Buch lesen: «Montana Christmas»

One

The town of Rocky Ford, Montana, was picture-postcard pretty on this wintry December morning. An eight-inch blanket of snow sparkled in the bright morning sun, shining from a sky so blue it made Andrea Dillon’s eyes water to look at it. Wearing dark glasses against the glare, and dressed in warm clothing, she began shoveling out her driveway.

The air was cold and invigorating, bringing color to her cheeks. Her exhaled breath came out of her mouth in puffy little clouds. She had to smile, if a bit wryly; the long driveway had been one of the features of her rental house that had pleased her so much. This was the first major snowfall since she had moved in last summer, and she was certainly going to rack up her quota, and more, of exercise today by clearing the driveway enough to get her car to the street.

But being outside on such an incredible day felt wonderful. Other than at ski resorts in California, she had never seen snow like this. Her front lawn looked as smooth as a sheet of paper. The top of each bush and shrub was shaped into a rounded snow-bump. Every branch and twig on the leafless trees seemed artistically layered with a coat of glistening snow. The roof of her house looked as though someone had iced it with white frosting.

Lucas Wilde’s roof, too, looked decorated with icing, Andrea thought with a fond glance at the one home she could see from her driveway in the sparsely populated neighborhood. Lucas was several years past sixty, Andrea estimated, and her best friend in this small town. Her only friend, she amended quickly.

Sighing softly, she began shoveling again.

“Andrea! Good morning!”

Recognizing Lucas’s voice, she turned to smile at him as he walked toward her from the street. He was carrying a shovel. “Hi, Lucas. Isn’t this a glorious morning?”

Lucas’s rolling laugh rang out. “It is if you enjoy shoveling snow. I’ve already done my driveway and sidewalks, and now I’m going to help with yours.”

“Lucas, that’s not at all necessary.”

“Course it’s not.” Lucas grinned. “Big, strapping girl like you could shovel for three days and not get winded.”

Andrea had to laugh. She was definitely not “big and strapping.” In fact, she was on the small side, barely five foot four inches tall and weighing in around one-ten.

“I might not be big,” she retorted pertly, teasing him as he was teasing her, “but I’m strong.”

Lucas laughed again. Compared to his six-foot-two height and two-hundred-forty-pound weight, she was a little bit of a person, and her proclamation of physical strength was obviously funny to him.

“But how much snow have you shoveled before?” he asked. “I’ll bet this is your first time.”

“Okay, so I’ve never shoveled snow before today. But I’m truly enjoying the job. Lucas, since you’ve already cleared your own driveway and sidewalks, you’re probably tired. Please don’t overdo it by helping me.” She worried about Lucas at times. He was at least forty pounds overweight, carrying most of the excess poundage in his chest and belly. If he had a heart attack shoveling her driveway, she would never forgive herself.

“For your information, young woman, I’m not tired and I’m not ready to go back inside. I’ll shovel a bit more, if you don’t mind.” Lucas set to work.

He sure could be stubborn when he wanted to be, Andrea thought. Stubborn in a nice way, though. Giving up on the friendly debate, she dug her own shovel into the snow. “Did you hear the storm in the night?”

“Sure did. Thought the wind was going to blow the roof off for a while there.”

“I loved hearing it. There’s something about a storm at night that makes me feel cozy and safe.”

“It does that, all right. Makes one think of his own good fortune—having a warm bed, comfortable home, enough financial security to get by without worrying all the time. Not everyone’s so lucky.”

“True,” Andrea agreed, frowning a little. Her financial security was not of her making. As she bent and scooped at a brisk tempo, her thoughts went to her mother. Sandra had died last February, and Andrea had been the only recipient of her estate. It was shortly after the funeral, when she’d been given access to her mother’s private papers, that the series of events began that had changed the course of her life. She’d been working for the Los Angeles Times, still an unimportant cog in the production of the huge newspaper but harboring a longtime dream of journalistic success. Going through Sandra’s papers, tying them together and finally grasping their import had been a shock. More of a shock, in fact, than her mother’s sudden demise had been.

All of her life, she had believed her father to be the man named on her birth certificate: Harry Dillon. Harry was a total mystery to her. Sandra had waved the subject aside as trivial every time Andrea had tried to talk about him, as though it didn’t matter that her daughter’s father never visited, never called, never even sent birthday cards. Because of several documents in her mother’s files, Andrea had deemed it essential to finally meet Harry Dillon. She’d hired a detective agency to locate him, which proved surprisingly easy to do. Then, armed with those documents, she’d paid Harry a visit.

He was a cordial man, married many years with grown children. After a little prodding and an explanation of her curiosity, Andrea had finally learned the facts of her own life.

