Bride Of Dreams

“I cannot imagine a goat would wander in here to steal and destroy my clothing,” she insisted.

“I don’t know. My grandmother had a goat who liked to eat dish towels.”

Mrs. Forrester glared at him. “Just find out who did this.”

“Yes, ma’am.” He put away his pad and allowed her to escort him through the house and outside. He climbed into the Blazer and fingered the radio. “Dispatch, this is Cooper,” he announced. “Finished at the Forrester house and rolling out.”

“Is Nora’s complaint of vandalism the same as always?” Hedda, the dispatcher, asked.

“Got it in one.”

“I heard that Margaret Ingalls might have done it. What are you going to do if it does turn out to be Margaret?”

“What do you think? Call Ghostbusters.” He signed off before his laughter joined hers.

He’d driven barely halfway along the street before he was flagged down. He stopped and rolled down his window.

“’Mornin’, Mrs. Gray,” he greeted the woman who’d been his fourth-grade teacher and still kept nine-year-olds in line at the grade school.

“Good morning, Cooper. Tell me, does Nora think Margaret Ingalls is destroying her underwear?” she asked.

“I think she’s starting to think that, ma’am. Do you have anything new that might help the case?” Such as seeing a ghostly Margaret Ingalls slipping into the Forrester yard.

“Nora’s a sensible woman except when it comes to this,” she said bluntly. “If she truly wants to settle this, she should see about holding a séance. If someone can conjure Margaret up, Nora could then tell Margaret to her ghostly face to steal someone else’s underwear.”

Cooper coughed into his curved palm.

Mrs. Gray narrowed her eyes and gave him a look that still froze him down to his toes. “That tactic didn’t work back then, Cooper Night Hawk, and it doesn’t now.”

“Yes, ma’am,” he said soberly.

Her usually stern features relaxed in a smile. She rested her hand on the windowsill. “Did I ever tell you you grew up just fine?”

“Last week.” His dark eyes twinkled.

She slapped the windowsill with her hand. “Just so you remember. Of course, I knew once you and Freddie Martin stopped hanging around together, you’d do all right.” She stepped back, her own way of saying the conversation was over. “I understand Freddie is up for parole in two years.”

Cooper nodded goodbye and drove on.

He knew becoming a sheriff’s deputy in Tyler, Wisconsin, meant he would be dealing with people he’d known all his life. In a small town it was a given.

There were pluses and minuses in his job. Here, he knew everyone and they knew him. There’d been a time when all he thought about was getting out of Tyler for good. But that was when he was young and stupid. Now he knew this was where he belonged.

Life was predictable here but never boring. He knew many people wouldn’t like predictable, but there were many times when it was pretty nice. Such as now when he was heading for Marge’s Diner for his breakfast of blueberry pancakes with hash browns, sausage, orange juice and plenty of coffee.

No wonder he felt the town of Tyler gave him all the nurturing he needed.

“HEADS UP, DARLIN’.”

Caroline automatically ducked as a heavily laden tray swept over her head. Alice, the other waitress in Marge’s Diner that morning, flashed her an apologetic smile.

“Sorry, sweetie. I had a head of steam going and didn’t want to conk you on the noggin like the last time,” she said over her shoulder as she sailed across the room.

“Thank you. Mashed potatoes weren’t exactly the best conditioner for my hair,” Caroline admitted, swapping the empty coffeepot for a full one.

Breakfast was a busy time in the bustling diner, and coffee was the all-important staple for the hungry diners. She’d barely finished refilling coffee cups before she had to return for another pot.

After almost ten months on the job, she was feeling more confident with her duties as one of the waitresses at Marge’s Diner in Tyler. Everything here was a far cry from her life in Santa Barbara, California.

In Tyler, she didn’t play tennis, laze by the pool or head for the beach with her friends. She wasn’t “Caroline Bennedict” any longer. Now she was Caroline Benning—a stranger who’d driven into town, liked its looks and, since the diner was advertising for a waitress, applied for the job. Luckily, her lack of experience didn’t seem to matter. Marge, the owner, warmly assured her she’d pick it up in no time.

