The Patricia Kiyono Christmas Collection

Smashwords
Edition

Published by esKape
Press

www.eskapepress.com

All Rights
Reserved

Copyright © 2015 PATRICIA
KIYONO

Cover Art Design by For the
Muse Design

This is a work of fiction. Names, places,
characters, and events are fictitious in every regard. Any
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Also by Patricia Kiyono

From EsKape Press:

Christmas Wishes

Christmas Journey

Searching for Lady Luck

The Partridge and the Peartree

Two Tutor Doves

From Astraea Press:

The Legacy

The Christmas Phoenix

Aegean Intrigue

The Partridge and the Peartree

The Samurai’s Garden

The Calico Heart (with Stephanie Michels)

Love’s Refrain

The Friendship Star Quilt (with Stephanie
Michels)

Operation Rhombus (short story included in
the Love and Diamonds anthology)

From Open Book Romances:

Autumn Vows (short story included in the
Autumn’s Kiss anthology)

Dedication

For Lauren, Morgan,
Gabriel, Scott, Karlie, Abby, Evelyn, Bridget, and Tristan. You’ve
made the last twenty-two Christmases extra special. It has been
among my greatest joys to watch all of you grow.

Be good to your parents, as they have all
been good to Grandpa and me.

And may Christ’s birthday
always hold a place of honor in your hearts.

I pray for each of you every day.

Love to you all, Grandma

M
itch Carson studied
the nutrition
labels on the boxes of cereal in front of him, wanting to choose
wisely, but six-year-old Angie kept pulling on his arm.

“
Daddy, I have to go to the
bathroom.”

“
There’s no bathroom here,
sweetness. You’ve got to wait.”

“
I can’t wait, Daddy. I
need to go now.”

Mitch threw a box of cereal into the cart,
hoping it wouldn’t taste too much like cardboard. He took Angie’s
hand and headed toward the checkout lanes. “I’m sorry, honey, but I
can’t go in the bathroom with you, and you’re not going in there
alone. Besides, we’ll be home in just ten minutes.”

“
Daddy, I can’t wait ten
minutes.” She hopped up and down, her face strained with
discomfort.

Mitch grimaced. Why did this always happen
when they were out of the house? He was searching for the words to
reassure her again when a gentle feminine voice spoke.

“
The bathroom is right over
here, behind the meat counter.”

Mitch looked up into a pair of wide green
eyes. Exotic and enticing, yet capable and compassionate. The eyes
were set in a small heart-shaped face and surrounded by a cloud of
honey blonde hair. He closed his mouth before he embarrassed
himself by drooling. And he tried very hard to keep his voice from
squeaking as he answered.

“
Thanks, but I can take her
home.”

“
Daddy, I need to go!”
Angie continued her hopping, clearly uncomfortable.

“
It’s a nice bathroom, and
they keep it very clean,” the blonde told him. She disappeared into
the doorway she’d indicated and then came right back. “No one’s
using it now, so you can go in and help her if you
want.”

“
Daddy? Please?” Angie’s
face was starting to turn red. “I can do it myself.”

Mitch swallowed. If the restroom was empty
and he stood outside the door, nothing bad could happen to her,
right? “Okay, sweetness. I’ll be right here.”

Angie dashed into the restroom, and the
blonde started to take off.

“
Uh, thanks for your help,”
he called after her.

The blonde curls tossed as she turned back
to him with a grin. “No problem at all. I’m Sophie Gardner, by the
way. Are you just passing through Zutphen, or are you new
here?”

“
New, I guess. We moved
here in August. Mitch Carson.” He held out his hand.

She placed a tiny hand in his. “You’ve been
here over two months and I haven’t met you until now? The
small-town grapevine must be rusty. Welcome to Zutphen. You have an
adorable daughter.”

“
Thanks. I can’t argue with
that.” He’d been welcomed by other residents, but for some reason,
the words from this particular woman made him feel almost giddy
with pleasure. He turned when the bathroom door opened, and Angie
came out, much happier than when she’d gone in. Her gap-tooth grin
made his heart swell with pride.

