The two friends continued down the avenue, weaving in and out of the crowd. Emily, too, carried packages and bags.
“I still can’t imagine you living in New York City and actually loving it, especially after all those years in Leavenworth,” Faith said. She was happy for Emily and Ray, but she’d been astonished when Emily had announced last spring that she was moving across the country.
“What I discovered is that New York is just a collection of small communities. There’s Brooklyn and SoHo and the Village and Little Italy and Harlem and more.”
“What about teaching? Is that any different?”
Emily shook her head. “Children are children, and the kindergartners here are just like the ones in Leavenworth. Okay, so they might be a bit more sophisticated, but in many ways five-year-olds are the same everywhere.”
“What’s new with Ray?”
Emily’s lips turned up in a soft smile. “He works too hard. He brings his work home with him and spends far too many hours at the office, but according to everyone I’ve met, he’s better now than ever.”
“Better?”
Her friend blushed. “Happier.”
“That,” said Faith, “is what regular sex will do for you.”
“Faith.” Emily nudged her and laughed.
“It certainly worked with Charles.”
“If you’re going to talk about your love life, I don’t want to hear it.”
Faith enjoyed watching Emily blush. She’d never seen her this radiant. Life had certainly taken an interesting turn for them both, she reflected. Just a year earlier, they’d been lonely and depressed, facing the holidays alone. A mere twelve months later, each was married—and, to pile happiness on top of happiness, they were practically sisters now. Faith’s baby was due in March, and Charles was about as excited as a man could get at the prospect of becoming a father.
His mother was pretty pleased with herself, too. Faith and Emily had both come to love Bernice Brewster. She’d waited nearly seventy years for daughters, and she lavished her daughters-in-law with gifts and occasional bits of motherly wisdom and advice. Well, perhaps more than occasional, but Faith had no objection and she doubted Emily did, either.
“When will Heather get here?” Faith asked, looking forward to seeing her.
“Tomorrow afternoon. She’s taking the train down.”
“How is she?”
Emily rearranged her shopping bags. “Heather’s doing really well.”
“Did you ever find out what happened with Elijah and the ill-fated Florida trip? I know she didn’t want to talk about it for a while….”
Emily frowned. “Apparently he drank too much and he didn’t like to eat in real restaurants. His idea of fine dining was a hot dog at a roadside stand. In addition to all that, he apparently had a roving eye, which Heather didn’t approve of.”
“That girl always was high maintenance,” Faith teased. “What about her and Ben?”
“Who knows?” Emily said with a shrug. “She claims they’re just friends but they seem to spend a lot of time together. Ben’s going on to law school after graduation.”
“Good for him.”
“He might come down and spend Christmas with us, too.”
“You’ll have a houseful, with Heather and maybe Ben.” Despite the invitation to spend Christmas in New York at their apartment, Charles and Faith had booked a room at the Warwick Hotel. Bernice was due to arrive, as well. She, of course, would be staying at the Plaza.
Faith doubted there was anyplace more romantic than New York at Christmastime.
She and Emily walked into the Warwick and down the steps to the small lobby. Ray and Charles stood when they came into the room. Even now, after all these months, Faith’s heart fluttered at the sight of her husband. His eyes brightened when he saw her. The unexpected happiness she’d discovered last Christmas had never left. Instead, it had blossomed and grown. She was loved beyond measure by a man who was worthy of her devotion.
“Looks like you bought out Saks Fifth Avenue,” Charles said as he took the packages from her hands.
“Just the baby department, but Charles, I couldn’t help myself. Everything was so cute.”
“Buying anything is a big mistake,” Ray told them, helping Emily with her shopping bags. “Mother’s waited all these years to spoil her first grandchild. My guess is she has stock in Toys ‘R’ Us by now.”
“Don’t forget a certain aunt and uncle, too,” Emily murmured.
Faith wrapped her arm around Charles’s and laid her head against his shoulder.
Emily read her perfectly. “Listen, why don’t you two go to your room and rest for a little while? Faith needs to put her feet up and relax. Ray and I will have a drink and catch up. Then, when you’re ready, we’ll go out for dinner.”
Faith nodded, grateful for her friend’s sympathy and intuition.
Charles led the way to the elevator. He didn’t speak until they were inside. “You overdid it, didn’t you?”
“Only a bit. I’ll be fine as soon as I sit down with a cup of herbal tea.”
Her husband tucked his arm protectively around her and waited until they were back in the room to kiss her.
Then he ordered tea.
“Did you two have a chance to visit?” Ray asked as Emily removed her coat and slung it over the back of her chair. They’d entered the bar, securing a table near the window. “Or was shopping at the top of your priority list?”
“Actually, we did some of both. It’s just so good to see Faith this happy.”
The waitress came by, and Ray ordered a hot buttered rum for each of them.
“I can’t believe the changes in her,” Emily said. “She’s so much more confident.”
“I was going to say the same thing about Charles,” her husband said with a bemused grin. “I hardly recognize my own brother. Until he met Faith, all he cared about was history—in fact, I think he would’ve preferred to live in the eighteenth century. I feel like I finally have a brother again.”
The waitress brought their drinks and set them on the table, along with a bowl of salted nuts.
“Do you suppose they’re talking about us in the same way?” Emily asked. “Are we different people now than we were a year ago?”
“I know I am,” Ray said.
“I think I am, too.”
Emily reached for a pecan, her favorite nut, and then for no discernible reason started to laugh.
“What’s so funny?”
“Us. Have you forgotten the day we met?”
Ray grinned. “Not likely.”
“I was so miserable and upset, and then you happened along. I glommed on to you so fast, I can only imagine what you must’ve thought.”
“You glommed on to me?” he repeated. “That’s not the way I remember it.” Ray grabbed a handful of nuts. “As I recall, I found out that my brother had traded homes with this incredibly lovely woman. The explanation was reasonable. All I had to do was reassure my mother everything was fine and catch the train back to New York.”
Emily lowered her eyes and smiled. “I’m so glad you ended up staying.”
“You think I missed the last train by accident?”
“You didn’t?”
“Not by a long shot. As my mother would say, I was smitten. I still am.”
“That’s comforting to hear.”
“Christmas with you last year was the best of my life.”
“Except for the Christmas you got the red racer.”
“Well, that was my second-best Christmas.”
“And this year?”
“When Christmas comes, I’ll let you know.”
“You do that,” Emily whispered, raising her glass in a toast to the most wonderful Christmas gift of her life.
ISBN: 978-1-4268-3353-3
HOME FOR THE HOLIDAYS
Copyright © 2005 by MIRA Books.
The publisher acknowledges the copyright holder of the individual works as follows:
Copyright © 1991 by Debbie Macomber.
WHEN CHRISTMAS COMES
Copyright © 2004 by Debbie Macomber.
All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or in part in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including xerography, photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, is forbidden without the written permission of the publisher, MIRA Books, 225 Duncan Mill Road, Don Mills, Ontario, Canada M3B 3K9.
All characters in this book have no existence outside the imagination of the author and have no relation whatsoever to anyone bearing the same name or names. They are not even distantly inspired by any individual known or unknown to the author, and all incidents are pure invention.
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