Page 31 of All I Want for Christmas

“Like what?”

He turned to look at me, his eyes ice cold. “It’s none of your damn business.”

My back stiffened. “It is if it involves my husband.”

“Then why isn’thehere?” he snapped. “Why send his wife?”

“Because he doesn’t know I’m here!” I shouted. “He doesn’t know about any of this!”

He sat back in his chair, his eyes widening. “You don’t say.” He shifted his gaze to Carter.

“I thought it best to tell Neely Kate first,” Carter said.

Skeeter stared at Carter for a long moment, but to his credit, Carter didn’t so much as flinch, just waited him out.

When he realized he wasn’t going to get a reaction, Skeeter turned to me, looking exasperated. “What is it you want fromme?”

“I want you to get them to back off Jed.”

He laughed again, this time sounding more amused. “Don’t you think if I had that kind of power, I’d getmyselfout of here?”

“That’s just it,” I said. “I think youdohave the power.” I decided to play the ace up my sleeve, prepared to face his wrath. “Skeeter—if they’re goin’ after people you care about, will they go after Rose next?”

He slammed his hand on the table so hard I flinched. His eyes blazed with anger, his jaw clenched so hard veins popped out on his forehead. “You leave her out of this!”

“Iwantto leave her out of this,” I said insistently. “Jed did his share of bad things, so ultimately, if push comes to shove, he’ll need to answer for them. But we both know Rose did everything she did to help others. Joe. Mason.You.”

Skeeter didn’t look any less angry, but I pushed on, figuring I had nothing to lose.

“What is it they want from you, Skeeter? Because I can’t help thinking if they were after Jed, they would have come askin’ questions months ago.”

He shook his head, his face still flushed.

“I’m scared for Rose,” I said, my voice breaking.

His fist clenched on the table.

“She’s already been through so much, and she’s finally happy. She doesn’t deserve to be dragged back into all of this.”

He pushed out a ragged sigh and a war seemed to wage on his face before he asked, “How is she?”

I’d just told him she was happy, so I knew he was looking for details. I was happy to oblige. “The landscape business is doin’ well, and so is the nursery. We’ve got so many new clients we can hardly keep up with designs. Maeve and Anna are running the nursery and doin’ a good job. Violet gave me partial ownership until Ashley and Mikey are old enough to take over, but Maeve’s got it under control, so I work mostly with Rose.” Then I added, “And all of my profit from the nursery either goes back into the business or into a bank account for when the kids are older.”

He didn’t look surprised, but the only person I’d told about the bank account was Jed. Even Rose didn’t know, because I knew she’d insist I keep part of the profits. But Jed and I had enough money, and we’d both agreed we wanted Violet’s kids to have it.

There was a hungry look in Skeeter’s eyes, and now that I’d given him a taste of Rose’s life, he was starving for more. I had no doubts that Carter kept him informed as best he could about her life, but I was her best friend. Other than Joe, I knew more about her than anyone else.

“She loves bein’ a mother,” I said softly, “and she’s darn good at it.”

“I wouldn’t expect anything less,” he said with the hint of a smile.

“She works part time and tries to do some of her work at home so she can be with Hope and Ashley and Mikey, but once she’s there, she usually wants to be with them. She tried bringin’ Hope to the office, which worked when she was an infant, but when she got more mobile it was hard, so she’s in a daycare now.”

I saw the way his eyes lit up when I mentioned Hope, so I said, “Hope’s the spittin’ image of Rose. Dark hair, sweet, and smart as a whip, but a tiny bit ornery too. She must have a little of her dad in her because she head butted Santa a week ago and broke his nose. Apparently, it caused quite a scene.”

I wondered if I’d gone too far mentioning that, but I could have been talking about Joe. The pleased look in his eyes told me he knew I wasn’t.

“Joe’s good to her,” I said quietly. “He’s a good daddy too—to both Hope and Violet’s kids. He doesn’t take any of them for granted and he more than pulls his weight with housework and childcare.”

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