One Night in Christmas

by Debbie Mason

  “But if no one other than you and Adam knew for sure, how did Rick know?”

  “Why don’t you ask me?” Rick turned his head to look at them. There were streaks of dirt on his face, and his eyes were bloodshot. “I’ll tell you. I can even tell you what was in the letter he wrote Sophia. I can tell you because I was there. At the last minute, he was going to back out. He was afraid you’d blame yourself. But I wasn’t going to let that happen. I wasn’t going to let him ruin my best chance to get the lodge. It was mine, not his, not theirs. Mine.”

  “It was you. You were getting him the drugs, weren’t you?” Sophia said, her throat tight with tears and fury. Her hand shook as she dug in her purse for the Taser and her phone. She left the phone on the bed and wrapped her trembling fingers around the Taser.

  “Well, someone had to help the poor boy. You wouldn’t, and he was in so much pain. He would have killed himself someday. I just helped him along.”

  “What are you doing?” Autumn asked when Sophia got off the bed and walked to Rick. There was a nervous hitch in her best friend’s voice.

  Sophia pressed the prongs to his chest. “Then maybe I’ll help you along too.”

  “Sophia, don’t!” Autumn cried.

  “I wonder what a full charge does at this close range. Autumn, video this. I’m sure people would want to know how…” She looked down at the puddle forming on the floor.

  Eyes wild, Rick strained at the ropes. “Stop her, Autumn. Stop her!”

  “Did my husband beg you to stop, Rick? Did you push Bryce off the mountain? Tell me, what did you do?” She pressed the prongs as hard as she could against his chest.

  “Please,” he gasped. “I’ll tell you everything. Just stop pushing that thing into me.”

  She released the pressure. But as he relayed the last hours of her husband’s life and the part he had played in excruciating detail, her grip on the Taser caused her fingers to ache, her hand to shake.

  “I told you everything. You can’t kill me. It was his choice, just like I told you. I didn’t push him. I didn’t give him the pills or the booze that night.”

  “No, you just made sure that he felt like his life no longer had any meaning, that he was a burden to me and his family.” She put the Taser down, and he sagged on the chair.

  Exhausted both emotionally and physically, Sophia picked up the roll of duct tape, cut off a piece, and then taped his mouth shut. “Death is too easy. I want you to suffer. I want you to spend the rest of your life in jail. A real prison this time.”

  Autumn, who’d moved to stand beside her as Rick recounted the last moments of Bryce’s life, took Sophia in her arms and held her tight. “I wish there were something I could do or say that would make this better.”

  Sophia drew back. “All we can hope for now is that Rick will pay for the part he played, but in the end, nothing has changed.”

  “As long as you know there wasn’t anything more you could have done for Bryce.”

  “Don’t worry. I will not carry this burden. This is Rick’s to bear. I’m just grateful we made it out alive and I’m here, with you.” From now on, she would not take one more moment of her life for granted. She’d live it to the fullest. She put an arm around Autumn’s shoulders. “I could use a cup of tea. How about you? Do you want another one?”

  “Um, sure, but don’t you think we should let everyone know we’re okay?”

  “There’s no cell service, and I don’t feel like hiking through the woods. Besides, Adam and Zeus will find us soon.”

  * * *

  They’d gotten a break early in their search. Someone had spotted the Buick turning on to one of the back roads north of the lodge. But their good luck didn’t hold. Rick had gone off-road, and his wasn’t the only vehicle to do so.

  “I know you don’t want to give up, but we’re losing light, Adam.” Jill had stayed with him, along with Logan and a couple of volunteers. Gage and his brothers had followed other leads in case the information they’d been given didn’t pan out.

  “You go, Jill. Zeus won’t stop, and neither will I.” He couldn’t make Zeus stop if he wanted to. The dog was as sharp and as focused as when he’d been in his prime. And he was working as well with Adam as he had with Manuel. “We could use a little help, my friend,” he murmured to Manuel in heaven.

  He wouldn’t lose hope. Rick had pulled this before with Gage, and Gage had escaped. Adam clung to that.

