Everyone in Heaven’s Way had voted against Selena’s involvement in decorating for Christmas. Taking the only alternative, she leaned back into the easy chair and grumbled.
Mack patted her head.
John, Henry, and Tom hadn’t stopped kissing on their wives. Though she couldn’t put a finger on it, she had the impression they were glad they hadn’t dated her. Just about everyone had shown up with the exception of Mrs. Irons.
Selena watched an ornament fall from the tree and roll towards her chair. Her fingers itched to pick it up, to do something other than watch, but Mack had caught the slight movement and smiled. He would tell Drake if she mutinied. There was way too much mothering here.
She caught Mary’s signs from the other side of the living room.
“Time will fly,” Mary signed again. Mary left the decorating to the others and came over to Selena. “Come on, let’s go for a walk.”
It was better than sitting here. Selena used her hands to push herself up and fell backwards. She tried several times before giving up on independence. Together they laughed as their teamwork did the trick. Selena patted her rounded stomach and accepted the shawl Drake draped around her shoulders.
Mary and Selena took the trail through the woods which sheltered them from prying eyes and the elements. Dark skies threatened to spill two more inches of snow. Drake wasn’t letting her out of his sight until the baby was born and Selena couldn’t help with Eric as much as she’d like due to the doctor’s orders of taking it easy.
Mary held the branch back for Selena to pass under.
“You realize Drake will not let you near a mission again? Losing you a second time would kill him.”
“Why did you go back to Donovan after you’d had a chance to escape that hell?”
“It was a different kind of hell. I didn’t have to endure the wifely hells of all hells. Being several steps below wives, runners, and bodyguards, I didn’t have many rights. But if I tended my duties, they ignored me.” Mary must’ve seen what was coming because she addressed it next. “Donovan was the wandering type. He liked women he employed. When he’d finished with them … there’s nothing like a woman scorned, especially one, our housekeeper, the real Mary, who had lost her babies to Donovan’s hands. Mary found a way to inform me of my husband’s plans to kill me. Wrong or right, I’d traded my son with another woman in case I didn’t survive, but the exchange somehow went askew. Mack gave up his life to watch over the other child, while I stayed with Andrew. As a woman, Mary knew the importance of a child having his mother around while growing up and suggested we change places.”
It had been a risky plan with little chance of success, Selena understood. But the alternative was a certain death.
“If I were dead, Donovan wouldn’t be able to look for me,” Mary said. “When Donovan tried to have me killed, Mack saved my life. I had a facelift and was made to resemble Mary. And Mary had a similar surgery before she went into hiding.”
Selena nodded. It was a fantastic story — but she understood the lengths Don Donovan’s wife had been driven to.
“Mary had agreed to stay hidden, but couldn’t resist trying to make Donovan insane. I pitied her then. Of all that she’d seen, she should’ve known he was already insane.”
Mary continued, moving away as if she were deep in thought. “I thought I would go mad from living in that house everyday.”
“It’s killing you not knowing if Andrew if he inherited his cruelty or if he chose that life,” Selena said. Or if he was Mary’s son, she added silently. She saw a movement and stopped, carefully checking out the situation.
A voice rang out, “Selena, it’s us. Mack and me.”
Mack, carrying Eric, and Drake waited at the end of the trail. Larry and Martha followed. Mack drew Mary into his arms immediately, keeping distance from Larry. If Selena didn’t know better, she’d swear it was a mutual agreement between Martha and Mack. Larry seemed as if he had several bones to pick. It didn’t take long for it to spill as they walked back to the Christmas festivities.
“That was a mighty expensive gift you gave my wife,” Larry said.
“Someone owed me a special favor and I called it in, requesting the delivery as a priority.” Drake added a blanket to Selena’s shoulders.
Larry was visibly fighting for words. “Dammit. Did you have to make it purple? Next week, my car goes in the shop.”
Drake and Martha high-fived.
Larry tapped Martha on the shoulder. “Can you tell me why we’re staying in Selena’s home and not our own?”
Martha considered Larry’s question a moment and then smiled. “Honey … Do you remember when your mother retired and decided to travel and for three years we never heard from her? Well, living in Selena’s home will give us that opportunity. So, I arranged to swap deeds with Drake.”
“I don’t get it,” Larry said, having turned to watch the deer.
“You will,” Martha told him.
Selena heard the sound of footsteps crunching in the snow. She turned and saw Mrs. Irons and Duke. Selena began introducing Mrs. Irons to the others, but Martha stalled her.
“We’ve met,” Martha said with a laugh and hugged Mrs. Irons. “Larry, guess who came to dinner.”
“Damn. Sorry, Mom, but damn,” Larry said.
Everyone laughed except Larry.
Drake hugged Selena close. As they walked back to cabin, huge snowflakes fell, covering the hard ground. Selena couldn’t stop wondering if Mary had answers to —
Drake kissed the top of head and swept her into his arms. “Don’t even think of it,” he warned.
“Do you know how much I love you?” she whispered for his ears only.
“I know I love you too much to underestimate you. Tonight I’ll show you how much I love you.”
And he would.