The Patricia Kiyono Christmas Collection (13 page)

The woman broke eye contact first,
and her gaze went to Angie. “Good afternoon, Angela. You’re looking
lovely today.”

Sophie thought she caught an attempt at a smile, but
the shape of the perfectly painted lips looked more like a
grimace.

“
Good afternoon, Nana,” Angie
answered politely.

“
I trust you are doing well,” the
woman continued.

“
Yes, Nana.”

Sophie couldn’t believe her eyes.
Nana never made a move to hug or kiss Angie. She tried to imagine
her own mother having that kind of stilted conversation with Joey
or her brother’s children. No, Joyce Gardner never left any doubt
about her feelings for any of her grandchildren.

“
Your father and I are discussing
plans for the holidays. He has informed me your plans don’t include
a visit to our home.”

Angie glanced at her dad, but she remained
silent.

“
I’ve decided since you can’t be
bothered to come to Chicago, we’ll just have to come and spend the
holiday with you. Geoffrey and I will stay in Grand Rapids. I’m
assuming that’s the closest place with decent hotels. I shall be
back.” She swept out the door without another word.

Sophie, Mitch, and Angie stood
frozen for several moments until Angie broke the silence. “Daddy,
does that mean Nana and Poppy are coming while Grandma and Grandpa
are here?”

Mitch held his head in his hands.
“Dear Lord, help me,” he murmured.

Sophie chewed her
lip as she walked toward Mitch’s house. Unfamiliar
cars lined his driveway, so she’d had to park on the street. She’d
planned to come earlier in the day, before Mitch’s mother arrived,
but Joanie had needed her help all day, preparing for the Gardner
family Thanksgiving. Maybe she should have waited until later in
the evening, after the Carsons left. No, Angie would be home from
school by now, and she’d been looking forward to putting the shelf
up. She’d just drop the shelf off and leave.

Shopping with Angie for her bedroom
furnishings had been so much fun. Once Mitch’s mother-in-law had
left, Sophie had helped Angie change back into play clothes and
they’d made a list of things to look for. Then they’d spent a fun
afternoon planning how to arrange her room and shopping in the
small shops in Zutphen.

She went around the house to the back door
and knocked. Hopefully most of the company would be in the living
room at the front. On the other hand, if everyone was in the front
room, nobody would hear her knock. She’d just raised her hand to
knock again when the storm door opened and a gorgeous brunette
peered out.

“
Oh, hi. You must be
Sophie. Come on in.” She opened the screen door and then stepped
back to let Sophie in. “I’m Deana, Mitch’s sister-in-law. Hey, why
don’t I hold that for you while you take your boots off?” She took
the long shelf and angled it in through the kitchen
doorway.

“
Mom Carson recruited all
of us to come down for the day to help get his house in shape for
the holidays. By the way, Angie’s room looks great. I love how you
added just a little bit more color by painting the drawer pulls and
curtain sashes with those little flowers. And I see you’ve got the
same flowers on this shelf. You’re very talented.”

“
Thanks.” Sophie didn’t
know what else to say.

A woman with Mitch’s eyes came into the
kitchen. “Hi there, Sophie. We’ve heard so much about you. I’m Rita
Carson. You’re Joyce’s youngest daughter, aren’t you?” At Sophie’s
gasp of surprise she explained, “I grew up in this house, but I’d
married and moved to Muskegon before you were born. Eric Hager is
my older brother, and your mother and I went to high school
together. We lost touch after graduation. You take after her, don’t
you?”

Sophie agreed. “I look more like Mom, but
she says I act like my dad — always the dreamer.”

Rita laughed. “Well, dreamers make the best
designers. I love what you’ve done with Angie’s room.” She gestured
toward the shelf Sophie had painted. “This must be the shelf for
her dolls, right?” At Sophie’s nod, she waved toward the bedrooms.
“Cute. I’ll let you get to it, then. Mitch is in his office working
on the photos for his mini-session customers. Thanks for giving him
the idea, by the way. It’s really getting his name out in the
community.”

