Free The Guarded Widow by K M Gaffney Page B

door.
    “Michael, thank you for letting Maddy into our fortress,” Olivia called down the stairs.
    James and Luke smelled the food and came rushing out into the kitchen.
    “Yippee! Yes!” The boys were thrilled with the bucket of fried chicken and biscuits that graced the kitchen counter.
    Maddy smiled as she asked James and Luke, “Is your Mom upstairs getting ready for her big date?”
    “Yeah, dates are gross,” Luke muttered as he tried to get a peek of the food.
    “We’ll eat once your Mom leaves,” she informed the hungry boys and then completed a hasty scan of the family room. “Where’s Tommy?
    “Oh, he’s upstairs talking to Mom,” Michael mumbled, his reply virtually unheard. Anxious to return to his video game, he raced back into the family room in order to lay claim to his favorite controller.
    Unaccustomed to physical warfare, Maddy cringed as she watched the twins wrestle over the remaining controller. James won the battle so Luke evened the score by picking up a decorative pillow and smashing him over the head with it.
    “Knock it off, Luke!” James bellowed at the top of his lungs.
    Maddy decided now was a good time to intervene. “Luke, let’s go find Tommy. After that, I’ll show you the cool movie I rented for tonight.”
    But Luke had to land one more pillow strike against his brother before finally agreeing to follow his aunt up the stairs.
    As they walked into the bedroom, Maddy nodded a greeting toward Tommy as he sat on the edge of his Mom’s bed.
    “Nice bathrobe,” Maddy muttered to her sister, eyeing up the old tattered terry cloth robe. Olivia only smirked at younger her sister before walking over to hug her oldest son.
    “I’m not looking to replace your Dad,” she finished telling Tommy. “I’m just going so I can enjoy some adult company. I wouldn’t have to go at all if Aunt Maddy wouldn’t have manipulated me into this,” Olivia said, playfully tugging on her sister’s hair.
    “Aunt Maddy,” Luke’s eyes rounded as he innocently admonished her. “My mom says it’s not right to manipulate the people you love.”
    Maddy hugged her nephew.
    “Let’s just call it a loving push,” she said, giving Olivia a wide smile.
    “Guys, I’ve got to get dressed,” Olivia said, insinuating they needed to exit her room now.
    “Ok, boys out of here. It’s time for some girl talk.” Maddy knowingly chuckled as she watched them scurry off. She then sauntered over to the closet and with a dramatic sweep of her arms, swung the doors wide open. With one blood red polished nail tapping against a pearly white central incisor, she began sorting through her sister’s clothes. Within a minute, she selected a low cut red blouse and handed the shirt to Olivia.
    “This would look really nice with a pair of black bootleg jeans.”
    “I can get dressed all by myself, Maddy. I’d even managed to snag a husband on my own. Remember?”
    Maddy rolled her eyes, disregarding the sarcastic comments. “Thad asked you to meet him at Mulligan’s at six o’clock for drinks and then dinner afterwards.”
    She evaluated Olivia’s state of disarray.
    “You’d better hurry up. Oh, and wear your black boots,” she called out, stifling a laugh as her sister shoved her through the bedroom doorway into the hall.
    “Leave me alone,” Olivia warned, and then reluctantly entered her bathroom to finish preparing for her first date in well over twelve years.
     
    Gavin had decided to go into work even though it was his day off because he wanted to investigate Olivia’s disturbances. After a few frustrating hours, he eventually made some headway after placing a phone call to Viccerroy Malpractice Group, Thomas Jones’s past employer. Apparently, there’d been some recent allegations that the late Tom Jones, and an unidentified partner, had been fabricating false insurance policies and then collecting those policies’ insurance premiums. The FBI had only recently opened an investigation