by Jill Sanders
“We attend classes at the middle school,” Jordan explained.
“Mother and daughter yoga every Tuesday,” Lisa added. “I’ve been trying to get Mom to join a local class.”
“If it will help me, then I’m game,” Jan had said, but Crystal could see some resolve. “It’s just so… hard to get out of the house.”
Crystal had laid a hand on her arm. “You can take private lessons, have someone come to the house if you want. Most insurance covers the cost after a stroke.”
“It does?” She’d perked up slightly. “Did you hear that, Don?” She’d smiled at Crystal. “Looks like I’m going to start getting private yoga lessons.”
“You and me both,” Rory had added.
Chapter 21
Thanksgiving was wonderfully hectic. His family buzzed around the house, getting everything ready for the big meal, which always took place at two o’clock promptly.
Why two o’clock? He never knew. His only guess was that it was an hour before football usually started, which meant his dad could fall asleep listening to the game after the big meal. He usually joined his old man.
His nieces were old enough this year to help out. They set the table and delivered food on platters light enough for them to carry to the table. Crystal had added her touch to the meal by taking charge of all the vegetable dishes.
He could tell that his family liked Crystal. Even his nieces were hanging on the woman like she was their long-lost friend.
When they sat down to eat, he was amazed at how well Crystal fit in the empty chair at the table. She laughed, joked, and entertained his family like a pro.
His mother kicked him, his father, and his nieces out of the kitchen after dinner so she could clean up, so he took the girls out to the backyard, and they threw snowballs at one another for half an hour. When they returned inside, his shoulder was sore, and he was seriously thinking about taking a nap in front of the fireplace while watching the game.
He was happy when Crystal joined him on the sofa and snuggled up beside his good shoulder. He fell asleep during the halftime show and woke again when Crystal shifted and stood up.
“I’m going to take a walk.” She smiled down at him.
“I’ll go with you.” He rubbed his hands over his face and blinked his eyes until he could see straight.
They pulled on their jackets and boots and made their way to the center of town just as the sun set.
“I wondered if it was as grandiose as Silver Cove’s.”
“Does it meet with your standards?” he asked, looking around at all the lights and decorations. The ice rink was larger and instead of one giant tree, they had two. There was a small hut with a sign over the door that said, “Santa’s Workshop.” He knew that come tomorrow, there’d be a jolly man in red sitting inside to greet little kids.
“It’s funny, I’ve never really traveled anywhere before. I just always assumed…”
“That things were different?” She nodded in agreement. “They are. Look around.”
She did and noticed that, even though the people looked friendly, she didn’t see a face she knew. Everyone here was a stranger.
“You’ve embedded yourself into a community. Extended family, so to speak. You’re comfortable walking through town because you’re surrounded by people you know. Here?” He nodded. “Not a familiar face in the crowd.”
She smiled and moved closer to him. “There’s no place like home.” She sighed as they continued to walk.
As they made their way back to his parents’ house, he wondered about his own place. The small apartment that held all of his possessions could scarcely be called a home. At best, it was an office where he slept, dressed, and showered.
He didn’t know any of his neighbors or even a single person in his building.
For that matter, the only people he could call friends were all married and had kids. He was the only single man he knew.
That thought was slightly depressing.
“You’re quiet,” Crystal said as they made their way back up the front steps of his parents’ place.
Taking her hand, he pulled her to the swing he’d helped his father hang when they’d moved in.
“I don’t want to go back,” he blurted out.
“Back?” She frowned.
“Home.”
“Silver Cove?” she asked, causing him to chuckle.
“See, you already think of it as my home too. No, I mean the city. Boston. My apartment. My job. All of it.” He stood up and started pacing the small porch. “I want to go home with you, be with you.” He turned towards her. “If you’ll have me.”
Her smile was slow, and she stood up to wrap her arms around him. “I knew you’d come around.” She kissed him.
“Are you okay with having a middle-aged, unhealthy workaholic live with you?”
“As long as you’re okay living with a middle-aged grandmother health nut who will push you into doing yoga with her.”
He laughed, then kissed her. “It’s a deal. Now, how about we have some leftovers. I think I slept off all the turkey and stuffing from before.”
That evening, they gathered around and watched a few Christmas movies.
Crystal showed pictures of Aurora and Sarah to his parents and they laughed at some of the stories she told about raising a daughter who refused to go by her given name.
“That’s nothing. When Rory was eleven, he was determined to go by his middle name. The school called and told us our son Jackson had gotten in trouble.” Don laughed. “I told them I didn’t have a son named Jackson and they had the wrong number.”
“I sat in the principal’s office all day,” Rory added. “Needless to say, I stopped trying to go by Jackson.”
“Why did you like Jackson over Rory?” Crystal asked.
“The kids had a rhyme…” He rolled his eyes when she raised her eyebrows in question. “Boring Rory.” He sighed.
She smiled slightly. “Kids will be cruel. It was one of the reasons Serenity changed her name to Sarah.”
“Kids made fun of her in school?” his mother had asked.
