Black Rose

little girl. I saw her take her first steps. Oh, we have to show everybody.” She did a quick dance, then scooped Lily up, making the baby laugh as she turned circles. “We’ve got to show everybody how smart you are.”
    Then she stopped, sighed. Leaning down, she brushed her lips over Harper’s cheek. “She walked right to you,” she repeated, then hurried toward the main house with the baby on her hip.

    ROZ LOVED HAVING coffee on the patio with the awakening gardens spread out around her. She could hear Stella’s boys playing with the dog, and the sounds turned back her memory clock to when those shouts would have been from her own sons.
    It was pleasant to sit out like this in the early evening, with the light soft and blue and the smell of growing things quiet on the air. Pleasant, too, since she was in the mood to have company. She drank her coffee while Logan and Stella, David and Mitch talked around her.
    She’d wanted Harper there, too, and Hayley. But Harper wasn’t answering his phone—not a rare occurrence—and she hadn’t been able to find Hayley or the baby.
    “She said he was so happy with the way everything looked, he took her out so she could buy new patio furniture.” Stella drained her glass of iced tea. “I’ve rarely seen a more satisfied customer—or a landscape design done and executed so quickly. Logan better keep his eye on you, Roz.”
    “Knew the yard, and the woman—and both well enough to be sure Cissy would love the changes. And hire Logan to keep it looking good.”
    “I’d hate to be that unhappy and intimidated by my mother-in-law.” Stella smiled at Logan. “I’m getting a jewel.”
    “She feels the same, which is going to make my life a hell of a lot easier.” He tipped his beer toward Stella. “Your days are numbered, Red.”
    “Two weeks, and counting. There’s still so much to do. Every time I think I’ve got it all under control, something else pops into my head. Planning a small, simple wedding’s full of complications.”
    “You say ‘I do,’ then you eat cake,” Logan said, and earned a bland stare from his future bride.
    “Jolene’s been an enormous help,” she went on. “So have Logan’s mother and sister, by long-distance. And I just don’t know what I’d do without you, David.”

    “Throw me the bouquet, and we’re even.”
    “Speaking of your stepmama,” Roz put in, “I spoke with Jolene today.”
    “You did?”
    “If there’s anyone who knows everybody in Shelby County, it’s Jolene Dooley. And I recalled she had a friend who runs a nice little gallery and gift shop downtown. Jane’s got a job interview next Wednesday afternoon.”
    “You work fast,” Mitch said.
    “That girl needed a break. Now we’ll see what she does with it. Jolene also has a friend whose sister works at a rental management company. Turns out there’s a one-bedroom apartment downtown, about six blocks from that gallery. Its current tenants are moving out in a couple weeks, and the lease fell through on the people who were going to move in.”
    “I should’ve said you work miracles.”
    “Oh, I just put in the request for them.”
    “Do you think she’ll move on it?” Logan wondered. “Move out, and bring you the diaries? The way you described her, she didn’t seem to have much spine.”
    “Some of us don’t. And some of us find out we’ve got one, but misplaced it. She’s young, and she doesn’t have what you’d call a lot of spirit. And though I made it clear there were no strings, I’m fairly sure she’ll feel obligated if she takes this job, and this apartment. Now whether she has the gumption to act on that obligation’s another matter.”
    “If she doesn’t?” Mitch asked.
    “Then I expect Cousin Rissy and I are due for a come-to-Jesus talk. I have a few cards up my sleeve, and I’ll play them if I have to.”
    David’s eyes brightened as he leaned closer. “Dirt? Such as?”
    “Family peccadilloes that she wouldn’t care to have come to light, and that I’ll assure her I will light up like Christmas unless she returns what belongs to Harper House.” She tapped David on the chin. “But for now, they’re my little secrets.”
    “Spoilsport.”
    She turned, as did everyone else, when Hayley shouted. Her face glowing, she rushed breathlessly to the table. “She walked. She walked right to Harper. Three steps!”
    Nothing would do but that Lily demonstrate her new skill again. But she just buckled at the