“Oh, God.” I groaned and dropped onto the bottom of the annihilated snowman. “This is so embarrassing.”
“You shouldn’t feel embarrassed, sweetheart. You did nothing wrong.”
“Yes, I did. I dragged everyone inside of that house into my sordid family drama. I’m sure witnessing the mushroom cloud spurred by my non-wedding to a complete stranger is not how they wanted to spend their holiday.”
He squatted in front of me, holding my knees. “Violet, you need to understand something about the people in that house. They are your family. Some may not be related by blood, but they would put their lives on the line to help you just the same. Hell, most of them already have in one way or another over the last few months.” When I frowned in the direction of my parents’ place, he added, “Even Cooper.”
Doc was right. I was fortunate to have each and every one of them by my side. But I wasn’t going to admit that to Cooper unless he said it first.
I looked down at my palms. They were red from the cold. I covered his hands with mine. “And what about you?”
“What about me?”
I met his dark eyes. “I’m spoiled goods.”
“What are you talking about?”
“This could get ugly, Doc. There’s a will. That’s why Mr. Peabody had to find me. There’s money involved here. Susan didn’t marry some beach bum down in the Caribbean. She found herself a rich old guy and apparently convinced him to add her—or rather me—to his will.”
“How much money are we talking about?”
“Enough that the lawyer hired a private investigator to hunt me down.”
He cursed under his breath.
“Exactly. I don’t want to drag you into this.”
His gaze narrowed. “It’s not your choice, it’s mine.”
“Yeah, but—”
“Listen, Killer. I’m not sure if you’ve been taking notes, but you and I are a team. Where you go, I go. When you fight, I fight. Nothing short of death is going to change that between us.”
His words made my heart thud hard against my ribcage. I laced my fingers with his. “As in ’til death do us part?” I jested. Sort of.
A grin crept onto his face. “Even after death if I go first, because I’m coming back to haunt you.”
“Deal.” I sighed, easing some of the pressure in my chest. “I wonder how long I’ve been married to this guy.”
He stood and plucked the sprig of mistletoe from the broken pieces of the head, pocketing it. “I wonder how long I’ve been fooling around with a married woman.”
A married woman. That was me, only the guy was all wrong. I groaned. “Criminy. Why me? Why couldn’t Susan use her own damned identity?”
He held out his hand. “Let’s go find out.”
I took it. “Doc?”
“Yeah?”
“Thank you for coming after me.”
He pulled me to my feet. “For you, cara mia, I’d ride a tornado bareback.”
I laughed, still holding his hand. “Ah, Gomez. You’re dearer to me than all of the bats in all of the caves in the world,” I said, quoting Morticia Addams. Make that all of the bats except for the giant man-eating kind. Those I’d leave for Cornelius to handle.
Doc squeezed my cold knuckles. “Prove it, Killer.” Hooking his arm around my shoulders, he led me toward the house.
Chapter Seventeen
Other than a dead husband, Christmas dinner went off without a hitch.
Upon my return from beating the hell out of Addy’s snowman, I learned that Susan had escaped to her room in the basement, which left the table full of my “family.” Well, except for Mr. Peabody, but he fit right in, bantering with Cornelius, who appeared to be vetting him to find some ghosts that had gone missing.
My parents came back midway through the meal. My mom graced us all with a smile. “I apologize for my emotional outburst. It’s not every day that my little girl gets married.”
That surprised a laugh out of me. Several others, too.
“Hell,” Dad added, “I always thought Violet’s wedding would drain my bank account.” He raised his glass in my direction. “Thanks for saving me money, Goldilocks. I only wish I could have been there to walk you down the aisle.”
I raised my glass in return. “I wish I’d been there, too.” I would have run fast and far the other way.
By the time the dishes were cleared and the multitude of pies and other desserts were brought to the table, I was ready to find out the exact depth of Susan’s betrayal. I excused myself from the table, squeezing Doc’s shoulder when he looked up at me.
“I’ll be back in a bit,” I told him.
“Violet?” My mother’s brow furrowed. “Where are you going?”
She knew where I was heading. “I’ll be good, Mom. I promise.”
“Do you want help?” she asked.
“No, thanks. This is something I need to do alone.”
I grabbed two plates, loaded them with cherry pie, and headed downstairs.
Susan didn’t answer on the first knock, but I heard something thump on the other side of the door.
“I know you’re in there. You might have a skinny ass, but it’s not small enough to squeeze through the window.”
The lock clicked and the door opened.
Susan had changed into a black sweater and leggings, reminding me of a black widow spider with her long, thin limbs. She was twice as deadly, I knew for a fact.
I held out the pie. “I brought you a piece of your favorite.” I glanced down at her gazelle body. “That is, if you eat anything besides grass these days.”
She eyed the pie suspiciously. “Did you poison it?”
I harrumphed. “I thought about it, but Mom hid the hemlock from me.”
“Thanks.” She took the plate and stood back, making room for me to enter.
I stepped into her lair, noting the open luggage on her bed. “You going somewhere?”
She shrugged and dug her fork into the pie. “I’ve worn out my welcome here.”
That was one way of putting it. “Heading any place
