Walt didn’t care for the canned shaving cream Danielle had initially purchased for him. It remained in his medicine cabinet. Instead, he used the shaving soap she had found for him online. He finished shaving and then rinsed his face at the bathroom sink. After removing all traces of the shaving soap, he patted dry his face with a hand towel and looked in the mirror.
He didn’t miss the beard he’d had for a short time after claiming Clint’s body. Fact was, in his day beards were not in style. The fashion was more toward a clean-shaved face with the exception of a mustache. He had tried wearing a mustache once, yet found the necessary trimming and extra cleaning more annoying than simply shaving each morning.
Looking into the mirror, he smiled. Today was his wedding day. He couldn’t recall feeling this happy when he had married Angela. In fact, if he were truthful with himself, there had been some hesitation on his part, yet he had been a man of his word, and at the time he would never have left a woman at the altar. Although, in retrospect, it would have been the smart thing to do.
As soon as that thought came into his head, he dismissed it. Staring at his reflection, he said, “No, all that happened brought me to this moment. This is exactly where I want to be.”
Twenty minutes later Walt headed downstairs from the attic. He passed Danielle’s bedroom. Her door was open, but the room was empty. Continuing on to the stairs leading to the first floor, he came across Max, who was sauntering in his direction, panther like—a black miniature panther with white-tipped ears.
“Good morning, Max,” Walt greeted him.
The cat paused a moment and looked up to him through golden eyes and then meowed.
“Ahh, she’s in the kitchen, thanks. We’re taking a little drive today, Max. We’ll be home later this afternoon.”
Max didn’t comment, but continued on his way to Danielle’s room, where he intended to nap.
In the kitchen Walt found Danielle standing by the coffeepot—wearing a dress he had never seen before, her hair falling in curls several inches above her shoulders. It was obvious she had spent some time with the curling iron this morning. Busy pouring herself a cup of coffee, she hadn’t heard Walt walk into the kitchen.
Stopping in his tracks, Walt took in the sight of her. “You look gorgeous.”
Surprised by his voice, Danielle looked to him with a smile. Her eyes widened. “Walt! You’re wearing that suit you bought in Portland!”
He stepped farther into the kitchen. “It is our wedding day.”
Danielle’s grin widened as she looked him up and down. “That suit looks great on you.”
He eyed Danielle, a crooked smile on his face. “Where did you get that dress? I’ve never seen it before.”
Danielle glanced down at her dress and then looked back to Walt. “You like it?”
“I said you look gorgeous, didn’t I?” He walked to Danielle and took her into his arms for a kiss. After their kiss ended, he asked, “When did you get the dress?”
“After we bought the marriage license, that night I came home and started shopping for dresses online. It arrived Saturday. I was holding my breath, worried it wouldn’t fit.”
Smiling, he looked down at the dress and said, “It fits perfectly.”
The landline began to ring.
Danielle looked over at the phone sitting on the counter. “Must be B and B business.”
“You go ahead and answer that. I’ll be right back.”
Fifteen minutes later, when Walt returned to the kitchen, he found Danielle standing quietly by the kitchen counter, looking absently at the phone.
“You ready?” he asked.
Danielle glanced up at him. “That was Chris’s uncle Loyd Glandon.”
Walt arched his brow. “Don’t tell me, he called to make a reservation for Christmas?”
Danielle nodded. “I really wanted to tell him we aren’t taking any reservations over the holidays.”
“How long are they staying?”
“They’re arriving December the twentieth, it’s a Tuesday, and leaving the twenty-seventh.” Danielle closed the reservation book. It sat on the counter by the phone.
“They’re not staying for New Year’s?” Walt asked.
“I guess not. I suppose I should tell Chris.”
“Might be a good idea.”
Later that morning Walt and Danielle were off to Astoria. Their first stop would be the jewelry store to see if the rings were finished.
“I was thinking about your Packard last night,” Danielle told Walt as she steered her car north.
“What about it?”
“I’m not sure where we’re going to park it. We don’t have a garage, and it will destroy that car to leave it out in the rain. As it is, I wish I had some place to park my car.”
“I’ll be honest; I haven’t thought that far ahead. I don’t imagine Ian will let me use his garage like George did.” Walt chuckled.
Danielle glanced briefly to Walt and then looked back down the road. “You used to park your car across the street at the Hemmings’ house?”
“Only after the carriage house burned down. I intended to rebuild it. George was nice enough to let me use his garage. I suppose Ben’s father wouldn’t have been able to steal the car if I hadn’t parked it along the side of Marlow House the night I was murdered, instead of taking it over to George’s like I normally did.”
Danielle frowned. “Carriage house? What carriage house?”
“The one that used to be behind the house. I converted it to a garage.”
“You mean where the backyard is?” Danielle asked.
“Yes.”
“I didn’t even know anything had been back there.”
Walt shrugged. “We cleaned the area up after the fire, with the intention of rebuilding. Over the years the grass and foliage took over. I guess I never mentioned the carriage house before, never saw a reason.”
“I assume access was by way of the alley?”
“Exactly.”
“I did wonder why your Packard wasn’t rusted out if you’d left it out in the rain all the time.”
“I suppose I need to rethink the Packard.”
“Rethink how?” she asked.
“Maybe you should just sell it,” he suggested.
“Or maybe I should see about having a garage built where the carriage house used to stand—a two-car garage, for both our vehicles. If there’s room.”
