"I have more inside! You should see! I got these, too." Stephen beamed up at his mother and pointed to his holiday outfit complete with bow tie. "Nana-Banana made me wear it for you today."
"You look very handsome." Tori swallowed the tightness in her throat. It was hard to believe how much Stephen had grown since she'd last seen him. It would make it difficult to leave him again in a few short days, but she'd have to... if she were to make any kind of life for the two of them. She pushed away the desperate thought.
"And who is this handsome man?" Tori embraced her father, then turned around. "Zach, I'd like you to meet my dad, William Adams."
"So you're the man who rescued our daughter? Call me Bill. Nice to meet you, son. Merry Christmas." Bill extended an arm and firmly shook Zach's free hand as he juggled the packages. "Here, let me help you with those."
Bill gripped a few gifts and looked up at the sky. "Mild for this time of the year... just had a few cold days, though. I'm not complaining, mind you. The little guy here hoped for more snow, but maybe next year. Where's the big truck?"
"It's down the road by the school," Tori answered. "I figured with school closed for Christmas vacation, no one would mind if Zach parked it there."
"Sounds fair. I'll make a few phone calls to the right people in the morning in the morning and let them know. But we'll have to take Stephen for a walk to see it, if that's all right with you, Zach." Bill rested his hand on Zach's shoulder.
"My pleasure," he answered.
"How are you feeling, Dad?"
"Much better. Don't you worry 'bout me."
Tori picked up her bag and led the small pack up the porch stairs until the front door burst open. Her mother stood, dressed head-to-toe in red, calling out Christmas greetings and trying to gather everyone in the house quickly before they all caught a chill—mild weather or not. She especially scolded at Bill, accusing him of wanting to get sick again.
"I'd like you to meet my mother, Helen, if you haven't already figured out who this crazy woman is," Tori said over her shoulder to Zach and then kissed her mother on the one cheek that had no flour stuck on it. She barely made the introductions when her mother was already embracing Zach as he entered the foyer of the home.
"The whole house smells of turkey!" Tori savored the aroma, letting it invade her senses.
"Stephen and I were in the middle of baking cookies." Helen wiped her flour-coated hands on her apron. "Or should I say that I was doing the baking while Stephen supervised. I didn't want him to ruin his holiday clothes."
"You've done all that this morning?" Tori asked.
"We've been up since five. I'm all ready for a nap!" Helen brushed back a few strands of salt-and-pepper hair. "Enough about me. You look like you've both been through a war. Go upstairs and make yourselves at home. Tori, show your friend where he can wash up," Helen said as she headed for the kitchen. "And Bill, take their things upstairs, please. Find Zach some decent clothes he can wear—from this decade. I'll be right back." Her voice trailed off as she disappeared into the back of the house.
A half-hour later, Tori, refreshed and wearing a long, comfortable cream-colored sweater and casual jeans she had stashed away in an old chest of drawers, entered the living room. She took in the homey scene: a large decorated tree with toys and gifts surrounding it, handmade decorations—some from her childhood—on the window sills, and to complete the scene, a fire in the fireplace with five stockings hanging from the mantel.
Five?
She felt Zach's arm stretch over her shoulder as he stole a quick hug from her during their shared moment alone.
"This looks like a Norman Rockwell painting," he said, obviously enjoying the coziness of the living room.
"Don't think it always looks like this," Tori said, upon noticing that he'd been impressed. "Usually, Dad has his newspaper all over here and Stephen leaves a trail of toys." She squeezed his arm to let him know how happy she was with him by her side on this holiday. They both sat down on the large sofa.
"How are the clothes holding up?" she asked him. She tugged Zach's sweater—her father's. No matter what Zach threw on, jeans, sweats, or her father's old sweaters, he filled them out perfectly.
"The clothes will do. This sweater's not bad. It's pretty comfortable."
"It's one of my dad's favorites." Tori remembered giving the lambs wool sweater to her father two Christmases ago. Seeing Zach in it brought a loving feeling of warmth.