“Your mother was pregnant with you when we got married, Andrea. She was pregnant when she went to Nevada to obtain a quickie divorce from your real father, a man called Charles Fanon. No, I have no idea where you might find Mr. Fanon. I agreed to my name being used on your birth certificate, as I was very smitten by Sandra and would have agreed to anything she asked.”

Harry had smiled ruefully. “But she never loved me, and proved it by leaving me before you were a year old. I’m sorry you had to grow up thinking your father didn’t want you, but the truth was that Sandra wouldn’t permit even the slightest contact. Apparently, when she was done with a man, that was it.”

Andrea’s own memory had reinforced Harry’s comment. Counting Charles A. Fanon—she had the divorce papers between Sandra and Charles as proof of Harry’s story—Sandra had been married five times. And yes, when she was through with a man, she wouldn’t even- speak to him on the phone. As Sandra’s last three husbands had all been wealthy men, Andrea could only surmise that her mother had married Harry, a common laborer, to legitimize her unborn child. In spite of Sandra’s many missteps and indiscretions with men, she had possessed an innate sense of propriety. In fact, even while she was flitting from man to man—she hadn’t married them all—one would have been hard-pressed to label her anything but a lady.

Anyhow, the same detective agency that had located Harry had tracked Charles Fanon to Rocky Ford, Montana. Andrea had quit her job, left her mother’s very nice house…which now belonged to Andrea—in the hands of a trustworthy couple who had been in Sandra’s employ for many years, and traveled to Rocky Ford with every intention of immediately confronting Mr. Fanon. Once there, however, her courage had deserted her, and after seven months, she was still procrastinating.

At times, she was furious with herself for delaying something she knew had to be done. At others, she rationalized her cowardice by concentrating on the things she had learned about Charles—or Charlie, as he was called in Rocky Ford. For one, she wasn’t his only family. He had a daughter, Serena Holden, and a niece, Lola Sheridan. Also, there had been a son, Ronald, who had died in the military. Ronald’s widow, Candace, and their young son, Ronnie, had lived with Charlie until Candace remarried. Candace’s new husband, Burke Mallory, was the only person in Montana who knew Andrea’s background. Burke was now a cattle rancher, but he’d been a cop on an undercover investigation in Rocky Ford when he’d run into Andrea under suspicious circumstances. It had taken him only a few days to unearth her true identity, which had greatly upset Andrea until Burke promised her that he would not reveal her secret to anyone. She had enormous respect for Burke Mallory, but was glad his and Candace’s ranch was eighty miles from town, which pretty much eliminated chance meetings.

As for Charlie, he’d been living alone in his big old house on Foxworth Street since Candace and Burke’s wedding. Andrea often wondered if he was lonely now, although he did have a coffee shop in the front portion of his house to keep him busy. Every night while lying in her bed before falling asleep, she pictured herself walking into that coffee shop and introducing herself. Hello, Charlie. I’m Andrea Dillon, your third child, your second daughter. She usually went to sleep with a sickish feeling in her stomach because of that fantasy.

And maybe that’s all the whole thing was, she was beginning to think—a fantasy. If Charlie hadn’t wanted a third child at the time of his and her mother’s divorce, why on earth would he want one now? Why was she so driven to see this through and, at the same time, too cowardly to do it? Why was she afraid? She hadn’t been afraid to call

on Harry, after all. Maybe leery was a better word for whatever it was inside of her that kept her from accomplishing her goal with Charlie. But if she was never going to confront him, why stay in this small Montana town?

These were not new questions. Andrea had been asking them of herself for months, without being able to supply the answers. Surprising her, however, was an answer about why she stayed in Rocky Ford: she liked it there. For the first time in her life, she was putting down roots. Sandra had moved them around California so much, Andrea had never felt connected to any one place. Here, in this unpretentious little country town, she was at long last discovering the tranquillity of belonging.

Even so, she wasn’t entirely content. There was Charlie, of course, almost constantly on her mind, and she knew liking a town was no excuse for living a purposeless existence. A job might do wonders for the doldrums she often suffered, and hopefully tire her enough to make her sleep better. At the very least, she would have something to think about besides the Fanon family.

Lucas broke into her somber thoughts. “Ready for Christmas, Andrea? It’s not far off now, you know.”

Andrea stuck her shovel into the snow and then leaned on it. She was neither ready for Christmas nor thrilled that the holiday season was upon her. Looking at Lucas’s pleasant face, ruddy from the cold, she wondered how to answer his question. He knew very little of her background, mere bits and pieces that she had thought were safe enough to pass on. One brief conversation had been about the death of her mother.

