A Very Jaguar Christmas (20 page)

“Changed my mind. Get in.” Everett helped him into the car and then shut the door. “Hey, you still there, Demetria?”

“Yeah, you got Paddy?”

“Yeah, taking him to JAG headquarters before I join you. I'll question him on the way over there.”

“Hallelujah. But I'm still waiting to hear what's up with us.”

He smiled. “I love you and I want to marry you—and please say yes.”

She laughed. “I wonder how many women are asked to marry a guy who proposes over the phone while he's drinking at a pub! Oh, great, your mother and half the women here supervising the birthday party just heard. That's the trouble with our hearing.” She moved to a somewhat quieter location, though he could still hear the noisy kids playing in the background.

“Is that a yes? I'm taking you out and doing something really special, or we can do this at home, wherever you prefer, but I wanted to tell you before—”

“Dad told me?”

“Well, yeah, but—”

“You forgot?”

He laughed. “I haven't thought of anything else. I'll be there in a little while.”

“Your mom is frowning at me. Not sure if it's because she's not keen on me marrying you or that you proposed to me over the phone.”

“She loves you like a daughter. It's definitely me proposing to you over the phone.”

She laughed. “I'm not squaring it with your mother. That's your job.”

He chuckled. “She loves me for all my faults.”

“Me too. See you in a little bit. Oh, and great news about the location of the ghost town. Dad told me. I've been looking over the map again and figure it's time to take a trip to the cold north.”

“So do you feel better about your dad?”

“That depends on what you have to tell me when we can really talk privately.”

Everett talked to Paddy all the way from the pub to the headquarters, asking him all kinds of questions to help clarify where he had gotten lost and how he had ended up at the river he didn't know the name of.

Everett had called Demetria back on his car link so she could listen in and ask questions too. With the promise that they would drop all pending charges against Paddy if he would help them, he was giving them even more details.

“All I saw out there was snow on the ground, the roads, trees covered in snow, a river half-frozen, no homes, no people, no towns. It was a real wilderness area.”

Just perfect for Arctic wolves. “But the road you took was passable enough that you could get there, right?”

“Yeah, sure. Not saying that it would be now. Saw on the news a new snowstorm hit there last night.” Paddy leaned back against the seat. “There was a snowmobile rental place and a blue-and-white hotel near the road I took. The rental place caught my eye because I wanted to do some snowmobiling, but I knew my cantankerous wife wouldn't go along with it. She hates the cold, but she doesn't want me to leave her home alone. So I take her and put up with all the bellyaching about how cold she is the whole time.
She
was the last one in the trailer and should have locked the door.”

“You know, all that matters is we get the boy home to his parents,” Demetria said.

“All right! If I think of anything more, I'll let you know.”

At headquarters, Tammy and Howard took over questioning Paddy, while Everett headed to the day care, feeling sure that they would locate Corey's family now. It would take some time to get up there, and it would take time searching for where the wolf pack was staying, but he was certain they'd locate the boy's parents.

When Everett arrived at his mom's day care, everyone was leaving the party. Demetria smiled at him, while a few of the mothers cast him amused looks. Thankfully, no one had commented on the situation between her and Everett, but she was certain they were dying to know what was going to happen.

His mother especially.

Demetria asked Corey to show Everett all the presents he'd gotten. He was eager to do so while Everett cut them both a slice of cake and Mary got a scoop of ice cream to put on top.

“I thought Santa was a wolf at the North Pole,” Corey told Demetria. “But he smelled like a jaguar.”

“Huh. Santa's a wolf, eh?” Everett smiled and looked at his mother.

Mary shrugged. “He was the only one available to fill in for Santa on such short notice.”

“So Santa's a wolf though,” Everett said to Corey.

“Yeah, 'cuz they have Arctic wolves at the North Pole, Mommy said.”

“I see. Makes sense. What did you ask him for Christmas?” Demetria thought they could get him some of the Christmas presents he wanted.

Corey gave him a long list.

Mary laughed. “You just got a ton of presents for your birthday.”

Corey smiled.

Demetria took her paper plate and sat down on the couch, and Everett joined her.

Corey showed Everett one of the puzzles he had gotten for a birthday present—an Arctic wolf family of six adults and four pups standing in the snow, the sun shining on the snow-covered pines.

Everett looked up at his mom. She smiled and nodded. She was so good with kids, thinking about how Corey probably missed his family and would love a wolf puzzle that reminded him of them. “He told me that the wolves pictured on the puzzle weren't his family,” Mary said, smiling, though her eyes were tearful.

