A Forever Christmas

Chapter Twelve

It took a while for the euphoria to fade into the darkness. When it did, and Angel still hadn’t said a word, concern prompted Gabe to quietly ask her, “Are you all right?”

He heard a soft sigh escape and then she turned into him. There was a smile on her lips. “I’m perfect.”

Gabe laughed. “I already know that. But I’m asking if—”

Angel didn’t let him finish. She pressed her fingertips against his lips, not wanting to spoil the memory of the afterglow with questions about her temporary break from her present reality.

“Everything’s fine. Better than fine,” she added with feeling. Her eyes held his as she implored, “I don’t want to talk about what happened earlier.”

Ever so slightly, Gabe tightened his arm around her. “All right,” he agreed, although they both knew that she would have to talk about it eventually. Talk about what had panicked her like that. They needed to solve the puzzle that had been her life before she came to Forever and this could have been a very important piece in that puzzle.

But that was for later. For now, he wanted her to enjoy what they’d just shared. They both deserved a little happiness after everything they’d gone through in their lives before their paths had so abruptly crossed.

Not wanting her to feel that he was crowding her, Gabe began to get up.

Surprised, Angel caught his hand before he could leave the bed. “Where are you going?”

“To the sofa. I thought you might want your space,” he explained.

Space was the last thing she required right now. Space allowed her to think and all she wanted to do was feel, not think.

“Stay with me,” she said to him.

It was a request, not a plea, but either way, it wasn’t in his power to refuse her. Lying down again, looking for a way to lighten the serious mood, he warned her, “I might hog the blankets.”

In response, a smile curved her mouth. “I’ll chance it,” she said, curling up into him. “Besides, you’re nice and warm. It’s like having my very own fuzzy electric blanket.”

To emphasis her point, she lightly stroked her fingertips along the downy hair on his chest. With a contented sigh, she laid her head on it, the sound of his heart beating beneath her ear giving her more than a little comfort.

“Fuzzy electric blanket, huh?” Humor curved his mouth. “First time anyone’s ever called me that.”

Her even breathing told him he was talking to her while she slept. Gabe wasn’t certain why, but he found the thought immensely comforting.

* * *

“SO? HAVE YOU DECIDED yet?” Gabe asked Angel.

It was several days—several incredibly blissful, lovemaking days—later and he was finally getting the chance to make good on his promise to take her Christmas tree hunting.

While, in his opinion, Angel was in a class by herself in many, many ways, she now displayed a trait considered exceedingly common to the female of the species: she couldn’t make up her mind. In this case, she was undecided between two trees.

Initially, there’d been five trees, five semifinalists she’d circled around slowly so she could see which of the trees had the most “good sides.” Now that they were down to two, she was having a harder time finding one to eliminate.

“You’re going to have to make up your mind before it gets dark,” he told her. “Otherwise, we’ll have to come back.”

She noticed that he didn’t say “tomorrow,” which meant that he probably wouldn’t be able to take any more time off for at least a few days. Which, in turn, meant a few more days without a tree and Christmas was drawing closer and closer.

She had to make up her mind now. But it was hard.

“I have narrowed it down to just a couple of them,” she reminded him in her own defense. Vacillating, she made her way back to a small tree. Once cut down, she knew it would more than adequately fill the living room, the room.

“Angel…” Gabe’s voice trailed off as he waited for her to finally choose.

The temperature was dropping and they were both getting colder. It was time to pick a winner. “Okay, okay, this one,” she declared, choosing the tree closest to Gabe.

But as she came up to it, studying the tree intently, Angel cocked her head as if that gave her a different perspective. “Still…”

“No, no ‘still,’” Gabe told her firmly, taking the first swing at the tree’s trunk with his hatchet. “This is the tree you just picked and this is the tree that’s coming home with us.” There was no room for argument as he took a second swing and made contact again.

She threw her hands up in surrender. “Okay. You’re right. This is the tree.” And then she chewed on her bottom lip. He’d begun to realize that she did that whenever she was undecided and vacillating between choices. “It’s just that, since this is your first Christmas tree in your new house, I wanted the tree to be perfect.”

He took a third swing. “First off, the house isn’t new—”

“It is to you,” she pointed out as hatchet met tree again. Gabe had on a jacket, but she could just see his muscles rippling.

“And second,” he continued, “there’s no such thing as ‘perfect.’”

Which was when Angel smiled up into his face. The look in her eyes caused his gut to all but seize up and do backflips.

“Yes, there is,” she told him softly and pointedly—just before she brushed her lips against his.

