“Oh, darlings.” Gina surged forward and hugged both of them. “Whatever you decide is wonderful, but I’m brokenhearted that you’ve been going through this alone. I can call all my prayer partners, all my ladies leagues and the prayer warriors at Golden Grove Covenant and we’ll—”
“Mom, you can pray. All of you. But this is part of why we kept it private,” Kyle told her kindly. “We don’t want everyone knowing. It’s personal, all right? Valerie and I are private people.”
“Although Sarah knows,” Valerie said.
Renzo frowned. “Sarah knows?”
“I had a terrible day a few weeks back, and she’s so amazingly understanding and smart and I just opened up to her.”
“She never said a word.”
“She promised she wouldn’t,” Valerie informed him, “but she also promised to pray for us. She let me pour out my heart, and she just sat there and listened. And cried with me.”
Empathy. Caring. Tenderness. And strength. Yeah, he’d noted all of those things in Sarah, then sent her away. What a dolt.
His mother could have used this opening to criticize Sarah. She didn’t. In fact, she ignored Valerie’s words altogether as a nurse came in with a wheelchair. “Ready to go?” the nurse asked.
“We are,” Gina replied. “Renzo, can you call the home and reaffirm that they’re expecting your father? I don’t want any miscommunications to get in our way. The case manager’s number is in my phone.”
“Of course.” He picked up her phone and scrolled for the home’s number. Then he paused when a familiar number popped into view. A familiar number that came up as an outgoing call on a very important day. “Mom?”
She turned and looked at him.
He raised the phone. “You called Sarah on the same day her lawyer called the judge?”
The nurse had just handed Gina a sheaf of discharge papers. Two of the papers fluttered to the floor as her eyes went wide.
“You called her that morning?” he probed, because in all the discussions about the judge’s notifications, this detail had never been brought up. “Why did you call her?”
Concern shadowed Aunt Shelly’s face. She glanced from Gina to Renzo with a clear look of worry.
“To check on the girls, of course.” Gina tried to brush it off, but he’d been reading faces and actions for a lot of years. A woman who told the truth as a steadfast rule was fudging it today.
He shook his head. “You were still mad about the schedule changes, weren’t you?” He glanced at the phone, then drew his attention back to her as the pieces fell into place. “They had just told you that they were going to transfer Dad to Westwood. You didn’t like the doctors’ decisions and you didn’t want Sarah changing your influence with the girls and you snapped, didn’t you?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about. I don’t snap.” She glowered at him and motioned to his father. “And now is not the time to talk about this, with your father so ill.”
On that she was correct, but the realization that she’d called Sarah that fateful morning spoke volumes. He held her gaze. He had a couple of choices here. To get all-out angry, have his say and stomp out, or option B.
Be nice. Because mom is actually a wonderful woman whose life had been turned upside down a few weeks back.
He chose the second option and gathered his overanxious mother into a hug. A really good hug. “When did you stop trusting God?” he whispered into her ear. “Didn’t you always teach us to trust His way? His path? And didn’t He send Sarah to us at the best possible time?”
“I told her that very thing,” Shelly declared. “But she let that silly pride get in the way. Of course stress will do that to you.”
Renzo held on for a few more seconds, then released her. “The girls need her, Mom.”
Kyle cleared his throat. Nice and loud. Loud enough for Renzo to add, “I do, too. So let’s work this out. Not with courtrooms and lawyers. With love.”
Valerie handed Gina several tissues as tears welled. Gina dried her eyes, blew her nose, then nodded. “You’re right, of course. And I should have trusted your judgment from the beginning.”
“I won’t argue that,” Renzo replied, then he rounded the bed and put an arm around his father’s shoulders. “I love you, Dad. Let’s get you back to Westwood. And if you do well there, I’ll personally drive you over to the rehab center in Ellensburg. I can guarantee that they’d love to have you there. Their success stories are impressive.”
Roy didn’t grunt this time.
He looked up at Renzo, then at the rest of his family, and for the first time since the major stroke, he seemed agreeable. “Okay.”
That single word might mean nothing, or a major turning point, but it was December 23 and Renzo had a lot to accomplish. The nurse ushered Roy out to the medical transport, and the Calloway family drove back to Golden Grove. But as soon as he got there, Renzo began laying out a new schedule. And this one involved three little girls, a long drive to the coast and Christmas in Seattle.
His only hope was that it wasn’t too late.
Chapter Fifteen
Nerves thrummed along Sarah’s spine for the entire drive to Golden Grove. She’d put gifts for the girls in the back, and she’d stocked her purse with chocolate and puffy peppermints, a favorite of all three girls. She might not get to give them the gifts or share the candy, but she’d be sharing the Christmas Eve service and that was the best thing of all.
The small church parking lot was full. The short street was full, too. Sarah found a spot in the municipal parking lot up the road. She pulled in, parked and hurried over to the church, just in time.
Sweet bells rang out clear notes to begin the service. An usher held the door for her, greeted her with a soft “Merry Christmas, miss!” and motioned her inside.
