All I Want for Christmas Is You (13 page)

"Call me a wimp, but I'll take the tour."

* * *

After an impressive review of the house, Kyle joined his father in the back yard to help the children apply the finishing touches to a snowman they'd been working on. Lauren and Judy stayed in the kitchen sipping the last of the hot chocolate from the thermos.

"I don't know how you do it," Lauren said. "I'm always exhausted by the end of the day and I only have one child, you have four!"

Judy laughed. "Some days it might as well be ten."

"How do you do it?"

"I really felt the work when Julie and Scotty were born. I'm sure Kyle has told you all my children are adopted."

Lauren nodded.

"The little ones were the only two that Will and I have raised since birth. The list for adopting a newborn in Massachusetts is long, so we had quite a wait. Zoey was four when she came to live with us. We adopted her a year later." Judy patted Lauren on the shoulder. "Brace yourself for the teenage years. You'll need all your strength and patience then, my dear."

Lauren groaned inwardly. No one had to tell her how trying a teenager could be. All she had to do was remember her own adolescence.

"I'm glad you came into my son's life." Judy propped herself against the island counter in the center of the kitchen and eyed Lauren. She'd seen the same look before, at dinner last weekend, but dismissed it as simple kindness. Now she recognized it as a warm affection towards her.

She couldn't help but chuckle. "Kyle's a pretty tenacious guy."

"That's my son for you. I admire that in him. It's helped him along in life. Although Zoey may not see that as the most admirable trait in her big brother." Judy began tossing the leftover paper plates from their afternoon picnic into a trash bag. "But where you're concerned, I'd have to say I approve."

Heat crept from her toes to her cheeks as she remembered how Kyle had kissed her earlier. "We're, ah, just friends."

Judy stopped in mid-motion and stared at Lauren. "Hmm. Well, whatever it is, I think you're good for him."

She turned away from Judy's scrutiny and stared out the window, fixing her gaze on the snowman project. "He likes to help people. I don't think I had anything to do with that."

Judy chuckled. "Ask Zoey and she'll tell you he likes to help a little too much, to the point of being downright meddlesome."

Lauren felt a grin tug at her lips. She'd actually thought the same thing herself over the past week.

“Unfortunately, people can easily take advantage of a generous heart.”

Lauren snapped her gaze at Judy.

“No, no. I don’t mean you, Lauren,” Judy said quickly.

“You mean the woman he built this house for?”

It was Judy’s turn to be surprised. “Debra was a nice girl. A little needy, though. She wanted much more than even Kyle could give.”

Curiosity won over Lauren’s pride. “Look at this house. How much more could she possibly have wanted?”

Judy leaned her hip against the counter. “All of him.” She sighed. “Debra came from a large family. She was one of eight and they didn’t have much. Attention was at a premium, I suspect. She liked Kyle’s generosity as long as it was focused on her. With her family being so large, Kyle had assumed family was important to her.”

“But it wasn’t?”

Judy shook her head. “She didn’t want family around—his family—and Kyle can’t live without it. Family is very important to him. He likes being in the middle of everything, doing things for people.”

That much was evident to Lauren. Since the moment she met Kyle Preston, he was doing things for her.

When she said nothing, Judy went on. "Kyle's heart is in the right place. I make no bones about the fact that I'm proud of what he's accomplished given his troubled childhood."

"He mentioned he came to live with you when he was twelve," Lauren offered. Part of her hoped to gain some insight into Kyle's past. Although he'd always spoken fondly of his adoptive parents, he had yet to speak of his life before he came to live with them. She was disappointed when Judy did not elaborate any further.

"Trusting didn't come easy for Kyle. At first, he did everything in his power to push us away. I know he was afraid of getting hurt again." Judy sighed as she bent down to pick up the blanket on the floor. Lauren followed and helped with the folding. "Then he did everything he could to win our approval, as if that would make us love him. He could never quite believe he already had our love."

Lauren knew those feelings well. Except she knew she didn't have her parents' approval. Their brand of tough love sent her out on the streets when she needed them the most. Despite the pain it caused, she'd give anything to get past the tension dividing them and have them back in her life again.

After dropping the blanket into the picnic basket and adding the empty thermos, Judy continued. "This is a beautiful house, but I don’t think he was ready to make such a move. He did it to please Debra.” Judy shrugged. “That’s just the way he is.”

Lauren felt a prick at her heart with Judy's words. After the afternoon they'd spent together, she let herself believe that maybe, just maybe she'd be able to allow herself to get close to Kyle. The kiss they'd shared just about rocked her world with its intensity. And she'd be lying to herself if she said she didn't want more. Earlier, as she walked through the house that he built, she foolishly let her mind daydream about what it would be like if she and Kristen lived here as Kyle's family.

Well, now is the time for the old kick-in-the-butt reality check, girl. If what Judy said was true, and there was no reason for Lauren to believe otherwise, then Kyle was just being himself, doing what he always did. He was just trying to please her.

Judy hooked the picnic basket in her arm and walked into the dining area, inspecting the open design. The pungent fumes of Polyurethane and stain hung heavy in the air. "So this is what he's been working on so diligently this week." She waved her arm around the room.

