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

“She
’s still pretty independent,” Jenna said. “And she’s a long way away from being anyone’s wife, but I can see that she’s good for Dan and he’s good for her. He seems less formal and a lot more relaxed and she seems to be more serious and responsible.”

“What does you
r mom think?” Tj wondered.

“Mom hasn’t said anything
, so I’m assuming she hasn’t yet made the connection between Bren’s job as a nanny and her new adult approach to life. I don’t think my mom will have a problem with a relationship between Bren and Dan, if it comes to that, but sometimes Mom can be unpredictable. I figure I’ll keep my suspicions to myself for now and see how things work out.”

“It went well tonight,” Jenna commented to Kyle after he’d called an end to rehearsal and the parents had taken their little darlings home.

“It d
oes seem like things are starting to come together,” Kyle agreed. “Frannie came by earlier and worked with some of the kids who have the most lines. I think the extra rehearsal really helped.”

“That was nice of her,” Jenna
said.

Kyle looked at Tj. “She mentioned she was
coming to Thanksgiving at the resort and planned to bring her friend Arnie, but she told me that she was going to ask you if it would be okay to invite Hazel as well. I told her I was sure it would be fine and I’d bring it up to you tonight.”

Hazel
Whipple was the town’s seventy-three-year-old postmistress. “It’s fine. I should have thought of inviting her myself. I also invited my new restaurant manager, Kallie Wilson. I found out she wasn’t going home as planned. So I guess we need to add two more to the list,” Tj informed Jenna.

“Actually
, make it four more. Dennis invited Josh and Captain Brown as well. The two of them volunteered to be on call since neither of them has any family in town, but they figured if they brought the engine out to the resort they could respond from there if they got a call. With all this snow, it seems unlikely there’ll be a fire, but you never know when someone will burn the house down trying to cook a turkey.”

Josh Green was Dennis’
s engine mate and best friend and Captain Brown was the head of the Serenity fire department. Dennis had mentioned that the captain usually spent holidays alone since his parents passed and his sister had been killed in an accident several years back.

“So what is that? Thirty
-two?” Tj asked.

Jenna quickly added up the names on her list. “Looks like.
We’ll need at least four birds if we hope to have leftovers for sandwiches. I have plenty of potatoes and ingredients for stuffing, gravy, and a couple of veggie side dishes.”

“My mom said she’d bring a couple of salads,”
Kyle offered, “and Frannie said she and Hazel would each bring a dessert.”

“Nikki is bringing
an appetizer she’s been dying to try out and Kallie will want to provide something,” Tj added. “She’s a really good cook, so she can probably handle anything you need. If you want to give me a list of who you want to bring what, I can call everyone.”

“It’ll be easier if I just do it. Can you provide the beer, wine, coffee, and soft drinks?” Jenna asked Tj.

“Done. I’ll make a rum punch as well. I know Logan stocked the bar before he left for vacation,” Tj said, referring to the Maggie’s Hideaway bartender. “I’m sure he won’t mind if I pillage his supplies.”

“Perfect. We
’re closing the Antiquery from noon Wednesday until Friday, so I’ll come over on Wednesday and help you set everything up. There are quite a few things I can do the day before, like bake the rolls, make the pies, and chop the veggies.”

“What about Bonnie and her new guy?” Tj asked.
“Aren’t you supposed to spend Wednesday making sure your hubby doesn’t kill his new daddy?”

“Oh
, yeah.” Jenna sighed. “I guess I was blocking that out.”

“I’ll help you on Thursday,” Tj
promised. “We can get everything ready in plenty of time.”

“I can come over early on Thanksgiving
as well,” Kyle offered. “Just let me know if you need me to bring anything other than the salads my mom has already promised.”

“You may need to restrain Jenna and
me, depending on how our initial impressions of our out-of-town guests go, so handcuffs and some strong rope might be a good idea.”

Kyle laughed. “I really hope it doesn’t come to that.”

“I guess it depends on whether this Navy man has designs on my Gracie.”

“I keep tell
ing you it most likely will be fine,” Jenna reminded Tj.

“And y
ou might really like Bonnie’s new guy,” Tj pointed out.

“
Honestly, I hope I do. And I hope Dennis likes him even more. Bonnie has always had a level head on her shoulders, so maybe she really did meet the perfect guy.”

“By the way
. . .” Tj turned to Kyle and lowered her voice. The girls were playing on the stage, out of earshot. “Ashley wants a computer for Christmas and Gracie wants a doll with curly brown hair, brown eyes, and a red dress.”

Kyle smiled. “I have the perfect computer in mind for Ashley. She
’ll love it. And it comes in colors too. I seem to remember her having a fondness for purple.”

“Yeah
, she does like purple. But I can’t spend a fortune on Christmas gifts, so look for a deal.”

“Don’t worry. I have connections. I can get an awesome computer for less than a cheap one in a retail store.”

“And the doll?”

Kyle
grinned. “Just leave it up to Santa Kyle.”

“He’s late.” Tj squeezed Hunter’s hand as they waited for Jordan Tanner to make an appearance at Hunter’s office. They had talked about it and decided it might be a good idea to talk to the man privately before they took him out to the resort and introduced him to the family.

“He’s only fifteen minutes late,” Hunter
said. “His plane could have been delayed, and with the snow we’ve had the past few days, the roads are probably icy. He’ll be here.”

