Just One Kiss (The Town of Pearl 8)

“I was never surrounded by family and friends and made to feel like life was so wonderful and that I was blessed. So many times I stayed at the boarding school with other girls whose parents went off on vacations or didn’t send for them because they didn’t celebrate or care about the holiday. This town and all its people, plus the four of you, are my new family. This is my first real Thanksgiving, so that’s what the tears are for.”

Salvatore smiled. “There’ll be many more like this, Lucia. Many more.” He kissed her tenderly, and they all smiled before they helped her from her seat and prepared to enjoy the feast.

Gabriele wrapped his arms around her waist, placed his head on her shoulder as they waited to make a plate. “If you think this is wonderful, just wait until Christmas, baby. The holiday season officially starts now.”

He kissed her cheek, and she felt his excitement. She prayed that nothing would come between their happiness. But given the fact that there had been no updated information on Derek or his associates, she wasn’t feeling too sure the happiness would last. Derek McMillian was not going to give up. He would come, and when he did, she needed to be ready.

Chapter 15

Lucia joined Mary Higgins for lunch at her home. The work in the two bedrooms was complete, and Lucifer and Salvatore had moved on to another job closer to the house on the other side of town. They had planned on dropping her off in the mornings then picking her up in the afternoon as she started working longer hours for Mary. They weren’t too happy about leaving her, but she insisted that she would be fine and that help was a phone call away.

As Beth joined them in the kitchen, Lucia saw all the Christmas decorations spread out on the table in the adjoining dining room.

“I thought you said you were just about finished decorating for Christmas,” Lucia said.

Beth chuckled as she held a small sandwich in her hands. “Are you kidding me? You saw what she had put up outside of the house, didn’t you realize that every room in the house must be decorated too?” Beth teased.

“Oh my goodness, this really is your favorite time of the year,” Lucia said to Mary.

“It sure is, and I have so many guests coming to visit. You’ll come over with your men Christmas Eve, won’t you?” Mary asked.

“Of course. I’ve heard all about your parties, Mary, they always wind up being the talk of the town.”

Mary chuckled. We do get a little crazy with the eggnog,” she replied, and they laughed.

“So what do you think about all the decorations and the events planned in town, Lucia?” Beth asked her.

“Oh God, it’s so beautiful. Yesterday we picked out a tree and set it up in the living room. Salvatore made this fancy base for it and a container to hold the water so the tree doesn’t dry out. We’re letting the branches fall, then we’ll decorate it.”

Mary smiled, and then she wiped a tear from her eyes.

“Mary, what’s wrong?”

She chuckled and used her sleeve to pat the tears away.

“Just thinking of Lilly and Benny. They would be so happy to know that their sons found you and fell in love. I don’t remember the last time those men celebrated any holiday, never mind put up a Christmas tree.”

“Really?” Lucia asked, suddenly feeling so sad for them.

“You’ve helped them to heal Lucia, and to move on with their lives,” Beth added then reached over and squeezed her hand.

“I don’t know about that. I think they’ve helped me to heal and to finally feel loved.”

They heard a sound coming from the back door, and all three of them locked gazes.

“What was that?” Lucia asked. Beth stood up and headed down the hallway then screamed. The door kicked in and someone knocked Beth over as Mary put herself in front of Lucia.

“Get away from her. You can’t have her,” she screamed.

The man in the mask backhanded Mary across the face. She fell to the rug.

“No. Get away from me,” Lucia screamed as she tried to fight the man. Two others were there to help him. They grabbed Mary and Beth covered their mouths and eyes then tied them to the chairs.

“Don’t hurt them. Please don’t hurt them,” Lucia begged as the one guy tied her hands behind her back.

“Let’s move, Gerry, we have seconds to get the fuck out of here,” one of them said.

Lucia tried to run, but the other guy struck her. She screamed out and could hear Beth and Mary yelling for the men to stop. They were calling her name.