After Brian left for work on Saturday afternoon, Heather and Chris gathered up the used paper plates, napkins, empty cans, glasses, and the pizza box, taking them inside. Once in the kitchen, Heather set the dirty glasses in the sink while Chris put the trash in the kitchen can.
“Let’s walk up to Marlow House?” Heather suggested. “I could use the exercise since I didn’t get to run this morning. We can leave my car here and drive it home when I’m ready to deal with Clay.”
Heather stood at the kitchen sink, handwashing the glasses they had used, while Chris awkwardly folded the pizza box so he could shove it in the trash can atop the debris he had already put in the can.
“No problem.”
Heather turned off the water and looked at Chris, watching him give the folded pizza box a second shove. “Wouldn’t it be easier to take that out to the trash bin instead of putting it in there?”
“Why?” Chris gave the box a final shove, pushing it all the way into the trash can. With a smile, he put the lid back on the can.
Heather rolled her eyes and silently grabbed a dishtowel to dry off the now clean glasses before putting them back in the cupboard.
“Can we go next door first? Adam dropped the keys off last night, and I haven’t checked out the house.”
“What, you didn’t get a final walkthrough?”
“I told him not to bother. But I’m curious what it looks like.”
“Sure. I’m kinda curious to check out the house, too. Did they finally come get the rest of their stuff?”
“Mia said she took everything she wanted, and a couple of days before the close of escrow, some guy Austin hired showed up to pick up what Austin wanted.”
A few minutes later, Chris and Heather left Chris’s house, locking the door behind them while leaving Bella and Hunny behind. They headed to the house next door, which had been owned by the Crawfords and now belonged to Chris.
“What are you going to do with two houses next door to each other?” Heather asked as she stood on what had been the front porch of the Crawford house, waiting for Chris to unlock the door.
“I’m not sure, but Walt and I are trying to figure out what to do about the tunnel. Me owning this house, and Walt and Danielle, Marlow House, will make it a little easier to figure things out. It was never an ideal situation, having the Crawfords owning one exit to the tunnel. Austin promised to keep his side secure, which he obviously didn’t do.” With the door now unlocked, Chris pushed it open and motioned for Heather to enter first.
Heather didn’t budge and shook her head. “No way. You go in first. This is your creepy tunnel house.”
Chris chuckled and entered the house while saying, “It’s not a creepy house.”
When Heather and Chris reached Marlow House, after checking out the property Chris had recently purchased, Ian was just driving away with Connor, heading to the hospital to see Lily and the new baby. Danielle greeted Chris and Heather right after they walked into the entry hall from the front door.
“I was just going to call you,” Danielle told them.
“We were checking out Chris’s new house,” Heather announced.
“I heard escrow closed. How’s the house?”
Heather shrugged. “It’s a house. I expected it to be creepier.”
Danielle chuckled.
“Why were you going to call us?” Chris asked.
“You guys don’t need to babysit now. If you want, you can go to the hospital with us. Afterwards, Walt and I are going to stop at Pier Café for an early dinner. You’re both welcome to join us.”
“What about the twins? Is Marie back?” Heather asked. She stood in Marlow House’s entry hall with Chris and Danielle.
“No, she’s not back. But Joanne offered to stay with them. She comes on Mondays to clean, and when she heard Lily had her baby, she offered to watch the twins when she’s here.”
“Do we trust her?” Heather asked, her question serious.
Danielle grinned at Heather. “Yes. She’s watched them a few times already, and she’s really pretty good with them. In fact, the first couple of times she watched them, Marie was here, observing.”
“Wow, a ghost is better than a baby cam.” Heather snickered.
“Yep. Marie gave her approval,” Danielle said.
“Okay. If it’s good enough for Marie.”
Chris rolled his eyes at the banter between the two women, and when they seemed to be finished, he told Danielle, “Brian found out a little bit about your ghost.”
Heather and Chris joined Walt and Danielle in the parlor while they waited for Joanne to arrive. Danielle sat in a recliner, nursing the twins, while Heather filled them in on what Brian had learned about Wesley.
“An insurance agent?” Danielle repeated after hearing about his occupation. “Was there anything suspicious about his death?”
“Not according to Brian,” Heather said. “Just some poor schmuck who died too young, probably from eating too much junk food.”
“Why do you say that?” Chris asked.
“He didn’t look healthy,” Heather said.
“He’s dead. Of course he doesn’t look healthy,” Chris countered.
“You know what I mean. If that’s how he looked when he died, he certainly didn’t look like a healthy thirty-five-year-old man. Heck, Brian looks younger than him, and more fit.”
“Of course Brian’s more fit. He’s alive.” Chris snickered.
“I wonder why he hasn’t moved on and why he wants to talk to a medium,” Danielle muttered.
“It could be something about his wife.” Walt looked at Heather. “You said he was married, right?”
“Oh, that reminds me,” Danielle interrupted. “Something the ghost said about his wife.”
“What was that?” Chris asked.
“He didn’t seem to like Heather because she reminded him of his wife. Claimed she screamed a lot, just like Heather.”
Chris snickered at Danielle’s words.
“I do not scream!”
They all looked at Heather.
“This is ridiculous,” June Bartley grumbled. She sat with her husband and daughter in the visitors’ lounge in the maternity section of the hospital, waiting for permission to see Lily and their new granddaughter.
“Ian and Lily want Connor to be the first one to meet the baby,” Kelly reminded her mother.
“Oh pooh. Connor is practically a baby himself. He doesn’t care if he gets to see her first. I doubt he even understands what’s going on.”
“It’s what Ian and Lily want,” John told his wife. “We’ll get to see her soon enough. I’m just glad everything is okay.”
Kelly slumped back in the chair. “If I’d been allowed to be in the labor room, I would have already met her.”
