A Temporary Christmas Arrangement

by Christine Rimmer

  Answer: he didn’t. And Linc had no qualms about doing whatever it took to make sure he wouldn’t.

  Jayden seemed puzzled. And why shouldn’t he be? His grandmother had blown in and rushed out, and while she was here, the only attention she’d paid to him had lasted all of two seconds when she first arrived. Jayden suggested in a wary tone, “Maybe she can come for my birthday.”

  “Maybe,” Linc agreed as noncommittally as possible.

  “We’ll talk later,” Harper said to Linc.

  “Yeah,” Linc replied, feeling guilty that he’d driven his mother away—even though he would do it all over again in a heartbeat, given the same situation.

  “I do it. Me!” Maya announced proudly. Linc glanced down at her. Totally oblivious to the disappearance of her maternal grandmother, Maya had taken her coat off all by herself and hooked it on a low peg beside Jayden’s.

  “Great job!” Harper dropped to a crouch, pulled the little girl close and blew a raspberry against the side of her neck.

  Maya erupted in a fit of giggles and Linc felt better about everything.

  * * *

  That night, when the kids were in bed and he and Harper were alone in Linc’s room, he explained what had happened with Alicia.

  Harper took it well, he thought—and that was another thing he loved about her. The way she rolled with the punches. She’d tried to get him to be patient with his mother. But once he’d had enough, she didn’t jump his ass for asking Alicia to leave.

  She also didn’t say one bad word about his mother, though Alicia had treated her coldly, dismissed her as “the help,” and disparaged the relationship he and Harper were creating together.

  “Come here.” He pulled her into his arms and kissed her.

  She kissed him back as they undressed each other.

  One kiss led to another—slow, intense, drugging kisses that went on forever and yet somehow were never quite long enough.

  He guided her down to the bed and kissed his way along her soft, gorgeous body, settling in at the sweet spot between her sleek thighs. He could stay here forever, making love to her with his mouth and his stroking hands, as if they never had to get out of this bed for the rest of their lives.

  Later, inside her, so deep and so right, he stared into her eyes and longed to just say it, I love you, Harper Bravo.

  But now wasn’t the time. He got that. He did. She had changes she needed to make, a new career to create. For her, it was too early to speak of love and sharing the rest of their lives.

  And he could wait for as long as she needed him to wait. For as long as it took her to realize what he already knew—that she was smart and eager and focused and willing to put in the time. One way or another, she would find the kind of work that fulfilled her.

  But she wouldn’t believe him just because he said it. She needed to prove it for herself.

  * * *

  After the unpleasantness with Alicia, Harper wasn’t sure what to expect of the visit from Linc’s father and stepmother.

  Warren and Shelby arrived in a rented red Escalade. Linc and Harper and the kids went out to greet the newcomers.

  Warren was pretty much as Harper remembered him from that brief encounter at the indoor pool in Linc’s Portland house a couple weeks before. Cool, distant and faintly amused at the sight of his grandchildren, Warren greeted Harper with an aloof smile and a surprisingly sincere sounding, “Lovely to see you again.”

  But when he wrapped his arm around his wife and introduced her to Harper, a whole other side of the man appeared. With his twenty-six-year-old pregnant bride, Warren Stryker was smiling and attentive and so clearly in love.

  Seeing them together, Harper felt she understood Linc’s dad at least a little bit better. He might have made a mess of things in a whole bunch of ways, but he’d finally found the right woman for him. Now, he was a happy man. And Harper could understand why.

  Shelby, petite and very curvy with a giant baby bump, had a big, openhearted laugh and a smile that could put just about anyone at ease. Within ten minutes of entering the cottage, she had Maya in her arms and Jayden following her around, asking her a lot of questions and not waiting for the answers.

