Christmas Peril Read online

  Annie stared at the three-story structure with a Christmas tree positioned in the center of a floor-to-ceiling window facing the street. White lights draped the pine with gold bows and white ornaments. “We’re here. Remember, your last name is Madison, honey. It’s important you don’t forget.”

  “Why, Mommy?”

  She didn’t want to tell her daughter the reason, but she had to say something or she would continue to ask. “That’s our new last name now. We’re on an adventure and in disguise.”

  “Oh, great!” Jayden unsnapped her seat belt and hopped from the car, hugging her doll.

  As Annie climbed out, she heard Caleb Jackson introduce himself and ask her daughter, “What’s your name?”

  Annie stiffened, gripping the door handle.

  “Jayden Madison.”

  Annie expelled a deep breath and rounded the front of her Mustang. She knew he was a police chief, but the words don’t trust anyone, especially the police had kept her up most of the past two nights, listening to every sound passing her motel room door.

  His gaze captured hers. “This is Sara’s.”

  “Yeah, I remember playing here, making—” Annie pointed toward a spot in the front yard “—a snowman right there.”

  “A snowman. I wanna make one.” Jayden looked up at the sky. “When’s it gonna snow?”

  Caleb chuckled. “In Oklahoma, if you don’t like the weather, just stick around a day. It most likely will change. But right now, there isn’t any snow forecasted.”

  Jayden’s mouth turned down in a pout. “I was hoping for snow. I’ve never seen any.”

  He winked at her little girl. “Maybe while you’re visiting, there will be some.” When he shifted toward Annie, Caleb gestured down the street. “I don’t live far from here. The last house at the end of the block.”

  “Thanks for showing us where Sara lived.”

  Taking her daughter’s hand, she started to open the gate that led into the front yard, when the police chief reached around her and swung it toward him. His arm brushed up against hers. Jolted by the contact, she stepped back, aware of the man only inches from her. His smile encompassed his whole face and made his eyes gleam.

  But she’d learned the hard way to be wary of strangers. Look what happened when she’d given into Bryan and his smooth-talking ways. She would love to trust the police chief with what was going on in her life, but at the moment she didn’t even know what that was. In a tight crunch she would appreciate someone like Caleb Jackson watching out for her. She hoped she never had to find out just how good he would be defending someone. The very thought sent a shiver down her.

  “Cold?”

  She nodded, although her chill had nothing to do with the weather.

  “It’s getting nippy. So, Jayden, you might get that snow after all. I’ve learned not to take the forecasters too seriously.” He mounted the stairs to the porch that wrapped around one side of the house and pressed the bell. “It’ll take Sara a bit to get to the door.” He leaned back against the wall, crossing his arms. “What do you think of our little town?”

  “I’ve never seen so many Christmas decorations in one place.”

  He quirked a grin. “Yeah, it does take some getting used to for newcomers. We go all out for a good three months a year. Personally, I like what Christmas stands for. We could use it year round.”

  “What? Rampant commercialism?”

  He laughed, a warm sound that Annie responded to. “A cynic. Before you pass judgment on the town, you need to experience the holidays here.” He straightened as the door opened. “And I wasn’t talking about the commercialism of Christmas but the celebration of Christ’s birth. It all started something awesome.”

  All words fled Annie’s mind at his answer. She hadn’t expected it. But the appearance of her cousin in the entrance gave her a reprieve from making any comment.

  A small woman, about five feet, her totally white hair pulled back in a bun, pushed open the screen and smiled at the police chief. “Goodness, I didn’t expect you for another hour, Caleb.”

  “I’m not here to fix the leak in the sink, but I’ll be back later to take care of it. Right now I brought you Annie and Jayden Madison.” He gestured to each of them when he said their names.

  Sara’s gaze took both she and her child in, a puzzled expression on her face.

  “I’m your cousin. Alice’s daughter.” Annie held her breath, hoping Sara remembered.

  “Ah, it’s been years since I’ve seen you or your mother. How is Alice?”

  “She died seven years ago.”

