The Bachelor Pact (86 page)

She punched Wallace Bannister’s number, but his machine rolled to voice mail. “Wallace, it’s me, Lucy. I’m afraid Emmet’s found me. Please call me back.”

She tucked the phone in her pocket, then smiled as Mae tottered toward her carrying a blueberry cobbler. “Taylor, guess what! I’ve got a date tonight with Harry, the man I met in the obits! He must have liked my pie after all.”

Lucy laughed although guilt weighed on her for lying to these sweet people.

Moon strolled in dressed as Santa Claus. Billy and Nelda wore matching jingle bell shirts while DeEtte’s shirt glittered with blinking lights. The others filed in, all dressed in festive attire, the mood jovial as they gathered for the show.

For a brief moment, she wondered what her sister was doing tonight, if she and Lance, and Reid, and Maddie and Chase were all together, sipping drinks over dinner and making toasts to the holiday.

Tears threatened, but she blinked them back. She missed her family, but she loved the people here. And she would be home soon.

Would Reid be waiting?

Christmas music piped up, and she studied the guests as they entered, one eye open for Emmet.

Sue directed everyone to take their seats, and introduced the first act.

Four Silver Sneakers, DeEtte, Ellen, Sue, and Willene performed a tap dance to Jingle Bells, the bells on their shoes ringing. Laughter and applause rang out as they finished.

Act two featured Billy and Nelda who performed their own version of Ghosts of Christmas Pasts by reenacting some of the funniest holidays they’d spent together. In the first scene, they’d spent Christmas rubbing lotion all over their six children who’d come down with chicken pox. But the first holiday was the best – they were so poor they didn’t have money to buy a tree, so they chopped one down in the woods, but it was so lopsided they had to tie it to the wall with a belt to keep it upright. Then they cut Christmas cards and threaded them onto the tree for decorations.

Lucy’s heart churned with emotions. She wanted the kind of love those two shared.

Next, Moon played
Here Comes Santa Claus
on his spoons while his buddy Lewis accompanied him on a set of water glasses, and Roger played the harmonica. Bradford, dressed as Santa, hung candy canes on the tree then pretended to climb up the chimney. But his big belly got stuck, and the cardboard fireplace fell apart, bringing another round of giggles.

Suddenly a commotion erupted near the back door, and Lucy went to see what it was. But when she reached the door, she noticed a woman wearing a lampshade decorated like a Christmas tree, sunglasses and a frilly bright green skirt made of netting.

The woman waved and moved toward her.

The woman had the hairiest legs she’d ever seen.

Then the truth hit her -- the lampshade hat belonged to a man.

Dear God, it was Emmet!

She started to scream, but her voice died when he shoved a gun in to her side. “Hi, sweetheart, miss me?”

Lucy tensed, and saw Santa Claus climbing on stage. Maybe Santa would save her. “You won’t get away with this, Emmet.”

“Oh, yes, I will.” He gestured toward the stage where Reba, Betty and her sisters Sheila and Shirley, and their cousins Linda, Vicky, and Janet were doing a can-can dance to
We Wish You A Merry Christmas
with Santa dancing in the middle. The crowd had joined in, everyone clapping and cheering.

“Let’s go, Lucy. I’ve been waiting for you a long time.”

“Just don’t hurt any one here,” Lucy whispered.

He leaned close and licked her earlobe. “Funny, Lucy, I never imagined you at a place like this.”

Neither had she, but she loved the people, and she’d do anything to keep them safe..

Even if it meant going with crazy Emmet.

Reid, Lance and Sophie, and Maddie and Chase and Deseree had slipped into the back of the room to watch the talent show, then Reid spotted Lucy with the strange looking woman in the lampshade hat.

Only it wasn’t a woman. Hairy legs stretched below that green net skirt.

“That’s him. He has her,” he said in a low voice to Lance.

“He has a gun,” Maddie screeched.

“Chase, keep Maddie out of this,” Lance told Chase.

“You take care of Sophie,” Reid said. “I’m going after Lucy.”

“Where’s Deseree?” Sophie asked.

“She’s over there flirting with that man in the reindeer shirt,” Chase said.

On stage, a man and several others were acting out
The Night Before Christmas
with Santa ho-ho-hoing as he handed out gifts to the few grandchildren attending the show.

Reid wove through the row of seats toward Lucy and her stalker, but Lucy saw him and gasped.

Suddenly Deseree screamed, “Lucy’s in trouble, call 911!”

“Who’s Lucy?” several people shouted.

The guy in the lampshade fired a shot into the air. Chaos erupted. Everyone on stage dove to the floor. Santa threw his arms over them to protect them. Women screamed and took cover under the food tables. Casseroles and punch splattered the floor.

Lucy’s stalker dragged her outside by the pool. Reid pushed his way through the crowd. Lance yelled at Sophie and Maddie to stay put while he and Chase separated, running in different directions to cover the other doors.

“Stop,” Reid yelled.

The lampshade jangled ornaments as the man jerked Lucy’s arm.

But he saw the fight flare in Lucy’s eyes. She jabbed her elbow into her stalker’s side. He bellowed in pain and shock, and dropped the gun. Reid stormed him, then the two of them fought and fell into the pool.

