Christmas at Holiday House - RaeAnne Thayne Page 0,5
she was the kind of woman who commanded attention wherever she went, mainly because she seemed intensely interested in everyone around her.
Winnie had insisted on including Abby whenever she would do anything with Lucy. They had gone to dinner at several of the better restaurants in the Phoenix metro area. She had even met Kevin when he could break away from his med school classes.
Abby immediately sat down on the side of the bed and took the older woman’s free hand in hers. “Well, I have to say, you look better than I had feared,” she said, which made Winnie break out in raucous laughter.
“I’m not quite knocking on death’s door, you mean.”
“Not even walking up the sidewalk, from what I can see. Lucy tells me you had a bad fall.”
“She tripped on one of the blasted dogs and tumbled halfway down the stairs,” Ethan Lancaster said darkly. “How long did you lie there in pain, Winnie?”
His grandmother sent him an annoyed look. “Not long. Only an hour or so, until I was able to get to my phone and call for help.”
An hour. It sounded like an interminable time frame. She couldn’t even imagine it, though she knew the woman’s injuries could have been much worse.
“Things aren’t as bad as my darling grandson is making them sound. I only broke my wrist and sprained an ankle.”
“Don’t forget the bruised ribs and the pulled muscles in your shoulder,” Ethan said darkly.
Winnie pulled a face that made Christopher giggle from halfway behind Abby.
“How can I forget them, when they insist on reminding me every time I breathe?”
She peered around Abby. “And who is this handsome young man? This can’t be Christopher.”
“Yes, it can,” Abby’s son answered rather defensively, which made Winnie smile. “My name is Christopher Kevin Powell. I just had a birthday and I turned five.”
“I am Winifred Elizabeth Johnson Lancaster. My friends call me Winnie and I regret to say that I am much older than five.”
“I like your dogs,” Christopher said. “They’re cute. What are their names?”
She grinned with delight, though Abby didn’t miss the twinges of pain in her eyes. “Thank you. I like them, too. They are Holly, Ivy and Nick. See, Ethan? This is a young man of taste and refinement.”
“No doubt,” Ethan said, his tone mild and without inflection. He didn’t roll his eyes, but he might as well have.
“I’m so glad you’re here, my dear,” Winnie said. “Thank you so very much for coming to my rescue.”
“I’m happy I could help,” Abby said.
“I feel so much better knowing you can be here to help me.”
Ethan’s glower seemed to deepen. “You need to be in a facility where they can care for you properly. You can’t even shower yourself here.”
“This is my home and exactly where I want to be. Now I can be, since Lucy found a solution all the way from Thailand. Abby is a highly qualified nurse and, with her help for the next weeks until Lucy can make it home, I should be fine. Problem solved. She can help me get around, and you can go back to running your empire.”
“I had everything arranged with that nice new facility by the hospital.”
“Well, you can unarrange it. You ought to know better than to make plans for me without asking my permission. I might be old, but I’m not senile yet.”
His laugh sounded more frustrated than amused. “I’m well aware. You’re the sharpest old bag I know.”
Winnie didn’t appear to be offended by this, at least judging by her hoot of laughter.
Ethan reached for her hand and the sight of that wrinkled, age-spotted hand in his made Abigail’s knees feel a little wobbly. Probably just hunger, she told herself.
“I just want what’s best for you. You know that,” Ethan said.
Winnie turned her fingers over and squeezed his. “I know that, darling. I appreciate it. I do. But right now, spending Christmas in the house that I love is absolutely the best medicine for me.”
His sigh held capitulation and annoyance in equal measure. “We need to have a serious talk after the holidays. You live in this huge, crumbling heap by yourself. It’s not safe.”
“Watch it, young man. This is your family’s legacy. Before you call it a crumbling heap, maybe you should remember that without this house, you wouldn’t have a hundred hotels spread across the globe, including three right here in Silver Bells. Your ancestor mortgaged this house to buy his first hotel after the silver mines ran out. Without