June looked at her daughter. “I don’t understand why you wanted to be in the labor room. There was a time the father didn’t even go in the labor room.”
“Dad was with you when you had me and Ian.”
“True. But that’s different.” June took a moment to consider what Kelly had just said and then chuckled before saying, “Now that I think about it, my mother was a little shocked at the whole natural childbirthing thing. She claimed we were going backwards, that it sounded like something her grandmother did. But we took Lamaze classes. Your father was my coach. I gave birth to both you and your brother without an epidural. It all went very smoothly.”
“You cursed at me and slapped me twice,” John said under his breath.
June looked at her husband and frowned. “What did you say?”
“Nothing,” John muttered.
June turned her attention back to her daughter. “But some of my friends took the whole thing a little too far.”
“What do you mean?” Kelly asked.
“One of my friends had her sister come into labor with her and—”
“That’s sort of what I wanted to do,” Kelly interrupted.
“The sister took a home movie of the entire thing. I’m sorry, but I don’t think any woman giving birth needs to have her lady bits filmed.”
Kelly giggled.
“Can we change the subject?” Not waiting for an answer, John looked at Kelly and asked, “When is Joe getting here?”
Kelly briefly glanced at her watch. “He should have been here by now.”
“Yes, we probably shouldn’t be talking about lady bits when Joe gets here,” June said.
John looked at his wife. “Please stop saying that.”
June frowned. “Saying what?”
John shrugged. “You know.”
“Oh, you mean lady bits?” June asked.
Kelly giggled again.
“Oh, look who’s here!” June said brightly. They all turned to see Joe, Ian, and Connor had just walked into the waiting room.
Ian walked into Lily’s hospital room carrying a package. He had left Connor out in the waiting room with his family, wanting to make sure his wife was ready for guests. He found Lily sitting in the glider rocker next to the hospital bed, holding their daughter.
Lily looked up at Ian and smiled. “I just fed her, and she fell asleep. Where’s Connor? I thought you were bringing him.”
“He’s in the waiting room with the whole damn family.” Ian chuckled and then added, “I wanted to make sure you were up to a visit.” He walked closer and gave her a quick kiss and then dropped one on his sleeping daughter’s brow.
“I’m eager to see Connor, not so sure about the whole damn family.” Lily chuckled and then asked, “What’s the package?”
Ian looked at the package. “Oh, this?” He looked back at Lily. “Your mom sent it. Told me you’d know what to do with it.”
“Open it, please.”
Ian quickly opened the package and was surprised to find a baby doll—an extremely realistic baby doll. Now holding the doll, he looked back to Lily and asked with a frown, “Don’t you think Emily Ann is a little young for this right now?”
Lily chuckled. “That’s not for Emily Ann. It’s for Connor.”
Ian looked at the doll again and frowned. He looked back at Lily. “Connor?”
“Yep, Mom told me she planned to get Connor a baby doll.”
“You didn’t happen to tell her what happened to the last baby doll you bought him?”
“You mean the only one I ever bought him? But yes, I did. Mom said this will be different because she was getting him a realistic doll that looks like a real baby. Claimed it would help him adjust if we both had a baby to take care of.”
Ian chuckled. “That’s rather hippy-dippy of her.” He tossed the doll on the bed and then gathered up the trash from the package and shoved it in the nearby trash can.
“That’s Mom.”
Ian lifted Connor into his arms and carried him into the hospital room to see Lily and the new baby. Lily smiled at her husband and son as they entered the room. Upon seeing his mother, Connor held out his arms to her.
“Hi, Connor. Want to meet your new sister?” Lily asked.
“Baby!” Connor cried out excitedly.
Ian set Connor on the floor. The toddler ran to his mother and new sister. After spending time with the Marlow twins, Connor had already learned how to be gentle, so he brushed his hand over the swaddled infant’s body and leaned forward, placing a light kiss on her forehead. He stared at the baby for a few minutes when Lily asked, “You want to see what your grandma Miller got you?”
Connor looked up at his mother, who then looked at Ian. “Why don’t you show him?”
Ian picked the doll up from the bed and handed it to his son as Lily said, “See, Grandma got you your own baby to take care of.”
Connor took the doll from his father, holding it by one foot. He looked at it for a moment and then tossed it over his shoulder. It landed on the floor, and he turned his attention back to his mother and sister.
After Ian brought Connor back to the waiting room, Ian’s parents went in to meet the new baby. When the grandparents finished their visit, the rest visited the mother and infant in shifts, with Kelly and Joe going next, followed by Walt and Danielle, and then Heather and Chris. While Lily was happy to see everyone, she was exhausted by the time the last ones said goodbye.
The group stood in the waiting room, preparing to leave, as Ian gave his wife a final goodnight before leaving. June looked at Danielle and Walt and asked, “Who is watching the twins?”
“Joanne.” Danielle smiled.
“Oh, that’s your housekeeper?” June asked.
“Yes, and a friend. She’s also good with the babies.”
“It’s wonderful you have so much help, especially since there are no grandparents,” June said. “We’re going to celebrate at Pearl Cove. Ian and Connor will be coming with us, and you’re all invited to join us.”
“Thanks for the invite. But I think Walt and I are going to grab a quick bite at Pier Café and then head home.”
“Ahh, yes. You’re nursing like Lily. Can’t really be away that long at this stage.” June smiled at Danielle and then looked at Heather and Chris. “But you’re both invited.”
“Thanks for the invite. But I’m afraid Heather and I have work we need to finish up tonight,” Chris told her.
June arched her brows. “You have to work on a Saturday?”
“Unfortunately, something unexpected came up last night that we have to deal with. And I am afraid I need Heather to help me.” Chris flashed June his most charming smile.