Zach stared down at the clothes that fit him snugly. "How'd you turn out so tiny when your parents are so tall?"
"I guess it skipped a generation. My grandmother was about my size." The rustling of the Christmas tree brought Tori's attention to Stephen, who plowed through a pile of toys underneath. "Stephen, come out and sit with us for a while. Show us what Santa brought you."
From behind the giant tree, Stephen crawled out and brought along with him a loop-the-loop track for his new miniature racing cars. He walked over to his mother while tugging at the bow tie around his neck. He stood at his mother's side and waited patiently while she took off the bow tie.
"Do you think Nana-Banana will be upset if we take this off?" Tori asked. Stephen happily shook his head no. "Stephen, Zach will be staying for dinner this afternoon. Maybe before then, he can show you his big truck." Tori spoke in a soft, motherly tone. "Would you like that?"
Stephen nodded his head up and down, "Can we go now? To see the truck?" he asked.
Before Zach or Tori could say anything, a resounding voice bellowed from down the hall, "Sure! I'll get some light jackets for us!" Bill popped his head in the room for an instant and then hobbled off in search of his coat
"Sorry, Zach. I guess Dad hasn't been out of the house the past few days and must be feeling good enough to get out for a while. I think he's more excited about seeing your truck than Stephen is. Do you mind?"
Zach happily shrugged and answered, "No, I don't mind. Are you staying here?"
"Yeah. Mom and I have a lot of catching up to do, if that's okay." She patted him on his knee. She had no desire to be near the truck for a while.
Minutes later, Tori watched out the front living room window as the three men marched off to inspect the giant truck—a treat that usually only men could appreciate. The truck had already filled her with warm, intoxicating memories, but she had been glad to leave it behind and finally come home to her family.
But that happiness lasted only until an emptiness crept into Tori's heart. Seeing her three men outside had been like a fantasy—one that Tori wished could have been true. This holiday had already become special just by meeting Zach and living his life for a few days. And having Zach come home with her for Christmas had been a gift she never anticipated. Too bad they could be together for only one more day.
"That Zach is a handsome young fellow." Helen pulled back the curtain further to get a glimpse of the men outside as well. "Ah... men and their big toys." She sighed as she watched the threesome walk out of sight. "I've got a fresh pot of coffee brewing for us. And I want to know everything that's going on between you and Zach, young lady." Helen wrapped one arm around Tori and led her into the kitchen.
Tori sat down at the large kitchen table while her mother poured the coffee while. Her mom then set aside the cookie sheets, cookie cutters, and other clutter from the table to make room for the steaming mugs. Tori mentally prepared herself for a good, old-fashioned, heavy duty chat.
Her mother always been more than just a mom—she had been Tori's confidante. Tori could see years of wisdom in her eyes—and the patience that came with those years. She could also see that her mom wanted the scoop on Zach and wanted it now.
"There's nothing to tell. Really. He has to go back to Boston tonight. Of course, I couldn't imagine all that driving, but he seems to be used to it."
"We'll see if he goes back. If he's too tired, he can stay in the spare room upstairs. Your father has some models of planes or something set up in the room, but I'm sure Zach won't mind. Now l
et's hear it." She stared at Tori expectantly.
"Well, last night we unloaded the toys and set up for the Christmas breakfast. Then, we worked in a soup kitchen. And after that, we crashed, until finishing our road trip here."
"Oh, it reminds me of that wonderful old movie where a couple got stuck together on the road, It Happened One Night. But in your case, it happened one Christmas. Wouldn't you agree?"
Tori eyed her mother. She couldn't make out the reason for the mischievous look in her mother's eyes. Helen seemed to be accepting the situation with Zach rather well. In fact, her mother had been more than accommodating. Almost too accommodating.
"What are you getting at, Mom? What, exactly, do you mean, it happened one Christmas?" Tori asked, then dared a sip of the hot coffee to avoid her mother's interrogating glare.
"Like in that movie, it happened for you," Helen announced. "You're in love with Zach, aren't you?
Chapter 13
The hot coffee scorched the tip of Tori's tongue in response to that unwelcome inquiry. Tori plopped down the mug.
