Mistletoe Mischief: A Lost and Found Series Novella- Roger

by J. M. Madden

  The woman smiled at him. "Ah, perfect! Follow me."

  Gabe followed her through the brightly lit store, dodging people and carts and yelling kids. He kept telling himself that this was for Julie. She needed to know how special she was to him. He needed to show her how special. He tried to tell her as much as he could, but even that got lost in translation sometimes. And their schedules didn’t help either. Half the time they were on opposite schedules, passing in the hallway or maybe having a meal together, usually breakfast.

  The woman led him to rows upon rows of fabrics, then a row beyond to more strange looking items.

  "I need to ask you a few things. Is she a beginning quilter or has she been doing this a while?"

  Gabe frowned. "Well, she said she learned it from her grandmother but she's just taken it up again recently since we moved here."

  "Does she do everything by hand or does she use a machine?"

  The woman held a hand out to an oddly shaped white machine.

  "We don't have one of those in the apartment, I know that much."

  Finally, something he was sure about.

  "Well, these are a little pricey but if you're looking for something amazing this would be a very nice gift. Once she puts the pieces of fabric together to make the quilt top, they have to be quilted onto batting and the backing. This machine can handle all of that."

  Gabe leaned down to look at the machine, and the little display.

  The woman pointed out several buttons and levers. "She can do all of her piecing on this machine and do the quilting, too, as long as the quilt isn’t too large. Many times, quilters have to send their quilts out to be quilted, but she wouldn't have to do that with this machine."

  Gabe looked at the price tag, and it was a little expensive—about the cost of a nice Glock… or two—but Julie was worth it. "I'll take that. Definitely. What else can I get her?"

  The woman smiled and walked him along the aisle, pointing things out. Gabe thought Julie might have a rotary cutting tool, it looked vaguely familiar, but he got her another one anyway. As well as pins with colorful heads; wide, see through rulers, and special mats that she could cut things on. Kate assured him that even if she had these items already, they’d be welcome gifts because they were all extremely useful for a quilter. The saleswoman disappeared at one point to go get him a cart, and Gabe was amazed at the amount of stuff that they piled into it. He looked at the gray-haired woman. "Thank you for helping me. I had no idea what to get her."

  She rested a hand on the edge of the cart and gave him a smile. "Yeah, you had that look about you. We have a lot of military guys come in here looking for something special, but they have no idea what.”

  Gabe chuckled, for the first time feeling like he was kind of normal. "How did you know I was military?"

  Kate gave him a look over the top of her glasses, her laughter gone. "You have the look of a man hurting and lost, even with the dark glasses on. I saw you when you came in the store and knew I needed to talk to you,” she smiled softly. “You remind me of my son Charles. He was a Marine and loved his wife like there was no tomorrow, but he had the same kind of look to him for a long time. It wasn't until my grandbaby was hit riding her bicycle that he came around and started being there for them. Little Dahlia recovered and after that he was so much more... present in every way. He'd been a walking ghost for a couple of years when he came back from the war, but Dahlia's accident woke him up finally."

  Gabe swallowed, struck by the ghost analogy. Yeah, that's what he'd felt like for a long time, since he'd come out to Colorado. He felt ephemeral and insignificant. Unless he was with Julie. Maybe it was because she'd been there for so long, through all of his transitions, shifts and transformations from one life to another. She had been his one guiding star, his true North.

  He held a hand out to Kate. "I can't thank you enough for everything that you've done. I'm very glad that your son came back to his family."

  The woman smiled again and nodded her head. "He just needed a little direction."

  Gabe walked away from her feeling more solid in his mind than he had in a long time. As he was walking toward the cash registers at the front of the store, something caught his attention. It was a plaque, about two feet by two feet square sitting on an end cap display. 'Man, just like a compass needle, will wobble before finding his true North. You are my true North.'

  The sense of rightness that settled into him was significant. He didn't generally believe in coincidences, but between talking to Kate and seeing the sign, he felt like he was meant to be there. Grabbing the sign, he set it in the cart as well, then chose a line to check out.

