Harbor Street (Cedar Cove #5)(95)

“You don’t need to get out of bed for this,” she felt obliged to tell him.

“I know. I wanted to. It’s been two weeks now, but I don’t think I’ll ever get tired of watching you nurse our son.”

She brushed the tiny wisps of hair away from Aaron’s sweet face and gazed down at him in utter amazement as tiny milk bubbles formed at his mouth.

“From the first moment I saw you, I thought you were beautiful,” Ian whispered.

“Oh, honey, stop.” His compliments embarrassed her.

“You were,” he said with a sigh. “But you’ve never looked more beautiful than you do right this minute.”

His words filled her heart. “Thank you,” she whispered.

He seemed about to say something else, but paused, as if caught up in the emotion of the moment. After a while he said, “I’ve been thinking about us finding a house to rent. Maybe with an option to buy.”

She smiled at him quickly. “I’d like that. Where?”

Ian shrugged. “Cedar Cove. I want our son to have a real yard to play in and a neighborhood with other families, other kids. Living in a duplex is fine for you and me, but we have a baby now who’ll need room to grow. What do you think?”

“Let’s start looking today!”

“I’ll check with a rental agent to see what we can find.”

Cecilia nodded, excited by the idea.

As soon as Aaron was satisfied, he fell asleep. Holding him over her shoulder, Cecilia rocked for several minutes until she felt she could place him in his crib again without fear of waking him.

Ian crawled into bed and pulled aside the covers so she could join him. Cecilia curled up against her husband, but after a few minutes, she shifted away in an effort to get comfortable. Ten minutes later she was back.

“Want to tell me what’s on your mind?” Ian suggested when her restlessness didn’t end.

“I don’t want to keep you awake,” she protested.

“It’s either you talk or you wake me every time you roll from one side to the other. I might be on leave, but I still need my sleep.”

“Sorry.”

“Talk,” he insisted.

“It’s Allison Cox,” Cecilia said reluctantly. She hadn’t intended to mention this to Ian, but the girl had been in her thoughts ever since yesterday afternoon, when she’d stopped by the house to visit Aaron. Allison had confided in her and spent the better part of the afternoon unburdening her woes.

“I know you’re not too keen on this new boyfriend of hers.”

“No,” Cecilia murmured. “I’m not.”

“She isn’t planning to run away and marry him, is she?” Ian asked in a sleepy voice.

“Not that I know of.” But Cecilia was afraid that whatever Anson requested, Allison would do.

“Then it can’t be too serious.”

“Don’t bet on it.” Cecilia nestled more comfortably in the crook of her husband’s arm. “I’m telling you, Ian—this kid is trouble.”

“Is he hanging around Allison a lot?”

“Apparently not. He had some sort of confrontation with her recently and she hasn’t seen him since.” Cecilia paused, biting her lip. “He hasn’t shown up for school, either, which worries her.”

“Did she try to find out where he is?”

“I asked her, and she started to cry.”

“And?” Ian pressed when she didn’t immediately continue.

“According to Allison, Anson’s mother claims she hadn’t seen him for a few days, which she doesn’t happen to think is any big deal. Can you imagine that? Anson’s eighteen now, but it shouldn’t matter what age he is. If he’s living at home and he disappears, then the woman should be concerned.”

“Surely he has friends.”

“Allison says he runs with a rough crowd.” This didn’t surprise Cecilia; kids like Anson and his buddies weren’t the type of friends she wanted Allison to have, but she dared not let the girl know that.

“Hasn’t anyone checked with these guys?”

“I suspect Allison has. But if she found out anything, she didn’t say.”

Ian was silent after that.

“Allison’s really worried, and I don’t blame her. She asked her father to talk to Seth Gunderson.”

“About what?”

Cecilia realized she’d never filled in this part of the story for Ian. “Back in December, Mr. Cox spoke to Seth on Anson’s behalf.”

“That was good of him.”

“Mr. Cox was the one who recommended Anson for the job, so he feels responsible for what happened. He wanted to hear what Seth had to say.”

“What did he learn?”

This was where it became confusing for Cecilia. “Well, Mr. Gunderson said he wasn’t a hundred percent positive that it was Anson who took the money, and because he couldn’t be sure, he laid off another of the kitchen staff, too. Both had opportunity. Naturally, Allison believes the other guy did it. She says this Tony was out to get Anson because he made Tony look bad.”

“How?”

Cecilia gave a small shrug. “Supposedly because Anson was such a hard worker.”