LITMIR.BIZ

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      “That child looked peaked to me,” Mrs. Ardelle observed when Hadley finished washing her own hands and sat down at the table beside Joanie. She pointed the end of the rolling pin out the back window where they could see the tail end of the sleigh gliding through the snow. “Mark my words. She’s got troubles.”

      “She seems lonely to me,” Joanie said. “And I know she’s not married,’ cause I asked her.” She picked up another cookie and put half of it in her mouth.

      “You’re supposed to be icing them, not eating them,” Mrs. Ardelle said, laughter in her voice.

      Joanie shrugged and smiled around her mouthful. “If Alan and Julie and Trev get to eat some, why can’t I?”

      Hadley added some blue piping onto the square cookie, and fashioned a little bow so it would look like a birthday gift. “I’m going to the Tipped Barrel tonight.” She reached for another cookie to decorate.

      Silence met her announcement.

      Mrs. Ardelle finally broke it. “Excuse me, dear, but aren’t they closed on Sundays?”

      Hadley paused. “Well, yes, I suppose they are. Tomorrow night, then.”

      “But why?” Joanie’s eyes were wide. “The sheriff will have a conniption fit and fall right in it.”

      “I don’t care.” And, Hadley realized, she didn’t care if Shane disapproved. Or Stu. Or Evie or Beau or Wood. She kept trying to write stories about women, capable women, making their own way in life. How could she do that if she weren’t making some similar effort in her own life? “Until this town starts seeing me as something other than the thoroughly boring and settled Hadley, nothing’s going to change. Maybe Wendell’s not the only one I have to convince that I could possess a wild side. Right?”

      She looked up to see Joanie’s and Mrs. Ardelle’s twin expressions. “I know. I don’t look like I belong in the Tipped Barrel.” She’d figured that when she and Wood had gone there, only to find Charlie instead.

      “Well,” Joanie pondered. “I can help you with that. Some. I’ve been watching the girls doing hair at Curl up and Dye. Maybe we could do something with your hair. You know. Something a little outrageous. Sexy.”

      Hadley stomped out a sneaky whisper of unease. “I don’t want to dye it or anything.” Joanie was a receptionist at the hair salon, not a stylist.

      “Joanie knows that.” Mrs. Ardelle bustled over to the table and sat down, her floury hands fluttering. “But I know what she means. Fluff it up, or something. Your hair is lovely, Hadley, but it’s… well, it’s so—”

      “Boring.”

      “Nice,” Mrs. Ardelle finished. “You’re a nice girl, Hadley, and you look like one. I’m just not sure changing your image for a night is likely to dissuade Mr. Pierce in his pursuit.”

      “I have to do something,” Hadley muttered. “I can’t seem to get my brothers from helping him along. So, unless Wendell decides himself that I’m not as suitable as he’d always figured—” She broke off when she heard the front door open, followed by a yell.

      She pushed away from the table and hurried to the hall. Ivan stood there, his weathered face flushed. “Call the ambulance,” he barked.

      Dismay streaked through Hadley. She pointed Mrs. Ardelle toward the phone, but the woman had already yanked the receiver off the wall.

      She hurriedly followed Ivan outside. “What’s wrong?”

      His boots clumped down the steps. “That Miss Day. She just passed out. We were nearly to the creek. Saw some deer there the other day and thought she’d enjoy seeing them. But when I looked back, she was all sort of slumped over—” He waved his hand at the sleigh, parked askew beside the house. Even the horses looked nervous, shifting and tossing their heads.

      Hadley ran to the side of the sleigh and climbed up. Nikki’s face was cold, her eyes closed. She was breathing, but she clearly was not waking up.

      “Should we try and get her down from the sleigh?” Ivan sounded as worried as Hadley felt.

      “I don’t know.” If something was wrong with the baby, would she be bleeding? Even though Hadley dreaded looking, she pulled back the velvet blanket. There was no visible signs of anything wrong. Which, Hadley knew, didn’t mean much of anything.

      She covered Nikki up again, chafing the woman’s hands and nearly groaned with relief when she heard the sound of a siren. Moments later the ambulance arrived, and Palmer displaced Hadley in the confines of the sleigh as he checked Nikki over.

      “Had, pull out the stretcher for me.”

      She was shaking like a leaf, but she ran over to the rear of the ambulance and threw open the wide door. Her hands closed over the end of the stretcher and she pulled. But it didn’t move. Frustrated, she tried again.

      “Here.” A hand reached up and flipped the lock holding the stretcher in place. Then Wood closed his hands beside Hadley’s, and they pulled the stretcher successfully from the vehicle. The legs dropped down automatically and they pushed it quickly through the skiff of snow on the sidewalk toward the sleigh from which Palmer was lifting the unconscious woman.

      “Thanks. Noah’s on another call already.” He settled Nikki on the stretcher and fastened the safety straps carefully over her. “Hospital’s gonna want her ID.”

      “Of course.” Hadley raced up the stairs, through the house, and up to the tower. Inside Nikki’s room it took her a moment to find the woman’s purse, and then to make sure the wallet was inside. Then she raced back down the stairs. Palmer was already behind the wheel, clearly impatient to be on his way. She tossed him the purse through his open window, he caught it, and the ambulance drove off, siren wailing.

      Hadley leaned over, pressing her palms to her stomach. “Oh, God. I should have known better than to let her go off on that sleigh ride. I didn’t think she looked quite right. I should have said something to her. Done something. But I just let—”

      “Stop.” Wood closed his hands over her shoulders. “You’re freezing. You don’t have on a coat. Come inside.”

      She blindly followed when he urged her up the stairs. “This has never happened before. Guests don’t come here and collapse, Wood.”

      “Shh.” He pushed her into the chair in the hallway. “Take a breath before you pass out yourself.”

      “Auntie Hadley, are you okay?” Trevor snuck around Wood and patted the back of her head. “Why’d that lady go in the ambulance?”

      She willed herself to settle down. “I’m fine, Trevor. And that lady is going to be fine, too.” She hoped.

      “Who’s he?”

      She realized her nephew was eyeing Wood. “His name is Mr. Tolliver. He’s staying here while his car gets fixed. Wood, this is Evie’s son, Trevor. And that—” she looked over his blond head toward the kitchen doorway “—is Julie and Alan.”

      Wood shifted abruptly. “Cute kids.”

      “Yes. You guys go on back to the kitchen and finish the cookies with Mrs. Ardelle, okay?” She caught that woman’s eye, who nodded immediately and capably distracted the trio back to their cheerful task.

      As soon as they were gone, she leaned over her knees, covering her face with her hands. “It’ll only take Palmer a few minutes to get her to the hospital. I should go over there. Someone should be called. But I don’t know who.”

      “What sort of information did she leave when she registered? Or made her reservation?”

      “Right. Of course.” She sat up. Pushed back her hair. “I have home and work numbers for her.” She went downstairs to her office and pulled out the paperwork. But since she didn’t know what she’d be telling

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