  Now how the hell was he going to wrap all this stuff?

  Chapter Two

  Julie didn't know what to think when she pulled up to the apartment. Even though it was seven fifteen in the morning a couple of days after Christmas, there were new Christmas lights strung along the balcony of their apartment and down the railing of the stairway. She slowed as she realized there was even a simple wreath on her door. She had decorated the inside of the apartment, but she hadn’t done any of this.

  She opened the door carefully, wondering if she needed to be on the lookout for elves. Nope, no elves, just a bangin' hot former Navy SEAL sitting on the couch in his skivvies, scrubbing his face with his hands like he’d just woken up. Twelve hours of a thankless shift, sore back, and aching feet just faded away in a heartbeat.

  "Hello," she said softly. "This is a nice surprise."

  Gabe smiled, hopped up from the couch and crossed the room to her. Julie dropped her things to the floor and leaned up to meet his kiss. Rather than one of the little pecks he'd been giving her recently, he gave her a bone-melting, lingering kiss.

  "Now that's how it's supposed to be done," she smiled.

  Gabe grinned at her, his dark eyes heavy-lidded with sleep. "Welcome home," he rumbled.

  Julie blinked, wondering what had brought on the change. Damn, was this all because of Duncan's little admonishment to be more engaged?

  Gabe turned and tugged her to the couch. "Have a seat. I know you have to be tired."

  She was, but not so much that she wouldn't sit with him. "I'm surprised to see you up," she admitted.

  "Well, I was excited," he told her, grinning sheepishly.

  Uh oh...

  "Why are you excited?"

  He held up his hands. "It's our first Christmas together, and I realized that in the rush of moving out here and getting settled, we kind of lost sight of us. I need to get my head on straight and focus on what’s really important."

  Her eyes turned misty and she leaned forward to give him a short kiss. "I admit I've been a little distracted, too. The new job at the VA has taken some getting used to. And going from a regular office hours kind of nursing job to nights and swing shift with no seniority is hard. Christmas was a just blip on my radar."

  "Yeah, I'm in the same boat. And I have to be honest, I feel some heavy duty guilt for leaving the Teams."

  She cocked her head. "Why? You were injured. There wasn't anything you could do about that."

  He shrugged and rubbed a hand over his bristled jaw. "I know that in my head, but in my heart I worry that someone is going to get hurt because I'm not there. I was damn good at my job."

  She smiled at him, nodding. "I know. Butter was always full of stories about you. Remember?"

  His smiled turned sad as he remembered his lost friend, but he nodded. "Yeah, I remember. I think we had just as many stories about him, though. We were a really good team."

  Leaning close, she rubbed his back, wishing that he could let go of his worries. "I love that you're talking to me like this. You have a tendency to clam up and disappear. If I don't watch you sometimes, you just walk away."

  Wincing, he leaned into her shoulder. "I'm sorry I do that. Sometimes I just get wrapped up in my head and I don't think about anything else. Or something makes me feel panicky. I talked to Duncan today and he gave me some ideas a
bout getting on track and staying focused. But I want you to know that you are my priority. I love you. I really, really do. I can't imagine where I would be without you."

  The tears were back. "I love you, too, Gabe, and whatever you need us to do to keep straight, we'll do."

  He gave her a rueful smile. "I have a feeling that if we’ve made it through this year we'll make it through anything."

  Julie laughed, knowing he was exactly right.

  "So," he said, smacking his knees with his hands and pushing up from the couch to walk over to the little Christmas tree. "To that end, I got you some things. I know we had talked about waiting till this weekend, but I don't think I can wait. I want to see your face when you open these."

  Julie laughed as he drew a laundry basket full of hand-wrapped gifts out from behind the tree. There was one big box, then several other oddly shaped— and even more oddly wrapped— packages. In spite of herself, excitement surged through her. Hopping up, she ran to the bedroom to get the purple canvas Thirty-One bag full of his presents. She tore off her dirty scrubs and pulled on a long sleep shirt, then headed back out to the living room.

