Life at Christmas

Chapter 21

{^} O0O {^} O0O {^} O0O {^}

Merry Christmas to everyone and hope the New Year will be to everyone's liking.

{^} O0O {^} O0O {^} O0O {^}

Epilogue

It is now 3 years later

Kate was standing out in front of the inn next to the fountain. Their biggest construction project yet had been started. It might be a risk, however it also might just work out.

It was being built next to the inn on the right side. She had to tear down something that was already there when she'd bought the land but that wasn't important now. She had also bought the land on the other side of the inn. She just didn't know what to put there yet.

What was being built here was a spa. But it wasn't just any spa. Yes, you could get massages, there were three tables planned for just that. You could also get your hair washed, cut, styled, and do just about anything you wanted to the hair on your head. Manicures and pedicures were also going to be offered. They were even going to take it back to being a school again. Only this time the upper floors were going to teach people how to cut, color, and style hair, do manicures, pedicures, and massages. They were even going to have some of those new immersion therapy units.

And if that wasn't enough, out back next to her now completed mechanical room was going to be an indoor pool completely enclosed by glass. It didn't need to be heated though Kate was going to have it heated just in case. Even if it did put a strain on their two propane tanks.

The mechanical room had worked out perfectly. She had a series of brand new Lochinvar Knight boilers. Something about 94.6% efficient so they used less propane. They had a 5:1 turndown. Meaning that as each boiler fired up to meet demand each one would only use up propane as needed to meet the demand in five separate stages per boiler.

They were also tiny. Far smaller than what she had thought they would be. She could put triple the number she had in the same footprint of that ancient boiler that had been removed. The Engineer had left space for an expansion and she would need another boiler thanks to the increased load. However she had space and a propane tank that was large enough. It did however mean digging to install new piping to serve the addition.

Granted she still had a storage tank that held the hot water but this one had a lot of insulation around it to contain the hot water. The new mechanical room had an office for her staff. It also had a vast parts area. Whole toilets and other fixtures that were still in boxes were located here. Along with faucets, piping, and a mind-boggling array of parts. Everything they could possibly need was all stored here.

She had never heard of the product but the piping from her new boilers to the connection to her old piping that served the inn was done underground using a product called Rhino Flex. It was a new piping system that used Pex-piping that had insulation around it along with a polyethylene outer jacket to protect it. It had arrived precut to length and rolled up. You just put it in the ground and cover it up.

Right now the new addition was mostly just concrete footings. It was going to take over a year to build it all. She had even used the same architect as last time who was happy to have her business.

Suddenly a pair of arms wrapped themselves around her from behind. She put her hands on his and leaned back into him.

"What have you got, Lanie?" She had called Kate down here to talk to her.

"As you know you sent two sets of bones. This one is male, I'm guessing somewhere in his 30s. This one is female and perhaps in her early 20s. It took some time to separate them all out. Based on their condition I would say that they were dumped into the same unmarked grave," Lanie lead off with which was testing Kate's patience.

"The girl appears to have been stabbed based on the mark on this rib here. She probably bled out then was dumped. Now the male on the other hand took more work. I had to grind down some of the bones and test them. Given what I found I would say that he died of cyanide poisoning that lasted over several weeks, if not a month or two. A long enough period that the cyanide made its way to every part of his body, including all of his bones. He must have been very sick and in considerable pain."

That last part struck Kate right in her heart. Hearing that Rick had died in considerable pain was a lot to take. She didn't want him to feel any pain at all. When he had died she had been hoping it had been while he slept and was painless.

Lanie tilted her head and looked at Kate. "I have no ID on either of them. Any idea who they were?" After all, Kate had sent them to her.

"I know who the male is but I only have guesses as to who the female is." Kate had three names to work with for the female and she was betting she was the one that had poisoned Rick. Then she was killed so that Gregg and Virginia Blaine didn't have to pay her a thing. Along with covering their tracks and keeping her from talking. No loose ends.

"You want to tell me what's going on?" Lanie was now beyond curious.

