by Cate Nolan
“Okay.”
“He says go as fast as you feel safe. Slow as you come to the curve, then accelerate into it and follow the curve around but be ready to steer out of it and into a hard right into the entrance to the farm.” She paused and listened again. “You can speed down that lane. It’s well maintained and fairly flat.”
Jackson laid his foot on the pedal and felt the car leap forward. “Won’t they figure that’s what I’ve done?”
Callie relayed the question.
“He says probably, but that’s okay.”
Jackson could hear Callie moving around on the floor. She had to be getting pretty cramped. “You’re doing great, Cal. Just ask him why it’s okay.”
Callie waved her finger outside of the jacket, signaling him to hold on. “He put me on hold a minute,” she whispered. “No, I’m still here. Oh, that’s great. Okay. Where are we now, Jackson?”
“About to take the turn into camp.”
“Any sign of the car behind us?”
Jackson glanced in his side mirror. “Nope.”
Callie relayed his answers and after a minute spoke to him again. “He says go about two miles down the road. You’ll pass a house on the right and a parking lot on the left. You should see the truck they use for hauling trees in the lot.”
“Okay.”
“You’re going to love this, Jackson. The guy who owns this farm is a friend of the sheriff. As soon as we get past, he’s going to pull that tree truck into the driveway as if he’s headed into town. We’ll have clear sailing out the back way and the deputies will be waiting back on the road for the bad guys.
“And the sheriff says not to worry—he’ll have roadblocks set up in case they miss the turnoff to the farm. They can’t get out any other way.”
“Great. Tell him I owe him.”
There was a pause while she repeated his thanks.
“He says it’s his honor to help. So can I come out now?”
“Give it a minute. These guys took shots at us, remember? I wouldn’t put it past them to try again if they’re desperate enough.”
“Okay.”
Jackson smiled at the mix of resignation and triumph in her voice. He felt pretty much the same as he sped down the road past the farmhouse. He waved a salute to the man in the tree truck and reluctantly kept on down the road. He’d love to stop and see them caught, but it would be foolish to waste the precious time. No repeating last night’s mistake and hanging around. Someone else could follow up. He was getting his witness safely out while he could.”
Five minutes later he heard the muffled ring of his phone and Callie’s voice answering it. “That’s great! Thanks, Sheriff.”
She emerged from the jacket and crawled back onto the seat. “They’ve got them all in handcuffs.”
Jackson steered to the side of the road and rested his head against the steering wheel as he drew in steadying breaths. She was safe. “Good job, Cal.”
“We make a good team, don’t we?” She was beaming at him in a way that made him feel like he’d just conquered Everest.
“You know what the best part is, Jackson?”
“What?” He was finding it really hard to resist that grin. “What was the best part, Callie?”
“Christmas trees saved us. How many people do you think can say they were saved by Christmas trees? I dare you to not like Christmas after that.”
EIGHT
I dare you to not like Christmas after that.
Hours later, Jackson couldn’t stop her words from replaying in his mind. He kept thinking that for a woman who liked Christmas so much, Callie was having a pretty bleak season. On the run, far away from everyone and everything she knew. Separated from the class she loved so much. Pretty dismal makings for a holiday.
Maybe he could do something about it.
First, he needed some information, even if it meant putting himself out there.
“You awake over there?” He knew she was awake, but she’d been sitting huddled in the corner for too long.
Callie stretched and opened her eyes. “Yeah.”
“You okay?”
“Yeah.”
“Cat got your tongue?”
“I haven’t heard anyone use that phrase in...well, in like, forever.”
“I haven’t heard you have so little to say...in...like, days.”
Callie laughed. “Feeling playful, are you?”
“Hey, we survived what looked like a pretty desperate situation. I think we have a right to feel anything we like.” He left the words dangling.
Callie matched his silence for a time. Finally she surrendered. “Is that your way of asking how I’m feeling?”
Jackson sighed dramatically. “I never was very good at subtlety.” He concentrated on the road ahead for a few miles before speaking again, hoping she’d say something. “I’m worried about you, Callie. This has been a pretty stressful few days.”
She flipped her hair back and tugged the scarf tighter. “The things they don’t warn you about in witness-protection bargaining.”
Jackson didn’t have an answer for that. Witness protection was a serious business, a dangerous one. “How are you handling it?”
“I’m dealing.”
“By talking to yourself?”
“What?”
“You were talking to yourself back there. I heard the murmurs.”
Callie stared at him like he had grown an extra head. “I wasn’t talking to myself, Jackson. I was talking to God.”
“Huh?”
“I was praying, talking to God. Asking Him for help.”
Jackson didn’t have a response for that either. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d prayed. At least not seriously. Probably before his parents had been killed. It certainly hadn’t been since. “It helps you?”
“I couldn’t have made it through any of this without knowing God was watching over me.” She smiled. “So, yeah, I guess it helps.”
He nodded. It was obvious she wanted to press him, but his lack of a prayer life wasn’t really the point here.
