Home For The Holidays

by Elena Aitken

  And found it empty.

  Not only empty, but unslept in. While her covers were mussed, his side of the bed remained untouched. Sunshine’s heart sank. They hadn’t slept apart since the day they became engaged. Where had Cole gone?

  Was he coming back?

  She slipped out of the bed and dressed hurriedly, twisting her hair into a quick braid to hide the fact she hadn’t showered. Stepping to the window and lifting the shade, she scanned as much of the ranch as she could from this vantage point.

  No sign of him.

  Her heart heavy, she opened her door and slipped out into the hall. When she came downstairs she nearly gasped in relief when she saw him seated at the breakfast table. There was a plate in front of him and a half-drunk glass of orange juice. French toast sat on a serving tray, but neither Claire nor Jamie was around.

  “Good morning,” she said, feeling as if she was greeting a stranger.

  “Morning.” Cole set down the newspaper he was reading.

  She wanted to ask him where he’d spent the night but she was afraid of the answer. To cover her confusion she served herself a glass of juice. The French toast obviously wasn’t vegan and she didn’t feel like eating, even if she knew she should eat something to keep up her strength.

  She sat down at the table across from him, not knowing what else to do.

  “I’ve got errands to do this morning. Think you can handle the move to Rob and Morgan’s place?” he said.

  “Sure.” Did he want her to ask about his errands? Because she wasn’t going to. Not when he was speaking to her so gruffly—as if she’d done something wrong.

  “Okay.” He drained his cup and stood up. “See you later.”

  He left without even dropping a kiss on top of her head. Had he ever done that before? Sunshine was too stunned to answer her own question. When Claire walked in a few minutes later, Lynn in her arms, Sunshine was still sitting motionless at the table.

  “Don’t you want some breakfast?” Claire asked as she popped Lynn into her high chair. “I’ve got fruit and cereal if the French toast is too heavy.”

  “I’m fine, thanks.” Fine was the last thing she was. “Is Lynn feeling better today?”

  “Much. I hope she didn’t keep you up too late.” Claire fetched a box of cereal and put a handful of O’s on the tray in front of Lynn. Lynn began to pick them up one by one and eat them, watching Sunshine with big, round eyes.

  “I got plenty of sleep.” Her pregnancy was as good as a sleeping aid these last few days.

  “I think she’s cutting a tooth. Maybe a molar.” Claire moved around the kitchen, piling up dirty dishes in the sink.

  Sunshine smiled tentatively at Lynn, although her stomach was in knots after her exchange with Cole. Or maybe that was morning sickness.

  “Do you think it would be hard to be a single mom?” she asked, and wanted to smack herself the moment the question leaped from her lips.

  Claire’s eyebrows shot skyward. “I should guess so. Why?”

  “Just thinking about a friend,” Sunshine stuttered. “At least you had Jamie to help you out last night.”

  Claire nodded. “I couldn’t imagine doing it alone. Give me ten minutes to feed Lynn and I’ll run you over to Morgan’s, okay?”

  Grateful for the excuse to do something, Sunshine stood up. “Thanks. I’ll go pack.”

  “You’ll like Morgan. You’ll see.”

  “I’m sure I will.”

  Liking her next set of hosts was the least of her worries.

  “I hope your fiancée loves it,” Terry said as he handed a ring of keys to Cole and stood back while Cole unlocked the front door. Escrow had finally closed and now he was the proud owner of a restaurant space. The realtor had come along to walk through it with him. He had some recommendations for contractors who could help Cole out with any renovations he might need. Cole entered the establishment, a large corner building on Main Street with its own parking lot, and fumbled for a light switch. As light flooded the place, Cole nodded. It looked much like the photographs he’d seen online before he bought it, but he wrinkled his nose.

  “What’s that smell?”

  “I don’t know. It didn’t smell like this last time.” The two men began to investigate. Up front was a hostess station and a number of battered tables and booths. The smell got stronger as they headed toward the rear of the restaurant.

  “I don’t like this,” Terry said. “I think the sewer has backed up into one of the bathrooms.”

