Home for Christmas (21 page)

Austin shook his head, clearing it
of the tantalizing vision as he realized what his mind had conjured. Blinking
his eyes rapidly, stilling the beating of his heart, the vision wouldn’t
dissipate, wouldn’t let him go. Somehow, in that moment with the echo of
“Daddy” still ringing in his ears, that vision still so clear in his mind, he
knew that no matter what might stand between them … or even who … his future
and his life was Savannah Wentworth. It was more clear to him than anything
else in the world. He wanted his daughter to grow up in this room and sit at
this desk. He wanted sons and more daughters to fill the other rooms of this
gigantic home, and he only wanted to do that with Savannah at his side.

Opening the drawers of the desk, he
peered inside, hoping for a clue, any vestige of its owner. But they were
empty, of course. As he moved to shut the middle drawer, he felt it catch
before it closed. Opening it again, he felt the rub. Bending down, he extracted
the drawer entirely from the desk and with his phone, turned on the flashlight
app and directed it to the dark paneling in the back. From there he saw a tiny
little scrap of white paper wedged into the corner. Grasping its edge, carefully
taking his time so it wouldn’t rip, he worked the edge until he realized that
it had become trapped behind a piece of loosened wood trim. Further weakening
it, he was able to remove the trim, revealing not just a corner but an entire
piece of paper stuck behind.

Gently smoothing the wrinkled up
piece of paper, Austin realized that it was a list of some sort, penned in a
precise but childish hand. Looking closer, he realized it was a list of
qualities, of traits. It was titled, “Things I Want in a Husband.”

Austin read every word. When he had
finished, a smile filled with hope and determination brightened his face for
the first time in days. Pocketing the rumpled list, he made his way down the
stairs, and out the door. The rain was beginning to pour, further darkening the
day as he drove out of the driveway and back toward the city.

“What do you mean she’s not here?”
he demanded.

“Austin, come in,” she commanded
intently as the lady from across the hall opened her door and glared at them.

“It’s Christmas Eve. Where is she?
And why is
he
here with you instead of her?” he exclaimed.

Robert sauntered up to Courtney and
slipped his arm around her waist, enjoying the fury it ignited in Austin’s
eyes. Courtney stepped out of his grasp and rolled her eyes as she grabbed her
mug she’d left on the hall table when answering the door.

“You better come in and get
yourself some coffee, it’s going to be a very long day,” she warned, making her
way into the kitchen. Austin stood in the entry as he watched her walk away,
tensing his jaw and glaring at Robert’s cocky expression.

“You two behave,” she called from
the next room. “Come!” she commanded before both men did her bidding and walked
into the living area as she came bearing steaming red mugs filled with
cappuccino.

“What is going on here?” he
demanded again. This time, Courtney knew his patience had worn too thin and
quickly began a long overdue explanation.

When she finished, he’d sat down on
the sofa, staring at the rain pelting the panoramic windows, obliterating the
view beyond.

“I can’t believe this mess,” he
finally said.

“What I want to know,” Courtney
said glaring into his eyes, “Is it true?”

“Elise?” he correctly guessed.

She didn’t respond, just kept
glaring at him.

Austin returned the glare and asked
why no one had told him about Robert and her relationship? “Why did Savannah
keep that from me?” he asked.

She glanced at Robert before
looking back to Austin, a flash of guilt in her eyes. “She didn’t want us to.”

“You were drooling all over her at
the office party,” Robert finally said, all pretense now gone. “I didn’t like
it one bit. I know what kind of man you are …”

Austin immediately stood, anger
radiating from his body. Robert stood just as quickly, each perfectly matched in
size and girth.

“You don’t know anything about me.”

“I know enough about you,” Robert
hissed. “And what I didn’t know, I’ve seen with my own eyes. You played her,”
he spat. “She was just another girl in another city you could enjoy for a while,
no strings, while the one you planned to marry was back east.”

“Are you sure you’re not talking
about yourself? Who played who here?” Austin seethed angrily, glancing at
Courtney meaningfully. “I recall a certain party where you left little ambiguity
in your relationship to Savannah. And now we find out you had someone on the
side as well.”

“You leave her out of this,” Robert
hissed, although an angry blush stole up the sides of his face. Courtney was
abashed, admitting the truth in his accusation. Glancing apologetically at
Courtney, Robert asked pointedly, “What about you? What about your
fiancé
?”