“So is religion why you love Christmas so much?”
Callie chewed on her lip for a moment before answering. “Yes and no.”
“Explain.”
“Well God sending his son to redeem us is the only reason the season exists, and church on Christmas is such a blessing.” She broke off and fiddled with her scarf again. “But if I’m being honest, it’s the whole family thing, the tree, the food, the hours spent with friends and family, the lights, the decorations. All of that shouts Christmas to me.” She paused and her voice dropped a notch. “I guess we idealize what we don’t have.”
“But you had some good experiences?” He was pushing, but he didn’t like the funk she seemed to have fallen into. He needed to break her out of it.
“Yes. The teacher I told you about. And there was this one older woman. I really wanted her to be my mother, too.”
Jackson could hear the longing still in her voice. “Why couldn’t she be?”
“She was too old and sick, though I didn’t realize it at the time. She couldn’t physically handle raising a young girl.”
“I’m sorry.” The words seemed inadequate.
“Thanks. She was pretty special. She didn’t have much, but she lived her life with such joy. She taught me that happiness can be found in little things, in the simple acts of sharing time together.
“We were in Texas so we never had snow for Christmas, but one year she took some of us in for the holidays so we wouldn’t have to stay alone. She filled her house with scented candles so it would smell and feel like Christmas even if it didn’t look like it.
“She was the one who introduced me to Jesus. She gave me a children’s B
ible for Christmas and each night she’d read me some of the stories. For a while I wanted to be like her. Sort of eccentric, wearing and doing whatever I liked.”
Jackson chuckled at the image of a free-spirited Callie. “And what would that have been?”
“Depends on my age. At one point, a ballerina, of course. I was going to dance The Nutcracker in New York for Christmas.”
“A noble goal.” He was happy to hear her voice perking up.
Callie laughed. “I was eight.”
“Precocious, then.”
“Next there was the requisite horse phase. I still haven’t quite gotten over that,” she added wistfully. “And one summer I considered being a missionary.”
“What happened to that idea?”
She didn’t answer so he glanced over at her. She was blushing. That only made him more curious.
“Come on. Give. What changed your mind?”
“Don’t laugh.”
“Who’s laughing?”
She punched his arm good-naturedly. “I was staying in a different house. The woman was addicted to Survivor.”
“And?”
“When I saw the kind of conditions they lived in...and it was just for a few weeks.” She shuddered. “The dirt. The bugs. Not being able to wash your hair. Not very Christian spirited of me to be turned off doing the Lord’s work because of bugs, right? So it’s not one of my finer memories.”
“We’re not all cut out for that kind of thing,” Jackson offered, hoping to reassure that he wasn’t judging.
“Did you just say I’m not a good Christian?” she teased.
Jackson lifted one hand off the wheel in mock surrender. “I think you’re the one who said that. I was just, um, pointing out that you have other good qualities. Teaching kindergarten. That’s not for the faint of heart.”
“You’re sweet, Jackson. I appreciate you trying to cheer me up. You’d think someone who dealt with twenty-five kindergartners on a daily basis could handle more than this.”
Jackson reached over and rested his hand on her shoulder; it was the closest he could manage to giving a comforting hug while driving. “I doubt your kindergartners take target practice using you as their target.”
Callie laughed her appreciation. “True. They’re more likely to attack with sticky fingers.”
She waggled her fingers at him and he laughed, but his pulse started racing at the thought of this woman running at him with sticky fingers. Tension suddenly hummed in the air and the car seemed too small for the feelings that were building.
Jackson breathed a sigh of relief when he spied the road sign for a shopping mall ahead. He pointed it out to Callie. “We need a change of clothes.”
Callie cheered. “Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. I didn’t want to complain, but these clothes are pretty much taking on a life of their own. If I’d known we were heading out on a tour of every back road in America, I’d have packed accordingly.”
Her cheerful spirits never failed to lift his own. Turned out Ben’s assessment of her had been pretty accurate after all. “You’re a good sport, Callie Martin. I don’t want to risk going into the mall itself, but we do have to pick up food and supplies. We’ll need some warmer clothes for where we’re headed.”
“We have an actual destination?” Callie joked. “I was beginning to think we were just going to live in assorted rental cars until it was time for the trial.”
“Cute, Cal. We’ve got more than a week until the trial starts. I have something with more legroom in mind.”
“My legs thank you. Where are we going that I need more clothes?”
He grinned at her. “It’s a surprise.”
“Promise me it doesn’t come with more real-life action scenes.”
Jackson made a face. “I’m hoping for a peaceful few days.”
“Somewhere cold.” She twirled a strand of hair. “Hmm. Let me guess. The North Pole?”
Jackson struggled to ignore the way she was twisting her hair around her finger. It reminded him a bit too much of how she was starting to twist her way around his heart. He cleared the frog from his throat. “That would help with the Christmas spirit. But, no.”
“We could fight off the attackers with an army of elves and misfit toys.”