And just as with the first time, Gabe found himself utterly captivated, unable to resist her.

Unable to resist the powerful need that sprang up within him. The need to take her into his arms and kiss her for all he was worth.

Releasing the hatchet, Gabe swept her into his arms and kissed her hard.

He was surprised by the force of the kiss that met him. Angel had not only returned his kiss, she damn well matched it.

Gabe could feel his body firing up, and for one dizzying moment he thought of giving in and making love with her right here, in the middle of the forest.

The next moment, the absurdity of the thought hit him. He was an adult, a representative of the law, for heaven’s sake, not some sex-starved adolescent with his first girlfriend.

Drawing away, he laughed softly at himself, shaking his head. When had he reverted back to his adolescence? He might not have been the most clear thinking of men, but he’d always been aware of what he was doing, aware of how things might look to someone else. Recklessness was not part of his nature.

Until now.

Taking in a breath, he framed her face as he looked into it. Even such a small, innocent action stirred his heart.

“We keep going like this, we’re going to wind up with hypothermia,” he warned.

Taking in a deep breath, she waited until she released it again and had steadied herself just a little. Angel nodded as she glanced down at the ground. “Might make for an interesting snow angel—if there was snow on the ground,” she commented.

“Speaking of which.” Gabe pointed up to the sky with an amused laugh. As if on cue, the lightest of flurries had begun to descend. “Just how did you do that?” he teased.

Her eyes crinkled. “Wishful thinking.”

He picked up the hatchet again. “Well, wish for it to continue being light until I finish cutting down your tree.”

“Our tree,” she corrected since it was going into his house and he was providing the elbow grease used to cut it down.

He took another swing, cutting away a little more of the trunk. “Our tree,” he amended agreeably.

And, heaven help him, he really liked the sound of that. Liked the sound of the word our. This after he’d sworn off having anything to do with the so-called “softer” sex, other than serving and protecting them in his capacity as deputy sheriff.

Without firing so much as a single shot, this petite, vibrant woman had managed to capture him and take him prisoner.

The tree came down after a few more swings of his hatchet. Though he told her he could handle it, Angel insisted on helping him bind up the tree and, together, they got it up on the roof of his vehicle. He was surprised at how strong she turned out to be.

Gabe strapped the Scotch pine down as securely as he could and then they drove back to his house. He was careful to drive slowly, going at a speed that a lame turtle might have thought to be embarrassing. But it was necessary; otherwise, the wind might have wound up knocking off the tree or even taking his roof with it.

Consequently, it was pitch-black by the time they reached his house.

Easing the tree down from the roof, they then carried their prize into the house with Gabe doing his best to take on the brunt of the weight without letting her realize it.

Once they got the unwieldy tree inside, he thought about just leaving it lying on its side where it was, in the hallway. Tomorrow was plenty of time to place the tree upright in the stand that Angel had surprised him with.

But one look at Angel’s face and he knew that waiting until tomorrow wasn’t going to be an option. She was already moving around the living room, trying to decide where best to place the tree in order to show it off to its maximum advantage.

“Christmas trees don’t have a ‘maximum advantage,’” he told her, doing his best to hide his amusement. In a way, it was like watching a child preparing for Christmas for the first time.

He supposed, in a way, Angel actually was.

“Sure they do,” Angel insisted. “Unlike fake ones, real Christmas trees are not the same from all angles.” She lowered her voice a little, as if sharing a confidence with him. “Our tree has a couple of barren spots.”

It was getting harder and harder not to laugh, but he didn’t want her thinking he was laughing at her. “If you say so.”

She looked at him, surprised. “Didn’t you notice them?”

“Nope,” he admitted freely. “I was too busy being completely dazzled by the angel standing beside me, issuing orders.”

She shook her head. Now he was just pulling her leg. “Very funny.”

She started to go to the kitchen to get some water for the base of the tree after they finally got it into the stand. Catching her by the elbow as she went by, Gabe pulled her into his arms.

“Not really,” he told her. “Actually, it all seems very serious, at least to me.” Holding her to him, he gave in to the urge that he’d been wrestling with all the way home. He kissed her. Then, as he drew back his head again, he shook it, utterly mystified. “What the hell have you done to me, Angel?” Affection laced every word. “What kind of spells do they teach you to cast in your world?”

She was incredibly content. Too content. And that worried her. She was afraid that something would happen to steal all of this away from her.

But for tonight, she’d pretend that this would go on forever and that this was paradise.

Because it was.

She threaded her arms around his neck, savoring the moment. Savoring him.

