High Country Christmas

by Cynthia Thomason

  She tapped her pencil on her desk. “Why did you come over here this morning anyway? Was it just to aggravate me?”

  “That would be enough for me,” he said, “but Mama wanted me to come and tell you to do your thing with that holiday store online and order up a bunch of white and gold ornaments. She and Kayla have decided on a color scheme for the trees, and we’re running out of time. Plan on eight trees, fifty ornaments per. Can you do that?”

  “I can do that. And they will be here in plenty of time. I’ll get started as soon as you leave me in peace.”

  He held up two fingers in a peace sign. “Happy holidays, darlin’.” And he was out the door, presumably to go to the tree farm, but no one could ever tell for sure with Jace.

  SherryLynn buzzed her from the outer office.

  “What is it, SherryLynn?”

  “That Jace is just the cutest thing. If I were twenty years younger... Oh well. He’s even gotten more adorable since he got engaged.”

  “Oh yeah, he’s adorable all right. Is that why you buzzed?”

  “No. Mr. Brannigan is on the phone. He says it’s important.”

  Ava had been waiting for her lawyer’s call. She’d given him important information after her visit to Rudy the other day, and Brannigan had promised to follow up.

  She picked up her phone. “Hello, Terry. You got something for me?”

  “I do, Ava. I contacted those half-dozen accounts that had disappeared from the books when the paper mill went to digital recording. You were right. None of those companies had severed ties with Cahill Paper. They’ve been ordering pulp all along.”

  “And they’ve been paying their bills, too,” she added.

  “According to their CFOs they have. Add up all six clients that we know about, and it amounts to quite a sum.” Brannigan sighed. “What do you want me to do now, Ava? I know this is a family matter, but right is right.”

  “I agree. What do you suggest, Terry?”

  “I can send the results of my findings to Rudy today via courier. Of course, I’ll enclose a letter threatening legal action. I don’t see any reason to wait. Might ruin Rudy’s weekend, and yours too, so it’s up to you.”

  “Send it over to him, Terry. And send me a copy. And don’t worry. I can handle Uncle Rudy if he runs over here after getting the package.”

  She disconnected the call and took a deep breath. She’d given Rudy enough time to apologize and fix what he’d done, and he’d chosen not to. She fully expected this day to go downhill fast.

  * * *

  AVA HEARD HER uncle’s thundering voice in the outer office at three o’clock that afternoon. He demanded to see her immediately. SherryLynn did her best to put him off, but Rudy was adamant.

  Ava opened her office door. “You want to see me, Uncle Rudy?”

  “You’re darn right I do.” He held a thick envelope in his hand. Without waiting for an invitation, he barreled past Ava and entered her office.

  She went behind her desk but didn’t sit. “You seem upset.”

  Rudy threw the envelope on her blotter, set his hands on the edge of the desk and leaned forward. “What the blazes is the meaning of this, Ava?”

  Ava didn’t flinch. “I was hoping it would be self-explanatory,” she said. “My lawyer is usually quite precise.”

  His eyes blazed. “I never thought it would come to this. We’re family, Ava. I used to bounce you on my knee.”

  “Oh, I don’t remember that. But anyway, Mama is your family, too, Rudy, by marriage, and over the last year I haven’t seen much familial compassion from you. In fact, I’ve seen every indication that you’ve been cheating Mama out of her profit-sharing money.”

  Rudy picked up the envelope. His hand was shaking badly. “You’re not going to get away with this, Ava. A few clients claim to have paid us some cockamamie sum of money. There’s not a thing in this report from Brannigan that couldn’t be explained away as a simple accounting error. This would never stand up in court.”

  “Thirty-five thousand dollars is not a ‘simple accounting error,’” she said. “My mother is due that money, and my brothers and I are determined to see she gets every last penny.”

  “This is hogwash, Ava, and you know it. Your daddy left Cora very well off. That house and property alone must be worth three or four hundred thousand.”