She fell back on that. “With Mother gone, I’m afraid I’m not feeling very much holiday cheer, Lucas.”

He stopped shoveling and conveyed embarrassment by clearing his throat. “Course you’re not. I shouldn’t have mentioned it.”

Guilt struck Andrea. Sandra had rarely spent Christmas with her. Instead, she was off to the Bahamas, or Bermuda, or somewhere else elegant and sunny, with one man or another. Andrea’s Christmases had usually been spent with some of Sandra’s friends or with servants. That was during her childhood, of course. Once she was old enough to make her own decisions, she chose which of her own friends with whom she wanted to celebrate the holiday.

The truth was that Christmas simply didn’t excite her. It never had.

But it seemed important to Lucas, and he, too, was alone. His only offspring was a son living in Los Angeles, an extremely successful plastic surgeon, happily married, according to Lucas, and too busy to come home for the holidays.

“Lucas, do you have any plans for Christmas Day?” she asked.

He looked off into the distance, appearing wistful to Andrea. “I’ll probably do what I usually do, drop in on a few friends.”

“Would you like to have dinner with me?”

His head came around. “I don’t want to impose, Andrea.”

“You wouldn’t be imposing. You’d be doing me a favor. I’ve been planning to cook a turkey with all the trimmings, and eating it alone wouldn’t be any fun.” She’d been planning no such thing, but once out of her mouth, it seemed like the best idea she’d had in a long time.

A smile broke out on Lucas’s face. “Since you put it that way, yes, I’d love having Christmas dinner with you. Thanks for the invite.”

Andrea smiled, too. “You’re very welcome. Hey, guess what? I’m suddenly looking forward to Christmas.” She realized it was true and smiled again as she started shoveling. She would even buy Lucas a present, nothing that would embarrass him because he didn’t have one for her. Just some little thing she could put under the tree.

A tree? she thought with some amazement. My goodness, she really was getting into the holiday spirit, wasn’t she? Well, why not? She and Lucas could have a very nice day together, and neither of them would be alone and despondent.

She thought of Lucas’s son, Dr. Shepler Wilde, who was too busy to visit his aging father on Christmas, and snorted derisively. He was probably a self-centered, inconsiderate, better-than-thou jerk.

Maybe she could give Lucas a merry Christmas. It wouldn’t completely make up for his son’s negligence, but it would help.

By that evening, Andrea had to admit she was really looking forward to Christmas Day. If nothing else, planning a holiday dinner took her mind off the Fanons. Ready for bed, with her dark auburn hair damp from a shower and wearing her nightgown and robe, she curled up in her favorite chair with a pad and pen to prepare a grocery list. Even though she wouldn’t be shopping for the ingredients for another week or so, she liked the idea of early organization.

The list grew quickly, but after a while she had to stop to think about it. As she did, her gaze drifted around her cozy living room and ultimately fell on a black-bound notebook tucked into a small bookcase along with several dozen books, all of which she had purchased and read since coming to Rocky Ford. Her thoughts immediately turned from her grocery list to the contents of that notebook. Everything she knew about the Fanon family was in it, including handwritten notes describing her own observations and every newspaper article mentioning the Fanons she had run across in the Rocky Ford News, which she had neatly clipped and pasted on various pages. Her last entry was a newspaper accounting of Candace Fanon and Burke Mallory’s wedding. Burke had invited her to attend the affair, and she had wanted to go very badly. But she’d stayed away, knowing how uncomfortable she would be with Burke aware of her lurking in corners and spying on the Fanons, as she had done on several previous occasions when she’d been able to hide in a crowd. Then, however, no one had known who she was.

That notebook disturbed her, blatantly reminding her that she was on the outside looking in, yet she couldn’t get rid of it. It was the most detailed documentation of any portion of her life, and destroying it would be like destroying a piece of herself.

Sighing with a profound sense of unrest, she forced herself to concentrate on Christmas dinner again.

For someone who had initially tried to ignore the holiday season, Andrea became very involved in it. Happy about it, too. She shopped for Lucas’s present in Rocky Ford’s stores, and enjoyed seeing the decorations the town had put up. Several businesses had outside speakers playing Christmas music, and every window in every shop was bright with holiday displays.

On impulse, she went into the drugstore and spent an hour picking out Christmas cards to send to the friends she had left behind in California. Leaving without a goodbye hadn’t bothered her at the time; her mind had been overloaded with grief over her mother’s death and the shocks that had come after. But, in retrospect, her hasty, unannounced departure seemed terribly rude, particularly so with the man she had been dating, Hale Jackson. Not that theirs had been a serious relationship. Hale was an aspiring actor, as vain as they came and too involved in his career to give any woman top billing. But he knew a lot of people and had been fun to go out with. She picked out an especially nice card for Hale. She also bought a load of decorations for the tree she planned to purchase when she was finished with her other shopping.