“The same kind they teach to cast in your world,” she answered quietly just before she pressed her lips against his.

They got around to putting up the tree and decorating it a great deal later than Angel had initially anticipated.

The delay was well worth it.

* * *

DESPITE THE FACT that only small bits and pieces of her previous life started to fall into place—she had a preference for Mexican food and was able to create minor miracles in the kitchen—Angel found that she was less and less focused on trying to remember the life she’d had before coming to Forever.

That was largely because she was happy here, happy in a town that had accepted her so readily. And far more than just “happy” with the man who had come into her life, a man who continually placed her wants and needs above his own each and every time.

For all intents and purposes, she’d been a clean slate when Gabe had rescued her. As the days slipped into one another, she felt the desire to find her past lessened bit by bit. If she never found out who she was or why she’d wound up here, well, that was all right, too. As long as she was allowed to remain here, with Gabe, for the rest of her life.

She had an underlying fear of what any sort of “discovery” about her previous life would yield. Although she was inexplicably certain that she didn’t have a husband waiting for her somewhere, Angel began to suspect that if she did remember all those pertinent pieces of information about herself and her world, she wouldn’t be too happy with what that discovery would yield.

So, banking down what she assumed was a natural strain of curiosity, Angel stopped asking Gabe if he’d found out anything when she saw him at the end of each day.

Instead, she focused on the evening ahead, whether that involved just the two of them in his house, or visiting with his family, or just staying at Miss Joan’s diner after her shift was over, enjoying the company of the people she’d come to think of as her friends.

* * *

“HARD TO IMAGINE what it was like without her around, isn’t it?” Miss Joan commented to Gabe as Angel disappeared into the kitchen after volunteering to prepare dinner for one of her regular customers. The man had been unavoidably detained and looked genuinely disappointed when he realized he’d arrived too late for her to make his dinner. Taking off her jacket, Angel was quick to set his mind at rest as she headed back into the kitchen.

She’d been touched by the man’s apparent disappointment so she’d told him to hang on and away she went to prepare his dinner, tossing a “you don’t mind, do you, Gabe?” over her shoulder.

“No, I don’t mind,” he’d called after her, but he doubted if she’d heard.

How could he stop her? Her selflessness was one of the things that made Angel Angel. And it was one of the reasons why he’d fallen in love with her.

“Yeah,” Gabe heard himself admit, answering Miss Joan’s question.

And it was true. He’d gone from zealously guarding his feelings to allowing others to see just how caught up he was in this woman.

Damn, he’d sure come a long way from that man Erica had trampled. That man who, right after that, had sworn off any and all relationships for the next decade—if not longer.

“Making any headway finding out her real name?” Miss Joan asked. Her voice had a mildly disinterested ring to it, but she wasn’t fooling him. The woman had ears like a bat and could listen to three different conversations at once. “The IT guy from County said he finally got rid of that virus that took all your systems down.”

Gabe eyed the older woman. Everyone who lived in or passed through Forever wound up eating at the diner, and somewhere along the line they’d find themselves, quite unintentionally, baring their souls to Miss Joan. Gabe wasn’t too surprised that the woman knew something that only he and the other deputies in the sheriff’s office knew.

“Not yet,” he told Miss Joan. “Up until now, Alma’s been combing through the files by hand, placing calls to other sheriffs’ offices and police stations. At first it was only within a hundred-mile radius, but then she expanded it somewhat when she didn’t get a positive response.”

He’d found out that his sister had made up a small poster with Angel’s picture. She made sure it was mailed out to all the various offices.

The process was painfully slow in comparison to what they’d become accustomed to, but in lieu of a functioning computer—each would shut down the moment the internet was accessed—that method had to suffice.

Now, however, they had gotten back on track and things would move far more quickly again.

If there was anywhere to move, Gabe silently qualified.

On a personal level, though he knew it was selfish, he hoped that they would never find out who Angel actually was and where she belonged. She was his Angel and that was all that really mattered to him.

But, as one of Forever’s deputies, he felt obligated to do whatever he could in order to get answers for Angel—or whatever her real name was.

As if reading his mind, Miss Joan leaned her head closer to his and suggested, “Why don’t you let it go until after Christmas?”

Not that he wasn’t sorely tempted, but that would be giving in to a personal whim. Gabe shook his head. “Wouldn’t be right.”

To which, in response, Miss Joan shrugged her thin shoulders. “Oh, I don’t know. There’s ‘right,’ and then there’s right.”

She walked away then, leaving him to contemplate the difference—and secretly wishing for the advent of another computer virus.