Brody bent over as well so Heather did too. They looked like a forensics team at work.
She touched the stamp and looked at Bella with wide eyes. “Look! It’s an elf stamp.”
Brody murmured. “Wow.”
They looked at each other over Bella’s bowed head and smiled.
Kindergarten was a magical place where kids learned all sorts of random facts and life skills like what a return address was.
“Who’s it from? Who’s it from?” Bella asked while she jumped up and down on her toes.
Heather looked first and then handed it off to Brody with a shocked expression for Bella’s impressionable benefit.
“I think you better take this Daddy.”
“Well, let’s see. It says Mr. S. Claus at One Reindeer Way, Christmas Village, North Pole.”
Bella gasped.
“And it’s addressed to Miss Bella Mia Jensen care of Family Justice.”
This time the child’s gasp was more of a shocked cry.
“Open, open, Daddy! Hurry.”
Heather and Brody sat across from each other at the table while Bella stood at the end between them, barely able to contain her excitement.
Peeling a colorful sticker off the back flap, Brody stuck it on Bella’s sleeve and said, “Do you think it’s a red dot because of Rudolph’s nose?”
The kid’s eyes practically bugged out of her head.
From the big, document sized envelope, Brody pulled a large red card. A picture of Santa’s hands showing him writing the card was stuck to the front.
She hadn’t seen the card in advance so Heather’s reaction was genuine when she choked out an “Oh my goodness” when she saw the words, Dear Bella written in white Santa script. Holy fucking shit. Family Justice would forever be the tits and the balls in her book.
With all the wonder and awe a child of six can lay claim to Bella asked, “Is that really my name?”
“It is,” Brody gravely confirmed. “Bella. Honey. I think Santa wrote you a letter. Should I read out loud?”
The little girl froze. Heather wanted to reach out and comfort Brody to let him know everything was going to be all right. He just needed to give her a few seconds to process what was happening. Bella was no fool. She understood important things when they happened.
Her answer was short and sweet.
“Uh huh.”
And just like that a page was turned in Bella Mia Jensen’s story. Giving Santa a foot in the door was the start of something wonderful where once and for all, the little girl could be just that. A little girl. Not some poor kid with a tragic backstory.
“Okay then,” Brody murmured. Scooting sideways on the chair, he drew Bella to stand between his legs and then held the enormous card in front of them. As he began to read, Heather watched Bella’s face and memorized every second so she could play it back later for Brody.
Dear Bella,
How wonderful to see your name on my holiday list again. Mrs. Claus and I were worried about you for a long time. We’re so happy you and your daddy found each other! And guess what?! We saw a picture from a party where you looked so grown up in your Birthday Babe outfit.
Bella’s long gasp was filled with wonder.
When Major Alex helped me fix a computer problem, he told us how happy he is that you’re part of Family Justice.
This time Bella’s gasp was accompanied by her spinning around to search her father’s face. “Major Alex knows Santa?”
“The Major knows everybody,” was his mildly sardonic reply.
“But he never said.”
Heather smiled at the simple straight-line logic of a child.
“Well,” he explained. “I’m sure it’s a secret. Santa can’t just have anybody working on his computers. I mean, come on, right?”
“Wow,” Bella murmured.
What a precious moment, she thought. Committing it all to memory Heather watched Bella in silent awe as Alex Marquez’s stock shot off the charts. If he wasn’t an Olympian level god before tonight, the guy was certainly crazy-glued to a pedestal in the pantheon of super heroes after this.
Brody’s expression and body language also joined the ranks of standout moments worth remembering. It hadn’t taken long once he’d revealed his Justice life for Brody to offer up a monumental clue to his true character. For a man who didn’t suffer fools and who still struggled with real-world adult friendships, he all but worshipped the Big Daddy of Justice. In his opinion, men didn’t come any finer than Major Alexander Valleja-Marquez and she couldn’t count the number of times he’d made it clear that when all was said and done, Alex saved Brody’s life. And that meant something.