Everett set his plate down and gave his mother a hug. “We'll find them,” he promised her.

“Hey, Corey, do you want to go to the zoo now?” Demetria was afraid it was the last fun thing they would do with Corey before they returned him to his family, and she wanted to make his last day here memorable. After that, she and Everett would be driving to Minnesota, a very long drive, and it wouldn't be any kind of a vacation.

“Yeah! And see the caimans!”

“Caimans?” Demetria asked, casting a raised-brow look at Everett.

He smiled at her. It was a guy thing. “Mom, do you want to go with us?”

Mary shook her head. “I'm going to clean up here and get the day care ready for tomorrow.”

“We'll help you with everything,” Demetria said.

“Yeah, Mom, what do you need us to do?”

“Take Corey to the zoo. You need to enjoy this time with him. Straightening up won't take me any time at all. And when you get home from your trip to Minnesota, I want to talk to you, young man, about the art of proposal.”

Everett's ears tinged a bit red, and he laughed. “Uh, yeah. Well, I promised to do it right.”

Demetria loved him and wrapped her arms around him. “You did it just right.” And she kissed him before they bundled up Corey's presents, which helped to clean up the day care substantially before they left.

“After the trip to the zoo, we can go to the mall and shop for Christmas presents for Corey and his family,” Everett said.

“And have dinner there. I need to pick up a few warmer clothes. Do you have cold-weather gear?”

“I'll need a couple of things. As a jaguar, Texas is about as far north as I get. Everything else is south of the border. And we'll get a few things for Corey. I don't think he needs to see the mall Santa,” Everett said, “since he's already seen the one here. Even if he was just a pretend jaguar Santa.”

* * *

When they arrived at the Dallas Zoo, Everett eyed the jungle-print zoo strollers. “Can you walk, buddy, or do you want us to get a stroller for you?”

“I'm too big for a stroller. Mommy said when we were four years old, we wouldn't need one anymore.”

“Can we get one for me?” Demetria asked.

Corey frowned and pointed his finger at her. “You're way too big for one.”

She laughed and said to Everett, “Let's get one, because we'll pick up some things at the gift shop for Corey and his brother and sister, and we can use it to carry the packages if someone doesn't get tired and need the stroller.”

“Good idea,” Everett said, smiling at her.

They saw black-and-white ruffled lemurs, chimpanzees, and spider monkeys swinging from trees. Corey thought they were pretty cool and wished he could do that.

“That's what we see in the jungle when we visit it,” Everett said.

Corey was wide-eyed as he watched the bobcat in the exhibit watch him back. He loved the cheetah and compared its spots to what he recalled of Everett's. He thought the ocelot was just a little kitty cat. “You look more like the tiger, only he has stripes instead of spots,” Corey said. Then he pointed out the lion. “That's the daddy 'cuz he has a mane. And that's the mommy…” He frowned because there were three females lying on rocks nearby. “One of them is the mommy. And the others are…” He shrugged.

“Maybe her sisters,” Demetria said and smiled at Everett.

Corey loved the donkeys, hogs, and meerkats. Corey's mouth hung open as he watched the giraffes stretch their necks to reach baskets of food.

“You haven't ever been to a zoo before?” Demetria asked.

Corey shook his head. “I seen lots of these in a book Mommy showed us. But not the caiman.”

They took him to see the reptiles next, and Corey studied the caiman in the water. “They look like alligators. How big was the one that got away?”

Everett pointed to one that was similar in size. “But I was young, so it might have just looked really big to me.”

“That's big.” Corey spread his arms wide to show how big.

They stopped at the gift shop and bought stuffed animals for Corey and his brother and sister, and Demetria tucked the packages in the stroller. She caught Corey eyeing it. “There's lots of room in there for you too, Corey.”

He looked at Everett as if he thought he needed permission.

“If I were smaller, I'd sure go for a ride,” Everett said.

Corey grinned at him. “You're too big.” Then he looked at Demetria again as if making sure it was all right.

“Hop aboard. Everett will push you. We still need to go to the mall to pick up clothes and gifts, but instead of eating dinner there, did you want to eat at the Serengeti Grill here? They have big glass windows so we can see the lions,” Demetria said.

“Do they have hamburgers?” Corey settled into the stroller, looking so cute.

Demetria laughed. “Yes, and hot dogs and other stuff.”

Everett pushed the stroller. This seemed so natural for him. It would be nice to bring their own kids here someday.

