Best-Kept Secrets

“One of ’em’s a baby,” Will told him.

“A baby?” Jake’s voice deepened a full octave.

“Yes, sir. Real tiny, the bones are.”

“Bones?”

“Yeah. They’ve been down there an awful long time.”

Jake Collins didn’t say another word. He simply grabbed the ladder, swung his neatly pressed trouser leg over the edge of the hole, and disappeared from view.

“He’s gonna get them fancy duds all dirty down there,” the foreman muttered.

“Yeah,” Will agreed.

Minutes later Jake reappeared. His face, as always, was an impenetrable mask. “Don’t move anything. Don’t touch anything. Don’t let anyone except Chief Hepplewhite or Officer Garvey down there.” He started to walk away.

“Yes, sir. Uh, Mr. Collins, what are we going to do about the pit?”

Jake paused to pin them with a haughty stare. “Wait for the cops to finish their investigation. Then fill the thing in permanently with that load of gravel.” He continued across the parking lot, not even bothering to brush the dirt from his tan slacks.

“That guy gives me the creeps,” Buddy said suddenly.

“Yeah.” Zeke’s gaze drifted back to the hole in the ground. “Who do you suppose dumped a helpless little baby and its mother in a root cellar?”

Chapter One

A shiver stole up her spine. “Did you say Jake Collins?”

Her mother nodded, folding the last towel and placing it in the basket. “Rumor has it that he’s Mafia connected, you know.”

Amy Thomas shook her head even as her heart continued to pound. Jake Collins wasn’t Mafia. He was the father of her daughter. But her mother didn’t know that. No one knew that except her. What was he doing here, in Fools Point of all places? And running a bar and restaurant?

That wasn’t the gung-ho navy lieutenant she’d known. Maybe this was a different Jake Collins and not her Jake Collins—not that he’d ever been hers except in the physical sense, and then only as a summer fling. Amy’s gaze darted to where her daughter played on the floor with her mother’s pair of cats and a feather toy. Kelsey giggled at the animals and their antics.

Her daughter. Jake had simply been the physical fluke that had helped in the child’s biological creation.

“I don’t believe that for a second, either,” her mother went on, undisturbed by the cats, the child or her daughter’s silence. “He’s just a very private sort of man, but you know how this town is. No secrets here, they simply aren’t tolerated. If he won’t tell people about his past, they’ll make up their own details. Look how they discuss the wife of Chief Hepplewhite. Poor woman. She just sits in that wheelchair day after day never saying a word and no one knows how she came to such a fate. The rumor is—”

Amy stopped her mother from lifting the basket of clothing or speculating any further on the lives of the residents of Fools Point. “I’ll take it, Mom, you shouldn’t be carrying things.”

“I’m not an invalid despite what your father thinks. I have a heart condition. Millions of people do, you know.”

“I’ll still carry the basket.”

“Have it your way. Who am I to argue with free labor? Anyhow, you should see what Mr. Collins has done with the old Perry place. Who would have thought that old eyesore could have been turned into such a fabulous restaurant? Of course, your father hates to eat out so he only took me there once, and only because I insisted. Still, it’s beautiful inside. Mr. Collins did a fantastic job on the renovations. I don’t think Gertrude would appreciate the changes, but then her mind is really starting to slip. I guess that’s why the family sold the estate in the first place. Did you know Gertrude’s niece, Cindy Lou, is the mayor now?”

Jake’s name had caught Amy unprepared. While her mother had been filling her in on the latest gossip since she’d arrived in town yesterday, his name left her stunned.

“I have an idea, Mom,” Amy said, barely registering her mother’s words. “Why don’t we get cleaned up and go over there for lunch?”

Excitement sparkled in her mother’s faded blue eyes. “Oh, that would be fun, but I made egg salad for lunch.”

“We’ll have it for dinner instead. If we eat a big lunch we won’t want a heavy dinner anyhow. You can give Dad a steak or something. Come on, what do you say? We’ll be back home before Dad finishes delivering the mail. My treat.”

It was probably a different Jake Collins, Amy mused, but she wouldn’t be able to sit still until she knew one way or another. For nine years she’d dreamed of meeting Jake once again. A dozen scenarios had helped her pass many a sleepless night, especially when their daughter was a tiny infant. Being a single parent had seemed overwhelming at times.

“I’d like to go, of course,” her mother said.

That was enough for Amy. “Come on, Kelsey, let’s change. We’re going out for lunch.”

“Do I have to change?”

Oh, yes, for this lunch she definitely had to change. Amy wanted Jake to see just what he’d given up nine years ago. “How about wearing your new sundress?”

“The blue-green one that matches yours?”

“Why not? We’ll dress like twins.”

She saw her mother pale and reached out a hand toward the older woman. But Susan Thomas smiled quickly. “I have a blue sundress, as well,” her mother announced. “We shall be the best-dressed ladies at the Perrywrinkle.”

“Cool, Grandma.”

More than cool, Amy decided while trying to calm the butterflies attempting to launch their way free from her stomach. If it was the Jake Collins she’d known nine years ago, he was in for a real surprise.

Amy dressed quickly, brushing out her long brown hair until it snapped with energy. When Jake had last seen her she’d worn it pixie-short and the color had been a much deeper brown, but a few weeks at the beach with Kelsey had lightened her hair color and darkened her skin. Otherwise, she didn’t look all that different now from the woman he’d known.

As she started to put the opal studs in her ears, Amy hesitated. She turned and began hunting through the boxes she’d been storing here at the house. She found her old jewelry box after a few false starts. Almost defiantly, she picked out the crystal earrings Jake had given her so long ago and put them in her ears instead.

Staring at her image, she had second thoughts. Would Jake see the earrings as a sign that she’d been pining for him all these years? Nothing could be further from the truth, of course. Jake had taught her a valuable lesson. One she’d never forget.

Falling in love was easy. Making someone else feel the same way was impossible. Jake had wanted a summer fling and she’d obliged, foolishly picturing forever. But his only commitment had been to the navy and the secretive work he did for them. The moment they told him it was time to move on, he did. Alone.

She took heart from the way the earrings sparkled in the sunlight sweeping in through her window. Hopefully, Jake would get the message she intended. He’d meant so little she’d practically forgotten him.

The Perrywrinkle was in easy walking distance. Mindful of her mother’s bad heart, however, Amy wanted to drive.

“Nonsense, darling. It’s much too beautiful a day to ride in a stuffy car when the restaurant is at the top of the hill.”

“Exactly. At the top of the hill.”

“So we’ll take our time,” Susan Thomas told her.

They did, even pausing beneath the bright September sun to watch a caterpillar make its way across the sidewalk. Though they had taken a popular shortcut up the hill behind the restaurant, her mother was huffing by the time they got to the top.

“I knew we should have taken the car,” Amy said worriedly.

“Don’t be silly, dear. I may not be young like you, but I can still walk a block without collapsing.”