Page 120 of One In Vermillion

I had tears in my eyes. I hate that. It makes me look weak. I blinked them back and swallowed, trying to get back to normal.

Then I handed him the t-shirt and he drew back looking devastated, and I took off the t-shirt I was wearing—I was in a sports bra, no big deal—and took the t-shirt back from him and put it on.

Then I smoothed it down and put my hand over the ring and said, “Yes, Vince Cooper, I will marry you in a thousand years.”

He exhaled and yanked me to him and kissed me hard, and I held onto him, onto my future, onto our next thousand years, and kissed him back.

Behind me, I heard Molly say, “I think we’re missing something,” so I turned around to see her close behind me. My mini-strip must have caught her attention.

“Vince got me a t-shirt,” I said, and I showed her the tee, and she screamed so loud that people in the bar came from the tables to see what was going on: Mac and Will and Ken and Olivia and Rain and Patsy and Lobo and Jill, and then Vince, calm as ever, announced, “We’re engaged,” and Mac said, “About damn time, Vinz,” and Vince said, “Vinz?” because I’d forgotten to tell him that was our couple name and no one had dared to before this.

And there I was, engaged. To the chief of police.

I smiled at him as people hugged me and pounded him on the back.

And thought back to three months ago when I’d stalled my car trying to get out of this place.

Sometimes you don’t get what you want, but you get everything you need.

CHAPTER 67

The next morning, I was on a ladder. It leaned against the nice pole Will and I had put in two days ago, set in concrete, where Liz’s driveway met the road. I had an engraved wood street sign which I hung from hooks on the high arm. It settled in place on two short pieces of chain. I climbed down and stepped back to admire my work.

Magnolia Lane

Then I took a metal stake with a sign on it and pounded it into the ground next to the concrete base.

Private Property:

Absolutely No Trespassing

By order of: Vince Cooper

Fiance/Chief of Police

CHAPTER 68

Of course, Anemone is now running Burney. She hired Margot as a secretary, I think so she could keep an eye on her, but Margot seems to enjoy it and Peri is happy, so that’s all good.

Anemone is also happy because Olivia has settled in for the month, and it looks like it might be longer because Mac is extremely happy that Olivia is staying, and as Olivia told me, when he’s happy, he’s very . . . affectionate. And fun. I don’t think Olivia’s going anywhere for a while.

Molly is thrilled about the community theater we have planned for the factory and equally thrilled that Rain got her a ring inspired by Vince’s big moment, especially since she’d had a ring for Rain for weeks and wasn’t sure how to give it to her. She and Mac are talking again, and she thinks Olivia is a hoot, so that’s sorted.

George is mayor. Considering he’s had fifteen years to stew over what he would have done if he’d been elected, he’s been busy, kicking ass and taking names, especially out at the development. He might have to put up with expensive housing, but he’s going to keep it contained since he is also president of the Burney city council. When you consider that three months ago, he was a bitter, worn-out old man and now he stands astride Burney like a Colossus, the change is startling. Anemone does good work. There isn’t going to be a new municipal building out there. The money will be spent renovating the current one. And instead of building new shops, in order to keep the current downtown vibrant with the influx of new people, the buildings at the center of River Vista were going to be a new medical center which not just Burney, but the entire county needed. Anemone had worked some kind of deal with Senator Wilcox to get state and federal funding to help with that. A win-win. There was a picture of them in the Enquirer, standing together, smiling, best of friends. I laughed really loud.

Then I told her that was going to be my Christmas card.

My mother and Day are still planning marriage and have taken to discussing her teddy problem with Peri instead of me since the kid is the one trying to save Mom's bears in Anemone’s living room, although Veronica has now become very protective of them, having accepted them (I assume) as pacifist badgers. Veronica hasn’t peed on Big Red Bear again, perhaps sensing the trauma it has been through, but probably because it now lives upstairs in Peri’s room, and Veronica is not good with stairs.

My aunt is still in prison, thank God. And so is Cash, so my mother no longer thinks he’d be perfect for me. All of which means my family is finally off my case. Putting the worst of your immediate acquaintances in prison is a great help; I recommend it.

And then there’s Anemone, who signed off on the copy edits, soAnemone Risingis finally, really, truly done. We haven’t started the advice book yet, there’s a lot of stuff we need to sort out, plus being First Lady of Burney takes up a lot of her time. Vince says George wants to propose, but he’s not sure that’s what she wants. I told Vince that the woman has been married five times, I’m fairly sure she’s used to saying yes. I also saw a beautiful white lace dress in her closet the other day, tea length with a small bustle and train, so when he finally gets the nerve up, I’m going to be in a bridesmaid dress again, probably pink this time, with Molly and Margot and Rain and Olivia and Marianne and Peri as a flower girl in a pink dress that looks like a bath scrubby because she has a song that goes with that.

Vince cleaned up the mess Bartlett and O’Toole had made of the department, and when Mayor George increased the budget, he created two more positions for cops who were actually trained, one of them as detective. I think the blond county cop may be applying for the other slot. Bartlett is signed up for any number of courses helpful to his position as Burney’s only detective at the moment, courses that will keep him out of the office until Vince can marshal the patience to work with him again. And Vince is coming to terms with being police chief since the guy has always been a control freak anyway. I think he actually likes it now.

And me, he likes me. He even likes the house I bought. After we cleaned up Cash’s vandalizing, and Jason put in the new cabinets and reinforced the door frame so nobody’s going to break it again, Olivia told me that my bathtub will be in by the end of the month. Vince painted my bedroom blue as a surprise and put up the Ranger’s Rules on my kitchen wall, another surprise. We got a new, bigger, Keurig and a new memory foam mattress we can drag off the daybed and out to the back porch when the urge hits, so the fox on the other side will not be bored. I wear my diamond ring t-shirt every chance I get, and now when we walk into JB’s late enough that everybody has had a few, our friends yell, “Vinz!” which Vince puts up with because, he says, if it wasn’t that, it would be “Vince!” and that’s the last thing he wants. Also, I’m going to learn to cook. Vince isn’t sure about that one, but he’ll eat what I make. He’s used to field rations, he’s going to love my lasagna.

I might even marry him someday.

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