Coming Home for Christmas

by RaeAnne Thayne

  “All right,” she said. She wasn’t completely convinced but would take Megan’s word for it.

  “I also told Luke he should take you around town. The two of you and the kids need to be seen out and about together.”

  “We’re not one big happy family. We’re getting divorced.”

  The word still made her stomach hurt whenever she said it.

  “I know, but you can pretend for a few days, can’t you?”

  She could for their sakes, even if it meant she was left with a broken heart.

  * * *

  “I don’t want to go out to dinner with her.” His obstinate daughter jutted out her chin. “I don’t want to do anything with her. Why does she even have to be here? We don’t need her.”

  Luke drew in a deep breath and prayed for patience. It seemed to be in short supply right now.

  “I brought her to town to help me with some legal issues. And I invited her to dinner tonight. End of story. We’re going. Now, I let you pick the location, and you chose Chinese food, which is fine. We’ll go to Mandarin House.”

  It wouldn’t have been his top choice, though they did have a good hot-and-sour soup. More important, it was a community favorite and usually did a brisk business on weeknights, when they discounted their family-style meals. As he was under strict orders from his sister to pick as public a place as possible to take Elizabeth, Mandarin House seemed a natural fit.

  That didn’t mean he was looking forward to it.

  His daughter apparently wasn’t either.

  “I changed my mind. I don’t want Chinese food. I would rather stay home than go to dinner with her.” Cassie folded her arms across her chest. Bridger, who had been pretty casual about the whole thing and who had earlier that same afternoon seemed excited about seeing his mother again, folded his arms as well.

  “I don’t want to go either,” he said, showing his usual solidarity to his sister. Somehow Cassie must have been hard at work persuading her brother to her side of things. Bridger tended to follow her lead in most things and this was apparently no different.

  Luke didn’t want to be the mean dad here but they weren’t giving him a lot of options.

  “Guys, this is important to me, okay? I need you to come to dinner with us and be polite.”

  “I don’t want to be polite to her. I don’t even want to talk to her,” Cassie said. “She left us. Why do we have to be nice to her now?”

  He sighed, hating this whole damn situation.

  “You guys know the rules. You don’t have to like everyone but you do have to be polite. You can make it through one hour of dinner.”

  Neither of them looked happy at the idea. How could he blame them? Luke wasn’t sure he’d ever had such a mixed reaction toward a meal himself, both dread and this wary anticipation.

  This was a dumb plan that wasn’t going to work anyway. Megan seemed to think he only needed to show up in town with Elizabeth beside him and everyone would forget they had accused him of being a murderer. He could see so many flaws in that plan, he didn’t know where to start listing them.

  Like it or not, at least it was a plan.

  He was still fretting about it as he loaded the kids up and headed toward the little house on the river.

  “She’s staying here? At our old house?” Cassie’s outrage filled the pickup truck as he pulled into the driveway.

  “I told you that last night. It was her house, too. We bought it together.”

  “And then she left,” she retorted. “You shouldn’t have let her stay here. This is our place.”

  He suspected that wherever Elizabeth had stayed, Cassie wouldn’t have liked it. If she’d taken a room at the Inn on Haven Point or one of the guest cottages on Silver Beach, Cassie would have pitched a fit.

  “Behave yourself tonight. I’m serious. You know how you want to stay overnight at Evergreen Springs with Jasmyn over the Christmas break? Guess what won’t happen if you can’t be polite tonight?”

  If anything, her outrage ramped up a notch. “You promised. Just like you promised we’d put up the Christmas tree and we haven’t done that yet, have we?”

  Luke sighed. It was not going to be a pleasant evening if things didn’t improve.

  “Tomorrow night, I promise.”

  “You said we’d do it last night.”

  “We set it up. It just took longer than we planned and we didn’t have time to decorate it.”

  “Right. You said we’d do that tonight, and then the next thing I know, we’re going to dinner.”

  What ever happened to his sweet, spunky daughter? She seemed to come and go. Right now in her place was this angry preteen who seemed to hate everything he did.

  “It’s up. It’s lit. We’ll decorate it as soon as we get a chance. Come on, Cassie. Christmas is next week. That’s a good thing. And it’s kind of a holiday miracle that we found your mom again. Can’t you be happy about that?”

  “I didn’t want to find her. Things were fine the way they were.”

  Except they weren’t and all of them knew it. There had been a huge hole in their lives that should have contained their mother.

  He didn’t know what the future would bring, if they could figure out some way to make this awkward situation work, but it suddenly seemed more important than ever that he do his best. His children needed their mother.

  “Try to be nice,” he said, then climbed out of the pickup truck and headed for the front door.

  Elizabeth opened the door before he could even ring the doorbell. “Hi.”

  “Hi yourself.”

  She looked nervous, he realized. Her features were pale, her mouth set with determination. Out of nowhere, he felt a wave of protectiveness for her, the desire to hold her close and keep away anything bad that might threaten her.

  “Are you ready for this?”

  She gave a laugh that didn’t quite sound genuine. “Not really. How about you?”

