Kissing Under the Mistletoe

She was resilient. She was strong. But if things stayed the way they were, how long would it be until her love for him finally shattered one too many times? And yet, hadn’t he already made a step in the right direction by changing the focus of his investigations away from broken marriages?

Brooke thought she must be hallucinating when she looked up just then and saw the name Sullivan on the large sign right above where she was standing. My God, she was a mess, not only seeing Rafe in every stranger on the street, but seeing his name on every sign, too.

Right then, as if on cue, the sky finally opened up. Brooke wiped a hand over her eyes to try to clear the rain from her vision, and had just realized the sign said Sullivan Realty, when she heard her name.

"Brooke?" Mia was clearly surprised to see her. "What are you doing here in the rain in front of my office?"

Before Brooke could reply, Mia took her hand and pulled her inside the building. The next thing Brooke knew, she was sitting on a plush leather couch in a large corner office with a hot cup of coffee in her hands. And as she turned to look at her friend, who was sitting beside her on the couch looking extremely worried, it was as if the rain had washed away her inner filters.

"I thought I could heal Rafe," Brooke blurted out, each word etched with the pain she had worked so hard to hold at bay all day long. "I thought I could love him enough to make the darkness go away. But what if I can’t?"

She couldn’t tell if the wetness on her cheeks was from her tears or the rain outside, but it didn’t matter as her friend took the untouched coffee from her hands, put it down on the glass table in front of them, and folded her into her arms.

Mia was a small woman, but her arms were warm and strong. Just like her brother’s had always been.

A few minutes later, Mia handed her a box of tissues, and once she’d dried her face, she handed her the coffee. It was hot and black, and after the long cry, Brooke finally felt a little bit steadier as she sipped it.

"Rafe called me this morning," Mia said softly.

Brooke nearly dropped the mug, and put it back down on the table so she didn’t spill it everywhere. "Is he okay?"

Mia was clearly surprised by her question. "If he’d done to me what he did to you, that definitely wouldn’t be my first concern." She cocked her head. "You really do love my brother, don’t you?"

Brooke’s brain felt clogged from her recent cry, and from missing Rafe so badly during the past eight hours. "You know I do. I always have."

"Thank God," Mia said, "because he called to ask me to help him figure out how to win you back." Brooke could feel the ice inside her chest begin to melt as Mia told her, "And even though he seemed to figure out the answer for himself before I could come up with something, it was still a really big deal that he actually called. Because I honestly can’t think of the last time he asked me for help. Any of us. Rafe thought it was his job to help us and everyone else, rather than it ever being the other way around."

"It’s why he’s a P.I.," Brooke murmured. "So that he can help people out of the darkness."

"We’ve all tried to reach out to him over the years, and even though I was able to convince him to take some time off to go to the lake this summer, none of us came close to helping him during the past few years the way you did in less than a week, Brooke. We all love Rafe, but your love is what made the difference, not ours."

Mia, Brooke suddenly realized, was a secret romantic. One who had clearly been hurt, but who still, in her inner heart of hearts, believed in love.

True love.

The same love that Brooke had felt for Rafe from the start.

The same love she felt for him right now.

Yes, it hurt that Rafe hadn’t trusted her enough to treat her like the friend she was supposed to be. Hurt like hell, actually, going deeper than any pain she’d ever known. But hadn’t she known that Rafe had his own deep scars, bigger ones on the inside than even the one slashed across his ribs by an angry ex-husband?

After what he’d seen as an investigator, it made sense that he’d been afraid to believe true love was real, or that it could last.

Of course he’d try to prove himself right...and she’d almost let him do just that by walking away from him after he’d made his mistake.

Brooke gave Mia a quick hug before hopping up off the couch. "Thank you. For everything. I’ve got to go. He needs me."

* * *

Brooke shot out of the door and was heading back up the rainy sidewalk before Mia could even say good-bye. For the second time in one day, Mia hadn’t gotten a chance to tell either her brother or Brooke what to do after they’d come to her for support.

Clearly, Mia thought with a smile as she sat down behind her computer for another late night in the office, Rafe and Brooke were meant to be together.

Chapter Twenty-four

Three hours later...

"Brooke?" Rafe rubbed his hand over his eyes as if he was afraid she was a figment of his imagination instead of standing right in front of him. "It hasn’t been twenty-four hours yet."

My God, he was beautiful. Strong. Loving. And a little bit broken, just like everybody else.

Her heart racing, Brooke told him, "I couldn’t stay away from you another minute."

She wasn’t just in his arms a moment later...she was finally home. They might still have a long road to go with each other, but from here on out, they’d travel that road together. And she’d never make the mistake of walking away from him again, regardless of the mistakes they’d inevitably make with each other along the way.