White Christmas (2 page)

“She looks so much like you I thought she was yours.” Again he spoke without thinking, something he’d learned as a politician never to do.

“No, poor baby,” she replied. “She just inherited her aunt’s willful hair and pasty complexion.”

There was nothing pasty about the peaches and cream complexion he saw in front of him. In fact, it was so creamy that it tempted him to run his fingers along it just to see if it was real. But he didn’t and he didn’t say anything out loud. He was beginning to get his wayward thoughts under control and he certainly wasn’t going to give her anymore openings for conversation. He just nodded and looked up at the trees.

“I’m sorry−”

He groaned inwardly. Here it comes. The questions. The comments good and bad…usually bad…about the job he was or wasn’t doing as an assemblyman. Or the fawning attention, the one he found the most annoying, because his face had been in the gossip columns so much.

“But aren’t you Assemblyman Fletcher?”

He clenched his teeth and pulled the brim of the cap down lower. “Yes, I am, but promise me you won’t tell. I’m trying to escape notice.”

The sound of her soft laughter caught him off guard. He glanced up and she leaned forward.

“It’s not working,” she said in a near whisper. “Every single woman on the street has already noticed you. And frankly it wasn’t working in Phoenix, either.”

Now he was really surprised. “You saw me in Phoenix?”

“We’ve actually met, several times. I’m with CPR, Citizens for Political Reform. We worked with you on your farm bill. I did the research.”

He studied her face, wondering how he could have missed her even in a crowd. “I thought you looked familiar, but I don’t remember….” He faltered, realizing how unflattering he sounded.

“You weren’t supposed to remember me,” she interjected. “You were supposed to be concentrating on a very important bill and it passed, thanks to your hard work and diligence. If you’d been paying attention to anyone, or anything, besides that, I wouldn’t have half the respect I have for you.”

Chad took a deep breath and straightened. “Thanks…I think.”

She laughed again. “Yes, it was a compliment. I don’t do double-speak and I do have tremendous respect for you. I know from personal experience you’ve earned your reputation as the Assembly’s fair-haired boy.”

He shrugged one shoulder. “I wasn’t so fair-haired with my last bill. It failed miserably.”

“Yes, but you got it to the floor,” she said. “Do you know how many assemblymen tried and failed to get it that far? You crossed party lines and got support from the most unlikely people. You really get the job done.”

“That’s pretty decent praise from one of Watchinski’s Watchdogs.”

She winced, wrinkling her pert little nose.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to offend you. I think CPR is a great organization.”

“Gene Watchinski is a fearless leader and he loves the nickname for our group. So does everyone else. I just have a little personal thing about it.”

She turned back to the Christmas tree as if the subject was closed. Chad leaned forward, studying her face until she turned back to him.

“Oh, all right,” she said. “I’ll tell you. I’m not very good at keeping secrets.”

He grinned. “That’s a good thing. Watchinski’s Watchdogs are supposed to be open and straight-forward.”

She turned and frowned, the same thoughtful frown he’d seen a few moments ago. It wrinkled her forehead and made her seem very serious.

“We’re watchdogs, right? So we’ve assigned each other dog personalities.” She tilted her head one way and the other and shrugged. “So I’m Tessa the Terrier.”

Tessa. It suited her. Sort of exotic and simple at the same time. Totally irrepressible. He frowned. “A Terrier because Tessa starts with a ‘T’?”

“No, a Terrier because once I get an idea it’s like a bone, I won’t give it up.” She sighed. “I talk to the Lord about changing that little problem all the time. But he seems determined to give me reminders of how stubborn I can be.”

He started to chuckle and she looked away, catching her lower lip with her teeth.

Now he remembered her. She always wore her hair tied back in a bun and secured with combs. She’d been so business-like, so informed and capable. Her curls and her embarrassment over the nickname made her human and real.

“Your secret is safe with me,” he said, laughter still in his tone. “I won’t remind you or rub it in. Especially after all the nice things you said about my work. I want to keep you on my side. In fact, I’m thinking of asking you to be my campaign manager.”

Suddenly, the laughter left her eyes and she gazed up in all seriousness. “Will there be a campaign? Is that why you refused another term in the assembly so you can run for Senator Rizzi’s seat when he retires next year?”

Chad caught his breath, wondering how he’d let that happen. He never spoke out of turn or let information slip. But they’d been talking like old friends and it just happened. What was it about this young woman that made him so comfortable? Before he could gather his thoughts and come up with a reason, she held up her hand.

“Don’t answer that,” she said, closing her eyes. “I’m sorry I even asked it. That’s none of my business and I don’t know why I said it. I−I just feel like I know you.”

Chad smiled, thinking how her words echoed his feelings. “We do. We’ve even worked together.”

Tessa opened her eyes and stared at him. A slow, sweet smile spread over her lips and made her blue eyes sparkle. He thought it just might be the prettiest smile he’d ever seen.

That’s when the alarm bells started going off.

Suddenly, he noticed that it had gotten dark and Aunt Nell still hadn’t shown up. He looked around. “Well, it was nice talking to you.”

He stopped short of saying Tessa. The name had taken on new meaning for him…untamed strawberry curls and a sweet smile. Now, it sounded far too personal.

“My aunt’s waiting for me, so I’d better get back,” he said rather shortly.

She nodded. “My grandmother’s waiting, too.”