“I homeschooled her for a long time, but when she convinced me to let her attend the local school, yes.” She sighed, and he could see the memories flood her mind. “She was so much stronger than I was at that point.”
“Her father died when she was young? Rory mentioned… something about it,” his mother asked.
“Yes.” Again, he saw something behind her blue eyes and he could see that the woman he loved still loved the man she’d once been with. “Johnathan died when Serenity was six.”
“Too young for a child to be without a parent,” his father had added.
“My parents were there to fill the void. Serenity never wanted for anything, but still… yes, much too young.”
“You never remarried?” Lisa asked.
“Johnathan and I…” She shook her head. “No, I never found anyone else.” Crystal’s eyes locked with his. “I haven’t felt the same since then. Then again, I don’t think I’d want to. My feelings, like me, have grown a lot since then.” Crystal reached for his hand and smiled at him. He saw her emotions and knew that she felt the same about him as he did for her.
His heart skipped, and he knew he was lucky to have her. Lucky to get to enjoy the spark that was Crystal Holley. The love of his life.
The time at Rory’s parents flew by too quickly. They left at the same time Lisa and her family did. The girls hugged and kissed her like she was family, which filled her heart even more.
The drive back to Silver Cove seemed slower somehow. It might have been the fresh snow that was falling, making Rory drive five miles under the posted speed limit on the back roads to Silver Cove. Or it could have been because she was eager to get home and start their new life together.
They stopped at a small gas station outside of Freeport that had a diner next to it and ate dinner. It was nice sitting down for a meal in a diner and not having your meal interrupte
d by people you knew wanting to chat. She didn’t mind it every now and then, but being able to focus on their conversation without people she knew surrounding her was also nice.
As they made their way on the last leg of their journey home, they settled several details about his move. He’d return to the city early next week, pack up his belongings, and have a moving company deliver his things. Since he owned his condo, he’d have to put it on the market, which could take a few more days. He hoped to be back just in time for Christmas.
They had only passed one other car since they had left the diner. The snow was falling faster, causing most to stay indoors.
The wipers squeaked as they cleaned the snow off of the windshield. The headlights barely broke through the thick white flakes, causing Rory to slow down even more.
A few lights from homes along the rocky shore were visible every now and again. During the day, she knew the road like the back of her hand, but at night, with this much snow on the ground, every turn looked like the one before.
The only detail about the move they hadn’t discussed he brought up less than ten miles from Silver Cove.
“Will you tell Sarah and Ben? Or should we do it together?” Rory asked.
“I think we can—” There was a loud screech and bang, then suddenly the rental car was jerked forward, as if being pushed from behind. She screamed and held on as Rory desperately tried to get the car under control.
“Jesus!” he cried out, just before they hit the snowbank.
She must have blacked out, because when she woke, she was being pulled from the car and dragged through the snow.
“What?” She blinked a few times, but her eyes were filled with something sticky and red. When she tried to reach up to wipe the liquid away, pain shot up her right hand and she cried out.
“I told you you’d pay.” The voice was familiar, but Crystal was having a tough time placing it. Then she noticed a pair of green eyes glaring down at her and it hit her. Nichole.
“Nichole?” she asked, trying once more to move.
“You just couldn’t leave him alone,” the girl hissed. “Not only did you break your promise to allow us to use your space, but you broke his heart and then fired him!” She stopped talking then and bent over to pull Crystal through the snow once more. She was wearing a black snowsuit with dark gray steel-toed snow boots.
It was then that she realized the reason she couldn’t move her arms. They were tied above her head with a thick rope, which was cutting into her arms and blocking her blood circulation.
“I saw you at the diner. I knew this was my chance to stop you from coming back and ruining my plans. You’ve been too busy with your accountant to notice what was in front of you the entire time.” Nichole smiled and tugged on Crystal’s arms again, causing her body to slide in the deep snow.
There was a bead of sweat rolling down Nichole’s face and the girl quickly dashed it away.
“The money was just the beginning.” Nichole laughed and tugged on her arms once again.
“You stole the money?” Crystal tried to glance around, but her neck and shoulders were in too much pain from the accident. She must have hit them during the slide into the ditch.
“Joe was so trusting,” Nichole said, still tugging. The snow was too deep for the girl to drag Crystal’s body easily. “I watched him log in to your system. Your password was easy. Then when he left me alone, I decided to put a little money aside to open my own place. Your accounting software made it easy to hide my first transactions, so then I thought about setting up reoccurring deposits.” She laughed. “I have enough to buy the building next door to yours.” She laughed again, then grunted as she continued to tug. “I told Joe that you’d never allow us to open our own salon in your place. But I went along with his plan anyway. Until you fired him because of me.” She stopped and glared down at her. “Which proved to me that you still loved him.”
Crystal wanted to shake her head, but she doubted her neck could take it. “No,” she said, “I never loved Joe.”
“Liar. He told me all about you. All about his time with you. Did you know that he was with me while he was sleeping with you?” she sneered.
