A Cozy Little Murder: A Violet Carlyle Cozy Historical Mystery (The Violet Carlyle Mysteries Book 24

stopped Vi, and her friend said, “Don’t. You don’t have to.”
“Have to what?”
“Apologize or the like. It’s all right. The doctor thinks the baby will be all right.”
In her heart of hearts, Vi doubted it, and she hated herself for doubting. It would be just like a man to see Rita, as fragile as she seemed, and lie about the baby’s prognosis in order to give Rita something to hold onto. Vi kept all of her worries to herself, of course, and hummed to Rita, who seemed to need the tears that were falling.
When Rita slipped into sleep, Vi found she couldn’t leave her friend. In fact, she wouldn’t even move. How could she when it might wake Rita, who clearly needed rest? As the time passed, Ham appeared in the doorway, and Vi placed a finger over her lips.
He was shorter than Jack and tended towards round. In fact, he had been rather portly when Vi had first met him. Somewhere along the way, he’d decided to turn that extra portliness to muscle, and he had the burly build of a man who could lift you with one hand and move you out of his way. He was losing his hair up top and had shaved it away, while his jaw was covered with a rather perfect, close-cut beard.
In a day of smooth-cheeked men with slicked back hair, tall and slim, Ham was unique. His kind eyes were fixed on his wife, and nearly as tender when they landed on Vi.
“She’s going to be all right.” The words felt like a vow and Vi repeated the vow to herself, hoping that it was a promise they could keep.
Vi stayed curled up with Rita until Beatrice and Kate poked into the room. The squeak as they stepped back was enough to wake Rita, and she pushed into a sitting position.
Beatrice and Kate brought chairs beside the bed and Kate leaned in and pressed a kiss to Rita’s forehead. “It’ll be all right.”
Somehow when Kate said it, the idea that everything would be all right shifted from a desperate hope to a fact. Rita shuddered a little.
“You look better,” Vi told her, and it was true. Rita had regained color in her face and the dark circles had faded. Vi gestured to the hairbrush, and she brushed Rita’s hair while they chatted. It was inane conversation about weather and clothes, but it was what Rita needed as she slowly relaxed.
Finally, it was Rita who asked, “Have Ham and Jack attempted to murder Smith yet?”
Beatrice laughed. “He was shaken, I think. Smith had been assured that the man who grabbed you and followed you had been arrested the night before. He, somehow, was released and Smith…” She trailed off.
Vi laughed all of the sudden. “Rita was very fierce.”
“Was she?” Kate asked, glancing at Beatrice and then leaning in. “Tell me all about it.”
Rita told the story, focusing on Vi’s fierceness as though it had been Vi who had pulled a pistol.
“You pulled a pistol?” Ham asked silkily from the doorway.
“You were eavesdropping?” Rita countered as silkily.
“No,” Ham said guiltily. “I was coming to see…”
Whatever lie he intended to tell her petered out and he crossed to her, cupping her cheek, his eyes searching her over. “You look better.”
“Smooth,” Kate stage-whispered. “Our hero makes a very clever switch to compliment his lady.”
Vi laughed and Rita and Beatrice joined in.
“Now that Rita is feeling better, she needs soup,” Vi declared. “More importantly, I need coffee.”
She snapped her fingers at Ham, who patted her on the head, grinned when she jerked away, and then agreed to fetch coffee. Suddenly the world felt right again.

Chapter 6
“Come with me again,” Jack suggested the next morning. “Why do they tell you things?”
“Because, Jack,” Vi said patiently, trying to hide her grin, “I’m unassuming, sweet, and empathetic. You’re big, strong, with wide shoulders and those eyes that take everything in, and you put people on their guard. Even innocent people are wondering if you can see their sins by how you look at them.”
Jack ran his hand over his face.
“Is Ham staying home because Rita had a bad night? Is she all right?”
“Ham is visiting the brother-in-law in Alfriston. I thought we’d visit Mrs. Meyers’s daughter. Women have a much better understanding of each other.”
“You just don’t want to scare her like you did poor Mrs. Meyers. You scared and offended her.”
Jack groaned and pulled Vi up, tossing her over his shoulder. He sat down and pulled her into his lap. “Well then, I suppose you’ll have to use your magic and charm them.”
Violet nudged Jack back and grinned at him, squishing his cheeks like she did to her nieces. “I suppose I can be persuaded to attempt to charm the woman, but I think you should try flirting a little.”
Jack’s laugh surprised her. “Like I did with you? I believe I stumbled through romancing you like a…a…blind and deaf man…in a cave.”
Vi’s head tilted and she softly admitted, “I didn’t notice. I was probably distracted by your pretty shoulders.”
“My shoulders are manly,” Jack told her firmly, but she squished his cheeks again and ruined his attempt at a fierce moment.
Jack pulled her hands from his cheeks and said, “I had someone run by this woman’s home, and if Mrs. Watkins is as constricted as her house, I think I’ll need you more than ever. But maybe you could look, I don’t know, less glamorous?”
Vi rolled her eyes at him, and then pressed her forehead against his.
“Darling Jack,” she started and then giggled into his neck when he turned his eyes to her. She started to bite his chin, but she couldn’t for the laughter, so she jumped up and looked in her dressing room. “Did you say not glamorous? Because, as you know, I am only glamorous.”
He laughed, and Vi turned, lifting her brow, and then picked up the dress she hadn’t intended on letting Jack see and threw it at him. He picked up the