Caroline had lost track of the number of broken dishes and incorrect orders she was responsible for—though she hadn’t forgotten that time she gave Ray Hickman crab cakes instead of the fish sticks he’d ordered. She’d had no idea he was allergic to shellfish.

Caroline knew that in any other restaurant she would be history by now. Luckily, Marge was a great deal more patient with her fledgling waitress than most bosses would be. It didn’t hurt that a majority of the men in town had asked that she be given a second chance. And a third. And a fourth. Caroline was learning that small towns were very much a world unto themselves.

When Caroline had decided to seek out her mother’s other family, she’d had no idea the trail would lead to Wisconsin.

She hadn’t found anything in her father’s papers about the Spencer family’s involvement with her mother. It was pure luck there was a small note with the words Tyler Quilting Circle, Tyler, Wisconsin on the bottom of the box holding the quilt. Caroline hadn’t stopped to think whether it was a good idea to just throw clothes in a few suitcases and take off for Tyler. She’d just done it. So far, she hadn’t regretted her decision.

While she was eager to know her half brothers, she knew she couldn’t just walk up to the Spencer front door and announce she was their half sister. It wasn’t long after her arrival that she learned the Spencer family was well regarded in Tyler. The father and three sons were known as men not to be toyed with. They were wealthy, and she guessed they would naturally be suspicious of anyone suddenly appearing with the claim of being related.

Having grown up in a moneyed community, Caroline understood the caution they would undoubtedly display. She didn’t need to watch the daytime dramas to which Alice was addicted to know she would have to get to know the Spencers first. Especially since she wasn’t sure if Elias Spencer, head of the family, would accept her as his sons’ half sister.

Her first thoughts were to stay in town for a while and see what she could find out about the Spencers. Then perhaps get to know them on a casual basis. She began by renting a room at the Kelsey Boarding House and looking around town for a job. In no time, she had a job where she was guaranteed to meet just about the entire population of Tyler at one time or another.

At first, she’d pretty much kept to herself. Then she’d stupidly tried to see into Elias Spencer’s house and had ended up in the rose bushes, much to her embarrassment. Not something that would happen to the quiet, almost mousy Caroline Benning she’d been portraying. No wonder, since as Caroline Bennedict she’d devoured mystery novels and convinced herself she could do anything those heroines could do. After picking the thorns out of her skin, she’d decided it was time to act more like herself. She’d even dug out her own clothing, and now wore it instead of the drab, nondescript things she’d been wearing.

It wasn’t long before people started to talk to her more. Marge took Caroline’s sudden transformation in stride and told her she was glad to see she was settling in.

“Caroline.” Marge’s voice interrupted her daydreaming, and the owner flashed her eyes in the direction of the booths that were Caroline’s responsibility.

Caroline felt the skin on her face turn warm. Not because of embarrassment that her boss had caught her daydreaming, but because a pair of dark brown eyes watched her with an intensity that unnerved her.

Deputy Cooper Night Hawk.

She was positive he’d looked at her and deemed her an imposter. She feared the time would come when he would reveal her lies to the town. And they would promptly run her out of town on a rail.

Until then, she would suffer while, every morning, he settled in one of her booths and ordered his usual blueberry pancakes, sausage and hash browns, coffee and orange juice.

She snagged a cup on her way over to him.

“Deputy.” She greeted him with a warm smile as she set the cup on the table and filled it with hot coffee.

She was a coward, but she wasn’t going to drop to her knees and beg him to understand the reasons for her lies about her name and why she was here. After all, what if she was wrong and he didn’t know who she was?

Caroline vowed to stop reading mysteries. They had her believing she could get away with anything the heroines in the books could. They were getting her into a lot of trouble.

“Good morning, Caroline.”