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Hank nudged him and pointed at a group making their way to the front. “There’s Grace and the guys.” Travis admired the blonde and grinned and nodded at Jack Warner when he caught his eye.
Jack was carrying a couple of white folding chairs and was escorting a petite, white-haired lady. Mrs. Owen had aged since the last time he’d seen her. Her formerly jet-black curls were now snow white, and she had a decidedly fragile air as she thanked Jack and sat down on the chair he’d placed near the front for her. Hank had told him that the ceremony was to be brief, allowing more people to fit into the garden if they stood, although seating was being provided for those who needed it.
Travis noticed that Mrs. Owen blew kisses to all three of the grooms, who came forward and each kissed her on the cheek before returning to their positions. Travis had learned long ago to respect a man only after he’d gotten to know him, but he definitely respected those three men for their kind treatment of that lady.
Grace was having a conversation with another elderly lady, who looked to be in her nineties, and Travis chuckled when he heard the stately lady say, “I’ll be fine, Grace. You looked a little puny this morning. Why don’t you sit in the chair, sweetheart?”
“Grandma Kate, the afternoon will be tiring for you. Won’t you sit, please?”
“Oh, very well, but only if my little Rose Marie sits with me.”
“I want Nanny Kate!” a little girl with glistening blonde ringlets chirped from Adam Davis’s arm where she currently perched. She faced Adam and put her tiny hands on his cheeks. “Please, Daddy Adam?” She puckered up for a kiss.
Ethan burst into laughter as Adam rolled his eyes and nodded at her before giving her a kiss.
Hank snorted and said, “They’re gonna have a hell of a time when she’s sixteen.”
Travis chuckled. “You hoping by then you’ll be retired?”
“Hell yeah. Can you picture me trying to write that little gal her first speeding ticket? She takes after her charming mama.”
“Manipulative, you mean?” Travis couldn’t honestly see that in what he could recall of Grace’s demeanor.
Hank frowned and shook his head. “Not at all. Thing is, all Grace has to do is look me in the eye and I do whatever she asks. Matter of fact, I’m supposed to be talking to someone for her this afternoon, if I get a chance. An author friend of hers.”
“Research on law enforcement for a book?”
Hank gave his head a tiny shake as he scanned the crowd. “No. It’s about something else. Private. She’s supposed to be here with Grace.”
Travis surveyed Grace’s little group as the area filled to capacity and people began lining the upper level near the retaining wall of the garden. He spotted Grace again and then his eyes were drawn by a brunette who stood in the shadows near the woman they’d referred to as Grandma Kate. She gulped nervously and her eyes darted around the thickening crowd as the time for the ceremony drew near. Something about her was familiar. He stared at her as he wracked his brain. He was normally good with names and faces, but her identity evaded him.
Ethan and one of his friends, a giant with long black hair, separated from the crowd and it was then that Travis noticed they both carried guitars, and another guy joined them and sat in a folding chair with a small, rawhide-covered drum. They began to play a soft melody with a hint of Spanish guitar, which he recognized but couldn’t quite place.
A flurry of activity at the entrance to the garden drew his gaze and Hank said, “Maizy and her dad must be arriving.”
“He’s walking her?” Travis didn’t need to be told that George Owen would’ve been dead set against anything that might infer his approval of an alternative lifestyle. The guy was all about appearances and status in the community.
Hank smirked. “She wore him down. I’m telling you, Trav, the women in this town have got skills. I’ll bet that’s who Grace wanted me to talk with,” he said, gesturing with his chin across the way, to where the brunette was located. Travis could sense her nervousness as she glanced around, her hand resting over her throat, and noted how pale her complexion had grown. She took a deep breath and then removed her smartphone from her purse and focused her attention on it.
