Sealed With a Kiss (26 page)

Bella tore the paper off the present and
threw her arms around his neck. “Oh, dad. I love it.”

John knew how much she enjoyed creating
things, so he’d bought her a big paint set and four different sized
canvases.

“Can I paint something now?”

John couldn’t think of a single reason why
she couldn’t paint now. At least if she was busy, he wouldn’t have
to get his brother out of bed too early. “Let’s go into the
kitchen. You can paint while I make breakfast.”

“Can you make pancakes?”

“Blueberry, cinnamon, or maple syrup?”

Bella thought long and hard. “Blueberry,
please.”

They walked through to the kitchen and John
took some eggs and buttermilk out of the fridge. “You’ve got nice
manners.”

“I know.” Bella sighed. “Mrs. Daniels said I
need to be extra good to make up for running away from Tank and
Rachel. I got them into trouble, didn’t I?”

“You shouldn’t have run away, Bella. You
could have been hurt.”

“I won’t do it again. Is that why Rachel
doesn’t live here anymore?”

“Some of the reason. Rachel has things she
needs to do.”

Bella’s bottom lip wobbled. “Doesn’t she like
me?”

“She likes you. You’ll see her at school in
another couple of weeks.”

“But that’s a long time away.”

“It’s the best I can do. How many pancakes
would you like?”

“Three.” She smiled at John. “Please. Do you
think Mr. Daniels would like a pancake? He has been awake all
night, but he didn’t see Santa Claus. Mr. Daniels thinks he must
have been checking the garage when Santa snuck into the living
room.”

John listened to Bella as she told him what
Jim Daniels had been doing all night. With all of the hair-raising
adventures that had happened, John was surprised that Santa had
risked landing on their roof.

Jim Daniels, as well as being an ex-SAS
officer and his housekeeper’s husband, was a good storyteller. And
if John was lucky, his adventures would be enough to stop Bella
asking about Rachel again.

***

John watched his brother flop down on the
sofa. It was eight-thirty at night. Another Christmas had almost
been and gone.

Grant sighed. “Bella is now happily sleeping
after two chapters of
Anne of the Island
. She’s really got a
thing for Anne Shirley. I’m surprised she hasn’t dyed her hair
red.”

“Keep that observation to yourself,” John
muttered. “If she thinks red hair is a possibility, I’ll never hear
the end of it.”

Grant snorted. “The trials and tribulations
of being a parent.”

John cradled his coffee mug in his hands. “Do
you remember when Spiderman hit the shelves at the library? You
wanted to climb down the side of Mr. Garvey’s shed, just like
Spiderman would have done.”

“It didn’t do me much good. You must have run
like the wind to get home before I took my first step.”

John could still remember the terror that had
propelled him forward. “You’re my older brother. You were supposed
to have more common sense than me. Jumping off the side of a
three-story barn wasn’t smart.”

“Tell me about it. Mom didn’t let me take a
Spiderman comic out of the library for a month after that. She
couldn’t have inflicted a worse punishment on me.”

John thought about their childhood, the
carefree days of living on a ranch surrounded by some of the most
beautiful scenery in the world. He’d never fully appreciated what
they’d had until he was halfway around the world, fighting in a war
no one would ever win.

Grant stood up and put another log on the
fire. “You want to tell me why you’ve been trying hard to put a
smile on your face?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Sure you don’t. Just like you don’t know why
you keep looking at the two presents that haven’t been opened.”

John narrowed his eyes at his brother. “It’s
none of your business.”

“Where have I heard that before?” He walked
across to the Christmas tree and took the presents out from under
the branches. “Well, that’s a surprise. One of the presents is for
you, and the other one is for Rachel.”

“Bella made her something.”

“And you didn’t think to drop it off?” Grant
glanced quickly at him. “I get it now. You’re scared of her.”

John clamped his lips together. He knew what
his brother was up to. He was trying to rattle him, get under his
skin until he annoyed him so much that he’d tell him
everything.

Grant put the two presents on the coffee
table. “Are you going to open the present that Rachel left for
you?”

“No.”

“Come on. It won’t kill you to open it. It’s
Christmas. That’s what people do.”

