14 Christmas Spirit

by K. J. Emrick

"I think you're right," she answered him. "I'd better go see how everyone's doing."

  Izzy and JoEllen sat in the chairs on either end of the couch. Darcy's mom sat on the couch itself, holding her arms out to James as he returned and sat next to her. "Darcy!" her mother called to her. "Oh, it's so nice to see you again. Thanks for hosting us, dear, but you didn't mention you had guests. Are you sure there's room?"

  "It was kind of a spur of the moment thing, mom."

  The more time she spent with her mom, the more she saw herself in Eileen's face. It wasn't that the resemblance was getting stronger as Darcy got older. It was more like it had always been there to see, and Darcy was only just now looking for it. Her mother's hair might be completely silver, but the heart shaped face, the eyes, those were things Darcy had definitely inherited from her.

  "I just adore your friends," Eileen told her, sipping at a cup of tea. "Ellen here says she might be staying in town for a while now. And such a wonderful little boy she has."

  "Thank you, Eileen," JoEllen said, honestly happy for the compliment. "I was lucky when Darcy and Jon agreed to let me and Connor stay here for a while."

  "So was I," Izzy said. "My Lilly's found a friend. Those two are becoming inseparable. I hope you're staying around for a while?"

  JoEllen looked to Darcy standing in the doorway. "I'm not sure, to tell you the truth. Darcy and I haven't really discussed it yet."

  "Oh, the more the merrier I say," was Eileen's comment. "What do you think dear?"

  "I think," James said, clinking his glass against her teacup, "that I couldn't agree more. It's Christmas, after all."

  They sat and talked for a few hours, popping corn for the kids to snack on and deciding that none of the grownups were hungry enough to make anything for themselves. Darcy made herself remember to call JoEllen by her new shortened name, Ellen, and steer the conversation away from her as much as possible.

  It was nearly nine o'clock when Darcy heard the door open again and Jon come in. By then, Connor and Lilly were both lying on the living room floor, whispering secrets to each other. Darcy wondered what could be so important in their nine and ten year old world but knew better than to ask. They should have time to be kids. Both of them had experienced horrible things that no child their age should have to live through. They would be able to understand each other in ways that the adults in the room could never do.

  Of course, Darcy thought as she got up to meet Jon in the kitchen, Izzy had been on the run and hiding from her past when Darcy first met her. Maybe she could understand JoEllen's circumstances better than most, too. Maybe they should let Izzy know what was going on for just that very reason. It would be nice to have someone else they could count on while they tried to untangle the thorns of JoEllen's past.

  "Hi," she greeted Jon, putting a world of emotion into that one word. Relief. Warmth. Love.

  "Hi yourself," he said, in much the same tone of voice. His arms felt good as they circled her waist and she settled herself against his chest. "I hope I didn't leave you alone with all these people for too long. Izzy's here too?"

  "She sure is. I wanted to talk about that, actually."

  "Oh? Been thinking we should tell her about JoEllen and why we're trying to help her?"

  Darcy made a small sound and nuzzled her head into his shoulder. "You know me so well. We can trust Izzy. Plus, you should see her daughter playing with JoEllen's son. It's kind of cute."

  "It's nice to find someone special in your life," Jon said.

  "Hmm. I completely agree."

  "You guys," JoEllen said from behind them, "are too sweet, you know that?"

  "Someone told us that once, yes," Darcy answered, staying in Jon's arms but turning so she could see JoEllen. "You heard what we were talking about?"

  "Yup. I don't mind. I like Izzy. I'm thinking there's a lot more to her story than you two have told me so far."

  "There is," Jon said simply.

  "'Kay. I guess that's a talk for another time."

  "When there aren't so many people around," Darcy agreed.

  "I do need to know one thing, though," JoEllen said to them, her voice serious. "Harris Browder. The man who my former employer hired to kill me."

  "What about him?" Jon asked, finally letting go of Darcy, although she would have been perfectly happy to spend the rest of the night in his arms.

  JoEllen sat down at the kitchen table, one leg up on the chair next to her, and spread her hands. "Well, what did he tell you? Do I still need to hide my face from the world? Do I need to run again?"

  Jon sat down across from JoEllen, shaking his head. "I don't think so. Browder is going away for years on charges of attempted murder, assault on a police officer, and a host of other things. You're not likely to see him ever again. At least not before he starts drawing social security."

  JoEllen sniffed, the only emotion she spent on Harris Browder. "That's fine, and all, but what about the guy who hired him? My former employer. You never got around to telling me what he gave you on that guy."

  "Everything," was Jon's reply. "His name, where he lives, how much he paid for the hit on you and what account the money came from. It was enough for the FBI to arrest him on stuff more serious than what I could have thrown at him."

