Page 47
Gram patted her hand. “I want the both of you to spend Christmas with me. And then I want to meet your brother and his family, Jenna.”
Jenna smiled, warmth pulsing through her chest. “That would be lovely.”
When Gram stood to use the restroom, Brody took Jenna’s hand across the table. “I do want to take you on a date. Now that this case is over. You fascinate me and I want the chance to know you better.”
Jenna’s cheeks were going to hurt from smiling so much. “I would love that. I want to know you better, too.”
Brody looked over his shoulder. “Claudia’s not back yet.”
He leaned over, and his lips met hers in a quiet kiss that brought peace and healing with it. When he moved away, she saw Gram smiling from afar. She ignored her grandmother for a moment. “I hope to enjoy more of those, too.”
He winked at her. “If I’m right about us, we might have a lifetime of kisses to share.”
It was too soon to tell, but she thought he could be right.
God had protected her from killers, given her a grandmother, and possibly brought her the love of her life.
It was a Christmas she’d never forget.
EPILOGUE
One year later
Ice crystals formed lacy patterns on her bedroom window. A small Christmas tree, only eighteen inches from the base to the star twinkling on top, rested on a round table in the corner of the room.
This would be the last Christmas she spent in this house. In January, she and Brody would move into a larger house with a connected apartment for Gram, who refused to live so far away from her only grandchild. Jenna loved the idea. And it wasn’t like she’d never see this house again. Zane and Maya would be moving in once she moved out.
Jenna blinked back tears. Her mother and father, for that was who they were despite her birth, should have been here with her.
Did Dad suspect that Matt was a killer? Or even that he wasn’t the friend he’d pretended to be?
Somehow, she hoped not. She hoped that they didn’t die fearing for her safety. She wiggled her fingers. Her engagement ring winked in the light. Brody had asked her grandmother for help with that. Jenna had cried when she realized the ring on her hand belonged to her birth mother.
She’d always imagined a simple gold band with a solitaire diamond. The ring on her finger was an elegant white gold, with three diamonds on it. One larger square diamond nestled between two smaller ones, cut to resemble roses.
The moment she saw it, she knew it would fit perfectly. And it had.
She’d never known her, but she knew the woman had loved her dearly. Every picture Gram presented to her proved this.
It always shocked her to see the image of the woman she resembled so closely but had never had the chance to know. Someday, they’d meet in Heaven.
A knock on her door startled Jenna from her reverie.
“Come in,” she called.
Gram entered the room, carrying her wedding dress over her arm, moving as though the garment were antique crystal that would shatter if she moved wrong. “Jenna, dear. It’s time to start getting ready. Carly is here to do your hair.”
Her friend bounced into the room behind Gram, rolling a purple wheeled suitcase behind her. “And your make-up! Time for you to go glam, girl!”
Jenna shook a finger at the other woman. “No, no, no. You promised to make me shine for the pictures, but I will still look like me. I don’t want Brody to wonder who I am when I walk down the aisle. He might get scared and take off.”
Gram chuckled. “That young man adores you, Jenna. I wouldn’t fear that. But yes, Jenna should still look like Jenna.”
She walked to her grandmother and kissed her cheek. Then she looked at Carly and sighed. “Where should I sit while you work your magic?”
The redhead pointed to the chair in front of the small desk. “There. We’ll open the blinds to get the best natural lighting. And I can organize my stuff on the desk so everything flows more efficiently.”
Feeling like a guinea pig, Jenna allowed herself to be positioned on the chair. For the next hour, she turned, leaned her head forward or back, and performed various facial contortions while Carly brushed, curled and arranged her hair before slicking on more cosmetics than Jenna had worn in her entire lifetime.
