The Best Christmas Ever

“Come in.” He stepped back. “Mickie is next door playing. She’ll be home in a little while.”

“Sent her off so she wouldn’t see the fireworks?” Sarah replied nastily.

“Yes.”

That one word seemed to deflate Sarah. She let out a long sigh, raked a hand through her hair, then finally walked in. Justin didn’t wait for her but continued to the kitchen, where he had juice and coffee waiting. He poured her both before hooking a kitchen stool with his foot and pulling it out. Slipping onto it, he indicated the one across from him.

He watched Sarah glance around and wondered what she saw. Little had changed since Amy. The kitchen was still a cozy little place for family meetings.

That’s one reason Amy had liked it so much. Modem, with tiles, yellow paint and pale corn-silk flowers on the pastel printed wallpaper, it gave off a feeling of homeyness. A small table for four sat near a picture window that afforded a view of a large backyard and the forest beyond that. The appliances were new, with a small snack bar separating the breakfast area from the actual cooking area.

Did Sarah wonder if he and Amy had eaten their dinner in here or out in the more formal dining room? If they’d had intimate chats in the evening, staring out the window as the sun slowly sank beneath the trees? She was in for a surprise if she thought that.

One of the things Justin truly regretted was there had been none of that. He’d always been too busy to sit down and spend any time with his wife. The melancholy of that inconsideration tried to grab hold of him, but he shook it off. Better to get down to business with Sarah before she decided to get defensive again.

“I need help.”

“I’ve never doubted that.”

He smiled at her quick comeback. “My sitter quit. I can’t find anyone on such short notice and I have to go to the office today. I’m very picky about whom I leave Mickie with. As you might guess, losing a parent is very hard on a child so small. Even though it’s been two years now, Mickie is still not over her mother’s death. She needs stability, someone who can be here for her when I’m not.”

Justin fiddled with his coffee cup, staring into the depths of it before raising his gaze back to her.

“I know being a housekeeper-sitter is way beneath your training, but I have a proposition. I want you to work here—live here, too, as a matter of fact. That way, if any emergencies come up and I have to go out of town, someone will be here. The pay is good, but not as good as you would make as a legal assistant. However, while working here, you would be tree to send out your résumés and seek a better paying position more in keeping with your experience. All I ask is that any interviews be set up at a time when I’m free to be here with Mickie, and that when you do quit, you give me at least a month’s notice so I can find another housekeeper and let Mickie get used to her before you leave.”

Sarah stared at Justin, certain her mouth hung open. In one hand he offered her a job, but only until she could find something else. What did the other hand hold? The hatchet if she blundered? Did he realize how awful his offer sounded? Or had he only been trying to help her and had accidentally made it sound as though he didn’t want her around?

Evidently, she’d voiced her opinions, because Justin responded.

“That’s not the way I meant it. I simply meant you’d be doing me a great favor by helping me out. Look, Sarah, I know we never got along before, but you’re family. Can we at least try—for Mickie’s sake?”

Sarah swallowed. For Mickie’s sake? Well, what did she expect? That Justin would say he had been wrong in the past, wrong because of all the pain he had caused her family? He’d come to them and told them he was sorry for what had happened, had even offered compensation and jobs…and married Amy, too. If that didn’t show he felt remorseful, what did? But she’d never believed it. She’d thought he should pay for everything that had happened and have no happiness. She’d made it her crusade to make his life miserable, and she had succeeded. If rumor could be believed, he and Amy had been having problems. Amy had never said anything to her, but Sarah wondered now if it was because of all the grief she herself had caused him whenever she was around.

Guiltily, Sarah looked away from the deep brown eyes that stared at her with such intensity. She needed to let go of the past. Wasn’t that just the reason she’d come yesterday? Justin was offering to let her look for a job while she worked for him. That was it. Very simple. A way to put the past where it belonged, while proving herself trustworthy.

It galled her, though, to feel that she was taking charity.

As if reading her mind, Justin said quietly, “I’m family, Sarah. Let me help you.”

She swallowed her humiliation. She would take the job, but she would make sure that she earned every penny of her pay. “Very well.”

He expelled a great breath. “Fantastic.”

