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“I bet she might. But I’m not worried about it.” He cackled. “What the hell could she do to me? I got two feet in the grave.”

I unlocked the brake on his wheelchair and turned him around.

He sat a little straight, holding Jenna’s picture in his hand as if he were on a mission.

I pushed him out of the sunporch and along the long cream-colored hallway smelling of bleach and flowers, to a room at the very end.

As I tried to turn him into the room, I bumped the edge of the wheelchair on the wall.

“Women can’t drive worth a damn,” he grumbled.

“Hey, don’t blame me. I’ve never driven one of these contraptions before.” He waggled his finger over his shoulder.

“Back up and try again.” A glance behind and I pulled the wheelchair back.

“I’m doing it.”

“Well, you’re taking forever.”

“I’ll get you there.”

“When? I’m damn old, if you haven’t noticed. I could be dead by the time you figure out this door.”

“Shut your yap.”

He grunted and went silent, but I didn’t sense any annoyance. This was an adventure for him, and I treated him like a man and not a potted plant to be shuffled around.

Finally, I got the angle right and pushed him into his room.

It was a very simple room with a hospital bed, dark curtains kept drawn, and a chewed-up La-Z-Boy.

No books on a small nightstand by the bed.

No extra sundries on the bureau. No pictures on the wall.

I had the sense he hated this place so much he wasn’t giving it the satisfaction of any kind of decoration.

He pointed toward the nightstand. “Push me over there.”

I wheeled him the remaining feet, and he pulled open the drawer. He removed a well-worn Bible from the nightstand and then closed the drawer.

“This was Walter’s Bible. It never made it into his effects because I’d borrowed it the day before we landed on Saipan.

I’d put it in my footlocker. My hope was always to give the Bible to Jenna.

That’s one of the reasons I went back to Alexandria.

To give it to her. And when she was gone, I didn’t know what to do with it. So, I kept it.”

With all the death, sadness, and glory he’d witnessed in his life, his had been a rich, full life, and he’d saved scant few items, including a change of clothes, which hung in the closet, and the Bible.

I didn’t speak, because he really had so little time and I sensed he had a lot to say.

He lifted his chin a fraction. “I wanted to be buried with it. That was the only request I had. But now it doesn’t seem right.”

I studied the cracked, worn leather and the embossed gold cross. “You should keep it. You’ve guarded it all these years. Seems right you’d keep it.”

His shook his head as his jaw tightened with determination. “No. I don’t want it with me no more. I want you to have it.”

Leaning back, I held up my hands. “Chief, I cannot take your Bible.”

He pushed it toward me. “You can take it. And you will. Seeing as you might find Jenna and Walter’s baby, you need to have it so you can give it to him.”

Worry prickled my skin. “What if I don’t find him?”

Gunny cocked his head, eyeing me as if I were a recruit. “You don’t strike me as a quitter. If that kid is out there, you’ll find him.”

“That kid will be in his late sixties now. What if he’s also passed from old age?”

“I don’t believe you’d be here if he were. Jenna wouldn’t have sent you. She wants you to find him. Wants him to know about his father.”

“How do you know Jenna sent me?”

“Can’t believe death would get in that gal’s way. She went after what she wanted.”

What if he didn’t know he’d been adopted? That happened back in the day more often than people realized. Babies were taken in and folded into families without a word ever spoken again about their pasts.

“Take the Bible and find that kid. Do my heart glad to know I kept Walter’s Bible safe for his kid all these years. Do my heart glad.”

When I returned to the bakery, Rachel was standing behind the display case with Meg and Tim. I checked my watch and realized it was after six. “So how did it go?”

Rachel nodded. “I think we’re going to make it. I think we’ll open tomorrow. Though we won’t have a full menu, we won’t shame ourselves.”

“It’s not the end of the world. Less might be more in our case.”

Rachel rested her hands on her hips. “I know we only have the six basic cookies, but I think you’re right. Chocolate chip, sugar, peanut butter, pecan, elephant ears, and maple are our best sellers, and I didn’t have the energy to bake the rest.”

“I think the basics are fine. Right now, we really should stick to what we know.”

“I also got a call from Mrs. Cranston. She heard about the cookie dough and wants to buy enough to make five dozen. She also mentioned her daughter’s school is having a fundraiser and they sell dough to raise money for the school. She thought our dough would be a big draw.”

“Really?”

“I told her we could talk to her on Monday. We needed to get through tomorrow and the reopening. That’ll also give you time to crunch the numbers.”

I grinned. “Rachel, you sound like a grown-up businesswoman.”

She nodded. “Maybe not completely grown up, but I’m getting there.”

I looked at Meg. “So how was your first real day of baking?”

“Sweet. Tim and I loved it.”

“Where’s Tim?”

“He’s in the back, scooping the last of the cookie dough to go into the oven.” Meg untied her apron. “What time do you want me back in the morning?”

“Eight o’clock,” Rachel said.

She nodded. “I’ll grab Tim, and we’ll head out. If we hurry, we can catch the bus.”

“Thanks, Meg,” I said.

“No, thank you. This is totally cool.”

She vanished into the back, and I was left shaking my head. “She thinks this is totally cool.”

“That used to be me,” Rachel said.

“It will be again.”

Rachel shook her head. “I’m pretty sure that ship has sailed.”

“Never say never.” I pressed my hands into the small of my back and stretched out the kinks. “So, they did well?” Better to shift to what seemed like a happier topic.

“The kid is strong. He can operate the scooper for hours and not miss a beat.” She smiled. “Though I learned very quickly not to leave him alone too long. I left him for an hour and came back to fifteen pans full of perfectly scooped cookies. I’d forgotten to tell him to stop at five.”

I winced, dollar signs dancing in my head, as I calculated the potential waste. “You cover them with foil?”

“Yeah, yeah. No real problem. No loss. Only a word to the wise.”

Nodding, I couldn’t stifle a grin. “Meg and his mom said to be specific with him.”

“Oh, I’ll be very specific going forward.” She whisked a stray curl from her face.

“So how did your trip go?”

I filled her in and told her about the gunnery sergeant. “This is Walter’s Bible. He’s been holding it all these years.”

Rachel smoothed her hand over the book. “That’s amazing. We never would have found him if not for Jenna’s recipe box.”

“Yeah. She seems to be our little guiding light.”

Rachel cocked her head. “You look tired.”

My back ached and my feet throbbed as if they’d grown five sizes. “I tell you this kid is kicking my ass.”

Rachel smiled. “Wait until she’s born. She’s only just getting started.”

I grimaced. “Thanks.”

She held up her hands in mock surrender. “Just keeping it real.”

I yawned. “What can I do for tomorrow?”

“Your winery awaits its liquor license, but the front of the shop will be stocked and ready to go.”

“I’m going to take a nap, and then I’ll finish up the wine shop.”

“You really don’t have to,” Rachel said. “It’s a bit of a soft opening, and we can’t push the wines until we get our license in a couple of weeks.”

“We’ll have good traffic tomorrow, and I don’t want to miss an opportunity to at least show off our wine room if someone is curious.”

“You think we’ll sell that wine?”

“I do. Fat and sugar pair well with wine. You’ll see.”