  He was right, and the results were dismal.

  Cole covered his nose and mouth with his arm. “Hell, who do we call to fix this?”

  “Already on it.” They headed into the kitchen while Terry fished out his cell phone and tapped in a number. “Reggie? Got an emergency for you.”

  As Terry filled in the contractor, Cole looked around the kitchen. Everything was in good shape, but he’d need to test the appliances. The place even came with some dishes, utensils, pots and pans, but Cole suspected Sunshine would want to upgrade those.

  If she ever cooked here.

  He still couldn’t figure out how their argument had gone from zero to a hundred so fast the previous night. He had gone over it again and again in his mind as he fought for sleep on Claire and Jamie’s couch. He’d decided it had been his comment about kids that sent them into a tailspin. He’d better make his real position clear.

  Kids.

  Would they have kids? He’d been surprised by how much he’d enjoyed the children they’d met on their trip—especially the ones in the most remote areas. Free from the influence of television shows and the Internet, they wore their feelings and reactions right at the surface and he’d relaxed around so much honesty. They were active—and fun-loving. Cole felt that the teens he saw in Chance Creek were more self-conscious. That bothered him. If he had kids he’d want to emphasize honesty and plain speaking—and the fun that comes from playing outside and moving your body, rather than sitting like zombies in front of video games.

  Still, kids were a big step and they weren’t even married yet. They had to set a date for the wedding.

  Maybe he should take the lead on that.

  “Okay, Reggie’s sending a team as soon as he can. I’ll drive by and drop off a set of keys with him. Go on home and relax. Let us take care of this. When it’s all fixed and fresh as a daisy in here, I’ll give you a call and we’ll start again.”

  “I was hoping to fix a few things up before Christmas,” Cole told him.

  “We’ll have you back in here tomorrow.”

  “Sounds good.”

  Cole drove to Rob and Morgan’s house, a good-sized home they’d built on a plot of land on the Double-Bar-K, Rob’s family’s ranch. Cole found Rob on the front porch waiting for him, his hands jammed into the pockets of a heavy coat. Tall and muscular, with the blond hair typical of the Matheson men, Rob looked far more relaxed and confident than he had been when Cole last saw him three years ago.

  “I was wondering where you’d got to,” Rob said, shaking his hand. “It’s good to see you, man. How’d you like traveling the world?”

  “I feel mighty lucky to have had the chance, but now I’m happy to be home. I heard all about your vineyard and plans for a winery from Jamie. I’m impressed. I’d like to see the vines.”

  “Not a whole lot to see at this time of year, but I’d be glad to take you out for a look around.” Rob opened the front door and they moved inside. “But you’ll need Morgan to get the full picture. She’s the mastermind behind this operation.”

  “Don’t let Rob fool you. He’s a wizard with the grapes,” Morgan said, coming to greet Cole. “It’s good to meet you. I’ve heard so much about you I feel like we’re already friends.”

  “I hope we will be.” Morgan had dark, wavy hair, blue eyes, and a way of moving that hinted at athleticism. Cole was pleased to see the way she and Rob smiled at each other when she came to lean against her husband, an arm around his waist. They were obvious
ly in love. Cole was still surprised to find all his old friends settled down with wives when they used to be such bachelors.

  Sunshine came to meet him, too, with a baby boy on her hip that had to be Jack. Cole’s heart melted at the sweet picture they made, especially when she bent down to rub noses with the little boy and Jack squealed with laughter.

  They really needed to have that talk about their future plans—including when to have kids. Sunshine would make a wonderful mother someday.

  And he… he looked forward to being a father.

  That idea startled him. Was he really ready? He hadn’t thought so previously. To cover his confusion, he said, “Look at him. Big and strong like his daddy. You’ll make a rancher out of that one.”

  “Damn straight,” Rob said. “Jack loves horses.”

  “Jack loves everything,” Morgan said. “We’re so lucky. We’ve got the smilingest baby ever.”

  “He’s darling,” Sunshine said. “Aren’t you?” She snuggled the little boy again, who grinned.

