Million Dollar Christmas Bride - Holly Rayner Page 0,3

the car speakers.

“Jackson? You there?”

“Right here,” Jackson said. “Though you just barely caught me. If you called a few minutes ago, I’d have been in the middle of dealing with a minor car accident.”

He smiled as he changed lanes. A good mood permeated his being, and he had a feeling that it was due to the sweetness of the woman he’d just interacted with. There was something so endearing about her—so refreshing. He chuckled softly to himself as he recalled the way she’d kept pushing her hood up out of her eyes. No matter how many times she did it, it kept slipping down again.

“An accident?” Danielle repeated. “You okay?”

“I’m fine,” Jackson said. “My Ferrari is a little beat-up, though.” He continued to grin as he took a left and then merged onto a two-lane street that would take him further into the heart of the city.

“You don’t sound like you just got into an accident,” Danielle said. “You love your cars. What’s going on with you?”

The suspicion in her tone made Jackson laugh.

“I’m fine,” he said. “The woman who caused the damage was nice, and it’s honestly the least of my worries right now.”

He paused, thinking of the meeting he was about to endure. Then he said, “What’s up?”

“Just checking in,” Danielle said in a clipped tone.

Jackson knew that wasn’t the whole truth. His older sister, who lived a fast-paced life in LA, never called without an agenda. He kept quiet, and soon enough she revealed it.

“So have you seen Mom yet?” she asked.

Having already guessed the reason for his sister’s sudden desire for communication, Jackson had an answer ready.

“Not yet,” he said, “but I’m heading to a restaurant to meet her now. You remember the Parlor Grille? Dad took us there the last time you visited before he died. They make a mean Porterhouse… mm-mmm… cooked medium-rare. You can’t beat it.”

“I didn’t call to talk about steak,” Danielle said with exasperation. “Really, Jackson. Get your mind out of the meat gutter. I want to talk about Mom.”

“I haven’t seen her yet,” Jackson said. “I just told you that.”

“Well, what are you going to say to her when you see her?”

“How should I know?” Jackson said. He couldn’t help but allow a bit of attitude into his usually even tone. More than with anyone else, when he talked with his sister, he let his guard down. They’d grown up together, after all.

“You’d better figure it out if you’re going to go have dinner with her,” Danielle snapped. “I can’t believe she’s home, after all these years—after what she did to us. I mean, can you believe this?”

Actually, Jackson couldn’t. When Danielle had called him, one month prior, to say that their mother was on her way from Scotland to Tennessee, Jackson had felt so shocked that he’d barely been able to comprehend the news.

Danielle went on. “I mean, she cheated on poor Dad, got a divorce, and then ran off to Scotland! Leaving two children behind! Now she has the nerve to move back to the city she left, into the house that we all used to live in. I just don’t see the point.”

“She’s sick,” Jackson said.

“Well, I know that,” Danielle said. “She had to be psychologically unwell in order to think it was a good idea to leave two children behind with barely a goodbye.”

“Not mentally sick. I mean physically,” Jackson said. “Didn’t she tell you over the phone that she was dealing with heart troubles?”

“Yes.”

“Well, maybe she’s coming home so that she can make amends. I don’t know.”

Jackson caught sight of the turn he needed to make and slowed down. Daylight was fading fast, and thanks to his little run-in with another car, he was not as early for his dinner reservations as he’d hoped he would be. He’d been counting on having at least a few sips of a whiskey on the rocks before seeing his mother for the first time in thirty years. Now, it looked like he wouldn’t have time for a trip to the bar before being seated.

“Make amends?” Danielle practically shouted. “I’m sorry, Jackson, but that’s kind of selfish of her, isn’t it? To expect us to forgive her, after she hasn’t even tried to contact us for all these years? Dad was sick and dying, and Mom just went on living her happy life across the ocean, totally oblivious to what we were going through.”

“Look, Dani, I don’t know what she wants, okay?” Jackson said. “I’m just going to meet