  “You’re talking about my mother’s home, Rudy, and as far as her children are concerned, it’s worth much more than that for us to see her securely staying there as long as she wants to.” She thought about reminding him how Cora had forgone repairs to the old house, leaving it looking worn and tired. Instead, she simply said, “Besides, the value of my mother’s personal property is irrelevant to this discussion.”

  Rudy leaned toward her even more, his upper body extending across the desk. “I’ll tell you what is relevant,” he snarled. “Blood. Family. My brother must be turning over in his grave at this wanton display of greed on your part, Ava. You’re going against your own, and that’s never a smart move. I have lawyers too, a whole firm of them. They will make Terrance Brannigan look like a student in his first year of law school.”

  Ava resisted the urge to lean back. She could feel her uncle’s hot breath on her face. She steadied her position behind the desk and said, “Fine. Bring them on.”

  “You’ve become one coldhearted woman since you went off to Charlotte, Ava Cahill. This side of you is pure ugliness.” He pounded the desk, sending pens rolling to the floor and nearly upsetting her desk lamp.

  “We’re done here, Rudy. You do what you have to do.”

  He shook his head and glared at her. “Oh, we’re not done. Not by a long shot.” He stuck out his index finger at her. “You’ve made a big mistake, Ava. You—”

  Suddenly her office door burst open and Noah strode in, his eyes clearly begging for a fight. “Back away from her now,” he said.

  “Who are you?” Rudy growled. “This is family business.”

  “I can see we’re all one big happy family here,” Noah said, grasping Rudy’s shoulders and forcibly turning him toward the door. “I’m giving you one more chance. Back away or I’ll personally escort you out of this office, and it will be an exit you won’t soon forget.”

  Rudy tried to glare at her over his shoulder. “You have bodyguards now, Ava? Tell this goon...”

  “I have friends, Rudy,” she said, drawing in a deep breath.

  “You’re going to need a lot of them before this is over,” Rudy said.

  Noah gave him a little shove, just a hint of what he was no doubt capable of. “Get out,” he said.

  Rudy stalled just long enough to yank his jacket lapels together. Then he stormed out of the office. Noah stood in the doorway watching until Rudy had vacated the building.

  “You okay?” he said, approaching Ava’s desk.

  “Yes. And thank you. You came in at just the right time. I was handling him pretty well for a while, but my so-called pluck was fading fast.”

  “You’re welcome. My thorny temper and bad manners do come in handy once in a while.” He smiled. “I don’t mean to be nosy, but that jerk is really a member of your family?”

  Ava sank into her chair. Her hands were trembling and she clenched them in her lap. “He is. My father’s brother. The Cahills actually have had several black sheep cluttering up our ranks over the decades. I’m hoping Rudy is the last of them.”

  “Is this anything I can help you with? I don’t have a team of lawyers at my beck and call, but I can chase him around town with my motorcycle. Maybe make him see the error of his ways.”

  Ava unclenched her hands, placed them on top of the desk. She was beginning to calm down. “I’ll let you know if I need such drastic measures.” She raked her fingers through her hair. “Why are you here anyway? Not that I’m complaining, but I figured you would have left for another
job.”

  Noah pulled up a chair, rested his ankle on the opposite knee. “Not today. Got back late last night. Thought I’d stop and see Sawyer, maybe ask her to dinner tonight, if that’s all right with the school’s administrator.” His smile mutated to a flirty grin. “Thought I might ask the administrator, too.”

  “It’s fine if you want to ask Sawyer, but I’ll probably be going through more ledgers to find evidence against Rudy...” She realized that Noah didn’t know what she was talking about. “Never mind. I’ll have my nose in a book.”

  “Oh gee, that sounds much better than a glass of red wine and a prime rib dinner at Brickstones.”

  She tapped her finger on the desktop. She was being ridiculous. His plan actually was just what she needed. And she wouldn’t be alone with him, so she needn’t be conscious of every word she spoke, every gesture she made. Since Sawyer would be there, he probably wouldn’t even ask her to Jace’s wedding. She gave him a warm stare. “Nothing gets to me as much as a good line of biting sarcasm. You won me over with the words ‘prime rib.’”

