Marked Down for Murder (Good Buy Girls) (18 page)

Maggie was quiet on the ride home, trying to choose
her words carefully. She wanted to say what she was thinking in just the right way so that Sam would understand. As they passed the town green, she noticed that the gazebo was still lit up with the strings of red and white that Sam had surprised her with on Valentine’s Day. She took it as a sign.

“Sam, pull over, please,” she said.

He glanced at her in surprise but did as she asked.

“What’s the matter?” he asked. “Are you not feeling well?”

“No, I’m fine,” she said. “Would you walk with me?”

Sam looked past her out the window. When he saw the gazebo, he smiled. It was a grin full of mischief, and it made Maggie’s heart rate kick up in response.

“It’d be a pleasure,” he said.

He parked the car and hurried around the front to her side. He opened the door and took her hand to help her out. The green was silent this time of night and Maggie watched their breath puff out in the cold night air as they strolled down the path together.

“If you’re looking to dance in the gazebo, I don’t have any music queued up,” Sam said.

“That’s okay,” Maggie said. “We’re going to talk.”

“Uh-oh.” Sam’s steps faltered.

“What’s the matter?” Maggie asked.

“When a woman says she wants to talk, it never goes well,” Sam said. “Never.”

Maggie kept moving forward, but Sam had suddenly become an anchor, holding fast to the concrete and not budging. Maggie tugged on his arm, but he was immovable. She turned back to find him fiddling with his phone.

“What are you doing?” she asked in exasperation.

“Texting the guys for advice,” he said.

“Seriously?” she asked.

“I’m scared,” he said. He gave her a comically nervous face, and Maggie felt her insides pinch at the thought of life without him.

“Come on,” she said. “Be brave.”

She looped her arm through his and Sam obliged by putting his phone away and walking with her. She could feel him watching her but she didn’t look at him until they were stepping up into the gazebo.

Once they were in the gazebo, Maggie felt as if butterflies the size of bats were fluttering around inside of her. She knew what she had to say, but how?

Best to just get it done, she figured.

She turned toward Sam and took his hands in hers. As they stood looking at each other, Maggie drank in the face that had come to mean so much to her. She was in love with Sam Collins—of that there was no doubt.

Their story had begun on the elementary school playground in this very town. It had wound its way through their adolescence and into their young adulthood, where Maggie had first learned what being in love meant. Then their story turned on them, causing heartbreak for the both of them. But miraculously, it included second chances and falling in love again. Theirs was a rich story. And now it would change once more.

“Sam, I have to tell you something,” Maggie said. She hesitated.

“You can tell me anything,” Sam said.

He was looking at her in that encouraging way he had, as if there was nothing she could ever do or say that would make him care any less for her
.

She licked her lips, and then words she had no intention of saying came out of her mouth, “About what I said before, you know, when I was freaking out before you got the call about the fire at Summer’s house, yeah, well, I changed my mind. If you want a baby, I’ll do that . . . with you.”

Sam dropped her hands and stepped back. Then he put his right hand over his chest. He looked pale and weak like he was having a heart attack.

“Sam? Sam, are you okay?”

He staggered back a few paces and then slumped onto one of the benches that lined the interior of the gazebo. Maggie hurried to his side. She sat beside him and threw an arm around him to support him.

“Sam, what is it?”

“I just . . . I don’t . . . I thought you were going to dump me,” he said. “And now you want a baby?”

“No!” she cried. “I don’t want a baby. I thought you wanted a baby. I thought I was going to have to cut you loose so you could find someone younger to have a family with, but then I decided that I’d rather do the family thing all over again with you than lose you.”

He turned in the seat to face her. He looked at her with such tenderness that Maggie felt her throat close up. “Maggie, I have to tell you, I love babies and I love kids, but I don’t want to have any.”

“What?” Maggie asked. She sat up. “What do you mean?”

“I mean, I love kids and all, but I have nieces and nephews. And if we had a kid now, I’d be in my sixties when it got out of college,” he said. “Maggie, I don’t think I have the stamina for that.”

“But I thought . . . when I saw you with Patience, you looked so happy,” Maggie said. “I thought you wanted kids and a family of your own.”

Sam leaned back against the rail and drew her close.

“You and Marshall Dillon are all the family I need,” he said. “Except—”

“Except?”

“How do you feel about a dog?” he asked. “I’d really like a dog.”

Maggie leaned into him, feeling a sweet sense of relief sweep through her. “I’d love a dog.”

“Really?” Sam asked. He sounded as excited as a kid.

Maggie nodded. She knew she was grinning like an idiot, but she was so relieved she could barely stand it.

“I guess there’s only one thing left to talk about then,” Sam said.