  “If we get them back, I’ll do whatever Autumn wants. Stay, go, I don’t care as long as she loves me. I don’t care if she marries me, as long as she lets me be in her life. Nell’s right. I’ve been an asshat. In the past and now.”

  “It’s Soph who thinks you’re an asshat. And there’s no if about it. We will find them, and they’ll be okay. Trust me. Soph wouldn’t let anyone hurt Autumn.”

  “I know. She’s kinda scary. In a good way,” he said when Adam gave him a look. “I will never say another negative word about her…What is it?”

  “Zeus found something.” He ran to the dog, who sat still as stone. It was a coffee cup. Adam held it up. “Must be Rick’s.” He walked a short way and found tire tracks. They were fresh. “Zeus, such.” Track.

  “Thank God for that dog.”

  “Look. Around the bend. There’s the Buick. Zeus, heir.” Come here.

  After a brief and heated exchange, Jill let him take the lead. She was an excellent sheriff, but she knew as well as he did that she should be on desk duty at this stage of her pregnancy, which was no doubt why she acquiesced. Adam crouched low and ran to the window, inching up on an angle to get a look inside. He shook his head with a laugh.

  “What’s going on?” Jill joined him at the window to peek over the ledge. “I should have known.” She rose to her feet with a hand at her lower back. “Honestly, if you don’t take the job as sheriff, I’m offering it to Sophia.”

  Logan’s voice came from behind the Buick. “I’m dying here. Would someone please tell me they’re okay?”

  “Unless Rick tied himself to a chair and duct taped his own mouth, they are.” Adam opened the door to the cabin.

  Rick made noises behind the tape, jumping the chair forward as though they were coming to save him and not the two women, who were sitting on the bed. Autumn was drinking something from a cup, and Sophia was doing her nails.

  “No one move,” Jill yelled, pulling out her cell phone. Once she’d taken several pictures, she said, “Okay, go ahead. You can kiss and make up now.”

  Logan pushed past Adam to rush to Autumn’s side, and Zeus beat Adam to Sophia. She smiled, put her nail polish on the bedside table, and then moved to sit on the edge of the bed to give Zeus a cuddle.

  “I knew you would find us.” She looked up at Adam with nothing but love shining from her eyes. No fear at the ordeal she’d just gone through and no anger at him for putting his job and his life in San Francisco ahead of her. But then she turned those gorgeous dark eyes on Rick, and they flashed with fury.

  “He killed Bryce, Adam. He fed his drug habit. He told him to kill himself.”

  Adam stared at her, stunned. “Say again.” She repeated the exact same words he’d thought he’d misheard, and he slowly turned his head. He stood rooted to the spot, afraid of what he'd do if he got any closer to Rick. Putting Sophia and Autumn in danger had been bad enough, but this…Adam walked over and ripped the duct tape from his cousin’s mouth.

  “It’s not true. Don’t listen to them. They’re setting me up,” Rick cried.

  “I don’t know why everyone thinks I’m a bimbo with no brains.” Sophia held up her phone, and Rick’s voice filled the room as she played the recording of his confession.

  “That’s inadmissible. You can’t tape someone without their consent.”

  “You heard me tell Autumn to video you. You didn’t object.”

  “I thought you were going to Taser me to death!”

  “Get him out of here before I do,” Adam said to Jill.

  “No pro
blem. We’ll give you a couple minutes.” She looked over at Sophia. “Good job with the Taser, girlfriend.”

  “Thank you. And you would have been proud of Autumn. She handled the Mace like a pro.”

  Jill frowned. “Mace?”

  “Um, I meant bear spray.”

  “Sure you did. You might want to check her purse, Adam. It wouldn’t look good for the acting sheriff’s girlfriend to be packing illegal weapons.”

  “Call me an optimist, but I’m hoping, when I take over for you, she’ll be my fiancée, not my girlfriend,” he said to Jill, and then went down on one knee in front of Sophia. Zeus moved in beside him and put a paw on her knee. Adam laughed, and Sophia stared at him. “You’re going to take over for Jill? You’re moving to Christmas?”

