Free Family Secrets (A Darcy Sweet Cozy Mystery #8) by K.J. Emrick

to tie the knot?  Because I have to tell you, I wouldn't mind standing in as Maid of Honor.  Oh.  Hey, maybe you and mom could get married at the same time and I could be Maid of Honor for you both."
    "I think it's technically called Matron of Honor if you're already married," Darcy pointed out, knowing that hadn't been her sister's point at all.
    Their mother, Eileen, had come back into their lives just a few months back to declare she had found someone new and was getting married again.  It had actually gone a long way toward fixing the hard feelings between the two sisters and Eileen.  Having their mother reach out to them like that was a good first step, anyway, as far as Darcy was concerned.
    "You know what I mean," Grace said to her.  "Seriously, what's with you and Jon?"
    Secrets.   Veiled answers.  Too many things, all at once.  Darcy thought there was probably a dozen different ways she could answer her sister's question.  They all amounted to the same thing.  "Honestly, Grace, it feels like he and I are drifting apart.  Every time I try to talk about it with him he just clams up and says he'll talk about it later."
    "Uh-oh," Grace said.  "That's guy code for never."
    "Yeah, I know, and that's the problem.  We can't just not talk about it.  He's planning on moving to Oak Hollow, for Pete's sake.  He's really, seriously considering it.  So I'm just supposed to pack up everything and leave you and the bookstore and all of it behind so that he can go chase his dream and give me the joy of tagging along like a puppy dog on a leash."
    Grace's eyes grew a little wider.  "Is that really the way you see it?"
    "Well, yes, kind of."  Darcy hated that she was being so wishy-washy about it.  She didn't want to leave Misty Hollow and the house she'd grown up in with Aunt Millie and all of her friends.  But at the same time, she didn't want to lose Jon, either.
    It was looking more and more like she'd need to choose one or the other.
    "You know, sis," Grace tried, "this job he was offered in Oak Hollow is a good one.  He talked to me about it a little bit.  Oak Hollow isn't that far away, and you'll have more money than Millie's old book store ever brought you just from his salary increase.  Well, sort of.  Still, having money in the bank can take care of a lot of other problems."
    Darcy supposed that was true.  Look what having money in her bank account had done for Aimee Tinker, after all.  It was going to clear her of being a murderer.
    "So, what are you going to do?" Grace asked.
    "Do I have to decide now?"
    "Well.  Soon, right?  Oak Hollow won't hold that job out to him forever."  Grace grimaced like she just thought of something.  "I hope they don't hold this thing with his sister against him.  He'll have to clear that up one way or the other before he goes over there.  I mean, if he goes over there," she corrected herself hastily.  "It's just a good thing that you helped us clear Aimee of being a murderer."
    Darcy sat bolt upright in her chair.  Of course.  How could she have missed it?
    "I have to go," she told Grace, standing and coming around to give her sister a hug.  She patted Grace's belly as she let go.  "You be good to my little niece."
    "Gah, I wish people would stop doing that."  Grace smiled as she said it and Darcy knew she was loving the attention.  "It could be your nephew, you know."
    It could be, Darcy admitted to herself, but she had the feeling it was going to be a niece.  On her way to the back of the police station, she forgot all about the mystery of what gender Grace's baby would be.  She had just put another piece together in this puzzle of Vivica Chartrand's murder that she hadn't even realized was there.
    Just like the puzzle Millie had been working on in that dream, the picture was turning into something altogether different.
    There was a door that led out of the station from the back.  Darcy had used it any number of times, even though they liked people