“I don’t
have
a fiancé! I’m
not marrying anyone at the moment,” Austin nearly shouted back. “Even if I were
… it’s none of your business, Winslow.”

“Everything about Savannah is my
business,” he said threateningly, pushing back against Austin’s chest in anger.

Courtney jumped quickly between the
two, her head only coming to their ribs. With a fiery look in her eyes, she
glared intently at both Austin and Robert. “Cool it! Nothing is going to be
solved doing this
manly
thing,” she said. “Savannah appears to be all of
our business at the moment. We’ve been friends our entire life.”

Austin stepped back, taking a deep
breath, calming himself. While he was sure, farm boy that he was, he could take
Robert Winslow down in a second; obviously they were incredibly good and loyal
friends to Savannah. And if they loved her as much as they appeared to, they
had much in common. Changing his mind about Robert Winslow, however, would take
some getting used to.

“Listen to me and listen well,” he
commanded, his eyes boring into theirs. “I have zero feelings for Elise. To be
honest, I barely know her. It was a favor to her father that I even gave her an
opportunity to do a very limited amount of P.R. on the east coast. You should
know that, Courtney.”

She reluctantly nodded. “And she’s
not very good,” she couldn’t help add. Austin nodded, silently agreeing with
her assessment.

“I have no intention, nor did I
ever have any intentions of marrying Elise. It never
ever
crossed my
mind.” When they both reluctantly nodded their heads, he pressed. “I need to
find Savannah. Why isn’t she here? I would have thought she’d be spending
Christmas with you,” he said, looking pointedly at Courtney.

Robert answered instead, “She was
supposed to spend Christmas with my family but, uh, backed out. Which, given
the circumstances, I can understand.”

Courtney’s face blushed once again
and then blanched as she realized that Austin didn’t know. Turning toward him
she said, “She’s gone.”

“What do you mean,
gone
?”

“She didn’t want to impose on
anyone any longer. She’s left.”

“Left, where? I’ll not have her
spending Christmas alone this year,” he nearly shouted.

“It’s too late,” she said, tears
glistening at the corner of her eyes. “I tried everything I could to talk her
out of it but she can be rather stubborn …”

“Courtney,” Austin interrupted
harshly, “Where is she?”

“She’s in Minneapolis. She left
early to take a job at Target. She called her relocation specialist and told
them to lease an apartment close to the Target Towers, sight unseen. She
brought nothing with her. Everything is still in storage. You know how she is,
everything is sentimental. It isn’t like her to be this spontaneous, leaving everything
she values behind.”

Austin was already throwing on his
coat and heading for the door. “Text the address to my phone,” he commanded and
within two strides, he was jerking open the door to the hallway.

“Are you going where I think you’re
going?” Courtney called loudly as he made his way to the elevator.

“What do you think?” he said as he
slipped into the elevator, punching the floor numbers ruthlessly. Courtney’s
expression turned quickly from concern to utter radiance as she glanced across
the hall to the neighbor who’d once again opened the door and was glaring at
her. “Merry Christmas,” she said gleefully if not a little spitefully.

Savannah sat on the inexpensive and
hard sofa in her new, furnished apartment. Minneapolis was frigid. She hadn’t been
prepared for the blast of freezing air she’d encountered upon arrival; her
lungs felt instantly frozen as she’d inhaled her first breath of air running
from the airport to her waiting taxi.  Yet once in the cab, she couldn’t
help but appreciate her first glimpse of the winter wonderland.

It was Christmas Eve night. And she
was alone with nothing to do. She wasn’t tired, couldn’t sleep. She’d tried
reading, but couldn’t focus, she’d tried music, but it had become annoying,
there wasn’t anything on television and the Christmas movies she could stream
from the Cloud would only make her feel worse.

She had more than a week to settle
in to the new city before beginning her job … that wasn’t any longer a job. As
all companies do, there had been a shift. The people who had presented the
offer to her were no longer with the company, therefore, the division they were
creating, no longer existed. Target, however, had generously offered a
consultant roll for similar services. While it was a change, it was one that suited
her far better she’d realized; it left her more flexibility to plan her future.

In the meantime, she had her own
place again. It was a little one bedroom apartment. It had a nice sized window,
with a view. The view, though, was of the next building mere feet away. Even
so, it hadn’t mattered to her, knowing she would be traveling more than she’d
ever be here.

