He looked away from those bright green eyes to the period lighting that lined the hallway.
“Winifred has been a dedicated caretaker of the Lancaster family legacy, even though she married into it instead of being born into it.”
“I can totally understand why she loves it so much. If this were my house I don’t believe I would ever want to leave.”
Guilt pinched at him and he sighed. “I understand how much Winnie loves Holiday House. This place represents so much more than only somewhere to live. It’s history, it’s family, it’s our heritage. And in large part, I think it represents my grandfather, whom she loved with all her heart.”
“That’s sweet,” Abby said softly.
“Winnie is part of this house and it’s part of her now. I understand that, believe me. Just as I accept that, eventually, Lucy and I will have to figure out what to do with the house when she’s gone.”
Winnie had been telling them for years that she was leaving Holiday House to the two of them, not to her own son, who would only sell it to the first buyer he could find with enough cash.
Ethan had no idea what he and Lucy were supposed to do with it after Winnie was gone. He didn’t want to think about that day so he pushed the question out of his head, as he had been doing for years now.
“Now that you’ve seen the rest of the house, I’m sure you will agree it’s too much for a woman approaching eighty years old to manage on her own.”
Abby ran a finger along the polished wood chair rail along the wall. “Her current injuries aside, Winnie still seems pretty spry to me. She also told me she has a good cleaning service that keeps things dust-free.”
“For now.”
“As long as she is still capable of managing things, I guess I feel like she’s the one who should decide what she’s going to do with the house.”
Her words echoed Lucy’s—and Winnie’s, for that matter. Apparently, he was the lone voice of reason.
“Winnie will stubbornly insist she’s perfectly fine and handling things until she wears herself out. She’s already broken her wrist. It’s a miracle she didn’t break a hip or her back when she fell. I worry that’s what’s next.”
He knew how devastating a more serious injury would be for Winnie. Something else he didn’t want to think about.
“I understand your concern. It’s hard for someone her age to come back from a major orthopedic injury like you’re talking about. But why worry about something that hasn’t happened yet and probably won’t? That’s another lesson I’ve learned over the past few years. Endless worry about tomorrow only steals joy from today.”
Lovely and wise. An intoxicating combination.
Abby glanced at her watch. “We’ve been at this nearly an hour. I can’t believe it’s so late. I should probably go check on Christopher.”
He suspected Christopher and Winnie were probably both sound asleep in the great room together.
“If you can give me a few more minutes, I have one last thing. I should probably show you where Winnie keeps all the Christmas decorations?”
“You mean there’s even more than we’ve seen so far?”
The astonishment in her voice made him smile. “We’ve seen the highlights. I only meant ribbons, lights, ornaments, that kind of thing. But, yes, I understand that it’s a lot to take in. Don’t worry about the rest. You can explore on your own when you get the chance.”
She hesitated. “We’re here. I guess you should probably show me anything else you think I might need to know.”
“This shouldn’t take long.”
He opened a door at the end of the hall to reveal another staircase.
“Yet another level?”
“The attic.”
He flipped on the light and ascended the stairs toward the vast space that ran the length of the house. It was filled with trunks, cardboard boxes, ornament containers, wreaths and at least a dozen pre-lit artificial trees.
She gaped at the assorted items. “Oh, my.”
“I agree. It’s a lot to take in.”
Abby looked back at the stairs behind him. “Surely she doesn’t carry this all up and down by herself?”
“Well, I haven’t showed it to you yet, but there’s an elevator that goes to all the floors.” He pointed to what looked like a large built-in closet in one corner. “My grandfather had it installed a few years before he died.”
Some of her tension seemed to trickle away. “I can see where an elevator will be a lifesaver!”
“Winnie also never decorates alone. Seems like she always has a friend to help her. I’ve pitched in to fetch and carry where I can in previous years. If I’m not available—which seems to be the case usually of late—I will loan her a few workers from one of the hotels in town for an afternoon to carry things down. I usually ask the staff who would like to volunteer on their day off and then I pay their salaries. They also know Winnie will give them a big tip.”
“That sounds like a brilliant solution. Too bad you’ve already said you’re not going to help this year,” she said pointedly.
“You’re going to throw that back in my face?” he said.
She laughed. “You did say it.”
“I suppose I could probably find one or two people to pinch-hit for an afternoon so you don’t have to carry everything down by yourself. Even with an elevator, that’s many trips up and down.”
“You can work that out with Winnie, but it’s probably not necessary. I told her I would do it.”
He had to admire her willingness to jump in and help, even as he could see the prospect overwhelmed her. “You’re still okay with all this? It’s probably not too late to change your mind about helping her. She can find someone else.”
“Are you kidding?” Her laugh sounded vaguely hysterical. “I’ve changed my mind back and forth a hundred times since the moment we walked into the nutcracker room. This job is entirely too much for me. I don’t know how I let Winnie talk me into it. She needs a professional decorator, not a nurse who could barely decide where to hang pictures on the wall of my apartment.”
“I’m sure you’ll do fine.”
