Page 120 of Mistletoe and Mischief

“The usual Christmas cards—and one rather interesting letter.”

“Oh? Who from?”

Seth leafed through the holiday cards until he came across a plain, business-size white envelope. He glanced at it again, then handed it to her.

Justine saw that the envelope held her name—and only hers. The return address made her catch her breath. After taking a moment to compose herself, she raised her eyes to meet Seth’s. “It’s stamped prison mail. The postmark is Shelton, Washington—that’s where the state prison is. One of them, anyway.”

“I noticed that, too.”

“There’s only one person who could be writing me from there.” The paper seemed to grow hot in her hands.

“Warren Saget,” Seth muttered.

Justine dropped the letter on the table and avoided looking at it.

“Aren’t you going to open it?” her husband asked.

“I... I don’t know.” She’d once had a deep affection for Warren, a successful local builder, although he was old enough to be her father. They’d dated for a while. He’d liked having a tall, beautiful woman on his arm, and she’d liked the fact that he was rich and powerful and made no physical demands on her.

He couldn’t. That was their little secret. With Warren she was safe from emotional—and physical—entanglements. Safe, until she’d agreed to work on the class reunion project and Seth had shown up. Justine hadn’t wanted to become involved with Seth, yet he was all she thought about. Warren had offered her a huge diamond engagement ring. He was willing to do anything not to lose her. But even that diamond hadn’t enticed her. All she wanted, all sheneeded,was Seth.

“I wonder if Warren has any idea of everything he did for us,” Seth commented.

Her husband’s words jarred Justine from her reverie. “You mean what he didtous, don’t you?” Warren had tried to destroy them.

“But in the end that’s what saved our marriage.”

“You’re right,” she said slowly. “Ironic, isn’t it?”

“We were killing ourselves with the restaurant, working all hours of the day and night....”

“You don’t need to remind me,” Justine said, shaking her head at the memory. It’d been a difficult period in their marriage. They’d been working impossibly long hours with no time as a couple or a family.

The restaurant had been Seth’s dream. For nearly ten years he’d saved his money from fishing the crab-rich Alaskan waters. He’d lived on a sailboat in the marina while in town, and spent every waking moment studying restaurant management. He’d dreamed of one day opening an elegant seafood restaurant in Cedar Cove. Together they’d made his dream come true, and the Lighthouse had been the success he’d always planned.

But Seth had worked far too hard. Justine shared his dream, and they’d redoubled their efforts until it all became too much. By then Leif had been born, which meant Justine was torn between being with her son and working at the restaurant.

Their marriage had started to show the stress of too many demands and too few hours. For the first time Seth and Justine had been at odds.

Then, one night, the restaurant had burned down. All their dreams, all their hard work, their blood, sweat and tears, had gone up in smoke.

Even now, memories of that night were surreal. After being contacted by the authorities, they’d rushed to the scene and walked around in a stupor, shocked and bereft. It wasn’t long before the fire inspector declared it’d been arson.

Someone had purposely set their restaurant on fire. The police had what they called “a person of interest,” a high school kid who’d worked there briefly before Seth let him go. Anson Butler had a history of being in trouble and had started fires when he was younger. Someone had seen him inside the restaurant that night. Then Anson disappeared.... Meanwhile, Justine and Seth were left to pick up the charred remains of their life. The stress on their marriage brought them close to the breaking point.

It didn’t help that Warren took every opportunity to talk about how good things had been between them. Justine didn’t believe it, not for a minute; still, it was comforting to have someone pay her that kind of attention.

Not working and depressed, Seth had struggled emotionally. He’d given up fishing in Alaska, and she was grateful. She wanted her husband with her. Leif needed him. So did she.

It was during this time that she’d come up with the idea of building a tearoom and giving it the ambience of England’s Victorian era. The plans were already in motion when Seth was approached by a family friend who owned a boatyard and offered him a job in sales. Seth took it and turned out to be a natural.

Later, thanks to Sheriff Troy Davis, Warren Saget was arrested, tried and convicted of arson. Currently, he was serving time in prison.

Justine poked at the envelope with her finger. She expected to feelsomething.Some emotion. Regret. Anger. Something. Instead, she felt nothing. Only a sadness that Warren could have been this vindictive, this desperate. He’d never forgiven her for leaving him and he’d wanted to punish Seth for stealing away the one woman who understood him, understood his needs.

“Are you going to read it?” Seth asked.

“Do you want me to?”

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