Marry Me under the Mistletoe

by Rebecca Winters

  “I don’t know. I left first.”

  “Let’s call your mother and find out. Ask if he ever went into the back area. Put it on speakerphone.”

  Rick had a definite reason for asking that question. Andrea was positive it had nothing to do with her. She reached into her purse for the phone and made the call. When her mom answered, she asked about the firefighter who’d been in the store earlier. Andrea explained this call was at Rick’s request.

  “Well, he wandered around the shop for about five minutes looking at all the merchandise while I waited on some other customers. He eventually picked out a smoker and paid for it. Then he thanked me and left.”

  “Rick wants to know if he went in the back.”

  “No.”

  “Thanks, Mom. I’ll explain later.”

  She clicked off and looked up at Rick, who’d started pacing. “Tell me what you’re thinking.” His grim expression made her nervous. “Obviously something is very wrong.”

  He came to a standstill. “Didn’t Hayward tell you he wasn’t there to buy anything?”

  “Yes.”

  “But in the end, he bought something from your mother.” Lines marred his handsome features. “I don’t want him harassing you again.”

  “After what I told him, I’m sure he won’t.”

  Rick averted his eyes. “Excuse me for a minute while I make a phone call. Don’t move.” He gave her a long, hungry kiss that left her thoroughly shaken and trembling before he let her go and walked out of the kitchen.

  While she sat there dazed, Tessa came running into the kitchen from the door leading into the garage. She was carrying a packet and Sharon was right behind her. “Hi, Andrea!”

  What a change in her! Andrea thought. “Hi yourself!”

  “Where’s Daddy?”

  “He’s on the phone in the other room.”

  “Is he still in bed?”

  “No.”

  “That’s good. I want him to get well really fast.”

  “So do I. How was class today?”

  “Rodney Carr threw up by the teacher’s desk. He ate corn dogs for lunch. Everybody ran out in the hall.”

  “Oh, dear.”

  “His mom had to come and get him. Mrs. Riley said the flu is going around. If we start to feel sick to our stomachs, she doesn’t want us to come to class.”

  Amazed at all the information pouring out of her, Andrea tried to stifle her laughter. Wait till she told Rick. “Did you like the corn dogs?”

  “No. They’re yucky.”

  “Then I bet you’re hungry,” Mrs. Milne interjected.

  “Yes. What are we going to have for dinner?”

  “I thought I’d make tacos.”

  “Um. Daddy and I love those. He’s always hungry and eats anything.”

  That child had worked her way into Andrea’s heart. “Well, that’s lucky. Somewhere I read that a firefighter consumes a lot of calories when he’s on duty.” She was still trying to stifle her laughter.

  Sharon rolled her eyes. “That makes it easy for me. My husband was a picky eater.”

  “So’s my father,” Andrea admitted.

  “Tessa? Go find your daddy and wash your hands while I fix you some apple dippers.”

  “Okay. I’ll be right back.”

  A few seconds later she could hear voices in the hallway. When Rick’s deep, male belly laugh resounded in the air she knew Tessa had told him about what had happened at school. After his dark mood, the happy sound was a revelation.

  CHAPTER SIX

  RICK WALKED TESSA back to the kitchen and beckoned to Andrea from the doorway. “Sharon? Benton just arrived. The three of us will be in the den until dinner.”

  She nodded. “Tessa’s going to help me grate the cheese.”

  “Hurry, Daddy.”

  “We won’t be long,” he promised.

  When they reached the hallway, Rick pressed a swift kiss to Andrea’s unsuspecting lips. “I’m in agony waiting to be alone with you, but Benton wants to talk to you first.”

  She blinked. “Why?”

  “I’d rather he told you. While you were driving over here, I phoned him and told him about Chase. He said he’d be right over.”

  When they walked into the den, Benton greeted Andrea and told her to sit down. Rick sat in the chair next to her. “I’m glad you came so quickly. As Rick has indicated to you before today, someone has deliberately been setting fires in the downtown area. We suspect Chase Hayward is responsible.”

  A gasp escaped her throat. Her anxious eyes searched Rick’s. “You think our shop is next?”

  “Since he saw you in my hospital room and found out it’s your shop, I’m positive.”

  Benton nodded. “I’ve been on the phone with your mother. At this point she’s very concerned, especially for you.”

  “That shop has been in the family for years. I had no idea you’d been talking to her.”

  Benton cocked his head. “It pleased Hayward to find out Rick had been injured in the fire. That’s why he came to the E.R. He needed to inspect the damage. That’s what arsonists do. But he failed to snuff him out, so he’s unlikely to quit.”

  Andrea lost color. “That’s so sick.”

  “You’re right. When he set the art-gallery fire, he would have cased the outside of the buildings, front and back, on the street. This afternoon he cased the downstairs of your shop. By now he’s done his research and has probably found out that you live upstairs. He’s probably come by Rick’s house and seen your car in the driveway.”

  Rick felt her shudder, even though they weren’t touching.

  “Since he visited your shop this afternoon, we’re fairly certain he would enjoy it if you got hurt—or worse—in the fire he plans to set. It would be his ultimate revenge against Rick.”