  He looked to Darcy then, still standing over by the counter. "I just heard about it today," he told her. "I was going to share the good news tonight but I wasn't expecting the party when I got home."

  "Izzy came over," Darcy told him, although he already knew that part. "And, my mom showed up early."

  Jon arched his eyebrows. That part he didn't know yet.

  JoEllen's hands were nervously tracing patterns on the top of the kitchen table. "So where does that leave me? If Browder turned on him, and both of them got arrested, didn't they give me up? Are there more warrants being drawn up for me right now?"

  "Uh, no." Jon shook his head. "However, JoEllen Meyers is a person of interest in this. Both the FBI and my department are actively looking for her."

  Darcy smiled to herself. Jon had called it his department. Chief Jon Tinker.

  It had kind of a nice ring to it.

  JoEllen slumped over the table to drop her head in her hands. "Then I'm done. I'll have to pick up and run again. Connor…poor kid. Maybe if we head to the other side of the country, out on the west coast? I don't know."

  Jon looked over his shoulder at Darcy, and smiled at her.

  What was he up to?

  "I don't know what you're so upset about," he said in a suspiciously sweet voice to JoEllen.

  "Serious?" she exploded, sitting back up, hands flying through the air, barely keeping her voice down to a level the others in the living room wouldn't hear. "I'm a wanted person again, Jon!"

  "Well, JoEllen Meyers is a wanted person, sure. But that's nothing new for her." Slipping his hand into the inside pocket of his suitcoat, he took out a thin plastic card and tossed it across the table to her. "But that has nothing to do with Ellen Gless."

  JoEllen picked up the card, and stared at it in disbelief. "Ellen Gless?"

  "That's right," Jon said. "Ellen Gless. That's you, right?"

  Darcy saw what the card was. A driver's license. Obviously in the name of JoEllen's assumed identity. No doubt she had a few false IDs of her own to sell herself as this Ellen Gless, but they would be fakes. Darcy had the feeling this license was the real thing.

  "How did you…?" JoEllen flipped the license around in her hands, holding it up to the lights to examine the security holograms and the magnetic strip.

  "I happen to know the mayor of this town," Jon said with a broad smile. "She knows enough people to call in a few favors. I told her you were essential to this last investigation but that you'd lost your driver's license. Not getting into any of the less, uh, public details, that license is as real as mine. It's a first step in giving you a new identity that you won't have to change in a few months."

  "Jon…" JoEllen breathed. "I don't know what to say."

>   "Don't say anything, Ellen," he told her, making sure to use her new name. "You're not out of the woods yet. We'll tell people that you prefer Ellen, and that will cover you with anyone we've already introduced you to as JoEllen. We'll let Izzy know the whole story and that should help us sell your cover, too. But, there are still warrants of arrest out there that we'll have to take care of. And I doubt this man who wants you dead will stop just because you disappear off the grid. I don't think prison will stop him, either."

  "So, Mister Police Man," she said to Jon. "You're going to help a hired killer. Is that the deal?"

  He shook his head. "I'm helping a friend."

  JoEllen's pale blue eyes grew misty with tears. "Going soft on me, Mister Police Man," she managed, her voice choked up.

  "Don't count on it," Jon told her. "You say you want to change, that you want to give up your old life for the sake of your son. Fine. I'm willing to give you that chance if you really want it. I'll do what I can to undo the arrest warrants, and we'll build up this new identity for you slowly. You'll stay here in Misty Hollow where I can keep an eye on you because if you step out of line I'll be the first one to take you down."

  Then he reached out for Darcy's hand, and his tone softened. "I learned recently what it means to be given a second chance. This is yours, JoEllen. If you want it."

  This time, JoEllen was at a loss for words. She hugged the two of them instead.

  "Darcy," her mother called to her from the living room. "Don't we have a Christmas dinner to plan?"

  She and Jon and JoEllen laughed together and promised to work out the other details later, about how they would create a life for Ellen Gless in Misty Hollow. For now, there was something else Darcy had to do.

  They had a dinner to plan.

  Starting with one special phonecall.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Christmas day dawned amid a cloudy sky and a scattering of snowflakes that drifted lazily on a cold breeze. Smudge spent some time up in the living room windows, watching it all come down, meowing at the snow like he was thinking about chasing each individual flake, chomping them between his teeth, and letting them melt away on his tongue.

  Instead, he jumped down and made his way to the kitchen where the smells of turkey and stuffing and gravy filled the room. There were always bits of food to be had at the holidays. He just had to make his best cute cat face.

  Darcy knew him so well.

  She and Jon sat at one end of the kitchen table. Both of the leaves had been put back in and it was so long now it barely fit the room. They needed the extra seating space. Even with Lilly and Connor eating at a fold-up table in the living room there were a lot of people to feed.

