Page 75 of False Evidence

Her baby girl would be hurt when Uncle Tee disappeared from her life. Hopefully, this arrangement would only last a few days, and then she and her baby could both move on from the heartbreak of letting JT in, even if it had been just a crack.

It was officially Christmas Eve. In the morning, she’d figure out how to make the holiday special for Gemma, all while feeling thankful that at fifteen months, she was too young to remember this.

This would be a holiday to get through, not one to remember.

The boxes were much as JT remembered, overloaded with ornaments, lights, garlands. The decorations were generic, purchased by a decorator who’d specialized in store displays. Impersonal, but pretty.

It was better than nothing and could be a bridge between him and Alexandra. A piece of normalcy in a topsy-turvy world.

The last box in the stack threw him for another loop. It was full of unopened gifts. Not the store display variety—shiny boxes full of air. No. These were the gifts he and Alexandra had gotten for each other that last Christmas before the wedding that wasn’t.

It had been a Christmas that wasn’t too.

He wondered what gifts he’d gotten her. He had no clue. But then, with the exception of jewelry—which he’d loved buying for her, always imagining making love to her when she wore nothing but gemstones—he never picked out the gifts he gave her himself. He had assistants and personal shoppers who could do that.

He looked at the boxes and felt like an ass. No wonder his gifts had always meant nothing to her. They’d meant nothing tohim.

Well, this year, they’d open these gifts and find out what his assistant had picked out for Lex eleven years ago. It was too bad there wouldn’t be any toys for Gemma in the mix, but there were a few things he’d purchased for her the other night that he hadn’t given her yet. What toddler didn’t want a onesie and a tube of Butt Paste?

But then he remembered he did have a gift for Gemma. A rather large one. How would Lex react when he gave it to her?

But it wasn’t Lex he wanted to please with presents, and what he had for her wasn’t a toy to play with. He thought about Gemma’s immediate attachment to the T-Rex stuffed animal and how she’d made a place for it in her world as a new best friend.

JT wanted to be part of Gemma’s world. And he didn’t think he’d be satisfied with being a distant, occasional uncle. Still, Gemma wasn’t one he’d have to convince to accept him. It was the woman he’d spent the last sixteen years convincing he wanted nothing to do with being a parent.

Everything JT had ever believed he wanted had shifted in the time he spent with Gemma. He’d always known he wanted Alexandra. That was never in question. What he hadn’t realized was that he could—and would—love any child of hers. Maybe it was because he could love anything that brought Lex the joy he’d failed to give her.

But Gemma didn’t exist merely as an extension of her mother. No. She was a fully formed human who’d managed to steal his heart the first night they’d met, just like her mother had all those years ago.

ChapterTwenty-Seven

Gemma was up at six a.m., which wasn’t bad considering all the major upheaval of these last few days. Still, Alexandra could have used another hour of sleep. Exhausted but grateful to have this morning at all, she carried her toddler down the stairs on her hip, not having the patience to let Gemma descend on her own when coffee waited at the bottom of the staircase.

She noticed red and green plastic boxes stacked in the corner of the living room as she passed through to the kitchen. They must be full of Christmas decorations JT had found in the attic.

She wondered if he’d had any luck with the computer hard drive, but didn’t see an old desktop console among the boxes. But then, they didn’t need a working PC, just a SATA—Serial Advance Technology Attachment—cord with USB. She’d been too tired to remember that last night when JT suggested searching the attic for an old PC. She had that kind of cord at home—she’d needed it to rescue files after a computer crash more than once. One could probably be ordered from Amazon, but they didn’t have same-day delivery on the mountain, especially with the forecasted snowstorm, and since tomorrow was Christmas, most, if not all, businesses in this area would be closed.

In the kitchen, she put the coffee on to brew as Gemma demanded breakfast. Alexandra set her up in the clip-on travel high chair and gave her dry Cheerios to start with, then scrambled eggs for both of them.

JT entered the kitchen just as Alexandra was sitting down to eat, and she jumped up to make his breakfast. “Sorry! I thought you’d sleep in. I can make you eggs too.”

He shooed her back into her seat. “Sit. Eat. I can cook for myself.”

She dropped back into her chair, glad to eat while her food was warm. But still, she felt guilty. After all he’d done for her and Gemma, the least she could do was fry some eggs for him.

The coffee was starting to kick in by the time JT sat at the table. She took a sip from her mug and nodded to the boxes in the corner. “You were busy last night.”

“Today, we’ll set up a Christmas tree. We’ve got ornaments and lights.”

“But no actual tree.”

He waved toward the woods beyond the window. “You can’t see the trees for the forest.”

She laughed. “Aren’t they a little big?”

“Smaller trees grow by the pond. I’m sure we can find one that will work.”

“Do you have a tree stand?”

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