Wicked Winter (An Ivy Morgan Mystery Book 8)

by Lily Harper Hart

  “And did you … pick that day, I mean?”

  “I did.”

  “So you’re going to propose on Christmas?” Ivy was still wrapping her head around the scenario when Jack began shaking his head, causing her stomach to twist for another reason. “You’re not going to propose?”

  “Oh, I’m still going to propose,” Jack countered. “It’s simply not going to happen on Christmas now. You’ve officially ruined the surprise.”

  Ivy’s mouth dropped open, outrage taking the place of disbelief. “You ruined the surprise. I told you I was fine with the secret.”

  Jack made a derisive sound in the back of his throat. “Oh, please. You jumped right to the conclusion I was cheating on you. Max told me. Like I would keep a file if I was cheating.”

  Ivy scalded him with a hot look. “You’re supposed to say you would never cheat on me.”

  “That’s a given. You’re more woman than I can handle as it is.”

  “I like to think I’m just enough woman.”

  “That’s true on most days,” Jack conceded. “When you get a bug up your butt, though, you’re definitely more than any one man can handle. That’s why I often need to call in reinforcements.”

  Ivy rolled her eyes. “I do not have a bug up my butt!”

  “What would you call it?”

  “A natural curiosity.” Ivy knew she was on the verge of losing it so she worked overtime to tamp down her agitation. “If you’re not going to propose on Christmas, when are you going to propose?”

  Jack shrugged, noncommittal. “That depends entirely on you. You’ve ruined my surprise and now you’re going to have to wait to give me time to think of another way to make it special.”

  Ivy was mortified … and a bit annoyed with herself. She recognized this was her fault, but she didn’t want to take responsibility for robbing herself of the happiest Christmas ever. “But … you could still propose. I promise to act surprised.”

  Jack had to bite the inside of his cheek to keep from laughing. “Oh, honey, I don’t want you to act surprised. I want you to really be surprised. You need to wait now. Maybe, if you’re lucky, I’ll work up a new plan by next Christmas.”

  Ivy narrowed her eyes to dangerous slits as she glowered at the man who she knew would one day become her husband. “You’re being really mean given what I went through yesterday.”

  “Oh, don’t even!” Jack shook an energetic finger in her face. “I love you more than anything, but it’s low of you to even consider saying something like that to me.”

  “But … .” Ivy was at a loss.

  Jack shook his head, firm. “You’ve done this to yourself so I have absolutely no sympathy.”

  “You’re really not going to propose?” Ivy didn’t consider herself a weepy woman, but she was close to tears.

  “Honey, I’m going to propose,” Jack countered. “You are going to have to wait for me to be able to surprise you, though. That’s your penance for being insecure and doubting me.”

  “I didn’t doubt you.” Ivy searched inward to make sure that was true. When she riffled through her soul, she realized she never doubted Jack. She merely wanted something to focus on other than a dead man who had no apparent reason to commit a robbery that was akin to suicide. “I didn’t. I know you love me.”

  “Well, you’re going to know even more when I propose,” Jack said pragmatically. “Until then, though, you’re fresh out. Now, what do you say about decorating this tree? We have a lot of ornaments and hot cocoa in our future.”

  Ivy watched him saunter to the ornament bin, a bit of extra swagger in his step. “You’re a very mean man.”

  “I’m a very mean man who loves you,” Jack countered. “Now, come on. We have a lot of work to do. If you’re a very good girl, I might even move the work into the bedroom before bed. How does that sound?”

  “Like you’ll be sleeping alone if you keep torturing me.”

  “Nah, I think we’ll go another route,” Jack said, feigning disinterest in Ivy’s plummeting mood. “I’m going to keep torturing you and you’re going to suck it up because you know you’re in the wrong here. That’s how we’re going to spend the run-up to Christmas.”

  “Or I could just make you sleep on the couch.”

  “Let’s see how that works out for you, shall we?” Jack handed Ivy a glittery silver ball ornament. “Get to decorating, honey. This tree isn’t going to deck out itself.”