  Though she was tired, sharing this experience with him was much more important than sleep. And the fact that Gabe had initiated their celebration had her heart soaring.

  As they alternated opening gifts, she felt that connection strengthening, reaffirming itself between them. Gabe's lean face expressed joy and humble pride as he opened his last gift, a shadow box for the Silver Star he had received 'for valor during intense urban fighting' he’d been part of in Ramadi. That's what the presidential letter said, anyway. Gabe hadn't told her what he had done because it was still classified, but she'd seen footage on the news. It had been a devastating series of conflicts, and she was amazed he'd come home at all.

  "I thought that since you were retired now,” she said softly, “you wouldn't mind displaying it. If I'm wrong, we can put it in the closet until you're ready."

  He shook his head, eyes unfocused and lost to memories. Deliberately, she reached out to rest her hand on his thigh, and he jerked, his gaze finding hers. He blinked a couple of times, his focus sharpening. "I would… I do want to display it. Thank you, Julie."

  Gathering her in his arms, he wrapped himself tightly around her, sharing strength. Julie knew that he needed this more than she did, so she settled in, not moving until he did. "I love you, babe," he told her finally. "I will cherish it. Never doubt it. It was hard fought but deserved. Several of us on the Team got the same award at the same time."

  Julie knew he wouldn't say anything more about it, but she reveled in the fact that he had turned to her for comfort, rather than away.

  A few seconds later he prodded her off his lap and pushed the big box to her. "Maybe not as emotional, but I hope you enjoy it."

  Julie tugged at the misaligned paper, loving that he'd taken the time to wrap everything himself. Even the silver snowflake paper was new. When she revealed the picture on the box, she gasped. Then she ripped the paper away in a frenzy. "This had better not be a box you found on the street to use for my gift."

  Gabe laughed, leaning back against the front of the couch. "It's not, I promise. Is that a good machine?"

  Julie turned to him incredulously. "Hell, yes. I've been looking at these for a while but I couldn't justify spending the money on it. I'm not good enough to use it yet."

  "Well," he told her smiling, "now you have motivation to get better."

  Julie fell into his arms again. "I can't believe you knew I wanted this."

  "Well," he admitted, "I kind of didn't. I mean, I had a vague idea. But I have a new girlfriend that works at Jo-Ann’s, and she apparently knew your type very well, though she's never met you. Her name is Kate and she's amazing."

  Laughing, Julie tugged him down for a kiss. "Am I going to have to fight her for you?"

  "I don't know," Gabe told her, frowning. "I mean, she's every bit of sixty, sixty-five maybe, but she looks like a scrapper. Maybe you should just protect me from here."

  He sprawled across the floor, tugging her down over top of him. "Think you have one more Christmas present for me? Maybe?"

  Grinning, she leaned down to press her lips to his. "Oh, yes, as a matter of fact I do."

  Zeke

  Chapter One

  Christmas Eve

  Zeke wrapped his arm around Ember’s shoulders, pulling her to a stop.

  “I k-know you're on a mission, but j-just stop for a minute and look around.”

  With a dreamy grin, she nestled under his arm. “I know. I was talking to Dad about this earlier. I can't believe how very lucky we are… blessed.”

  Drew played over by the Christmas tree with Mercy, Chad and Lora’s little girl. The two of them had their heads together, dark and light. They’d become fast friends, even to the point of sending secret messages to each other via cell phones they’d snagged from their parents.

  “I d-d-don’t know what they’re brewing up, but it looks important.”

  Ember looked up at him with a grin on her mobile face, and he wondered for the five-millionth time what he’d ever done to deserve her. Her left hand was curled protectively beneath her chin, engagement ring hidden.

  Anxiety pressed at him. “Is the r-r-ring okay?”

  Ember turned to him and cupped his gnarly face in her soft palms. She’d never minded his scars. “My ring is beautiful, and exactly right. I would have chosen the very same.”