"You can box them back up. I'll come collect them later." Kate didn't tell her a thing and went back to her desk. Her white board no longer interested her.

She hadn't sat there long when Lanie called her again which had her running flat out all the way back to the morgue.

"He's gone! One minute I go into my office and I come out a minute later and he's gone." Lanie pointed to the table where Rick's bones had just been lying. The girl was still here but Rick was gone.

"What's going on, Kate? Bones don't just get up and walk away." Now she had paperwork to do. She had done this as a favor for her best friend. But with them apparently being stolen she was going to have to file an official report.

"I don't…" Kate didn't have an explanation. People stole dead bodies for school. Prospective future medical students needed bodies to study so stealing dead bodies was a problem. But not dead bodies that were all bones.

Kate was saved when her cell phone rang again. "Beckett."

"Hi, Kate, this is Judith from the front desk. We have a good looking man dressed in a brown period suit who says his name is Richard Rodgers and that you would know that name." It didn't mean anything to her. But as she looked at him just standing there he was smiling widely.

Kate was left speechless as she stood there but felt her tears run down her cheeks and her breathing became more difficult. Her heart that had been hurting for years was now soaring and her tears weren't tears of pain for a change.

Then suddenly she heard, "Hi, Kate." It was his voice. They had handed him the phone so he could talk to her.

"RICK! Oh, God. It worked!. I'll…I'll be right there. Don't move I'm coming." Kate hung up on him and for once didn't know what to do first.

"Kate?" Lanie had watched what she thought was Kate falling apart and yet she was smiling and if she didn't know better, was actually glowing.

"He's alive! It actually worked. I know who killed him and I found his body! I've got to go." Kate began to run for the door only to turn around and rush over to Lanie, crushing her in a hug that Lanie usually reserved for her when she was happy.

"Thanks, Lanie, I owe you big for this." Then Lanie watched her run away, crying the entire way.

"What the hell is going on?" Lanie was being left in the dark. Worse, her best friend sounded happy but was crying at the same time.

{^} O0O {^} O0O {^} O0O {^}

Kate found herself sitting on a train about an hour and a half later after telling Roy that she had a family emergency and hadn't even waited for him to say yes and for her to say thank you. She hadn't even gone home to pack. She had clothes at the inn. Most of it save for some blue jeans, a few tops, tennis shoes, and bras and panties, were all period clothes. Since that was what she wore when she was there she really didn't need any clothes from her apartment. Not that she was thinking about clothes at the moment, anyway. All she wanted to do was get to Rick.

{^} O0O {^} O0O {^} O0O {^}

"You want to tell me what's going on?" Amelia was her ride from the train station. "Bailey was screaming at me to get to the train station so I could pick you up."

"Rick is alive. I solved his murder and now he's alive." Kate didn't even look at her and just watched and willed her to drive faster.

Amelia tried to understand since she was sure she was missing a few pieces to this puzzle. But her best bet to get answers was to get Kate to the inn so she sped up just a bit.

{^} O0O {^} O0O {^} O0O {^}

Kate ran to the inn after Amelia parked the car while Amelia more walked though it was a fast walk.

Kate flew to the front desk and what she got was them pointing at the sitting room. Inside she saw Rick with Bailey sitting right next to him.

Kate walked slowly as she went to him and watched him stand up with a grin on his face. He was even wearing the same brown suit she always saw him in. She didn't stop until she had her arms around his neck. She was kissing him even as her tears flowed once again. As the kiss got more passionate she could actually taste him again. Something she hadn't had the privilege of doing for months.

She broke from the kiss, moving her hands to his face and just staring at him. "You're alive," she whispered. Now she really was crying. All her hopes and dreams and hard work had resulted in this. She never really understood what she had done to herself locking her heart away like she had until now. This very moment showed her just how stupid she had been.

"I told you I would be back," Rick said and found himself being kissed again.

Bailey was standing there and crying with them. She barely saw her own mother standing behind these two and watching in total amazement.

