What Happens at Christmas…

by Yvonne Lindsay

  “I must go,” she said, simply.

  He said nothing, just reached for a clean fluffy towel and handed it to her. They dried themselves in silence, and Kristin pulled on the clothes she’d worn the night before. When they were both dressed, they went downstairs and Kristin reached for the handbag she’d left near the entrance.

  “I’ll see you home,” Jackson said as they both stood there looking at each other as if unsure what to say.

  “I can call a ride,” Kristin said, shaking her head.

  “I said, I’ll see you home,” he said in a tone that brooked no argument.

  Was he angry at her? At himself, maybe? Kristin couldn’t tell, but he certainly didn’t look happy.

  “Fine. Thanks.”

  She felt uncomfortable as they headed to where he kept his car. The journey to her apartment continued in silence. Was this how things were to be going forward? She wasn’t sure she could do this again if that was the case. Then she cast a look at him as he drove with concentrated attention on the road ahead and knew that if he so much as beckoned a finger she’d go running to him.

  They pulled up outside her building and she started to get out the car, but Jackson put out a hand and stopped her.

  “This wasn’t how I imagined things,” he said gruffly.

  “What? The sex?” she asked bluntly.

  “We both know that was way more than sex.”

  She slumped in her seat and studied his face. He was a man in turmoil, she could see it in his eyes and the tight lines that now bracketed his mouth.

  “It’s okay, Jackson,” she said carefully. “We both knew what we were getting into. We don’t have to continue if you—”

  “Oh, I want to, and that’s more than half the problem.”

  “How so?” His answer intrigued her.

  “Because I meant it when I said I’m not looking for emotional entanglement. I’m all out in that department. The tank is empty. I loved Annie and, being totally honest here, I don’t believe I have it in me to love someone like that again. It wouldn’t be fair to you not to make that utterly clear.”

  “I don’t recall making any declarations in the last several hours, do you?” she said, unable to keep the bitterness out of her voice.

  “I know, but Kristin, the sex, as you so succinctly put it, was so much more than that. I don’t want to hurt you.”

  Again. The word, unsaid, hung in the air between them.

  “You have no worries on that score. My heart is quite safe,” Kristin lied. “Thanks for the ride and thanks for last night.”

  And then, gathering up her bag and all the dignity she had left, she got out of the car and walked into her building, fighting the nearly overwhelming urge to look back. It wouldn’t change anything. It wouldn’t soothe the pain that had settled in the vicinity of her heart. And, most importantly, it wouldn’t change his mind.

  Fifteen

  Jack sat at his desk on Monday morning and stared at the paperwork marked High Priority, which had come through in his email. The DNA results submitted by the claimant in the Richmond family issue had been compared to the DNA taken from the Richmond children a year ago. There was a match, but, at the same time, there was another development that required him to speak with the family as soon as possible.

  He called Kristin.

  “Can you, Logan and Keaton meet with me at ten this morning? A meeting room in your office will be fine.”

  “Good morning to you, too,” Kristin said crisply. “Why, yes, thank you, I had a lovely weekend. And you?”

  Jackson closed his eyes and took a deep breath. “I’m sorry, yes, I did. Thank you for asking.”

  He’d spent several hours on Christmas Day with Ben, who’d been unusually out of sorts for the time of year. Normally he was bursting with exuberance on Christmas Day, but he’d been quieter than normal and prone to physical outbursts of frustration, and Jack had been forced to curtail his time with his stepson. They were the type of outbursts that had pushed Annie to put him into residential care in the first place, and were both a danger to him and potentially whoever was looking after him at the time. Worried about his stepson, Jack had thrown himself into work and yesterday had been spent reviewing client files while he tried to rid himself of the memory of slaking his lust on the one woman in the universe he should never have touched intimately ever again.

  Making love to Kristin had been foolish in the extreme. Sure, being with her had felt right, not just physically, but on every other level, too. And he wanted to be more than just friends. He wanted to be the person who soothed her at the end of a tough day, the person who surprised her with breakfast in bed on the weekend. The person who helped make everything right with her world. But if he did that, wasn’t he being disrespectful to Annie’s memory? He didn’t know who he’d been kidding when he’d thought he could revisit their passion without emotional attachment. Whether he’d wanted to or not, he’d been emotionally invested in each and every touch, and the memory of what they’d shared in the bathroom and between his sheets had haunted him from the moment she’d walked away from his car on Christmas morning.

  She, quite clearly, had experienced no such issue. He didn’t know if that was a relief or yet another frustration to add to the complication that had become his life. He drew in a deep breath and let it go slowly. He’d opt for relief. He didn’t need complications, not with his responsibilities to Ben. Ben’s carers had made it clear that he did not cope well with change and for Jackson to introduce a woman into Ben’s life would create an overwhelming shift in his carefully constructed sphere. He knew he wasn’t ready—and would likely never be able—to commit to another woman even if he wanted to. He wondered how long their friends-with-benefits arrangement could last.

  “Look, I’m sorry I was abrupt,” he continued. “I received some news this morning, and I want to inform you all at the same time.”

  “Relating to the claimant?” Kristin asked, all teasing gone from her voice.

