Red Lily

sure. It’s fine.”
    Her finger itched on the trigger of the sprayer. “Please, stop. That kind of flattery’ll just go to my head.”
    He smiled at her. He had such a great smile—sort of slow, so that it shifted the angles of his face and lit up in those deep, dark brown eyes—she nearly forgave him.
    “I’m heading home, for a bit anyway. Mama’s back.”
    “They’re back? How are they? Did they have a good time? And you don’t know yet because you haven’t been home. Tell them I can’t wait to see them, and that everything’s fine over here, and Roz shouldn’t worry and come over and start in working when she’s barely walked in the door. And—”
    He cocked his hip, hooked a thumb in the front pocket of his ancient jeans. “Should I be writing any of this down?”
    “Oh, go on then.” But she laughed as she waved him away. “I’ll tell them myself.”
    “See you later.”
    He walked off, the man of her daydreams, dripping a little.

    She really had to get her mind off Harper, she warned herself. Get it off and keep it off. He wasn’t for her, and she knew it. She walked over to give the potted shrubs and climbers a good soak.
    She wasn’t even sure she wanted anybody to be for her—right now, anyway. Lily was number one priority, and after Lily came her job. She wanted her baby happy, healthy, and secure. And she wanted to learn more, do more at the nursery. The more she learned, the less it would be a job, and the more it would be a career.
    Pulling her weight was fine, but she wanted to do more.
    After Lily, her work, and the family she’d made here, came the fascinating and spooky task of identifying Amelia, the Harper Bride—and laying her to rest.
    Most of that fell to Mitch. He was the genealogist, and along with Stella the most organized mind of the bunch. And wasn’t it cool that he and Roz had found each other, fallen in love, after Roz had hired him to research the family tree to try to find where Amelia fit in? Not that Amelia had cared for the falling-in-love part. Boy, she’d been a stone bitch about it.
    She might get mean again, too, Hayley thought. Now that they were married and Mitch was living at Harper House. She’d been quiet for a while, but it didn’t mean she’d stay quiet.
    If and when the whirlwind resumed, Hayley intended to be ready for it.

two
    H AYLEY WALKED INTO Harper House—ah, the blessed cool —with Lily on her hip. She set Lily on her feet, then dumped her purse and the diaper bag on the bottom step so they’d be handy for her to carry up. Up’s where she wanted to go. She wanted to shower for, oh, two or three days ought to do it, then drink an ice cold beer, straight down.
    But before she did anything, she wanted Roz.
    Even as she thought it, Roz came out of the parlor. She and Lily gave mutual cries of delight. Lily changed direction, and as she headed toward Roz, Roz closed the distance and scooped her up.
    “There’s my sweet potato.” She gave Lily a fierce hug, nuzzled her neck, then with a grin for Hayley, looked back at the baby and listened with amazement to the excited and incomprehensible babbling. “Why, I can’t believe all thathappened in just one week! Don’t know what I’d do if you weren’t here to catch me up on all the local gossip.” She grinned at Hayley again. “And how’s your mama?”
    “I’m fine. I’m great.” Hayley dashed over to lock them both in a hug. “Welcome home. We missed you.”
    “Good. I like being missed. And look at this.” She flipped her fingers over Hayley’s hair.
    “I just did it. Just today. Woke up with a bug up my butt. Oh, you look so beautiful.”
    “Listen to you.”
    But it was true, always true. And now a weeklong honeymoon in the Caribbean had added a dewy glow to innate beauty. Sun had turned the creamy skin pale gold so that Roz’s long, dark eyes seemed even deeper. The short, straight hair capped a face with the sort of classic, timeless beauty Hayley knew she could only envy.
    “I like that cut,” Roz commented. “It looks so young and easy.”
    “Gave my morale a boost. Lily and I had a rough night. She got her shots yesterday.”
    “Mmm.” Roz gave Lily an extra hug. “No fun there. Let’s see if we can make up for it. Come on in here, baby girl,” Roz said, snuggling Lily again as she went back in the parlor. “See what we got you.”
    The first thing Hayley saw was a life-sized doll with a mop of red hair and a sweet and foolish smile.
    “Oh,