Sealed With a Kiss (16 page)

“I want lots of colors. Can we have two of
each?”

Rachel calculated how many decorations were
hanging on each row, multiplied it by the number of columns, and
decided they’d need at least two of everything. “You start down one
end, and I’ll go down the other. Tank can be our stacker.”

Tank leaned forward. “You know I’m a
bodyguard, don’t you? I’m not your personal shopper.”

Rachel patted his cheek. “Think of it as
multi-tasking. If I have to stay in John’s home, then I’m going to
make it look as though it’s Christmas. There isn’t one decoration
anywhere.”

“Now we’ve got lots,” Rachel said proudly.
“These decorations are so pretty. Dad won’t know what to say.”

Rachel had a feeling that would be the case
regardless of what they bought. So rather than buy one or two token
decorations, she was going the whole way. The house would be so
bright and shiny that John wouldn’t be able to find fault with
anything.

“This is going to cost you a fortune,” Tank
said as he took another two decorations out of Bella’s hands.

“Walmart never breaks the bank, and
everything’s half price. You can’t go wrong.”

Tank muttered something under his breath as
Rachel loaded her decorations into the cart. She looked at the
number of decorations, then back at the cart. “We need more room.
I’ll go and get another cart while you fill this one.”

“You aren’t going anywhere on your own. If
you’re heading to the front of the store, we’re all going.”

“Isn’t that a little extreme? John’s not here
now. I won’t tell him if you don’t.”

“I need to go with you.”

“But it’s such a short distance away. The
longer it takes for us to talk about it, the sooner I could have
been back here.”

Tank turned the cart around and waited for
Bella and Rachel to walk with him. “Like I said. All for one and
one for all.”

Bella danced beside Tank. “I know who said
that. The Three Musketeers.”

He looked down at her and smiled. “You know
your stories.”

“I love books. Dad says that I’m going to
turn into a bookworm one day.”

A loud noise erupted from the front of the
store. Before Rachel could look over the aisles to see what was
going on, Tank grabbed their hands and started running toward the
back of the store.

“Keep your heads down and follow me.”

“What about our decorations?” Bella wailed.
“Someone might take them.”

“Wait here.” Tank crouched behind an aisle
and scanned the store. Twenty feet away, an exit signed glowed on
the wall.

Rachel glanced over her shoulder and tried to
see what was going on. There was a whole lot of raised voices and
banging still coming from the front of the store.

Tank pulled her and Bella down beside him.
“Keep low and stay here.”

“Wait. I think I heard someone laugh,” Rachel
whispered to Tank. “People don’t laugh when it’s something
serious.”

“People don’t make noises like guns are being
fired, either.”

“Shouldn’t we at least see what’s going on?”
Rachel slid further down the aisle, trying to see if anyone else
was hiding.

Tank growled low in his throat. “We leave now
and ask questions later.”

“Excuse me? Can I help you?”

Rachel spun on her knees and saw a pair of
black sneakers behind Tank. Above the sneakers was a pair of khaki
colored trousers and a Walmart shirt. “Caitlin? What are you doing
here?”

“Hi, Rachel. I still work at Walmart when
Tess doesn’t need me at the café. It helps pay for college. What
are you doing on the floor?”

Tank pulled Caitlin’s hand until she was
sitting beside them. “I heard a gun. We’re getting out of
here.”

“It wasn’t a gun,” Catlin explained. “The
mall had a competition to see who could pop the most balloons in
two minutes. They held the final round outside Walmart.”

“They were balloons?” Tank looked almost as
surprised as Rachel.

Caitlin nodded. “Made in America for
Americans. Walmart is the main sponsor of the competition.”

Tank frowned at Rachel as if this was her
fault.

She pushed her hair out of her eyes and stood
up. “I guess we can keep shopping.”

Caitlin looked between Tank and Rachel.
“What’s going on? Do I need to tell the store manager
something?”

Bella jumped in the air like a jack-in-a-box.
“Tank’s making sure we’re safe. Do you have any angels for the top
of our Christmas tree?”

“Sure. Follow me.”

Tank rolled to his feet almost as fast as
Bella had. He grabbed hold of Rachel’s hand and pulled her along
the aisle behind Caitlin and Bella.

