Home For Christmas

by Patricia Potter

  He was free of that, at least, but in hours he might be back in prison.

  Ryan felt the urgency in her, the same quiet desperation that flowed through him. His body shuddered, reacting, hardening with a need that went far beyond lust or passion. He forced himself to stop, found the small packet in the drawer in the bedside table and slipped it on. Then he entered, deep and throbbing, and he felt her wrap around him, clasping and wanting. Loving He savored and collected every touch, every feeling He took his time, stroking to provide the greatest possible satisfaction but then the rhythm became frenzied and chaotic, and their bodies were reaching beyond familiar feelings, exploding in white hot splendor.

  “I love you,” he said as he relaxed slowly, his body still fused to hers. He hadn’t meant to say the words until he had a right to say them. But they refused to stay inside He was exploding with them.

  He had apparently loved his wife, but he couldn’t imagine ever loving anyone as much as he loved Julie.

  Her fingers twined themselves in the dark hair that formed an arrow on his lower chest. Then she leaned over and gave him a kiss so long and sweet and lingering that his whole body seemed to sing with exquisite pleasure. Then his hands went up and down her body, memonzmg every curve, the satiny feel of her skin, the scent of her. The thought of losing her was agonizing.

  They lay there together as minutes ticked by. Love was thick in the air. And so was apprehension.

  They finally dressed and went into the other room and waited. Julie, made the call to Lewis on her cellular phone. He was at the station, as directed. Curtly, she gave him directions and hung up. “He took the bait,” she said.

  Quietly, they waited. This time, they were both silent. Soon, they heard the sound of cars and Julie went to the window. She nodded and went to the door, opening it.

  Jerry walked in first, followed by Dan Watters and five police officers.

  Watters looked at Julie “My house?”

  “I couldn’t think of a safer place.”

  Watters then looked at Ryan, his gaze long and searching. “You’d better be right,” he said, his comment directed toward Julie.

  A man with Watters installed a listening device in each room, then all of them fanned out. Two headed for a storage shed where they would put the listening equipment, two drove the cars away, the others found posts in the surrounding woods where they could watch the front and back doors Dan hesitated at the door, looked at them both, and seemed to want to say something Instead he turned and disappeared with the others.

  Ryan watched Julie, saw the distress on her face. Although Watters hadn’t said anything, his silence had been condemnation Watters had been her friend He was learning what that meant.

  “I’m sorry,” he said, then added wryly, “I wish I didn’t have to keep saying that.”

  She looked at him and put a finger to his mouth. “You don’t have to say it”

  “It seems I do,” he said simply, and sat down. The next few moments would be the hardest in his short life.

  At exactly 400 pm., they heard another car. Once more, Julie looked out. Ryan went to stand next to her. A tall, gray-headed man stepped out, and a second man stepped out but stood near the door as the first approached.

  “That’s Lewis,” Julie said. They both waited until Lewis reached the door and knocked. Julie answered it.

  Lewis stepped in and waited for them to close the door. “Murphy,” he said.

  “Sandy,” Ryan acknowledged.

  “So you do remember.”

  “Yes,” Ryan said curtly. “You bastard.”

  Lewis ignored him and walked around, opening every door and checking every closet before returning to stand in front of Ryan His hands reached out, unbuttoning the shirt and running his hands up and down Ryan’s body, then he did the same with Julie

  Ryan had to restrain himself as Lewis touched her. He kept seeing that letter, realizing that this man was, in part, responsible for almost running his daughter down, for threatening his family. He wanted to put his two hands around the man’s throat. But he could do worse, much worse. He could make sure the man went to prison.

  Finally satisfied but still wary. Lewis stared at Ryan “I want the original of that letter”

  “The money first,” Ryan said

  Lewis placed a briefcase on a table and opened it, displaying packs of bills. “Now the letter ”

  Julie handed him an envelope. Lewis opened and skimmed its contents, then pocketed it His hand then seemed to slide along his waist and suddenly there was a gun in it. He pointed it at Julie. “Did you really think you could blackmail me?” he said. “I don’t leave loose ends ”

  “Loose ends like I was ten years ago,” Ryan replied.