"You have any idea what this is about?" Judith who was at the front desk asked Jen, her partner for today.

All she could do was shake her head and feel the tears well up. Whatever it was it clearly meant Kate was happy and that was going to make everyone else happy.

{^} O0O {^} O0O {^} O0O {^}

Kate's new suite was not yet finished so she was still living on the third floor overlooking the construction that was on going. Along with all the noise that went with it.

She couldn't wait and answers for her staff's questions were just going to wait for later. Right now she only had one thing on her mind and that was how fast she could get Rick out of that suit and naked on her bed.

"Bailey!?" Amelia, though, was going to get answers and she was going to get them now.

{^} O0O {^} O0O {^} O0O {^}

"Let me see if I've got this right." Amelia took Bailey out to the front porch and sat down away from the few people there. "Rick's the ghost. He died here and has been trapped here ever since?" Amelia asked and watched her daughter nod. "He was only solid for the month of December because he was cursed?" Her daughter nodded again.

"Then along comes Kate after Abigail passed away. She falls in love with him while he's a ghost. Then sets about the task of proving who killed him and finding his body?" Her smiling daughter was still nodding her head.

"You took Kate's letter to Santa instead of mailing it. Instead of living in the North Pole he lives here in Holly?" Amelia saw Bailey smile even wider and nodded again.

"Now Rick is alive. He's here and not moved on like everyone else does after they die and this is all thanks to Santa?" Amelia was still trying to wrap her head around a lot of this, especially the Santa part. What did Santa have to do with granting wishes? When it wasn't even Christmas?

"It worked, Mom. Rick is alive. Now Kate will quit her job in New York and move out here. She'll marry Rick, have kids, and live happily ever after. The inn will always be here. Maybe I can even get Kate to believe in Santa again." Bailey still had one thing left to do and that was to get Kate to believe again.

Amelia's lips curved in a smile. "What am I going to do with you?"

"Love me?" Bailey asked softly.

"Too late. I did that the second you were born." Amelia got up so she could hug her daughter and kept on loving her.

{^} O0O {^} O0O {^} O0O {^}

The wedding took place right out front of the inn. The guests, and there were a lot of them, several hundred in fact, filled the drive through, the fountain area, and the front porch as Rick and Kate got married right in front of the main doors to the inn.

Every single piece of Christmas decoration had been brought out and set up again by the staff. They had even found someone willing to dress up as Santa to perform the ceremony. Bailey had found him for them.

He even Ho Ho Hoed as he watched them kiss for the first time as husband and wife.

Kate was enveloped countless times by friends now that she had a whole lot of them. Including Roy and his wife, Ryan and his girlfriend, Espo, Lanie, and anyone else that Roy gave time off to from the precinct where she no longer worked.

Kate didn't know how she had even heard about her marriage, but the woman who had wanted Kate to model for her (and Kate had turned her down) had provided a dress for her free of charge. "You are going to be the most beautiful bride anyone has ever seen," Kate was told and for a nano second thought she saw her mother smiling at her as she held the dress up against her.

{^} O0O {^} O0O {^} O0O {^}

"It all worked out. Your mother would be so happy for you." Jim wiped away his own tears as he looked her over after the wedding. She had a new ring on her finger and Jim was more than happy to hand her off to Rick who was conspicuously absent at the moment.

Kate had her own tears and was sure she was ruining her makeup as she patted her face dry with her mother's handkerchief that she'd tucked up her sleeve.

"If Rick can be here then Mom's here too, somewhere." Kate could believe it now.

"So whose idea was it for Santa to do the ceremony?" Jim had thought that was a brilliant idea. Especially given the theme of the town and this inn. He was even dressed in a Santa suit.

"Bailey's, I think." Kate really didn't know but she wouldn't put it past her. She even looked for her until she saw her standing next to her husband and Santa. "Excuse me, Dad." Kate lifted her dress so it didn't drag and ruin it and made her way to the three of them. Only Santa walked away before she could reach them.

