********
Marla had no idea how well she had been liked in Wynott until she had returned. People she barely knew would come up to her and tell her how much they missed Sin*A*Mon and Spice, invariably asking her when it would open again.
As a surprise to Marla, Pete arranged a lunch date with all of her previous employees. He wanted her to reconnect with her old friends as just that, friends and not employees. As expected, she started crying the minute she realized what was going on. He escorted her over to the table, kissed her goodbye (in front of everybody) and left her to her friends. He hadn’t told any of them what had happened during the past two months, or even that Marla was pregnant. Everyone started to talk at once as he walked out of the restaurant, leaving her in their very capable hands.
They all hopped to their feet as she approached the table, each one taking their turn hugging her happily. After everyone caught up with each other and they had finished eating, the subject turned back to the bakery. They all wanted to know if Marla had any plans of re-opening anytime soon. To her surprise, all her old friends and employees assured her that she just had to say the word and they’d come back to work for her. When she pointed to her swollen belly, everyone dismissed the fact that her being pregnant was any obstacle at all.
“I think there are too many things going on right now. Besides, this town is pretty conservative, how do you think they’ll react to the fact that I’m unmarried and pregnant? Not to mention the fact that Pete and I are living together and can’t get married even if we wanted to. I would need to talk this all over with Pete. We were thinking that I’d just kind of nest before the baby came. He feels, and I have to agree with him, that I’ve been through so much emotional and physical upheaval lately. This time off would do me and the baby a world of good. Plus, there’s the fact that the physical labor is just impossible right now.”
“Have you ever considered the fact that you have four able bodied friends and employees that can pick up the slack?” Betsy asked. “Don’t forget about Pete either. You know if this is what you want he’ll do everything in his power to help. He’s a good guy Marla, and he loves you with all his heart. Most people around here know your circumstances and why you can’t marry Pete. I’m pretty sure all of them would agree that’s no reason to not go on with your life. You’re just as entitled to happiness as everyone else and if you lose a few customers over it, so be it. Do you really think the business will suffer because a few closed minded people shunned your establishment?”
“No, but I need to think about it a lot more and talk to Pete before I make any decisions. I don’t even know if the building is still available to rent or not. How about if I promise all of you to look into it more, crunch some numbers and all that business stuff, and let you know. Maybe in a couple of weeks I’ll have a better grasp on everything. You can all come over to our house and we’ll have a cookout. Bring your families and we’ll make a night of it.”
“Sounds great.” Everyone nodded their heads like bobbles as they pulled their calendar’s out of their purses. Once they settled on a date they all walked Marla back to the police station and hugged goodbye, vowing to bring all the passing dishes to the cookout if Marla did the meats and desserts. It was the first time she would ever really socialize in Wynott since she arrived three years ago. She never realized what good friends she had made along the way and it warmed her heart.
She walked into the building and headed straight for Pete’s office, pausing half way there to look around at the sea of desks and ringing phones. She expected a few people would look up from what they were doing, they were police after all. What she didn’t expect was a standing ovation of clapping and hoots and hollers of approval directed at her with Pete standing next to her. She instinctively put her hand on her belly and looked up at Pete, who was smiling just as broadly as Marla. They gave a short bow to the crowd before Pete pretended to be tough and told them all to get back to work.
Pete closed the door and wrapped his arms around Marla, kissing her longingly.
“You are so sexy, you know that? I love you so much. How was your lunch?” He took his seat, pulling her into his lap as they cuddled together in the chair.
“Thank you so much for arranging it for us. It was fantastic. I never realized what good friends I had. We never socialized so I just assumed they could take me or leave me. I was wrong about so many things, including you, Pete. I’m so sorry I put you through all of this drama. It’s really so unlike me that I can only blame it on hormones and being blinded by love. I love you Pete, so much.” She kissed him for a long time, pouring all her heart and soul into each electrifying kiss. She was so happy she thought she would burst. When someone knocked on the door she jumped and started to scramble off Pete’s lap. He wouldn’t have any of it and held her onto his lap as he called for them to enter. The uniformed officer just smiled at both of them and went on with his business. Once he had left she resumed her kissing frenzy, this time with butterfly kisses all over his face.
