Romancing the Holidays Bundle 2009

by Susan Wiggs et al

  “Come on now, Amy. You couldn’t predict something like that. Stop beating yourself up. This isn’t your fault.”

  “I just don’t understand why he didn’t come straight here. I swear to you that he’s never done anything like this before.”

  “With kids, it seems as if there’s a first time for everything,” Nick said. “My nieces and nephews are always catching their parents off guard.”

  “That’s what Maylene said.” She glanced around. “Where is she?” Regret clouded her eyes. “She must have left. I should have wished her a merry Christmas. She was so kind to me.”

  Nick regarded her with wonder. What kind of woman worried about wishing someone a merry Christmas in the middle of her own crisis? “I imagine she knew you had other things on your mind. And you know her name. You can always give her a call tonight and let her know Josh is home safe and sound.”

  “Do you think he will be?” she asked.

  “I know it,” he assured her, because he couldn’t very well tell her anything else. There would be time enough for a reality check if the boy didn’t turn up in the next few minutes.

  Suddenly her expression turned frantic again. “You don’t think he’d go outside and try to find the car, do you?”

  Nick sure as hell hoped not. The parking lot would make a kidnapping a thousand times easier, to say nothing of the other dangers from careless drivers trying to snag a parking place in their rush to finish up last-minute shopping. “What do you think?” he countered.

  “No,” she admitted. “He was totally focused on Santa, but where on earth could he be? He saw where you were.”

  “It’s one thing to see the whole Santa’s workshop thing from a distance,” Nick explained. “But the closer he got, probably all he could really see were people. That’s what happens with kids. They’re intrepid. They rush off and the next thing you know they’re lost in a sea of legs.”

  “I should have held on to him,” she lamented, looking miserable. “I tried. I told him not to let go of my hand.”

  “I’m sure you did,” he soothed. “Tell you what. Why don’t you and I take a walk?”

  She regarded him with bemusement. “A walk? Why? He’ll come here first. I told you all he cares about is seeing Santa.”

  “Which is why we’re going for a walk,” Nick told her. “We’ll see if we can help him spot Santa a little more easily. When I came out here this morning, I was like some sort of kid-magnet walking through the mall. If Josh is anxious to see Santa, maybe he’ll see the commotion and find us.”

  “But what if he comes back here, thinking you’ll be in the workshop seeing kids?” she asked worriedly. “He was in such a rush to get in line.”

  “But he didn’t, did he? Which means something else caught his attention,” Nick suggested, then turned to his sister who’d rejoined them after making her announcements and contacting the stores in the mall to get them to make the same announcement. “Trish will watch for him, just in case, though, right Trish?”

  “Of course, I will,” Trish said at once. “I’ll keep his picture with me, so he won’t be scared if I approach him. Nicky, you have your cell phone?”

  He nodded.

  “Then I’ll call you the second he shows up here,” Trish volunteered, giving Amy a sympathetic look.

  Nick studied his sister. She was a warm and generous woman and she seemed okay with his plan, but it had to be throwing her whole Santa photo-op thing off-kilter. As frantic as she’d been this morning over finding a Santa replacement, he couldn’t help wondering if she was holding back her own emotions over this turn of events.

  “Is me taking off for a little while longer going to be a problem?” he asked her.

  She looked at Amy’s pale face and immediately shook her head. “This is more important. I’ll manage. If anyone complains I’ll tell ’em Santa got stuck in the workshop elevator.”

  Nick grinned at her quick thinking. Her inventiveness was one of the traits that had made her perfect for this job.

  “That’ll work,” he said just as Emma gave his beard a hard tug. “Hey there, sweet thing,” he said, extricating her tiny fist from his beard. “Don’t be giving away my disguise right here. We’re likely to be mobbed by angry kids if they figure out they’re being duped by a fake Santa.”