“No.” Crystal had wondered on several occasions if he had another lover, but she hadn’t cared at that time.
“He loved me. He used you.” She reached down and started tugging again.
“Where are you taking me?” she finally asked.
“To the edge.” Nichole nodded behind her, in the direction she was pulling Crystal.
“The edge?” She tried to shift, but it was as if her entire body was locked in place.
“Everyone will think that you flew out of the windshield and fell over Flying Point Cliff.” She laughed. “Simple. Problem solved. No one will notice what I’ve done, and we’ll sit back and enjoy everything you’ve worked so hard for.” She continued to pull her.
“What have you done?” she asked, trying to kick out in the snow to slow the girl down.
“You were so busy looking for the lost money,” Nichole said in between grunts. Crystal could tell that she was wearing down and continued to drag her feet in the thick snow. “You never looked at your legal files.” She grunted once more and fell in the snow, then cursed and, with a renewed vigor, started tugging her again.
“What papers?” Crystal thought about what Joe and the girl could have gained access to, then it dawned on her. “My will?” She gasped, causing Nichole to laugh.
“Yes, it’s funny, everything is online nowadays. All you need is a password and a notary who doesn’t ask questions.”
“You think you can steal everything of mine with a fake will?” Nichole just glared down at her and Crystal started laughing uncontrollably. She laughed through the pain as the girl dropped her arms and grew angry.
“What,” she screamed, “is so funny?”
“You. You’re so young and naive,” she said between her laughter.
“Stop laughing at me!” The girl raised her booted foot and kicked Crystal in the ribs, hard. Crystal heard something snap, and her laughter turned to groans.
She watched in horror as the girl drew her leg back to kick her once again. She waited for the pain, but a dark figure rushed over her body and tackled the girl.
Both bodies flew closer to the edge of the cliff. She watched in horror as Rory fought Nichole, trying to hold her down, but the girl wiggled and kicked out, screaming the entire time.
“It’s over,” Rory said, just as the girl threw her elbow up and punched Rory in his bad shoulder. Rory doubled over and grunted, dropping his hold on the girl.
Their bodies slid closer to the edge. Crystal cried out, trying to warn Rory, but she was too late. She watched in shock as both Rory and Nichole slid over the edge of Flying Point Cliff and straight into the icy waters of the ocean below.
Chapter 22
Rory held on to the cliff’s edge as if his life depended on it. Which it did. He’d heard the girl’s screams stop moments after she’d fallen. He’d heard a slight splash, then nothing more.
He didn’t dare look down. Instead, he concentrated on holding onto the rocky surface he’d dug his fingers into. His fingers were half frozen, his bad shoulder was screaming at him, but still, he held on.
“Crystal, honey, do you think you can help me?” he called out, trying to sound calm.
He heard her cry out and move around. She smiled when her head popped out over the cliff’s edge.
“You didn’t fall?”
“Not yet. Think you can find something to help me up?” His feet were dangling in midair and he didn’t want to let on how much trouble he was in.
She disappeared, then a thick rope was dangled down and hit him square in the face.
He was using his good hand to hold onto the cliff’s edge and wondered if his bad shoulder would hold him if he grabbed the rope with it. After a moment of thought, he decided it didn’t matter, since he was pretty sure he was seconds away from falling to his dea
th anyway.
Letting go with his left hand, he gripped the rough rope and called out. “Pull.”
He knew she was using all of her strength to tug him up, so he helped by climbing the crumbling wall with his good arm as he dug his feet into the dirt and rocks.
It took longer than he thought it would. By the time his body lay on the edge, he was completely spent. His arms shook, and he was pretty sure he’d messed up his shoulder.
He lay there as the snow fell on his face, breathing heavy in the dark night. White puffs of his breath floated upward into the dark sky. He could feel his hands bleeding from the rope and rocks, but didn’t move to stifle the flow.
Then Crystal was there, and all of his pain disappeared.
“You’re alive,” she cried, looking down at him. When she kissed him, warmth spread throughout his entire body.
“I love you,” he said, reaching up with a bloody hand and pulling her back down to him. The kiss was beyond anything he’d ever experienced in his life. He knew, without her saying a word, that she loved him in return. Love him as much as he loved her.
“Are you guys okay?” someone called out.
Rory glanced over and noticed the bright lights hitting them from more than ten feet away.
“Call an ambulance,” he said, not letting go of Crystal.
“Already called it in,” the voice came. “Stay put, I’m coming out to you.”
“Are you okay?” he asked her softly.
“I am now that you’re okay.” She smiled. “I thought…” He heard her voice crack and shook his head.
“Later,” he said softly as two men stopped beside them with flashlights.
“Holy cow,” one of them said. “There’s a lot of blood.”
“Son, go back to the truck and wave down the sheriff and ambulance,” the older man said. He glanced down at them. “Evan passes out at the sight of a drop of blood.” He rolled his eyes. “There isn’t too much, looks like just scrapes.” The man bent down and placed two heavy blankets over them. “Don’t want you two to go into shock.” He glanced around. “Was there another driver?”