  “You wouldn’t give up on Castilani,” Lewis said.

  “So you ordered Mike to kill me.”

  Lewis gave a short laugh. “He was glad to oblige And it wasn’t hard to convince everyone else that you murdered Mike Cates m cold blood for trying to interfere with your drug business. You were always an arrogant bastard, Murphy, and you had damned few friends in the department. Everyone got a good laugh thinking that, maybe, you didn’t have much cause to be so self-righteous after all.”

  Two days ago, Lewis’s assessment of Ryan’s character would have fueled the fires of his self-doubt. But now it didn’t matter. Inside, where it counted, he’d been a decent human being.

  “Was Banyon working on your orders when he kidnapped Nick Farrell?” Ryan wanted as much information as possible on tape.

  “What difference does that make now?”

  Ryan shrugged his shoulders. “Curious ”

  Lewis smiled coldly “Damn fool messed it up. We didn’t think you would have a gun. Where is it now, by the way?”

  “I threw it away.”

  “You did one smart thing. Now you can stand a little closer to Mrs. Farrell.”

  “How do you plan to explain...?” He couldn’t say the words.

  “That’s easy. I was following a hunch. You see, I’ve suspected for some time now that Mrs. Farrell’s interest in you was of a ..personal nature, shall we say? Women can be such fools I thought she might be harboring you, and so I followed her. And here you are. But you wouldn’t surrender peacefully You fired on me, and I had no choice but to fire back. Too bad Mrs. Farrell was caught in the crossfire.”

  Ryan gave a disgusted snort. “Who will believe you came out here alone?”

  “I’m not alone,” Lewis said smugly “I’ve got my driver who’s a trained officer and this was just a guess. My man will swear to anything I tell him to say. Enough money buys a lot of loyalty.

  “As for why I came rather than send a squad to arrest you—” Lewis shrugged “—well, maybe I got a little over-involved But I think the Chief will understand, considering that you did serve under me. I felt a sort of personal moral duty to put you back behind bars. I’m only disgusted they ever let you out, because I sure as hell thought you would be there for good.” He shook his head “I have to say, though, I didn’t think you’d be this easy to take down Guess prison must have dulled your edge.”

  “Probably,” Ryan admitted as he moved casually away from Julie, drawing the assistant chiefs gaze with him. “Then again, maybe it’s you who’s lost the edge.”

  Lewis looked around suddenly, his expression changing from smug to wary. At that instant, two men barged into the room through the back door, both holding guns Lewis turned and fired at one.

  Ryan dove at Julie, knocking her to the floor and covering her with his body

  The detectives shot back at Lewis as he ran toward the door, jerked it open and raced for his car. Ryan jumped to his feet and followed the detectives who headed out the door after Lewis. Two detectives emerged from the trees to join the fight. For several seconds, the woods echoed with the sound of gunfire until both Lewis and the driver fell. A uniformed officer also lay on the ground

  Julie appeared and stood alongside him as they watched Dan Watters s
toop next to Lewis, then the driver. Another detective used Lewis’s car radio, probably to call an ambulance. Watters and a second man approached Julie and Ryan.

  “Sorry,” Dan said to Julie. “We have to take Murphy in. He’s still wanted and he’s violated his parole in God knows how many ways ”

  Julie started to protest, but Ryan shook his head. “It’s all right,” he said.

  “I’ll have you out before Christmas,” she said.

  He nodded, though he didn’t share her optimism. He’d stolen a gun, shot a detective and become a fugitive. He’d known this would happen Had to happen.

  Ryan stood stoically as he was ordered to put his hands behind him. He felt the grip of metal, heard the metallic click as the cuffs closed around his wrists He remembered the biting feel of cold steel But Julie was safe. Nick was safe. And that was all that mattered.