  “Oh, I’m sorry to hear that. We lost touch when y’all moved to Miami.” Her forehead wrinkled in thought, Sara studied Annie with a sharp alertness in her brown eyes. Then she swept her attention to Annie’s daughter. “What an adorable little girl. You and your mother look a lot alike. I think I’ve got photos from her visit when she was a little girl. If I can find them, I’ll show you. “ She grinned at Jayden and stepped to the side. “Come in. It’s getting cold.” After Annie and Jayden entered, Sara asked Caleb, “Coming in?”

  “No, I have to get back to the station.” The police chief peered at Annie, who stood next to Sara in the entrance. “Nice meeting y’all.”

  When her cousin closed the door, she faced Annie. “Hon, what brought you to Christmas, Oklahoma?”

  Annie’s stomach constricted, her grip on her daughter’s hand tightening. She didn’t know how to answer Sara. The woman’s kind eyes made her long to share what happened, but words refused to take hold in Annie’s mind. How could she explain anything to Sara when she herself didn’t understand? This was her problem, not Sara’s. She’d always managed on her own in the past. This would be no different.

  Sara waved her hand. “When you’re ready, you’ll tell me.” Then using her cane, she headed toward the room off to the right of the foyer. “Come in, and make yourself at home.”

  Annie remained rooted to the floor.

  Finally Jayden tugged on her hand. “Mommy, okay?”

  Annie blinked and glanced down at her daughter—her whole life. Everything she did she did for Jayden. If they were in danger, she had to protect her daughter at all costs. “Yes, I’m fine. Let’s go see what Miss Sara has to say.”

  “We could tell her we’re on an adventure.”

  “Let’s keep that a secret between us.” Annie placed her forefinger over her lips.

  Jayden pulled her down so she could whisper, “This house is big.”

  “Yeah, it is. I bet there are great hiding places in here.” She just hoped she never had to use them.

  TWO

  As Annie checked the meat loaf and placed the vegetable casserole in the oven, the doorbell rang. Jayden was so absorbed in her new coloring book she didn’t even notice when Annie hurried from the kitchen.

  Earlier she and Sara had talked and the older woman had shown Jayden the photos of Annie as a little girl and then given her one to put in her treasure chest. Annie had volunteered to cook dinner. Although Sara was a relative and had opened her home to her gladly, she wouldn’t freeload off her. She was determined to help her cousin as much as possible in exchange for giving her a place where she could decide about her future.

  A few seconds later, she swung the door open to the police chief standing on the porch with a puzzled expression creasing his forehead. His gaze locked on hers.

  “Did something happen?” she asked, trying not to react to the man. But for some reason her heartbeat accelerated, and it really had nothing to do with the assessing look he sent her. Although no longer in his uniform, the man commanded a person’s attention even wearing jeans and an Oklahoma University sweatshirt.

  His features smoothed into a grin. “No, just surprised to find you here.”

  “You are? You brought me here.”

  “Yeah, I did,” he said in a thoughtful tone. “Your car isn’t out front.”

  “I parked it around back by the detached garage.” No sense leaving it on the street for anyone looking for her to find. Little by little she was trying to learn caution, but she’d never even watched a crime show on TV or read a suspense book.

  “When I didn’t see it, I thought maybe you’d left.”

  “Nope. Sara insisted Jayden and I stay with her through the holidays. Come in.” Annie opened the door wider and stepped to the side. “Sara’s in the living room resting her eyes, she says, but I think she’s really taking a nap.”

  Caleb entered with his toolbox. “Ah, in her lounge chair, which she calls her command post.” He sniffed the air. “You’re cooking dinner?”

  “Yes, meat loaf.”

  “It smells great.” He followed Annie to the kitchen. “What are you coloring, Jayden?” Stopping next to the table, he peered over her daughter’s shoulder. “You like animals?”

  “Yes. We were gonna get a puppy for Christmas. I guess we won’t since we’re on an adven—” Jayden’s gaze flew to Annie, and her daughter snapped her mouth closed.

