A Perfect Bride For Christmas (42 page)

But no one had given him a choice, so here he

was, driving along I-35, sixty miles north of Wichita, his dread ratcheting up with every click of the odometer.

He looked forward to seeing his mother and his

brothers, Alex and Clint, but the memories he left behind were still too raw. The last two trips to Kansas City had been for funerals, his father’s this past July, and his best friend’s in January.

His friend, Burke, was looking out for Heath’s

security firm during his absence, so at least he didn’t have to worry about that. No, it wasn’t concern over his company that had Heath’s stomach tied in a knot the size of Texas. It was the news he’d received nearly two weeks ago.

Heath, we have a sister.

Just like Alex to come right out with it, no

softening the blow.

Dad conceived a child with another woman.

When he was in Viet Nam.

Translated: the father Heath grew up believing

could move mountains, could part the sea, would be the one person he could always trust, the one he learned his values from, was a cheating liar.

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Alicia Dean

Loyalty schmoyalty.

What really pissed him off was that his mother

seemed okay with it. Well, maybe not okay, but

accepting, forgiving. She actually wanted to meet this woman, this mascot of betrayal.

He’d done a background check on his
sister
, Keeley Jacobs, and he didn’t mind admitting he’d hoped to dig up some dirt. His quest had been

unsuccessful. She was either on the up and up or good enough not to get caught.

He tilted a Pez dispenser to his lips and tapped a couple of candies into his mouth. Out the

windshield ahead, a few snowflakes fell. It hadn’t snowed at home in Oklahoma City yet, but it looked like there was a good chance they’d have a white Christmas in Kansas City, something he used to

enjoy and hope for. Now he could care less. He just wanted it to be over.

The radio was dialed to a country station, the

volume low, but Heath still heard the start of “Blue Christmas” and punched the power button to Off. He might have suffered through the song in spite of his uncharacteristic Grinch-ness had it been the version by Elvis. This one was by the Chipmunks, and their squeaky voices grated on his already frayed nerves.

His cell phone rang, and he checked the display, managing a smile as he answered. “Hey, Jesse,

what’s up?”

Jesse was a childhood friend who’d grown up

with the King brothers. She was more of a sister than some stranger could ever be.

“Just checking on you,” Jesse said. “How’s the

trip going?”

“The usual, long and uneventful, just enjoying

the spectacular scenery.”

She laughed. “Yeah, the plains of Kansas are

breathtaking. What do you have planned for

tomorrow night?”

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A Knight Before Christmas

Heath’s only plan for the entire visit was to get through each excruciating moment as painlessly as possible. “Nothing yet.”

“Great. Wasn’t sure if you knew yet, but they’re holding a dedication ceremony tomorrow night to honor Rudy Morgan. I knew you’d want to be there.”

Did you now? Well, what would you think if I
said it’s the last place I wanted to be?
The last place and the first, actually, which he had to admit, was pretty fucked up.

“Heath, you there?”

“Yeah. I’m here. Thanks for letting me know.”

“So you’ll go?”

“I’ll try.”

“I’m sure Nicolette would love to see you.”

And there it was. Nicolette. The person he both dreaded and desired to see more than anyone else in the world. His best friend’s widow. The woman

Heath had been in love with since college.

He tried not to reveal his turmoil as he said,

“Yeah. It’d be great to see her.”

“I’ll let you go so you can get your attention back to your driving. See you when you get here.”

He flipped his phone closed and turned the radio back on. He felt marginally better after Jesse’s call.

Not because of the news she’d delivered, not by a long shot, but somehow, just hearing the voice of his childhood pal brought a small measure of peace.

Now that the call had ended, though, the peace

filtered away like smoke in a wind gust. The only thing left was silence. Unwelcome silence. Too much temptation to let his thoughts roam...to Nicolette and to the new sister he hadn’t known about and didn’t want.

The DJ finally played an Elvis Christmas song,

but it was “I’ll be Home for Christmas” and again, Heath shut off the radio.

He’d be home for Christmas all right, but
home
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Alicia Dean

would never be the same again.

