Page 50 of Stolen Christmas
“And you are dashingly handsome.”
“Thank you.” I splay my hand on the middle of her back and hold her close as we sway together. The last-minute twinkling white lights above us shine just right, casting a glow around her. She couldn’t look more heavenly.
Slowly everything comes to an end and then comes the hard part—pulling my father and her brother to the side and having a private conversation.
“Mom, we’re going to need a word with Dad and Noah.”
“That’s fine. I have some presents to wrap.” They’re staying in their rooms that are set up here because we’ll be celebrating the holidays here under the beautiful white tree.Everything is set up for a white Christmas wedding and gathering.
“I’ll be right back down, Son. Go on and start without me,” my father says. I nod and walk Noah into my office with Angel by my side.
“Noah, take a seat there.” I point to the sofa, and then I pull out the chair from behind my desk and sit, setting Angel on my lap.
“What’s going on?”
“Here’s the thing. Angel just told me there was more that you refused to share, and I wish I’d known a little sooner, although I understand why your ass didn’t tell me. Still, it doesn’t change the outcome of what happened a few days ago.”
“What happened?” he asks.
“We went back to the house the other day, and it was ransacked. We were about to go in and assess the damage when it exploded.”
“Exploded?”
“Yes. Thankfully we were far enough back that we landed in a snowbank, but one of my men was killed by the blast.”
“No. Fucking hell, no. Our lives were in that house. I don’t have anything left of Mom and Dad,” he sobs.
“The other day, I did snag this when I went to get a peek at the house the night I took both of you to my home.” I unlock my drawer and pull out the two items I confiscated. One is a photo album in her room that she had open on her bed, and the other is a signed baseball bat by Frank Thomas that was on his dresser in a fancy display case with a photo of him and his father standing next to Frank.
“These looked like they meant something to the both of you.”
“Why did you take them? Did you expect someone to do that?”
“No. Truth is, I didn’t trust Fields not to pull some shit as a cop with a warrant to search the premises, and I was right. More than likely, the ransacking was done by that asshole.”
“You’re right. The cops said the call came in the middle of the night, and then no one came out until right before we got there, so that just didn’t make sense.”
“No, especially because there were eyewitnesses to the incident.”
“That’s crazy.” Noah holds the encased bat, and tears well up in his eyes. “This was the last thing we did together. It was a charity event the White Sox hosted.” He sobs into his sleeve, and Angel gets up and hugs her little brother.
“I’m so sorry for all of this.”
“This is all my fault. I shouldn’t have gotten mixed up with them at school.”
“What? At school?”
“Yeah, my supposed friend is the one who introduced me to May.”
“Are you serious? When was this?”
“Right before our parents died.”
“Oh my God, did she…?”
“What?”
“Did you two fuck, is what your sister is asking.”