Padding into the tiny kitchen as
the teapot she’d picked up at the Target corporate store, accessible via sky bridge,
whistled. Adding another peppermint tea bag to her mug, she poured the boiling
water over it as a loud knock sounded at her door, making her jump, nearly
scalding herself in the process. Supposing it was the apartment manager with
yet more papers to sign or rules to be explained, she quickly crossed the room
to the front door.

Peering through the peek hole, her
heart stopped. Blinking her eyes furiously as she looked again through the tiny
hole, not trusting what she was seeing. A louder knock ensued, making her bump
her head against the door.

Rubbing it, she opened it.

“Sorry, I thought you might be
sleeping,” he grinned.

“Austin,” she breathed, her face
breaking into a dazzling smile. “What are you doing here?”

But before she could finish her
question, he slipped inside, closed the door and gathered her tightly into his
arms, swinging her around until they both bumped into the wall encasing a
miniscule area one might call an entry.

“Merry Christmas,” he said kissing
her on both cheeks and then both eyes as they began to tear up.

She couldn’t return his greeting.
Overcome with emotion, she buried her head in Austin’s thick coat and scarf. He
placed his hand on the back of her head, holding her close until she could get
control.

“Are you ready?” he asked with a
wicked grin.

“For what?”

“I have our chartered plane
waiting. If you hurry, we can be home for Christmas before the sun is up.”

Savannah’s smile dimmed as she
backed away from him, pulling her sweatshirt down over her jeans.

“I’m not going anywhere, Austin.
This is my home now.”

Austin’s heart broke as she backed
away and he saw the crushing, unfamiliar vulnerability in her eyes. She’d
always been strong. Even as she lost everything, she’d been strong. But she was
breaking now and to think he’d only made it worse, was heart wrenching. He’d
never felt such a desire to protect anyone in his life. Treading carefully, he
walked a space into the living area and small alcove which housed a table and
two chairs.

“It’s nice,” he said looking
around.

She laughed without humor as she
straightened her hair over her shoulders.

“It’ll do,” she agreed. “I’ll be
gone more than I’m here.”

“I really like the textures and
color palette you’ve chosen,” he said to which she began to smile and then
chuckle with a bubbling and contagious amusement.

“You remember?” she asked,
referring to the many conversations they’d had early in their relationship when
they’d shopped for the furnishings for his home. At that thought, she
immediately became serious again.

“What are you really doing here,
Austin?” she questioned.

He looked at her for several
moments and waited for her eyes to meet his. “I came for you.”

Her breath caught as again, tears
threatened. She wasn’t up to this emotional reunion.

“You have Elise …” she whispered.

“I’ve never had Elise.
Ever
,”
he said for the second time that day. “Nor have I ever
wanted
, Elise,”
he insisted when she began to interrupt. “I will be very interested in what you
have to say about all that because it’s all news to me. Truthfully, the thought
of her and I never even crossed my mind. I’m not attracted to her in the least.
In fact, I only hired her as a favor to her father.”

Savannah became confused. “But Lois
said …”

“Listen, Savannah, I don’t know
what Lois or anyone else said, but Elise has never been a part of my life and
never
will be
a part of my life. I am in love … but not with her.”

As the impact of what he’d said
registered into her muddled and confusing thoughts, she looked back up into his
eyes. “You are?”

“I am,” he said, once again coming
near, cupping her cheeks into his wide palms, “I’m in love with you, Savannah.”
And as her tears began to flow, he continued, “I have been since I first
watched you stuffing pumpkins into bags.”

She laughed through her tears but
couldn’t help correct, “it was straw,” she said as he brought her face closer
to his, kissing her wet lips, wiping the tears from her eyes.

“What about you?” he finally took a
breath to ask.

“Me?” she answered dreamily.

Leaning back so he good look into her
eyes, “Yes, you. I thought you were with Robert Winslow.”

“Oh, that,” she said, guiltily
pulling back. “I meant to tell you.”

He closed the space between them in
half a step, “No need. I already know.”

“You do?”

“How do you think I knew where to
find you?”

“Oh … of course. I hadn’t stopped
to think.”

“Understandable. Now, get your
things, the plane’s waiting and it’s beginning to snow. We’re going home for
Christmas, Savannah. And when we get there, I have a very important question to
ask you.”