Don't Open Till Christmas Read online

  Now her mouth didn’t just open, it dropped in complete shock.

  “I was there yesterday afternoon,” he added, not commenting on her reaction. “We served a warrant at the school and at Jeremy Taggert’s house and found not only stolen merchandise, but a whole lot of cash.”

  Noelle’s pulse roared in her veins, filling her ears as if she was being sucked into a giant vacuum. “That miserable son of a bitch,” she mumbled.

  “Yeah. He wasn’t a very tough nut to crack. He admitted everything. Apparently his new wife has expensive tastes, and the school wasn’t doing so well. He cooked up this whole thing with some of his former students and they’ve been raking it in pretty good.”

  Not quite knowing how she should feel, Noelle sat quietly, thinking it over. Should she be feeling stupid about having once been engaged to a thief? Lose faith in her own judgment again? Or just wonder how in heaven Jeremy’s father was going to weather the controversy?

  Deep down, she simply felt disgust. Jeremy had once seemed like a nice guy but he was obviously very weak. He’d proved it in many ways—this was just one more. At least this final bit of evidence could help her admit what an enormous piece of good luck his cheating on her had been. Because if she’d actually married the creep a year ago, she might now be caught up in his crimes. “My God, how ironic. We were both once engaged to thieves.”

  He didn’t respond, though he did nod slightly, appearing pensive.

  “I’m so glad you caught him. Did you also find out who, exactly, robbed us? I know it wasn’t Jeremy—I would have recognized his voice.”

  “No, it wasn’t. It was one of his buddies, who also confessed once he found out he wasn’t merely involved in some harmless pranks.”

  Pranks. Right. That would have been a great explanation to make to the kids if they hadn’t managed to replace the stolen money.

  “Turns out Jeremy’s father was involved. He overheard your cousin talking to you on the phone about cashing out an account of Christmas donations one day a few weeks ago. He already had this guy in place at the party company you hired, and told him what to look for.”

  Noelle’s head felt as if it was spinning on top of her shoulders. She’d been the one who’d leaked the information used by the thief!

  “If it’s any consolation, Jeremy didn’t know you were a target until I told him myself. He appeared…unhappy.”

  Small consolation—not that she really cared about Jeremy’s happiness. What really shocked her, though, was the revelation about blustery blowhard Ralph Taggert’s involvement. “This is unbelievable. I can’t even imagine how Randy’s going to react to all this scandal about his family.”

  Mark looked away, suddenly clenching his fists and shoving them into the pockets of his leather jacket, which he still wore. “Yeah. I know.”

  Noelle was ready to change the subject, to forget about scummy Jeremy and his father and their crimes. It was time to talk about her and Mark. Maybe even time to ask him if he had any plans for tomorrow night…and if he’d maybe like to hop on a plane heading south with her.

  “There’s something else,” he murmured, his voice low and his mouth grim. “Jeremy and his cronies weren’t the only ones we questioned yesterday.”

  Noelle couldn’t imagine what else there was to say that would be nearly as important, so she merely waited. But before Mark could elaborate, the phone rang. “Excuse me,” she said, automatically grabbing for the receiver.

  “Merry Christmas, this is Noelle Bradenton,” she said, not having to wonder too hard about the unexpected Christmas spirit that made her voice sound so chipper. Now that the robbers had been caught and Mark was standing here in the room—so wonderful and desirable and amazing—she was anticipating a much better holiday than she’d ever have imagined a month ago.

  “Noelle, we need you.”

  She almost didn’t recognize the voice. Then she froze. “Randy?”

  Her cousin-in-law’s breaths were choppy and loud through the phone and a note of unfamiliar desperation tinged his words. “You gotta come. It’s Sue. She’s in the hospital.” He sobbed, adding, “There was so much blood, Noelle.”

  Oh, God.

  “Hemorrhage. Something abrupted, I don’t know what the hell they’re talking about. They’re prepping her for surgery right now and she wants you here.”

  She didn’t need to hear any more. “I’m on my way,” she said, hanging up the phone.