When he named her salary her eyes widened in shock. “You can’t be serious. That’s too much.” Her temper rose again. She didn’t think housekeepers made that in a month and she didn’t like that he thought she was an idiot. After all, how hard could housekeeping and taking care of a child be? She had kept her own house.

“I assure you, Sarah, for cooking, cleaning and taking care of a child, that’s the going rate. If you don’t believe me, you can call Bill.”

Studying him, she decided he was telling the truth. In any event it didn’t matter. She was going to make sure she earned her paycheck, with no room for questions.

“Is it a deal?”

“It’s a deal.”

“Okay. Uh, well, do we need to get clothes, car, anything like that?”

Sarah burned with embarrassment. “Most of my clothes are in a suitcase at the shelter. I do have a few boxes in a storage area that’s paid up through next month.”

Sarah hated that she’d had to admit such a thing to this man. But he hadn’t said anything or given her the slightest reason to think he pitied her. If he had, she would have walked out, despite her desperation for needing the job.

“You can pick them up whenever you’re ready.” He strode over to a door leading to the garage, where he lifted a key off a hook on a piece of wood shaped like a small house. He brought it back to her. “This is to the car. I’ll drive the four-by-four to work—and don’t object. We’re low on groceries. If you have time today, you’ll need to go shopping. Consider free use of my car part of the job.” He opened his wallet and pulled out some money.

Sarah’s eyes widened.

“This is your first month’s salary plus household expenses. The other housekeeper just took the money and as we needed supplies or whatever she paid for them out of an account she’d set up in her own name. There was a box in the office, where she kept all her receipts and stuff. However, if you’d prefer not to have a separate household account, you can buy whatever you feel the house or Mickie needs, then I’ll reimburse you.”

“No, that’s fine. I—I’ve never done this before. It’ll take me a week or two to learn my way around.”

“I would expect no less.”

“Fine.”

“Fine.”

They stared at each other for what seemed like minutes before Sarah broke the stare. “Well, I—”

“Sarah,” he said softly.

His hand came to rest on her shoulder to keep her from walking away.

“I hope this will be a time to heal for you, me…us. We need to let go of the past and go on.”

Sarah couldn’t turn around and face him right now. She could not talk about this because she knew her face would give away her feelings. She was attracted to this man. Had she been before her sister had died? She couldn’t face that question and certainly couldn’t face him as she wondered about it. So instead she simply nodded. “I agree.”

When she still didn’t turn around Justin dropped his hand.

“When will Mickie be home?”

“Any time. I need to go up and change. I have some important work that must be finished today. But let me show you around first.”

Sarah followed but heard little of what Justin actually said. Her mind was on the agreement she’d just made. She would be here for at least one month and she already wondered if this might be a mistake. Would she be able to live in the same house her sister had lived in, with a man who had loved her sister but destroyed her family’s business? The same man she found herself undeniably attracted to?

Well, the room definitely reminded Sarah of Amy’s taste in decor. Amy had loved greens and yellows.

Sarah walked around the large suite that included a living room and bedroom. Decorated in her sister’s favorite colors, it wasn’t exactly her taste—she preferred earth tones—but she couldn’t deny it was more than she’d had this morning. She could thank God she once again had a roof over her head, even if a man who still despised her had offered it.

Well, Father, she whispered, studying the nice-sized double bed covered in a forest green spread, Show me what I must do to prove to this man I’m sorry for the past. Help me to restore his trust in me again. It’s important that I at least right that wrong so Mickie won’t suffer any pain.

Sarah wondered again if she was a fool coming here like this. But when faced with the shocking news of her infertility and the cruelties of André’s family after he’d left on a trip to sort everything out, she’d suddenly realized how much she regretted breaking off all contact with Mickie.

True, Amy had married Justin at their parents’ urging, but it was possible she had come to love Justin, while Sarah had still blamed him for everything that had happened to her family. She owed it to Amy and Mickie to try to get to know him.