  “Yes. Are your brothers in the office?”

  “They are. Hold on a moment while I message them. Ten, you said?”

  “Yes,” he affirmed.

  He could hear her fingers flying over the keyboard of her computer and then two distinct pings as her brothers’ answers obviously came back.

  “We are confirmed. I’ll book a meeting room now. Do you want me to see if Fletcher, Mathias and Lisa can also attend?”

  “Yes, it would be best but their attendance is not as critical.”

  “I’m intrigued, Jack. Is there anything you can tell me now?”

  “It’s to do with the DNA matching and it changes everything, in a good way. I’ll call Hector and your mom.”

  “I believe they’re busy finalizing everything for the wedding on Friday evening. I hope they can make it.”

  “It won’t take up too much of their time.”

  They ended their call. Jackson called Hector, asking that he and Nancy join by video link with the others to save time. He caught a cab to the Richmond Tower and was surprised to see Kristin waiting for him at reception when he came out of the elevator.

  “The others are already there,” she said briskly. “Follow me.”

  Jackson looked at her as he walked closely behind. There hadn’t been a single personal look or contact between them, and while that was exactly what he’d stipulated, he found he wasn’t so keen on the idea in practice. Where was the warm, giving, loving woman he’d found solace with all through Friday night and Saturday morning? In her place was a sharp businesswoman with no time for pleasantries or even so much as a greeting.

  He shook his head. He needed to let it go. This was what he’d wanted. No need to muddy the waters and complicate things now. Even so, as he walked behind her and studied the line of her back and the way her dress fitted her body so perfectly, he couldn’t help feeling a sexu
al tug. He was so captured by his feelings he didn’t notice she’d stopped at a door. He almost barreled straight into her. She gave him a quizzical look.

  “Everything okay, Jack?” she asked with one eyebrow quirked.

  “Fine. Everything’s fine. Let’s get this show on the road.”

  He entered the meeting room and greeted the family members assembled there. On the big screen he spied Nancy and Hector along with Lisa and Mathias. Fletcher, it transpired, was away on a short break in the Blue Ridge Mountains. A part of Jack envied the man his respite from the complications of business and everyday living.

  “Thank you for agreeing to meet at such short notice,” he said to everyone.

  “We’re intrigued by the urgency. Is there any new information about the person claiming to be our new sibling? I assume this has to do with the deadline getting closer,” Mathias said onscreen.

  “It does, and in particular with the DNA report they submitted and the comparison to the information held from the time Logan returned to the family. We managed to expedite the results, and—” Jackson took in a deep breath and looked at each family member in turn before letting his gaze settle on Kristin. “There’s a match.”

  The room went completely silent, then erupted in a series of questions and expressions of anger. Nancy had gone completely white.

  Jackson asked for silence. “If you could let me continue. There is a match but it’s not the kind of match you would expect between siblings.”

  “Jackson, please, stop beating around the bush,” Logan said. “We need a straight answer. What kind of match is it?”

  “Well, it’s a one hundred percent match to one of you—Kristin, in fact.”

  All eyes turned to Kristin, who looked shocked.

  “Hey,” she said, putting her hands up in a gesture of surrender. “I didn’t instigate this, I promise. I have more than my fair share, and I certainly am not after anything more.”

  Keaton turned his gaze to Jackson. “So the claim is fraudulent?”

  “I believe so. Somehow, someone has accessed material with Kristin’s DNA. We’ve appealed to the lab that supplied the claimant’s report for exactly what material was used to extract the DNA information. They’re not under obligation to tell us but I did suggest that the police will become involved in this matter shortly and that if they could cooperate with us that would be beneficial.” On cue, his phone pinged on the table in front of him. “Ah, let me check, that may be what we’re waiting for.”

  Jackson lifted his phone and scanned the incoming message. The contents surprised him. He looked up.

  “Well?” Keaton demanded. “Is it the information you were waiting for?”

  “Yes, it is. Apparently the material supplied by the claimant was, oddly, leg hair.”

  “Leg hair?” Nancy said in shock. “But how?”

  Kristin’s brow was furrowed but cleared as something obviously came to her mind.

  “What is it, Kristin?” Jackson asked.

  “The cosmetologist who does my legs at my regular day spa is new and was asking all sorts of questions about me at my last visit when I went for waxing. She seemed to know a lot already, but no more than what made the papers when Logan came back to us last year. Do you think it might be her?”

  “I’ll get our investigator to look into it straight away. Do you have her details?”

  “Yes, I have her card in my handbag in my office. Do you want me to go and get it?”

  “In a moment, I can come with you. Now, does anyone else have any other questions?”

  Nancy cleared her throat. “So, she definitely isn’t one of Douglas’s children?”

  “It is certainly looking that way,” Jackson said.

  “What will become of her?”

  “If we can establish she is behind the claim and the implied blackmail, we will hand the matter over to the police together with all our findings and correspondence.”

  “So that’s that? The matter is over?” Nancy pressed.

  “Yes, I believe so. For you as a family, at least. For the person involved, their troubles are just beginning.”