  They all spent a couple of hours hanging around the cottage with the Christmas tunes playing. Shelby insisted the kids open one of the many presents she and Warren had brought. It was a simple board game called Little Garden. Players had to help Gardener Gabriel build the garden before Molly Mole ate all the fruits and vegetables. Even Maya could play. They all joined in, Warren, too, though a bit reluctantly.

  They had dinner at the table in the dining room. Shelby raised her glass of sparkling cider in a toast to family and the holidays.

  The kids were in bed by a little after eight and the adults sat in the living area for a while, the talk easy and casual.

  Shelby explained that she’d taken over her family’s bookstore right after she graduated from the University of Southern California with a business degree. “I planned to go on to study law. But my dad had some health problems. I went home to Colorado and started running the bookstore for him. What can I say? I loved it. My parents are my partners. We bought the shop next door, tore out the adjoining wall and now we have a bookstore café. Profits are up and we’re opening a second store in Denver.”

  She said that she’d met Warren nearly two years before on her first trip to Europe.

  “It was love at first sight,” added her husband.

  Shelby laughed her full-out, beautiful laugh. “Not exactly.”

  Warren conceded, “Fine. I was too old for you—meaning I was only a few years younger than your mother, and your mother did not want her brilliant only daughter marrying a twice-divorced, white senior citizen.”

  “You are fifty-seven,” said Shelby. “Too young to qualify as a senior citizen—and we both know that my mama never said any such thing.”

  Warren didn’t argue. “Whatever you say, my darling.”

  Shelby leaned his way and kissed his cheek. “Notice how he says he was too old for me. Past tense?”

  Warren’s smile was nothing short of smug. “It’s a fact. Love makes a man young. And youth comes on swiftly. The younger I got, the more willing you became to accept that we were meant to be together. And then, after you realized I was the only man for you, I still had my work cut out for me convincing Louella.”

  “That’s my mama,” Shelby clarified.

  “And she did come around,” said Warren.

  Shelby chuckled. “It didn’t take that long.”

  “No, but it felt like forever until you were mine.” Warren took his wife’s hand. “Finally, Shelby said yes.”

  Shelby turned a benign smile on Linc and Harper. “It was two months from the day we met in Paris to that Vegas wedding chapel with the minister who looked way too much like Elvis.”

  Warren took her hand. “From the moment I met you, every hour without you was pure torture.” They interwove their fingers and leaned in for a quick kiss.

  Harper glanced Linc’s way and found him already looking at her. His mom might be a nightmare, but Harper really liked Warren and Shelby. It seemed to her that Linc was thinking pretty much the same thing.

  She felt warm all over and couldn’t help longing to take a chance on what they had together, to go for it with Linc, agree to move to Portland, follow her heart instead of her need to get out there and prove herself as a functioning adult.

  A few minutes later, Warren brought up the elephant in the room. “So then, Lincoln. Your mother isn’t here. What happened?”

  Linc glanced away. “Yeah, she left early. I asked her to go.”

  Warren frowned. “You have that look, son. The one that says you don’t want to talk about it.”

  “You’re right. I don’t.”

  “Then we won’t. But if there’s anything
I can do—”

  “I don’t see what.”

  Warren gave a slow nod. “I understand. I’ll let it go.”

  They sat in silence for a minute or two as Willie Nelson crooned “Pretty Paper” from the speaker on a nearby table. Harper sternly reminded herself that she had important goals to achieve and she couldn’t afford to get too wrapped up in fantasies about her and Linc and happily-ever-after.

  As the song ended, Warren announced, “Harper, I’ve been thinking that you should consider moving to Portland.”

  Harper barely stifled a gasp of surprise as she turned accusing eyes on Linc.

  He put up both hands. “I swear. I didn’t say a word.”

  Warren shrugged. “He didn’t. Shelby and I aren’t blind, though. It’s obvious there’s something special going on between you two. You should know that we thoroughly approve.”