“
I’m glad he got such a
great response,” Sophie replied. “Do you need some help in
here?”

“
I’ve got my daughter and
daughter-in-law helping to put the living room and dining room
together. Angie’s in her room, playing dress-up with her dolls, so
I’m sure she’ll be happy to see you’ve got her shelf done. I’m not
sure there will be enough time to do anything about this kitchen.”
She sighed. “You’d think a photographer would want to have a home
with a little color, and maybe some pictures or something on the
walls!” She picked up a roller pan and went back into the living
room.

Sophie took the shelf to Angie’s room and
found the six-year-old sitting on her bed, dressing one of her
fashion dolls. She hopped up to give Sophie a hug.

“
Miss Sophie! I knew you’d
get my shelf done. Grandma Carson and Aunt Becky and Aunt Deana
really like my room. They said you were like a-a ‘teerior
decorator.”

The compliment warmed Sophie’s heart. She
didn’t want to dwell on her pleasure at getting the approval of the
women in Mitch’s family. “That was very nice of them to say, Angie.
Now I need you to help me figure out how high to hang this shelf.
We want it high enough to keep your dolls out of the way, but low
enough so you can get them down when you want to play with
them.”

They worked together choosing a height just
right for Angie then placing her dolls neatly on the newly
installed shelf. On the pegs under the shelf they hung some of
Angie’s doll clothes on small wire hangers Sophie had made.

She’d just put the finishing touches on the
room when she noticed the house had gone eerily quiet. Coldness
crept up her spine. The voices coming from the kitchen weren’t
loud, but the tone was definitely unfriendly. Angie stood frozen in
her spot, her face bent in a frown. “Nana’s here again.”

“
Do you want me to help you
change your clothes again?”

Angie shook her head. “No. Grandma Carson
and Aunt Becky and Aunt Deana are here, and they’re all wearing
jeans too. Nana won’t yell at me while they’re here.”

Sophie wondered briefly if the woman with
the eternally glacial expression actually yelled or whether she
simply threw insults until Angie felt she’d been yelled at. But she
nodded.

They tiptoed down the hallway toward the
kitchen to hear what the two grandmothers had to say to each other.
Melinda Billingsworth stood in the middle of the kitchen, her
fur-trimmed coat and designer boots a stark contrast to Rita
Carson’s comfortable jeans and plaid cotton shirt.

“
Where is Angela?” Melinda
demanded. “I understand Mitchell needs to work to support them, but
he should make arrangements for her to be supervised. Surely you
don’t expect her to do this manual labor with you. I’m surprised
you allow her to stay in the house when these awful paint fumes are
everywhere.”

“
Are you telling me I don’t
know how to care for my grandchild?” Rita crossed her arms and
glared. A younger version of Rita stood slightly behind her, along
with Deana. Sophie knew she wouldn’t want to be on the receiving
end of that trio’s ire. But Melinda Billingsworth wasn’t
intimidated. She simply shrugged.

“
I’m telling you that
if
my
home was
full of painters I would have taken care to keep small children
away. And since you’re doing the painting, I fail to see how you
could adequately supervise Angela. Perhaps I should take her to our
hotel, where the air is breathable.”

“
Melinda, if you had said
one word about wanting to take Angie because you missed her, or if
I believed you really wanted to spend time with her, I might be
inclined to let her go. But I know your only purpose in taking her
is to get her away from me and my family.” Mitch’s sudden
appearance startled them all. He stepped around Sophie and Angie to
face his mother-in-law.

“
I just had a phone call
from a certain private investigator. It seems his client refused to
pay for some of his expenses. Since he’s not getting his money he
decided to warn me about your intentions.”

“
You hired a PI to spy on
my son?” Rita cried. “Why would you do that?”

“
She’s trying to prove me
an unfit parent. He said when he told her I hadn’t done anything
she could use against me, she told him to try and kidnap Angie to
prove I didn’t watch her carefully.” His eyes widened suddenly and
he pointed at her. “You’re behind the incident at school last week!
The school secretary called me because some man came into the
office and said he needed to pick Angie up and take her to the
hospital because I’d been in an accident. Instead of getting Angie,
the secretary told him she needed to check her records to find out
if he was authorized to take her, and the guy ran away. Since then,
the school has assigned extra aides to keep an eye on her on the
playground, and I’ve been personally taking her to her classroom
and picking her up there every day.”

