriting is good, isn’t it? Why the long faces?”
“Mr. Pfeiffer was murdered,” Maya emphasized. “Who do you think are the prime suspects now?”
Silence.
Axell looked up. Cleo didn’t have to look guilty. He wagered she looked guilty sleeping. He turned to Maya.
“Cleo got out the day Mr. Pfeiffer died, remember?” she reminded him.
Axell summoned the unpleasant memory of Cleo walking down the shop stairs on them one morning — the day after the murder. He didn’t think prisons let people out in the middle of the night. She must have been released the day of the murder. Shit.
“I didn’t know anything about any damned will,” Cleo responded defensively at Axell’s look. “He said he’d take care of us, but I figured it was an old man talking. He was my damned landlord,” she shouted beneath the force of their stares. “I paid him rent. I figured he gave me a discount because I listened to him talk.”
“Where were you the night you were released?” Axell asked as calmly as he could. For Maya’s sake, he wanted to believe her sister. But the circumstances definitely looked questionable.
“I was here!” Cleo gestured at the stairs. “I got a ride, found the key over the sill like Maya said, and came in and inspected the place. I went upstairs and went to bed. Stevieboy came in around three and woke me. He can verify I was in bed.”
“At three. News of the murder was all over town before midnight,” Axell replied with resignation. “I don’t suppose you know the name of the person who drove you here? I don’t know the exact time of death. There might be a chance...”
He saw the exchange of looks between the sisters and knew that alley was a dead end.
Cleo shrugged. “He’s not a reliable witness.”
Axell cringed at the defeat in her voice. He thought he understood something of how a person could be used for a doormat for so long, they began to think that’s all there was to life. Beaten down by circumstances all their lives, with no money, no resources, no friends or family for support, the doormats of the world existed to take the blame for others.
He turned to Maya and recognized the gleam of confidence in her eyes as she watched him. She thought he could solve her sister’s problems.
Logically, he should run the other way.
Insanely, Maya’s faith pumped new energy through Axell’s blood, inflated his heart — and probably his head, not to mention other parts of his anatomy — and released something previously fettered and downtrodden in his soul.
He thought it was hope.