"Husband?" Kate slipped her arm around him and smiled the most beautiful smile. She never knew she could be this happy.

"Wife." Rick put his arm around her and smiled back at her.

"Where did Santa go?" She wanted to thank him for the lovely sentiments he had said at their wedding.

"He's on vacation. It takes a lot of work to go around the world delivering toys in one night, you know," Bailey stated and hurried away.

"Why is it that I get the feeling we're missing something?" Kate wondered aloud as she watched Bailey walk quickly over to her mother.

"I'm not missing anything. I've got what I want right here." Rick kissed her forehead.

It was cheesy and Kate knew it but that made her smile and put her arms around his neck, which was easy to do given the height of the heels she was wearing.

"So what do we do next, husband?" Kate grinned at him since she had an idea just what to do just as soon as everyone was gone. Or gone into the inn for the night given that Kate had cleared as much space as she could to make room for some of the wedding guests.

"We could start work on that baby," Rick suggested but Kate shook her head.

"Maybe in a couple of years. But we can always get in a lot of practice first," Kate purred, kissing him. She didn't notice lots of people taking still more pictures of them kissing.

{^} O0O {^} O0O {^} O0O {^}

"Think this is a good idea?" Kate asked again as she leaned back into Rick.

"It's perfect. Now we just need to figure out what to put on the other side," Rick replied.

Kate twisted to look up at him. They'd only just started construction of this project and he wanted to start on another one?

"We need to balance out the look. The inn in the middle, the spa on one end and something else on the other," Rick said to his wife.

"Ah." Kate twisted back around to look. She did have to admit that it was going to look weird. The new building was going to be almost be a duplicate of the inn. White porches on the front on all three floors, red brick on all four sides and a green metal roof. To balance out the look they were going to need something on the other side.

"We'll think of something." Kate had no idea what, but then she hadn't really thought about building anything on this side. Now they were building this huge spa building. It was a good thing the parking lot out back on the other side of the road was large. They were going to need the space after this.

"We're going to need a parking garage if we keep this up," Kate pointed out.

"I'm sure David would be happy to oblige," Rick commented which had Kate laughing.

She also felt him rubbing his hands over her tiny bump. Even Kate couldn't really see it, however, the doctor had confirmed what Kate was sure of. She was pregnant. Basically right on Rick's schedule. She had said maybe in two years and here it was closer to three if not exactly.

It was a good thing the suite they lived in at the inn was done. They were going to need the space in about five months.

"What do you think about an addition to the inn on the left side? We could build a walkway between the two. Add more rooms to support the spa," Kate suddenly suggested since it just occurred to her. "A real enclosed bridge maybe."

All of this was possible because Rick in his lone act of stupidity had stolen Confederate bills that were now worth a small fortune. Kate had been selling them at the same auction houses every year since the first one. Four bills per auction. They hadn't even cracked open the crate yet let alone use up the ones that were in Rubbermaid containers that were now hidden away inside their suite. Even after this construction was complete they would still have over a million dollars in the bank.

Rick loved the idea. "And you said you didn't know anything about running an inn," Rick said again and smiled into the back of her head.

"I'm learning, I'm learning," Kate smiled back.

"Abigail would be proud of you." Rick tightened his hold on her just a touch.

"I still don't know what she was thinking." Kate didn't understand it. "But I'm glad she did." Her life was here now. Almost like it was always meant to be. She didn't miss the murders she used to work so hard to solve one tiny bit.

"Me, too." Rick kissed the back of her head.

Off in the distance an overweight man dressed in vacation clothes, now that the wedding was over, who just so happened to have a large white beard and white hair but was missing his red nose since it wasn't cold outside, watched these two. He put his hands on his belly and offered them his best wishes. Partly because of a letter he had gotten from Kate who had abandoned him all those years ago. And partly because one young lady who he had very big plans for, had hand delivered it to him. Maybe the world would one day be ready for a Ms. Claus to deliver all those presents and he could formally retire to a beach with his Mrs. Claus.

HO, HO, HO!