  Harper wasn’t sure what to say to that. Warren Stryker had no filter, apparently. He just came right out with whatever was on his mind. It was reassuring, though, to know Linc’s dad saw her as a good match for his son—especially after the scathing disapproval she’d picked up from Linc’s mom. “Well, thank you. And I am thinking of moving—but to Seattle, as a matter of fact.”

  To which Linc just had to add, “Don’t worry, Dad. I’m not giving up. Somehow, I’ll get her to change her plans...”

  * * *

  Shelby and Warren said good-night at a little after ten.

  Harper intended to go on home then. But Linc whispered, “Stay. Just for a little while...”

  She let him lead her upstairs.

  “Your dad is so outspoken,” she said an hour later, when they were cuddling in bed. “It’s like, whatever he’s thinking comes right out his mouth.”

  Linc traced slow circles on the bare skin of her shoulder. “Yeah. He’s nothing like the father I grew up with. He used to be so preoccupied, so guarded and hard to talk to. He wasn’t a good guy. But what can I say? I guess people really can change. I keep hoping my mom will get the memo on that.”

  She gazed up at him, meeting his eyes steadily. “She truly does not like me.”

  “She just has an agenda.”

  “Right. Getting you and Imogen back together...”

  “That’s never going to happen—and as for my mom, that she failed to get to know you is her loss.” He tipped up her chin for a kiss.

  She closed her eyes and thought how she really ought to get up and go home. But the bed was so comfy and Linc held her so tenderly. She turned on her side. He wrapped his body around her.

  When she opened her eyes again, it was one in the morning. She popped to a sitting position and shoved her hair out of her eyes. “I gotta go.”

  But he pulled her back down. “Stay with me...” His voice coaxed and soothed her.

  And she just didn’t have the will to tell him no. His arms felt so good holding her close, and outside it was cold and drizzly and dark. He settled the covers back over them.

  Nights like this, all wrapped up in his arms, she couldn’t help thinking how fast the Christmas season was flying by. In a little more than a week, he and the kids would return to Portland.

  It felt much too soon—to lose him. To lose them.

  But she wouldn’t be losing them, she reminded herself.

  They’d agreed to keep seeing each other, to find ways to get together. He really did want to be with her.

  And oh, she did love being with him.

  * * *

  When daylight came, Linc took the kids downstairs first, so that Harper could avoid having to answer Jayden’s likely questions about why she’d been sleeping in Uncle Linc’s room. She washed her face and combed her hair and put on yesterday’s clothes.

  When she entered the kitchen, everybody seemed happy to see her and no one asked where she’d spent the night. Really, it didn’t feel awkward to her at all. She pitched right in helping Linc make breakfast for everyone.

  Shelby and Warren stayed for lunch.

  Finally, after hugs all around, good wishes for the best Christmas ever and promises that they would get together again soon, Warren and his wife climbed into their rented Escalade and headed for Valentine Bay Executive Airport.

  Back inside, Jayden went to his room to play with his train set and Maya fell asleep in her favorite spot on the floor by the tree. Harper stood over her, thinking that there was nothing so sweet as Maya, hugging her favorite stuffie, wearing a green velour top and matching leggings, a baby elf snoozing beneath the Christmas tree.

  Strong arms came around her waist. Linc’s warm breath brushed her cheek and his deep voice teased in her ear, “I like that you stayed with me last night.”

  She chuckled, but quietly, in order not to wake the sleeping elf at their feet. “You caught me at a weak moment.”

  “Good.” He bit her earlobe. A shower of sparks danced across her skin. “I want you to go to your cottage and get your stuff.”

  “What stuff?”

  “Clothes, fuzzy slippers, a toothbrush—whatever you need to sleep here with me from now on.”

  She loved that idea. Loved it too much. “You’ll be gone back to Portland before you know it.”

  He nibbled on her neck. “All the more reason you should be in my bed every night while you can. I need my Harper fix. It’s going to be hard enough going days on end without you if I can’t convince you to change your mind and move to Portland—but we’re not there yet. I’m keeping a positive attitude about you and me and the amazing future we’re going to build together. And the thing I want most—what you can give me for Christmas—is you in my bed every night, all night. At least until New Year’s.”

