The Christmas Letter (Davidson Center, Colorado Book 1)

  EVERNIGHT PUBLISHING ®

  www.evernightpublishing.com

  Copyright© 2016 April Zyon

  ISBN: 978-1-77339-097-0

  Cover Artist: Jay Aheer

  Editor: Audrey Bobak

  ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

  WARNING: The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal. No part of this book may be used or reproduced electronically or in print without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in reviews.

  This is a work of fiction. All names, characters, and places are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  DEDICATION

  This one is for my readers, thank you all for everything. I love you all so much. You are the reason that I write and continue to put out books.

  THE CHRISTMAS LETTER

  Davidson Center, Colorado, 1

  April Zyon

  Copyright © 2016

  Chapter One

  Noelle Henry looked at another letter and giggled. This was one of the best jobs she had in a long time. Reading these letters from kids they sent to Santa and sending back form letters that were filled in and customized always made her day. Sure she wished she could write letters for these kids by hand, but she had already been warned more than once about it.

  Opening another letter, she read it and then frowned as she realized she knew this kid. Re-reading the letter, her heart began to break. “Poor kid.” She traced the crayon that the letter had been written in and thought about the little girl’s mom and dad. She didn’t want to think about Molly’s uncle, Dante, because that brought forth too many painful memories.

  Shit, she couldn’t help but wonder about him now that she had read Molly Davidson’s letter.

  Dante Davidson was six years older than her, he was hotter than hell, and he had always been one of those men that all of the girls in school did everything that they could to get his attention. Noelle was no different, she couldn’t lie about that, even now. He was so out of her league, back then and especially now, it wasn’t funny. But reading Molly’s letter broke her heart.

  Well hell. Noelle knew she couldn’t give this little girl a form letter. She was so going to get fired, but she knew this family, she lived in the same town they lived in and was surprised she hadn’t heard of the deaths of Molly’s mom and dad.

  Dear Molly,

  You are on my very good list. I’m so sorry about your mom and dad, but death isn’t something I can control. Just know that they are both together and love you very much and watch over you from where they are.

  As to what you want. I’m certain your uncle is doing his best in trying to get along with you, give him time.

  Noelle took a look around her, chewed her lip, and then glanced at her phone really quickly, checking her bank account. Making some quick calculations, she decided she could do it.

  Continue to be good, be good for your uncle and give him a bit of a break. This is as hard for him as it is for you because he lost his baby sister, and while he’s gotten someone amazing in you, he’s trying to get over the loss of someone he spent twenty-five years protecting.

  Look for something special on Christmas morning and keep being the special child that you are.

  Santa

  Before anyone could catch her, she printed the letter, sprinkled it with the multicolored glitter, and added a bold and script signature before stuffing it into an envelope and sending it down the line to be sent out.

  The little girl wanted a new, talking real-life baby, and she didn’t know how to ask her uncle for it. She said in her heartbreaking letter that her uncle had to come home early from being a frog, which Noelle knew was SEAL, to take care of her. The little girl was scared that her uncle was going to try to give her away to one of the neighbors because of how much she looked like her mommy.

  Noelle’s heart hurt for the child. She remembered Samantha, the woman had been a year older than Noelle, and they had been fast friends. Noelle hadn’t spent much time at Sammy’s house because sadly Sammy and Dante’s father was a drunk and he was a hitter as well. Sam escaped to Noelle’s home more often than not. They had drifted apart when they had both went off to college. When Sam came back married, it was on Noelle for not reaching out and making an attempt to get closer to her friend again.

  Life had a way of getting in the way of friendships and of ensuring that one didn’t pick right back up where one left off. That’s what happened with Sammy and Noelle, but she wasn’t going to let this little girl go without the baby she wanted. It was an expensive purchase, but she would get it for the child and ship it to her. She just hoped that no one in their little town would put two and two together and realize that she was the one who had bought the baby for the little girl.

  Chapter Two

  Six months earlier

  Another mortar that flew over their heads had all of them ducking for cover. Dante reached out and grabbed one of his friends by the back of his flak jacket, jerking him off his feet just in time to keep him from stepping on the wire. A cable that Dante had just barely seen the glint of metal thanks to a cloud shifting suddenly and the moon catching it.

  “They have boxed us in.” Fuck. Dante swore to himself. Looking to his comms officer, he nodded. “Call a strike, they are boxing us in to wallop us. We need to get a break in this line so that we can get into that building.” They had an objective, and they would God damn good and well achieve it or die trying. That’s what the men were made for. He and his unit were created for this shit. They lived and breathed for this sort of action. Each and every single one of the eight-man team were adrenaline junkies, but they were also professionals who lived and died for their country as well.

  They heard over their earpieces that the strike would come in five and to lay the laser target down. “Fuck,” Dante shouted and shifted on his left foot so that he could lay down fire. “Simmons, Franks, I need for the two of you to put the Laser on the northwest corner of the building that’s hitting us so that they know their target.”

