Matthew reached out and turned me to face him. He dropped a light, chaste kiss on my mouth. “Thank you. For everything. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
I stepped back and gave him an easy smile, even though it cost me. “Goodnight.”
He held open the door for me. “Drive safe.”
I drove home slowly, thinking over everything that I’d learned. My heart once broken at the thought of his betrayal, began to mend with the realization of his innocence. When I thought about Charlie, I had to swallow past the lump in my throat.
I’d always loved him...and always would. I’d faced that a long time ago. But now I was perilously close to adoring him for everything that he was doing to protect a child that he considered his own.
***
For the past few years I’d been dropping off elaborate holiday centerpieces at the Drake mansion the weekend before the sabbat of the Winter Solstice. As per usual, Thomas Drake, the family patriarch, had requested traditional arrangements of evergreen, fresh holly and mistletoe. He had also ordered two tree topper bows this year and I had tossed a few spools of various holiday ribbon in the van, along with an emergency supply of decorations and several strings of lights, even extension cords, in case he required any further decorating.
Knowing the family’s preferences, I was stocked up on more natural items such as pinecones, sprays of decorative berries, silk red birds, twigs, and both fresh and silk evergreens branches and roping. I knocked on the back door, and was surprised when Duncan Quinn, Autumn’s fiancé, answered the door instead of the housekeeper.
“Violet!” He reached out, took the big box from me, and waved me inside. “Uncle Thomas has been expecting you. Come in!” His bright blue eyes were happy and when he smiled, I did too. No doubt about it, my friend had bagged herself a very attractive man.
“I have extra stuff in the van in case we need more supplies,” I said as Duncan tugged me along with him. But it ended up that they didn’t need anything else. Autumn and Duncan were already busy adding fresh greenery to the various fireplaces and tables in the mansion. Autumn had all the Drake men; Duncan, his cousin Julian, and even Thomas working on decorating the home together, for Yule.
I bit my lip to keep from some inappropriate giggles at the three men racing around at Autumn’s directions. I placed the pair of centerpieces in the formal dining room, chatted with Autumn, who was doing a fine job decorating, and handed over the tree topper bows to Thomas. I ended up talking to him about the budget for his nephew’s and Autumn’s wedding, while Julian Drake climbed a ladder to add the tree topper to the large family room tree.
The elegant man placed the streamers one by one and with precision. Duncan began ragging on his cousin about hurrying up, and not being such a tight-ass. To my shock, Julian made a cheerful yet anatomically impossible suggestion to Duncan as he sang along with the holiday music playing on the stereo.
“Watch your language gentlemen,” Thomas suggested.
“Boys,” Autumn warned them. “Play nice or I’ll zap the both of you.”
“He started it,” the men said, simultaneously.
Autumn and Thomas began to laugh. The atmosphere inside the home was so relaxed, cheerful and different as compared to years in the past that it made me very hopeful for the family.
I arrived at Matthew’s house at three, psyched myself up, and knocked on the door. I waited, but no one answered. I knocked again and heard the sounds of running feet, and Charlie greeted me.
“Hi Charlie.” I automatically checked for her father. “Where’s your dad?”
“Hi!” She grabbed my hand and pulled me inside. “Daddy’s in the garage. He’s trying to find the Christmas ornaments.”
I glanced towards the living room. One strand of lights had been added to the tree, and the little bulbs twinkled off and on in red. The lights appeared to have been thrown on haphazardly. Stepping into the living room I saw that a half dozen paper snowflakes were only on the bottom branches. Poor tree, I thought.
Matthew’s voice carried in from the back of the house. “I can’t believe it!”
“Daddy!” Charlie shouted. “Violet’s here!”
Matthew came around the corner and stopped. He carried a few strands of outdoor lights, but that was all.
“Problem?” I asked.
“The ornaments for the tree are missing. I’ve searched everywhere,” Matthew said. “I’m not sure if they got lost in the move or what happened to them.”
“We aren’t gonna decorate the Christmas tree?” Charlie’s voice wobbled.
“I guess I’ll have to try and go to the store.” Matthew rubbed his forehead “But this late in the year, I don’t know what I can find...”
Charlie began to cry. Frustrated vibes poured off of Matthew, and I took matters in my own hands. “Don’t panic,” I said. “I have some odds and ends in the floral van that should do the trick.”
“You do?” Matthew sounded surprised.
“Grab your coats,” I told them both. “We’ll haul it in and get to work.”
A short time later, Matthew and I unloaded all the extra decorating supplies that I hadn’t used at the Drake’s mansion and spread the boxes out across the living room floor. Charlie sat in the middle of everything, gazing around in wonder. “It smells like Christmas,” she said.
“Charlie, go get your paper snowflakes,” I suggested. “Those are special and we’ll put them back on the tree last.”
“Okay!” she raced to the tree and took the paper ornaments down. “What are you going to do with this stuff Violet?”
“Make some Yuletide magick.” I wiggled my eyebrows at the girl.
“But we don’t have any ornaments,” Charlie said. “How can we decorate the tree?”
“You’ll see,” I said, unwinding a string of white lights. “I can make one bad-ass rustic holiday tree out of all these supplies.”
Matthew’s eyes were huge. “I’m suddenly a little afraid.”
“Ha!” I tossed my head. “I’m a floral designer, babe. Stand back and prepare