  “I shouldn’t...”

  A low chuckle rumbled up. “That’s a yes just waiting to be born. I know it is.”

  She turned in his arms and put her hands on his warm, broad chest. Beneath her palms, she could feel the steady beating of his heart. “All right, I’ll bring a few things over. Now, let me go before Jayden wanders in and catches us canoodling.”

  * * *

  Christmas Eve morning Jayden finally got his wish.

  Linc was sound asleep when the boy bellowed, “We got snow!” from the other side of the master bedroom door.

  The noise woke Maya, who let out a cry of surprise that echoed over the baby monitor by Linc’s bed.

  “What the...?” Linc startled awake as Harper’s eyes popped open, too. They blinked at each other.

  “Uncle Linc, you have to see!”

  “Unc Winc! Up!” Maya chimed in.

  Harper grinned sleepily at him. “You go. I’ll be down in a minute.” She looked so good, all rumpled and sleepy, her eyes low and lazy.

  “I want to wake up next to you like this every morning.”

  “Uncle Linc, hurry up!”

  She gave him a playful shove. “Go.”

  He rolled out of bed, put on some clothes and slipped out the door, where Jayden could barely contain his excitement.

  “Let’s go.” The boy grabbed his hand.

  “Whoa, hold on. We need to get your sister first.”

  “Hurry, then.” Jayden turned for Maya’s room, pulling Linc along behind him.

  Linc got Maya up, changed her wet diaper and carried her downstairs, Jayden leading the way to the front door, which he unlocked and threw open.

  “Snow!” With another shout of sheer joy, Jayden ran down the front steps in his slippers. Halfway along the front walk, he stopped and tipped his head up to the gray sky, opening his mouth wide, trying to catch snowflakes on his tongue.

  “I got one!” he crowed. “It melts so fast!”

  “Me, Unc Winc!” demanded Maya, bouncing up and down in his arms. “Me, too!”

  So he carried her out beneath the sky. She tipped her head back and opened her mouth just like he
r brother was doing.

  “We need to make a snowman,” Jayden announced as they went back up the steps.

  Linc herded him in through the door. “Let’s have breakfast first and see if any of it sticks...”

  In the kitchen, Harper was getting the coffee going. The kids didn’t even blink at the sight of her. She’d become such a part of their lives in the past month, they never asked how she magically appeared in the kitchen when they came in from the cold.

  * * *

  Harper was having the best Christmas Eve ever.

  Outside, the snow kept falling. By ten, there was enough to make a snowman, though a slightly malnourished-looking one. The snow was slowing by then, but the temperature stayed below freezing. Jayden’s skinny snowman would no doubt last until Christmas Day.

  At eleven, the kids and Linc Skyped with Jean and Alan, who were cruising the islands of French Polynesia. Linc called her over to join the conversation. Harper liked the grands a lot. They were good people.

  For the rest of the day, they hung out, just the four of them. They played games, read stories and watched a couple of Disney movies.

  Before the kids went to bed, they put out cookies and milk on the coffee table, in case Santa might want a snack.

  It felt so right, just being here at the Stryker cottage with Linc and the kids. Like they really were building a family, the four of them. Together.

  Was she getting a little carried away, spending too much time with them—with him? Losing sight of reality just a little bit?

  So what? Why should she go home to her quiet, empty cottage when everything she wanted was right here? Yeah, reality mattered. But why shouldn’t she let go and enjoy every moment of this perfect holiday season?

  She understood the facts. The New Year would come. He would go back to Portland to live in a house that looked like something from Architectural Digest and run an international shipping company. She would head north on a wing and prayer.

  And really, so what? It was still December. Her uncertain future remained out there, waiting for her. She didn’t have to rush to meet it.