“What’s that?” Maggie asked.

Sam rolled out of his seat onto one knee in front of her. “I know this goes against every bit of advice we gave Max, but I can’t wait, I have to do it now. Maggie, will you make me the happiest guy in St. Stanley and beyond and marry me?”

There was no hesitation, no second guessing and no doubt. Maggie launched herself into Sam’s arms, knocking them both down with the force of her enthusiasm.

“Yes, yes, I’ll marry you, Sam Collins.”

Sam laughed out loud and then he cupped her face and kissed her. It was a kiss that had been a lifetime in the making. It was a kiss that promised a happily ever after for the boy who teased the redheaded girl he’d had a crush on since preschool and for the redheaded girl who’d lost her heart to that same charmer of a boy in high school.

“Aw, what?” A voice broke the moment like a splash of cold water, and Maggie and Sam scrambled to stand, straightening their clothes as they went.

“This is supposed to be my gazebo tonight,” Max Button complained as he stepped out of the shadows, leading Bianca Madison by the hand.

Sam laughed and threw an arm around Maggie, pulling her close.

“Take a number, boy genius,” he said. “This gazebo is taken.”

Maggie saw a sparkle on Bianca’s hand and she jumped forward and hugged Bianca and then Max.

“You’re engaged!” she cried.

Max turned a bright shade of red as he hugged her back. “Yeah, but somehow it didn’t feel official unless we came here.”

“What are you people doing out here?” another voice called. Maggie looked past Max to see Doc Franklin making his way up the walkway with his wife Alice on his arm. “How’s a guy supposed to romance his gal with an audience?”

Alice blushed and swatted his arm. Maggie was so happy to see them together it was all she could do not to whoop with joy. She hurried back to Sam and hugged him instead.

A flash of headlights and the roar of an engine broke through the quiet, and Maggie shielded her eyes against the glare. An oversized pickup truck spun around in front of the gazebo, and suddenly music blared out of its speakers.

“What the heck?” Sam asked, looking every bit the sheriff. Then Tyler Fawkes hopped out of the truck and assisted Summer down from the passenger seat.

Tyler brought Summer over to the gazebo and took in the rest of the couples at a glance. “Well, look at that, honey, we have us an engagement party.”

Summer grinned and stepped into Tyler’s arms as he began to twirl her around the gazebo. Sam, Max and Doc looked at each other and shrugged. As Sam opened his arms to Maggie, she noticed that Doc and Max did the same with their dates. It was then that the song in the truck changed, and Maggie glanced up at Sam to see if he remembered it, too.

He grinned down at her and said, “Hey, they’re playing our song.”

As Harry Connick, Jr., crooned “It Had to Be You,” Maggie twirled in his arms, remembering the night they had finally gotten together at the Madison ball just a few months ago. She had thought nothing could be more special than that night, but now that she was going to be Mrs. Sam Collins, and as word of the party in the gazebo spread throughout town and couples like Ginger and Roger and Claire and Pete began to appear and join in the fun, she knew that her happily ever after with Sam had only just begun.

1. Ginger and Maggie both know that a baby only wears an outfit long enough to spit up on it before it is outgrown. Find a family-friendly resale baby store and save a fortune on hardly worn baby clothes. You can resell the ones your baby outgrows there, too.
   
2. Joanne has a plan to save money on jarred baby food and feed her baby more healthy food in the process as soon as the wee one is ready for solids. She will simply puree the same vegetables she cooks for dinner and then freeze them in ice cube trays, ready to be warmed up for baby at mealtime.
   
3. Ginger has invested in cloth diapers for her friend, buying them on sale whenever she can. For the initial investment, the diapers should last until the baby is potty trained, saving the parents a fortune and being better for the environment. Having four boys that she used cloth diapers on, Ginger knows she saved thousands of dollars using cloth.
   
4. Claire has started a toybrary at the public library. Instead of buying lots of toys that the baby will get bored with, parents can check out new and different toys at the library when they check out books to read. Fewer toys in the landfills and less money wasted on a toy the baby outgrows as fast as their outfit.
   
5. Not knowing what gender the baby was, Joanne bought all gender-neutral baby products. This is a great investment, given that baby number two could be a boy, but also it won’t hurt the resale value by turning off people who are looking for a gently used stroller but don’t necessarily want a pink and purple girly one for the son they’re expecting.
   
6. When Maggie was a newly widowed single mother, she had to cut out all of the extras. One of the things she did to save money was make her own baby wipes. She has taught Joanne that soft flannel squares sprayed with a homemade mixture of water, baby oil and baby wash do the trick perfectly and, again, are better for the environment.