It was not quite eleven in the morning when Danielle pulled up in front of Aaron Michael’s jewelry store and parked her car. “I have to admit I’m excited to see what the rings look like.”
Fifteen minutes later the two stood in front of the jewelry counter and watched as Aaron showed them the rings he had fashioned from the gold coins.
“They’re beautiful!” Danielle reached out and picked up the smaller of the two rings. Holding the gold band up to her eyes, she examined it. In turn, Walt picked up his ring and looked at it.
“So when are you two getting married?” Aaron asked.
Danielle froze a moment and looked to Walt, who smiled at Aaron.
“These aren’t wedding rings,” Walt explained.
Aaron frowned. “I just assumed, since you had matching gold bands made—in your size—”
“As you know, the rings were made out of the gold coins that belonged to my cousin, Walt Marlow, who shares my name.”
Confused, Aaron nodded.
“Danielle wanted me to have something from my cousin, especially since we share the same name, and I do bear a remarkable resemblance to the man. That’s why, after she decided to have a ring made for herself, she wanted to have one made for me.”
“Oh my, that’s generous of her.” Aaron glanced from Walt to Danielle.
Walt smiled. “I thought so.”
“Well, you two go ahead and look these over and let me run to the back, and I’ll get the coins I didn’t use,” Aaron said before disappearing into a back room.
“Where did you come up with that story?”
Walt flashed her a mischievous grin. “Associating with you taught me a lot.”
Danielle chuckled. “You brat.”
“Plus, I’d like to be able to wear my ring now. I think the story I just told Mr. Michaels is one we can believably pass on to others without raising too much unwanted speculation.”
They tried the gold bands on their right hands and then their left hands. Fortunately, the rings slipped easily onto the ring finger of either hand. Instead of wearing them out of the store, Danielle returned them to the velvet boxes Aaron had given them and slipped them into the small shopping bag, which she dropped into her purse. They both agreed they would officially slip the rings on their hands—their right hands—when they exchanged their vows.
Giddy with excitement, Danielle stepped out on the sidewalk from the jewelry store and failed to see the couple walking down the sidewalk in their direction. Chattering away with Walt instead of paying attention to where she was going, she slammed into the man—it was Adam Nichols.
Danielle came to an abrupt stop. “Adam?”
Standing next to him was Melony Carmichael, who curiously looked both Walt and Danielle up and down while making no attempt to disguise her smirk-like smile. “Hello, Danielle…Walt.”
Danielle smiled weakly at Melony. “Hello.”
“Danielle?” Adam said with a frown, looking from her to Walt Marlow. “What are you guys doing here? You look like you’re on your way to church.”
“Umm…I just had some errands to run, and I asked Walt to join me,” Danielle stammered.
“You dress pretty sharp for errands,” he teased.
Melony glanced from Danielle to the storefront then back to Danielle. “You picked up your ring! Can I see it?”
Danielle stood mute for a moment, seemingly confused.
“Oh, Lily told me,” Melony explained. “Can I see it? You picked it up, didn’t you?”
“Umm…yeah…” Danielle stammered.
“Hey, have you guys eaten yet? We were just on our way to have lunch. Why don’t you join us?” Adam asked.
“Oh yes, please do!” Melony insisted.
Before Walt and Danielle knew what had happened, they found themselves sitting in a small restaurant overlooking the ocean, with Adam and Melony.
Reluctantly, Danielle pulled the jewelry bag from her purse. The moment she did, she remembered there were two boxes in the bag.
“You had two rings made?” Melony asked, watching Danielle fumble with the ring boxes, as if trying to decide which one to hand her.
After a moment, Danielle let out a sigh and handed Melony both boxes to look at. “I decided to have a ring made for Walt too. I wanted him to have something that once belonged to his namesake.”
Melony flipped open one of the boxes, revealing the larger of the two rings.
Adam peeked over her shoulder. “You made him a wedding band?”
“It’s not a wedding band,” Danielle insisted. “It’s just a gold band.”
Removing the ring from the velvet-lined box, Melony said, “It’s gorgeous.” She showed the ring to Adam, who only shrugged and turned his attention back to Danielle.
“Hey, I found out what you can get for that Packard,” Adam told her.
“I’m not sure I want to sell it.”
“Fifty thousand.”
“Fifty thousand?” Danielle stammered.
“Yep. Of course, it depends on how good a shape it’s in. But I talked to a car guy I know, and he said he was pretty sure you could get fifty thousand for it. I swear, Danielle, you really do have the Midas touch.”
“Fifty thousand?” Walt muttered. “I’d say that’s a pretty good return on the money.”
Adam looked at Walt. “What do you mean?”
“The car cost forty-five hundred,” Walt said.
“How do you know that?” Melony asked.
Danielle and Walt left first, claiming they had a few more errands to run, leaving Adam and Melony sitting alone at the restaurant.
“There’s something going on between those two,” Melony said.
“Noooo.” Adam shook his head. “No way.”
Melony laughed. “Come on, Adam, can’t you see the way they look at each other? It’s like they’re a couple. And what’s with those gold wedding bands—matching bands.”
“Danielle said they weren’t wedding bands.”
“I don’t care what she said, but something is going on there.”
“But he’s such a jerk!” Adam insisted.
“You have to admit he’s been really nice lately. Maybe he just got off on the wrong foot. And ever since she brought him home from the hospital, they always seem to be together.”