Lauren had noticed the rooms were open, void of the walls that she'd seen in the original design. She didn't say anything about her suggestion to make the change. Like he’d done for Debra, had Kyle made this change just to please her? "I like how it makes the rooms feel," she said instead.

Judy gazed at her and smiled warmly. "I like it, too."

# # #

Chapter Seven

"I want the most beautiful one you have," Kyle said to the man mummified in a cold weather parka. He could barely see his face beneath the furry hood. "Just point me in the direction and I'll cut it down myself."

"I've still got a couple of thirteen foot Douglas firs in the back of the farm, right near the one you cut down last week." The salesman, who Kyle had known for years, was the owner of the tree farm.

"No, not that big. A seven foot tree, nice and full all around would be great." He rubbed his gloved hands together in an attempt to ward off the cold. It had been snowing off and on for the past two days. The trek up to the back of the farm would be too difficult with all the snow.

"We've got a whole farm of seven footers. Pretty ones, too. Just take your pick."

With saw in hand, Kyle plowed a fresh path through the snow in search of the perfect Christmas tree. Forty-five minutes later, he'd cut and purchased what he thought was just that.

He just hoped Lauren would be home, he thought as he drove over to her place to deliver it. He had attempted to call Lauren several times, but hadn't been able to reach her. Earlier in the week, he hadn't thought much about it when the answering machine picked up and he heard her pre-recorded voice suggesting he leave a message. By Thursday evening, he began to get the distinct feeling that maybe she was avoiding him.

Okay, so maybe he'd laid things on a little thick by commandeering her into dinner, hijacking her to go shopping, kissing her... He'd lay it on as thick as he could if he could kiss her sweet lips again.

Most men would bring flowers to court a lady, he thought as he removed the rope securing the freshly cut Christmas tree to the top of his Jeep. He'd save the roses for another time. Hell, he'd build her a whole rose bed out back so she could have fresh roses every day.

Today they were going to decorate a Christmas tree. He gripped the trunk in the center of the tree and pulled until the tree was on the sidewalk in front of Lauren's home.

As he dragged the tree beside him, he saw her car parked in the driveway. Good, no answering machines, no excuses. She's home.

Familiar with the sticky door, he clutched the handle and yanked hard. "That gets fixed once and for all," he muttered as he struggled with the branches. Once he managed to pull the tree through the doorway, he dragged it up the three flights of stairs to Lauren's attic apartment.

* * *

Lauren pulled the afghan snug to her chest and shivered. No! she groaned. This was the worst time in the world to be getting sick. She'd worked a week full of overtime just so she could take some time off after Christmas to spend with Kristen. She shivered again and sneezed.

Kristen pulled a tissue from the box and handed it to Lauren. "God bless you, Mommy."

"Thank you, sweetie," she said just as she heard a knock at her door. She twisted her legs off the sofa and padded across the floor.

As she swung the door open, the cold breeze coming up from the hallway caused her to shiver. She closed her eyes and sneezed. Opening her eyes again, she frowned.

"Is there a person behind this tree?" she asked.

"Yes, ma'am." Kyle's gloved hand weeded its way through the branches, pulling them down so Lauren could see his face.

"Kyle, what have you done?!"

"I brought you a Christmas tree."

"I can see that. But..."

He tried forcing the tree through the door with visible difficulty. The branches were just too wide. "But what? Did you already get one?" he asked, grunting.

"No."

"Great. When I couldn't reach you this week I thought maybe you were out getting one."

She sniffed, yanked a tissue from the box on the bookcase, and blew her nose. "I had to work late every day. I'm taking Christmas week off so that I can spend some time with Krissy."

Still struggling in the doorway, he said, "Good idea. Do you have a tree stand?"

Her lips lifted to a smile. She sucked in her cheeks to keep him from seeing her amusement with the situation. "Yes, but there is no way that tree is going to fit in here."

"Sure it will," he said confidently. With exuberance he squeezed the tree through until he was in the living room. "When I was out at the farm, I could just envision this tree all lit up in the corner of the room. It's going to fit just perfect next to the..."

With her hand to her face, Lauren bit her lip and chuckled. Kyle thoughtfully inspected the corner on the other side of the bookcase and frowned.

"It's not going to fit," he muttered and propped the tree against the closed door.

"Exactly."

"It looked great in my head."

Kristen bounced over to Lauren's side and waved to Kyle. "Is it ours, Kyle?"

He crouched down to her level and rumpled her downy curls. "Sure is, scooter." He lowered his voice. "But it looks like we're going to have to perform some heavy duty surgery before it'll fit."

Kristen giggled.

Lauren sniffed and rubbed her watering eyes. "We planned on going out tomorrow."

"Doesn't look like you'll be going anywhere with that cold. How long have you been like this?" he asked, a hint of concern coloring his tone.

"It started yesterday. I think this is the worst of it. It'll pass." She waved her hand to make light of it, but Kyle just grimaced.

"I'm sure it will when you get some rest."

"I don't have time to rest. Look at this place." With a sweep of her hand gesturing to the room, she said, "Just a few days before Christmas and I haven't decorated the apartment."