Christmas at Holiday House - RaeAnne Thayne Page 0,7
words. Here at Holiday House, he and Lucy had been free to be children and all his very best childhood memories had taken place here.
That did not change the fact that Winnie was approaching eighty years old. This house was too vast for her and she refused to accept help maintaining it, other than the cleaning crew she let in twice a month.
He had tried to convince her to hire a companion, but she said she refused to have her space invaded by an unnecessary babysitter.
At least she had allowed Abby Powell and her son to stay. Maybe this would be the impetus she needed to change her frame of reference. If she wasn’t going to move out of Holiday House, at least she could have someone here to keep an eye on her.
He wasn’t entirely sure Abby was the right person for the job, though. She looked almost elfin, with red curls and green eyes, as if she would blow away in the first hard Colorado wind. She was petite, probably no more than five feet three inches tall, and she seemed too slight to even help Winnie back up if she fell again.
Likely she was tougher than she looked. She was a nurse. He knew that much. According to Lucy, her former roommate had been working at a hospital in the Phoenix area but had left the job only days earlier in preparation for a move to a new city after the holidays.
He still wasn’t sure why she would make the trek all the way to Colorado to stay with a woman she didn’t know. Ethan had plenty of good friends but wasn’t sure he would be comfortable asking any of them for such a favor.
“The timing couldn’t have been more perfect,” Lucy had told him when she called to tell him she had figured out a way to care for Winnie after her fall, with help from her friend. “Abby is totally free to come and stay with her for two weeks, until I can get there. And don’t worry, though I think she would have come anyway, Winnie insists on paying her a nice salary. You won’t have to worry about a thing.”
Only that a strange woman was coming to live with his grandmother in a house filled with valuables. No problem.
His sister never thought about things like that. Lucy went through life without considering the consequences. So did Winnie.
He wanted to think Abby Powell’s motives were entirely altruistic, but he didn’t know the woman. He had to view everything with suspicion.
She was a widow. He knew that much. Her husband had been an ER doc killed by a patient. Lucy had been pretty broken up about it and had flown home from somewhere—Estonia, maybe—to attend the funeral. Was it two years ago? Three? He couldn’t remember, and it didn’t seem the sort of thing one just bluntly asked about.
“Are you sure this won’t be a problem?” Abby asked him now. “I would rather not even unpack our suitcases if you’re only going to come back tomorrow and tell me my services are no longer needed.”
She had a slight Southern accent, almost imperceptible, like a teaspoon of honey mixed into iced tea.
He didn’t want to find it charming. He also didn’t want to find that combination of auburn waves and wide green eyes so alluring.
He wanted to tell Abigail Powell to jump back in her car and drive away, but doing that would risk alienating both his sister and his grandmother, something no sane man would willingly do.
That didn’t mean he wouldn’t be keeping his eye on the woman while she was here at Holiday House.
“My grandmother’s mind is apparently made up, which is basically the last word on the subject around here. I hope you know what you’re getting into.”
She smiled slightly. “I’ve dealt with worse, I can assure you. I’ve spent the past five years working in a pediatric unit. Your grandmother is nothing compared to a four-year-old having a meltdown.”
He was willing to bet she would find strong similarities.
“Is your car unlocked? You can wait inside while I carry in your suitcases.”
“I can help.”
He decided arguing would just be a waste of breath so he walked with her outside. She drove a small pewter SUV that looked to be about three or four years old, serviceable but nothing fancy.
The hatch was loaded with two large suitcases. He grabbed both of them as she went to the back seat and pulled out a couple