Strange, but his usual
apprehension when his daughter was out of his sight hadn’t seemed
so intense with this lady by his side. It would be so nice to share
the parenting responsibilities with someone.
No,
he reminded himself,
I’ve got to do this myself. At least, I’ve got to
try.

The blonde — Sophie, she’d said her name was
— went on her way, and he fought off the urge to call her back. In
a town as small as Zutphen, he’d run into her again.

Mitch took Angie’s hand and grimaced at her
wet palm. “Um, did you wash your hands, sweetie?”

Angie nodded. “Yes, but I didn’t dry them,
‘cuz I couldn’t reach the paper towels.”

Mitch groaned. He went into the restroom and
pulled a few sheets of paper towel out of the dispenser, used one
for his own hands, and passed another to Angie. With Angie’s needs
taken care of, he paid for his groceries and got them home. He
still had to figure out how to make this stuff into dinner.

Back in his previous life, they’d had a cook
and a housekeeper. He hadn’t had to worry about meals — they just
appeared on the table in front of him at a specific time. Or, if he
was off on assignment, they’d be in the refrigerator when he
got home. But in Zutphen, cooks and housekeepers weren’t knocking
down the walls looking for a position. People did their own cooking
and cleaning. Besides, his income wasn’t nearly as large as when
Sarah had been alive. While he’d enjoyed a measure of success as a
news photographer, Sarah had been the one who’d brought home the
bacon, so to speak. Her on-camera persona had paid for the
high-rise penthouse, the vacation home, the live-in maid, a nanny
for Angie, and all the other goodies. Now they had to live on his
income alone.

After Sarah’s death, he’d decided he’d had
enough of the big city life and had come to the tiny town of
Zutphen, Michigan. His uncle had sold him the property, and he’d
decided to settle there. The people were friendly, the air was
clean, and the house was in decent shape. There was enough room for
a portrait studio, and with the settlement from Sarah’s insurance
policy, he’d done the renovations. He’d figured that would allow
him to spend more time with Angie. But he’d underestimated all the
skills it would take to raise a six-year-old girl. Pigtails had
been the special challenge of the morning. Coordinating outfits had
been the previous day’s struggle. And now, he had to deal with
dinner. They couldn’t go out to eat every single night of the
week.

Maybe he wasn’t cut out to
be a single father. His mother-in-law had made no bones about her
belief that he was incapable of raising a daughter alone.
“Who will teach her how to behave? How to dress
appropriately? Who is going to show her how to be a part of
society?”
Mitch had been eager to prove he
was equal to the task. Every barb had convinced him more that he
didn’t want his daughter to be a clone of Melinda Lester
Billingsworth.

Back at the house, he stared at the food on
the counter. He had a pound of ground beef. The easiest thing to do
would be to make hamburgers. He split the meat into four equal
parts and threw them into the frying pan on the stove. He turned
the heat up to high, figuring that would make the meat cook
faster.

“
Daddy?”

“
What,
sweetheart?”

“
Can I be in the Christmas
pageant at church? Mrs. Feenstra said practices are gonna start
next Wednesday.”

“
Okay. I suppose that would
be all right. When is the program?”

“
It’s on the Sunday before
Christmas. They’re going to have practices every Sunday after
Sunday School, and on Wednesday nights, too. My friend Jennie told
me during Sunday School.”

“
Oh. Okay.” Jennie’s
family, the VandenBergs, were friendly people and he’d come to
trust them enough to let Angie go to church with them. It had been
a challenge, establishing himself in the tight-knit community. He’d
learned that the area had been settled by Dutch immigrants in the
last century, which accounted for the predominance of family names
starting with the last five letters of the alphabet.

“
I think I might need a
costume or something.”

“
A costume?” How would he
manage that?

“
Yeah. Last year Jennie was
an angel and her mom made her a costume. Will you make me a
costume?”

“
Um, probably not, but
maybe we can pay someone to make one for you.”

“
Okay. Jennie’s mom sews
really cool stuff. She made Jennie’s Halloween costume. She was a
princess and she had a really pretty dress.”

“
That’s nice.”