  He leaned down to meet her kiss. Normally, he was a little more sure of himself, but an engagement ring was such a big thing. “I t-t-took Chad with me to choose. Since he’d al-al-already done it. Dragged Duncan along with us, t-t-too.”

  Her dark eyes smiled up at him. He loved how they creased at the corners when she smiled up at him. Hell, who was he kidding —he loved everything about her.

  “It will take me a little while to get used to it. And I already worry about the stone. I can’t help it.”

  She shrugged in the cage of his arms and leaned her head against his chest. Again, Zeke wrapped his arms tighter around her, wishing they were back home so that they could celebrate.

  “Don’t worry about the stone, the ring’s insured. Hey, think we can s-s-sneak back to the office?” he whispered.

  Ember looked at him, a scandalized look on her face. “No, we can’t go back to the office,” she hissed. “You are so bad!”

  But her cheeks had flushed, and he knew if there weren’t thirty other people in the bar she would let him tug her back there. Happily.

  When the party started breaking up, he wasn’t too concerned. It had been a nice party, but the weather was moving things along. Drew’s eyes were heavy lidded, and he would be a bear in the morning. Actually, since tomorrow was Christmas, maybe he wouldn’t be.

  Zeke thought of the work he had to do yet tonight. ‘Santa’ had gotten Drew several items that needed to be assembled. He had at least a couple hours of work ahead of him tonight… hmmm, maybe his dark-haired elf could help him.

  By the time they’d waved everybody out and readied the bar for the next opening, the night after Christmas, it was creeping on toward midnight. Drew dragged his feet on the way to the truck, and was asleep in his booster seat within minutes. When they got to the house, Ember moved to wake him but Zeke shook his head. “I’ll carry him in.”

  Drew didn’t make a sound as he was carried into the house and up the stairs to his room. Zeke laid him upon the mattress softly, and he didn’t rouse. He pulled the little sneakers off, and the lights in the soles glittered in the dark room as they thumped to the floor.

  Zeke shook his head. He’d have killed for kicks like that when he was a kid, no lie.

  Ember took care of her son better than she did herself. Her work shoes would fall apart before she bought herself new ones. He understood that she’d gotten used to saving money when she’d been living alone, but jeez.

  Drew could sleep in his jeans and T-shirt tonight. More than likely he�
�d be up in just a few hours anyway. Tucking the Captain America sheets and comforter around him, Zeke pushed to his feet.

  Ember passed him in the hallway, grinning up at him as she hauled a black plastic trash bag full of toys toward the front room. He pressed a quick kiss to her lips.

  “I’ll be down in a m-minute.”

  She nodded, tiptoeing on down the stairs.

  Zeke headed to their bedroom, feeling tiredness dogging at his heels. After working all day, then catering the party, the last thing he wanted to do was stay up for hours putting together crazy ass toys for the boy. He had asked Ember why they had to do it, and not Drew.

  “Well, some of them he will want to put together himself, but others he’ll want to start playing with right away. Like the bike.”

  Zeke glanced out the window a little dubiously. He would put the bike together, but he had a feeling Drew wouldn’t get a chance to ride it for days yet. The slime-green toboggan Zeke had gotten him, on the other hand, would be used immediately if the forecast for more than a foot of snow was correct.

  He retrieved the bike box from where he’d hidden it in the garage and turned on the forced air heater to warm up the space. Within just a few moments the heat was rolling, and he’d dumped all of the parts onto the concrete floor.

  What a freaking mess…

  The bike itself ended up being pretty easy to put together. It was the assorted extra plastic parts that made him curse a blue streak. The pieces were supposed to turn the bicycle into a motorcycle wannabe. It did end up being pretty cute, even though it was a trial, and he knew Drew would love it.

  Ember ducked her head out the door. “How are things coming on your end?”

  He stood, stretching his back. “Okay, I think.”

  She looked at the small pile of hardware on the floor at his feet. “Are you supposed to have extra bolts like that?”

  “Yes,” he growled.

  “Well, when you bring it inside I’ll have something to warm you up.”