  “Got it, boss,” both men said as they shimmied on their bellies into a better position, knowing their teammates would protect them while they held up the target long enough for the building to be shot off the face of the planet by the drones being sent in.

  Five minutes later they were breaching the doors of the building that held the target they had to get out.

  ****

  November 1, 2016

  “Davidson.”

  Dante looked up when his name was called and frowned. He stood to attention immediately when he saw his CO and the Red Cross Chaplin entering the tent where his team was currently taking some much-needed downtime.

  “Sir, yes sir,” he called.

  “Come with us.” The Commanding Officer turned on his heels, and he followed the man, concerned because the Red Cross Chaplin only came when there was bad news of the worst sort. His only family was his baby sister, her husband, and their little girl, so he prayed hard while they walked to the CO’s tent.

  Once in the CO’s tent, the Chaplin said, “Have a seat, son.”

  “I would rather stand, sir.” Dante was at parade rest as he watched his CO and then the Chaplin and knew whatever the news was, it was pretty fucking bad. Just the look on his CO’s face told him that it was bad.

  “There was an accident,” the Chaplin said without warning. “Your sister Samantha and her husband David were on their way home from a Friday night date night when a drunk driver lost control of his car and ran off of the bridge he was on, landing
on top of your family’s car. It was a one-in-a-million type of accident,” the man said sadly. “David died on impact, Samantha is in intensive care, but the doctors are saying that she’s not going to survive. You have been listed as their child’s guardian, and therefore you are being discharged honorably to care for the child. You are going to be this child’s primary guardian since you are her last living relative.”

  Dante’s knees shook. It was only his training that kept him up, but he felt like he was going to puke. His CO pushed a chair under him, and he felt a hand on his shoulder pushing him into the chair. “Sit. That’s an order. He had already told me everything so I knew when we came for you just how bad this was going to hit you.”

  Drake put his head between his knees and gulped in huge gasps of air. Not Sammy. No, not Sammy. “And Molly?” he asked and looked up at the Chaplin. “Who is she with now?” He was sure that his eyes were red. He was fighting the tears that wanted to spill from his eyes right now.

  “She’s with Social Services until you are able to get there. The doctors are going to keep Samantha alive until you get there to say your goodbyes. There is a plane leaving in one hour. Be ready,” the Chaplin said.

  Dante looked up at his CO. “Sir?”

  “The paperwork will be filled out and available stateside. I will ensure someone meets you at the airport to take you to the hospital, and they will have all of the paperwork for you to sign to make sure that you are made a civilian and also made that child’s legal guardian before you make it to the hospital. Get back to the tent and get your bags packed. I will go with you to explain to your team.” For a moment the CO hesitated, and Dante was confused for that hesitation. “I hate to lose you, Dante, and I’m so fucking sorry for your loss. Sorry, Father,” the man said to the Chaplin.

  The man bowed his head in acceptance of the apology from the CO. “I will be on the flight with you, Dante. If there is anything at all that you need to talk about or anything you need, I will be there with you.” The Chaplin rose to his feet and then nodded. “I have to go pack. I’m also going back because of a loss.” He left the CO’s tent without another word.

  Dante frowned at that sudden announcement from the Chaplin. “His mother, he knew that it was coming, however. She was 103 years young, according to him,” the CO explained to Dante. “Come on, let’s get you packed.”

  Chapter Three

  December 2016

  Dante looked at Molly, and then the tree, and back at Molly. “Molls, are you sure that this is right? It’s supposed to lean like that?”

  She giggled. God, he loved her giggles, it was so much better than her tears. He loved this girl so much and now that he had her in his life he would do anything for her. “Yes, Uncle D, it’s supposed to lean. It’s called a Charlie Brown tree. We should watch that movie. Mommy said that you and her loved that movie and watched it all the time, that’s why I wanted this tree.”

  God damn, she broke his heart with that statement because it was the truth. He and Sammy would watch that when she was a little munchkin, about Molly’s age actually. Now he wished he spent more time with Samantha instead of being the typical royal asshole older brother that he was. “I would like that a lot, Molls,” he told her and reached out to tug at one of her little curls. She looked so much like Samantha it wasn’t even funny.

  “I will go get it,” Molly said excitedly and jumped up, giving him another hug. She did that a great deal, hugging him. The child psychologist told him that a part of it was because of losing her parents that Molly felt the need to shower him with affection. She took off for the DVD collection and called over her shoulder, “Did you get the mail yet, Uncle D? Has Santa wrote me back yet?”