  IVY MANAGED to focus on the tree trimming long enough to finish it. Then she shared hot cocoa with Jack before retiring for the night. All the while she tried to come up with a reason to get him to return to his Christmas proposal plan. She came up empty.

  Surprisingly, her initial fear at the knowledge Jack planned to propose was quickly eradicated. Now she could only think about the actual deed and how excited she would be to plan a small, but intimate and beautiful, wedding. That’s what she wanted more than anything, to pledge her love to Jack and know that he felt the same way.

  Unfortunately for Ivy, she’d totally fouled it up.

  “Good morning, Sunshine.” Jack greeted Ivy in the kitchen with a wide smile and glass of tomato juice the next morning, pressing a kiss to her cheek before turning back to the counter. “I thought I would cook pancakes this morning. How does that sound?”

  Ivy knit her eyebrows and scorched holes into his broad back. “So … we’re going to pretend it’s a normal day?”

  “I’m not a fan of attempting the impossible,” Jack replied. “I’m also not going to give in and propose no matter how you manipulate, whine, or fight. So you’re going to have to deal with that. On the flip side, you can look at some of the stuff I’ve been gathering for the basement renovation so we can make decisions before the spring.”

  Ivy shifted her eyes to the table and found the files from Jack’s bag resting on the corner, waiting for her. “We didn’t really talk about that,” she hedged, shuffling toward the table. She was still in her pajamas, hair standing on end, even though Jack had showered and prepared for work. “What are you thinking?”

  Jack internally crowed when she gave an inch and agreed to table the proposal argument for a bit. He considered that a win. “There’s a lot of untapped room down there. We also have a few practical problems, including the fact that there’s no exit.”

  “Do we need an exit?” Ivy sat in the end chair and flipped open the top file, widening her eyes when she saw the beautiful photographs inside. “What is this?”

  “Those are just examples of work the contractors have done,” Jack cautioned. “We’re obviously not building a house on the lake or anything. I don’t want shoddy work down there, though. I want good work.”

  Ivy flipped a page in the first packet. “And you’re okay moving in here?”

  “I am. The bigger question is, are you okay with me moving in here?”

  “I was actually going to ask you to move in after Christmas,” Ivy admitted, catching Jack off guard.

  “You were?” He turned to meet her gaze but found her absorbed in the glossy packet.

  “I didn’t see any reason for you to waste money on a rental when you spend most of your time here,” Ivy explained.

  “That’s very … pragmatic.”

  “I also wanted to officially share a roof with you.”

  Jack cracked a smile. “That’s very romantic.” He tossed the ingredients to make pancake batter into a bowl and carried it to the table so he could sit and watch her peruse the information while mixing. “There are only two rooms on the main floor. I’m assuming that one day we’ll turn your library into a room for a child. Unless … well … we haven’t talked about that. Do you want kids at some point?”

  Ivy nodded without hesitation. “I don’t want a gaggle of them or anything, but I would like one at least. Two if the first one is really well behaved.”

  Jack chuckled and squeezed her knee under the table. “That sounds good.”

  Ivy chewed on her bottom lip as she open
ed another file. “So you want to make the second room a kid’s room and do what with the basement?”

  “The way the house cuts into that hill makes it relatively easy for us to dig out a spot to put a door right there and add in a set of stairs that head down,” Jack explained. “I want to replace the windows so we get more natural light. I want to turn the main area into a den, or a playroom for kids. I also want to build in three other rooms.”

  “Three?” Ivy’s eyebrow winged up. “I’m not sure my uterus is up for that many kids.”

  “Cute.” Jack wrinkled his nose. He could tell delaying talk of the proposal was killing her, but she was beyond excited at the prospect of updating the house. It was a nice compromise. “I’m going to need a room for a home office, a place where I can have a bit of privacy. You also need your library. We don’t have to move that to the basement right away, but I want you to have your own private space, too. The other room will be a guest room until we need it for something else.”

  Ivy heaved out a sigh, impressed. “You’ve given this a lot of thought.”