"What? How can you say that? How could I? We fought the whole time!" Tori rolled her eyes to heaven as an exaggerated denial to her mother's question.
"Aha! So he's just as stubborn and willful as you are. You've met your match and now you are in love with him. I knew it! I could tell on the phone you were crazy about him. And I can tell by the way you just denied it…along with that eye roll." She pointed with an accusatory finger at Tori.
"Mom, how can I be in love after the short amount of time we've spent together?"
"It's quality time, not quantity time, that counts." Her mother raised herself up from the table and walked over to the freezer. She pulled out two ice cubes and plopped them into their coffee mugs as she spoke.
"Let's see. All that time alone in an eighteen wheeler adds up to a lot of hours. Hmmm... probably more than you'd even spend on regular dates. Two people can really get to know each other in close quarters like that. So? Where did you sleep?"
"Mom!"
"You're right. I don't want to know. Now where was I?" Helen presented Tori with a plate of Christmas cookies baked earlier that morning, while continuing with her calculation. "If your average date is four hours long …"
Tori could see where her mother was going with her mental math. She did a few quick calculations on her own—just for the sake of argument.
"And if you only dated him once or twice a week, that would be dating time of at least three months. That's being conservative, Tori. You've decided how you've felt about a man in much less time than that. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if it was love at first sight." Helen confidently bit into the wing of an angel-shaped sugar cookie.
"And how could you tell that?"
"By the way I catch him looking at you even the short time you've been here. Oh, he's polite and all, but I can see he's only thinking of you no matter who he's talking to." Helen sighed and murmured how it definitely must have been love at first sight.
Tori had to ignore the remark. How could her mother know for sure how Tori felt? How could she know what irrational feelings her daughter had when Tori couldn't sort them out herself? She and Zach had already gone round and round about their attitudes about relationships. And like a fouette performed in the ballet, their discussions had become a continuous whirl only to land in the same place.
Despite this, she thought about her mom's crazy calculations. Three months' worth of dates, huh?
When she considered all their time together, it did sort of make sense. Tori felt as if she had known Zach even longer than three months. She tamped down the hurtful realization that surfaced in her heart. Her mother was right. She was in love.
"Even if I am in love, he's going back to Boston."
"So are you, eventually," her mother pointed out.
"I know. But he's on the road for weeks. Boston won't really be his home, more like a home base for him. That's not what I want in a relationship. And he didn't exactly factor a four-year-old boy into his future plans, let alone any woman."
"He just hasn't been around kids enough. Give him time. Let him decide."
"He spends one day a year with kids at the shelter and that's it. He's made his decision." Tori sobered at the thought. "And I made mine. I don't want a man who's never there. I won't settle for that."
Tori stood up and poured more coffee to distract her mother from the discussion for the moment. It had been hard enough to wrestle with these feelings inside, and now she had to go over them with her mom, the last person she had expected to want to talk about it.
"You surprise me." Tori extended her hand across the table and rested it on her mother's. "I thought you'd be angry that I'd bring a stranger into our home on Christmas Day. I also thought you'd be convincing me to get rid of him. I had almost hoped you would." Tori then wrapped her hands around the mug to feel its warmth.
"I couldn't turn someone away, not on Christmas Day." Helen didn't bother hiding her grin. "Especially when my daughter's in love with him."
"Mom! Please!"
"Just be quiet and have another cookie!" her mother said and sipped her coffee. "You can fight it all you want, but it does no good."
"And what if I am in love?" Tori was gripped by a sudden chill. "I've made a mistake in judgment before. I don't think I could go through it again."
* * *
The Christmas dinner was a great success. Zach even admitted in a whisper to Tori how good the traditional fare had been. With the final dishes cleared and the last of the delicious food tucked away for leftovers, Helen and Bill sent Zach, Tori, and Stephen to the living room.
"It feels so good to be home, finally." Tori held Zach's hand as they settled on the sofa. Once her parents joined them, Tori gave her son permission to distribute the remaining gifts, including the ones Tori brought home. Stephen, with the help of his grandfather, passed out the gifts, including a few to Zach.