Tj actually hoped he didn’t show. Ever. But she didn’t say as much. She’d gone through every possible scenario in her head dozens of times
, and any way you sliced it, the man posed a threat to all she held dear. Yes, he was in the armed services, and that was a noble calling. And yes, it was easy to see how a night of passion could lead to the unknown birth of a child. And everyone who knew of Jordan Tanner’s existence had assured her on multiple occasions that the man most likely had only the purest of intentions. But Tj didn’t want Gracie to have a biological father who might come to love her and want to spend time with her. As selfish as it might be, she didn’t want to share her baby sister with anyone. Did that make her a bad person? Maybe it did, but all Tj knew was that the mere thought of someone taking her place in Gracie’s life filled her with a terror she didn’t have any idea how to deal with.

“And everything seemed okay when you spoke to him on the phone yesterday?”
Tj asked for the tenth time.

“Everything seemed fine,” Hunter assured her. “He was very polite and seemed appreciative that we were going out of our way to accommodate his schedule. He reiterated that he would be shipping out after the first of the year
, and he didn’t say anything that led me to believe his intentions were anything other than what he’s already stated. He simply wants to meet his daughter and satisfy himself that she’s in a good place. It sounded like he’d already checked you out and was happy about what he’d learned.”

“He checked me out?” Tj tried for just the right amount of outrage.

“You had Kyle check him out,” Hunter pointed out.

“I know.” Tj got up and began pacing back and forth across
the office. “I can’t remember the last time I was this nervous. What if he turns out to be a creep? What if he really is after custody of Gracie? Or money? He probably wants money.”

“
It is very unlikely that the man wants money. The problem is that you’ve had months to imagine every possible outcome to this meeting and you’ve let your imagination run amok,” Hunter said. “What’s going to happen is going to happen. We’ll deal with whatever presents itself. You need to relax. It seems like you’re needlessly making yourself nuts.”

“Needlessly? This man has the power to take Gracie from me. What do you know? You don’t have any kids.”

Hunter got up and walked around the desk, then put his arms around Tj and pulled her tight against his chest. Tj initially tried to fight him but then gave way to the comfort Hunter’s arms had always provided. She listened to his heartbeat count away the seconds as they waited for destiny to arrive. After only a few minutes there was a knock on the door.

“Ready
?” Hunter smiled at her.

“
As ready as I’ll ever be.”

Tj had seen photos of Captain Tanner
, enough photos to determine that based on physical similarities, he was most likely Gracie’s biological father. She thought she was prepared to meet the man who so closely resembled the sister she loved. She’d certainly pictured this moment dozens of times. But in spite of her daydreams, she was
not
prepared for the commanding presence of the tall, muscular naval officer who had the darkest brown eyes she had ever seen.

“
Captain Tanner,” Hunter greeted as he opened the door.

“Dr. Hanson,”
the man returned.

“
Please call me Hunter.”

The man turned to Tj after shaking Hunter
’s hand. “Ms. Jensen.” He held out his hand to Tj and smiled as he waited for her to reply.

“Captain,” Tj croaked
out.

“Call me Jordan
.” He smiled again. “Both of you.” Then he focused all of his attention on Tj. “I’ve been looking forward to meeting you. I’ve heard such wonderful things about you.”

Tj felt her heart pound in her chest
as she realized that the dimple on the side of his mouth had the same effect on her heart as Gracie’s dimple when she grinned. Tj tried to rein in her emotions. If she wasn’t careful, she was going to agree to anything the smooth-talking Navy man asked for, which was something she most definitely did
not
want to do.

“Why don’t we all take a seat,” Hunter suggested as he took Tj’s hand and led her to the conference table on the other end of his large office. “Have you been back in port long?”
he inquired politely after everyone was seated.

“A few days. I needed to take care of a few things so that I
’d be free to spend the entire month at Paradise Lake. As I indicated when we spoke on the phone, I’m hoping to get to know my daughter as well as I can before I leave on my next tour.”

Tj knew she should say something at this point
, but other than pleading with the man not to take her sister away from her, her mind had gone blank.

“
Before we take you out to the resort to meet the family, we thought we should discuss a few things,” Hunter continued.

“I think that
’s a good idea.”

Hunter looked at Tj
, who replied with a look of panic.

“First of all,
” Hunter began on Tj’s behalf, “given the circumstances, we’d like to introduce you as a friend of the family. Gracie had a tough time after her mother died. She’s finally settled into a comfortable routine in which she feels safe and secure. We don’t want to see that threatened.”

Tj held her breath
as she waited for the man to reply. His answer, she figured, would tell her a lot about his true intentions.

“I was going to suggest something similar,” Jordan agreed.
He looked directly at Tj. “I’ll only be here for a month. It’s not my intention to disrupt all of the good things you’ve done for Gracie. When I got the letter informing me that I might be a father, I panicked. I’m at sea the majority of my time. Many men in my position find a way to have families, but I’m not married and have no plans to change that anytime soon. There’s no way I can raise a child. I want to assure you that I was very relieved to hear that you were willing to continue on as Gracie’s guardian.”

Tj signed in relief. “I
’m very happy to hear that.”

“I realize we both have only the word of your mother’s friend that I even
am
Gracie’s biological father. I’m willing to take a paternity test if you’d like.”

Tj looked at Hunter. They’d talked about having a formal test done
when the captain arrived. He looked like Gracie, but she realized that many men had brown hair and brown eyes, though not everyone had the little girl’s dimple.

“I think that for now we
’re fine with introducing you as a friend of the family,” Tj answered. “As long as you’re content in the role of a friend, I don’t think testing will be necessary just yet.”

“Very well.”