She remembered that time long ago when she’d first seen him, how attractive she’d thought him when he’d come to the office. Then she’d found out he wasn’t one of the underlings from the company that had just destroyed her parents’ lives but the actual owner. He and his partner had taken over the business. Her mother had been too torn up to come in and her father too ill from the shock of losing a business that had been in the family for a hundred years. As the market had changed, so had their family changed the goal of the business. It had been her father’s idea to turn the main part of the organization toward producing computer software components.

When he’d lost the company, he’d suffered a mild heart attack. Amy hadn’t been keen on working in the office so Sarah had gone in to handle the business until whatever flunky the new owner would be sending showed up and officially took over.

The man who arrived hadn’t been the rude jerk who had so cruelly laughed in her father’s face when he’d demanded protection for the workers, but a much more handsome, kinder-looking man. But when she’d heard his name…

Sarah shook her head, wondering why she now remembered that she had been the first sister to find this man attractive.

And a few months later, he’d shown up at the door, apologizing for the way the takeover had been handled and offering reimbursement for those who had been let go with no warning.

Her family had been forgiving, willing to welcome him into their house. She hadn’t been. They’d had no savings left because of her father’s medical bills and because of the bonuses her family had given to help those very families Justin had mentioned. Then, when Justin had asked Amy out, her father had encouraged her to accept his invitations. Her father had formed a grudging but genuine respect for Justin. And perhaps he felt the business might stay in the family if Justin took a liking to Amy and married her, Sarah had often thought.

That had been the beginning of Sarah’s separation from her family. She hadn’t been able to handle her parents attitude or Amy’s submissive acquiescence. She’d moved out almost immediately rather than face Justin and Amy together.

Looking back, Sarah realized part of moving out and breaking off her relations with her family had grown from her horror of the attraction she felt for the man who had, in her opinion, destroyed her family.

While she’d stubbornly hidden herself away, dear sweet Amy, who had always done exactly as her parents wished, had married Justin.

Now, though, Sarah had to wonder if perhaps Amy hadn’t fallen in love with Justin.

Actually, she didn’t want to think of that possibility at all. She didn’t want to know. She corrected herself. Yes, she did want to know but didn’t think she’d like the answer. She blushed, aware she shouldn’t feel this way unless she was still attracted to the man!

Forcing her mind from those thoughts, she started toward the stairs to start lunch. Justin had said he’d be home by two and she wanted to make sure she couldn’t be accused of easing off, even the first day of work.

“I’m home!”

The shout came from downstairs. Sarah smiled. “I’m up here, Mickie.”

The little girl came clattering up the stairs. Sarah met her in the hall. Mickie halted abruptly and her expression turned shy. “Where’s Daddy?”

“He’s at work. Didn’t he tell you?”

Mickie twisted her right foot from side to side. “I thought he might be back by now.”

Sarah smiled at the little girl and started to reach out for her.

“You left last night without saying goodbye,” the little girl admonished, stepping back so she could look Sarah in the eyes.

Sarah blinked, her smile leaving her face. Kneeling in front of Mickie, she took her hands. “That’s right. I did. I didn’t want to wake you. I’m sorry if it made you sad.”

Mickie shrugged. “Mama did the same thing.”

Sarah’s heart twisted.

Mickie raised her questioning gaze to Sarah’s. “Daddy said you’re going to be living here. You’re going to be the new housekeeper, and you’ll make me peanut butter sandwiches with grape jelly. Is that what you were doing up here? Moving in?”

The innocence of children. Sarah nodded. “I’m going to be in the old housekeeper’s room in case you ever need anything. And yes, I’ll be taking care of you when you’re home from school.”

She stood and held out her hand. “But I have to wonder if your daddy said that part about grape jelly-and-peanut butter sandwiches.”

Mickie wrinkled her freckled little nose. “Well, actually, Daddy said peanut butter sandwiches, but I like the grape jelly so I added that.”

Her little hand warmly clasped Sarah’s as they started down the stairs. “Well, what if I get you a snack of crackers with peanut butter and grape jelly then I’ll make whatever you want for lunch. Your daddy will be back by then and we can have a big meal, then a smaller one tonight.”

“You’ll be here tonight?”

Sarah didn’t pause, though she shuddered at the insecurities the young child must have felt since her mother’s death. “I promise.” Changing the subject, she asked, “What do you want me to make for dinner?”