  Her whole body shaking in terror for her cousin, she grabbed her coat off the back of her chair and her purse from the bottom drawer. “It’s Sue. Something’s wrong.”

  Mark didn’t ask stupid questions or even think twice. He merely said, “I’ll drive.”

  And together they rushed out the door.

  MARK DROVE AS FAST AS HE COULD from Chicago to Christmas, figuring it was better to talk his way out of a ticket than waste time obeying the speed limit. It still wasn’t fast enough for Noelle. She sat forward in the passenger seat, her eyes wide with terror, her arms curled around her waist. She’d been mumbling a few words, and when he listened intently, he realized she was praying for her cousin and her cousin’s baby.

  He’d sent up a few of those prayers himself since Noelle had told him what was happening with Sue.

  God, he felt so helpless. So inept. There was nothing he could say to comfort her, because he knew no more than she did. His sisters-in-law had had easy pregnancies and textbook deliveries, and he knew next to nothing about all the things that could go wrong when a child was born.

  Absolutely the only thing he could do was torment himself with images of why Sue had started hemorrhaging. And if he’d had anything to do with it.

  “Talk to me, tell me something, tell me it’ll be all right,” Noelle said, her voice shaking. She looked at him from the other side of the car.

  “It will. She’ll be fine, Noelle. Just keep sending up those prayers.”

  She didn’t look convinced, continuing to chew a hole in her bottom lip. “What if she’s not?”

  “She will be.” He allowed no doubt in his mind or in his voice. Realizing what day it was, he added, “Probably by the time we get there, there’ll be a new Christmas baby to welcome into the world.” His words suddenly made him remember something else, and he reached across the car to grab one of her cold hands in his. “Speaking of which, happy birthday. Today’s yours, right? I can’t believe I forgot.” He laughed bitterly. “Some lover I am.”

  She stared at him, blinked a couple of times, as if weighing his words and deciding what to respond to—the forgetting her birthday part or the lover part. Not sure which he preferred, he waited until Noelle managed a small laugh. “Believe it or not, I forgot, too. I’ve been so busy with the shelter and everything.”

  “It looks fantastic. The kids have got to be bouncing off the walls with excitement,” he said, glad she was allowing herself to be distracted. “Ginger and Mickey grabbed onto my legs as I walked in the door and asked me if I’d heard any bells outside because some of the older kids told them Santa’s sleigh had already been spotted by the Air Force.”

  She managed a weary smile.

  “You’ve done an incredible job,” he added.

  “With no small amount of help from your family,” she replied.

  Keeping himself so involved with the investigation in Christmas the previous day, he hadn’t heard much about what his family had been up to. So he was mildly surprised when Noelle told him about the visit from Mama and Tony.

  He was also glad to hear his brother Joe had followed through on the playground equipment, not that he’d ever doubted for a minute that he would. Joe was solid, reliable, and one of the most hard-working people he knew.

  Thinking of the rest of the Santoris reminded him of the need to let them know he wouldn’t be around tonight. Making a quick cell phone call to the restaurant, he filled Gloria in, then disconnected.

  “Gloria said the whole family will pray for Sue and the baby tonight at midnight mas
s.”

  Noelle nodded, looking grateful.

  Shaking his head and thinking of the typical Santori Christmas Eve, he added, “Thank God I have a good excuse for not being around this evening, because I know Rachel’s gonna hate what I got her for Christmas.”

  Curiosity made her tilt her head to one side. “What was it?”

  “Just a boring gift certificate,” he said with a shrug. “Not very original, but my brother Joe swore she’d love this place. Someplace downtown called the Red Doors.”

  Noelle’s tight mouth finally eased into a little smile and she nodded. “Yes, I’ve heard of it. And I think your brother’s right. She’ll definitely like it.”

  The smile relieved him. Noelle’s ragged breathing had evened out, and she was no longer clenched and terrified-looking. He was just about to send up thanks that she’d been completely distracted from her terror when she remembered something he’d hoped she’d forgotten.

  “You were about to tell me something else, right before Randy called,” she said. “Something about the case.”