Rachel looked down the aisles they passed.
“What about our cart?”

“I’m more interested in where Bella’s going,”
Tank growled.

Rachel tried tugging her fingers out of his
hand. “In case you haven’t noticed, there’s a big sale on. If we
leave our cart in the aisle, someone will take what’s in it.”

“It’s not like you’ve chosen one-off
decorations. They’re made in China for Pete’s sake. There are
thousands of exactly the same decorations everywhere.”

Caitlin stopped at a display of Christmas
angels. “Here you go. These are half price as well.”

Tank looked unimpressed with the display.

Caitlin put on her most professional face and
smiled at Tank. “It’s true that most of our decorations are made in
China. But Walmart guarantees the quality of all its products.
There’s something for everyone in our stores.”

“Like glow-in-the-dark Santas,” Rachel said
with a grin aimed straight at Tank.

Tank chose to keep quiet.

Rachel studied the display. There were angels
in all sorts of shapes and sizes. Some were made from glass, others
were made from plastic with lights flickering in their bases.

Bella pointed to an angel with big, glittery
wings and a red dress. “That’s the one.” She looked up at Tank and
smiled. “It will look pretty on our tree.”

Tank took the angel off the display. “Are you
sure?”

“I’m sure,” Bella said with a firm nod of her
head. “Thank you for coming with us, Tank. This is the best
Christmas ever.”

Tank, the man most unlikely to be swayed by
feminine attention, practically melted on the spot. He cleared his
throat and patted Bella on the head. “I’m glad you’re happy. Now
let’s go and find our cart and get out of here.”

Rachel didn’t need to be told twice. She
walked quickly across the store and found their cart sitting
forlornly in the middle of an aisle. “We’re lucky it’s so close to
Christmas. Most people have got their decorations by now.”

“We’re late bloomers,” Bella said
proudly.

Tank froze. “Who told you about late
bloomers?”

“Mrs. Daniels. Poppy’s getting a training bra
for Christmas. When I asked Mrs. Daniels when I’d be getting a bra,
she said I’m a late bloomer. We all get there in the end, but
sometimes it just takes a little longer.”

“That’s too much information,” Tank muttered
as he pushed their cart toward a checkout counter.

Rachel took hold of Bella’s hand and smiled
at the blush on Tank’s face. “Mrs. Daniels is a wise woman.”

***

John opened the front door and stared at the
entranceway.

“Surprise!” Bella shouted from the staircase.
“Do you like what we’ve done, dad?”

John’s mouth dropped open and his mind went
blank. He hadn’t seen so much tinsel in one place in years. Six
years.

“Your dad’s blown away by how beautiful it
is, aren’t you, John?” Rachel looked down from the top of the
ladder she was standing on.

“What do you think you’re doing?”

Rachel stuck another piece of tape on the
ornament that was hanging below his chandelier. “We’re bringing the
Christmas spirit indoors.”

Bella ran down the stairs and hugged her dad.
“Isn’t it great? We went to Walmart and bought a whole cart of
decorations. Tank thought someone was shooting at us and we found a
blow-up Santa. We weren’t going to bring it home, but Tank thought
it was too good a bargain not to buy it.”

Bella was looking at him expectantly, waiting
for him to say something that made sense. “Someone shot at you?” He
was struggling to keep his voice level.

“No.” Rachel wobbled on the ladder and he
reached out to steady it. “Thanks. There were no guns. It was a
balloon popping competition.”

“And you thought it was a gun?”

Bella took a decoration out of the box on the
hall table. “Tank thought it was a gun. We had to crouch on the
ground and look for a safe way out of the store. Do you want to see
our Christmas tree?”

John wiped his hand across his eyes. “You’ve
got a tree?”

Tank stuck his head around the edge of the
doorframe. “Sorry, boss. There was no stopping them.”

Rachel sent Tank a withering glare. “Did you,
or did you not, have a good time buying the Christmas
decorations?”

“I did once I had Santa in my truck.”

Bella grabbed hold of her dad’s hand and
pulled him into the living room. “We haven’t put the Christmas
angel on the top. We were waiting for you.”