  “I vote we go back to the new house for dinner. I’ve got some good steaks in the freezer I can grill.”

  Her smile was a little lopsided but was the most genuine amusement he had seen from her since he picked her up that day in Oregon.

  “We can do this,” she said, her words less faltering than he’d heard before, almost as if she’d been rehearsing them in her head all afternoon. “How hard will it be? I just have to...tell everyone in town that I ran away.”

  “You don’t have to tell anyone anything. Once rumors spread about what went down yesterday at the district attorney’s—and they’ve probably already started—neither of us should have to say anything. Everyone in town probably already knows you’re back.”

  “I went dress...shopping today at Linda Fremont’s store.”

  “How did that go?”

  “I thought her jaw was going to hit the floor when I told her who I was.”

  “There you go. If Linda knows, everybody in town should, too. Maybe those steaks aren’t such a bad idea after all.”

  She smiled again, though it didn’t hide her nerves. “No. Megan is right. This is Operation Redeem Luke Hamilton. I can do this. I just have to...grab my coat.”

  She reached around the door to the hook there, shrugged into it and picked up her purse. “Okay. I’m ready.”

  He glanced back at the pickup truck and the children watching them. “I have to warn you, Cassie is, uh, not super thrilled I’m making her spend time with you. Though Bridger seemed to have a different perspective before, somehow, she has persuaded her brother to her side. I hope she’ll behave but dinner might be...difficult.”

  Her mouth pulled down briefly but she placed a hand on his arm. “She has a right to be upset, Luke. Please don’t be hard on her. I left her. She has every right to hate me for that.”

  He wanted to tell her Cassie would come around eventually but he c
ouldn’t make such a promise. Both of their children had deep wounds. How could they not? Elizabeth’s disappearance had left a void in all their lives. He had done his best to be a good parent to them and had received incredible help from Megan and good caregivers, but knew it wasn’t the same as having their mother’s presence.

  “I’ve told them both that no matter what their feelings are, they have to be polite.”

  “Thank you.” She suddenly seemed to realize her hand was still on his arm and dropped it abruptly.

  He stopped himself just in time from telling her he didn’t mind, that it had been a long time since a woman had touched him with affection.

  The moment he helped her into the pickup truck and went around to his side, the tension started.

  “You have a Christmas tree up,” Cassie said, clear accusation in her voice. “Where did you get a Christmas tree?”

  “I found one in the garage. The house seemed sad without one. Oh.” She looked suddenly guilty. “I hope it wasn’t one you were planning to set up at the new house.”

  “We weren’t. It’s old,” Luke answered. “You probably noticed half the lights don’t work.”

  “I did see that. I found a string of lights in a box and put those on all the...branches where the pre-lit lights were out.”

  “I can’t believe you have a Christmas tree here and we still haven’t even decorated ours.”

  Luke sighed, feeling stuck between Cassie’s anger and his sister’s insistence that he make a public appearance with Elizabeth. Maybe he should have just canceled everything and stayed home to decorate the blasted tree so his daughter would get off his back about it.

  He knew he’d been dragging his feet about Christmas. It was a bad habit he’d fallen into since Elizabeth left. The season had once been one of her favorites, filled with parties and music and delicious smells.

  He did his best to create magical memories for his children, but without Elizabeth, everything had felt...empty. He usually had to dig and scrape to even pretend to find any hint of Christmas spirit in his heart.

  “We have a tree,” he reminded them. “And we’ll decorate it as soon as we get the chance.”

  He looked across the width of the pickup truck. “Your mom is really good at decorating. She did a great job at the little house, even with a broken tree and only a few ornaments. I think she should help us with the big one at the new house.”

  “I’m happy to help,” Elizabeth said.

  “Yay,” Bridger started to say, but his sister smacked him and he subsided into silence.

  Luke sighed and backed out of the driveway. Yeah. Dinner was definitely going to be a treat.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Her children clearly did not want her here.

  While not outright rude to her inside the restaurant as the hostess seated them at a prominent table, Bridger and Cassie talked mostly to each other and to their father.

  She listened to their conversation, hesitant to interject her opinion or questions. She knew that introducing herself into their lives would be a process. She couldn’t expect instant rapport with them. They needed to adapt to having her back first; then they might gradually come to accept her.

  Luke did his best to turn the conversation in her direction.

  “Do you have any pets in Oregon?” he asked after Bridger told his dad about a new trick he wanted to teach their cute dog, Finn.

  “I don’t,” she answered. “My friend whose apartment is...upstairs from mine has an Irish setter and we’ve all kind of adopted her. Her name is Fiona.”

  “Whose name is Fiona? Your friend or your friend’s dog?” Bridger asked, making her smile a little.

  “The dog. My friend is named Rosa.”

  “Cassie has a friend named Rosie. Well, she’s not really her friend. They’re in the same grade but Rosie’s kind of a jerk.”

  “Be quiet,” Cassie ordered her brother on a hiss.

  “What? You know she is. She’s always saying bad stuff about our dad. Like that he did bad stuff and hurt...” His voice trailed off as he realized that he was speaking to the woman their dad had been suspected of hurting.