  Dante still couldn’t get over her writing to Santa. She had done it pretty much the day after he had taken her home. This child was more of an adult than he was at times and it astounded him that she put up with his shit. He had to get his shit together, though, if for no other reason than for Molly. She deserved so much more than what he was fumbling around giving her right now. She deserved a life of ease, especially with the severe loss she suffered at the age she suffered it. He missed his old life. He missed the men he served with, but he wouldn’t trade one single second of time with his niece. The Chaplin had told him that they could arrange to have a foster care family take care of Molly until he wanted to leave the service on his own if he so chose. However, the second he saw her looking so distraught, looking so pained, he knew he couldn’t leave her, especially when she had wrapped her arms around him and held onto him as if he had anchored her very universe right then and there.

  He knew then that he couldn’t walk away from her. Not then and not ever. She was his to keep, and he damn well was going to keep her. She was now his very life. He would do everything in order to make her life as easy as he possibly could. If that meant that he had to write her a letter from fucking Santa Claus, then so be it. He just wished he knew what that letter said. Fuck, he wished he had read that letter so that he knew what to say to her.

  “The mail hasn’t run yet, Molls,” Dante finally said and mussed her hair with a laugh. “I promise you when it runs I will tell you, but for now silly giggling girl, get yourself back over here and help me finish with the Christmas decorations because we both know that I will get them wrong and then what will you do?”

  “Okay, but you keep your supersonic hearing open and tell me when it runs because I just know I will get a letter back from Santa, I know I will,” Molly said as she began to arrange the ornaments that he had placed on the tree several different times before she was happy with it. “Now, lift me up so I can put the star on top and then we have our tree. Our tree, Uncle D. Our very first tree.” She got that little wobble again, the one that nearly killed him. The one that he knew far too well because it was one that gut-punched him every single time too. He felt it too. The one that said he wished that his sister and brother-in-law were still alive today.

  Giving Molly a quick hug, Dante lifted her to put the small star that she claimed would be absolutely perfect for their tree onto the top of it. He had to give it to the child, she did have some kind of sense when it came to decorations. She definitely took after her mother on that one. The star fit their leaning tree perfectly, it actually seemed to add to the homeliness of the tree, weird as that was.

  He finally heard the mail and with a laugh carried Molly to the door. “Grab your coat, munchkin.” He wasn’t about to take her outside without her being bundled up, and there was no way in hell he was going to take any sort of chance with her health. Once she was secure in her coat, they trotted out to the mailbox, and he reached in and grabbed the mail.

  His eardrums were nearly blown out by the squeals that his niece gave when he saw the letter covered in glitter and lots of scrollwork on the outside. “It came!” She was bouncing on his shoulder very uncomfortably, but Dante held firm to Molly to ensure that she didn’t dislodge herself from his shoulders. He wasn’t about to lose her, not now.

  “Well, good, we will get inside and read it,” he said with a laugh.

  “No, no it’s for me.” Molly stingily held the envelope to her chest and shook her head. “No. I don’t want you to know what I said in the letter, and I need to know what Santa said to me alone. It’s private, Uncle Dante.”

  Well, he wasn’t so certain he liked that, but whatever. It was likely a form letter anyway. He had seen them time and time again when his buddies’ kids got them. God knew they read them aloud to his friends enough that they all sounded exactly alike so he likely already knew just what it said so he wasn’t going to sweat it at all. “All right, kiddo, I will leave the letter a secret between you and Santa, but I hope you reminded him that he better wipe his feet before coming into the house and that he should make sure to knock first on my door, so I don’t shoot him.”

  That had her giggling again. Damn he loved this kid. She was the best thing to come into his world in the shittiest time of his life. “You are silly, Un
cle D,” she chastised him as they walked back inside.

  Chapter Four

  Five days later…

  Crap. She didn’t know how the hell she was going to do this. She had to somehow get the baby to Dante freaking Davidson so that he would make sure to put it under the tree for Molly on Christmas Eve, but how was she going to do this without looking like the biggest stalker on the face of the planet? She had been watching them for the last week and had been more than a little surprised to find out that they lived a block from her house, what was worse was the man ran at five in the morning when she was leaving for work. Who ran at five in the freaking morning no matter what the weather was like? And he was so damn hot doing it too. He had a freaking baby monitor with him when he ran, she assumed to keep track of if Molly needed him or not, but his body was to die for. Jesus, she was so screwed, and she knew it. She was stalking an ex-SEAL, and she was so bad at it.

  She was now behind him on the sidewalk with the bag in her hand, and she was talking to herself in a quiet whisper, “I know you don’t remember me.” She could start like that, right? Thankfully he had dropped Molly off at school and was walking home and she just happened to be walking back from getting the baby for Molly so this was working out well, she hoped. Shit. Do or die time, she realized when he stopped and turned on his heels to face her.

  “You know, it typically works best if you say hello first.”

  Holy shit, the deep baritone of his voice made her knees weak and her pussy cream. Everything about this man was larger than life and made her ache to want to know more, and for the first time, made her want to have more, take more, and instead she squeaked because she couldn’t say a word.