Instilling a childlike sense of wonder and serious respect for the Major in young Bella just made sense.
Bella turned and leaned back against her father as he continued reading.
Mrs. Claus and I heard your birthday wish sweet Bella Mia. After Christmas, I hope you’ll write and let us know what happens!
Heather blinked. Her brows scrunched. What did that mean? She saw Bella tilt her head up and giggle when Brody winked and said “Shh!”
Now we need to ask for your help. My elves left a crate of toys and books at the family center. Everyone at the North Pole is delighted that the center will help so many children. Will you be my official Double M assistant and help your Aunt Meghan pass everything out?
“Wow, honey,” Brody murmured with a voice full of astonishment. “An assistant? That’s even better than a helper.”
Bella’s wide, wonder-filled eyes drifted to her. Heather smiled and slightly bobbed her head. “I think you should accept,” she exclaimed in an excited whisper.
I must get back to work, Bella. My elves are busy around-the-clock getting things ready for Christmas. You should see what a mess the reindeer make getting a bath! Just like Georgie. And silly Blitzen? Oh my, ho-ho-ho! He likes to eat the soap bubbles.
Bella’s giggle acted like a release valve on the anxiety Heather had been feeling. Getting Christmas right for her little girl was all she thought about.
Her little girl.
Heather put her palm over her heart and swallowed a rush of tears. This limbo-land with them playing family was getting old. Vowing to have a serious heart-to-heart with her man after the first of the year, she made a solemn vow inside her heart that no matter what the future held, she would love and protect her beautiful unexpected soul-daughter with all her might until her last breath.
We’re so glad your family found you. Look to the future young lady! The best is yet to come.
Love, Laughs and Reindeer Kisses to all,
Santa
Closing the card, Brody handed it to Bella who stood motionless, staring at the picture on the front. They didn’t have long to wonder what was going on in her mind and chuckled at the first thing she said.
“Uncle Drae makes these,” she murmured while pointing at some rustic wooden stars tied with natural twine.
Her expression and Brody’s were probably priceless. Mentally searching for an explanation, they both chuckled when Bella provided her own. On a long, drawn out gasp of understanding she soberly spelled out what she saw in her six year old imagination.
“I bet Major Alex gave them to Santa. They look nice, don’t they?”
Then, with her little brain operating in hypersonic speed she demanded her father get Alex on the phone.
Heather crossed her fingers under the table. They anticipated this reaction. Brody nodded his assurance as he fished the phone from his pocket, tapped on the screen and lifted it to his ear.
Bella glanced at Heather but she wasn’t able to pin down her expression. Well this ought to be interesting.
“Alex, hey. Uh, have a red suit situation.”
She recognized the code phrase. Project Red Suit was now officially a Justice ‘thing’.
“Yeah,” he murmured as his head ducked a moment. “Mmm hmm. Hockey puck. Got it.” A minute later he put the phone on speaker and said, “
Can we FaceTime or no?”
Coughing back a laugh when Meghan’s voice in the background hollering “No!” shot through the phone, she rolled her eyes while Brody did a great job of wiping the knowing smirk off his face.
They’d obviously interrupted something and Heather had to forcefully cut off the flashes of filthy D/s scenarios running riot in her mind. Brody quickly rode right over the FaceTime objection and handed the conversation to Bella.
“Okay then. So, Major. Bella wants a word. She, uh… she heard from your jolly friend up north.”
Alex’s deep chuckle came through the phone. “Ah, so the North Pole cat is out of the bag?”
“Go ahead honey,” Brody encouraged.
Putting the card down, Bella fiddled with the curls at the end of her ponytail with an uncertain look on her face. Since the kid was rarely indecisive she and Brody watched with fascination.
Because flat out quizzing Alex or demanding an explanation was just plain rude, she imagined the child’s dilemma. A lifetime of confusion over a favorite phrase of her mother’s cleared in an instant. Now when she heard her mom say, ‘Never underestimate the mind of a child’ she’d think of Bella.
