Murder, Mayhem, Monsters, and Mistletoe

by Lindy Spencer

Sabrina smiled the moment she saw Gaela and her daughter, Ava, sitting at a window table in the Voodoo Beanery, and laughed when she heard Ava's excited squeal. It was early in the lunch hour, so the shop wasn't too busy and Ava had plenty of room to run to greet her favorite aunt.

  Gaela watched as, with a delighted laugh, Sabrina scooped Ava up into her arms and kissed her niece's cheek loudly.

  "There's my girl," Sabrina said happily, wrapping her arms around Ava's little body and hugging her tightly.

  Gaela smiled at the scene, but had to wonder if she was the only one who noticed the underlying sadness that seemed to have settled over Sabrina. Something wasn't right. Gaela could tell without even talking to her sister-in-law. She waited until they were once more settled before leaning forward to ask in a low voice, "What has my idiot of a brother done?"

  Sabrina looked up from her menu in surprise. "What are talking about?" She asked, once more studying the menu, though she knew what the coffee shop offered and what she would end up ordering, "Roman hasn't done anything."

  "Sabrina," Gaela said in a gentle tone as she reached across the table to take the menu out of the other woman's hands, "Look at me."

  Reluctantly, Sabrina looked up at Gaela, tears already beginning to pool in her eyes. "I don't know what's wrong," she confessed in a choked voice.

  That's all it took. A veritable flood of worry, anxiety, and stress came pouring out and Gaela just sat and allowed Sabrina to get everything off her chest. It took a few minutes, but by the time Jeanie arrived to take their orders, Sabrina's words had wound down and she was covertly drying her tears.

  Gaela waited until Jeanie was out of earshot before asking, "Have you thought about simply asking him if everything is all right?"

  Sabrina nodded as she dabbed the tears from her cheeks, "I have, but every time I want to talk, he's either not home, or too tired."

  Gaela narrowed her eyes. "Hmm," she murmured, taking a sip of her coffee, "He's at the club right now," she mused aloud, "Maybe you should pay him a visit after you eat."

  Sabrina shook her head. "I don't want to bother him," she began but Gaela cut off her words.

  "Do you love Roman or not?" She asked in a direct tone. At Sabrina's startled nod, she continued. "Then you need to fight, Sabrina. Roman is being an idiot and you need to find out why. Curling up and hoping things will get better isn't going to fix things, and might only make things worse."

  Sabrina lowered her eyes and bowed her head. "You're right," she said, "And I know you're right," she continued, "But there's a part of me that's afraid that talking it out with Roman won't fix anything."

  "Sabrina," Gaela said, leaning back as their lunch order was delivered, "Roman loves you, I know he does, but something's going on, and you need to remind him that you need him more than the club does." She paused to squirt catsup on Ava's French fries. "At the very least, you should tell him that you're tired of waiting on his ass and that you're going to get a Christmas tree for the apartment."

  Sabrina nodded as her resolve strengthened. Now was not the time to fall back on her old habit of quietly standing aside and letting the world walk all over her. One of the things Roman had taught her was how to stand up for herself and what she wanted. And what she wanted was to celebrate Christmas with her husband. She wanted to spend Christmas Eve night making love. She wanted to surprise him with the gift of her news the next day. But none of that would happen if she just allowed things to carry on as they had over the last ten days.

  "You're right," she told Gaela, picking up her sandwich, "It's time to make this holiday merry and bright again." At Gaela's laugh, Sabrina grinned and took a bite of her sandwich, suddenly feeling ravenous.

  An hour later, she kissed Ava on the cheek, said goodbye to Gaela, and climbed into a cab.

  Roman eyed the lingerie as he imagined Sabrina wearing it. "The blue," he said pointing at the sapphire blue satin corset with its matching panties and garter belt, "It's the color of her eyes."

  Amanda grinned as she began putting the other pieces away. "Good choice, boss," she said, giving him a wicked little wink. She paused and held up a sheer baby doll nightie in a beautiful shade of peach and eyed it appreciatively before carefully folding it and placing it inside a bag at her feet. Maybe if she put it on layaway, she could buy it for herself after the holidays.

  Roman saw the longing in his secretary's eyes and said as he stood, "When you purchase the blue one for Sabrina, pick something out for yourself, as well."

  There was a beat of shocked silence, then Amanda gave a squeal of delight, and laughing and babbling her thanks at the same time, she threw her arms around Roman's neck and kissed him.

  And wouldn't you know it, Roman would later think ruefully, that was when the office door opened and Sabrina walked in.