  “Yeah, but did you miss the other part? The reason I’m down on one knee in front of you? Or are you pretending you didn’t hear me so I didn’t just embarrass myself? Don’t say no, Dimples. I know it’s fast, and I know I messed up earlier, but I love you, Sophia Vergara Cortez, and I’ll do whatever I have to to make you happy. Please say you’ll marry me and my dog?”

  “Yes. Yes, I will marry you.” She threw herself into his arms and kissed him until his brother groaned and Zeus barked. She laughed and leaned over to hug Zeus. “I love you too. You are mine as much as Adam’s.” She waved a hand at Autumn and Logan. “Now it’s your turn to make up.”

  “No, it’s my turn to make up to you, Sophia.” Logan took her hand. “I’m sorry for being such a jerk to you over the years. There was no excuse for it.”

  “You were jealous of me. It happens.” She winked at Adam, but then she grew serious. “I was jealous of you and overprotective of Autumn and didn’t always make your life easy. For that I am truly sorry. But I know you love her. You have my blessing.”

  She reached for Autumn’s hand and placed it in Logan’s. “Marry him. You always wanted to travel, to see the world. I’ve done that and then some. Now’s your chance to do it with the man you love. We’ve made a nice life for ourselves here, but I think we got stuck and our dreams got too small. Go chase the dreams you used to have, and when you’ve done all you wanted to do, come home. We’ll be here.”

  “And if I’m happy here?” Autumn asked his brother.

  “Then I will be too,” Logan said.

  “What if I want a double wedding?”

  Logan looked from Autumn to Sophia. “You two have already talked about this, haven’t you?”

  “A little bit when we were waiting for Adam and Zeus to find us.” Sophia looked at him. “But it was just a dream. I didn’t know if you would want to marry me.”

  “Wait a minute,” Autumn said. “Adam called you Sophia Vergara Cortez. You’re not really related to Sofía Vergara, are you?”

  She sighed. “Yes. She is my second cousin. But don’t tell Ty.”

  “How are we supposed to keep it from him? We promised he could be in the wedding party if we ever got married again. He’ll see your name when we sign the papers.”

  As the two women walked away talking about the wedding, Logan looked at Adam. “I’m beginning to think their dream wedding might turn into our nightmare.”

  “No, the real nightmare would be if we weren’t the men they were marrying.”

  Epilogue

  Five weeks later.

  “Ty, you have taken over my wedding. I will not let you take over my new store,” Sophia said, pushing the rustic-looking wooden counter back where it had originally been.

  “You really do have to learn to share, bunny. It’s our store, remember? Menswear to the left, ladies’ wear to the right. And this is where my display is supposed to go,” he said, pushing the counter out of the way.

  “I don’t know why I ever agreed to go into partnership with you,” she said, now in a tug-of-war over the counter.

  “You went into partnership with me because your best friend is moving to Switzerland and you bought her out of the house on Holly Lane. Besides that, other than you, I’m the only person in this town who has an eye for fashion. Not to mention, I’m your other best friend, and you need me. You’re manager of the lodge now, remember? You can’t do it all.”

  “Why not? You do. You own Diva and a catering business too.”

  “Yes, but unlike you, I have staff. Which you would have if you just hired the woman I found for you yesterday.”

  “I don’t trust her. She has shifty eyes.”

  He sighed. “You said the same thing about the woman Autumn hired to run Sugar and Spice.”

  Logan had signed a two-year contract with the company in Switzerland, so Autumn decided to move Sugar and Spice to the lodge instead of closing. Though their new locations were half the size of the old.

  The Colonial on Main Street sold three days after the FOR SALE sign went up. But the sale was dependent on an early-May occupancy. Since Autumn wanted to leave with Logan and the children and it was a good offer, they accepted. Between their upcoming wedding, moving locations, and overseeing the construction of the new stores at the lodge, not to mention learning everything she had to about the management of the place before Logan left, there weren’t near enough hours in the day.

  Suddenly too tired to fight, Sophia sprawled across the counter. “Fine. I will hire the lady. If she ends up being a serial killer, I will sue you.”

