I'll Be Home for Christmas

by Debbie Macomber

  “Me, you and the intern,” Harvey had said.

  “The boy wouldn’t have any reason to come forward. Why would he risk the embarrassment?”

  “He probably wouldn’t. So, like I said, you have nothing to worry about.”

  Sensing an undercurrent in the conversation, Maxim had decided to take that final step, to do all he could to guarantee that this situation wouldn’t get away from him. “Is there any way to—” here, Maxim had chosen his words very carefully “—ensure your cooperation on this, Harvey?”

  “What do you mean by that, Maxim? I’m an honest guy. I don’t take payoffs.”

  “I’m not talking about a payoff. I’m talking about a severance package. To help you along until you find other employment.”

  “Oh, a severance package.” After that, there’d been a long pause. “That might be just the thing,” he’d said at length. “Especially if you can get it to me tonight.”

  “If that’s how you want it,” Maxim had said, and he’d met his former campaign manager at the office.

  “This effectively ends our association, correct?” he’d said when he handed Harvey a thirty-thousand-dollar check.

  “Sounds fair to me.”

  Just to be safe, Maxim had asked him to sign a paper saying he was satisfied with the terms of their separation, a paper he’d then locked inside his desk. Harvey had left immediately afterward, and Maxim hadn’t heard from him since. As far as he knew, the issue was settled.

  Then why did he feel so...unsettled about it?

  “Dad?” Megan called.

  He dropped the hand he’d been using to massage his temple. “Yes?”

  “Where are you? I want to show you the commercial I had to make for one of my classes.”

  Drawing a deep breath, he put his conversation with Harvey out of his mind. It was Christmas, and Adelaide was coming over. He had better things to think about than Mark’s affair—and his own hand in discovering it.

  “Coming,” he called and went to the kitchen.

  Thirteen

  She was ready and, if she hurried, she’d be on time.

  Grabbing the cheesecake she’d made, as well as the wine she’d bought, Adelaide headed for the door. She’d never been to Maxim’s place, but she doubted she’d have any trouble finding it. She had GPS on her phone if she got lost. But just as she was stepping out of her house, she saw her friend Ruby pull into the driveway, going far too fast. She came to a screeching halt, and the Escalade jerked back and forth as she slammed the gearshift into Park and jumped out.

  Something was wrong. They’d already exchanged gifts over the weekend and hadn’t planned to see each other again until after Christmas. Ruby had said she’d be celebrating with her kids and her ex-husband, with whom she was thinking of reconciling. So...what was she doing here?

  Adelaide waited on her doorstep as Ruby rushed toward her.

  “Adelaide, oh, my God! I’m so sorry.”

  Sorry? Adelaide didn’t know how to react. “For what?”

  Confusion descended on Ruby’s face and her steps slowed. “You mean...you don’t know? It was just on the news. I heard it with my own ears.”

  The cheesecake and the wine were getting heavy, but Adelaide didn’t dare move. “You’re not making any sense.”

  Tears filled Ruby’s eyes as she took the wine. Then they stood facing each other, both dressed in their Christmas finery, with Adelaide’s heart beating like a jackhammer.

  “It’s about Mark,” Ruby said.

  Adelaide couldn’t imagine what could be so terrible that Ruby would race over in such a panic. Mark was dead. She’d been dealing with that for two and a half years. Did news get any worse than goodbye forever? “What about him?” she asked.

  Ruby motioned them inside. “I think you should sit down.”

  “I don’t want to sit down,” she said. “I have a dinner date, and I’m going to be—”

  “He was having an affair, Adelaide, just as you suspected,” Ruby cut in.

  This stole Adelaide’s breath. After so long, after finally convincing herself that she’d been acting crazy and paranoid and insecure when she’d accused Mark, she was learning that she’d been right from the beginning? “No...”

  “Yes.”

  “With whom?”

  “Let’s go in,” Ruby said and guided Adelaide back into the house.