“Peaceful, Callie. Think peaceful thoughts.”
* * *
Shopping was anything but peaceful. Rather than risk heading into the mall, Jackson had parked around the side so they could go directly into an all-purpose store but even that was crowded this close to Christmas. Chaos reigned, but it was a good chaos, Callie decided. She felt safe. Nothing like hundreds of strangers swarming around in a mad shopping frenzy to help you hide.
She’d probably feel less secure if Jackson hadn’t checked in with the sheriff before they left the car. The four men who had been arrested were all still in custody, awaiting charges. A search of their car had turned up a cache of unlicensed weapons, providing excellent grounds for holding them. The fact that the men had no identification on them and had already escaped once had the local officials keeping very tight guard while they waited for the feds to arrive.
So for now she was safe.
Callie didn’t plan to dwell on how long that would last. She would live in the moment and be grateful. Thank You, Lord, for saving us and for letting us have this time of peace.
Callie wandered over to a holiday display while Jackson stood in line at the register. She couldn’t imagine what destination he had in mind that would require such a boatload of clothing, but she owed him so she’d be a good little witness and play along with his surprise.
While she waited, she watched a mother and her two daughters try to choose from an assortment of ornaments. The little girl seemed to have an eye for all the sparkly purple balls, while the older girl was looking longingly at a tree featuring some trendy boy band. Callie’s heart gave a tug as she watched the mother deftly suggest a slightly less gaudy star for the little girl and indulge the older one with a bell from the tree. The older girl threw her arms around her mother, and Callie turned away, fighting back the tears.
She almost walked into Jackson, who had come up behind her. “I wish we had time to linger, Callie.”
“You do?” He didn’t strike her as the kind to love shopping.
“Let me rephrase. For your sake, I wish it was safe to linger, but we need to keep moving.”
“I know.” She sniffed back the last of her tears and focused on what she had to be grateful for. “Do we have time for me to pick up some fancy coffee drink for the road?”
She watched Jackson scan the crowd. Maybe he wasn’t as confident about their safety as he’d seemed.
“Can you wait a bit? I want to switch out cars again. I noticed a rental place as we came in. There was a coffee shop next to it.”
And all she’d noticed were the Christmas decorations. Good thing she wasn’t the one in charge of her own security. Trying to shake off a sense of unease, she joked. “What, bullet holes in the trunk cramp your style?”
“Not good for my reputation as most awesome marshal.”
Callie smiled at him. “I think you have a lock on that one.”
Jackson swallowed hard and turned away. Callie hid a grin. Had she just made Jackson blush?
Once they got the packages in the car and headed over to the rental place, Jackson walked her to the coffee shop. “I’ll be back for you. I’m just going to be in the shop doing the paperwork for a new car.”
Callie nodded. “What can I get you? My treat. No protests. Think of it as my small way of repaying you.”
“You don’t need to repay me, Callie. I’m just doing my job.”
She wondered who he was trying to convince. “I can still buy you coffee.”
He stared at her a long moment
, then conceded. “Make mine hot chocolate, please. I’m at the point of never wanting to taste coffee again.”
“I hear you. Hot chocolate it is.”
“After you get the drinks, wait here. Call if anything concerns you.”
She had to ask. “Is there a reason I should expect trouble?”
He closed his eyes a second, as if weighing his words. “In our world, Callie, you should always expect trouble. I’m sorry. That’s reality.”
Callie tried not to let him see how his words had affected her, causing the sinking feeling that made her lose her appetite for silly Christmas drinks. Apparently she failed.
“It’s okay, Callie. You can get the drinks. We have to be careful, but you can’t stop living. If you do that, they win as surely as if they got to you. Right now you’re as safe as we can hope for. If anyone had gotten away, they’d have called me. I made it really clear we didn’t want a surprise like that again.”
Callie chuckled despite her fears. “I’m sure you did. Probably had them all running scared.”
“I want you safe.”
And that was it, the bottom line. “I know.” She nibbled on her lip, wondering how much to say. “I feel totally safe when I’m with you. Thank you, Jackson.” She impulsively reached up and gave him a quick hug.
Callie headed in to the coffee shop with their conversation heavy on her heart. Her spirits lifted quickly once she stepped through the doorway. Even this tiny chain store was decorated for Christmas. She missed having the opportunity to do that this year. Because the trial wasn’t scheduled to occur until after Christmas, she’d planned to get a tree and decorate her New York apartment a little. And New York had been so inspiring. She smiled, thinking that one of the perks of this witness relocation was that she’d gotten to see the sights of New York at Christmas. She’d spent a lot of time wandering around the city on her own. Skating at Rockefeller Center was her favorite experience. Pretty cool stuff for the girl from Texas.
But here she was now, days before Christmas and she felt more a kindred spirit with Mary and Joseph, far from home with no place to stay. But she had no family or child. All she had was one big pity party going on in her head, taunting her with memories of all she’d lost.