  Julie waited for Ryan at the door of the jail. It had been eight days since he’d been arrested. Eight days to maneuver through the bureaucracy and paperwork. She’d finally gotten him released on bond. She expected either a pardon—or a reversal of the conviction—within a few months

  The wired conversation might have been enough, but Lewis’s driver, faced with multiple charges including attempted murder, turned state’s evidence and implicated Lewis and Banyon. Lewis himself gave a deathbed confession Ryan had apparently gotten too close to charging Castilani, who’d been paying off Lewis, Banyon and Cates for years. After Ryan’s informant was killed, Castilani had ordered Cates to kill Ryan, and Lewis had positioned himself nearby so he could take control of the investigation and exonerate Cates. When Ryan killed Cates instead, Lewis easily slid into a second plan. framing Ryan Castilani ordered the attack on Laura, and one of his men passed along the message to Ryan in jail.

  Banyon, according to the driver who had passed on orders from Lewis, was responsible for the anonymous calls and the attempt on Ryan’s life. He’d also tapped Ryan’s phone. No other officers had been involved, either ten years before or now....

  Julie checked her watch Four o’clock He should have been released an hour ago, according to Dan

  “Where is he?” Nick asked for the tenth time in less than thirty minutes Nick was beside himself with excitement, had insisted on coming with her. Today was Christmas Eve, and he was getting the best present of all his friend, Ryan.

  The door leading to the jail finally opened, and Ryan emerged. His hair was mussed; he’d been running his fingers through it again. His shirt sleeves were rolled up, and his jacket was slung over his shoulder. He had that five o’ clock shadow that made him look as villainous as any of the desperadoes being brought into the jail.

  Nicholas flung himself at him. Ryan leaned down to pick him up

  “It’s Christmas Eve,” Nick announced.

  “I know,” Ryan said, looking hungrily at Julie. She took his hand while the other continued to hold Nick.

  “Let’s go home,” she said. “We’ll be there just in time for Santa Claus.”

  Nick looked at Ryan. “Do you think...he’ll remember?”

  “I think so,” he said.

  Ryan was silent as they drove through the streets, still busy with last-minute shoppers When they reached the house, Nick pulled him to the tree and showed off all the Christmas gifts lying underneath Ryan’s name was on a number of them.

  She saw the stricken look on his face. She lifted up on her tiptoes and kissed him. “Your freedom is the best present I’ve ever received,” she said softly. “And Nick, too.”

  Ryan looked dubious “I’m a dam poor bargain,” he said. “I don’t have much In fact, I don’t have anything.”

  “Oh, Tim is clamoring to have you back at the garage,” she said. “He was even making noises about maybe retiring and taking you on as a partner.”

  She saw him swallow as if something very thick clogged his throat After a moment, he straightened his shoulders and took her hand. “You wanted to know what Nick wanted for Christmas?”

  She nodded. It was too late to get anything else, but she wanted to know. Nick wouldn’t be too disappointed if he didn’t get everything. Ryan was here, after all, and a Sheltie puppy, now boarding at the home of a very abject Emily, awaited him in the morning. “What?”

  “A father.” He looked into her eyes. “I think that requires a husband.”

  “Yes,” she agreed solemnly.

  He seemed to hold his breath. “Will you? Will you marry me?”

  “Oh yes,” she said and kissed him long and hard.

  “Mommy?”

  She remembered Nick. She turned to him. “You’re getting your wish for Christmas.”

  “I knew it,” he said, dancing around like an inebriated elf. “I knew if I didn’t tell you it would come true.”

  Ryan looked down at him with u kind of wonder. Then he grinned He couldn’t ask for a tiner present.

  “Welcome home, my love,” she said, her hand locked in his Then she looked toward the top of the tree.

  Francesca stared back, then winked

  Epilogue

  The wedding was to take place on a sunny Saturday afternoon in late March.

  In ten minutes, in fact Julie knew she should feel nervous, but she’d never felt so calm in her life She felt such a sense of rightness about this marriage.

  Ryan’s daughter, Laura, looked at Julie critically as she took one last swipe at her hair with the brush. “You look beautiful,” she said in an awestruck voice.

