“That and the view sold me on the place. I wanted it the minute I saw it.” She chose a bottle of red from a glass rack, set it and a corkscrew on the counter. “Why don’t you open this while I get a vase?”

She opened a door, scanned shelves and selected a tall, cobalt vase. He opened the wine while she trimmed the stems under running water in the central island’s sink.

“I’m glad you called. This is a much nicer way to spend the evening than working on my doctorate.”

“You’re working on your doctorate?”

“Nearly there.” She held up one hand, fingers crossed. “I put it off way too long, so I’m making up time. Red-wine glasses,” she told him, “second shelf in the cupboard to the right of the sink. Mmm, I love the way these roses look against the blue. How did work go today?”

“Fine. We had a big group down from Canada, another in from Arizona, along with some students. Crowded day. Yesterday even more. I barely had time to get over to the base and check after they had the trouble.”

“Trouble?” She looked up from her arranging.

“I guess you wouldn’t have heard. Somebody got into the ready room over there yesterday—or sometime during the night—tore the place up.”

“Who’d do such a stupid thing?”

“Well, odds are it was Dolly Brakeman. She’s a local girl who had a... a relationship with the jumper who was killed last summer. She had his baby back in the spring.”

“Oh, God, I know her mother. We’re friends. Irene works at the school. She’s one of our cooks.”

He’d known that, Lucas realized, known Irene worked in the school’s kitchen. “Look, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said anything about Dolly.”

“Irene’s one thing, Dolly’s another—and believe me, I know that very well.” Ella stabbed a trimmed stem into the vase. “That girl’s put Irene through hell. In any case, what happened to the father of Dolly’s baby—that’s tragic for her, but why would she want to vandalize the base?”

“You know Dolly used to be a cook there, and they hired her back on?”

“I knew she’d worked there. I haven’t talked to Irene since I went by to take a baby gift. I knew she and Leo went out to... Bozeman, I think it was—to bring her and the baby home—so I’ve been hanging back a little, giving them all time to settle in. I didn’t realize Dolly had gone back to work at the base.”

“They gave her a chance. You know? She went off after Jim’s accident. Before she did, she went after Rowan.”

“Your daughter? Irene never mentioned... Well, there’s a lot she doesn’t mention about Dolly. Why?”

“Ro was Jim’s partner on that jump. It doesn’t make any sense, but that’s how Dolly reacted. And she hadn’t been back at base but a handful of days when Ro walked in on her splashing pig’s blood all over Ro’s room.”

“For God’s sake.”

When she planted fisted hands on her hips, Lucas dubbed it her hardline principal look.

He liked it.

“I haven’t heard anything about this.” Those deep green eyes flashed as she poured wine. “I’ll have to call Irene tomorrow, see if she needs... anything. I know Dolly’s troublesome, to put it mildly, but Irene really believed the baby, getting Dolly to go to church, taking her back in the house, would settle her down. Obviously not.”

Full of sympathy now, and a touch of worry, her eyes met his. “How’s your daughter dealing with it?”

“Ro? She deals. They’ve been working on repairs and manufacturing since, and must’ve gotten enough done to take some calls. A four-man jump yesterday, basically an in-and-out.”

“That’s good. Maybe they’ll have time to catch their breath.”

“Not much chance of that. The siren went off about four-thirty today.”

“Rowan’s out on a fire? Now? I didn’t hear about that, either. I haven’t had the news on all day. Lucas, you must be worried.”

“No more than usual. It’s part of the deal.”

“Now I’m even more glad you called.”

“And got you upset and worried about Irene.”

“I’m glad I know what’s going on with her. I can’t help if I don’t know.” She reached out, laid a hand over his. “Why don’t you take your wine and the bottle out on the deck? I’ll be right out.”

He went out wide glass doors to the deck that offered views of the mountains, the endless sky—and her yard that struck him—again—like something out of a magazine.

A squared-off area covered by the colorful, springy mulch he’d seen in playgrounds held a play area for her grandkids. Swings, ladders, bars, seesaws, even a little playhouse with a pint-sized umbrella table and chairs.

He found it as cheerful as the house—and it told him she’d made a home here not just for herself, but for her family to enjoy.

And still, her flowers stole the show.

He recognized roses—he knew that much—but the rest, to his eyes, created fairyland rivers and pools of color and shape all linked together with narrow stone paths. Little nooks afforded space for benches, an arbor covered with a trailing vine, a small, bubbling copper fountain.

While he watched, a Western meadowlark darted to the wide bowl of a bird feeder to help himself to dinner.

Lucas turned when she came out with a tray.

“Ella, this is amazing. I’ve never seen anything like it outside the movies.”

Her dimples winked in cheeks pinked up with pleasure. “My pride and joy, and maybe just a little bit of an obsession. The people who owned the house before were keen gardeners, so I had a wonderful foundation. With some changes, some additions and a whole lot of work, I’ve made it my own.”

She set the tray on a table between two bright blue deck chairs.

“I thought you said no fuss.” He looked at the fancy appetizers arranged on the tray.

“I’ll have to confess my secret vice. I love to fuss.” She picked up her wine. “I hope you don’t mind.”

“My mother didn’t raise a fool.”

She sat, angling toward him while her wind chimes picked up the tune of the summer breeze. The meadowlark sang for his supper.