  “I’ve given it a great deal of thought,” Jack confirmed. “Ever since meeting you it seems that all I can think about is spending my life with you. That’s what I want.”

  “And yet now you won’t propose,” Ivy grumbled.

  Jack refused to be baited. “Do you like what I’ve been thinking about?”

  Ivy rubbed her forehead to push back the frustration and nodded. “I do. It’s just … how much is this going to cost? I have some money put away, but with spring stock coming up that will take a big chunk out of my savings.”

  “You don’t need to worry about that.”

  Ivy’s eyes flashed. “What is that supposed to mean? I want to bring something to this relationship, too.”

  “You do. You bring your heart.”

  “You know what I mean.”

  Jack smiled when she repeated his words back to him. “I do, but you’re already supplying the house and a beautiful piece of land. I have money from the sale of my Detroit house. I’m also not a big spender. I have a decent amount put away, more than enough to do this renovation. I think it’s only fair that I pay for it since you’ve already paid for the house.”

  Ivy swallowed hard, wondering if her pride could take that. Since it involved building a beautiful life with Jack, she realized she could. “Okay. We both get to make decisions on colors and furniture, though, right?”

  “Absolutely.” Jack bobbed his head. “We’re doing this together. Every single step, it will be together.”

  The simple admission warmed Ivy’s heart. “Does that mean you’re going to propose on Christmas?”

  Jack’s smile widened. “No.” He got to his feet. “You’re going to have to live with the fact that your doubts have delayed the proposal. I’m sorry, but it is what it is.”

  Ivy scowled. “You’re getting off on torturing me, aren’t you?”

  “I’m getting off on loving you. Torturing you is just an added bonus.”

  Ten

  “You!”

  Max raised an eyebrow when Ivy dramatically stalked into his place of business shortly before ten but otherwise remained unmoving as he stood behind the counter in the lumberyard office. “You,” he challenged back, mocking her expression as he enjoyed the game.

  “You!” Ivy repeated, pointing.

  One of Max’s workers, Todd Smith, snickered at Ivy’s obvious outrage. “She looks mad, bro.”

  “She’s a crazy loon,” Max explained. “Oh, wait. You mean ‘mad’ as in angry, not crazy, right?”

  Todd widened his eyes to comical proportions as Ivy stalked closer to the counter. “I think she’s going to hurt you.”

  “If she tries, I’m going to rub her face in my armpit. That’s what big brothers do … and we like it.”

  Ivy ignored Max’s lame attempt at humor. “You knew.”

  “I know a lot of things, Ivy,” Max said dryly, motioning with his hands to send Todd scurrying toward the door. “You’re going to have to be more specific.”

  Ivy didn’t so much as spare a glance for Todd as she glared at her brother. “You knew Jack was going to propose and you didn’t say anything.”

  Max went slack jawed as he realized what Ivy was referring to, recovering relatively quickly and letting a wide smile take over his face. “He asked you early? I can’t believe it. He was so set on asking you for Christmas so you guys would always have a special Christmas memory.”

  Max slapped the counter in anticipation. Ivy didn’t have any female friends so he would have to play the part. “Let me see the ring? I asked him to let me see it when I was at the house looking at the basement with him the other day, but he said it was private. I got the feeling that he went all out and was a little nervous. Do you love it?”

  Ivy’s cheeks burned with embarrassment. “I don’t have the ring.”

  Max stilled, confused. “Why?”

  “Because Jack and I aren’t engaged.”

  The reality of what she was saying set in and Max felt sick to his stomach. “Did you turn him down? Oh, my … are you crazy? Why would you possibly do that? He loves you. I … okay, you panicked and acted out of sorts. We can fix this.” Max rubbed his cheeks to get the blood flowing as he tried to work up a plan. “You didn’t break his heart, did you?”

  Ivy was convinced it wasn’t possible to be more upset than she already was. Max’s reaction taught her how very wrong that line of belief actually was. “I didn’t say no,” she barked. “He told me he was going to propose because he thought I was being a pain about the folders in his bag, but now he says I have to wait because I ruined his big surprise.”