“Sounds good to me,” Everett said.

After eating hamburgers and watching the lions, they started for the gate but had to stop to see more of the elephants. After leaving the zoo, they headed to the mall while Corey slept in the backseat.

“I hope he sleeps like that on the way to Minnesota,” Demetria said as she drove.

“We'll take bathroom, gas, and meal breaks.” Everett had his phone out and was punching in stuff. “Okay, it's about eighteen hours to that area of Minnesota. Figure at least twenty hours to accommodate breaks.”

“If we split up the driving, we could make it without stopping for the night. I drove fifteen hours to Omaha, Nebraska, in the summer to see the wildlife park near there. Well, it wasn't quite that long a drive—wasn't supposed to be, but closed roads, detours, closed lanes, and GPS direction malfunctions added five hours to the trip.”

“Okay, so that's a good point. It could take us even longer to get there. You went by yourself?”

“No, with Mom. But she doesn't like to drive. She wanted to see the buffalo in the drive-through safari park, but I was fascinated with the wolves. We stayed in Omaha, then drove out to the wildlife park after that. We left about four in the morning or earlier.”

“So if we left at four in the morning, we wouldn't get into the Blue Hill area until very early the next morning. And that's not accounting for GPS error or road delays.”

Demetria parked at the mall. “Then we'll plan to stay the night at a hotel around six and finish the drive early the next morning so we can spend the rest of the day searching for their cabins in the wilderness. We only have a few more days left before Christmas.”

“We could just pick up what we want at the mall, pack up our gear, and head out tonight. We could drive until eight.”

“Okay. Let's see how long it takes us to shop and get ready to go.”

“Be sure and pack a bathing suit,” he said.

She frowned at him. “Why?”

“We'll have to stay at a hotel. We'll be tired of driving all day. If we can find one with an indoor pool, we can get a little exercise.”

“We don't have a bathing suit for Corey.”

Everett glanced back at him. He was sound asleep in the car seat. “If we can't find a swimsuit for him at the mall, he can wear his underpants.”

“Maybe we can find some pajama shorts for him. They would be kind of like swimming trunks.”

“Sounds good.”

By the time they'd bought all the things Corey wanted for his family, picked up more warm clothes for the trip, and gone their separate ways to pack, it was nine that night. Too late to drive.

“I'm going to do a load of wash and really sleep,” Demetria said over the phone to Everett as she started her washing machine.

“Don't tell me you're not joining us tonight.” Everett helped Corey into his new fleece shark pajamas.

“Yeah, I know just how
that
would go. Shoot, and we haven't seen my mom yet either.”

“Want to run over there tonight?”

Demetria loved how eager Everett was to please her. “No. You just put Corey to bed, right?”

“Yep.”

“And we need to go to bed early.”

Everett sighed heavily into the phone. “All right. When you wake up in the middle of the night and go to cuddle with me and I'm not there to pull you into my arms and snuggle with you, just remember we had this conversation, and it was
your
choice.”

She laughed. “I love you, Everett. See you really early in the morning.” She finished everything she had to do, packed her car, showered, and went to bed. And watched the clock. That was the problem with knowing she had to get up so early to go. She was afraid she'd sleep late, despite setting the alarm clock.

She tossed. Turned. Tossed. Look at the clock again. She must have fallen asleep for a little while because when she looked at the clock again, it was midnight. If she stayed with Everett tonight, he wouldn't have to take a detour to her place to pick her up in the morning. That would save a little on gas. And time.

She closed her eyes.

But they needed to sleep. And being with him was not conducive to sleep. Yet, damn it, she wasn't sleeping anyway.

She rolled over onto her back and stared up at the ceiling, then closed her eyes. If she was at his place, she wouldn't sleep in. Surely one of them would wake up, and then they'd be all set. What if Everett didn't wake up, and she was waiting for him but he didn't show?

She groaned and got out of bed and stared at the darn clock.
Okay, all right.
She called Everett. “I'm coming over. Don't read any more into it than it'll save us time and gas.”

He laughed. “Sounds like a good plan to me.”

“And so I don't sleep in. One of us will surely wake up when it's time.”

“Agreed.”

“Okay, I'm already on my way. See you in a few minutes.” She was glad Everett was so flexible. But he was right. She really missed snuggling with him. This was becoming a really nice habit, which was a good thing because when they got home, they had some talking to do about living arrangements.

* * *

At four the next morning, they were sleeping soundly when Corey tugged on the comforter.