  Her head jerked in Rick’s direction. “That’s horrifying. How have you stood working around someone that mental?”

  Rick reached out to give her arm a reassuring squeeze. “As I told you earlier, we don’t bump into each other that often. But the point is, nothing’s going to happen to you or your mother. I swear it.”

  “I know that.”

  Benton said, “We’ve set up a sting operation using help from the parcel service that delivers freight to you. If Hayward doesn’t start a fire tonight, then we’ll have a trap set for tomorrow night or any night in the near future. With your cooperation, we’ll catch him.”

  “We want to help!” she assured him. “I can’t bear for that man to destroy more businesses and lives.”

  “Amen,” Rick muttered.

  “Naturally we hope he’ll show up tonight. Of course you won’t be there. But if he decides to wait until another night, here’s the plan. In the morning we want you and your mother to drive to work together. While she’s out on the floor, we’d like you to answer the buzzer. One of my men will come to your back door disguised as a parcel service employee. He’ll bring in the freight.

  “Once inside, he’ll take off his uniform and you’ll put it on. He’ll be wearing a wool hat. It’s the key. Make sure none of your hair is showing. While your mom shows him upstairs, you’ll hurry out to the truck and the driver will take you to an undisclosed location, where one of our men will drive you to your mother’s house. We already have police surveillance on your mother’s home 24/7 to keep both of you safe.”

  Rick could feel her trembling. Just when he felt he’d been making real progress with her and Tessa, Hayward had chosen this moment to get his revenge. Rick hated it that because of his association with Andrea, she and her shop were being targeted by that maniac.

  “Tomorrow your mother will work until she decides to close,” Benton explained, “then drive home to be with you. One of my men will hide in yo
ur apartment for as long as it takes to capture Hayward. In the meantime you’ll stay at your mother’s and the two of you will continue doing business as usual. Do you think you can handle this?”

  Andrea nodded.

  “Good.” He got up from the table. “Sorry this is such an ugly business, but it should be over soon.”

  “Stay in here, Andrea,” Rick whispered before he walked Benton to the front door. The second he left, Rick returned to the den and found her with her head buried in her hands.

  He knelt and covered her hands with his own. “Andrea...I know this terrifies you.”

  Slowly she lifted a tearstained face. “I have to admit I don’t like the idea of Mom being involved. If anything happened to her, I don’t know what I’d do.”

  Rick kissed her wet cheeks. “I promise that neither you nor your mother will get hurt. I swear it.”

  “I believe in you.” Her voice trembled. “That’s part of what’s wrong. Chase is after you. It’s horrible and so strange because it’s one nightmare I hadn’t thought of.”

  “What do you mean?”

  Andrea wiped her eyes and sat all the way up. In the soft light of the room her hair fell in waves around her shoulders like spun gold. The contrast with her brilliant blue eyes set in an oval face was stunning. His gaze traveled to the passionate curve of her mouth. He could never get enough of it, not in a lifetime.

  “I don’t know where to start.”

  He shook his head. “You puzzle me, Andrea. I never know where I am with you. How about a little honesty over what is really going on with you? I take it you were very much in love with your husband.”

  “Yes.”

  “So was I with my wife. Meeting you has come as a shock. I’m feeling and thinking things I never expected to experience again. I can see it’s the same for you.”

  “You know it is.” She half moaned the words. “It seems way too soon to experience emotions this strong.”

  “Is guilt the reason you keep pulling away?”

  “No,” she answered truthfully. “Like you, I’m overwhelmed with feelings I thought had died with Gunter. But you have a child and I don’t want to hurt her. She’s too important.”

  “Why would you hurt her?”

  “If I see you any more, then she’ll grow more attached. I mustn’t let that happen.”

  “In other words, you intend to carry out your plan to stop seeing me.”

  “I can’t go on like this.”

  He breathed in sharply, because she sounded as if she meant it. “In the name of heaven, why not?”

  “Because...you’re a firefighter.”

  Rick shot to his feet. “That’s the real reason?”

  She reared her head, causing her golden hair to swish against her cheeks. “It’s the most important one.”

  “So there are other reasons, too?”

  “Let’s just say that your line of work trumps everything else. I couldn’t stand to get into a relationship with a man who puts himself in harm’s way every time the truck leaves the station. I’m not made of the same stuff as your late wife. I’m a coward.”

  “That’s an excuse for what you’re not telling me.”

  Her eyes searched his. “Why don’t you humor me and tell me why you became a firefighter. What is it about the job that sends you into a raging fire time after time? Are you going to tell me you come from a long line of firefighters?”

  Interesting it had taken this long before she asked. “Nothing of the sort. One grandfather was a college professor, the other worked for a newspaper. My father is a chemical engineer who heads projects for a gold refining company in Cranston, where I grew up. My elder brother is a dentist.

  “Though I started out in engineering in college, I’m afraid my heart wasn’t in it. During my last year I dropped out and became a firefighter. I knew it would be a disappointment to my family, so I never talked about it. But from the time I was ten, I always wanted to be one.”