  “I wish I’d thought of some great sarcasm the other night when I kissed you. I might have prolonged the experience.” His mouth curled up at the corner. “Instead all I could think was how great the kiss was.”

  Feeling her face flush as if she were fifteen years old again, Ava stared down at the assortment of items on her desk that had been scattered when Rudy pounded the surface. “Well, I’d better get back to work.”

  “Call Sawyer for me?” he said, rising from the chair. “Tell her I’ll meet her outside her cottage in five. And I’ll pick you girls up at seven thirty this evening.”

  “That should be fine,” Ava said. “And, Noah...”

  He stopped at the door. “Yeah?”

  “Thank you for being here today. And for the dinner invitation.” She was well aware that he hadn’t asked her to Jace’s wedding. Maybe he’d had a change of heart.

  “Oh, that’s nothing,” he said. “Tonight after I drop Sawyer off at her place, I’m going to find a nice, quiet spot for just the two of us so I can ask to escort you to your brother’s wedding. I hear it’s going to be the best barn event of the season.”

  He was out the door before she could answer, argue, avoid or whatever she thought she might have done. And it was a full minute before she realized she was grinning like a fat cat.

  * * *

  BEFORE GOING TO her apartment to get ready for the evening, Ava stepped onto the well-lit pathways of Sawtooth School and walked across campus to the cottage where Sawyer and Charlie resided. It had been several days since the incident with the meltdown, and Ava had visited with the child often. Charlie’s caregivers had reported no more problems.

  Her heart ached for the child—her son. She was glad she’d confided in a school counselor, Marjorie Marcos, about her relationship to Charlie. Besides promising complete secrecy on the topic, Margie had warned Ava of traumatizing Charlie unnecessarily. “He needs to accept that his parents are gone, Ava,” she’d said. “We don’t want to confuse him. We need to judge when he’s ready to hear that a new parent is entering his life.”

  “But when?” Ava had asked.

  “We’ll know,” Margie said. “I’m making progress with him, but he’s so young, and his life has been turned upside down.”

  “I just want to hug him and love him...”

  “You can still do that, Ava, with reservation. Now your biggest concern should be getting Charlie to trust you. When he starts confiding in you, talking about his fears, his hopes, then we are making true progress. Tell him too soon, and we’re just confusing him, demanding more of his thought processes than we should.”

  Ava had agreed to exercise patience with Charlie, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t give him special attention.

  She went to his room and knocked lightly on the door frame. As was customary, the door was open. The cottage parents would close it in a couple of hours and leave three night-lights lit, one for each child in the room.

  “Is it okay if I come in?” she asked.

  “Hi, Miss Ava,” Charlie said. “Be quiet. Chip is already asleep.”

  “I’ll be quiet.” She stopped next to the youth bed where four-year-old Chip was comfy under his covers and breathing at a slow, relaxed pace. Then she went to the top bunk where Henry, six years old, was propped on his elbows and playing a video game on an electronic device. The cottage parents kept activities varied for the younger children—some outside play, quieter inside crafts and activities, and limited TV and video watching. Henry would have to put down the device when it was lights out.

  “How are you, Henry?” she asked.

  “I’m good, Miss Ava. But I don’t like meat loaf, and that’s what we had for dinner tonight.”

  Ava smiled. “What would you have rather had?”

  “Pizza or tacos,” the boy answered. “Would you tell Mrs. Carmichael not to fix meat loaf again?”

  “How about if I ask her very nicely to fix a grilled cheese sandwich for you on the nights she’s planned meat loaf? Would that be okay?”

  “That would be okay.”

  Ava bent down to the bottom bunk. “How are you feeling, Charlie? Did you have a good day?”

  “Yes, ma’am. I didn’t get in any trouble. And I don’t hurt books anymore. Mrs. Marcos told me I was just angry that day, and that’s okay.”

  “It is. It’s okay to be angry,” Ava said.

  “She told me to talk to someone next time I feel that way.”