With the self-assurance of a seasoned diplomat on a high-level fishing expedition she asked an innocent-sounding question disguised as a cross-examination.
“Major Alex? What kind of cookies does your friend at the North Pole like?”
“We’re talking about Santa, right?” he asked.
Bella’s gotcha expression was funny as shit. Once confirmation happened, the floodgates opened.
“You showed him my picture!”
“Keep it on my phone,” Alex assured her.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Tell you what, honey? That Santa is real? Or that he worried each time your name wasn’t on his list?”
Bella silently nodded.
“Listen up, Miss Jensen, cause I’m going to let you in on a big secret. Santa? He’s one of us.”
She gasped. “One of the good guys?”
“That’s right,” Alex drawled.
Brody’s hand reached across the table. She pulled hers out of her lap and slid it into his firm grasp.
“I got a stern talking to,” Alex added soberly. “Santa wanted assurances that your Justice family would keep you safe and happy.”
“And Daddy and my Heather too, Major Alex. And Georgie.”
She could sense Brody’s emotional struggle through their joined hands. It was hard to comprehend how the young child ended up with such a big, loving heart after all she’d been through.
“Got the whole Jensen clan on the watch list so don’t you worry. Now look Bella,” Alex continued. “You have to promise this will stay between us. Now that you’re one of Santa’s assistants, you have to help keep his secrets, okay?”
Though Alex was trying to wrap up the chat—inappropriate images of a half-naked Double M tied up and impatient for the call to end messed with her head—Bella had one more thing to add.
“Santa wants a letter about… Christmas,” she muttered awkwardly. Shooting Heather a weird look, her careful words struck a note. Maybe she’d ask Brody later what he knew.
“Will you take it to him for me?”
A direct, impossible to ignore challenge cloaked as a request. Yeah, Heather mentally chuckled. This kid is going to knock everyone’s socks off some day.
“I’d be happy to. Oh, and by the way, your Snowflake saddle was delivered this morning. I’ll have Uncle Calder work out a schedule with Stephanie for you guys to start your riding lessons.”
Bella’s jumping bean switch got flipped because she began hopping on her toes, a huge grin plastered across her adorable face. Clapping enthusiastically she hooted, “Yay!”
“Thanks, Major,” Brody hurriedly cut in before Alex hung up.
“You owe me, Jensen,” the big guy chuckled.
The call finished, he pushed the phone away but Bella made a harsh sound. “Oh no!” She cried. “The Major didn’t say what Santa’s favorite cookie is.”
The unsullied mind of a child, right?
“Can we call back?” she asked breathlessly.
That stiff drink she envisioned from earlier? When Brody actually colored with a manly blush, she knew exactly what he was thinking and decided what they both needed was a double.
Clearing his throat, he said, “It’s getting late so no more calls tonight. Isn’t it bath time?”
Great deflection! Promise of a bubble bath generally trumped pretty much anything else. Bella’s smile impossibly brightened, with an impish giggle all thoughts of cookies, and phone calls, got pushed aside.
“I have new shampoo!” she crowed as if the melon scented shampoo they discovered in a display of L’Oreal products with Frozen’s Anna and Elsa on the label was some sort of miracle.
“I’ve got this,” she said with a little pat on Brody’s hand. “Why don’t you do what you do and I’ll do what I do and then we meet in an hour?”
When Bella ran off toward her bedroom dancing and laughing with George who followed faithfully, she murmured softly. “I’m feeling naked martinis.”
A flame erupted in his gaze. “Will these martinis be from the vanilla menu or the Bendover kinky menu?”
“What do you think?” she scoffed playfully. “Babe, we left vanilla in the dust a long time ago.”
Kissing him quickly she started after Bella but stopped when he quietly asked, “Were you having all sorts of dirty thoughts about, well, you know,” he stammered awkwardly.
“You mean about the possibility that Double M was tied up?”
He shook like a dog after a bath. “Never mind. We shouldn’t be talking about this.”
