Page 23 of Her Frozen Heart

“If I decide to reach out to him, I’ll give him your name. But you’re on your own otherwise.”

Caitlin grinned. “Deal.”

FIVE

“She’s finally asleep.” Nikki went to the front closet and found the presents she didn’t intend to wrap. “I thought she was never going to give up,” she said as she started putting the gifts in front of the big Christmas tree that she and Lacey had helped Rory cut down.

“You aren’t wrapping those?” he asked.

Nikki shook her head. “Tyler liked to leave a few unwrapped out for her, from Santa. That’s how his parents did it.” She looked around at the various sections of the dollhouse he’d bought for Lacey. “What do you need me to do?”

Rory scowled as he studied the directions. “I build million-dollar houses for a living. Why is this freaking dollhouse so hard?”

“Because the people who design them want to make sure parents are a stressed-out mess before Santa finally shows up.” Nikki took the directions and tried to read them, but they might as well have been written in Greek.

“I don’t need directions, anyway.” He searched through his toolbox. “If you want to organize them according to size and shape, that would be great.”

After she had all the parts organized for him, Rory got to work. Nikki loved to watch him tinkering, his face pinched in concentration and the tip of his tongue sticking out of the corner of his mouth. Her gaze drifted to the pretty tree, with its multicolored lights and hodgepodge collection of ornaments, including some that Nikki had had since childhood. Her mother had bought an ornament every year for Nikki, and she’d done the same with Lacey. The ornaments from the small tabletop tree that Tyler had last year were at the top, near the angel. Nikki still felt like crying every time she thought about Lacey telling Rory about each ornament and why she wanted her daddy’s hung by the angel. Instead of feeling threatened or intimidated, Rory had lifted her up so she could hang them where she wanted.

Nikki wasn’t sure the two of them would have made it through this Christmas without Rory.

“What are you thinking about?” he asked, reaching for the flathead screwdriver.

“Fate, I guess,” Nikki answered.

“Oh yeah?”

She nodded. “You know, everything that happened this last year would have happened whether you and I got together or not, including Mark’s release and Tyler’s murder.”

“But I convinced you Mark was innocent, and you spoke to the court.”

“The DNA exonerated him, not me. The point is, if I hadn’t decided to stop at that gas station and fallen on my ass, we might not be here right now.” She grinned, trying to lighten the moment. “Lucky you.”

Rory shifted to his knees so he could kiss her. “Lucky me indeed.”

Nikki squirmed as his lips trailed along her jaw and down her neck. “Behave. We need to finish this so we can sleep too.” Not that she expected to be able to rest tonight. Her shoulders already felt the weight of sitting around being happy while Kesha’s body was in the morgue and her family’s lives shattered. The only way Nikki could deal with the guilt was to keep reminding herself that Christmas was important for Lacey. She needed some normalcy.

“I’ve been thinking,” Rory said, pulling away, his cheeks flushed, “that you should sell your house in St. Paul and officially move in here with me. You guys are always here anyway. You’re throwing money away on the mortgage.”

Despite the reasonable point he’d made, excuses started to form in her mind. She liked having the house in case she wound up stuck at the office and didn’t feel like making the hour drive to Stillwater.

“The market’s red-hot right now,” Rory said. “You’d probably make some serious money off it.”

Tyler had left a sizable inheritance for Lacey, and Nikki had still been the primary on his life insurance policy. She’d put it all into Lacey’s college fund.

“Nik?” Worry had crept into Rory’s voice. “Was it a bad idea to ask?”

“No, of course not. It makes sense.” She bit her lip. “I just wonder if that will negatively affect Lacey, you know?”

“She’s never there,” Rory said.

“I know, but so much has changed for her in the last few months,” Nikki said. “I just don’t want to do anything that could harm her recovery, you know?” Did she sound as silly to Rory as she did to herself? Lacey rarely even talked about the St. Paul house, because she had so many memories of Tyler in it. She’d probably be relieved to know they wouldn’t live there again.

Her phone rang, startling them both. Miller’s number flashed on the caller ID. “Sorry, I have to take this.” She slid her thumb across the phone screen. “Hey, Kent. I hope you’re bringing better news than you did the last time you called.”

“We caught a really lucky break,” Miller said. “My friend Reuben can bring his dog out tomorrow.”

“On Christmas Day?” Nikki was surprised. “How’d you pull that off?”

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