John stood in the middle of the room and
looked at the Christmas tree. It was loaded with decorations in all
sorts of colors, shapes, and sizes. Tinsel glittered from the
branches and sparkling fairy lights flashed slowly through the
tree.

Once he’d gotten used to the tree, he let his
gaze wander around the rest of the room. A huge blow-up Santa and a
reindeer sat in a corner of the room, glowing from some kind of
light inside them. The coffee table had been decorated with a red
tablecloth, pinecones, and candles. And to bring the whole
nightmare together was some Christmas music, wafting through the
room on his sound system.

He didn’t know what to say.

Rachel was looking at him, prompting his
sluggish brain into saying something that was so far from the truth
that it wasn’t funny. Up until this Christmas, he’d managed to keep
their celebrations to a minimum. They’d unpack a small artificial
tree, drive into town to see the Christmas parade, and go to church
with Patty and her husband on Christmas Eve.

This year he’d been thrown head-first into
the festive season, whether he wanted to be there or not.

Bella handed him a red and gold Christmas
angel. “She’s really pretty. Can you reach the top of the
tree?”

“Wait there.” Rachel darted out of the room
and came back carrying the ladder she’d been standing on. “This
should work.”

Her smile was supposed to be encouraging,
only he couldn’t see any reason to be part of what they’d created.
Until he looked at Bella. Her eyes were full of excitement and
wonder and so many other things he’d forgotten. He felt like a
cold-hearted fool.

Tank opened the ladder. “You okay?”

John nodded. He had to be. Bella was looking
at him as if this was the most natural thing in the world for him
to do. But it wasn’t, not by a long shot.

The smile on Rachel’s face disappeared. She
watched him closely, wisely choosing not to say anything.

Bella followed every step he took on the
ladder. “Higher, dad. The angel needs to be at the top of the
tree.”

He took another step, then slipped the tie at
the back of the angel around the tree. “Is that all right?”

“Perfect.” Bella sighed. “I’m going to get
some Christmas cookies. We could have them with a big glass of
milk.”

John was grateful that Tank went with Bella.
He needed a few minutes to pull himself together and get over the
shock of seeing so much tinsel.

“What’s wrong?” Rachel asked as soon as Bella
was out of the room.

“I don’t do Christmas, not like this.” He
climbed down the ladder and sat on the sofa. Everything looked so
shiny and new.

“I thought Tank was exaggerating.”

“Tank never exaggerates.” He listened to
Bella chatting to Tank, the sound of her laughter as she got her
cookies ready for them.

Rachel sat beside him. “Why don’t you like
Christmas?”

He kept his gaze focused on the fireplace.
Red and orange flames leaped in the air. “Jacinta died a week
before Christmas. We buried her on Christmas Eve. Bella was hurt in
the car accident and had to miss her mom’s funeral.”

“I’m sorry.”

“You didn’t know. I try to make it a good day
for Bella, but something inside of me refuses to forget what
happened. It took me three days to get back from Afghanistan after
the accident. Jacinta’s parents had been looking after Bella in the
hospital. They wanted me to leave her with them.”

“For how long?”

“Permanently.” He could still hear Jacinta’s
parents arguing with him, trying to convince him that Bella was
better off with them. The cold logic of why they would make better
parents made sense. He’d been overseas for most of the first two
years of Bella’s life. He’d known nothing about looking after a
toddler, and even less about being a dad.

When he left the military he had no job, a
home that he was a stranger in, and a daughter who kept asking for
her mommy. He’d barely managed to survive the first six months of
life without Jacinta. But life had gone on. Jacinta’s parents had
given up waiting for him to fail and he’d realized that being a dad
wasn’t as hard as he thought it would be.

John looked across the room at the big,
blow-up Santa. “I think your reindeer and Santa are supposed to be
outside.”

“We didn’t want to scare you.”

The smile in Rachel’s voice cut through the
memories inside his head. “It must have cost you a fortune for all
of these decorations. I’ll give you the money for them.”

“No you won’t. We shopped at Walmart and
everything was half price.”

Tank walked into the room carrying a tray
with four mugs on it. “Remind me to swap with Tanner next time
Rachel wants to go shopping.”