They went under, the man’s headdress floating away as Reid punched him in the face. The man fought back, but Reid was stronger and subdued him in seconds. When he dragged him to the surface, the man sputtered water.

“Let me go, I love Lucy!”

“You’re going to jail,” Reid shouted. “Lucy’s going to marry me!”
Reid had plenty of back-up. Chase and Lance, Sophie and Maddie, Deseree, and all the residents formed a circle around the pool, shaking their fingers and fists at Lucy’s stalker.

A siren wailed, tires screeched outside, then two officers raced in along with Marshall Bannister.

“He’s in the pool,” a white-haired man shouted.

Reid hauled Emmet to the pool steps and shoved him over the edge. When he looked up, Lucy was waiting. So was the Marshal who’d interrogated him at the police station.

“I can’t believe you’re here,” Lucy said.

He climbed from the pool and reached for her, but she slugged him, sending him flying back into the water.

“Oh, my goodness,” DeEtte tittered.

“Hon, I think we’d better have that talk about how to get a man again,” Mae said.

“Maybe they do it different now,” Ellen commented.

“Let me know if you two need a house,” Sue shouted.

Reid flung water from him as he pulled himself out of the pool. “What the hell?”

“You could have gotten yourself killed,” Lucy shouted.

But tears streamed down her face, and she was trembling.

Reid’s heart melted. “I had to do something,” Reid said with a smile. “I couldn’t let that guy in the lampshade steal my girl.”

He dragged her into his arms and closed his mouth over hers. Lucy fell into him, and kissed him back, the fear that had driven him here turning to passion.

When he finally ended the kiss, applause and cheers erupted around them.
“Well, maybe we should take man-hunting lessons from Lucy,” Ellen said.

“She has a great right hook,” Willene muttered.

Heat climbed Reid’s cheeks when he realized that everyone was watching.

Lance was talking to the police officers on the side, obviously explaining what had happened.

Then Lucy pressed a hand to his cheek. “What was it you said about me?”

Reid narrowed his eyes. “I…hmmm…”

Lucy slapped at him. “You remember, something about me being the girl you were going to
marry
?”

“Get down on one knee,” Ellen whispered.
“Tell her you love her,” DeEtte yelled.

“Do you have a ring?” Nelda asked.

“Promise her forever,” Willene said.

“And trips, lots of cruises,” Sue added.

Reid threw his head back and laughed. “I love you, Lucy. But this is not the way I planned this.”

“You planned it?” Lucy whispered.

He shrugged. “Yes. But … here goes.” He dropped to one knee and took her hand in his, then removed the diamond he’d bought the day before. “Will you marry me, Lucy?”

She knelt in front of him, then looped her arms around his wet neck and nodded. “I love you, too, Reid. And yes, I’ll marry you.”

She kissed him so hard they fell backward into the pool. But neither of them minded.

Lucy laughed as she and Reid climbed from the pool. Someone started a chorus of
It’s Beginning to Look A Lot Like Christmas
, and Sophie raced toward her and dragged her into a hug. Lance and Chase and Maddie followed, then Deseree.

“What’s going on?” some of the Silver Sneakers finally asked. “We thought your name was Taylor.”

Wallace motioned from the back that he had Emmet in custody. Then Lucy explained about her stalker.

“I’m sorry I put you all in danger,” she said. “I didn’t think Emmet would find me here.”

Moon and Mae and all the people she’d come to love assured her it wasn’t a problem.

“It’s time to reveal your Secret Santas,” Lucy said. “But first, I have to ask. Who was mine?”

Mae slipped up beside her. “We all chipped in to buy you a gift because you’ve done so much for us.”

Tears sprang to Lucy’s eyes. “I didn’t do anything compared to what you’ve done for me. I feel like I have a new family here.”

“You do, dear,” Mae said.

Lucy hugged each one of them in turn, then encouraged them to reveal their Secret Santas and have refreshments, at least what they could salvage. The blueberry cobbler and punch were goners.

Lance and Sophie, Chase and Maddie and Deseree followed her and Reid back out by the pool with their drinks.

“I can’t believe you all came,” Lucy said.

“You should have told us the truth from the beginning,” Sophie said.

“Yes,” Maddie added. “We’re your family, and family sticks together.”

Reid threw his arm around her. “Damn right. From now on, you need anything, you come to me.”

Lucy grinned, a wicked thought occurring to her. “As a matter of fact, I need to show you the Secret Santa gifts my new friends here gave me.”

“Go get them,” Reid said.

Lucy grabbed his hand. “No, this is something I have to show you in private.”

She dragged him back to her room, removed her wet clothes, slipped into the slinky dress and stilettos the Sunset Vista residents had given her.

Only she didn’t have them on for long.

Reid stripped them and made love to her just as midnight rang in signaling Christmas. Lucy curled into his arms and smiled as the red and green lights twinkled on the boats sailing across the waterway.

Tomorrow…well today, she would spend Christmas with all her family and the people she loved.

But most importantly – she would spend it with the man she was going to marry.

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