It surprised Andrea to walk past the Men’s Western Wear store a few minutes later and see a sign in the window among a nativity scene and various Christmas decorations. It said, in bold print, Under New Management.

Lola Sheridan, Charlie’s niece, must have sold her store, Andrea thought with a small frown. The Fanons managed to always stay one step ahead of her, forever altering or changing their status in some way. Those changes shouldn’t disturb her peace of mind, but they did. The Fanons seemed to be a close-knit family, and maybe that was why she couldn’t bring herself to barge in and boldly pronounce herself to be one of them.

Of course, she’d known nothing of Charlie’s family when she first got to town, and she’d done no bold announcing then, either. The truth, bitter as it was to accept, was that she was a spineless wimp when it came to Charlie. And it hurt because she wanted to meet the father she’d never known so much she ached from it. She wanted him to open his heart to her, to welcome her into the family.

But would he?

Swallowing the sudden lump in her throat, she hurried on past the Men’s Western Wear store, returned to her car parked down the street and got in.

But she wouldn’t let herself rush home to lick her wounds, as she had done so many times in the past months. Rather, she bravely lifted her chin and drove to the vacant lot on which someone was selling Christmas trees.

The area had gone through several thaws and snowfalls since that first storm, and Andrea’s yard was patchy with old snow and bare ground. It pleased her to see softly falling snow on Christmas Day.

By noon, she had everything well under control for a oneo’clock dinner. She had told Lucas they would eat early, watch old movies on TV, which she knew he liked, then have turkey sandwiches and leftovers for supper. Lucas had seemed thrilled with her plans, and she expected him to come knocking on her door at any minute.

She had dressed festively for the day, choosing a striking dress and high-heeled pumps in the same emerald green color and gold jewelry. Anytime she wore green, her eyes appeared more green than gray, and the color also brought out the red in her dark auburn hair. Feeling good because she looked good and was going to have company for dinner, she puttered in the kitchen with an ear cocked for Lucas’s arrival.

When the phone rang at twelve-fifteen, she nearly jumped out of her skin. Rarely did her phone ring. Other than Lucas, no one in Rocky Ford had her unlisted number. But why would he be calling today? “Maybe it’s one of those bothersome salespeople,” she muttered under her breath as she walked over to the kitchen extension and picked it up with a cool, unapproachable “Hello?”

“Andrea, this is Lucas. Um…something’s come up.” Lucas uttered what sounded like a nervous laugh to Andrea, and her heart sank. Surely he wasn’t going to tell her that he wasn’t coming. The house was permeated with good smells from the turkey roasting in the oven and the other dishes she had prepared, the tree had turned out so pretty with its twinkling lights and tinsel, and she was so emotionally ready for a genuine Christmas celebration that disappointment was already digging its claws into her.

“Is something wrong, Lucas?” She tried to speak normally, but she was so afraid he was going to cancel coming to dinner that she sounded forlorn. Wincing at her childishness, she added in a stronger voice, “What came up, Lucas? Are you all right?”

“Heck, it’s not me, honey. It’s Shep.”

Shep? Who or what was a Shep? “I don’t understand, Lucas.”

“Shep, Andrea, my son. He got here about thirty minutes ago. We’ve been unloading his car ever since. Mighty fine surprise it was to open my door and see him standing there. But…well, I’m a mite confused about the day now. I mean, you’re expecting one guest and—”

Andrea broke in. An enormous sense of relief made her sound breathless. “Lucas, I have enough food prepared for ten people. By all means, bring your son with you.”

“You’re a sweet lady, Andrea. That’s what I was hoping you’d say, and I was pretty sure you would, too. What I’m not sure of is if Shep will agree to go with me. I’m calling from my bedroom while he’s doing some unpacking. Had his car loaded to the roof. Must have brought every stitch he owns. You see, he’s here without his wife. Ex-wife, I should say.” Lucas’s voice had taken on a saddened note. “They’re divorced, Andrea, and Shep’s not very happy about it.”

“Oh, dear,” Andrea murmured sympathetically. “It happened awfully fast, didn’t it?”

“Apparently not. Shep just never said anything to me about their troubles when we talked on the phone. I thought everything was great with them. I still don’t know what really took place, but as I said, he’s only been here about a half hour. Anyhow, you’re sure it’s okay to bring him along?”

“Of course I’m sure. I’ll put another place setting on the table, Lucas. Do your best to convince Shep to come, and I’ll do my best to make him feel welcome.”