  Mark tensed, his hands curling tightly around the steering wheel. Tight enough to make his fingers turn white. “It’s nothing.”

  She wasn’t dissuaded. “It’s not nothing, I can tell by the your expression. What happened? There’s something else you’re not telling me and I’d like to know what it is.”

  “Later, Noelle. We’ll talk later after all this is over.”

  Maybe by then he’d have a way to explain that he’d been among a couple of cops who’d descended on the Candy Cane Inn yesterday and questioned her cousin’s husband for two hours about his family’s nefarious activities.

  Christ, if the stress of that visit had caused Sue’s health crisis, he was never going to forgive himself.

  Noelle was watching him intently, giving him the assessing stare he often used on suspects he was trying to break. “I don’t like being kept in the dark, especially when it was something you were ready to tell me an hour ago,” she said, her tone stiff. “I’m involved in this, Mark, whether I like it or not. I was a victim of these crimes. And I actually have a connection to the primary suspect.”

  Mark couldn’t prevent a sharp bark of humorless laughter. “Thank God you didn’t marry that asshole.”

  She still wouldn’t let it go, as tenacious as a kid going after a just-out-of-reach cookie jar. Only, when she got what she was after, she wasn’t going to be happily enjoying some cookies. She could very well be hating him. Probably, though, not as much as he’d hate himself if he found out there was something he could have done to prevent Sue’s emergency. Like, for instance, pushing harder to leave Randy out of the investigation.

  “There’s also the other family connection,” she continued, ignoring him completely. “My cousin is a member of that family through marriage, remember.”

  Mark flinched, his head jerking up a little higher as he straightened even more in the seat. He didn’t look over, wouldn’t meet her eye, thinking he could keep cool, could hold things together until they got to the hospital and found out just what was wrong with Sue. Then, once they knew for sure what had happened—once he knew for sure he hadn’t contributed to Sue’s condition—he could tell Noelle everything.

  He should have known his luck wasn’t that good. “Oh, no, that’s what’s going on, isn’t it?” Her eyes were wide, her mouth open. “That’s what you were about to tell me about the ‘someone else’ you questioned. It was Randy, wasn’t it? You accused Sue’s husband of being part of Jeremy’s crimes.”

  He wasn’t going to lie to her, so he couldn’t possibly deny it. He simply remained silent, too racked with guilt on his own to even try to defend himself.

  “You’re crazy if you think Randy was involved,” she snapped. “Absolutely insane. Anybody in town will tell you he’s the most honest man ever born.” Becoming more indignant, she added, “My God, Randy turned himself in to the police when his car skidded in the rain and he accidentally hit a rabbit!”

  She wasn’t telling him anything he didn’t already know. Having met Randy, he’d already suspected the guy would never be involved in anything illegal. The interview yesterday merely confirmed his opinion.

  It hadn’t, however, convinced the state investigators, who were still looking at Randy Halloran. Maybe not seriously, but at least still considering him.

  “When did this happen?” Noelle asked, suddenly growing quiet. She sounded a lot more calm than he’d have expected this soon.

  “We spoke to him late yesterday afternoon.”

  “Was he arrested?”

  He shook his head. “Definitely not, and the inn wasn’t part of the official search. We just sat down in his living room and talked to the man Noelle, I swear.”

  Staring straight ahead, appearing deep in thought, Noelle fell silent. A long moment dragged into a few minutes of eerie quiet. Then, finally, when he had just about decided she was never going to speak to him again, not even while they drove the remaining ten minutes to the hospital, she whispered, “In his living room.” She looked at him, her eyes suspiciously bright. “Do you think this had anything to do with Sue’s emergency? Having the police accuse her husband of being a thief, right there in her own home, surrounded by their paying guests?”

  Mark jerked as if he’d been struck. Her words were nothing he hadn’t thought a dozen times in the past ninety minutes, since Randy’s original call. But hearing her say it—seeing the horror on her face as she’d voiced the question—struck him to the core.

  “I don’t know,” was all he could manage to mutter in his own defense.

