Chapter 98

As she stepped over the crime tape, she sighed, knowing she would have to contact her parents about the insurance, but not now. At this moment, she just wanted to assess the damage and salvage what she could. Or so she told herself.
Assessing the damage, she tried to disconnect her emotions, but when she saw her childhood doll, still sitting on the mantle half burned, tears started rolling down her cheeks. A charred stick was once the Christmas tree, remnants of wires and lights still on it. Most of the ornaments that had belonged to her and her parents were burned, except for one that was covered in soot. She wiped it away and it was one of her favorite ornaments, one that she had dubbed The Angel Ornament as a child. The angel's wings still sparkled as it had in her childhood and her kind eyes bored into Kiki's, as if reassuring her that everything was going to work out. Tears streamed down her cheeks as she cradled the ornament next to her cheek, letting her childhood memories of Christmases long past flood her mind. Then she wiped the tears from her cheeks and slid the ornament into her jacket pocket for safe keeping.
Having seen enough in the living room, she headed around to the back of the house toward the kitchen and stepped in. No need to open the door, which was still standing in place. At that moment, she realized how unsafe it had been to come alone. She smiled, knowing that Taren would have been upset if he had known. But she vowed to be careful.
Her clothes--which still hung in the closet, now falling down--were ruined with smoke damage. She wondered if washing some of them would help, but she'd never get the smoke smell out.
Then she remembered the jewelry box that her mother had given her as a child that contained what little valuable jewelry she had. Her heart sank, knowing that someone had probably already taken it. But when she glanced over at the dresser drawer, the top was burned, but a corner curio cabinet had fallen down in front of it, shielding the bottom where she had kept the jewelry box. Could it be?
She pushed the remnants of the curio cabinet aside, crumbling as it fell away, and the drawer was still intact, having not been burned. She quickly pulled the drawer open, and the jewelry box set inside, completely unharmed.
Kiki gingerly lifted the box from its hiding place and checked the contents. A sigh of relief rushed past her lips when she saw that everything was still there: Her mother's original wedding band and engagement ring set, a necklace her parents had given her at graduation, her class ring, and more. Again, she felt how lucky she was that she lived in Christmas Cove. If it had been anywhere else in the country, the house would have probably been looted by now. As quickly as she could, she tried to remember everything of value and carefully examined the ruins to find them.
Of course, her mother's china and hutch had been completely destroyed, but there were a lot of other things that meant a great deal to her that she was able to salvage. After seeing the damage, she knew how lucky she was to have survived. How lucky she was that Taren and his crew at the fire department had arrived when they did.
Feeling the effects of the cold, she put what she could into the trunk of her car and headed toward the fire department. She hoped that she could catch him between runs. She drove back to the town square and took a left past Santa's Cafe. But instead of following the road to the left around the square, she went straight, headed toward the fire department on the other side of town.
She drove past evergreens and bare maple and oak trees draping over the road, and past houses until it opened up to an open expanse with the Christmas Cove Fire Department setting on the corner to the left. Unable to wait another minute, she stopped the car just before the fire department, wanting to surprise Taren. Her heart leapt with excitement when she grabbed the fudge setting on the passenger's seat and headed toward the driveway, but stopped short.
Her heart sank when she looked up and Taren was speaking to a woman with long blonde wavy hair falling over her shoulders and stopping halfway down her back. Her back was toward her, so she couldn't see who it was. And it definitely wasn't another fireman- not dressed in high heels and a faux fur coat. Taren was looking down at her and it appeared that they were discussing something. The woman flipped her hair and turned slightly, and Kiki knew. It was Scarlett.
Idiot, Kiki chastised herself as she walked back toward her car before Taren could see her. She should have known better to think that she was the only woman for Taren. There was only one explanation that she could manage: Scarlett was back and he was getting back with her. And she really couldn't blame him. After all, if he got back with Scarlett, then they could be a family again.
And what would a good looking man like Taren be doing with me anyway? He could have any woman he wanted, including a beautiful, curvy blonde like Scarlett, Kiki thought to herself. She opened her car door as quickly as she could and slid inside, hoping that Taren hadn't seen her. The last thing she wanted to do was to make a fool of herself, and to cause problems for them. If they could work it out, she really couldn't blame Taren- for Abby's sake.
Tears streamed down her cheeks as she pulled away from the curb a bit quicker that she had wanted to, causing the wheels to spin. She wondered how she could have been so stupid as to think that Taren would ever feel the same about her as she did about him. She sobbed openly, knowing that it was too late- she had already fallen in love with him. She pulled the car over to the edge of the road and sobbed openly, as her heart shattered into a million pieces and fell at his feet.