****

scanning the street. She couldn’t see the car now, but it had been behind her when she pulled into the neighborhood. The dark blue Crown Victoria had

shadowed her, off and on, for nearly a year.

The car didn’t belong to her blackmailer. For

one, his calls hadn’t started until August, four months ago. Besides, as long as she did as he asked, as long as she made the payments on time, he had no reason to follow her.

No. The occasional tail she’d glimpsed had to be the police. They wanted to monitor her activities and see if they could gather enough evidence to file charges. Even though they hadn’t bothered her

much since their initial questioning almost a year ago, she was still the prime suspect in her husband’s murder.

The thought seemed like such an abomination,

especially here, at Louisa’s home where Rudy had grown up. Memories of Rudy were everywhere in

this house. Rudy as a smiling infant. Rudy in a peewee football uniform. Rudy graduating from high school. Rudy and Nicolette on their wedding day, faces smiling with an assurance that their life together would be perfect, that nothing could touch them. Boy, what naïve fools they’d been.

Leaving her post at the window, Nicolette

retrieved the watering can from the utility room.

After filling the can, she made her way through the house, watering plant after plant until she worked her way into the living room where Louisa sat glued to the TV screen.

Nicolette’s heart warmed at the sight of the

sweet old lady. Louisa was still lovely, even though the ravages of severe osteoporosis had taken a toll.

The disease had engraved deep wrinkles in her once 4

A Knight Before Christmas

flawless skin and caused her stately bearing to bow until she nearly doubled over. Most of Louisa’s waking hours were spent in a wheelchair.

Louisa still had a sparkle in her eye, still had a zest for life, in spite of her condition and the fact that she’d lost her only child less than a year ago.

Which brought up a question Nicolette hadn’t really thought about before. Was Louisa still considered her mother-in-law, when the connection, the tie that bound them, the son, was no longer living?

All that mattered was what they felt in their

hearts, and Louisa loved Nicolette as much as

Nicolette loved her. They would always be family.

However, being around Louisa was bittersweet, not only because of losing Rudy, but it reminded

Nicolette of the other things she didn’t have.

Her own mother died when she was a teen. She

hadn’t seen her father since she’d gone off to college.

She had no idea if he even lived in the same town. At the time, she’d wanted to forget about everything that happened, forget about the hell her family went through. Now she would give anything to have her family again, even if her father was all that was left of it. Nicolette smiled, infusing her voice with mock irritation. “If you had any more plants, your house could be declared a rainforest.”

Louisa spoke without pulling her attention away from the episode of Dr. Lawrence, a talk show

host/psychologist who Louisa watched religiously.

“Since you kill a few of them a week, I thought I should keep back-ups on hand.”

Nicolette laughed. Unfortunately, Louisa was

right. A green thumb was not one of Nicolette’s attributes.

“Be right back with your dinner,” Nicolette said.

After returning the can to the utility room, she went into the kitchen where beef stew simmered in 5

Alicia Dean

the crockpot. She dished up a bowl and a slice of the cornbread she’d made from a
Jiffy
mix. In the living room, Louisa still watched her television show.

“That Doctor Lawrence is one smart cookie,”

Louisa said proudly. “They can’t pull the wool over his eyes, no siree.”

“That’s for sure,” Nicolette agreed automatically.

Louisa’s worshipful attitude toward Saint

Doctor Lawrence was the same every time she

watched him, although the clichés changed a bit from day to day. Sometimes it was, “you have to get up pretty early in the morning to fool Dr. Lawrence,”

or “that Dr. Lawrence is sharp as a tack,” or “Dr.

Lawrence cuts right to the chase, doesn’t he?”

Nicolette placed Louisa’s meal on the tray in

front of her. Reaching an aged, spotted hand out, Louisa patted Nicolette’s arm. “Thank you. It looks delicious, but you do too much. You’re a godsend, my dear.”

Nicolette bent and kissed Louisa’s cheek,

smelling Jean Naté on her cool, dry skin. “So are you.”