  He’d finally captured her attention. “What happened when you were ten?”

  “I was at a neighbor’s house, upstairs with my friend Denny. It was a summer afternoon. We were playing with my dog, Shep, and teaching him tricks. His mom was downstairs cooking dinner. I learned later that the deep fat fryer caught on fire and it set the whole kitchen ablaze. We didn’t know anything was wrong until we were both enveloped in suffocating black smoke and couldn’t see our way to the stairs.”

  Andrea covered her mouth in horror.

  “We opened the windows to get out, but there was nowhere to climb down. I heard the fire engines coming and screamed to them for help, but the smoke was so thick I knew I was going to die. I couldn’t see or hear Denny or my dog. All I remember after that was someone grabbing me and carrying me down a ladder to the ground.”

  “Thank heaven—” In the next breath Andrea threw her arms around him, almost strongly enough to knock the wind out of him.

  “I told him my friend and my dog were still up there. In a minute both were brought down unconscious, but one of the firefighters put oxygen masks on Denny and Shep and saved them. Denny’s mom was hysterical until she realized we’d made it out alive.

  “Later in the week our two families went to the fire station to thank the two firefighters who saved our lives. Denny and I decided they were gods and we wanted to be just like them.”

  “I can understand that.” Her voice shook. “Did he become a firefighter, too?”

  He hugged her tighter. “No. He went into the military and has made it his career.”

  “One way or the other, you’re both saving people, but I can’t imagine going through such a horrendous ordeal.”

  “It was awful. I had nightmares about it for years until I started fighting fires and helping people trapped in an inferno. Now I don’t have those bad dreams anymore.”

  “I’m so glad of that.” Andrea sobbed quietly. “Forgive me for getting upset over your work. I haven’t meant to judge you. What you do is so heroic. You save lives every day. You saved a lot of the art gallery and prevented our shop from burning. There are no words to tell you what I really think of you.”

  “If that’s the case, I’ll ask you this again. Do you wish we hadn’t met?”

  “Yes.”

  “Surely you can’t mean that.”

  “But I do. I may feel a strong attraction to you, but it doesn’t follow that I could handle a permanent relationship. As you can see, I can’t.” He heard the tremor in her voice. “In just a week’s time you’ve been in the hospital with a problem that could have injured you forever, and it’s Chase’s fault. Someone died in that fire, a man with a family.

  “I can’t stand it that there’s a guy out there from your own profession trying to kill you. Even if he’s caught, you’ll be out fighting fires again and could perish like your colleague. I don’t want to be around when that happens, because one day it will.”

  Rick ground his teeth. “Did you ever get professional help after Gunter died?”

  She stirred restlessly and pulled away. “No.”

  He studied her features. “Have you considered that this fear of yours stems from his sudden death?”

  Andrea had to be disturbed by his questions, because she moistened her lips nervously. “I’m sure his death plays a part in my fear, but it goes much deeper than that.”

  “Then explain it to me. Help me to understand.”

  She hugged her arms to her waist. “You don’t want to hear it.”

  “Let me be the judge of that. We’re talking about our lives here. Our happiness. I’ve just met this incredible woman and already you’re distancing yourself from me. Help me understand.”

  He had to wait a minute for an answer.

  “My first recollections of life were of a loving mother an
d an absentee father. He lived to go hunting. If he wasn’t at work, he was out at the shooting range with his best friend Frank, who was also a hunter. I hardly saw him from season to season and hated it every time he walked out the door with his rifle.

  “Frank was married, and he abandoned his family to hunt, too. I knew people got killed hunting and begged my dad not to go. He’d just pat my head and tell me to be a nice girl for Mommy. After he’d leave, I’d run to my room and pray and pray he wouldn’t die.”

  “Andrea—” Rick was devastated.

  “One day my fears came true. He and Frank got shot by accident. Frank died and Dad was hospitalized for a gunshot wound in the arm. While he was recovering, that was the longest time he ever spent at home. But it wasn’t a happy time for me or Mom, because that’s when he started drinking.”

  Rick grimaced, imagining her pain.

  “He cried for his friend all the time. It felt like he loved Frank more than he loved me and Mom. When he got better, he didn’t stop hunting. He went again and again with hunting friends. Every time he walked out the front door, my heart died a little more, but I knew my pleas would never stop him.

  “By my teens I realized he didn’t love us like he loved hunting. He provided for us, but with insight I saw that he was so selfish, he always put us last. Mom did the only thing that made sense and divorced him. She’d always had the shop to run, and that was her solace. We had peace after he left.

  “The only reason I had a visit from him the other night was because he needed a place to stay and didn’t want to pay money to go to a hotel. His third wife doesn’t like his hunting either.

  “You know what he left me for a Christmas present? Another can of bear mace.”

  What Rick was listening to made him ill.

  “When I met Gunter and fell in love, I was so glad he didn’t hunt or do any dangerous sports. I knew my marriage would be ideal because he’d always be there and always come home to me and the family we planned to have. But he died, too,” she said in a pained voice that ripped up Rick’s insides.