At this, Angie dashed to her father and
clung to his legs. He reached down and picked her up, holding her
tight while he reassured the child, who’d started to sob. “Don’t
worry, sweetheart, nobody is going to take you away from me.”

“
Indeed, they’re not,”
boomed another voice from behind Melinda. Geoffrey Billingsworth
stepped forward. Unlike his wife, he’d left his snow-covered
loafers in the mudroom, and in his stocking feet he’d entered the
room unnoticed. He walked toward Mitch and Angie and reached out to
wipe a tear off his granddaughter’s face. “Pumpkin, I am so sorry
about all this. Your daddy is a fine man, and a good father. I’ve
always been proud to call him my son-in-law.”

He turned and glared at his wife. “Your
attitude toward Mitch has always bothered me, but I never thought
you would stoop to criminal acts to get what you want. If your idea
of coping with Sarah’s death is to make our granddaughter into a
copy of her mother, you are delusional.” He sighed as he looked at
Angie again, sadness etching his face. “I came here thinking we
were going to have some fun with our granddaughter this week. Nana
told me you were expecting us and that you’d be coming back to the
hotel. But it looks like Mitch has every reason to ban us from ever
seeing you again. I’ve missed you, pumpkin. I miss your sunny
smile, your big hugs, and your sharp wit. Maybe someday you’ll
forgive us and let us come to see you.”

“
They can’t keep us from
seeing our granddaughter,” Melinda argued.

“
If Mitch decides to press
charges for child endangerment, you’re going to have more to worry
about than not seeing Angie,” Geoffrey retorted. “Get in the car,
Melinda. We’re going home.” He waited until his wife left the room,
and then spoke to Mitch.

“
Send me the name of the
private investigator. I’ll see that he’s fully compensated. It’s
the least I can do after he stopped Melinda from continuing with
her foolish plan. And if there’s ever anything I can do for you or
Angie, please don’t hesitate to call me. I hope someday you can
forgive us enough to come and see us, or let us see you.” He kissed
Angie’s cheek and left without another word.

No one spoke or moved for several seconds.
Sophie didn’t even dare breathe. Her heart ached for the pain Mitch
and Angie must feel.

Rita broke the silence when she took a deep
breath. “Well, I think the living room is ready for its second coat
of paint.” She strode out of the kitchen, Deana and Becky following
close behind.

S
ophie flopped down
on the sofa,
relieved to find it unoccupied. The house was blissfully quiet.
Thanksgiving dinner had gone well, and now most of the people who
remained in Joanie’s house were napping. Mom had arrived early in
the morning to help with the cooking. Sam and his family came later
with his wife Jackie’s prize winning apple pie and a salad. Chairs
were brought in from every corner of the house, and it had been
good to hear all the laughter.

She’d kept busy all day. If she kept busy,
she wouldn’t have time to think about leaving all this behind.
She’d done it before, when she’d left for college, and again when
she'd gone to New York to try culinary school, but those goodbyes
had been different. As a student, she'd known she’d be home for
holidays and vacations. Now she planned to leave again. If things
worked out, this would be a permanent move. The thought was
exhilarating, yet melancholy.

Especially when she thought about a certain
rugged photographer and his angelic daughter.

She hadn’t seen either of them since the
horrible scene with his in-laws on Monday. The Wednesday night
rehearsal at church had been cancelled so that people could prepare
for the Thanksgiving holiday. She wondered how Mitch’s holiday was
going with his family. And how the Billingsworths had celebrated.
Had they celebrated at all?

“
Hey, little sis. How’s it
going?” Sam settled on the sofa next to her. “Joanie says you
worked really hard this week. She says she couldn’t have pulled off
the family holiday without you. In fact, she says she wouldn’t have
survived the pregnancy if you hadn’t been here. She’s lucky you
were available.”