  A faint smile crossed Amy’s lips, but it didn’t take the worry from her eyes. She was trying so hard to hold it all together, but she had to be close to the edge. She was in a strange city, recently divorced, her kid had wandered off on Christmas Eve and a cop had been asking her all sorts of uncomfortable questions. Nick had to admire the strength it must be taking for her not to come unglued.

  She gazed up at him just then, her heart in her eyes. There was no mistaking the fact that she was counting on him, that she trusted him to find her boy.

  Seeing that expression on her face made Nick want to thrust Emma back in her mother’s arms and take off, but he knew he couldn’t. Trish had dragged him into this and now he had to see it through, for Amy’s sake and maybe even for his own.

  Something told him, as well, that Amy Riley could get under his skin if he gave her half a chance. He immediately sent that errant thought right back to wherever it had come from. His sense of timing obviously sucked. He could hardly hit on a woman, when he was supposed to be finding her child.

  “Where are we going?” she asked him as they set off, their pace slow because of the wall-to-wall throng of people.

  “Everyplace and no place,” he explained. “The goal is just to draw lots and lots of attention, so maybe Josh will find us.”

  As a plan, it lacked finesse, but Nick was a pro at using whatever unorthodox tactics were handed him. And finding a kid who wanted to see Santa by putting Santa directly into his path seemed to be as smart a strategy as any.

  CHAPTER FOUR

  SANTA WAS DEFINITELY a kid-magnet, just as Nick had predicted, Amy concluded with wonder. They were instantly surrounded by children everywhere they went. She couldn’t help wondering if Nick himself weren’t a babe-magnet under that padded red costume. His sister had certainly hinted at as much and he didn’t seem all that put off by being the center of attention.

  Nor did the throngs of children seem to rattle him any more than Emma’s attempt to unmask him had. Despite his grumblings about being coerced into taking the Santa job, he handled their awestruck silences or chattered barrage of questions with equal aplomb. He hunkered down to speak with them, listening carefully as if each child was the most important one in the world. Amy couldn’t miss their childish delight after getting a private moment with Santa on Christmas Eve. Despite his patience with each child, they made good progress. Nick’s gaze was watchful every second.

  “Do you have kids?” she asked curiously, during a rare moment when Nick wasn’t being besieged.

  He seemed to freeze at the question. “No. Why?”

  “You’re wonderful with Emma and with all these kids who keep stopping you,” Amy told him. “I’m impressed. You never seem to lose patience.”

  “Just playing a role,” he said tersely. “What would it do for Santa’s reputation if I were a grouch? Just because I’m not into the holiday thing this year, why ruin some poor kid’s Christmas?”

  Amy didn’t entirely buy the explanation. She had a hunch he was trying to hide a tender heart, though she couldn’t imagine why he would want to.

  “You said you have nieces and nephews, though. Trish’s kids?”

  “No, our older brother’s. He has three boys and a girl.”

  “And she’s the one who’s about Emma’s age?”

  “A little older.” He gave her a penetrating look. “Why all the questions?”

  Amy shrugged. “Just making small talk, I suppose, anything to keep my mind off the fact that we haven’t found Josh yet.” She’d strained her eyes scanning the crowds, but so far she hadn’t even caught a glimpse of any boy who looked like Josh wandering around lost and alone.

  “I h
ave to admit it’s getting to me, Nick,” she confessed, then voiced her greatest fear, “What if we don’t find him?”

  Nick’s expression immediately turned sympathetic. She was growing to hate that look, the pity that couldn’t quite cover his own worry. And he was worried. She could see it in his strained expression whenever he thought she wasn’t looking.

  “Don’t tell me he’ll turn up any minute,” she snapped before he could respond. “He hasn’t yet.”

  “Come on, Amy,” he chided. “Don’t give up so easily. We haven’t been looking that long.”