  The older woman sighed and looked at Hector in relief. “I was so scared,” she said. “It was hard enough learning about Eleanor, but others? It makes a woman begin to doubt her own sanity.”

  “There’s nothing wrong with your sanity, my dear,” Hector hastened to assure her. “The only person whose sanity is in question is Douglas’s and he’s no longer here to defend his behavior.”

  “Well, it looks as if we can relax now,” Nancy said with a grin that showed just how much lighter she felt in spirit now that the threat of more bad publicity had been averted. “And you will all be at the rehearsal dinner on Thursday, right?”

  Everyone gave their assent and closed their video links or filed out of the room, with the exception of Kristin, who shut the door behind Logan as he left, and turned to face Jackson. Before he could say anything, she crossed the distance between them, took his face in hers and kissed him thoroughly before letting him go just as abruptly.

  Desire instantly flared inside him and despite everything he’d told himself to do with remaining emotionally distant, there was a part of him that had craved exactly this from Kristin. A part of him that wanted more and that urged him to take a risk on letting love grow between them again. Who are you kidding, that pesky voice said insolently at the back of his mind. You know you want to. Just do it. He clamped down on the thought before he did something stupid, like grab Kristin in his arms and tell her how he really felt.

  “I needed that,” she said. “Spending most of the weekend with my family has left me desperate for some benefits. How about my place, tonight? I can even serve you dinner if you like.”

  Jackson forced his lips into a smile. “You’ve learned to cook?”

  “I can reheat a dinner as well as the next person. Seriously, though, there’s a Vietnamese place nearby that delivers, and they do the most delicious food. Shall we say seven?”

  “Sure, works for me.”

  She chewed her lip a moment, as if she were debating what she would say next.

  “Thanks for what you’ve done for us, Jack. We all really appreciate it. You dealt with this entire issue very professionally, and you’ve saved us from a great deal of trouble and angst. Especially Mom.”

  “Only doing my job,” he said, but he couldn’t help feeling a kernel of pride flicker to life at her praise. “It was important to me to prove to you that you could trust me, Kristin. I know you had valid reasons for doubting me and whether I’d be a good fit professionally for your family. I hope I’ve managed to allay those concerns.”

  She looked at him in complete silence for several seconds. Had he gone too far saying what he had? Would she forever remain suspicious of his reliability?

  “Jack, just to make it clear. I wouldn’t have slept with you again if I didn’t trust you.”

  He inclined his head in acknowledgement, the sense of relief that swamped him almost robbing him of speech. He shouldn’t feel this way, he told himself. It shouldn’t be this important to him, but it was, and hearing the words from her mouth gave him a sense of well-being he hadn’t realized he’d been missing for a very long time.

  Kristin opened the door.

  “I’d better get back to work. I’ve got a lot to get through before taking Mom for her final fitting. Which reminds me, have you been fitted for your suit for the wedding?”

  “I have. I pick it up on Thursday.”

  “Good, I’d hate anything to mar Mom and Hector’s special day.”

  “I hear you’ve done an incredible job helping your mom pull it all together so quickly.”

  “I love her. I’d do anything for her to make sure she’s happy. She’s had a really hard time this past year, losing Dad and then discovering what a piece of work he
was. This latest business took a toll on her. She may not have shown it to everyone, but I know it rocked her. She deserves so much better than that.”

  “You all do.”

  Her lips tweaked into a half smile. “Thanks. See you tonight, then. I’ll leave your name with the concierge, so you’ll be able to come straight up to my apartment.”

  Jackson watched as she left the room and wondered at the wisdom of availing himself of the benefits she promised so soon after their last entanglement. It could get to be a habit. It could lead to more complications. While she’d been matter-of-fact about the request to join her tonight, he hadn’t been oblivious to the anticipation that had shone in her eyes. Did it mean she was hoping for more than he was prepared to offer? And, even more importantly, was he ready to offer more now, too?

  Sixteen

  It was New Year’s Eve. Kristin checked the floral displays one last time before returning upstairs to her mom’s bedroom to finish getting ready for the wedding. Guests had begun to arrive and take their seats in the ballroom that overlooked the water. She’d thought Nancy would be a bundle of nerves tonight, but instead she was a picture of joy and serenity.

  “Mom,” she said as she rejoined her mother. “I can’t believe how calm you are about all this.”

  “What’s to be nervous about? I’m marrying a man who thinks the sun rises and sets with me. A man whom I love more than life itself. I’m thrilled we’re embarking on a new life together. We’ve both known much joy and sorrow over the years, and we know that we can deal with anything together.”

  Kristin felt tears spring to her eyes at her mom’s heartfelt words. She wished that for herself, too, with her whole heart. So as not to alert her mom to her near overwhelming emotional reaction, she turned to her extract Nancy’s cream silk gown with its gold lace overlay and matching long-line gold jacket from its garment bag.

  From the moment she’d seen Nancy in the set, she’d known it was perfect for her. It was a far cry from the neat navy blue suit her mom had worn for her registry office marriage to Douglas Richmond all those years ago. Kristin also took the shoebox from the wardrobe that held the matching gold pumps her mom would wear tonight.