  Adelaide sat at the kitchen table while Ruby took the cheesecake and stowed it in the fridge, along with the wine. “I can’t believe something like this would be on the news,” she muttered. “I mean, I could see it if he was still in office, but—”

  “It’s pertinent,” Ruby said. “You’re essentially running in his place and on his reputation. So anything that blackens his name blackens yours.”

  “But...an affair? A lot of guys have extramarital affairs and it hasn’t ruined their political careers.”

  Ruby frowned. “There’s more to it.”

  “More?”

  “Mark also took bribes from local developers.”

  “You’ve got to be kidding me!”

  Ruby crouched in front of her. “I would never kid about something like this.”

  Adelaide stared at her helplessly. “He couldn’t have. I mean... I would’ve known, wouldn’t I?” She tried to think back. They’d always been well-off. Mark came from money, and she’d built the fledgling business they’d started when they got married into a multimillion-dollar enterprise. Would she have noticed if he had more money in his accounts than he should have? Probably not.

  “I don’t know,” Ruby said, obviously miserable.

  He wouldn’t have needed the money. But the power might have tempted him. He would’ve liked doling out favors, being the big man who could make the difference. “How did this come to light?” she asked.

  “Luke Silici.”

  The man who’d wanted to run against Maxim in the primary but backed off when she entered the race? That Luke Silici?

  “There was a clip of him on the news, condemning Mark for lack of integrity,” she was saying.

  So he intended to join the race? He must be using this to open the door. But she’d already decided to drop out, hadn’t she? Because of the pregnancy? He couldn’t know that, of course, but even if he entered the race, there was no way he’d beat Maxim.

  “It’ll be okay,” she said. Somehow, she’d figure it out, come to terms with it. There was a chance Silici had been misinformed. She’d do all she could to fight for Mark’s reputation, to preserve her memories of him.

  But Ruby wouldn’t meet her eyes. “That’s not all.”

  Adelaide remembered the hopes she’d had for this Christmas and felt them fade. “There’s more than adultery and corruption?”

  “Silici said he has copies of some of Mark’s e-mails.”

  Adelaide let her breath go. “They prove he was taking bribe money?”

  “I don’t know what proof they have on the bribe issue. These apparently have to do with the affair.”

  Covering her face with both hands, Adelaide tried to calm down enough to think. It was going to be okay, wasn’t it? She could live with whatever emerged—because it was in the past. It didn’t change the present.

  Squaring her shoulders, she lowered her hands. “Who was it? Virna? Or Susie?” She’d named Mark’s two most attractive field reps, but Ruby shook her head.

  “I wish I didn’t have to tell you this...”

  What could be left? Proof that he’d never loved her? “Tell me,” she said. “If you saw it on the news, I’ll find out, anyway.”

  Empathy softened Ruby’s face. “It wasn’t Virna or Susie or any of the other aides. It—it was an intern.”

  Adelaide felt a surge of righteous anger. Those interns were y
oung, some of them just out of high school. “Which one?” she cried.

  Ruby cringed. “Phoenix Day.”

  This was the last name Adelaide had expected to hear. She was so stunned she couldn’t move. “There must be some mistake. Phoenix is a boy, the sweetest boy you could ever meet.”

  Ruby took her hands. “I know.”

  “You’re saying—That can’t be true,” she whispered. “Mark wasn’t gay. Mark...” Remembering his lack of interest the past couple of years they’d lived together, Adelaide fell silent. He’d told her he was too stressed to maintain much of a sex life, too pressured at work, too busy. Was it something else? Something more? An inappropriate attraction to Phoenix?

  “The boy has agreed to come forward,” Ruby was saying. “He’s providing copies of the correspondence between him and Mark. At least, according to the news.”

  Adelaide didn’t know how to respond, except to deny it, regardless of any proof anyone claimed to have. “This can’t be true. It’s a political move, a way to get me to bow out of the race.”