“I fired her, called her things that I
shouldn’t have. She must have left our presents under the tree
after she came home to pack her bags. Bella liked her gift.” And
that was the biggest understatement of the year. Rachel had given
her an
Anne of Green Gables
T-shirt, carry bag, and
coloring-in book. Bella hadn’t taken the T-shirt off all day.

“So you’re worried that your gift might
contain cyanide?”

John looked at the two presents. “I hurt
her.”

“Tell her you’re sorry. She’d be the first
person to understand.”

“It’s not as easy as that.”

Grant picked up the present from Rachel. “Why
do you always make your life so complicated? Even when you were
Bella’s age, nothing was ever simple with you.”

“I felt a deeper sense of responsibility than
you did.”

“Or a deeper sense of guilt. You can’t change
the past.”

John closed his eyes. He couldn’t remember
much of his childhood, but he did remember the soldiers who’d
fought alongside him, the ones that hadn’t come home. He thought
about Jacinta, the regret he felt for not spending more time with
her. Even after Bella had been born he’d disappeared for months on
end, leaving her to cope as best she could.

“Punishing yourself won’t bring Jacinta back.
Don’t you think it’s time to move on?”

John wiped his eyes. “I don’t know how.”

Grant sat beside him. “You start by believing
in yourself. You’re worthy of being loved.”

John smiled through his tears. “You’ve been
watching too much TV.”

“I read it in a book,” Grant said with a sad
smile. “You’re not the only person with issues. I’m four years
older than you are and I’ve never been married, haven’t even been
engaged. Do you think I’ve got an invisible
do not touch
sign tattooed on my forehead?”

John grabbed a tissue out of his pocket and
blew his nose. “Are you worthy of being loved?”

This time, Grant’s face broke into a smile.
“Damned if I know. You don’t happen to have the phone number of a
woman who’s willing to overlook a few personality flaws, do
you?”

“I only have the number of one woman and
you’re not getting within thirty feet of her.”

Grant nudged John’s arm. “Worried about a
little competition?”

That was the last thing on John’s mind.
“She’d eat you for breakfast and spit out the bones. Rachel teaches
nine and ten-year-old boys. She knows the type of games you
play.”

“Used to play.” Grant picked up John’s
present. “Open it.”

“No.”

“Why not?”

“I fired her. She hates me.”

Grant sighed. “You told me that you’d fired
her and acted like a jerk
before
she left your present under
the tree. Doesn’t that tell you something?”

“Yeah. She’s too nice to hold a grudge. She
probably left it there because she didn’t have anyone else to give
the socks to.”

Grant squeezed the parcel. “It’s not
socks.”

“How do you know?”

“I know socks when I feel them, and I’m
telling you, this isn’t a pair of socks.”

John glanced at the present. “It could be
thick socks.”

“It feels like there’s a box under the
squishy stuff.”

“A box?” John looked at the carefully wrapped
present, then grabbed it out of Grant’s hands. “For Pete’s sake,
I’ll open it and put us both out of our misery.”

“At last.” Grant sighed dramatically. “That
has to be the most intelligent thing you’ve said all night.”

“Very funny,” John muttered as he pulled the
tape off Rachel’s present. He opened one end of the gift and looked
inside.

“If you’re trying to torture me with your
slow unwrapping technique, you’re succeeding. For once in your
life, just rip the paper off.”

John glared at his brother. “Whose present is
it?”

“You wouldn’t have opened it if it wasn’t for
me.” He looked over John’s shoulder. “See…I told you it wasn’t
socks.”

John pulled the last piece of tape off the
present. “It’s a book.”

“If you tell me it’s a first edition
Spiderman comic I’m going to marry Rachel tomorrow.”

John undid the plastic bubble wrap.

“Don’t keep me in suspense,” Grant groaned.
“Am I nearly betrothed or still unhappily single?”

“You could be both if you read this book
after me.” John felt a smile work its way across his face. “It’s
called,
The Dummies Guide to Finding the Perfect Wife
.”

“Are you sure you didn’t tell her that you
have feelings for her?”

“What are you talking about?”

“The book - it’s not the sort of thing you’d
give to just anyone. Do you think she wants to be the perfect wife
for you?”