  She glanced at her watch and realized it really had been little more than a half hour since this nightmare had begun. She felt as if her whole life—and Josh’s—had played out in her mind since she’d last seen him. She’d formed some sort of bond with this man in the Santa suit, a closer bond of trust than she’d had with her husband toward the end. Maybe that just proved that all kinds of emotions were heightened in a crisis.

  “You’re right, but it seems like an eternity. Don’t worry, though, I’ll never give up,” she said fiercely. “In the meantime, you placating and patronizing me is getting on my nerves.”

  “I’m sorry,” he apologized, his eyes filled with unmistakable regret.

  She drew in a deep breath. “No, I’m sorry. I know you’re doing everything you can. I’m just scared.”

  “Of course you are. You have every right to be, but we are going to find him, Amy.”

  She heard a giggle just then and glanced up to see Emma trying to snatch Santa’s hat off. Nick grabbed it just in time, but not before she caught a glimpse of black curly hair under the white wig Emma had tugged askew along with the red velvet hat.

  “Are you sure you don’t want me to take her?” she asked Nick. “She has to be distracting you.”

  “Emma’s fine right where she is,” he assured her. “Besides, she’s actually part of the bait.”

  “Bait?”

  “With me holding her, she’s high enough in the air for Josh to spot her. If I know anything about kids, he will not be happy that baby sister got to Santa first.”

  Amy recognized the truth in that. “You really must be a terrific detective.”

  He seemed taken aback by the comment. It wasn’t the first time he’d seemed surprised or embarrassed when his expertise as a cop was touted. Amy couldn’t imagine why it seemed to throw him. Was he just naturally modest or had something happened to make him question himself? Did it have something to do with that high-profile case Maylene had mentioned? Nick had gotten very uptight when she’d brought it up.

  “Why do you say that?” he asked. “We haven’t found your son yet.”

  The question only confirmed her reading that he was thrown by any praise of his professional skills. She was tempted to ask him why, but instead she merely answered the question.

  “Maybe not, but you’re obviously clever and intuitive about people,” she told him. “At least you have my son pretty well nailed down. You seem to know how he thinks.”

  For an instant, the somber expression faded and his eyes twinkled behind his wire-rimmed glasses. “You met Trish. I’ll bet there’s the same age difference between her and me as there is between Josh and little Emma here. I was not happy when she came along. Having two brothers was bad enough, but a girl? I was not ready for that.”

  “But Josh loves Emma,” Amy countered. “He’s a terrific big brother.”

  “On the surface,” Nick responded. “Underneath there are bound to be a few minor insecurities about having the whole order of his universe disrupted.”

  “Somehow I can’t imagine you being insecure about the arrival of a baby sister,” she scoffed.

  “I was five,” he said with a shrug. “It didn’t take much to shake my world. The fact that my folks wanted a girl so badly was very apparent to me. After three boys and a whole lot of trucks and sports equipment, suddenly the house was filled up with dolls and frilly dresses and way too much pink.”

  She smiled at the image and at his exaggerated shudder of disdain. “How did your brothers react? Were you the only one green with envy?”

  “Rob—he’s the oldest—was okay. He was nine and already into sports and barely noticed a new baby in the house. Stephen, who’s between me and Trish in age, seemed to take it in stride, too. He just ignored her, though I have to wonder in retrospect if that wasn’t the moment he started to rebel to get attention.”

  “What did you do?”

  “I alternated between being fascinated by this tiny creature with all her pink ruffles and bows and hating her guts because she was taking up all of my mom’s time. I hadn’t felt that way when Stephen came along. He seemed to fit right in.” He gave her a wry grin. “Must have been all that girlie-girl stuff.”

  Amy regarded him with amusement. “And now? Do you still have mixed feelings?”

  “Yes, but the princess back there rules the world. Otherwise, can you think of any reason a sane man would agree to step in as Santa on Christmas Eve?”

  “Not many,” Amy agreed. “Unless the pay was very, very good.”

  “No pay. I’m here as a favor,” he said, then added, “At least it’s a favor if you don’t take into account her particular techniques.”