Laughing, she went back to him and wrapped her arms around his neck. “Honey, I don’t wanna burst your alpha bubble or anything but it’s okay. They both know we all watch and whisper.” With a little shrug she told him, “Meghan and I discussed it. The whole dominant and submissive thing.”
“Oh my god, seriously?”
“How could I not ask? Look at them! She’s so together and dynamic and him, well shit. They need to name a planet or a galaxy after him. It’s hard to reconcile what we imagine from books and movies with the couple we know.”
“Learn anything?”
“Yeah I learned something! Plenty, in fact. The first being that whatever I think I know needs to be checked at the door.”
“Don’t rip my balls off for saying this babe but you and Meghan are a lot alike.”
“In what way?”
He pulled her tighter against him and kissed the side of her face. “You know who you are, Heather, and you’re not afraid to be vulnerable or trust the man you love. I’d say that’s an apt description of the Major’s wife.”
She thought about what he said for a minute and then cracked up laughing when he put a cherry on top.
“Probably earn my bad self a raise if we gave them a Tantra chair for Christmas. They’re gonna need it in a couple of months.”
“How do you know they don’t have one already?”
He puffed up proudly and grinned. “Ms. Clarke, that sexy piece of furniture is a Stan and Francine exclusive. If any of those other shitheads knew about it, fucking St. John would be cranking them out at double speed in that crazy shop of his.”
He kissed her passionately. When their lips separated she sweetly drawled, “Tantra equipment aside, we need to talk about Calder’s alpha balls invention. What’s taking so long?”
Brody’s full-throated laugh followed her from the kitchen all the way to Bella’s bedroom. Alpha balls and Tantra loungers.
She smiled. Life with Family Justice is certainly not boring.
“I SWEAR TO god, if there’s one more present to wrap I will lose it.”
Tori watched Lacey gather scraps of discarded gift paper and agreed with her friend’s grumbling complaint. Looking at the mound of presents stacked by the door she winced just a little. They�
�d gotten big time carried away.
“Are you okay?” she asked when the color leeched from Lacey’s face and she sat down with a grunt.
In a flash she was at her side, rubbing a hand on her back and stroking her blonde ponytail. “Easy does it.”
It killed her that Lacey was having a hard pregnancy. Vividly recalling her own struggles before Daniel’s birth, the strings of her heart were continually tugged by her dear friend’s distress.
Meghan’s perfectly timed arrival came as a comfort. Irish always knew what to do.
“What’s the matter?” she asked after finding them huddled in a corner of the yoga studio with Lacey’s head between her legs.
“She’s having a moment,” Tori softly explained. “We were wrapping presents and all of a sudden…”
In short order a mound of cushions was arranged on the padded floor with a thermos of hot tea and some of Ria’s world famous chocolate biscotti on a tray placed nearby. They got Lacey comfortable and distracted her with silliness until some of the tea and a few nibbles of biscuit helped her over the hump.
They sat there, all three of them pregnant, lost in their thoughts until Lacey eventually spoke.
“Everything’s changing.”
Meghan’s brows shot up. So did Tori’s.
“Remember when it was just me and you Tori?” She chuckled softly. “Seems like a lifetime ago. And then Irish burst on the scene.”
All of them grinned.
“And now look. The three of us plus Angie, Tori’s mom, Heather and Sophie!” With a little smirk at Meghan she chuckled, “And I think it might be time to start a Finn and Remy pool. I’ve got first dibs on July 4th.”
Meghan cackled with snarky glee. “Serves the fucker right but why July 4th?”
“I don’t know,” Lacey giggled. “Guess it just seems like they aren’t exactly moving at warp speed so half a year and then some seemed a safe bet.”
Dunking a wedge of biscotti in her mug, Tori murmured her agreement. “Luckily she’s got your dad’s seal of approval. They had a grand time together at the family center opening,” she told Meghan.
“Looked to me like Remy preferred Da’s company to Finn’s,” the fiery redhead sniffed as she settled into a comfortable cross-legged pose.
Dear Bella: A Family Justice Novella Page 8