“I should let you get back to work.”
“I’ll drive you home and then come back. You must be tired after all the talking you and your friends did today.”
“I don’t think I’ve spoken that many words since I came to Wynott. I have a lot to tell you and talk to you about. Will you be able to make it home for dinner tonight?”
“For you my darling, I’ll make a point of it.”
Marla felt a celebration was in order and decided to make Pete’s favorite meal. Beef roast with roasted potatoes and carrots along with a salad and homemade rolls. Once most of the preparations were done she decided to lie down on the couch and read for a while. What seemed like only moments later she was being gently shaken awake.
“Oh Pete, what are you doing home so soon?”
“Honey, it’s six o’clock. You fell asleep.”
“Wow, really? Dinner is going to be very well done. I hope it’s still edible. If not, at least I made a nice salad and some dinner rolls. Let’s eat, I’m starving!” Pete chuckled to himself, loving the way she babbled when she first woke up.
Marla filled Pete in on all the details of her lunch with the girls, including re-opening the bakery. She waited for Pete to offer his opinion. When he didn’t say anything for a long time her patience ran out and she ended up yelling, “Well! What do you think?”
“I think you have some very good friends.”
“Duh! I’m talking about the bakery.”
“Honey, if you want to do that I’m right there with you, and if you don’t want to I’m good with that too. I just want you to be happy. If opening the bakery again will make you happy then I say go for it.” Sensing there was no correct answer, he took the diplomatic road. .
“Baby, you make me happy and right now I guess I want to concentrate on you and the baby. But what if I regret it later?”
“What if you took on a partner? They could pick-up a lot of the workload and it would be less stressful for you. Betsy springs to mind because I would guess she has the best grasp on the overall business. Maybe you could do the business and paperwork end and she could run the baking and store operations. You would be able to do the paperwork from home once the baby is born. It would certainly give you a lot more flexibility with your schedule.”
“Hey, you might have something there. I already own all the equipment so it wouldn’t cost Betsy anything and it would take a lot of the stress off my shoulders. Pete, I think you’re a closet genius.”
“I’ll think about it a little more and call Betsy to see how she would feel about it. I feel so much better, thank you, baby.”
Once the dishes were done and they were settled on the couch, cradled in each other’s arms, Pete decided to broach the problem of him still having someone on the force that had been working with Dillon and Captain Perkins.
“Marla, I have something I nee
d to talk to you about and it’s not going to be pleasant.” He immediately felt her body stiffen in his arms. “We still have the problem of at least one other person out there that was involved in your kidnapping. I think I’ve come up with a plan to smoke them out. The problem is I need you to agree to go along with it. Do you want to hear it?”
“Shoot.”
“What if we made up a press release that the diamonds had been found and were being held in the department’s evidence room? The way I see it, the only person that would fall for it is whoever was in with Dillon and Perkins. My gut tells me it’s someone that works at the P.D. So far no one has tipped their hand but it needs to be resolved one way or the other. I can’t have suspicion amongst my officers, not to mention the trust issues it raises between partners. I need you in on it in case someone asks you any questions. We need to come up with a whole back story for both of us to use. One thing working to our advantage is that the only people from the Wynott P.D. that were in Suttonville at the time of your rescue were both of us. The Chief agreed to go along with the plan. He understands how detrimental a bad attitude in the squad room can spread to the entire community. Somehow I don’t think you’re the only one with trust issues in the community. Would you be willing to go along with it?” Trying to keep her relaxed he rubbed her arm and back while he spoke.
“If you think it could work I’m willing to try anything. I trust you Pete and it would probably take some of the danger off of me and the baby. I am so ready for this all to be over with. You have my full support. Just tell me what to say and when to say it.”
“You realize that you and I are to be the only ones to know the truth. You can’t confide in anyone about it, not even your best friends. That will be the hardest part for you, lying to your friends. How good of an actress are you?” “I suck at it but I’ll practice on you for a while first. Want me to start now?” “Never to me, my love, but for me, yes.” “It’s a deal.” As they sat together in the quiet of the living room Pete formulated a completely different plan in his head. If he could pull it all off, that is. Yes, he was going to be very, very busy for the next few weeks.