  Caleb glanced from her daughter to Annie. For a few seconds his forehead crinkled as though trying to come up with the right question to ask. Then a smile leaked back into his expression as he turned his attention to Jayden. “I have a dog. Ralph is a mutt and loves children. You’ll have to come visit him. He’s deaf, which doesn’t make him a good watchdog, so I’m glad not much happens around here.”

  Jayden twisted around in her chair and looked at Annie. “Can I see Ralph? I can finish coloring later.”

  Annie laughed. “Honey, I think Mr. Jackson means some other day. He’s here to fix a leak.”

  Her daughter’s pout descended. “We aren’t home now for me to get my puppy.”

  “We’ll get a puppy later.” When she knew what was going on and she had a game plan. Tomorrow she needed to go somewhere and use a computer. Maybe if she surfed around, she could discover what had happened to Bryan.

  “I’ll bring Ralph down tomorrow for you to meet him.” Caleb put his toolbox on the floor in front of the sink. “Will I interfere with you cooking dinner?”

  “No, I just finished preparing the meal right before you came. Great timing.”

  “I aim to please. Don’t let me stop you from doing whatever you need to do.” He knelt on the floor and opened the cabinet door, then reached in.

  Annie sat next to Jayden, trying her best to ignore the police chief’s presence. Taking up the crayon nearest her, she started to color until her daughter said, “A cat isn’t blue.”

  Annie glanced down at the paper and noticed what she’d done. “Oh, you’re right. Sorry, honey.”

  A commotion behind her drew her attention to Caleb. He took a wrench to the faucet, his movements a study in economical action. Transfixed for a moment, she watched until he peered back at her. One corner of his mouth tilted up, a gleam in his startlingly dark blue eyes. She’d always had a thing for blue eyes. Bryan’s had been—were—blue.

  Over the years her ex-boyfriend had schemed to get rich, tired of being poor, not supporting his daughter as he wanted. Going to meet his wealthy father had been his latest ploy to get rich quick. His mother’s death six weeks ago had affected Bryan. Before she’d passed away from a heart attack, he’d thought his father was dead. Not long afterward, he’d discovered he was very much alive and had lots of money. He’d intended to reintroduce himself and benefit from his father’s wealth. He’d never gotten the chance to tell her what had come of that meeting.

  “I’m partial to blue,” Caleb said with a wink, drawing Annie back to the present.

  Heat scored her cheeks, and she quickly returned to the paper between her and Jayden. This time she noticed the crayon she selected, making sure it was an appropriate color.

  It was only because she was in unfamiliar surroundings with an unknown future stretching before her and Jayden that her nerves were frazzled. Caleb had nothing to do with the fact that her hand quivered as she grasped the crayon and tried to color within the lines and was not succeeding very well.

  “I think that should take care of the leak,” Caleb said as he closed the cabinet door under the sink.

  Annie knew the exact second he stood behind her and looked over her shoulder. His spicy scent vied with the aromas of the cooking meat loaf and vegetable casserole.

  He pointed to the blue kitten left abandoned on the page. “There are some cats with a bluish tint to their fur.”

  “There are?” Jayden’s green eyes widened.

  “Yeah, Harriet, the receptionist at the station, owns one.”

  “Can I see it?”

  “I’ll say something to Harriet and see what I can come up with—that is, if it’s okay with your mother.” Caleb moved to sit in the chair next to Annie at the oak table.

  “That’s fine.” Annie slid her gaze away from Caleb’s. “So should we finish coloring the kitten blue?”

  Her daughter giggled. “I will, Mommy.” After she grabbed the crayon, she bent over the paper and concentrated on finishing the animal, the tip of her tongue peeping out of the corner of her mouth.

  The sound of Sara’s cane hitting the hardwood floor in the hallway preceded her entrance into the kitchen. “I heard laughter and wanted to see what was going on.” Slowly she lowered herself in the last chair at the table.

  “I took care of the leak. Is there anything else you need fixed?” Caleb leaned toward his toolbox to shut the lid.

  “This place is old. There’s always something.”

  “Sara, all you have to do is call.” Caleb inhaled a deep breath. “That meat loaf just gets better smelling by the minute.”

