By the time Bridget picked Emma up from school and drove over to Serenity Hills, the worry must have been showing in her face. Emma had been quiet all during the car ride, but when they walked into the lobby of the nursing home, she took Bridget’s hand and looked up, her eyes so earnest, it nearly broke Bridget’s heart.
“Everything okay, Mommy?”
God bless her. Just hearing those words from that little face would make everything right every time, no matter what was troubling her.
“I’m just thinking,” she said. That was an understatement. More like fretting. “Aunt Margo is going to meet us here, and she has some exciting news to share.”
“Is she going to have a baby?” Emma asked, and Bridget laughed.
“No, honey.” At least, she didn’t think so… But no, Margo would have told her. They told each other everything, after all, and that was something to be grateful for. Not long ago, when Margo was living in South Carolina, they went for years without seeing each other and months without a phone call. Their lives had grown separate, and Bridget had gotten used to feeling alone, and having no one to lean on, especially when Mimi took a turn for the worse, but my, how quickly it became natural to turn to Margo now that she was back in town, and permanently, too.
Well, there was a perk to Margo getting married, she thought, brightening. With Margo marrying the newly appointed police chief, she surely wouldn’t be leaving Oyster Bay again.
But she probably wouldn’t be as available to Bridget as she had been recently, either. After all, Margo may not be having a baby now, but soon…
“You’re frowning again, Mommy,” Emma informed her.
“Am I?” Bridget forced a smile as she banished the long list of things she was telling herself she had to do. She’d checked in her newest guests, a young couple who were thrilled with Room One, a pretty room she’d done up in slate blue with white bedding, and Abby was insisting on handling breakfast tomorrow—Bridget was too distracted by Margo’s announcement to argue with her. Still, just in case Abby was a no show or started an oven fire, she’d placed an order with Angie’s for two boxes of pastries. Margo claimed that the wedding would all but plan itself, but Bridget knew otherwise. Margo would want the day to be special, and she deserved it to be, too. It was the first family wedding they’d ever had at the house, after all.
She looked down at Emma. And hopefully not the last, she thought.
She smiled again, more genuinely this time. “That better?”
“Much.” Emma grinned.
After checking in at the front desk, they wandered down the hall to room 132, where Mimi had resided for just over a year now. In that time, Bridget and her sisters had done what they could to make it more comfortable for her, filling her room with all her favorite things from home, and inviting her out for dinner, or to the house for dinner, whenever she was up for it. But Mimi often declined these suggestions, given that the invitations didn’t extend to Pudgie.
Bridget sighed. Why couldn’t Mimi understand that it was bad for business when Pudgie marked the rugs and hissed at the guests? Honestly, she’d never seen anything like it. That cat was not an ordinary cat, that cat was—
“Lost!” Mimi’s wail was audible through the partially closed door to her room.
Bridget looked down at Emma with wide eyes, then, tentatively, knocked twice on the door before pushing it open.
There, sitting in her wheelchair with her wedding quilt on her legs, was Mimi, looking more distraught than she had the time that the cafeteria ran out of her favorite dessert before she had a chance to grab a plate.
Beside her was Margo, who must have arrived earlier than planned, looking at Bridget in alarm.
“What’s going on?” Bridget asked warily, suddenly wishing she could just turn around and go home. There was always something, it seemed, and oh, wouldn’t it be nice to just take her latest J.R. Anderson novel down to the beach and escape for an hour or two?
“Pudgie’s gone!” Mimi shrieked.
“Oh no!” Emma said, and immediately started to cry.
“Oh now.” Bridget put an arm around her daughter. “He can’t have gone far!” The building was large, but Pudgie rarely strayed far, usually just exploring the hallway before Mimi called for him to come back.
“He’s only been gone for an hour,” Margo added.
“See? He’s probably exploring the building.” Bridget gave Emma a little smile to show that everything would be all right.
“This room is awfully small,” Emma said, after she’d thought about things for a moment.
“It’s a jail cell!” Mimi declared, pinching her mouth. “No wonder my sweet boy wanted to escape! He should have brought me with him!”
And they were back to this. Whenever Mimi became agitated, Bridget and her sisters did what they could to change the subject.
“Why don’t you go look for Pudgie, Emma?” Bridget suggested. “But stay in the building.”
She chewed her lip as she watched Emma’s blond ponytail swing behind her on her way down the hall. Was it possible that Pudgie had gotten outside? It seemed unlikely, and surely someone would have noticed?
“Have you asked around, Mimi?” Margo urged.
“We need the police,” Mimi announced. “Someone call the police!”