  Her stepdaughter. It was amazing. The two of them had gone shopping together for her wedding dress, and it was Laura who’d found the dress, a light blue silk with short sleeves and a fitted waist and swirling skirt. That shopping trip had deepened their budding relationship; Laura previously had stayed several weekends with her in an effort to get to know her father, her “other” father.

  “I never really believed that anyone looked as if they had stars in their eyes, but now I do,” Laura continued.

  “Do you?” Julie replied. “I really want you to be happy about this ”

  Laura grinned. “I am. I get another whole family ”

  In the beginning, Laura hadn’t been so sure she wanted a new family. Julie still remembered the awkwardness, the guilt so evident on both parts at the first meeting between Ryan and Laura. Thankfully, Laura’s mother had paved the way, explaining to Laura how much her father had sacrificed for the two of them, but having a father—especially one she’d tried to hate for ten years—thrust at her had not been easy.

  Laura had expressed deep guilt that she’d refused to see him earlier, and also that she’d felt so much anger toward him. Ryan, on the other hand, had worried out loud that perhaps he could have handled things better ten years earlier, that he shouldn’t have just blocked both of them out

  Julie knew this Ryan wouldn’t do that. This Ryan was the strongest man she’d ever known—he’d certainly been tempered by events of the past few months—but he also had a tenderness and sensitivity that never ceased to amaze her He demonstrated it with the slow, careful but loving patience he had with Laura. He hadn’t demanded or expected love but had offered friendship instead and taken care to treat his daughter as an adult, just as he treated Nick as a person who just happened to be small. After Laura’s initial hesitation, she’d responded eagerly to him, and now seemed well pleased with both her new father and her prospective stepmother.

  “Here,” Laura said, and shyly handed her a box. “I knew you had something blue and new I didn’t know whether you had anything old and borrowed.”

  Laura carefully opened the box. Nestled in cotton lay a lovely silver heart on a silver chain.

  “Mother told me my...father bought that for me when I was born. She said it was the only sentimental thing she’d known him to do” Laura bit her lips and tears shone in her eyes. “She had kept it for me but then...” She tried a trembling smile. “He really did love me, didn’t he?”

  “He does love you. More than life itself,” Julie said.
/>   “And now he loves you the same way I’m so glad.”

  Julie reached out and hugged the girl as tears welled in her own eyes. She loved this Ryan, but she thought she would love the other one, too The old Ryan made the ultimate sacrifice for his first family. The new one had done the same for hers.

  She would have married either one months ago, but Ryan had wanted to wait until he was totally cleared. The conviction was officially reversed last week. In the days following Lewis’s confession, the press had turned from condemning Ryan to practically deifying him. Ryan had been offered numerous jobs, but he’d chosen to stay at the garage where Tun had offered a partnership. Johnny had never wanted any part of management, and Tim wanted to retire in another year. Maybe Ryan would stay; maybe he wouldn’t, but he owed Tim and he enjoyed working with his hands. He had no desire, ever, to go into police work.

  He’d had no more mental flashes. He was resigned to the fact he might never regain his memory. But neither of them cared about that. They knew what they needed to know.

  A knock came at the door.

  Julie sniffed. “I think it’s time to go.”

  “I checked on Ryan—” Ryan and Laura had agreed on using his first name “—before I came to see you,” Laura confided

  “You got him out of jeans?”

  Laura grinned. “Yeah, and he’s baaaad.”

  “Meaning cool?” Julie obviously would have to learn an entire new language The thought was daunting, yet really quite wonderfully challenging.

  She and Laura walked out of the dressing area and down to the sanctuary of the small church she and Ryan attended. Nick, dressed in a suit with his hair slicked back, met them, his face alight with excitement and pleasure. Laura leaned over and in a big sisterly way straightened his tie. Nick beamed at her. He’d been overjoyed to discover he’d have a sister.

  The organist began to play “When I Fall in Love,” a song Julie had chosen As guardian of the rings, Nick started down the aisle first, followed by Laura, her only attendant.