Manhunt (32 page)

Sophie now proudly held the title of Store Manager.

There had been a few offers of corporate buyouts and franchising, but Michael and Nikki, along with their very happy and usually silent partners Christian and Jeremy, had chosen not to pursue those options. They loved their store too much to let it grow beyond their control. Nikki, however, had not been able to turn down the offer to have her own television cooking show. Part Julia Child, part Rachel Ray, part reality TV, she had garnered a lucrative three year deal. The first three episodes included surprising the hotel manager from their first night on the run—Tom and Suzie, the bed and breakfast owners— and the police officers who had been so kind to them after they turned themselves in with specialty cakes designed just for them. The series was being announced in a cover story for Chic Gourmet, thus the photo shoot.

Nikki came stumbling into the kitchen, her belly showing the slightest hint of a bump. She poured herself a cup of coffee, took one sniff of it, turned an interesting shade of green, and promptly poured it down the sink.

“Morning sickness?”

Nikki nodded. Her morning sickness when she had been pregnant with Maggie was horrible. Although that might have had something to do with the fact that they didn’t know she was pregnant. They had gotten engaged shortly after the trial ended, but decided to wait to get married until everything had settled down. Between moving in together, starting a business, and all the stress of the civil trial and counseling, they both agreed they didn’t need to add anything else onto the pile just then. When Nikki skipped her period, they both wrote it off as stress and thought nothing of it. They were so caught up in everything; they didn’t realize what was right in front of them.

Aaron was the one who suggested she take a home pregnancy test. They were shocked, thrilled, and scared senseless when the test showed two red lines. Michael got down on one knee and proposed all over again, begging Nikki to marry him before the baby was born. She’d agreed, and looked radiant with her pregnancy glow and five-months-along baby bump at the ceremony. They’d held their reception at The Hershey Hotel, and Nikki made sure there was lots and lots of chocolate.

“Do they have a make-up artist coming for the photo shoot? Can they airbrush it so I don’t look fat and green around the gills?” Nikki fretted.

“First of all, you look beautiful. Pregnancy becomes you. Second of all, yes, I’m sure they have people to doll you up, and the ability to edit the picture.” Michael kissed her sweetly, then bent down to kiss her tiny belly. “Good morning, Starshine,” he whispered. “Be good for Mommy today, okay?” Michael rubbed her tummy lovingly as he stood back up. “He can’t, however, edit the cake, so green-gilled or not, you need to get that cute ass… sorry, butt of yours downstairs and get to decorating, ‘cause we both know that I can’t make those marzipan grapes to save my life.”

“Oh no!” Maggie cried, and both Nikki and Michael turned to see what the problem was, only to find a giant glob of grape jelly slowly sliding its way down Maggie’s beautiful dress. Maggie turned to them with tears in her eyes, pointing to the floor, where her toast had landed, jelly side down, and their fat, white cat Powder was already pushing it along the floor with his nose so he could lick up the jelly, leaving a purple smear along the floor behind him.

“Don’t worry, Maggie,” Nikki said softly to her. “Just go pick out something else to wear and we’ll clean this up.”

Maggie nodded and hopped off the chair, running towards her bedroom. She came back a moment later, not with another dress from her closet, but with the vintage Care Bear t-shirt stored in the cedar chest at the foot of Michael and Nikki’s bed.

“Can I wear this?” she asked hopefully, holding it up against her. It was a little big, more like a dress than a shirt, and the blue and white iron-on Care Bear was cracking and peeling in places.

Michael smiled at both his girls.

“It’s perfect.”

Acknowledgements

First and foremost: Thank you to my family for their never-ending support and encouragement. Without you, “get published” would have forever remained unchecked on my bucket list.

Thank you to everyone at Tulipe Noire Press for believing in me and making my dream a reality.

Thank you to my critique readers for this story —Kelly, Juliet and Jennifer— for sticking with me and keeping me on the right track.

Thank you to all my friends and fans in the online writing community for convincing me I could write something people would want to read.