  Whatever he was expecting, that wasn’t it. Max leaned back on his heels and hooked his thumbs through his belt loops. “Huh.”

  “Huh? That’s all you have to say?” Ivy was livid. “He told me that he’s not going to propose until he can come up with a new plan, I ruined my own Christmas gift, and I have no one to blame but myself.”

  Max recognized that Ivy was understandably upset, but he had to press his lips together to keep from laughing. “That’s … horrible.”

  Ivy ignored Max’s lame attempt at soothing her. “The good news is that we can talk about construction because he wants to start that in a few months. The bad news is he might not propose again until next Christmas.”

  Ivy looked so miserable when she threw herself in the chair across from the fireplace that Max couldn’t stop himself from taking pity on her. He shuffled out from behind the counter and took the chair across from her, working overtime to keep his mirth in check as he debated how to make her feel better.

  On one hand, Ivy was getting exactly what she deserved. She was a control freak who called Jack’s loyalty into question when he’d been nothing but dedicated to Ivy since the moment he met her. Sure, there was that twenty-four hour period after she’d been shot when he ran away and broke her heart, but the guy was traumatized by his own shooting and had a bad reaction. He got over it and apologized. Ivy forgave him. Since then, he’d done nothing but dote on Ivy. She was the one who turned this particular situation into such a mess.

  “Ivy, he’s not going to make you wait until next Christmas,” Max argued. “That’s not in his nature. That’s not how he rolls.”

  “He’s really mad.” Ivy’s eyes filled with tears. “I think he’s rethinking the entire thing.”

  Max doubted that very much. “What did you guys do after he told you he was going to propose but now you had to wait until he could plan another surprise?”

  Ivy made a face. “We decorated the Christmas tree.”

  “And then?”

  “And then we had hot cocoa with snowflake marshmallows.”

  “I saw those at the grocery store and bought them, too. They’re freaking delicious.” Max smiled at Ivy’s pronounced scowl. She was so easy to agitate. “What happened after that? Did Jack sleep on the couch?”

  “No.” Ivy rubbed her
cheek, her expression dour. “We went to bed like normal. He tucked my feet under the covers like normal. He had me curl up next to him, my head on his shoulder, like normal. Everything was normal … except for the huge pink elephant in the room.”

  “That went to a weird porn place – just so you know.” Max grinned when Ivy angrily slapped at his arm. “What do you want me to say, Ivy? I know you’re worked up, but this is downright hilarious.”

  “How is this hilarious? Jack changed his mind.”

  “See, this proves you haven’t been listening to what he’s trying to tell you at all.” Max sobered and leaned closer. “Think!” He flicked his finger against her forehead, causing her to grimace. “He told you his plan because he didn’t want you making yourself sick over worrying what’s in those folders. He knew you would and he refused to torture you. That’s love, Ivy.”

  “I’m not saying he doesn’t love me,” Ivy countered. “I’m saying that the way I acted caused him to change his mind.”

  “No, it didn’t.” Max was quickly losing interest in the conversation. “He told you the truth. Not only that, he’s essentially turned the tables on you. It’s brilliant. No, really, it is. I wonder if he expects you to lose it and propose to him.”

  Ivy was mortified by the thought. She was all for women’s lib and the like, but she wanted to be the one proposed to … not the other way around. “I don’t want things to go that way.”

  Max took pity on his sister and rested a hand on her shoulder. “I know you don’t. I’m pretty sure Jack knows it, too. He’s not going to torture you forever. I’m guessing he’ll only do it until New Year’s Eve at the latest.”

  Ivy wasn’t keen on that possibility. “But … that’s not what I want.”

  “Did you give Jack what he wanted?”

  “I didn’t mean to freak him out,” Ivy protested. “It was an accident. I was antsy and needed something to focus on that didn’t revolve around what happened at the mall. It turns out that I couldn’t push that out of my head no matter what and I actually felt better when we visited the tree lot and I did something proactive. Sure, it turned out to be nothing, but I still felt better.”