Perfect Partners

chill go down her spine. She exchanged a worried glance with Stephanie, but neither of them said another word on the subject of Victor Copeland.
    The phone rang at nine o’clock that evening. It was Joel. He was in his office, preparing for another night of camping out with Morgan.
    “There’s been no sign of Copeland,” Joel told Letty quietly. “The Echo Cove cops didn’t find him. No telling what he’s up to now. How are things going up there?”
    “We’re all right.” Letty sat on the arm of an overstuffed chair, one leg crossed over the other. She swung her foot tensely, aware of all the things she wanted to say to him. “Joel, you know you can’t keep us up here indefinitely.”
    “I know. Just a day or two, I promise.” There was a pause. “Letty?”
    “Yes?”
    “I love you.”
    Letty smiled happily. “Good. Are you going to do the right thing and marry me real quick?”
    “Give you an inch and you take a mile, don’t you? Men don’t like pushy women.”
    “I know. I read an article about that. But I’ve decided it’s only wimpy men who object to forceful women.”
    “I see.” Joel’s chair squeaked. Letty knew he was lounging back in it. She could almost see the faint smile on his face and the amusement in his eyes. “I guess that means I have to put up with your demanding ways or risk being called a wimp.”
    “Right. Joel?”
    “Yeah?”
    “I love you.”
    “I know,” he said gently. “You’d better put Stephanie on the phone. Morgan is leaning over the desk, demanding to talk to her.”
    Stephanie took the phone. “Hello, Morgan. Yes, I’m fine. My back is bothering me a little, but that’s normal these days.” As she spoke, Stephanie idly massaged her lower back. “Yes, I’m going to go to bed early. Good night, dear. I’ll talk to you in the morning.”
    Keith called a few minutes later and talked to Diana for a long time. “Be careful, darling,” Diana said just before she hung up. “The only thing I really care about in Echo Cove is you.”
    Letty opened a pack of cards as silence fell on the beautiful house. Outside, the wind was howling restlessly through the trees. “Anyone for a game of gin?” she asked.
    They were all in bed by ten-thirty.
    Letty was the first one up the next morning. She awoke shortly before dawn and emerged from the bathroom with some vague notion of making pancakes. She realized the wind was still shrieking through the trees.
    Then she looked out the window and saw the gray and white world that had engulfed the cabin overnight. Letty could see only a yard or two beyond the window because of the thick, swirling snow. She had no difficulty ascertaining that the blanket of white on the ground was already very thick and growing thicker by the minute.
    Diana came into the front room, tying the sash of her robe. Her eyes widened in dismay. “My God, look at that blizzard. I guess that settles it. The men can all relax. Looks as if we’re going to be stuck here for a while.”
    Stephanie came out of the bathroom. She looked pale and shaken.
    Letty frowned. “What’s wrong, Steph?”
    “My water just broke.”
    Letty met her eyes and saw the fear in them. The finest obstetrician in Seattle and the most sophisticated neonatal facilities in the state were only seventy miles away. But they might as well have been seventy thousand miles.
    No one in her right mind would risk driving even seven miles in the blinding snowstorm that had gripped the mountains.
    Diana put her hand to her throat as she glanced from Stephanie’s stricken face to Letty’s. “If her water has broken she’s about to go into labor. What are we going to do?”
    Letty took a deep breath and managed a smile. “Isn’t it lucky that I recently read some articles on the joys of having a baby at home?”

    When the phone on Joel’s desk rang he grabbed it up instantly. Mrs. Sedgewick was not at her desk yet. It was far too early for a business call.
    “Blackstone,” he said, expecting to hear Keith Escott’s voice on the other end of the line. Across the room Morgan sipped a cup of coffee and watched him.
    “Last time it was your father,” Victor Copeland snarled. “This time it’s going to be your whore. I know where she is. I’m going to get her. Just like I got your father. This is how it works, Blackstone. You took something of mine. Now I’m going to take something of yours. Dead simple, isn’t it?”
    “
Copeland
, wait, you bastard.” Joel’s