Christmas at Holiday House - RaeAnne Thayne Page 0,38
way home on Christmas Eve.
Her childhood hadn’t been perfect, she thought as she tucked him into his bed. Her mother had been ill so often and Aunt Elizabeth hadn’t always had the strength to keep up with an active child.
But she had always known she was loved.
“I miss Daddy,” Christopher said as she was kissing him good-night. “I wish he was still here.”
The words came out of nowhere, just about knocking her to her knees.
She gave Christopher an extra hug. “We know he’s here in our hearts. But you’re right. I miss him, too, honey.”
Christopher eased away, already moving on to something else. “So when can Dakota come and play?”
“I don’t know. I’ll have to talk to his mom about their schedule, but I promise we’ll set something up another day before we leave for Austin.”
“Do we have to go to Texas? I like it here.”
Where had that come from? “I think you’ll like it there, too. We already have an apartment, remember? And it has that fun park next door with the splash pad and the pickleball courts.”
“Oh, yeah. That was fun when we went there.” He cuddled Mr. Jingles for a moment longer before Abby lifted the cat and set him on the floor. “Will I find friends there?”
She didn’t want to tell her son she had been wondering the same thing about herself.
“I guarantee it. Who wouldn’t want to be friends with a great kid like you?”
He smiled sleepily at that and hugged her. “I love you, Mommy.”
“Love you, too, sweetheart.” She kissed the top of his head one last time and then turned off the light in the bedroom, ushered out the cat and grabbed the baby monitor she still used to keep an eye on things when she was working in another area of this vast house.
When she walked into the kitchen, she was shocked to find Winnie there wearing a fuzzy pink robe over the nightgown Abby had helped the woman change into an hour ago. Abby thought when she settled her into her bed with a bowl of popcorn and the remote that Winnie would be out for the night.
“What’s going on? Did you need a snack? You should have called or texted me. I could have brought it to you so you didn’t have to miss your program.”
Winnie shook her head. “Ethan texted me a few minutes ago asking if he could drop by to check on me. I recorded my show. I’ll watch it later.”
Why did he have to come visit Winnie so late, after his grandmother was already tucked in for the night? She frowned, annoyed for a moment before she realized that wasn’t fair. Ethan called and texted frequently to check on his grandmother, but Abby knew he had been out of town dealing with a crisis at another of the Lancaster properties.
She hadn’t seen him since Thanksgiving, since that moment when she had been almost certain he wanted to kiss her.
She had to have imagined that look she thought she had seen in his eyes up in the attic. He wasn’t interested in her and she certainly wasn’t interested in him.
Still, butterflies jumped around in her stomach when she realized he would be there shortly.
Oh, she was ridiculous.
“What are you doing out here?” Winnie asked in return. “After the busy day you had, I should have thought you would be sound asleep by now, dreaming about tinsel and popcorn strings.”
Abby held up her water bottle before refilling it from the filtered pitcher in the refrigerator. “That big tree out there in the great room is haunting me. My Moby Dick. I keep thinking that with a few hours of hard work, I can finish decorating it and get that very large monkey off my back.”
Winnie winced, her wrinkled features twisted with guilt. “I’m so sorry, my dear. I never meant for you to work yourself to the bone. You have already done so much.”
Abby shook her head. “You have nothing to apologize for. I haven’t minded any of it, especially meeting your friends. I’ve enjoyed having a project. You know I like staying busy, and I’ve had great fun decorating your house for the holidays.”
Winnie reached a hand out and Abby squeezed her age-spotted fingers.
“You have been amazing. I don’t know what we would have done without you.”
“You know it’s been a team effort. All of the Silver Belles have pitched in.”
“But you have done the lion’s share. And you’re not even part of the choir! After this,