  “Good. As for the books, I think reading them is a fine idea for now.”

  Charlie’s eyes widened. “Sawyer told me about how she gets mad sometimes. And Mrs. Marcos said everybody has ’motions, but it’s not okay to destroy things.”

  Ava recalled that Sawyer had taken Charlie back to the cottage on the day in question. She wondered now if the two were forming a bond. The irony of a relationship between the two of them was both troubling and heartwarming. Half brother and sister. “Are you seeing a lot of Sawyer?” she asked.

  “Yep. She usually sits with me at supper. We talk about stuff. Did you know that her dad makes her mad?”

  “Yes, she’s told me a bit about that.”

  “He’s a bad person, isn’t he?”

  Ava sat on the side of the bed. “Oh no, sweetie. He’s actually a very nice man. Sawyer just gets upset because his job is kind of dangerous and she worries about him.”

  “He should get another job, then.” Charlie nodded once decisively as if the solution should be obvious to the most obtuse person.

  “Maybe he will,” Ava said. “Or maybe Sawyer will learn to accept what he does.”

  “What’s his job?” Charlie asked. “Does he get shot out of a cannon like the man at the circus?”

  Ava chuckled. “Nothing so terrifying as that, Charlie. Sawyer’s father works on high places, that’s all.”

  “You should go see Sawyer,” Charlie said. “Tell her what we’ve been talking about.”

  She gently ruffled his hair before standing. It was nice to realize that Charlie was learning the benefits of talking out problems. And that he was understanding everyone had them. “I think I’ll do that right now. Are you two boys getting sleepy?”

  He pointed to a large clock on the wall. “We have till the little hand reaches the seven,” Charlie said. “It’s not there yet.”

  “Okay. Good night, then, fellas. Sleep tight.”

  Smiling as she always did after visiting with Charlie, Ava walked down the hallway to stairs that led to the second floor of the cottage. She thought loud music would lead her to Sawyer and Becky’s room, but the hallway was eerily quiet. When she reached their room, she understood why. Both girls were propped on their beds with earbuds stuck in their ears.

  Ava knocked loudly.

  “Oh hi,” Becky sai
d. “Come on in.” She got up off her bed and went to poke Sawyer to attention.

  “What’s up?” Sawyer asked after popping the buds free.

  “I just went to see how Charlie was doing and thought I’d check on you two. I don’t get into the cottages nearly enough.” She glanced around the room. A bit messy, but not bad. Sawyer had arranged a few stuffed animals on her bed and had tacked some posters on her wall. Ava didn’t recognize any of the celebs that obviously caused Sawyer to swoon.

  “We finished our homework, so if you came to lecture us, don’t bother.”

  “I didn’t come to lecture anyone,” Ava said. “But good. I’m glad to hear that.”

  Ava pulled a desk chair next to Sawyer’s bed and sat. “I wanted to thank you for all the attention you’re giving Charlie lately. I really appreciate it.”

  “He needs attention,” Sawyer said. “Charlie can be a bit freaky as we learned the other day.”

  “He’s had a tough time. But he seems to respond to you. That’s a good thing, as long as you continue to be a positive influence on him.”

  “No promises,” Sawyer said. “But I kind of like the little guy. I get him, you know? I feel sorry for him.”

  “Anyway, thanks,” Ava repeated. “How did your meeting with your father go this afternoon?”

  “I knew you were going to bring that up. You’re coming to dinner with Dad and me in a little while, right?”

  “Yes, he asked. I think I’m included only because he figured you’d say yes if I went along. Do you want to go?”

  “Yeah, I guess. It got me out of meat loaf night, and at least if you’re there I won’t have to worry about my dad chucking me in the back of the truck and hauling me to Chapel Hill.”

  Ava smiled. “You know he’s not going to do that, Sawyer. He signed papers for you to stay here. He rented the house next door. He’s fine with this arrangement.”

  Sawyer screwed her mouth into a pout. “Then why did he tell me he wanted some time alone with you after dinner? What’s he planning?”