Coming Home for Christmas

by RaeAnne Thayne

  She needed medication and also a rest. Everything inside her ached. She closed her eyes for a moment, breathing slowly to calm the chaos of her emotions. She must have fallen asleep for only a minute or two. She slowly became aware that the vehicle had stopped and Luke was calling her name.

  “Elizabeth? Hello? Wake up.”

  “Oh. We’re here already.”

  In the stretched-out afternoon light, the little house she had loved looked lonely and sad compared to the warm, gracious place Luke and their children called home now. It had been a place of love once, of promise. Now it was mostly a shell.

  Someone would love it again, she reminded herself. That was why she was trying to make it as appealing as possible, so some young couple would buy it and make it into a home again.

  “Thank you,” she said, climbing out of the pickup.

  Luke and Bridger both exited the pickup as well, coming around to her side.

  “I’m a little hesitant to leave you here by yourself, especially after everything you’ve told me about your health problems,” Luke said, worry creasing his forehead.

  “I’ll be fine. I live alone in Oregon,” she pointed out.

  “But you have friends in the same house there.”

  “Yes. But they’re not always there. I’m often alone at Brambleberry House.”

  Melissa was a nurse and worked full-time at a clinic in Cannon Beach. She was also engaged and she and her daughter spent a great deal of time with her fiancé, Eli, as they prepared to merge their lives together. Rosa Galvez managed a gift shop in Cannon Beach for her aunt and also volunteered extensively in town, plus had a busy social life with many friends.

  “Regardless. Maybe you should come stay at the new house with us.”

  “Yeah. That’s a good idea,” Bridger said. “Then I can show you my baseball trophies.”

  She would love nothing more than to spend as much time as possible with them while she had the chance. She wanted to know everything about her children, from how they liked their eggs to what stories they liked to hear to their favorite music.

  Still, she couldn’t shake the memory of Cassie’s pain-filled eyes.

  “I’m...not sure that’s a good idea. You’re the one who said you think Cassie...needs a little space from me right now.”

  He sighed. “You could be right. Maybe after a solid night’s sleep, she’ll see that having you back could turn out to be a good thing after all.”

  Did Luke think it was a good thing? She couldn’t tell.

  “I...hope so.”

  “You have a Christmas tree?” Bridger said in shock. “We don’t even have a Christmas tree!”

  “We have a tree,” Luke said. “We just haven’t put it up. We’ll get to it, I promise.”

  “Tonight?”

  “Maybe we can at least take it out of the box and set it in the stand.”

  She was torn, wanting to offer her help but also fully aware of her own limitations. She was already exhausted and knew she wouldn’t have the strength to help deck his considerable halls. At least not tonight.

  Luke seemed to sense it, too. “Try to get some rest. I’ll call later to check on you.”

  “Thank you.”

  “Bye,” Bridger said, then made a face. “I’m not sure what I should call you. I mean, you’re my mom, but that doesn’t seem quite right.”

  She had to earn that title back, she knew. Right now, she wasn’t sure she ever would. “You can...start with Elizabeth.”

  “Okay. Bye, Elizabeth.”

  “Bye, son,” she said.

  “Try to get some rest,” Luke said. “We’ll figure things out in the morning.”

  “Thank you.”

  As she closed the door behind them, Elizabeth was quite certain that even as tired as she was, she wouldn’t be sleeping for a long time.

  * * *

  “She’s nice. I like her.”

  Luke spared a glance from the road heading back to the house to look over at his son. The words only confirmed his theory that Bridger was one of the most loving and kind people he’d ever had the pleasure of knowing—except when he resorted to punching kids at church in defense of his father.

  “Do you?”

  As far as Luke could tell, Bridger and his mother had exchanged about ten minutes of conversation while he had been upstairs talking to Cassie. Luke would have considered that too short a time to make a sound judgment call, but Bridger had an uncanny sense about people.

  The boy looked thoughtful. “I don’t love her, like you’re supposed to love your mom. I don’t even know her. But she seems nice. Did you know she used to do gymnastics and wanted to go to the Olympics?”

  “I did know that. She was pretty good at it, too.”

  “Then she got hurt and had to find something else she liked.”

  She used to love a wide range of things, from crochet to watercolors to hiking. Every day had been a new discovery.

  “Life is all about rolling with the punches, kid. We’ve talked about that before.”

  Even as he said it, Luke was aware that while the advice was nice in theory, in reality, he didn’t know how to roll with the hard kick to the head he had sustained that day.

  Elizabeth had been trying to return to them. She hadn’t simply disappeared into the night without a backward glance. He still didn’t know how to absorb the shock.

  She had tried to come back to their family.

  That thought seemed to ring through his head, over and over in a sweet, comforting refrain.

  Chapter Fourteen

  “Are you sure you’re all right? We’re all worried sick about you. Eli is about to call some of his army buddies in the area to do some reconnaissance and check out the situation.”

  Elizabeth set her paintbrush back in the drip tray, smiling a little at the overdramatic concern in Melissa’s voice. “I’m fine,” she said into her cell phone. “I told Rosa already. You two don’t need to worry about me.”