In the kitchen she found the peanut butter and set it out with crackers while Mickie found the jelly.

“Fried chicken.”

Sarah paused in scooping out the peanut butter into a small bowl. “Fried chicken?” She should have limited her offer to anything baked. She hated frying.

“And a chocolate coconut cake for dessert.”

Sarah shook her head ruefully. She should have known. Amy had had a sweet tooth, too. “Well, I can do the fried chicken, but I’m not sure about the cake.”

Mickie frowned. She studied the crackers before looking back up at Sarah. “Chocolate coconut cake is my daddy’s favorite. The only time he gets it is if he makes it. But he doesn’t ever have time. Mommy used to make fried chicken and chocolate coconut cake for dessert. I know Daddy would just love it.” She slanted a look up at Sarah. “And so would I.”

Sarah sighed. She handed the plate of snacks to Mickie, then poured her a glass of milk. “I’ll see what I can do. So, you like coconut, do you?”

Mickie immediately denied it. “I don’t. But Daddy does. I just pick it off the top.”

So she really was thinking about her daddy. Sarah had thought the child was using a ploy. She still wasn’t sure if she was or not. But she found that right now it didn’t matter. After taking the chicken from the freezer, she set it in the microwave and punched the buttons to thaw it out. “What’s so special about today that you want to fix your daddy’s favorite meal.”

Mickie shrugged. “He can’t cook. I miss Mama’s cooking. Can’t you cook like her?”

Ah, Sarah thought. Emotions about her sister washed over her. Her sister, the quiet one, the domestic one, the one who had always been so perfect. “Not as well. But if your daddy is starving for good home-cooked meals—” Sarah winked at Mickie to hide the pain she felt “—then I suppose I can cook a few good meals for you both.”

Mickie smiled, satisfied.

Relieved, Sarah smiled back. The questions from a five-year-old who would very soon be six—in less than three months, in fact—had been harder than she’d anticipated. Still, it looked as though baby-sitting her was going to be easy. Sarah had survived her first test and had been accepted. How much harder could it be?

Chapter Four

“What in the world! Mickie, what have you gotten into?”

Sarah stared in horror at the living room and dining room. White powder dusted everything. Following the trail to the dining-room table, she found Mickie standing in a chair with toy cooking utensils, covered in white from head to toe.

“I was making a cake, since you were busy cooking chicken.”

Mickie sneezed, then wiped a grimy hand across her face, smearing the white stuff again. She shook her head and a white cloud was released from her formerly brown hair.

“But I told you I’d try to get to it!” Sarah stared blankly at the mess. It was going to take her an hour to clean this up and there was no telling when Justin would be home.

Mickie’s shoulders drooped. “I was only trying to help.”

Realizing she had hurt Mickie’s feelings released Sarah from her inability to react. She went forward and, with only a small reluctance at how dirty she was going to get, gathered Mickie in her arms. “It’s okay. Let’s go upstairs and run you some bathwater, then I’ll clean up the mess.”

“I just wanted Daddy to have a cake. He says I’m his little helper.”

“It’s okay. Really. But maybe next time,” Sarah said, going upstairs, “we should do this together. Until you can prove to me you know how,” she added, and filled the tub for Mickie.

“Mrs. Winters never would let me. She doesn’t like messes.”

“Well,” Sarah said, stripping the little girl and helping her into the tub, “I don’t mind a mess if we do it together. You see, that’s the only way to learn. Now, if you promise not to try it by yourself again, maybe next week we can make some cookies together.”

Mickie’s eyes lit with excitement. “Really?”

“Really.”

Sarah quickly washed Mickie’s hair, then allowed Mickie to finish up. When she was done, she dried her off. “Can you pick out your clothes by yourself?”

Mickie gave her an exasperated look. “I’m not a baby,” she said. “I’ll be six January 10.”

Sarah bit back a smile. “Of course. I’ll be downstairs cleaning up the dining room. The chicken is done. I only have to finish vegetables and potatoes to finish. You can go get out three plates and the silverware while I clean up and finish fixing dinner.”

Evidently, Mickie thought she had the better of the two deals, because she didn’t argue.