  That smile hit Cole like a sucker punch. I’m glad we don’t have kids. Had he really said that just last night? He was an ass. He wished they could get started on a family right away.

  First, they needed to get married.

  No, first he had to make up his fight with Sunshine, he realized. As soon as possible.

  “Cole wants to see the vines,” Rob told Morgan. “I’ve got some time. Let’s head out to take a look.”

  Morgan bit her lip. “I have to change Jack and get him into his snowsuit.”

  “I’ll keep him,” Sunshine broke in. “You and Rob go on. I’ll be fine.”

  Cole shot her a look. Why was she lagging back? Was she still tired? She seemed to be tired all the time these days. It was like she’d held it together for the entire trip, but now that they were home, Sunshine was collapsing under the strain. Maybe she needed a day or two in bed.

  That sounded like a brilliant idea if he could get her to let him join her there.

  “It’ll take a while,” Rob warned her. “It’ll be slow going for us through the snow.”

  “Take as long as you want. We’ll have fun, won’t we, Jack?” Sunshine jiggled him on her hip and he crowed with laughter. Cole relaxed. Maybe she was fine, after all.

  Maybe her biological clock was ticking, too.

  Morgan showed Sunshine where to find diapers, wipes, food and juice, and imparted a hundred other bits of information, until Rob finally took her hand and tugged her playfully to the door. “We’ll be back in an hour. I’m sure Sunshine can handle it.”

  “I’ll be fine; don’t worry about a thing.”

  When they finally made it outside, Rob fell back with Cole. “Mothers,” he said in a low voice. “It’s like they lose their minds when they have babies.” His indulgent tone told Cole he adored Morgan’s protective attitude. He seemed to love every minute of fatherhood.

  Cole wanted to love it, too.

  Why, oh why hadn’t she turned on the television before she walked Jack to sleep? Sunshine paced the length of the living room, turned around and paced it again. If she turned it on now she’d wake him up. Could she lay him down in his crib without waking him? She wasn’t sure. Sunshine paced the room again.

  Nearly two hours had passed since the others left, and the quiet house was beginning to get to her. Even when they’d stopped in villages in Africa and Asia, there were always grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins around. Only in a North American house did you get this kind of isolation. She was beginning to feel like she was the only person left in the world.

  The only grownup, anyway.

  She’d enjoyed playing with Jack. He certainly was an easy baby. Once he’d started to fuss she’d picked him up, changed him, fed him and then carried him around, delighting in the way he snuggled easily into her arms, trusting her to know what to do. She’d swayed and danced with him until he’d fallen asleep, a lovely experience, but now her arms ached from the unfamiliar exercise and she was growing tired. Aside from that, an idea for a new recipe had sprung into her head while she was pacing the floor with Jack and she itched to write it down before she forgot about it.

  Sunshine tiptoed up the steps to the second floor where Jack’s room was located next to the master bedroom. She eased him into his crib and was pleased and proud when he didn’t wake up. Stepping carefully to the door, she swung it partway closed.

  She made it halfway down the steps before Jack began to wail.

  Sunshine stopped, torn between the desire to race downstairs and jot down the recipe, and the need to placate Jack immediately. After all, Morgan had put her son’s well-being into her care.

  With a sigh, she retraced her steps, chanting the ingredients for the new dish in her mind, and scooped Jack back up from his crib. He laughed with glee and hugged her.

  “You need a nap,” she told him, but one look into his bright, cheerful eyes told her naptime was over. Jack was refreshed and ready to go again.

  Too bad she wasn’t.

  Nausea had crept up on her, which frustrated Sunshine. Wasn’t morning sickness supposed to happen in the early morning?

  She’d also hoped to find a way out to the ranch to look around again today. She needed to make up her mind about whether to keep it or sell it to Carl. Claire and Autumn were standing by for a phone call. She needed to get Morgan alone to let her in on the secret, too.

  She told herself the others would be home soon enough and she brought Jack back downstairs, gave him some toys and placed him on the living room rug. She ducked into the kitchen to find her purse, in which she had a pad of paper and a pen.