  “Sorry, too late for that. We’re worried. Wouldn’t you be if you found one of your dearest friends had this whole life you knew nothing about?”

  “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you. I shouldn’t have kept secrets from...my friends.”

  “No. You shouldn’t have. We would have stood by you, you know. No matter what.”

  Grateful tears burned behind her eyes and she dashed them away with the sleeve of her paint shirt. She’d become such a crybaby since returning to Haven Point. “I know. When I come back, I promise, I will tell you everything you want to know.”

  “Be prepared. That is going to be a long conversation, honey. We want to know everything. I can’t believe you kept a husband from us. And children!”

  “It was...so complicated. I didn’t know how to tell you.”

  “You must have been very desperate to leave and start a new life like you did,” Melissa said, her voice gentle.

  At the time, she had been desolate, but she didn’t want to explain her reasons for leaving over the phone. “I was in a dark place and didn’t feel I had many choices.”

  “You’re sure you weren’t being...hurt by anyone there?” her friend asked.

  “Yes,” she said firmly. “I promise, it wasn’t like that. My husband is a good man who loved me and our children. He wasn’t the reason I left.”

  “Is he treating you well? He seemed so angry that day.”

  That stunning kiss the day before flashed across her memory, leaving her a little light-headed. “Yes. Very well. We’ve...worked some things out.”

  Though they had many more things to sort through, she wanted to think they were heading in the right direction.

  “Do you have any idea when you’ll be back? Skye is still hoping you’ll make it back before Christmas.”

  “I’m planning on it. I’ll keep you pos
ted if things change.”

  It would be difficult not to spend the holiday with her children, but she couldn’t expect more than Luke was willing to give.

  “Well, we miss you. The place isn’t the same without you. Even the ghost seems restless.”

  She smiled a little at this. She and the other tenants of Brambleberry House were always comparing their woo-woo experiences in the house. The smell of freesia on the stairs. A feeling as if someone were watching out for them. Any paranormal activity—if indeed it existed and wasn’t a figment of their shared imaginations—always felt benevolent. Protective, even.

  Several times when she had been struggling with loneliness or pain, she had felt a warmth encircle her, as if someone’s gentle presence had been there to push away the darkness.

  She knew the others in the house had experienced similar things. She tended to believe the people who lived in a house left an imprint of themselves behind, and from all she had heard, the longtime owner of Brambleberry House had been a remarkable woman filled with love.

  “I’m sorry,” she said. “Tell Skye, Fiona and Abigail I’ll be back as soon as I can.”

  They’d always referred to the ghost or echo or whatever it was as Abigail, the woman who had lived in the house for decades and left her indelible mark on it.

  “I’ll tell them. Just know you’re missed by people and dogs on both sides of this earthly veil.”

  She smiled, then jumped a little when the doorbell to the house rang.

  “Oh. Sounds like someone is here. I had better go.”

  “Okay, mystery woman,” Melissa teased. “But I’m going to hold you to that night of true confessions when you get home. We’ll make some kind of sinful chocolate dessert and stay up all night pulling out all your secrets.”

  “I...can’t wait,” she said, then severed the connection.

  Of all the dark and difficult obstacles along her path over the last seven years, one thing had gone very, very right, when she had been lucky enough to find an open apartment at Brambleberry House. Rosa and Melissa had become dear friends to her, almost sisters. They had brought laughter and friendship back into her life.

  It had been terribly unfair of her to keep so much of her history apart from them. They would have supported her. She knew that now. Yes, they probably would have encouraged her to move past her fear and return to Haven Point so she could reveal herself to her family. But maybe she had needed that.

  Pushing away all the what-ifs, Elizabeth made her way to the door. Her leg ached but she did her best to ignore it. The bell rang a second time and her heartbeat quickened. It must be Luke. Who else would come calling?

  She pulled open the door and had to swallow a gasp. It wasn’t Luke. It was his sister.

  “Hi,” she said warily.

  “Hello,” Megan answered, then lapsed into silence.

  It was snowing, Elizabeth saw, huge white flakes that floated down like feathers.

  “May I come in?” the other woman asked after an awkward moment.

  Elizabeth flushed and held the door open. “Of course. Sorry. I was just...surprised to see you here.”

  Megan sighed. “So am I.”

  She walked into the living room and pointed to Elizabeth’s attire. “Did I come at a bad time? Are you painting something?”

  Elizabeth looked down, suddenly aware of her paint-splattered clothes and the basic ponytail she’d pulled her hair into.

  “Only the bedrooms. I’m trying to...freshen things up a little while I’m staying here to help Luke...get the house ready to sell.”

  Megan blinked, clearly astonished. “You’re painting?”

  “It’s no big deal.” She did not want to get into it. Her sister-in-law had clearly come here for some reason that had nothing to do with Elizabeth’s spontaneous spruce-up project.

  “Can I get you...something to drink? There are water bottles in the...refrigerator and some juice I made this morning.”