  “That’s what I thought, too,” Ruby said. “But...”

  “But what?” Adelaide echoed.

  “I don’t think it’s Luke who wants you out of the race. I think it’s Maxim Donahue.”

  Adelaide opened her mouth to argue. Ruby had no idea of the baby or how the situation with Maxim had changed. But Ruby spoke before she could explain.

  “It has to be,” she insisted. “Silici said Maxim received an anonymous tip, that it was his campaign manager who ran down all the details.”

  * * *

  Where was she?

  The girls had their friends over. They were chatting happily as they munched on the appetizers Rosa had made, but Maxim had been too busy watching the clock to eat with them. Adelaide was late. She’d said she’d arrive at six, but it was nearly six-thirty. He figured he’d give her another fifteen minutes, so he didn’t seem impatient, but when 6:45 p.m. rolled around she still wasn’t there. Neither had she called him.

  “Dad, didn’t you say your friend would be here soon?”

  Megan had finally noticed Adelaide’s tardiness, perhaps because he’d grown so quiet.

  “I’m sure she’s on her way, but... I’ll check.”

  Taking his cell phone, he stepped out of the room. But Adelaide didn’t pick up. She didn’t answer her house phone, either.

  Where could she be? Planning to drive over there, he grabbed his keys from the counter and started for the door when he received a call. Assuming it would be her, he pulled his cell out of his pocket and punched the talk button without glancing at caller ID. “Hello?”

  “Maxim, you are truly amazing!”

  It definitely wasn’t Adelaide. That voice belonged to his assistant, Peter Goodrich. Peter kept Maxim’s capitol office running smoothly and interfaced with Jan Kenny, who ran Maxim’s district office. He also volunteered on the campaign, so they spent a lot of time together. Maxim considered Peter his best hire. But he didn’t want to talk to him on Christmas Eve. “Peter, are you drunk?”

  “What? Of course not. You know I don’t drink.”

  “You sound drunk.” Tall and skinny, with a very deep voice, Peter was so circumspect that Maxim liked to tease him. But he was half-serious tonight. Peter sounded much more animated than usual.

  “I’m just...surprised,” Peter said.

  “About what?” Maxim looked at his watch.

  “You did it, man. There’s no way she’s gonna beat you now.”

  Slightly irritated because he didn’t want to talk business while he was so preoccupied with other things, Maxim scratched his neck. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  “I’m talking about Mark Fairfax. How did you know? I mean...what a shocker. I never would’ve guessed he was gay.”

  Until this moment, Maxim had only been paying partial attention. He’d been too busy watching the clock and keeping an eye on his driveway through the window, expecting Adelaide to pull in at any time. Now every bit of his energy and focus turned toward the conversation. “How do you know about Fairfax?”

  “I guess it was on the news. I didn’t see it, but someone called Martha and she called me.”

  Martha Sanchez worked for him, too. She handled all the scheduling for Maxim and the field reps. She wouldn’t have felt as comfortable calling him at home, but she and Peter worked well together and had become close friends.

  “I mean, it’s true, isn’t it?” Peter asked. “It’s not a joke.”

  With a silent curse, Maxim crossed the room and sank onto the couch. Damn Harvey Sillinger! He’d taken the bribe money and he’d still gone after Adelaide.

  “Maxim?”

  “I’m here,” he muttered.

  “You seem upset.”

  He was upset. If word of Fairfax’s affair had been on the news, Adelaide had heard about it, too. They were in politics, for crying out loud. They had people who were paid to watch and listen for any mention of their names in the media. If she hadn’t seen it on the news herself, she’d probably received a call very similar to this one. Son of a bitch.

  “Maxim? Isn’t this good news?” Peter asked, uncertain now.

  “No. It’s not good news,” he said and hung up.

  Fourteen

  It hadn’t been easy to get Ruby to leave. But Ruby had kids. She couldn’t miss Christmas. And although Ruby invited her, there was no way Adelaide wanted to join the party. She loved the children, but this was the first time the family would be celebrating the holidays together in three years. Adelaide refused to interfere with that. Besides, she’d rather be alone.