  “Blackmail?”

  Nick nodded. “Afraid so.”

  “Care to explain?”

  “Not at the moment.”

  “Then I think I’ll just go on believing that Trish has you wrapped around her finger,” Amy replied. “I like what that says about you.”

  “That I’m a wuss?” he asked, clearly amused.

  “No, that you love your sister. What about the rest of your family? Are you close to all of them, too?”

  “Yeah, I guess so,” he admitted. “I spend a lot of time with my folks, just so my mom can nag me about being a policeman. It bothers her a lot, so I make sure she sees me enough to know that I’m still all in one piece, but not so much that her commenting drives me insane.”

  “That’s why you were so surprised when Maylene said your mom brags about you being a cop,” she concluded.

  “Exactly. I never wanted to be anything else, but she and my dad did everything they could to dissuade me. I’ve been on the force for nearly ten years now and they still take every opportunity to suggest other career options. If I complain about anything work related, they’re all over it. My charming sister used that to get me here today.”

  Amy studied him curiously. “How? Are we back to the blackmail?”

  He smiled, though he looked as if he regretted saying anything about it. “Maybe I’ll tell you sometime, but not today. We need to concentrate on finding Josh.”

  Amy could hardly argue with that. The whole time they moved slowly through the mall, she was scanning the faces of the children who were staring in wide-eyed wonder at Santa. Where was Josh? Why hadn’t someone found him by now or why hadn’t he found them?

  Just then Nick’s cell phone rang. He answered it, then glanced around as if to get his bearings. “Got it,” he said eventually. He explained exactly where they were located. “We’ll start in that direction.”

  “What?” Amy demanded, her heart in her throat.

  “Security found a boy wandering around by himself. He says his name is Josh.”

  Amy’s heart turned over. “He’s okay?”

  “He’s scared and crying, but otherwise he’s just fine.”

  “Where is he?”

  “All the way down at the other end of the mall. Security’s going to pick us up in a golf cart and take us to him. In the meantime, let’s start heading that way.”

  Amy took off at a run in the direction he’d pointed.

  “Hey,” he said, catching up to her. “Stick with me. I’m the one the guard’s watching for, remember?”

  “Of course,” she said. “I’m sorry.”

  He touched her shoulder. “It’s okay. Here he comes now.”

  The golf cart cruised to a stop beside them and Am
y climbed in. Still holding Emma, Nick sat on the seat in back.

  “Were you there when they found him?” Nick asked the security officer.

  “No. I just got a call to come pick you up.”

  The golf cart made slow progress, especially when kids spotted Santa riding in it. In fact, at times Amy wanted to leap out and run ahead to get there faster, but she restrained herself. As Nick had pointed out, the driver knew where they were going. She didn’t. She’d only waste precious time if she got lost herself.

  Her heart was pounding so hard in anticipation of seeing her son, she thought it would burst. Apparently Nick sensed her restlessness.

  “We’re almost there,” he told her, his gaze locked with hers.

  The golf cart made a sharp turn to the left down another corridor, then slowed.

  Amy glanced around frantically looking for Josh, but rather than spotting him, she saw only a very young security officer walking their way, his expression chagrined.

  “I’m so sorry,” he said, barely able to look her in the eye.

  “What?” Amy demanded, her heart sinking. “He ran away again?”

  “What happened?” Nick demanded.

  The officer shook his head. “It was the wrong boy,” he admitted, looking miserable. “His name was Josh, but not two seconds after I called you, his folks turned up.” His gaze met Amy’s, then shifted away. “I’m so sorry, ma’am. I’ve already put out a call. Everyone’s searching again. We didn’t lose more than a couple of minutes.”

  The last faint shred of strength Amy possessed seemed to snap in that instant. Tears tracked down her cheeks and her chest heaved with sobs. She was barely aware of Nick shoving Emma unceremoniously into the arms of the startled security guard. Then he was gathering her close.