John smile turned into a full-throttle,
bottom-of-the-belly kind of laugh.

Grant looked at him as if he’d gone crazy.
“What’s so funny about the book?”

John wiped his eyes. “Do you remember how I
met Rachel?”

“Yeah. Bella wrote a letter to a club who
gave away bridesmaids’ dresses. She wanted to find you…”

“A wife,” John said. “Now I’ve got no
excuse.”

Grant looked down at the book, then back at
John. “What does it say?”

“About what?”

“Finding the perfect wife? Not that I’m a
dummy or anything, but it might have a few pointers that I could
incorporate into my life.”

“Like talking to a woman for more than ten
seconds before asking them if they want children?”

Grant scowled at him. “There’s nothing more
ugly than a jealous man. I got that straight from Dr. Phil.”

John opened the book to the first page. His
eyes widened as he read the table of contents.

“What? It can’t be that hard to find the
perfect woman?” Grant leaned over his shoulder and swallowed.
“There are forty-five chapters. How am I supposed to remember all
of that? I can only do one thing at a time.”

“You and me both,” John muttered. “Maybe
we’re lost causes?”

“We could always split the chapters and cover
the highlights? I’ll tell you what I learned and you can do the
same for me.”

“I knew there was a reason you were my older
brother. Sometimes you can almost be brilliant.”

Grant scowled at the book. “I’ll go down to
the bookstore tomorrow and get another copy. What are you going to
do about the present Bella made for Rachel?”

“I’ll give it to her when I see her
again.”

“And when will that be?”

John didn’t like the evil glint in his
brother’s eyes. “In about two weeks’ time, when Bella starts
school.”

“It’s a Christmas present. By the time you
get around to giving it to her, it will almost be Easter.”

“And your point is?”

Grant picked up the last unopened present.
“Bella will be disappointed that Rachel didn’t open her present on
Christmas day. Take it to her.”

“I’m not taking it to Rachel now. It’s nearly
nine o’clock. She’s probably in bed, fast asleep.”

Grant rolled his eyes. “Only people with
eight-year-old daughters are asleep by now. The rest of the world
is just starting to party.”

“I don’t think Rachel is the partying
kind.”

“Why don’t you give her a call and find out?
I’ll stay here with Bella and half of the retired US military
personnel. I could even read the first chapter of your book and
tell you what it said.”

John took his cell phone out of his pocket.
He pulled up his contact list, then put his phone down. “I’ll call
her in the morning. Bella will want to come.”

“Bella will understand. You could invite
Rachel over when Bella’s awake.”

John wasn’t sure this was a good idea. He’d
be lucky if Rachel spoke to him again. The flimsy excuse of a
Christmas present wouldn’t work. She’d see through it, tell him she
didn’t want anything to do with him.

Grant grabbed his phone off the coffee table
and ran across the room.

“Don’t you dare,” John hissed. “Put that
phone down.”

Grant pushed a couple of buttons and smiled.
“Oops. My fingers slipped. It’s ringing…”

He passed the phone to John just as Rachel
answered the call.

“Hello?”

John glared at his brother. “Hi, Rachel. It’s
John. I’ve umm…I’ve got Bella’s Christmas present here that she
made for you. Can I bring it around?” The silence on the end of the
phone wasn’t reassuring.

“Did you mean now or on another day?”

“Well...it doesn’t really matter, but now
would be good.” Grant was busy making high-five actions beside him.
John could have quite easily pushed his brother out the door.

“Okay. Now would be fine. I’m at Tess and
Logan’s home. I’ll see you soon.” Rachel had disconnected the call
before John realized what she’d said.

“Well?” Grant watched him carefully. “Did you
hit a home run or strike out?”

“I’m going to see Rachel.”

Grant threw his hand in the air and John
slapped his hand against his brother’s high-five. And for the first
time in a long time, it felt good to be alive.

***

Rachel ran downstairs and sat in a big,
overstuffed chair in the living room. She glanced at the gas
fireplace, the candles she’d lit on the coffee table. It was too
much. It looked like she was preparing for a night of seduction,
not a quick five-minute gift-giving exercise.