  “She probably hears worse at home,” Luke said quietly.

  In how many homes throughout Haven Point had speculation about their relationship been a topic of conversation? She didn’t even want to consider it.

  People were certainly looking at them now, but she had to wonder how they would possibly know she was Elizabeth Hamilton when she did not look much like she had before. Maybe they all thought Luke was dating someone new.

  Most of the people who came in were strangers to her, though many seemed to know Luke and the children. He greeted a few and introduced her, to startled looks and speculation.

  Word would be everywhere in town before daybreak that she was back.

  Shortly after they gave their order, Elizabeth finally noticed someone she knew. McKenzie Shaw Kilpatrick walked in with her husband, who was holding hands with a little toddler and gripping a baby carrier.

  McKenzie gave her a friendly but casual wave, with no hint of their shared past. Elizabeth had tried to stop into McKenzie’s store during her downtown visit, but McKenzie had not been working. As she hadn’t known the salesclerk, she had bought a few gifts for the children and left quickly.

  Elizabeth should talk to her here at the restaurant. If they were going to be all the buzz around Haven Point, the town mayor and her onetime friend ought to at least know what was going on.

  “Excuse me, please.” She rose from the table.

  “Are you leaving?” Cassie asked hopefully.

  “A...friend came in a moment ago. I’m...going to speak with her.”

  “Need me to go with you?” Luke asked.

  His concern for her touched her deep inside. She shook her head. “I’ll be fine. This shouldn’t...take long.”

  She made her way across the crowded restaurant, aware of eyes on her as she moved. Were people staring at her because they knew who she was or because they thought she was simply a stranger in their midst? She had no idea.

  At their table, McKenzie was busy pulling crayons out of a pencil bag for the toddler. She looked surprised but pleased when Elizabeth approached.

  “Hi. Sonia, right?”

  She could feel herself flush, caught out in her own deception. “Actually, no. I’m sorry I...told you that. I’m here with Luke and it’s... I’m...” She faltered more than usual, the words slippery and elusive. “I’m actually...Elizabeth Sinclair Hamilton.”

  For several long seconds, the usual sounds in the restaurant of clinking dishes and chopsticks and diners seemed to fade away. McKenzie stared at her, mouth wide. Even her toddler had fallen silent.

  “Really?” Ben asked.

  At the word, McKenzie seemed to snap out of it. Her features grew angry, tight. “No, you’re not. What kind of con are you running, ma’am? I knew Elizabeth. You don’t look anything like her.”

  So she hadn’t spoken with Linda or Samantha Fremont.

  “On the...surface, I know I look different. If you look closer, you might see the...resemblance. I was in an accident and had...plastic surgery. It’s me, though. You can...you can ask Luke. Or Megan.”

  “You said your name was Sonia.”

  “I know. I...shouldn’t have.”

  “Why would you lie?” Ben asked. “If you’re really Elizabeth, why not come clean the moment you came back to town?”

  “It’s not her,” McKenzie insisted.

  She knew how this must look. McKenzie had been a good friend. She didn’t want to believe that she hadn’t recognized Elizabeth the first moment she saw her.

  “I am,” she answered. “I’m sorry I...deceived you that first day. I...didn’t know how to come out with the truth.”

  McKenzie still didn’t seem convinced
and Elizabeth sighed. “Do you...remember that time in high school when we borrowed my dad’s...car and drove into Boise to look for prom dresses and ended up getting a flat tire on the way back? Those boys from Shelter Springs changed the tire for us and invited us to their prom, remember?”

  “How do you know that?” The beginnings of doubt crossed her expression.

  “Because I was there. They were...cute guys. I would have said yes, only you got all Haven Point proud and said you wouldn’t be caught dead at their...lame prom.”

  McKenzie was kind of in love with their hometown, which Elizabeth supposed served her well in her job as mayor.

  “Oh man. I’d completely forgotten about that until just this moment. I was such a dork.”

  “You’re still a dork,” Ben said, but with so much affection in his voice, a deep yearning seemed to catch in Elizabeth’s chest.

  “True enough.” McKenzie stood and moved closer to her, eyes narrowed as she studied her closely. “I’m sorry but I still can’t believe it’s really you.”

  “It is. I promise. Ask Luke.”

  McKenzie looked at the other table where Luke and the children were watching their interaction. Luke gave a subtle nod and McKenzie turned back to her, eyes stunned.

  “You look so different. How is this possible? I don’t know what to say. You don’t look the same. The eyes, maybe. And the cheekbones. I don’t understand. This is unbelievable!”

  “I know. But it’s true. I was in an accident and ended up having to have...facial reconstruction. It’s really me. I promise. I’m the same person who helped you run for...class president in seventh grade and took you skinny-dipping for the first time on your sixteenth birthday.”

  “You were so bad!”

  She hadn’t been. Not really. She had adored her parents too much to want to cause them a moment’s grief. That wild summer night on an empty beach at the lake had been a fluke.

  The reminders of their shared past seemed to have convinced the other woman Elizabeth was telling the truth.