"What's this?" He looked down at his lap where Stephen deposited the small gifts.
"Just open them," Tori said. She watched as he opened each gift: a drawing from Stephen, a watch from her parents, and a travel mug from Tori.
"Now you don't have to use those Styrofoam cups to tell time," she beamed up at him.
"How did you—" he asked.
"I've got connections." Tori winked at her mother.
"You didn't have to do that. I didn't expect this." Zach clasped his hands together and told Stephen how much he loved the drawing. His expression turned somber. "I'm sorry, but I didn't bring a single gift."
"Yes, you did. You brought us Tori. What more could we ask for? We wanted to thank you." Helen gazed appreciatively at Zach.
Bill coughed to break up the emotional moment. "I think we've put Zach on the spot enough. Say, Stevie, let's go show Zach your tree house in back. It'll be getting dark out soon, so we better do it now."
Tori bundled up Stephen in the back hall until he broke away from her and held onto Zach's hand. Zach flashed a helpless look over to Tori, who happily shrugged.
"He likes you." She mouthed the words to Zach and shooed them along outside to meet up with her father who already stood in the backyard admiring the tree house.
Zach held Stephen's hand, taking care not to squeeze too tightly, and joined Bill outside.
"A couple of neighbors and I built it earlier last summer. Too bad you weren't around then to help out, son. It's a beauty. A real project. Good and sturdy."
Zach admired the wooden structure set in the trunk of the large tree. Memories of growing up surrounded by trees in his backyard flashed before him, back to a time before his parents' deaths.
"I remember my first tree house. It wasn't as fancy as this, but that didn't matter. It was my own fortress," Zach said. He found himself liking Bill in the same comfortable way he had liked his own father.
"Well, every man needs a place to call his own. Even if it's on wheels. You must enjoy driving all over the country without any hass
les. Just come and go as you please, eh?"
"I can't complain," Zach replied. Stephen pulled free suddenly and climbed into the fort. Zach stuffed his hands in his back pockets.
"They had a campout in the tree house one night last summer. Just the boy and Tori. It's pretty roomie, but still, you wouldn't catch me all cooped up in a sleeping bag in there, though. I'm getting too old to be doing that sort of thing." Bill chuckled and called for Stephen to come on back. "Do you think you and Tori will keep in touch? After the holidays?"
Zach squinted his eyes to try and envision his future. With her pursuing her career and his always being on the road, he didn't see how they could. "I don't know. I'd like to, of course. And I'm sure we'll try."
"Yes, I understand. The open road calls. You've been good to her. Very few Knights of the Highway willing to help people out any more. You're a good man, Zach. I hope you and my daughter keep in touch."
Zach hoped they could, too, even if only in their hearts. He watched little Stephen climb down from the tree house. Zach held his hand out ever so slightly to let the boy know he waited for him. Stephen immediately grasped Zach's hand. Bill didn't seem to mind, and even looked as though he enjoyed relinquishing the role of caregiver for the afternoon.
Zach wondered if it would ever feel natural, or instinctive, to perform a gesture as simple as holding out his hand to a child. It must feel natural for most, since so many people had kids.
Actually, it didn't feel half bad holding Stephen's hand. He had never considered a one-on-one relationship with a child until he'd met Tori's son. Not even back at the homeless shelter. Stephen hadn't been the brat Zach had expected. And that made it tough not to like him.
Zach heard someone calling his name, breaking into his thoughts. He turned to see Helen standing on the back stairway.
"Zach! There's a phone call for you," she called out. "A woman from a restaurant saying Spike is okay. She'd like to talk to you."
Bill took his grandson's hand. "You go on and take that call."
* * *
Zach sauntered out onto the front porch and sat on the step next to Tori. "Your mom told me I might find you here," he said then inspected her little hat, gloves, and jacket. "What's all this? I'm not used to seeing you bundled up."
Christmas Knight (Heartthrob Heroes, Book 3) Page 13
