Christmas In Paradise (Tj Jensen Paradise Lake Mysteries Book 4) (14 page)

“While I agree that Jordan and Gracie
bear a resemblance to each other, there are a lot of people with similar features who aren’t related,” Hunter pointed out. “Maybe we really should do genetic testing just to be sure.”

“Yeah, maybe
.” Tj glanced at the sleigh in front of them, where Jordan was sitting on the backseat with Ashley and Gracie. They were all laughing about whatever it was they were talking about. Whether Jordan and Gracie were related or not, he did seem to fit in with the family, and he didn’t have anyone of his own. He wasn’t asking for anything, so Tj still wasn’t inclined to rock the boat. “Is there a way we can do the testing without Jordan knowing about it?” Tj asked.

“I suppose there are ways to get the samples you need without revealing your intent
ion, but I wouldn’t recommend going that route. Jordan has been straight with us, so I think we should be straight with him.”

“
You’re right. I guess I need some time to think about it.”

Hunter shrugged. “If you decide you want to pursue testing let me know and I’ll take care of the details.
By the way, I received the official autopsy report for Bob King. It turns out the cause of death was a blow to the side of the head. He also had a black eye, which would indicate that he fought with his killer.”

“So Bonnie is off the hook,” Tj realized.
“She would never try to duke it out with a man.”

“Not entirely. Bonnie confessed
to killing him in a fit of rage, and Boggs is buying it for now.”

“That’s ridiculous.”

“Maybe, but Boggs wants to believe Bonnie is guilty because it’s easier, and I doubt Bonnie will back off on her confession until she’s sure Dennis is in the clear.”

Tj laid her head on Hunter
’s shoulder as she tried to figure out what to do next. The answer didn’t appear to be an easy one, and she didn’t want thoughts of the man to mar the perfection of the afternoon, so she closed her eyes and tried to think happier thoughts. Being with Hunter again for the holidays had brought back so many wonderful memories. They’d been so close before the breakup. When they’d been in high school they’d been inseparable, and during the first years in college they’d spent every minute together during their trips home during school breaks.

And then, Tj remembered, Hunter had given in to pressure from his mom and her fairy tale had ended
.

“Somethi
ng on your mind?” Hunter asked.

“I was thinking of
the first time we went tree cutting together. We had just started dating and I invited you to go with us. You made some comment about your mom ordering your tree from a decorator and it really hit me how different our upbringings were. Maybe I should have realized right then that things between us would never work out.”

“
What makes you think they’ll never work out?” Hunter asked.

Tj just looked at
him.

“Okay, I’ll admit we hit a bump
, but that doesn’t mean we can’t still have our happily ever after. We do seem to be drawn to each other, and we have a lot of wonderful memories to build on.”

Tj smiled. “Like
when we were freshmen in college. We both came home about this time of year and went tree cutting together, just the two of us.”

Hunter grinned
. “That has to be one of my favorite memories. I still have that blanket. I keep it on the foot of my bed.”

Tj blushed
, remembering what they had done on the blanket. “I’m glad you decided to come with us this year. It’s been a long time since we’ve done this together.”

“Maybe this will mark the restart of an annual tradition,” Hunter
said.

Tj lifted her head from
his shoulder and looked at his profile. “However things work out, I really do hope we continue to be in each other’s lives until we end up in those rockers on the porch.”

Hunter smiled. “Yeah, me too.
Right now, how about we team up to find a tree Jake will love?”

“You got it.” Tj called Echo
, who jumped down out of the sleigh. She walked over to where the others were unloading. “Ash, Gracie, do you want to come with Uncle Hunter and me to find the trees for your room?”

“I want Uncle Jordan to help me,” Gracie responded.

Tj tried not to be hurt that Gracie didn’t want to team up with her, but even she had to admit that Jordan had been doting on the girls while she had been busier than usual lately.

“How about we all look around together?” Jordan offered.

Tj shrugged. “Yeah, okay. There are some nice white firs up on the hill.” She turned to look at Hunter. “Grab an ax.”

Hunter picked out an ax
while Tj and Jordan made sure the girls were bundled up warmly for their trek through the snow.

“Do you do this every year?” Jordan asked once they
’d started their hike.

“Every year,” Tj confirmed.

“Are these trees really all that much better than the ones for sale in town?”

“Not at all
; the tree lot in Serenity has a crew that cuts fresh trees they sell within a few days. But hiking up the mountain, finding the perfect tree, carting it down the hill to the sleighs while trying to regain the feeling in your fingers and toes is all part of the fun. Tree cutting isn’t about getting a tree as much as it is about creating a memory.”

Jordan smiled. “I like that. It’s been so long since I’ve even had a tree. This will be a nice memory to take with me when I leave.”

After the small group had selected a huge tree for Hunter’s house and small ones for each of the girls’ rooms, they decided to carry what they had back down the hill and check in with the others. Mike had been successful in finding a tree for the lobby, but Doc, Bookman, and Ben were still looking. Rosalie gave the girls hot cocoa while Hunter and Jordan loaded the trees.

“Aren’t you getting a tree for your room?” Ashley asked Tj.

“If we have time I might look around a bit.”

“Can Uncle Jordan watch me and Gracie so we can sled down that hill over there? I really don’t want to hike on the hill anymore.”

Tj glanced at Jordan.

“Fine by me,”
he said.

“You want to come help me?” Tj turned to Hunter.

“I’d be delighted.”

Tj, Hunter, and Echo set back up the hill. This time they headed toward a different grove of trees.

“I can’t feel my toes, but this is fun,” Hunter commented. “And Echo seems to be having a good time.”