Sarah reentered the dining room and dismally surveyed the white mess. What to do first?

She sighed. Deciding just to wade in, she gathered the play dishes and the tin of flour, which Mickie had somehow sneaked out of the kitchen, and set them all back in their places. After returning to the dining room, she simply swept all the flour onto the floor. Then she wiped down the table and china cabinet and every other piece of furniture that looked to have received a dusting of flour.

Once she’d moved the chairs out of the way, she pulled out the vacuum cleaner and began to vacuum. Mickie came in to set the table. “Place mats and napkins,” Sarah said, nodding to where she’d set them out on the beautiful mahogany table.

Sarah had to stop twice to check the potatoes and vegetables she had boiling and then to mash the potatoes.

Then she had to change vacuum bags.

She was getting tired by the time she reached the living room. That was how she explained her accident. Why else would she trip over the vacuum cord, unless all the dusting and vacuuming was tiring her? That and the fact the vacuum cleaner Justin owned weighed almost a ton. He really should have one of those lightweight models, not the monster that made her huff with exertion when using it. Add that to the fact that she hadn’t stopped running around since Mickie had entered the house three hours ago and an accident was obviously waiting to happen.

So, it was natural that, as she swept toward the entryway, her shoe tripped her up over the cord.

She squawked in surprise and went flying backward.

Windmilling, grabbing for purchase, Sarah teetered before succumbing to gravity. I’ll probably end up with a broken neck. Then Justin will gloat over just how unfit a parent I would make!

With one last effort to catch herself before she ended up splitting her head on the floor, she twisted. Instead of ground, a hard dark object arrested her mid-flight.

The dark object grunted.

In her peripheral vision she saw a briefcase go flying. Strong arms wrapped around her. Her rescuer teetered before both she and her victim continued their fall to the floor.

Splat.

The cessation of noise proved even more telling than her screech when she’d started down.

In the moment it took her to orient herself, she registered several things. The body beside hers was warm and comforting—one arm was still wrapped around her shoulders—and he was in good shape.

She lifted her gaze from the white shirt and tie to Justin’s sardonic expression.

She smiled weakly, wondering how to apologize.

He spoke first. “Don’t you think you’re taking this housekeeping job just a little too seriously?”

“Daddy!”

Hearing Mickie’s voice, Sarah immediately scrambled off Justin. “I’m so sorry. We had a little accident and I was sweeping. I wasn’t paying attention to where I was going and got tangled up in the cord.”

He stood, dusted off his suit, then scooped Mickie up in his arms. “Hiya, pumpkin,” he said, bussing her cheek.

Sarah winced at how Mickie was dressed. Blue striped shorts with an orange checked top. Justin blinked, cast a glance at Sarah, then returned his attention to Mickie.

She squeezed his neck. “Sarah made your favorite meal but we didn’t have time to bake a cake. I tried but made a mess, instead, and Aunt Sarah cleaned it up while I set the table.”

Justin raised an eyebrow and scanned the room. He hugged Mickie again before setting her down. “My favorite meal, huh?” He made a big show of sniffing the air. “Fried chicken?”

Mickie laughed and nodded.

“That’s great! Go upstairs and wash up. Let me get my briefcase and change. Then we’ll eat.”

Mickie immediately ran upstairs.

Justin gathered the contents of his briefcase and Sarah belatedly helped him. “So what’s the special occasion?” he asked as he snapped the lid shut.

Sarah fidgeted. She hadn’t expected to be questioned on what she had prepared. “I told Mickie I’d make her anything she wanted. And fried chicken with chocolate coconut cake was her choice.”

An indefinable emotion crossed Justin’s features before he sighed.

“Did I do something wrong?” Sarah asked, ill at ease with the unnamed emotion she’d seen.

“No.” He shook his head.

“I know Mickie was young when Amy died, but she still remembers Amy in her own way. Certain things stand out in her mind, while others have faded. But one thing she remembers is one of the last big meals Amy, Mickie and I shared together as a family. It was fried chicken and a cake for dessert. Amy had made it for my birthday. It’s not that it’s my favorite, though I do love chicken. But in her mind…”