LITMIR.BIZ

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looked skeptical. “How do you know?”

      He could appreciate someone who demanded verification. “Your mom was talking to us. That’s a great sign. She said she was okay. I think we’re going to have to believe her until we find out otherwise. What about you? Are you okay?”

      The little girl’s chin wobbled a little, as if she had been trying all this time to be brave and had finally lost the battle. “My knee hurts,” she said with a sniffle. “My mom pushed me and I fell and now I think it’s bleeding.

      “See?” She pulled up her purple jeans and he could see she had a scrape about the size of a quarter just below her little kneecap.

      “Look at that. You are bleeding. I bet we can find a Band-Aid to put on that for you.”

      “Will it have a princess on it?”

      She reminded him forcefully of his niece Faith, which seemed odd as Faith was a few years older, slender and blonde. This little curly-haired imp with the big personality and the dimples probably had more in common with Carter, Faith’s younger brother. They seemed about the same age.

      But there was something about her, a kind of fragile sweetness, that made him want to blindly promise her everything would work out—and then tuck her against him to protect her from further harm and do everything in his power to keep his word.

      “I’ll see what I can do,” he said.

      He spent a few more moments talking to the girl while the paramedics were working on her mother and learned, much to his surprise, that she and her mother weren’t from Haven Point.

      “We were just moving here. All our things are in boxes,” she revealed. “I was going to sleep in my new bed tonight, but then my mama’s new job burned down. See?”

      She pointed down the hill toward the lake, where he could see the charred remains of the comfortable inn where he had stayed on his first visit to the area.

      “Your mother was going to work at the Lake Haven Inn?”

      Maddie nodded, curls bouncing. “Yes. Only now she can’t and the lady was really sad. She cried and my mama told her not to worry, that we would figure something out. That’s what she always says.”

      He was still mulling that and the atrocious luck that had hit Eliza Hayward in the past hour when the woman who had first come out of the store to help after the accident approached him.

      She was young, he could see now, no more than twenty-seven or -eight. This was the new mayor of Haven Point?

      “You’re Aidan Caine, aren’t you?”

      She said it bluntly and without any of the kind of embarrassing awe he sometimes encountered. In fact, her voice and expression were completely devoid of any kind of warmth.

      “I am, yes. I’m afraid I didn’t catch your name.”

      She wasn’t overtly hostile but there was definitely a coolness in her tone and expression. “I don’t think I told you. I’m McKenzie Shaw. That’s my store over there. Point Made Flowers and Gifts.”

      Was she trying to drum up business? This really wasn’t the time.

      “I like your Christmas tree,” Maddie said.

      The woman smiled at her with considerably more warmth than she had shown Aidan. “Thanks, honey. If you come in with your mom, I’ll give you an ornament made out of a pinecone. I make them myself.”

      “Wow! Thanks,” Maddie said.

      “You’re welcome.”

      Ms. Shaw turned back to Aidan. “I’m also the newly elected mayor of Haven Point and will take office in January.”

      “So you said.”

      “I apologize again on behalf of the town for the poor road conditions,” she said stiffly. “You can be assured, it won’t happen again.”

      Was she afraid he would pursue legal action against the town? The fault was entirely his own. If he had been driving a vehicle with better tires, this wouldn’t have happened. He was already planning on purchasing an additional vehicle besides the ranch Suburban and pickup truck—one with excellent tires—that he could leave at the Lake Haven airport and use for ground transportation on future visits.

      Before he had the chance to tell her that, a police officer approached them. “I’m Officer Bailey with the Haven Point police department. I understand you were the driver of the vehicle that struck Mrs. Hayward while the light was red and she was in the crosswalk,” she said sternly.

      “Yes,” he answered. By her unfriendly tone and set jaw, he had to wonder if he was going to end up behind bars over this whole thing. He wasn’t sure the town even had a jail but he had a feeling he was about to find out.

      “I saw the whole thing from my shop window, Wyn,” McKenzie Shaw said. “He wasn’t speeding and definitely tried to stop in time.”

      He blinked, shocked by the would-be mayor’s unexpected defense.

      “It’s that stupid patch of black ice,” she went on. “How many times have I tried to get the road department to lay down extra salt solution there?”

      “Plenty,” Officer Bailey said. “Regardless, it’s still considered a failure to yield situation. I’m going to need to see your license and registration.”

      “You know who this is, don’t you, Wyn?” McKenzie said, giving him a significant look.

      The police officer—who looked only a few years older than the new mayor—gave a shrug. “Sure I do. No matter what Mr. Caine might think, owning half the town doesn’t give him any special privileges, as far as the law is concerned.”

      Why the hell were all the women in this town pissed at him? This was only the second time he had even stepped foot in Haven Point. What had he done?

      “I don’t expect special privileges,” he insisted.

      “Good.” She smirked. “Then you’ll understand that I have to give you a citation with a hefty fine.”

      “Absolutely,” he said, with a coolness to match hers.

      “Mr. Aidan! Where are they taking my mama?” Maddie spoke in a frantic voice, adding several progressively more insistent tugs on his shirt for emphasis.

      While he was talking to the new mayor and the police officer, the EMTs had started to load the stretcher into the back of the ambulance, he realized.

      “Where is the closest medical facility?” he demanded of the two women.

      “Lake Haven Hospital,” Officer Bailey answered. “It’s the closest and only medical facility around here. You’ll find it at the halfway point between Haven Point and Shelter Springs.”

      Maddie tore away from him and raced over to the ambulance. “No! Don’t go, Mama. Don’t go!”

      Eliza looked equally distressed. “Please. My daughter. I can’t leave without her!”

      One of the EMTs, a man with a completely bald head and a bit of a paunch, gave her an apologetic look. “It’s against our department policy, ma’am, to take uninjured minors in the ambulance. But Officer Bailey over there can transport her to the hospital in her patrol vehicle. She might even beat us to the hospital.”

      “I want to go with my mama!” Maddie exclaimed. “I’m hurt, too! I scraped my knee!”

      “It’s true,” Aidan offered solemnly. “She definitely needs medical attention.”

      “I’m sorry, but—”

      “She’s a little girl who’s been through a terrible ordeal, seeing her mother hurt like that. It’s cold out here and she’s frightened. What’s the harm in letting them stay together?”

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