  “I’m fine. Thanks.”

  Megan shifted, her gaze flitting around the room. Anywhere but on Elizabeth. It might have been her imagination but she thought Megan didn’t seem as hostile as she’d been the previous time Elizabeth had seen her, but it was hard to gauge what was going on in her head.

  Elizabeth waited. Megan would tell her in her own time.

  “So this morning I had a visit from my brother.”

  “Did you?”

  “He told me the story you gave the district attorney yesterday.”

  She sat down on the sofa. “Did he...tell you everything?”

  “Enough. He told me you left because you were afraid of hurting the children. And that you were trying to come back when you were in a car accident.”

  Elizabeth curled her hands together. She wasn’t seeing condemnation in Megan’s eyes, only confusion and wariness and perhaps even a hint of apology.

  “He said you had a brain injury and reconstructive surgery and didn’t remember who you were when you came out of a coma.”

  Sometimes she still wondered if she had wanted to forget, if she had been so horrified inside her psyche that she would even entertain the idea of ending her suffering and taking her beloved son with her that she had blocked out the memories.

  Selective amnesia, Alice had called it.

  “Yes,” she said, not sure what Megan wanted her to say.

  Megan sighed. “I’ve been so angry with you for seven years. Now I don’t know what to think. I wish Elliot were here to confirm some of the details.”

  Worry flitted across the other woman’s features and Elizabeth felt an unexpected pang of sympathy. She really hoped Elliot was all right.

  “You have...every right to be angry. I made a terrible mistake. I never should have left.”

  “It sounds as if you paid a heavy price for that decision. You were in a coma for weeks.”

  “Everyone paid a heavy price. Bridger and Cassie. You. Luke, most of all.”

  “Agreed. That’s why I’m here. Obviously no further criminal investigation against Luke is warranted. Not when you’re alive and well.”

  Was she well, though? That was a question she still hadn’t figured out herself. She still carried such a load of guilt for the choices she had made and the suffering she had caused. She didn’t know if she could ever absolve herself of that.

  “I hope...that is the case.”

  “Giving your story to the district attorney is a good start but won’t be enough to clear his name. You know that, right?”

  “Yes.”

  “Rumor and innuendo have swirled around him for seven years. They’re going to keep swirling, even when no charges are ever filed. The only way he’s going to be able to truly move on is for you to show your face everywhere in town over the next few days while you’re here. Make sure everyone who might be even a little tempted to accuse him of something terrible behind his back gets a good look at you.”

  Elizabeth couldn’t imagine anything worse than having to be on display to everyone in Haven Point. “How do...you propose I do that?”

  “You don’t have to tell the whole story to everyone. About your postpartum depression or running away. That’s none of their business. We only need to stick to the basic facts. You were in a terrible car accident, spent time in a coma and had amnesia when you came out of the coma. It’s the truth, right?”

  It sounded so unbelievable. If it hadn’t happened to her, she would have found her own story ridiculous.

  “Yes.”

  “We just have to tell people in town what happened so they can see how wrong they have been all this time about Luke.”

  “I want to clear his name. If I...if I had known what he was facing, I would have come back a long time ago.”

  “You’re here now. That’s the important thing. You came back, even if he had to drag you back to
town. So we’re agreed? Operation Redeem Luke Hamilton starts right now.”

  Elizabeth drew in a breath. She’d never expected to be teaming up with Megan, but it somehow felt right. “Where do we begin? I can take a DNA test and...make the results public.”

  “That’s probably a good idea, but that will take time. Meanwhile, over the next few days while you’re in town, you need to show up everywhere and be seen by everyone.”

  “I’m...going to the Christmas show at the school on Monday. Most of the town will be there.”

  “That’s good but not enough. I’m giving a fund-raiser party Sunday night at the inn for the Haven Point Helping Hands. Couples. No kids. You and Luke need to show up.”

  “Your brother and I...aren’t exactly a couple,” she had to point out.

  “I know that. But it’s the perfect place for you to tell your story to as many people as possible.”

  She couldn’t imagine anything worse, after all these years of dealing with her issues on her own, than baring her mistakes to everyone in town.

  For Luke and the children, she reminded herself. She could do it for them.

  “All right. What else?”

  “I’m sure Luke appreciates your efforts to spruce up the house a little, but you shouldn’t be hiding away here by yourself. You would do far more good for the cause if you were seen out in public as much as possible, out talking to anyone you knew when you lived here before.”

  “I suppose I could do some...Christmas shopping.”

  “It won’t take long before the word will get out, especially if you talk to the right people. The gossips in town are the same as they were seven years ago. Linda Fremont is a good place to start. Maybe you could buy something new to wear at the party.”

  “At Linda’s boutique?” She couldn’t keep the skepticism out of her voice.

  Megan gave a surprised-sounding laugh. She cut it off abruptly, as if not quite willing to go so far in healing her relationship with Elizabeth. “The boutique isn’t as bad as it used to be,” she said. “Samantha has taken over a lot of the ordering now and she makes her own designs. You should check it out.”