Chocolate Chip Cookie Conundrum (Murder in the Mix Book 32) by Unknown (the lemonade war series .TXT) 📕

“And now the moment we’ve all been waiting for.” She nods to the audience and Mom stands with Lyla Nell as the camera zooms in on her angelic face. “That little precious baby is about to get herself a daddy. Who will it be?” She pulls the envelope apart as if she were unwrapping a gift on Christmas morning. “And the winner is—” She glances to the card for a second. “Essex!”

It’s as if time slows to a crawl as I look his way. Everett’s face breaks out into a genuine grin as he pulls me into a firm embrace and he kisses me square on the lips with all the zest and vigor this occasion calls for.

The crowd gives a round of applause and pulls me from my spell as I turn to Noah.

“Congratulations, man.” Noah pulls both Everett and me into a hug before we all stand to our feet and the two of them indulge in one of those man hugs that looks cordial yet genuine.

“There you have it, Vermont!” Cormack shouts with glee into the camera. “The detective might have been looking for a clue, but it was the judge who handed down the final verdict. We’ll be back after these messages where I’ll regale you with song.”

“And cut!” Woody shouts, and the room breaks out into a thousand conversations at once.

Mom scuttles this way with the baby, and soon Lyla Nell is in Everett’s arms. He holds her high and kisses her cheeks, and I will never forget the way that man glows under the supervision of her love.

Evie hops over and hugs Noah as she brings him over to Everett and Lyla Nell.

“Shoo!” Cormack shuffles everyone off the set and Noah, Everett, Evie, and my mother head backstage, but those cards in Cormack’s hands catch my eye.

“Cormack, can you please give me those cards?” I widen my eyes her way and nod. “You know, for reasons which we discussed not too long ago.”

I’m about to snatch them from her when she pulls them back.

“Wait a minute.” She shuffles through them, rotating them back to front before handing one my way and it says Harry Nash in bold black letters.

Knew it.

A sense of relief floods me, and my heart soars because I’ve actually grown used to the idea of Harry being my father. He could never replace Joseph Lemon, the saint who raised me, but well, I guess, Harry feels special in his own right.

Cormack went along with my scheme to protect Everett after all.

“Can I have the other card, too? I’d like to save it for the baby.”

“No.” She pulls it close to her chest, and I suck in a quick breath.

“Cormack!” I hiss. “You didn’t!”

“Of course, I didn’t.” She starts to take off in a hurry, and in one quick motion I pull her in and yank that card right out of her hand.

She snatches it back and quickly tears it to shreds before me.

“Cormack Featherby!” I shout as I quickly collect the pieces and make a run for it. I stop shy of where Everett is celebrating with his mother, his sister, my sisters, Keelie, Bear, Wiley, my mother, Evie and all her friends, and I see just enough letters in my hands to spell another name entirely.

I head over and take a deep breath as tears swell in my eyes.

“Everett? Noah? Can I speak to the two of you in private?”

“Sure.” Everett lands another kiss to Lyla Nell’s cheek and Noah nods, looking as if he’s putting on his best game face.

We head over to the refreshment table that’s almost depleted of all my chocolate chip cookies, and I press my lips tightly as I look to the two of them.

“I’m sorry.” I shake my head at Everett as I hold out the pieces of that card in my hands. “Cormack—she wasn’t telling the truth.”

Everett’s expression quickly sobers and Noah’s chest fills with a breath.

Everett closes his eyes and bows his forehead to Lyla Nell’s a moment before landing a kiss to the tip of her nose and placing her gently into the arms of her true biological father.

Tears stream down Noah’s face as he holds Lyla Nell close and blesses her with a kiss to the top of her head.

“I have a daughter.” He nods my way. “We have a daughter.” He looks to Everett. “We all do.” He pulls Everett over and the three of us look to Lyla Nell as she studies Noah and Everett with wonder. Her lips begin to twitch, and she breaks out into a full-blown smile—and on both her right cheek and her left appear a set of deep-welled dimples just like her daddy’s.

“Look at that!” I cry as my hand covers my mouth.

Here Lyla Nell was practically hiding her identity herself, keeping her secret close to the vest like a poker hand.

Lyla Nell smiles and giggles as Noah, Everett, and I share a warm laugh at the joyful sight.

Everett gives Noah a thump on the back. “Congratulations. Welcome to the club. You’re officially a dad.” He shrugs. “You would have been one anyway.”

Lyla Nell doesn’t stop smiling and neither do we.

Everett

“You’re still mine,” I whisper just above Lyla Nell’s little ear as she lies over my chest on the couch back at the house. Lemon is snuggled up next to me with Pancake and Waffles in her arms while Noah looks over Evie’s history paper.

“It’s great, Evie,” he says. “You’re a natural at this. You’re going to kill it in college. It’s just one paper after the other once you get there.”

“Don’t make it sound so fun,” Evie grunts.

“I’d rework that last paragraph,” he says. “Give it a little bit more of a punch.”

“Just the way Mayor Nash punched Jimmy Canelli?” she asks.

“Just like that,” he muses.

“Speaking of Harry…” Carlotta looks deflated. “Who knows when we’ll see him again. Now that Jimmy Canelli has a hit out on him, he’s gone into hiding.”

The sound of a crash coming from the direction