Christmas at Holiday House - RaeAnne Thayne Page 0,60

to be another option. We’ve worked so hard to get ready for Christmas at Holiday House.”

“What other option? It’s a disaster out there. Forget about the damage itself, safety is a bigger concern. At this point, we can’t get people safely from the front gate to the house with all those fallen limbs in the way. I had better call the rest of the Belles and cancel the opening night until we can get a crew out here to clean things up.”

Abby wanted to cry in frustration. All those many hours of work. All ruined in a windstorm. Ethan had warned her high winds were forecast for the area. Throughout the day before, there had been occasional gusts but nothing too terrible. She thought they had escaped the worst of it until she and Winnie had awakened to the power going out around four in the morning and a heavy crash outside, followed shortly by another one. Christopher had slept through it, but she and Winnie had huddled by the gas fireplace in the great room and fretted until the sun came up enough that they could see the damage.

It was far worse than she had feared. All the hard work the lighting crew had done earlier in the week was for nothing. Strings of lights hung everywhere, drooping off the porch and dangling from the few undamaged trees.

How could they possibly clean this up in time for the tours to begin in only a few short hours?

They had to try, didn’t they?

She held out a hand. “Wait. Don’t do anything yet. We can figure this out.”

“How?”

“I don’t know,” she admitted, her voice shaking. Tears burned, and she wanted to sit down right there on the front porch and cry out her disappointment.

At the moment the tears threatened to spill over, she felt Winnie’s arm around her shoulders. “It will be okay. We’ll just cancel tonight and hopefully clean this up for tomorrow.”

Abby rested her head on Winnie’s shoulder, drawing on the woman’s strength.

“Okay. Where do we start?”

“I’ll call the same crew that put up the lights and see if they can—” Winnie broke off before finishing the sentence, staring down the driveway.

Abby followed her gaze in time to see the gates swing open and a man walk through, up the driveway toward them.

Ethan.

Abby could feel her heart begin to pound. How had he known they needed him so badly?

He made his way around the fallen limbs and uprooted trees.

“My boy. Look at this mess.” Now it was Winnie’s turn to sound emotional, and in a moment her grandson wrapped his arms around her.

“José called me first thing and said he’d heard this neighborhood was hit hard by wind last night. He was worried about things over here. He wasn’t exaggerating, was he?”

“It’s a nightmare. We’re going to have to cancel the entire event.”

“Or maybe not. Let me make a call. I can get the grounds crew from the hotel here within the hour. We can fix this.”

“It’s such a mess,” Abby wailed. “And it was so lovely before.”

“Everything is ruined.”

“I can’t guarantee it will look like it did before, but we can at least clear away the debris from the driveway so your visitors can park and reach the front door.”

Winnie looked stunned. “You would do that, even though you were against this fundraiser from the beginning?”

“This is important to you, so it’s important to me,” he said simply.

Oh. How was she supposed to resist a man like this, who could be so overwhelmingly sweet to his grandmother?

“Give me a minute to make some calls.”

While Abby fixed bacon and her famous whole-wheat pancakes, Ethan sat at the kitchen table drinking coffee and making call after call.

By the time he finally closed his cell phone and took a moment to eat a couple of pancakes, she was in awe of his negotiation skills.

“These are delicious,” he said with an appreciative smile. “Wish I had time for about a dozen more but the first crew is going to be here any minute.”

A honk sounded from outside and Ethan slid away from the table. “That should be them.”

She and Winnie both went with him to the door and watched a utility vehicle pull through the gate. The doors opened and several men and a couple of women climbed out in all-weather coveralls.

On the surface they might have looked rough, but as far as Abby was concerned, they were angels.

“Thanks for breakfast,” Ethan said, throwing on his own work gloves. He kissed his