  Grace and Aaron sat on Darcy's left, next to the wall, with baby Addison happily bouncing on Grace's knee. Lilly sat next to JoEllen across from them, laughing at a joke Jon had just told. At the far end, Darcy's mother sat very close to James, spending more time stealing glances at each other than eating.

  Then, next to Jon, sat Audrey Tinker. His mother.

  The phonecall that Jon had dreaded so much had turned into an hour long reunion for the two of them. Things were said that fixed up hurts Jon hadn't even realized he'd been carrying around. Of course she would come for Christmas dinner, Audrey had said. She had been so depressed thinking she would spend one more Christmas alone and now her son was reaching out to her.

  It was the best Christmas present she could get, Darcy heard her say. When she had arrived this morning she hugged Jon tightly and acted like she didn't want to let go. Jon's eyes had found Darcy's, thanking her without words.

  In the middle of dinner, Jon excused himself from the table and asked Darcy to come with him for a moment. To check on the kids, he said.

  He wasn't fooling anyone.

  They did go into the living room and ask Lilly and Connor how they were doing. "Fine," they both chimed in at once, not looking away from the claymation Rudolph special playing on the television. Their food had been picked through, with the cranberries gone from Lilly's plate and the turkey devoured from Connor's, and the rest of it all kind of mixed up together. Darcy suspected there had been a mini food fight taking place in here while the grownups weren't watching.

  Lilly did look away from the television once, to make sure Darcy was wearing the My Little Pony watch. Darcy held out Lilly's gift to her with pride. She kept it for special occasions now. Like this one.

  In the corner of the living room, over by the bookcase, stood a prelit artificial Christmas tree. Jon had taken Darcy to pick it out yesterday, in the midst of a dozen other preparations that she had been trying to get done. The little white bulbs cast a glow off the glass ornaments that had all been carefully placed last night, a group effort involving the kids. It was the first tree Connor had ever decorated, JoEllen told her. The little boy came over to hug his mother after placing the star on the top, declaring this the best Christmas ever.

  Around the middle of the tree, secured to the center support rod on plastic tracks, was a toy train that ran around and around in circles. Darcy had never seen the like of it. When they were picking out which tree they wanted from boxes and boxes of others, the trains had sat next to them on a shelf. Jon had taken one look and declared that they needed one. He had looked like such a little kid holding the train set that Darcy couldn't even begin to argue. The train would now be a part of their Christmas tradition forever. Like a lot of other things.

  After making sure the kids had enough to drink Jon took Darcy by the hand and led her upstairs to their bedroom. Halfway up, Darcy realized where he was taking her.

  "Uh, Jon, we have guests downstairs. Maybe we should wait to, you know…"

  He chuckled. "Don't worry. This is something else."

  Curious now, she followed him into the bedroom. He closed the door, and twirled her into his arms, and kissed her deeply.

  When she could breathe again, she traced his face with one fingertip. "I thought you said this wasn't…that."

  From the dresser, he picked up the slim wrapped package that she had noticed earlier. It was Christmas, and the rule was no peeking, but she had been sorely tempted to do just that when she saw her name on the tag.

  "Merry Christmas," he said to her. "I know we do presents later, but I wanted to give you this one now."

  "Oh, Jon…" She took it from him, and found the tape on the edge, and began pulling the paper away. He'd gotten a lot better at wrapping presents since she'd first met him. Her birthday gift earlier this year had been shaped like a football until she'd gotten the wrapping paper off and realized it was a boxed necklace.

  This wasn't a necklace.

  It was a special edition DVD of Meet Joe Black.

  "To replace the one I broke," Darcy laughed. "That's sweet Jon, thanks."

  "There's something else there," he told her.

  Confused, Darcy looked down at the movie case. Then she turned it over. Behind the movie, still trapped in the wrapping paper, was an eight-by-ten photo of Bard Pitt in character from the movie, sealed inside a plastic display case. Looking closer, Darcy's mouth dropped open. It was signed by Pitt and Hopkins.

  "Where on Earth did you find this?" she exclaimed.

  "Took me a few hours. And the expedited shipping cost a bit more, but I figured you couldn't be without your favorite movie—"

  She cut off the rest of what he was going to say with a warm, full kiss that more than matched the heat from the one he had just given her. This was love. The little things, the gestures that meant something so deeply personal.

  This was love.

  "Merry Christmas, Darcy Sweet," he whispered into her ear.

  "Merry Christmas to you, Jon Tinker," she said in return, breathlessly. "I love you."

  -THE END-

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  About the Author

  Strongly influenced by authors like James Patterson, Dick Francis, and Nora Roberts, Kathrine Emrick is an up and coming talent in the writing world. She is a new Kindle author/publisher and brings a variety of experiences and observations to her writing.

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