  Bundled up in a wool coat, scarf and gloves, she sat on a bench in Capitol Park, gazing at the building that sheltered California’s government. Called the People’s Building, it was a domed piece of Greek Revival and Roman–Corinthian architecture resembling the Capitol Building in Washington, D.C. Tonight, the Christmas lights that adorned the building and the trees shone through the fog, making Adelaide feel as if she’d just stepped into the scene portrayed on the Christmas cards they sold in nearby gift shops.

  Except she felt no warmth of spirit. She was cold inside, and as empty as the building appeared to be.

  Mark had always loved it here, she thought. But not because of the beauty. It was the power that drew him.

  Was it the same for Maxim?

  Probably. He’d done just about everything he could to retain his seat, hadn’t he? And that included making her believe he cared about her. She wasn’t entirely sure it was an act, but even if he’d received the anonymous tip Ruby had mentioned and gone after Mark before they’d had the chance to get to know each other, did she really want another man obsessed with his own ambition? Could she deal with a second relationship like the one she’d had with Mark? He’d started putting so many things before her—among them, apparently, his interns.

  She shuddered as she imagined what must have happened with Phoenix. Mark had hidden his interest in the boy so well. Or had she merely missed the signs? He’d certainly talked about Phoenix. He’d even had him over to the house. After learning that he didn’t have a supportive family, she’d felt sorry for the boy. She certainly knew what being alone was like. But now she saw how effectively she’d been manipulated. It was Mark who’d told her about Phoenix’s family. Who knew if it was even true? Had they been kissing and touching in another room while she was right there in the house?

  Maybe. Her presence provided the perfect cover, should anyone ever raise any questions. She never would’ve suspected, hadn’t watched them closely at all.

  That must’ve made it pretty darn easy.

  But Mark hadn’t expected to die and have someone as tenacious and determined as Maxim take over his seat. Would this have come out if she hadn’t entered the race
? She doubted it. Why would Maxim have bothered with Mark otherwise? Ironically, it was her desire to stand up for her husband because of Maxim’s lack of respect for him that’d brought the truth to light.

  What did those e-mail messages say? Did she even want to know?

  “You’re such a liar,” she told Mark. It wasn’t only the fact that he’d broken their marriage vows that hurt. It was that she’d lost so much self-confidence wondering why she couldn’t interest her own husband. “You bastard.”

  Her phone vibrated in her purse. It’d been going off all night. She would’ve cut the power, but Ruby had made her promise not to. She wanted to be able to check in. But it was Maxim again.

  Adelaide wasn’t ready to talk to him. Pressing the button that would shut down her phone, she got up and started to walk around the gardens.

  An old man with white hair stood near an American Indian monument. He nodded as she passed him. “Merry Christmas,” he said with a smile.

  * * *

  Adelaide wasn’t home. Maxim had been to her place three different times.

  Had she gone over to a friend’s? Maybe. But he didn’t know the people who were closest to her, wasn’t sure who to call. He could understand why she might not want to spend the evening with him, but he was worried about her, worried enough that he’d taken to cruising the streets around her house, hoping to spot her car. It wasn’t the best way to give his girls a good Christmas, but he was so preoccupied with this he couldn’t go home. And they’d assured him they were fine, that they understood.

  So where was Adelaide? She couldn’t be in any stores or restaurants.

  It was so late that even the businesses that stayed open on Christmas Eve were closed.

  He remembered her mentioning Mark’s parents and wondered if she’d gone to their home. Maybe they’d heard the news and called her.

  After pulling to the side of the road, he used his phone to check information. Sure enough, the Fairfaxes were listed. But did he dare call them at midnight on Christmas Eve? He was the reason their son’s reputation was ruined...

  “This won’t be easy,” he muttered, but he dialed the number, anyway.