The service was standing room only, but that gave Sarah a clear vantage point. She scoured the church as the pastor began.
No Renzo.
No girls.
It wasn’t a big church, and it was full, but even if she couldn’t spot Renzo, it was hard not to notice identical triplets.
They weren’t there.
Were they sick? Did she dare text and ask?
She tried to focus on the gentle prayers, but disappointment gripped her. She’d never thought of them not being here. This was the service they attended each year. Renzo and Gina had made that quite clear, and yet none of them were here today.
She climbed back into her car an hour later. The service had been poignantly beautiful, and the lilting notes of “Joy to the World” rang through the town as the bell tower played, but she’d driven hours to share this time of worship with her sister’s children and that hadn’t happened.
Sadness coursed through her.
She got into the car, and instead of heading back toward the coast, she drove to the ranch. She expected to see twinkle lights glowing merrily around the windows and draped from the porch. They’d set up Gina’s outdoor Nativity scene, but on this night of all nights, the house stood dark and lonely. There were no lights, inside or out.
Something was wrong.
Her brain chided her swiftly. Lots of people turn lights off when they’re away. Don’t borrow trouble.
She wasn’t borrowing trouble. She knew this family. Understood the importance of their customs. They liked tradition, so where were they? Had Roy taken a bad turn? Were the girls all right?
She raised her phone to text Renzo, but stopped herself at the last minute. Did she want to upset his Christmas?
No.
She wanted answers, but it wouldn’t be right to mess up whatever they’d planned with drama that could wait until after the holidays.
She took a deep breath, got back on the highway and started the loneliest drive she’d ever undertaken.
Normally, the exits off I-90 were bri
ght with shops and services, but not at seven o’clock on Christmas Eve. Other than the occasional convenience store, everything was closed for the holiday.
The lights of the city brightened a dark skyline as she approached her exit, but they did nothing for the ache in her heart. She’d have preferred the twinkle-lit windows, and the miniature stockings framed in each pane, but that wasn’t to be.
She parked the car, decided to leave the gifts right where they were and crossed the silent parking garage, half-empty because folks had gone away for the holidays.
She let herself into the building and walked down the narrow access hall to the lobby. The grand lobby tree blinked and winked colorful lights, but her heart wasn’t tuned toward grandiose. It had been looking for a quieter, more rustic setting.
Chin down, she turned toward the bank of elevators.
“There she is!”
“It’s Auntie!”
“Oh, Auntie Sarah, I’ve missed you so much! So much!”
Three little spitfires raced her way. She sank to her knees to hug each of them in turn, then all of them at once. “I can’t believe you guys are here! I’m so excited to see you! All of you! And you’re all better?” she asked Kristi quickly.
Kristi nodded. “I got all better, but then Chloe got sick and she was grumpy.” She elongated the word on purpose. “And then Nomi got it, but she was just more sleepy and then we all got better and we came here to have Christmas with you!”
Renzo was standing across the lobby.
She raised her gaze to his.
He moved forward, almost reluctantly. “I know this is unexpected.”
She stood, with the girls surrounding her. “That seems to be the way we do things.”
His cheek quirked slightly. Almost a smile. “True. Sarah, I came to apologize.” He moved closer, and the kind but troubled expression on his face tugged at her heart, but he hadn’t exactly treated that heart with the tenderness it deserved, so she held back. “I was a jerk,” he admitted in an apologetic voice.
Christmas or no Christmas, she wasn’t about to disagree so she nodded while the girls leaped to his defense.
“You’re not a jerk, Renzo,” declared Chloe. “You’re the best.”
“You take really good care of us and you know how to fix Christmas lights,” added Naomi. Her expression said that fixing Christmas lights was superhero-worthy.
“And you took such good care of all of us when we were sick and Auntie couldn’t be there,” added Kristi. “But she’s here now, and that makes this the best Christmas ever,” Kristi went on. She gripped Sarah’s hand. “This was my only dream,” she whispered, but none of the girls were really good at whispering yet. “To have Christmas with all of us together. And Renzo made it come true!”
“But we were worried,” added Naomi.
“Like a lot,” cut in Chloe.
“Why?” Sarah asked.
“You weren’t here,” Naomi declared with a glance around the pretty lobby. “And we weren’t sure where to go or what to do, and Renzo said if you didn’t get home soon, we’d find a hotel or just sleep under the Christmas tree and you’d come home and find us all sleeping under the tree and you’d love us again.”
Her heart crunched and she crouched to regather the girls into her arms. “I have never stopped loving you. Not for one minute of any day. I will always be your aunt and I will always love you. Every day. Every minute. I promise.”
“But you didn’t come hear us sing or anything.” Chloe didn’t waste time. “Even if you were mad at Renzo, you could have come and listened to us sing, right? Because that’s what you do when you love somebody?”