“Thanks, Andrea. You’re a peach.”

She put down the phone, realizing that Lucas had not said he would come even if Shep wouldn’t. With a helpless sensation, she looked around her small but efficient kitchen. The house had come furnished, but she had added her own pretty touches to it, making it hers. Today the counter was loaded with food, and so was the refrigerator. Telling Lucas that she had enough to feed ten people had been only a slight exaggeration. Easily she could feed six or seven.

And if Lucas didn’t come and help her eat some of it…?

Resentment for a man she’d never met suddenly assailed her. It was only natural for Lucas to be thrilled to see his son, but Dr. Shepler Wilde just showing up on his father’s doorstep on Christmas Day with no warning whatsoever seemed darned inconsiderate to her. Would it have killed him to stop at some point in his journey north to call his father? For that matter, since his marital troubles weren’t all that sudden, he could have informed Lucas weeks ago of his situation, and that he was coming home for Christmas.

He was probably exactly the kind of man she’d thought of before—an arrogant, self-centered jerk. And with a wonderful man like Lucas for a father, too. Andrea’s lips thinned in potent disapproval. She had desperately yearned for her own father for as long as she could remember, and Shep Wilde treated his like dirt. Life certainly wasn’t fair.

Well, she had no choice but to finish making dinner. There were potatoes to mash and gravy to make. If Lucas came, wonderful. If he didn’t…?

“Merry Christmas,” she mumbled as she set to work while battling a surge of self-pity. She wallowed in it for a few minutes, then cast it aside. She wouldn’t die from eating alone, and she could watch her movies alone, as well. Maybe she’d take a walk in the snow after dinner. It was coming down in huge, fluffy flakes, once again turning her yard into a wintry fairyland.

Determinedly she marched into the living room and inserted a disk into her CD player, a gift she had bought for herself. Christmas music wafted from the speakers, and she adjusted the volume so she could hear it in the kitchen. Then she returned to her cooking.

Such was life, she thought with a sigh as she stirred the gravy. Rather, such was her life, she amended in the next breath. After all, if she wasn’t such a flaming coward, she might be spending Christmas with Charlie and the rest of the Fanons.

Maybe she deserved to eat alone.

Intent on her own thoughts, she was startled to hear someone knocking on the back door. “Lucas,” she said with instantaneous relief and excitement. He had come, after all. Whether his son was with him or not was immaterial. Lucas was here, and that was all that mattered.

Hurrying to the door, she pulled it open. It was Lucas, all right, and he wasn’t alone. Standing just a little behind was the most handsome man Andrea had ever seen. As tall as his father, Dr. Shepler Wilde was lean where Lucas was heavy. His hair was thick and black and stunningly attractive with snowflakes in it. She assessed him quickly. Wide shoulders in a black leather jacket. Long legs in faded jeans. A white turtleneck sweater. Naturally dark-toned skin. A chiseled, sexy mouth. A strong chin and high cheekbones. Brooding, dark eyes.

She swallowed nervously, suddenly feeling giddy as a schoolgirl. “Come in before you turn into snowmen.” Stepping back, she held the door open for them to enter.

Lucas was beaming proudly. “Andrea, this is my son, Dr. Shepler Wilde. Shep, Miss Andrea Dillon.”

Andrea offered her hand. “Very nice meeting you.”

Shep’s hand around hers gave her an unexpected jolt. “Nice of you to have me over,” he said without so much as a hint of a smile.

His coolness was so unexpected, Andrea flushed. Swiftly she withdrew her hand from his. “Give me your jackets, and I’ll hang them in the closet.”

Both men removed their jackets and handed them to her. “Come on into the living room, Lucas,” she said, heading in that direction herself to hang the jackets in the small guest closet near the front door.

“Your tree is beautiful,” Lucas said. “Isn’t it nice, Shep?”

“Very nice,” Shep agreed.

Closing the door of the closet, Andrea turned to her guests. “Please sit down. Dinner will be ready in about ten minutes. Just make yourself comfortable while I finish up.” She had dinner wine chilling in the refrigerator, but no other spirits in the house. If Dr. Wilde enjoyed a beforedinner drink, she had nothing to offer him. He would have to content himself with a comfortable chair, a view of the tree and the lovely music on the CD player.

Smiling weakly, she hurriedly returned to the kitchen. Her heart was pounding. Good Lord, she thought, disgusted that she would be so physically affected just from meeting a man. Especially when he hadn’t shown any signs of the same affliction with her.

But he was newly divorced and unhappy about it. What kind of person would he be if he could forget that sort of pain in the space of two minutes just because another woman had entered his life?