Tj watched her dog as he chased a squirrel up a tree. “
He loves to have the chance to spend the day in the snow. He gets hot with all that thick black fur.”

“Are you looking for a tall tree?” Hunter asked.

“Tall and slim. I think a silver tip would work well. I have a high ceiling in my room, but there’s so much furniture in there, I don’t have enough floor space for a tree that’s wide and bushy.”

“It looks like we aren’t the only one
s with the idea of searching this particular grove.” Hunter nodded toward a set of footprints in the snow.

“Footprints
.” Tj gasped as she experienced a feeling of déjà vu. “Of course; why haven’t I thought of that before?”

“I feel like I missed the preview
.” Hunter stopped walking and looked at her.

“There were footprints in the snow when I tripped over
Bob King’s body. A single set that had already been covered by snow to a degree but were still discernible.”

“And
. . . ?” Hunter prompted.

“They were huge. There
’s no way they belonged to Bonnie.”

“But they could have belonged to Dennis,” Hunter reminded her.

“Yeah, that’s true. I seem to remember a waffle-type pattern that’s most often found in men’s work or hiking boots. Part of me thinks I should call Roy and tell him what I remembered, but another part doesn’t want to be responsible for landing Dennis back in jail so close to Christmas. The sheriff doesn’t
really
believe Bonnie did it, so he’s fine allowing her to be out on bail, but Dennis might be another story altogether.”

“I guess if he asks
. . .” Hunter left the thought unfinished.

“Yeah, i
f he asks I’ll tell him; otherwise I’ll leave it alone for now. Although . . .”

“Although
?” Hunter prompted.

Tj closed her eyes as she tried to picture the scene the night she found
Bob King buried in the snow. “There was only one set of footprints,” she realized. “Bob must have been killed somewhere else and then carried to the spot where I tripped over him.”

“Why would someone go to all the trouble
of moving the body?” Hunter asked.

“I don’t know
, but I have a feeling the answer to that question could point us to the killer.”

Later that evening, after the all the trees had been decorated, the pizza consumed, the baths given, and the sisters tucked into bed, Tj sat alone in front of the crackling fire. It wasn’t really all that late, but everyone was tired, so Jordan had retired to his cabin and her dad and grandfather had gone to their respective rooms. Cuervo was curled up in Tj’s lap, purring loudly as she scratched him behind the ears and Echo was snoring from his bed near the fire.

The tree really did look beautiful. Fifteen feet of colored lights
accentuated hundreds of colorful bulbs and handcrafted ornaments that had been collected by the Jensen family since before she was born. Every year Tj was treated to a walk down memory lane as she hung the special pieces that had belonged to her grandmother and other loved ones no longer with them, and every year Tj argued with her dad that they really didn’t need to hang every lopsided ornament she’d made for him when she was a child.

Now Tj had Ashley and Gracie to contribute their own handmade pieces to the collection. Jordan had decided to decorate the tree in his cabin
, and Ashley and Gracie had both pitched in to create dough ornaments, paper chains, and hand-painted ornaments. Tj could see how touched he was by their efforts. She thought about Hunter’s offer to have the paternity test done. It would answer once and for all whether Jordan was actually Gracie’s father, but as she watched him with the girls, she asked herself if it really mattered.

Tj took a sip of her wine as she thought about the future. She wondered how things would progress if Jordan really was Gracie’s biological father. Would he change his mind about wanting custody of the child he had every right to, or would he continue to honor his promise to leave things as they were?
What about when Gracie got older; did they owe it to her to tell her the truth? And how would that affect both Gracie and Ashley?

Echo must have sensed her distress because he got up from his napping place and wandered over to the couch. He sat down in front of her and placed a paw on her lap. Tj smiled at the
big dog who always seemed to know when she was in need of comfort.

“So what should I do?” Tj asked the dog
, who tilted his head as he appeared to be trying to understand.

Echo leaned forward and placed his head in Tj’s lap
, much to Cuervo’s annoyance. Tj scratched him behind the ears as she tried to figure out the next move in her continuously complicated life. The more she thought about it, the more certain she was that tracking down thefaceles
s
A
who had sent Jordan the letter was an important thing to do. Jordan had no way of knowing how vastly unlikely it was that her mother had known his real name.

On the other hand
, as much as it made no sense to her that her mother had known who Jordan was and not hit him up for money, it also made no sense that some random person would figure everything out and then inform Jordan of his probable state of parenthood after all this time.

Maybe someone who knew both Jordan and her mom had seen them together in the bar
, and after Gracie was born this unidentified person had realized that she must belong to him. But who would have seen them who would have known who both of them were? The bartender? Another patron? Tj was willing to bet that her mom frequented the bar fairly regularly, and if Jordan was leaving from port the next morning, it made sense that the bar was near the port.

Of course
, after her mother divorced the man she’d been married to when Gracie was conceived she’d moved from the area, so if the person in the know was someone like the bartender, they most likely wouldn’t have kept in touch.

There was one thing for sure
: the mystery behind the letter seemed to become more and more complicated as she considered the possible explanations.

“Ready for bed?”
she asked Echo.

He
thumped his tail without lifting his head.

Cuervo yawned and stretched out his front leg
s when Tj pushed him off her lap. He gave her a dirty look for disturbing him as she got up from the sofa to begin turning off the lights. Tj supposed that however Jordan came into her life, she was grateful for his presence. He’d been a huge help with the girls, and he seemed to have a calming effect on both Helen and Bonnie as well. Maybe one day he would leave the sea behind and settle down with a family of his own.