Page 104 of Life, Love and the Pursuit of Happiness

He had to leave soon after that in order to get back to Bell Cove in time for the press conference. Maggie got suddenly teary-eyed near the end, clinging to his neck when he lifted her for a hug. “I doan wanna stay without you.”

Oh, crap! “Listen, Annie McFannie, did I mention that the house where you’re going to stay has a swimming pool?”

She raised her tear-streaked face. “It does?”

“Yes,” his father interjected, “and I believe there are some children next door who are looking for playmates.”

She perked up a little bit more but was not yet convinced to let go of her death grip on his neck.

“I’ll have your mommy call you this afternoon.”

“She will?”

“Yep.” He took a deep breath and tossed in the zinger. “And if you’re a good girl, when this is over, I will get you a dog.”

Bingo!

She raised her head, smiled, and struggled to get down.

A dog? Where did that come from? Delilah will kill me.

Then Maggie took his father’s hand and asked, “If she’s Nana, what are you?”

His father puzzled for a moment and then said, “Poppa.”

Yep, bizarro-land.

On the way out of town, he noticed a strip mall with a men’s store as its anchor. Going in, he told the guy, whose name badge read: Jerome Erlick, manager, “Listen, Jerome, I have a half hour tops in which to buy a suit, dress shirt, and tie. Price is no concern. I have black loafers that I can use, but better toss in a pair of black socks just in case.”

“But the tailoring that would need to be done . . .”

“No time for that. Get me something as close to my size as possible, ready to go.”

In fact, Jerome turned out to be a wonder man, in terms of style. Merrill couldn’t ask for a better choice or fit than the black Boss suit he was sold with a pristine white shirt and a tie with black stripes against a red background. When he was about to leave the store with the garment bag in hand, Jerome said, “It just occurred to me. Aren’t you the guy who discovered gold in a shipwreck off Bell Cove? I saw your picture on TV last night.”

“That would be me.”

“A former SEAL, huh? Thank you for your service.”

He nodded his acknowledgement of that common refrain, one that didn’t get old, even to hardened warriors.

“So, this is for the press conference today?”

“Nope.”

Jerome raised his eyebrows.

“I’m getting married today.”

Chapter 20

A surprise WHAT? . . .

At eight o’clock that morning, after waking from the sleep of the dead, Delilah read Merrill’s note once, and then two more times. Trust him, that’s what he asked of her. The guy who’d walked out on first hearing of her prison record because he needed space to think?

Trust him?

Never trust a man who needed space, for anything. That was her philosophy.