Page 116 of Girl Anonymous

Enough of dealing with a topic that would require thoughtful adjustment over months and perhaps years. Time to go out and join the celebration.She stood. “It’s our wedding. Can we dance? Before we have to take up the onerous task of allowingallthe Arundels to kiss our rings?” She looked at her finger. “So much slobber!”

“I’d like that. The dancing, I mean.” He glanced up, looked her over as if seeing her for the first time today, stood, and took her arm. “Have I told you how lovely you are?”

“Not yet. But I’m sure you will.”

He ushered her out into the backyard. Cheers erupted—wine had been flowing freely—and as they made their way across the lawn, they shook hands while responding to calls of congratulations.

“Now that we know it was Fedelma, Connor has nailed her for the embezzling.” Dante talked into Maarja’s ear, keeping her entertained while people did indeed slobber on her hand. “Fedelma was stocking up for her takeover of the family.”

As they stepped onto the portable dance floor, the band switched to a love song, and Dante pulled her close. He led well, of course, and in a moment they moved together as if they’d been practicing for this dance all their lives. He murmured, “You weren’t as surprised about my mother’s appearance as I thought you’d be.”

“I had my suspicions.”

He leaned back and looked into her face. “What gave it away?”

“You said you trusted two people, and I was one.”

“Damn,” he said softly.

“That made me wonder…who else could the other person be? The only possibility was your mother.” Looking back, she was surprised she hadn’t realized the truth as the events occurred. “You never grieved. Never were angry with whoever had caused the explosion. Never put all your heart and mind into discovering who’d killed her. That’s not like you, Dante.”

He rubbed his forehead. “I’m not going to win an Academy Award, am I?”

“Ha! Not you.” She liked that about him. He was direct, didn’t bother with pretense, and she would always know where she stood with him. “I started thinking back, about how she was alive after the explosion and alive when you carried her down the stairs. Suddenly, you announced she was dead and you held me back from her body. People were on the property, recording everything that happened. I couldn’t figure out how thereporters had arrived so swiftly, but they weren’t reporters, and if I hadn’t been in shock, I would have realized it. They were your people, documenting her death for proof to your suspicious pain-in-the-butt relatives.”

His expression was both chagrin and pride. “When you discovered the deception, I thought you were going to punch me. And I would have to let you.”

“I would have. I still might take the opportunity. But I knew if what I suspected was the truth, you and she had created the explosion to fool the unknowns who were trying to kill her, to keep her safe and seize the initiative. You knew with her death, they would have to make a move and reveal themselves. I am right, aren’t I?” She saw the answer in his face. “Ha! You’re going to have to work to stay ahead of me, Dante Arundel!”

He spun her in a slow smooth move. “Instead of staying ahead of you, I’ll walk at your side all the days of our lives.”

She put her head on his shoulder. “Okay. If you insist. We’ll do it your way.”

CHAPTER 57

Maarja drove her van up Gothic’s winding main street, the setting sun blaring in her rearview mirrors. After her announcement that she was pregnant, Saint Rees had tried to move her into the office—her worst nightmare—and when she resisted she’d been assigned jobs with little risk. Like the one she had just completed, moving a young woman’s complete Hummel collection from Eureka to Boston.

Who even knew Hummels were back in fashion?

The packing and inventory had taken two full days of fussiness and the travel and unpacking had been another five days. Every night she conferenced with Dante, but it wasn’t the same and right now she found herself as excited as a newlywed. Which she wasn’t really; three months ago they’d returned from their Italian honeymoon—which included a visit to Murano—and underneath her white coveralls, her baby bump was plainly showing. When she asked Mrs. Arundel whether Dante had kicked all the time, Raine replied, “No, dear, he was a placid infant, which worried Benoit, may I tell you. I imagine this little tyke takes after you.”

Maarja had no one to ask, but she didn’t allow that to bother her. She had so much more than she had ever imagined possible. For that, she was grateful.

Her anticipation heightened as she rounded the last curve toward her house…

Her house, which had been transformed by tearing off the front and framing a second story over the living room. A large flatbed truck was parked on the torn-up lawn while a small crane moved trusses off it and onto the studs. A dozen construction workers swarmed the yard, and Owen, her construction guy/brother-in-law, consulted a large roll of plans with Dante.

She braked and gawked like a tourist.

Behind her, Mr. Cummings honked, and Maarja hurriedly turned to drive up the alley to the back of her house. Her tiny rundown one-car garage was gone, replaced by a two-car garage. The open door revealed a vehicle she had no doubt was her husband’s. Who else would drive a Mercedes that cost more than Alex’s hospital stay? “Dante, you jerk,” she muttered.

No wonder he’d been so willing to move his fancy-ass body into her tiny old house. Under his auspices, it was becoming a…well, not a large house, but much more than the old-fashioned one bedroom, one bath she had so cherished.

Okay, fine, he’d had trouble fitting his office staff into the living room, but—he couldn’t have consulted with her?

Construction workers fled before her as she stomped in, glowering, and headed toward the front. The living room was in surprisingly good shape for a room that had a beam and plywood ceiling. Or was that the upstairs floor?

She stepped out on the front porch, which was still pretty much the same except the wood floor, railings, and posts were new and, by the smell, newly painted. She walked to the railing and looked down at Owen and Dante.

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