44 Cranberry Point Read Online Free PDF Page A

about a night in Seattle? Just the two of us. Your mother will take Katie, won’t she?”
    Maryellen laughed softly. “In a heartbeat.”
    “Seattle, then?”
    Maryellen nodded.
    “The honeymoon will be the very best part.” Jon kissed her nose, and Katie giggled as if she’d never seen anything funnier. “That amuses you, does it?” Jon said, smiling. “I guess I see your point.”
    “We’re going to have a beautiful wedding,” Maryellensaid with certainty. The prospect of it made this chaos of packing and moving seem worthwhile. Within a couple of weeks she’d be Jon’s wife. The three of them would be a family.

Chapter Four
    C harlotte Jefferson dressed nervously for her court appearance. She’d spent many an afternoon in the Kitsap County Courthouse, proudly watching her only daughter officiate as a family court judge. In Charlotte’s opinion, her daughter was one of the wisest judges in the entire state. She got a thrill just watching Olivia mete out decisions, looking so official in her black robe.
    This afternoon, however, Charlotte wouldn’t be in Olivia’s courtroom but in Judge Robson’s. She wouldn’t be alone, either. Together with several of her dearest friends, she’d be facing the consequences of civil disobedience. Still, serving time in the slammer, if it came to that, would be a small price to pay if her actions got the town council to finally bring a health clinic to Cedar Cove.
    Laura, Bess and the others, including Ben Rhodes, were scheduled to meet her in the foyer outside Judge Robson’s courtroom at one o’clock.
    Charlotte donned her best Sunday dress, complete with the Easter hat she’d purchased back in 1966. It was a broadbrimmed yellow one with a single white plume tucked in thesatin band. If Judge Robson decided to incarcerate her and the others, she intended to walk into that jail cell as finely dressed as she would’ve been for any church service.
    Olivia and Jack didn’t seem to think a prison term was likely, but Charlotte had heard rumors about Judge Robson. He was supposed to be much more by-the-book than Olivia, more of a hard-liner, and-again according to rumor-fond of making an example of the occasional miscreant.
    The doorbell chimed and Harry, her cat, leapt down from the foot of her bed with an uncharacteristic display of energy and trotted into the living room. Since Olivia and Jack were out of town on their honeymoon, Charlotte wondered who it might be. Embarrassment had prevented her from asking Justine, her granddaughter, to accompany her. Olivia, of course, was well aware of the entire situation, unhappily so. But Charlotte refused to let the rest of her family and friends know, although it was impossible to keep such news completely quiet.
    The peephole in the front door answered her question. Ben Rhodes stood on the other side, looking as dapper and debonair as ever. Despite her age, her heart did a tiny flipflop at the sight of him. After all these years as a widow, she’d assumed she was too old and set in her ways to fall in love, but Ben had shown her that even long-held assumptions could be wrong.
    “Ben!” She unbolted the four dead bolt locks on her front door. “What are you doing here?” she demanded, although she was more than glad to see him. “We’re supposed to meet at the courthouse, remember?”
    “I know, but I thought I’d escort my favorite gal into court. Are you ready?”
    Charlotte straightened the skirt of her floral dress, feeling, for just a second, like the heroine in a 1950s musical.Ben made the whole mess seem like an adventure rather than a scandal-or worse. “How do I look?”
    A smile lazily crossed Ben’s full mouth. At times it was difficult to forget that he wasn’t really Cesar Romero, the wonderful Cuban actor. In her opinion, Ben could have been the other man’s double. “You look lovely,” he told her.
    But adventure or not, Charlotte couldn’t quite control her nervousness. “Oh, dear…I just