Kathleen Brooks - Secrets Collide

“Oh, pish-posh. Your brother didn’t tell me anything. I’m your mother. I know everything. I even knew my own son’s bottom was plastered across the big screen. I was at that movie with my quilting club. Oh my, Edna was with us. The whole town is going to know by lunch.” Marcy dropped into her chair as if the world was now over.

Cy stood speechless as his brothers grinned and the women bit their lips trying to contain any comments that he could see sitting on their tongues. How had he lost control of this situation?

A sharp whistle pierced the air and all eyes immediately snapped their attention to Jake. “Now, I'd like to hear what’s going on. Just hand the phone over to me so we won’t get any more interruptions.” Cy grimaced as his mother threw a book and nailed his father right on the head.

“At least it wasn’t an iron this time,” Paige said before breaking out into peals of laughter.

“Dammit! The people who tried to kill Pierce are trying to kill Gemma and me,” Cy finally yelled. The room quieted down and Cy let out a breath. He finally had their attention.

Ahmed listened intently. It was exactly what he thought. Sergei. Debate raged inside of him. He could easily manipulate Gemma into becoming bait for Sergei, but she was an innocent and he wasn’t like Sergei. He didn’t hurt innocents. Besides, if Cy was anything like his records indicated, he wasn’t to be messed with. The family all thought Miles was the toughest. But they were all wrong. It was Cy.

The secret file the CIA kept on him read like a spy novel. He took on missions no one else would take and managed to get out without a scratch . . . that is, until Russia. That’s where Sergei must've discovered him. Cy had breached a secure laboratory guarded by armed soldiers. He had busted up the sale, arrested the men involved in the trade, secured the weapons, and was in the process of hauling them out of the facility when he was detected. A firefight ensued and he held them off until he set a trap, escaping with the weapons and criminals. The rest of the CIA was stationed five miles away getting ready to breach the facility, but Cy beat them to it. The records quote him as saying he went alone because he “wanted to make sure the job was done right.”

Ahmed looked Cy over again as he stood telling his family the events from the last twelve hours. Gemma was quietly shedding tears as Marcy and Paige held her hands. She was innocent, he kept reminding himself, but she might hold the key. He’d just have to work with Cy this time, but he’d make it clear—Sergei was his.

Thwack! Miss Lily Rae Rose slammed her broom down on John Wolfe’s balding head. She took advantage of stunning him to race past him down the sidewalk. She might only stand at five-feet two-inches, but she gained four feet with that broom. Enough height to bonk John on the head, she thought as she raced toward the Blossom Café where many regulars were eating lunch.

“Oh no you don’t, Lily Rae,” John bellowed, his round belly bouncing as he chased after her.

John caught her by the arm and swung her around to attempt a kiss. Men. It worked one time so they think it’ll work every time. Lily grabbed hold of his suspenders, rose onto her tippy toes, and kissed him with everything she had. Right when he was leaning forward but before he wrapped his arms around her, Lily shot off down the street again, leaving him standing dazed on the sidewalk.

“Sucker,” she called over her shoulder as she ran toward the café. She passed the large windows and arrangements of bright flowers under them. Lily saw people enjoying lunch as she threw open the door and barged into her sisters’ restaurant.

The patrons all stopped and stared as she gulped in some air. Her sister, Daisy Mae, halted setting a plate of fried catfish in front of Judge Cooper. Violet Mae stuck her head out of the kitchen to see what was happening.

“Cy Davies is back in town.” She had done it. She had beaten John and had gotten the news out first.

The door burst open once again as John entered. “And he’s a stuntman in Hollywood,” John gasped as the restaurant groaned in response.

“As a cover for being a spy with the CIA,” Miss Lily hurriedly yelled out to make sure she beat John.

“YES! Yes, yes, yes.” Pam Gilbert leaped up from her chair and did a dance in the middle of the café in her soccer mom attire of khaki capris and a polo shirt. “I won, I can’t believe I won.” The restaurant groaned again. “I can take the kids to Disney for vacation,” Pam squealed as she jumped around some more.

“I thought for sure he was an mixed martial arts fighter,” old man Tabby mumbled before digging into his sandwich.

“I thought he was a professional skier,” Trey Everett said as he slid into a booth next to some of his friends.

Miss Lily smiled at the dear boy . . . well, man now. Trey was back for the summer after his first year in college. He’d grown two inches and packed on thirty pounds of muscle during his first season playing college football. In fact, he’d done so well, he was transferring to Vanderbilt to play.

Pierce Davies had hired him to work on the farms and Trey jumped at the chance to be back home and train with Will Ashton. Not every kid got to train with an NFL player. But Will and Cade were so proud of him for making it into the Southeastern Conference that they agreed to work with him every day. She didn’t even have to guilt Will into it—he’d come up with the idea all on his own.

“Why is he coming home now? Is he injured again?” Miss Daisy asked as she finally gave Judge Cooper his catfish.

“He’s in trouble and we need to help him,” Miss Lily said with a thump of her broom.

Gemma had been quiet for the last couple hours as the debate raged on. Cy had filled them in on what was happening, and she had answered some questions here and there. Quite honestly, she was still in a state of shock. Cy had a tendency to understate things. Such as, “My brothers were in the Army” turned out to be “My brothers were Special Forces with high-level security clearances.”

“Hey.” Cy had broken away from his family and had come over to where she was sitting. “How are you doing?”

“I’m a little in shock, but I’m ready to get to work.”

“Good. Then let’s get going.” Cy nodded toward the door and held out his hand to help her up.

“Go where?”

“To get some lunch and find us a place to stay.”

“Us?” Gemma asked as she stood up.

“Yep. Mom’s converted the old room I shared with Cade and Pierce into the grandsons’ room and Paige’s old room into the granddaughters’ room. Then she turned Miles and Marshall’s room into a scrapbooking room.”

“I thought you lived in Keeneston.”

“I do. I have two hundred acres of land here, but no house. I plan on building. It’s one of my projects for my retirement.”

“Retirement? You’re what, 33-ish? How can you talk about retiring?”

“Between the CIA and my job in Hollywood, I have enough to live a very comfortable life. But, I wasn’t going to just sit at home. Pierce has been taking care of my land for over six years. It’s time I take it over.”

“So, where are we going to stay then?” Gemma asked. This family was loud, sarcastic, and a little scary, but they were genuine and she felt safe. She didn’t really want to leave the comfortable couch and venture back into the real world.

“I have just the place. Come on.”

“Maybe he was burned. Is that what it’s called?” Daisy Mae asked Judge Cooper as she cleared his dishes.

“Just because I’m a judge doesn’t mean I know about spies,” Judge Cooper quipped.

“Oh, don’t be a sore loser. Your guess of professional bull rider was a good one.” Daisy patted him on the shoulder before making her way to the kitchen.