Bridget and Margo exchanged a glance. “Why don’t I call the front desk?” Bridget picked up the phone on Mimi’s bedside table.
“Oh, I already did. They said he’ll come back, but…” Mimi began to cry, and despite her personal feelings about Pudgie, Bridget felt her heart ache. She walked over and crouched down next to the wheelchair. “We’ll find Pudgie, Mimi. He’s here somewhere, and he can’t have gone far. Let’s go for a walk.”
“No,” Mimi said, sniffing hard. “I have to stay here in case he comes back.”
“But don’t you want to come to dinner? The dining room is serving your favorite tonight. Chicken pot pie.”
“I can’t think about food right now!” Mimi was shaking her head. “All I can think about is Pudgie.”
Oh dear. No doubt Pudgie would be back at any moment. Still, Mimi had never reacted to Pudgie’s wanderings. Bridget couldn’t help but feel concerned.
“Do you want me to go look for him or stay here with you?”
“No sense in us all sitting around,” Mimi said. “You two go look. I’ll wait.”
“We’ll bring you back some food,” Bridget said sadly, hugging her grandmother good-bye. All the good offerings were gone by five, and the dining room opened at four thirty sharp.
She waited until they were in the hallway and out of earshot before turning to Margo. “What do you think?”
“Honestly? I’m worried. It isn’t like that cat to be gone for more than a few minutes. If anything happens—”
Bridget held up a hand. She couldn’t think about that now. Mimi had been through enough in the past year. “That cat means everything to Mimi right now. We will find it,” she said firmly, even though she started to have a sinking feeling herself.
“Nothing can happen to that cat,” she said firmly. It was one more worry she just couldn’t take on right now. If Pudgie wanted to run away, he’d have to wait until the day after Margo’s wedding, when Bridget would have time to find him.
***
Two hours later, and no sight of Pudgie, the girls decided to call it a night.
“I have to get Emma back to the house. She still has to do her homework.”
“I’ll go talk to Mimi,” Margo said. “Hopefully he turns up by morning.”
They’d asked the front desk to review footage from the video cameras installed at the two exits of the building, but Bridget still hoped that the cat would soon grow hungry and come back. After all, Mimi was determined to spoil him with treats, even if it did make him tip the scales at twenty-eight pounds.
“Maybe they can give her something to help calm her down and let her sleep.”
Margo nodded. “I guess I’ll have to save my news for another day.”
“What’s the news?” Emma asked. “Are you going to have a baby?”
Margo laughed. “Not yet. But…someday.” She grinned. “Actually, I will tell you, if you promise not to tell Mimi, so I can tell her myself.”
Emma crossed her fingers and said solemnly, “I promise.”
“Well, you know Eddie? My friend?” Emma adored Eddie. He was always telling her jokes and offering to play with her in the yard if Bridget and Margo were in the house. Once, she’d even roped him into a tea party. At the time, Bridget had laughed, but she also couldn’t help but feel a little sad. There was no denying that Ryan was a part of Emma’s life, and he was happy to take her on his appointed days, and he loved her, she knew he did, but Ryan had never been cut out to be a family man. And she had long since stopped trying to make him one.
There were some men who could commit, who believed in things like family and love. And there were some men, who didn’t.
Like Jack, she reminded herself. Another man devoted to his career.
When Emma nodded, Margo said, “He asked me to marry him and I said yes!”
Emma’s eyes popped. “You get to be a bride?”
“I do,” Margo said. “And I was hoping that you would be my flower girl.”
Emma’s smile was huge when she looked up at Bridget. “Can I, Mommy?”
“Of course!” Bridget said, thinking of how sweet Emma would look in a pretty white dress. Margo hadn’t discussed colors yet, but a pale pink sash would look wonderful with the tulips that were still sprung around the porch. “And the wedding is going to be at the house.”
“Wow.” Emma soaked this in. “Two weddings at our house.” She suddenly frowned. “But if it’s our house, why aren’t you the one getting married, Mommy?”
Margo glanced at Bridget and cocked an eyebrow. “Good question.”
Bridget gave her sister a tiresome look that showed she wasn’t up to this conversation again tonight. “As I said, we must go now.”
“Tell Jack I said hello,” Margo called after her, just before Bridget had safely escaped outside.
“Very funny,” she said, but she couldn’t help but perk up at the thought. Normally going home meant dealing with things like bath time and homework and packing lunch for the next day.
But tonight, it held a promise of something else. And despite all her reservations, her heart sped up at the thought of maybe seeing Jack again.