“I have no idea what I’m doing,” she said. “I’m not sure why I ever agreed to help her. For that matter, how did I let Lucy talk me into coming to Silver Bells in the first place?”
Her honesty was refreshing, even if he could hear the edge of panic to her words. “Few people can withstand my sister when she has her mind set on something.”
“I know. Believe me. I can’t tell you the number of times she dragged me off to some party or other when I had every intention of sitting down to study for my anatomy class.”
He had a hard time picturing her as a young nursing student, rooming with his wild, wandering sister.
“Three guesses where Lucy learned her powers of persuasion.”
“Winnie. Winnie. And Winnie.”
“Exactly.”
He could still see the edge of panic in her eyes and was driven to comfort her, for reasons he couldn’t have explained.
“Don’t worry. My grandmother will be there to help you every step of the way. If you can stick an IV needle into a wriggling, crying pediatric patient, you can certainly hang some Christmas lights on a tree.”
She gave a shaky smile. “The two things are not at all analogous, but thank you for the vote of confidence.”
He smiled and she gazed at his mouth, an odd, almost arrested expression on her features.
Ethan felt suddenly breathless. “Have you seen what you need to up here?”
“I... Yes. I think so. We had better go back down to Winnie and Chris.”
“Elevator or stairs?”
“Stairs are fine. That way we can turn off lights as we go.”
He nodded and led the way to the attic stairway. “Watch your step up here. Ther
e are a couple of tricky floorboards.”
“If there’s anything that could trip me, I’ll definitely find it.”
The words were no sooner out of her mouth than she stumbled on a small box that had fallen off a stack.
He wasn’t aware of moving, but somehow he must have instinctively lunged to catch her. She gave a little gasp as she settled into his arms, soft and curvy and smelling like pumpkin pie spice.
He gazed down at her, struck again by the fierce urge to press his mouth to those freckles scattered across her nose. She looked up at him, eyes wide and that strange, intense expression on her lovely features again.
He couldn’t seem to look away and he held her entirely too long. He should have simply set her back on her feet and released her, but he couldn’t seem to make his muscles cooperate.
Color climbed her cheeks, as deliciously pink as the wild roses that grew around the house.
“I told you I was clumsy.” She gave a small, embarrassed-sounding laugh. “Thank you for saving me from a hard conk on the head.”
Was it his imagination or did she sound breathless, her voice huskier than it had been earlier?
He finally came to his senses enough to help her to her feet and release her. To his chagrin, he had to clear his voice before he trusted himself to speak.
“You’re welcome. You can’t be too careful up here.”
“I’ll keep that in mind when I come up again. Should we go back down?”
He didn’t want to. He wanted to press her against the wall and kiss her until neither of them could think straight.
The impulse came out of nowhere, kicking him in the gut like a wild horse. What was wrong with him?
“Probably a good idea,” he said instead, gesturing toward the stairs.
“I’ll be more careful this time,” she said with a self-conscious smile.
He then headed back down the stairs.
* * *
“So your Thanksgiving was nice?” Lucy gazed at her laptop, open on the tiny kitchen table of her apartment in the Old City of Chiang Mai. Winnie’s face beamed out at her, lined and weathered and wonderful, her hair a cotton-candy-pink cloud around her face.
“Oh, it was wonderful,” her grandmother answered softly. “Abby is such a treasure. She was a champion, pitching right in to throw together dinner at the last minute.”
“I’m so glad. I knew she would be the perfect one to help you until I can get home to Silver Bells.”
“Weren’t we both lucky that she was available?”
“Definitely,” Lucy replied. Beside Winnie, she could see Christopher snuggled on the sofa, a blanket pulled over him, his dark curly hair sticking out.
“We missed you, of course. How was your day?”
“It’s not Thanksgiving here, so it was simply another school day, though I did try to explain the holiday to them. I’m not sure they quite grasped the concept of the Pilgrims and turkey and all.”
“This has been a good job for you, hasn’t it? You seem to love your students.”
She did and she very much enjoyed Chiang Mai. While Bangkok was the capital of Thailand, Chiang Mai was the historic capital, filled with temples and flea markets, ancient architecture and warm, generous people.
She didn’t want to tell Winnie yet that while she loved her students, she was beginning to feel a restless itch between her shoulder blades, as if something was missing.
“Where is Abby?” she said instead. “I see Christopher sleeping there but not his mother.”
Winnie waved her unbroken hand in a vague gesture. “I asked Ethan to give her a tour of the house, since I am not able to get around well with this stupid ankle.”
She hated seeing Winnie like this, unable to do all the things she would like.
Right now, her grandmother looked old and tired, without her natural exuberance. Lucy didn’t want to admit it, even to herself.
Winnie frowned a little. “Come to think of it, they have been gone awhile. Maybe they found something more interesting to do than look at my nutcrackers.”
That innocent expression of her grandmother’s didn’t fool Lucy for a moment. She narrowed her gaze. “Winifred Elizabeth Lancaster. What are you up to?”
