snow,” Mariah said. “You should take advantage of it while you’re here to learn. Skiing is really fun.”
If she was so afraid of climbing the ladder to put the ornaments on a twenty-foot tree, how could she have the courage to strap little sticks to her feet and zoom down an icy mountainside?
“That might be another one of the skills I leave to others. Like singing and artwork.”
“You never know what you’re going to love unless you try things,” Mariah said. “That’s what I tell Dakota. You can’t say you aren’t good at something until you have at least given it a chance.”
“Good advice,” Winnie said.
It was, Abby had to admit. That still didn’t make her want to rush out and buy a lift pass.
“I’m actually pretty proud of myself for following my own advice this year. A guy I was dating wanted to take me canyoneering and I was scared to death.”
“What’s canyoneering?” Winnie asked.
“It’s kind of like rock climbing except you’re going the opposite direction, down a rock or canyon.”
It sounded like the stuff of Abby’s nightmares, but she didn’t want to interrupt Mariah’s point by saying so.
“My point is, I was afraid to do it, but after this guy took me out one day, I fell in love with the sport. The guy and I didn’t click, but that’s another story. The point is, I tried something new, I loved it and now I have a new hobby. I can’t wait until the snow melts so I can go again.”
“No, thank you. I’ll leave that kind of thing to you younger girls,” Winnie said. “But I would agree that you should at least let Christopher try skiing. If you introduce children when they’re young to a lifetime sport like skiing, they pick it up more easily and are more likely to continue it on when they’re older.”
“I couldn’t agree more,” Mariah said.
“That’s the whole reason we’re doing Christmas at Holiday House,” Winnie said. “So that everyone can have the opportunity to enjoy our beautiful surroundings and the recreational opportunities here.”
“My brother uses a wheelchair after he lost the use of his legs in a motorcycle accident and I know he misses skiing,” Mariah said. “I can’t wait for him to have the chance to do it again.”
Her heavily lashed eyes went soft when she spoke of her brother, which Abby found touching. Mariah might put out a hard front to the world, but in only a short time Abby had discovered the woman had a sensitive center. It made her even more interested in seeing her artwork.
“Your brother lives close?”
Mariah nodded. “He built a house up the canyon and works remotely in computers, developing programs for some company in Silicon Valley. He doesn’t get out nearly as often as he should. I’m hoping the new accessible ski program will change that.”
It was a good reminder about why they were going to all this trouble. The work might be hard and exhausting and completely out of her element, but it helped to remember they were working toward a good cause.
* * *
“That was a really fun day,” Christopher said that night after he had bathed and they were cuddled into a comfortable chair by the fireplace in the sitting room attached to the bedroom they were sharing.
“I’m glad you had fun. Dakota seems like a nice kid.”
“I asked him if he could play again later this week but he said he’s going to his dad’s house.” Christopher looked troubled. “Why don’t his mom and dad live together?”
She brushed his curly dark hair away from his olive features, this sweet-natured son who was the perfect cross between her and Kevin and who seemed like a miracle to her every single day. “We’ve talked about this before, remember? Families come in lots of different shapes and sizes. Sometimes kids have a mom and dad who live together, sometimes they live with only their moms or only their dads. Sometimes they have two dads or two moms. Sometimes they trade off between them. And sometimes, like I did, they live with their mom and their great-aunt. As long as they have someone to love them—someone who loves them and takes care of them and keeps them safe—that’s the most important thing.”
“And in our family, we have a mom and a boy.”
“That’s right. Aren’t we lucky to have each other?”
He hugged her, and Abby cuddled him close while she read him a tender, charming story about a mouse trying to find his