Page 53 of Ice Cold Christmas

Decorations everywhere. His Melody, standing nervously in the foyer, a little flour on her cheek because she’d made the cookies from scratch.

She smiled at him, and it had been like every dream that he’d pretended not to have. A home. A real one. A real holiday. With someone who loved him.

She’d rushed to him. Thrown her arms around him. “Please don’t be mad.” Her voice whispered through his mind. “If you hate the decorations, I’ll take them down. I just wanted to do something nice for you. Because you deserve some magic, too.”

His arms had locked around her.

Just as they locked around her now.

And he’d known that he was damn well holding magic.

Only for that magic to be ripped away.

Never. Again.

“I’m sorry!” Melody pushed back.

His grip tightened as she peered up at him.

“Probably shouldn’t have, um, jumped you like that.”

“You can jump me any day of the week.” She always had an open invitation.

“I just…I hadn’t gotten any big memories of you.” Her smile had vanished. “I guess I still don’t have them. I just know you that like chocolate chip cookies.”

He stared at her. Could not look away.

“Victor?”

“You decorated. You made the house feel like a home for the first time. Any personal touches here came from you, and when you were gone, I boxed everything up.” He’d even boxed up the pictures of her because looking at her image had hurt too much as more and more time passed.

He’d been told to move on. Everyone had said he needed to move the hell on.

But how do you move on when you feel like you were buried in the ground?

Where I feared you were?

He’d boxed away everything at his house, but he hadn’t changed anything at her place. And maybe that was what she needed to see. A home that she’d truly known. Something that was hers. “Come with me,” he told her. He let go of her waist, only to immediately grab her hand. His fingers threaded with hers.

“Where are we going?”

“To find your memories.”

Chapter Thirteen

Victor braked and parked his car in the spot that waited in front of the house. Her gaze automatically turned to the left. Hanover Avenue, so close to Lombardy Park. They’d passed the park just moments ago, and she’d seen the kids running and swinging on the playground. At first, she’d smiled, because the families seemed so happy. But as they’d driven away from the park in Victor’s black BMW, she’d found herself tensing more and more with every passing moment until…

They’d reached her home. He’d told her it was in “The Fan”—something she already knew through her own research. She’d actually driven by the home several times before. When she’d first come to Richmond—before she’d even gone to the Mage Mansion, hell, before she’d even checked into her temporary spot at the cheap motel—she’d driven by her home. She’d even thought about sneaking up and peering in the windows.

She didn’t have to sneak now, though. Victor had the key.

He killed the car’s engine and exited. Breaking from her stupor and cursing the nerves that filled her, Melody shoved open her door.

But Victor was already there. He reached for her hand. His fingers curled around hers as if it was the most natural thing in the world. The sun peeked through the lingering clouds as they walked up the sidewalk. Snow lingered—snow and ice—and he caught her when her boots slipped on the sidewalk.

“Steady,” he murmured.

She didn’t feel steady. The streets had been cleared, but snow still clung to surfaces all around them. The air held a vicious bite, and the wind stung against her cheeks.