“Who, me?”
“Don’t get any ideas about Abby and Ethan,” she warned.
“Would I do that?” Winnie’s eyes twinkled.
“In a heartbeat.”
Winnie looked around, as if to make sure the two people in question weren’t close enough to overhear. “You have to admit, they would make a lovely couple. Your brother needs a little softness in his life. Someone like Abby would be perfect for him. Much better than that Brooke Fielding ever would have been.”
Lucy could not disagree with that. She hadn’t loved her brother’s ex-fiancée. They had shared a friendly enough relationship and Brooke had been nice to Lucy. If Ethan had married her, Lucy would have tried hard to love Brooke like a sister. But Lucy had never been certain the other woman was right for Ethan. She had always had the vague impression that Brooke looked down on her for her eclectic fashion sense and for her career and life choices.
She had also noticed that whenever they were out in public, Brooke always looked around the restaurant or venue to see who might be looking and would become much more noticeably affectionate to Ethan if anyone paid them any attention.
That was probably petty of her, she admitted. She couldn’t help it. Despite Ethan saying the breakup had been a mutual decision, Lucy strongly suspected otherwise.
None of that mattered now. Brooke was happily married and had a huge social media following with her athlete husband.
“Abby might not be available,” Lucy warned. “Her heart was shattered when she lost Kevin. I don’t know if she’s ready to jump into something else. It’s only been two years. Plus, geography is an issue. She’s moving to Texas next month. Don’t meddle, Grandma.”
“I didn’t meddle,” Winnie protested. “I only asked them both to help me with something. Together. That’s not meddling.”
Her grandmother quickly changed the topic before Lucy could point out that was exactly what meddling meant.
“By the way, we had a particular friend of yours over for Thanksgiving. Sofia and Rodrigo were here, of course. I already told you they were coming. But then José joined us unexpectedly. It was so nice to see him. He looks good.”
It was a very good thing Lucy wasn’t prone to blushing, unlike Abigail, or she would be red as a beet right now.
Two weeks. She would see him in two weeks. She was so torn. She missed him terribly but had no idea if they could pick up any remnants of their friendship after what had happened that last night in Thailand.
“How nice.”
“Rodrigo can’t wait for you to come home. He told me to be sure you’re home in time for the gingerbread competition.”
“Of course. I wouldn’t miss it,” she said. “I love that guy.”
She meant Rodrigo, of course. Who else?
“It’s hard not to love him, isn’t it?”
“He was the best prom date I could ever ask for. We had a great time that night.”
After Rodrigo asked her to his senior prom, some of the girls at school had made fun of her. A few had even told her she should say no. Why would she want to go with someone from the special education classrooms to what many considered the most important dance of a girl’s high school career?
Lucy refused and dropped those girls as friends. She would never regret it. Rodrigo had been sweet and kind to her and so very excited to go to the dance with their peers.
“He has a new job at Lancaster Silver Bells. Did you know? He was excited to tell me all about it. He’s been busing tables at the restaurant at the resort but is starting a new job working with the bell desk, delivering luggage to guests and working in bag
storage.”
“That’s terrific. I bet he’s wonderful at it. You can’t have a bad day when you are around Rodrigo.”
“That’s what I always say. And he has a girlfriend. Another girl who goes to the same job-training program he does. Cindy. She’s very sweet. He told me she lets him hold her hand.”
“Oh, that makes my heart happy.”
“Right? They’re a sweet couple.”
On the video call, Winnie’s expression was suddenly nonchalant. “Sofia tells me he and Cindy double-dated with José and the woman he is dating.”
Her insides seemed to freeze. “Wait. What? José is dating someone?”
Winnie shrugged. “It’s not serious, from what I understand, but they have dated a few times and Sofia has high hopes. A mother can only dream. Just like a grandmother, right?”
He was dating? That was impossible! Just a few months ago he had claimed to be in love with her, and now he was dating someone else?
Okay, she had been pretty clear that they were looking for different things from a relationship and that she wouldn’t change her mind.
But she had never expected him to start dating someone else the minute he returned to Silver Bells.
Her stomach felt twisted into knots, as if she had eaten something bad at the Chiang Mai night market.
“Is it...someone I know?”
“Oh, I doubt it,” Winnie said blithely. “Quinn Bellamy has only been in town six months or so. She works in public relations for Lancaster corporate and she’s very pretty. And nice, too. Originally, I was thinking she might be good for Ethan, but I guess José made a move first.”
“Did he?”
Her stomach again twisted. Maybe she did eat something that didn’t agree with her.
She certainly wasn’t jealous. That would imply she had feelings for him, which was impossible.
“No matter,” Winnie said cheerfully. “I think Abby makes a much better fit for your brother than Quinn ever would.”
She pressed a hand to her stomach, trying to force her attention back to the present instead of that last night between them when José had kissed her with such aching tenderness.
Obviously, he hadn’t been in love with her. She had been right to push him away. Look how quickly he turned to another woman.
Christmas at Holiday House Page 9