  “If she ends up being a serial killer, we’ll both be dead.”

  “If you’re talking about the woman who applied for the job yesterday, she’s a con artist, not a serial killer,” said a familiar deep voice.

  Sophia lifted her head to smile at her husband-to-be, who looked breath-stealingly gorgeous in his sheriff’s uniform. Zeus looked to Adam for permission. At his head nod and smile, the dog bounded to Sophia’s side. But Adam wasn’t smiling when he joined him there.

  He lifted her chin with his knuckle. “You look beat. You gotta take a break, Dimples.”

  “I can’t. There’s too much to do. We want the stores up and running on the first day of June. Then there’s the wedding and—”

  “Ty, I thought you were handling the wedding stuff for her.”

  “So did I, but your fiancée has control issues.”

  “I don’t have control issues, I just want it to be special for you. It’s your first wedding. I want it to be special for Autumn, too, and the children.”

  Adam frowned. “Wait a sec. What about you?”

  “I’m marrying you. That’s special enough for me.”

  “No. Do not even think about it, Adam. She doesn’t know what she’s saying. She wants a wedding, a big splashy affair with lots of bling. And pink. She loves pink.”

  Sophia narrowed her eyes at Ty. “Fifteen minutes ago, you told me to think garden-party-goes-country.”

  “Well, what was I supposed to do? It’s a double wedding, and everything you liked Autumn didn’t, and everything Autumn liked, you hated. So I had to make an executive decision.”

  Adam smiled. “You thinking what I’m thinking, Dimples?”

  She walked into his arms. “I hope so,” she murmured against his chest.

  He bent his head to whisper in her ear. “Paperwork is done, so we’ll head to the courthouse and see if the judge will marry us right now. And then we’ll spend the next two days at the honeymoon cabin on Silver Lake. Sound good?”

  She tipped her head back. “Sounds perfect. I love you, Adam Dane.”

  “I love you too, Dimples. Now, let’s get this done.”

  “Hey, you two, get back here right now. This is not funny. Sophia? Adam?”

  Discover Your Next Great Read

  Get sneak peeks, book recommendations, and news about your favorite authors.

  Tap here to learn more.

  Have you tried Debbie Mason’s Harmony Harbor series?

  Firefighter Marco DiRossi wants to beat the local matchmakers at their own game, so he conspires with visitor Theia Lawson to pretend they’ve already fallen in love. It’s only for the summer. What c
ould go wrong?

  Please turn the page to read an excerpt from

  Barefoot Beach.

  Chapter One

  Marco DiRossi’s birthday fell on the Fourth of July, the combined celebration ensuring the day had been one of the high points of the summer, his favorite time of year. Summertime when being single in Harmony Harbor had been synonymous with living the good life in paradise. Lazy days spent at the beach soaking up the sun and scoping out the toned and tanned hometown girls, hot summer nights spent at the local bars and seaside cafés flirting with the tourists who flocked to his coastal hometown.

  But his love for the Fourth had done a one-eighty once he became a member of the Harmony Harbor Fire Department. Now the holiday represented an uptick in grass fires, minor injuries, and burns.

  The summer was also fraught with danger of another kind—his matchmaking grandmother, Rosa DiRossi. She’d been trying to marry him off for years. Her efforts increased tenfold during the summer months, when his hometown became Wedding Central, thanks to Greystone Manor.

  Home to Harmony Harbor’s founding family, the Gallaghers, the manor also served as a hotel. A hotel that had become, under his sister Sophie’s expert and creative management, the premier wedding destination on Massachusetts’s North Shore.

  Sadly for Marco, at that moment the manor was only a five-minute walk from where he sat in Sophie’s backyard. As if on cue, the sound of wedding-day celebrations drifted his way on a warm ocean breeze. His hand tightened around the wineglass stem as he lifted it to his lips.

  This year might take the prize for worst Fourth of July, and it wasn’t his grandmother’s fault. It was his own.

  Liam Gallagher, his brother-in-law, best friend, and fellow firefighter got up from the picnic table and started to clear the remains of Marco’s birthday dinner.