Sarah sat right down on the floor and motioned to the girls to do the same. “I couldn’t,” she told them as the lobby manager crossed from his small office to the lobby desk. “I had to come back to work the night before the concert. Some doctors got sick. Really sick. And I take care of tiny babies, even tinier than you girls were when you were born, so they needed me to come back to work. Otherwise I would have been there, because that’s exactly where I wanted to be. Maybe I can come next year, okay?”
Now she raised her gaze to Renzo. The look he gave her—consternation mixed with sweet affection—gripped her heart.
He reached for her hand.
She shouldn’t take his hand because this man, this singular human being, couldn’t just break her heart. He could crush it. Her fault for falling in love with a man of strength and resolve, the very qualities that drew her to him. He stood there, holding her gaze, hand outstretched, and there was no way she could resist. She took his hand. Let him help her up. And right then the lobby manager raised a jar of bright-toned candy canes for the girls to see. “Girls, would you like a candy cane?” he asked.
“We love these!” Chloe led the charge.
“They’re the best, thanks, mister!” said Kristi.
“My favorite is cherry,” breathed Naomi as she accepted a rose-toned candy cane. “Thank you! Is it okay if we eat them, Renzo?”
“Absolutely.”
“I’ve got The Grinch playing in my office,” the manager told Sarah and Renzo. “If you folks need a minute.”
“That would be great,” Sarah replied. “Thank you, Arthur.” She turned back toward Renzo as the girls skipped into Arthur’s office, then raised her gaze. “You came to the city.”
A tiny smile softened his jawline. “We wanted to surprise you. I never considered that you might still be working.”
“I wasn’t,” she admitted. She took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “I went to Golden Grove.”
A brighter smile wiped the edge of worry from his eyes. “Did you, now?”
“On the advice of a dear friend, I realized that even if I couldn’t spend time with the girls, I could pray with them. In the same church, at least. Then they weren’t there, and your parents’ house was all dark, and it was all wrong. So wrong.”
“You went to the house?” He raised a hand to cradle her cheek. “Even though I was a total jerk, regardless of four-year-old opinions.”
“And you drove here even though you were pretty sure I was out to ruin your family and your life. An absolutely incorrect assumption, by the way, and you never once gave me time to explain.”
“Forgive me.”
Two sweet words that meant so much.
“I found out the other day that my mother called you,” he explained. “I knew she was mad about Dad’s prognosis and she chewed me out about the change in scheduling, but I didn’t realize how upset until I asked her about that phone call. She’s sorry, too, but I’ll let her apologize in person. If you don’t mind giving us a second chance, Sarah.”
She’d been given the gift of a peaceful, loving family as an infant. The girls should have the same. “It would be good for the girls if we all got along,” she agreed, but then he surprised her once again when he slipped that hand behind her head and drew her into one of those amazing hugs she’d been missing.
“I agree. And while three hours isn’t an unthinkable distance, it’s real hard to get to know the most amazing woman who’s ever walked into your life when you’re both working crazy hours, you’ve got three kids who need constant attention and stuff keeps getting in the way. I propose we shorten the distance because there’s nothing more important to me right now than having the chance to be with you.” He paused and kissed the right side of her face. “Talk to you.” He shifted his mouth to the opposite side and gently kissed that cheek. “Fall in love with you.” This time he touched his lips to hers, and when he deepened the kiss, her heart caved completely. “I can’t do that if I’m working on a case three hours away.”
“And I can’t move the hospital,” she told him when they paused the kiss. “They need me here, in the city, where I can do the most good.”
“I thought of that,” he replied. He k
ept one arm snugged around her. He used the other hand to pull his phone from his belt loop and held up a picture. “That’s my application to the Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office. They called me the minute it showed up in their in-box. It’s thirty minutes from the city. Less if we find a place closer.”
She stared at the phone, then him. “You’d move here?”
“For you?” His face softened into the smile she’d come to know so well. The smile she’d missed since that fateful day. “In a heartbeat, Sarah. Of course, I’ll need your advice,” he teased when he paused kissing her again. “Shopping for a house. That’s not exactly my expertise. And the girls will have to adjust, but when I balanced things out, being with you was more important than anything. To all four of us.”
“Renzo, what about your parents?” Disbelief vied with joy. “They love these girls.”
“They do. And my mother hates to have them so far away, but she weighed that up against my happiness in finding the most amazing woman in the world who happens to be the girls’ aunt, and she not only gave me her blessing, she cried. But this time for joy, Sarah.”
She couldn’t believe it, and yet it was real. Wonderfully real.
“But we do have a current conundrum tonight,” he told her. “I’ve got to find a place to stay with the girls, and I was scrolling while we were waiting for you. Shockingly—” he made a face to indicate it wasn’t shocking at all “—all the hotels are full.”
“All but one,” she told him. She texted her mother quickly, and when Lindsay sent back a thumbs-up, she put away the phone. “Let’s head to the island. We’ll have Christmas at my parents’ house. Mom’s always got a stocked freezer, and the girls’ gifts are in the trunk of my car. All we need now is three little girls, Renzo.”
Finding Her Christmas Family Page 16