  “Don’t get into trouble,” she called out to Jack as she jotted down the recipe in a kind of shorthand she hoped she’d be able to decipher later. She shoved the pad and pen back into her purse, and trotted back to the living room, ready to give Jack her undivided attention again, when her cell phone rang. Stopping, she fished it out. She didn’t recognize the number, but she answered it—it could be Autumn or Claire.

  “Sunshine? It’s Carl Whitfield. Ready to make that deal yet?”

  “I… haven’t made up my mind.” She hadn’t had time to think about any of it properly.

  “I’m really anxious to get that property.”

  “I know—” Sunshine looked around, suddenly aware something was wrong.

  Where was Jack?

  “Jack?” Sunshine scanned the room. “Jack!”

  “Sunshine?”

  She cut the call, shoved the phone in her pocket again and searched the room. Had he climbed the stairs? She realized she hadn’t locked the baby gate after coming through it. With her heart in her mouth she raced up the steps two at a time. “Jack!” A quick look in each bedroom and bathroom told her he wasn’t on the second floor. She raced back down again, did a circuit of the main floor, but didn’t find him there either.

  Panic clawed at her throat as she raced from room to room for a second time. Only then did she spot the glass sliding door off the den. It was ajar, and the curtains framing it fluttered as a light breeze slipped through it. “Jack!” Her scream came out like a squeak. The baby didn’t have shoes on or a coat. And the ranch was covered in drifts of snow. She raced through the room and out the door, the slick surface of the deck immediately soaking through her socks. “Jack, where are you?”

  A thin wail greeted her and Sunshine raced down the steps to where Jack was standing in the snow, lifting first one soaked cold foot and then the other. She scooped him up, her heart beating double time. She didn’t realize she was crying until Jack reached out to touch her cheeks. “Wet!”

  “Yes, you’re right. And so are your feet. And mine!” She hustled back up the steps, into the den, and came face to face with Morgan, Rob and Cole.

  Chapter 4

  “Sunshine—what are you doing?” Cole was too shocked to censor his tone when Sunshine came through the sliding glass door in her stocking feet, a similarly shoeless Jack in her arms. When he, Rob and Mo
rgan had arrived home, the house had been empty. Worry had lifted his heart into his throat.

  “He… escaped,” Sunshine said, clearly distraught.

  Morgan rushed to take Jack from her arms.

  “Weren’t you watching him?” Cole said. He couldn’t believe Sunshine had been so negligent. He’d just spent the last hour—two and a half hours, Cole realized with a jolt as he spotted a clock on the wall—learning everything Morgan and Rob could tell him about growing grapes and making wine. He’d had such a good time he’d forgotten about his problems with Sunshine until they’d approached the house again. Then they’d found the place empty—with Sunshine’s coat and shoes clearly visible in the foyer. Cole had panicked.

  “Of course I was—I just stepped into the other room for a minute!”

  “You can’t do that!” Cole couldn’t seem to stop himself. He’d concocted an idea about going into business with Rob and Morgan, and he wanted them to like him—and to see him as a responsible individual. Sunshine was blowing it.

  “I should have warned you he can open the sliding doors,” Morgan said. “I told you we need to brace them shut,” she said to Rob.

  “I’ll get on it today,” Rob said. He turned to Sunshine. “Morgan told me Jack opened one last week. I guess I didn’t quite believe it.”

  “I swear I was right with him almost the whole time. I stepped into the kitchen—”

  “It’s okay,” Morgan assured her. “No harm done. Toddlers are a handful. Cole’s right; you simply can’t ever look away. Although, of course you have to now and then. You develop a kind of mommy sense when it’s your child.”

  “I’m so sorry.” Tears shone in Sunshine’s eyes. Cole’s heart contracted. Of course Sunshine had been doing a good job. He knew how responsible she was.

  “It’s our fault for leaving you alone so long,” Rob said. He took Jack from Morgan’s arms. “And I hope you learned your lesson, little man. When you run away you get cold, wet feet.”

  “Wet!” Jack crowed again, kicking up his heels.