Then he mouthed, “It’s done,” and made a conversational noise into the phone.
They talked for several moments while Lydia kept herself busy folding up the decorations and unplugging the lights. A few moments later, Jenny’s phone across the room rang.
When he finally hung up, Wrench swept Lydia up into a desperate, crushing embrace. “It’s done. They did the sting. They got the bastard, and all the top cronies, and the guy that Renna thought was a mole in the witness protection program. The whole rotten lot of them are behind bars, all their assets frozen. Renna and Ally can go home.”
Across the hall, Jenny was sharing the same news, and there were cheers of relief and triumph from the rest of the staff.
“We gotta tell Ally,” Wrench said.
“She’s probably already asleep,” Lydia reminded him. It was well past midnight.
“Yeah,” Wrench agreed, finally releasing her. “It’ll wait til tomorrow.”
“You know what won’t wait until tomorrow?” Lydia said suggestively.
Wrench looked hopeful but didn’t venture a guess.
“Travis said you’d be replacing the glass at cottage two tomorrow and getting it ready for guests,” Lydia told him, tracing a finger along the inside of the collar of his shirt. “That means it’s still empty, but not for long…”
Wrench grinned, and before Lydia could stop him, had swept her up into his big arms.
“Eek!” Lydia squeaked happily as he carried her out into the warm, starlit night.
Epilogue
A few weeks later...
“Uncle WRENCH! LOOK what SCARLET got me!”
Ally was standing by the ridiculously over-sized fake tree that took up a corner of the event hall. It had taken Wrench nearly an hour to assemble the thing with Travis, and even longer to decorate it with the white and gold decorations. The Christmas Eve formal had ended without incidents worse than a drunkenly dropped glass and the smallest of fires in a corner where a candle had gotten tipped over.
Ally, drunk with the privilege of a party staying up late with grownups, and giddy with the rush of new presents, was dressed in a red velvet dress trimmed with embroidered holly leaves and glittery poinsettias. She was holding a plush golden teddy bear dressed in a tutu.
“Ally, honey, you don’t need to shout,” her mother reminded her.
“I just feel SO LOUD with happiness,” Ally protested, whispering as loudly as she’d spoken earlier. The ground around her was littered with shredded Christmas paper and open boxes. She was wearing one of the bows on her curly head.
Wrench felt fingers slip into his as he watched her caper around, dancing with her new bear to give Scarlet a thank-you hug.
“You’re going to miss them,” Lydia said near his ear as Scarlet knelt to embrace his niece, her red hair as brilliant as Ally’s dress and accented with a crown of glossy holly.
“It was great of Scarlet to put them up for a few weeks,” Wrench said sincerely. “Renna needed a nice vacation.”
“Scarlet never fails to surprise me,” Lydia agreed. “It was really sweet of her.”
“Dance with me?” Wrench invited.
Lydia’s eyes sparkled with amusement. “I thought I’d already gotten my Christmas present,” she said in delight, putting a hand to the earrings Wrench had ordered for her. They were small silver infinity symbols with black enamel wings.
She put the hand into Wrench’s, and he pulled her into the closed position and stepped out.
Wrench concentrated on counting, sticking to the simple, basic back and forth until it started to feel somewhat comfortable. Lydia gazed up at him, contentment and joy in her beautiful face. Dancing close, she was the most gorgeous, sexy thing he’d ever had the pleasure of holding in his arms.
Then he remembered his plan and stepped forward when he should have gone back, colliding knees with Lydia.
“Dammit,” he growled, and instead of trying to pick the step back up, he stopped.
“You were doing great,” Lydia laughed kindly, trying to gently pull him back into the dance.