As Nicolette headed back into the kitchen to

clean up the mess, the phone rang.

“Would you get that, dear?” Louisa called.

The caller ID wasn’t a familiar number; the

name read ‘private.’ It sent a chill through her. The private calls she’d received lately had been less than pleasant. But, this was Louisa’s phone, so therefore safe. “Hello?” Nicolette bent to stick a bowl into the dishwasher as she spoke.

“Next payment’s due Friday.”

Nicolette’s hand stilled. She swallowed back the fear that rose to her throat.

The voice was the same robotic,

indistinguishable monotone, but in spite of its vapidity, her stomach lurched and her heart shot 6

A Knight Before Christmas

into overdrive. “How did you get this number?” she hissed into the receiver, casting a glance at Louisa, who was thankfully glued adoringly to her hero.

“You mean, how did I get the number for your

mother-in-law, Louisa Jane Morgan, age sixty-three, address seven forty-two Willow Creek?”

Nicolette’s insides quivered as the voice droned the stats on Louisa. She wouldn’t have been

surprised if he’d quoted her bra size. The fear that had her in its grip for the past three months

magnified. Not only was she in danger, Louisa was, too. Poor, frail, loving Louisa. The bastard better not lay a finger on her, but what Nicolette would do about it she had no idea. Obviously, if she could have stopped his sick game, she’d have done so with that first phone call seven months after Rudy’s death.

“You said ten thousand a month,” Nicolette said quietly. “I gave you a payment two weeks ago. When is this going to end? I can’t keep doing this. I’m not a millionaire.”

“I’ll let you know when you’ve paid enough.

Until then, you’d be wise to do as I say. You don’t want the people you love to suffer, do you?”

Nicolette gave a grim smile. Joke was on him.

Since Rudy died, she had very few people in her life she loved. Right off hand, the only one who came to mind was Louisa.

“I’ll have your money,” she told the stranger.

“Yes. I’m sure you will.”

“Nicolette, sweetie,” Louisa called from the

living room. “Who is it?”

“Just a telemarketer,” Nicolette answered,

hoping her voice didn’t convey her fear.

“Tell them we’re not interested and come back in here. Doctor Lawrence is about to give this cheating bastard the what-for.”

“I have to go,” she said into the phone.

“Tell her I said hello.” A creepy chuckle issued 7

Alicia Dean

from the receiver. “Hope you don’t force me to tell her myself.”

Nicolette slammed the handset on the base and

drew in deep breaths, trying to calm her nerves before Louisa saw her. The woman was shrewd.

She’d know something was wrong.

Not for the first time, Nicolette wondered if she should go to the police about the blackmailer. There were a few problems with that, though. For one, the guy had told her—more than once—that if she went to the cops, he’d kill her, or someone close to her. For another, the charity Rudy founded, Renewed Hope, would suffer, probably fold altogether. The purpose of the charity was to help drug addicts get clean and give them a new start. If the contributors learned the founder himself was a drug user, donations

would dry up. Once the police knew about Rudy’s drug use, there was no way Nicolette could keep it from the public, and then her whole purpose for caving to the blackmail would be defeated.

There were also a few very good reasons to tell the police. One, maybe they could protect her and Louisa. Maybe they could find the guy and stop him.

Two, if she told the cops her husband had been

involved in drugs, they might investigate that angle.

They might think Rudy’s suspicious death was drug related. They might stop suspecting Nicolette of murdering him. But then again, maybe not. If

Rudy’s murder had nothing to do with drugs, then all she would accomplish by revealing his drug use would be to destroy a lot of lives.

“You shouldn’t waste your time on those people,”

Louisa said. “You’re about to miss the best part.”

Louisa loved it when Dr. Lawrence ripped

cheaters a new one. Her own husband had been a

cheater, and Louisa was extremely proud Rudy

hadn’t turned out like his father. She was proud of his faithfulness as a husband, his giving nature, his 8

A Knight Before Christmas

service to the community, and his devotion as a son.

Nicolette agreed her deceased husband had all