I pulled up just as Devolin was arriving with the baby.

“What’s going on?” she asked, once she’d sized up the panicked look on my face.

“Stay here,” I ordered. “Sykes is in there right now.”

Her eyes rounded with understanding.

Just as sirens could be made out in the distance, I pulled my personal firearm out from its holster on my belt and made my way to the front door.

I was met with the sight of broken pottery and some blood on the entryway floor; but no one was in sight. The shuffling on the floor upstairs told me that they were probably up there, but my police training kicked in, dictating that I do the rounds of the main floor first to make sure that Sykes wasn’t laying in wait for me.

All cleared, I made my way to the stairs.

What met me at the top had me breathing lighter, but the sight of Emberlyn undone tore at my heart.

“Sweetheart,” I said, going down on a single knee to take Trevor’s pulse.

“He’s gone,” she confirmed what I’d just discovered for myself. “I killed him.”

Tucking my gun in its holster, I pulled her bloodied hands from the lifeless body she’d clearly tried to save and held them tightly in mine.

“Look at me,” I said gently. She didn’t. “I said, look at me, Emberlyn.” My tone was harder this time. Commanding. When she did, I laid it on her. “You’re not a killer. You defended yourself and our daughter the way you should have. You shot him in spots he was most likely to survive, like you were trained. Despite all the hell he’s put you through over the years, you still tried to help him, sweetheart.”

“I tried too late,” she sobbed, collapsing into my chest. “I was so angry…so scared.”

“I know, Em,” I whispered against her hair, one of my hands cupping the back of her head, pressing her close to me. “But you couldn’t have known that this would happen.”

She shook her head, no.

“Police!”

“Upstairs,” I shouted back. “Perp is dead. Put your guns away, there’s a child here.”

A series of footsteps grew closer, and I peered up to find Will and Captain there, along with Greg and Emma, two other detectives I’ve worked with over the years.

“Son of a bitch,” my soon-to-be-former-captain mumbled.

“Medics!”

“Upstairs. Scene is secure,” Will hollered down. “One dead body, and…”

“Sweetheart, are you hurt?” I can’t believe I forgot to ask, although the welt swelling on her cheek told me she at least had that.

“No. Just my face, but it’s nothing ice won’t cure,” she mumbled.

“Just the dead body, guys,” Will told them.

“Daddy?” we heard through the door to Lana Rose’s bedroom.

“I’m here, baby girl,” I told her. “I want you to stay in your room for a little bit longer, okay?”

“Is Mommy okay?”

Will seemed shocked by the statement, but both he and Captain Dodge grinned down at me with approval in their eyes after digesting my daughter’s new moniker for Emberlyn.

“She’s got a little bruise on her face, but she’ll be fine.”

“Okay…” A small pause. “Daddy?”

“Yeah?”

“Hurry up. I’m freaking out in here.”

Some smirked at me, while others laughed lightly at the dramatic fashion my daughter chose to notify us of her state of mind. I only shook my head, grabbed Emberlyn by the elbows, and helped her up to her feet.

“Let’s get you cleaned up, Em.”

For the next few hours, I was subjected to photos, my clothes were taken away for evidence, and I’d had to recount my personal history, specifically my involvement with Trevor, along with what had happened earlier when he had shown up.

My ex’s body had been taken away in a body bag and gurney almost straight away. By the time Shane and I had exited my bedroom, after he’d helped clean me up since shock was setting in, everything looked as it should have with the exception of the pool of congealing blood on the floor and the few scattered evidence number tags.

Lana Rose had been escorted downstairs by Will, who’d urged her to keep her eyes closed until he’d had her in the living room. I was glad to see that she seemed no worse for wear, worried more about me than what she’d been through.

“When do we decorate for Christmas?” Lana Rose blurted out, once all had calmed down. Shane was upstairs cleaning up as Devolin, Carter, and now Dalton sat with us on my large sectional.

The moment everyone had left earlier, Devolin rushed up to my snuggled-up form and dropped little Carter in my arms. I still had yet to let go of the sleeping baby and it had been an hour since.

I looked over at Lana Rose, realizing that Christmas was only a few weeks away, and I had yet to do a stitch of decorating, a batch of baking, or any shopping for that matter.

Bending my head, I deposited a kiss to the little girl’s crown as she cuddled into my side, playing gingerly with the baby’s tiny hands until he’d grabbed onto one of her fingers.

“How about tomorrow?”

“Can we make cookies?” Her eyes glimmered with excitement.

“We can, and we can bring some to Grams too, when we go visit her,” I told her. “Maybe the smell of my gingerbreads will make her so hungry that she’ll finally wake up.”

“Those are her favorites of yours,” Rosie announced.

“Well then, we definitely need to make a few batches of them then, don’t we?” The girl’s head bobbed frantically in response, making all of the adults in the room, including myself, laugh.