  He waited for her accusations, waited for her to scream at him that he’d put her cousin’s baby’s life at risk. Waited for something. Noelle simply curled her hands together on her lap and watched the bare trees passing by as they sped down the highway. Until finally she said, “Do you care about me, Mark?”

  The question caught him completely off guard. “You know I do.”

  Turning in the seat, she said, “If you care about me, promise me right now that you won’t let Randy be railroaded for something his cousin did.”

  That was completely without question. “I will do everything within my legal power to make sure that doesn’t happen,” he said, still surprised by her strange reaction. And wondering why she was suddenly bringing their emotions into the conversation, when she’d done a damn fine job of avoiding even mentioning them in the past month.

  “That’s not good enough,” she replied, her jaw tight, belying the tears still glimmering on her lashes. “Everything in your legal power doesn’t cut it. I’m not asking you as a cop, Mark, I’m asking you as a man, to do whatever it takes to make sure Randy gets out of this. Don’t you dare let Sue lose her husband.” Her voice breaking, she added, “Especially if there’s a chance she might lose her baby.”

  Her tears, the way her voice shook, and her obvious terror for Sue were breaking his heart. But what she was asking him to do made his blood run cold in his veins. She hadn’t said it specifically, hadn’t asked him to choose between his oath as a cop and her. Somehow, though, deep in his head, he was hearing his ex-fiancée Renée’s voice giving him that very choice. Betray your principles for me.

  This is different. Completely different. Noelle wasn’t asking him to do anything for her own selfish needs—she was merely trying to protect someone she loved. He knew that, knew it without question.

  Yet some old, deeply rooted seed of anger or resentment for what had happened so many years ago wouldn’t let him ignore the whispers in his mind. The whispers that said if Noelle loved him—the way he now knew he loved her—she wouldn’t even think of asking him to become something he wasn’t: a liar. A bad cop.

  For someone else’s good an internal voice reminded him.

  God, it was too much. The guilt over Sue’s condition, the concern about Randy’s involvement, and now, this impossible promise Noelle had just asked him to make. He was out of his element, nearly out of his mi
nd, and he had no idea what to say.

  “Well?” she asked as he pulled the car into the hospital entrance.

  Mark took a deep breath, reminding himself that this was Noelle, the sweet, funny, sexy, decent woman he loved. Not some phantom from his past.

  “Go see your cousin, Noelle,” he said through a tightly clenched jaw.

  Without another word, he pulled up to the emergency doors of the hospital and turned his head away, not wanting to watch her get out. He couldn’t stand to see her face dissolve into dismay and loathing when she finally came to the realization that not only had he possibly contributed to her cousin’s condition, but he was not going to break the law to help Sue’s husband if he was indeed guilty.

  Not even for her.

  His silence appeared to be answer enough. Because without another word, she opened the car door. He heard the slide of her hand across the leather seat as she slid out, noticed the loss of her warmth immediately as frigid winter air rushed in.

  When the door slammed, leaving him alone, he suddenly realized the cold wasn’t coming from the outside, but rather deep within himself.

  13

  FOR NOELLE, THE NEXT HOUR was one of the most terrifying and heartbreaking of her life.

  She’d found Randy and Aunt Leila in the obstetrics waiting room. Randy was pacing back and forth, mumbling, his hair wild and his eyes wilder. When she’d first walked in and seen the spots of blood on his clothes, she’d thought she was going to be sick. Even more than she’d already felt sick over the confrontation she’d just had with Mark. Somehow she’d managed to join the quiet vigil without losing her mind, though, as the minutes ticked by, she felt less and less in control.

  “What’s taking so long?” she muttered, talking more to herself than to the others. “I thought C-sections were routine.”

  “The doctor said the tricky part would be the…hemorrhaging, not the delivery,” Randy said, his voice breaking.

  Beside her, Aunt Leila’s hands, which had been busy knitting something soft and yellow, stilled. A drop of moisture plopped onto her slender finger, obviously having fallen from her eye. Noelle reached over and slid her arm around the older woman’s shoulders. “They’ll be fine, I know it.”