  “You know you can always stay for dinner. We don’t stand on ceremony around here.” Sara hooked her cane on the back of her chair. “And I agree it smells wonderful.”

  “I checked it a while ago. It should be ready shortly.” Annie turned to her daughter. “Which means you need to put your coloring book and crayons in our room, then wash your hands.”

  “Do I hafta? I haven’t gotten them dirty.”

  Annie took her hand and showed her the black smudges from the pencil she’d used earlier. “Go, young lady.”

  Jayden leaped up from the chair and raced from the room.

  “Walk. Don’t run.” Annie waited to hear that her daughter had slowed down and then said, “Running is her favorite mode of traveling.”

  “Don’t worry about Jayden. It’s nice to have a child in the house again. I used to have nieces and nephews who visited all the time before they moved away and got so busy. I enjoyed watching them grow up. To this old lady—” Sara patted her chest “—seeing the world through a child’s eyes is like being young again.”

  “You aren’t old.”

  “Goodness me, Caleb. Have you gone blind? I’m feeling every one of my years right now.”

  “Age is all up here.” Caleb tapped his temple. “By the way, how many years are we talking about?”

  “That said, Annie, by one of the young,” Sara said, then shifted her sharp gaze to Caleb. “And, young man, it’s none of your business. I’m not telling, and you know that.” The stern tone belied the gleam dancing in Sara’s eyes.

  “Ah, but age has nothing to do with how you look at life. And yes, ma’am, I know, but I was trying to help the townspeople.” He angled toward Annie. “Her age is a town secret many in Christmas have been trying to figure out.”

  Sara’s laughter filled the kitchen. “It will go with me to my grave.”

  The humor in Caleb and Sara’s exchange touched a much-neglected part of Annie. Working hard as a single mom, trying to make ends meet, had left her without much hope. And now with the threat looming over her and her daughter, she felt weighted down. If she had to disappear as Bryan had insisted, what did she know about doing that? There had been a time in her life when she would have turned to the Lord for help, but maybe the Lord had really forsaken her when she’d lost her direction as a teen.

  A few hours later, after a delicious home-cooked meal, Caleb dried the last dish and put it in Sara’s cabinet. “I keep forgetting Sara doesn’t have the conveniences like a dishwasher for just such an occasion.”

  “Now she does. At least for the time being.” Annie wiped her hands on the tea towel hanging on a hook near the sink. “Me.”

  “The prettiest dishwasher I’ve seen.” The second he said it he wanted to snatch the words back. His comment produced a pink flush on Annie’s cheeks that highlighted her beauty. Caleb tried not to notice. Annie probably wouldn’t stick around Christmas long, so why become interested in her? He didn’t want his heart broken a second time. Once was enough.

  “Thanks.” She ran the wet dishcloth around the sink.

  Busywork, as though she were nervous. “I just appreciate a home-cooked dinner I don’t have to make.” Caleb folded the towel and placed it on the counter. “I’ve got a question for you.”

  She stopped in mid-rotation, her body tensing. Then as if shaking it off, she completed her turn, throwing a glance over her shoulder.

  “Jayden has red hair, but yours is light brown. Was Jayden’s father redheaded?” Great going, Jackson. Why don’t you just ask what happened to her marriage? Is the guy still in the picture?

  “Yes.” Lowering her eyelashes, she veiled her expression. “I’d better get Jayden to bed. Can I see you out?”

  He deserved that. The subject wasn’t one she wanted to discuss. Which only piqued his interest. “I can find my way to the front door.” He tried to inject humor into his voice, hoping to see Annie’s smile.

  Instead, she said in a serious tone, “I know Sara’s been recovering from a fall. Did she break anything? Was she in the hospital?”

  “She fell but didn’t break any bones. Her hip is bruised, and she pulled a muscle in her leg. Her doctor forbade her getting up on a ladder anymore. It happened two weeks ago.” Caleb passed the front room and gestured toward the eight-foot tree that could be viewed from the street. “Decorating that.” At the door he faced Annie, rubbing his hand along the stubble of a day’s growth of beard. “Sara tends to want to do everything herself.”

  “I can understand that.”