Her voice sounded disappointed and those blue eyes that had sparkled all night lost some of their shimmer. She gestured across the street. He turned and saw Aunt Nell sitting on a park bench. Beside her was another little white-haired lady. They both smiled and waved.

“Wait a minute,” he said beneath his breath. “You’re not−”

He turned back around.

Tessa smiled and held out her hand. “Nice to meet you. I’m Sophie’s granddaughter.”

2

Chad stared at Tessa’s hand, his mind whirling. As soon as he reached for her gloved fingertips, she leaned forward. “Don’t worry. I’ve been resisting their attempts at matchmaking as strenuously as I’m sure you have,” she whispered.

He felt as if someone poured cold water over all the little brush fires that had exploded inside him.

“You have?”

She nodded. “Of course. Grandma and Nell are convinced I’m going to be a lonely, old woman with nothing to show for my life except my career. I keep telling them that’s not a bad thing. But they’re so determined to see me married, they throw me at every man I meet, including a man who’s just bounced back from a nightmare engagement. Your aunt shouldn’t throw you under the bus like that. And even if I was looking, which I’m not, I wouldn’t settle for being someone’s rebound. I respect myself more than that.”

“You do?” He sounded like a bad recording. But he couldn’t help himself. He was relieved to hear Tessa didn’t have any expectations, mainly because he liked her. If he knew she wasn’t looking for more than a good friendship, then they could continue to spend time together. Chad liked that thought. A lot.

“In fact,” Tessa continued, “I think we should put a stop to this nonsense, right now. Come on.” She marched past him and started across the wide boulevard.

Chad had to do a running hop to catch up to her.

She came to the bench where the two friends were seated. “All right. We’ve met. We had a nice conversation and yes, we do have a lot in common. Are you happy, now?”

“Why, yes, dear,” Aunt Nell said in the sweetest voice Chad had ever heard. “That’s all we ever wanted, for you two to see what good friends you could be.”

Tessa turned her head and looked at his aunt sideways, obviously not believing her syrupy assertion.

Even Chad had a hard time swallowing it.

“Fine,” Tessa said. “Now we’ve met. This is as far as it’s going to go so you two need to stop all the plotting and conniving.”

“We really did just want you to meet,” Tessa’s Grandma Sophie said, sounding more sincere than Aunt Nell.

“Good. I want your promise that you won’t even think about ways to get us together. Agreed?”

Sophie frowned for a moment. “There’s nothing else for us to do, Tessa. We just thought you might make good company for each other while you’re here.”

It sounded logical, and Chad believed Sophie believed it.

Tessa did too, because she turned to him. “Nice talking to you. Maybe next time we see each other you can tell me how you planned to get your bill through the state senate if it had passed.”

Chad smiled, admiring her don’t-back-down attitude.

“I’d like that.” He was surprised at how much he meant it. But he stopped short of saying her name again.

She gestured towards the children in the Santa line. “It’s almost the kids’ turn, Grandma. Did you want me to take some pictures of them on your camera?”

“Oh yes, thank you for remembering, dear.” Sophie dug in her purse and pulled out the small camera. Tessa took it, hugged her grandmother and Nell, and then, with a nod towards Chad, headed off to the noise and clamor of the Santa scene.

Chad wished she’d smiled at him one more time.

As Tessa walked away, it struck him that Nell had seemed to agree, but she’d never promised to stop her conniving. Somehow, that didn’t disturb him as much as it should have.

****

Tessa marched across the clearing and with each step her mind shouted,
No! No! No!

This couldn’t be happening. It just couldn’t. She’d said she wasn’t interested, said she respected herself too much to be anyone’s rebound. And she meant it. Sincerely. But it was hard to be sincere about anything when looking into Chad Fletcher’s mind-bending, dark blue eyes.

Everything she’d ever heard about him was true. Women whispered about how he had the most soulful gaze they’d ever seen. If he looked at one, it felt as if he looked straight down into one’s soul. When he listened, he made one feel like the only person in the room. Though he never had a black hair out of place, he wore it slightly long and because it had a lot of wave to it, it almost seemed disheveled. Even now with the baseball cap firmly in place, it stuck out in the back with a slight curl that was carefree and utterly charming. And sometimes when he smiled, a slight twist to his lips made him look like a mischievous boy.

All of those features, combined with a brilliant political mind, a reputation for integrity, and morality, convinced Tessa that she was in deep, deep trouble. If that smile didn’t get her, his desire to serve the people would.

She was doomed. Totally doomed. And if she wanted to keep her heart and her pride intact, she needed to steer clear of Chad Fletcher. But how was she going to do that when his aunt was her grandmother’s best friend?

“Hey! Are you going to take some pictures, or just stand there?”

Her sister Jessica’s voice jolted Tessa out of her reverie. She turned on the camera and waited, barely snapping the picture before Emma slid off Santa’s lap.

Little Emma walked past her older brother in the line. “See, I told you he was gonna be happy to see me,” she said.

Tessa smiled and spent the next few minutes taking pictures of her various nieces and nephews as they climbed on to the ever-patient Santa’s lap.

The whole Conway clan was here for Christmas and that was saying something with five children, almost two dozen grandchildren, and eight great-grandchildren. And Tessa hadn’t even started a family.

Grandpa Jim’s mild heart attack had served as a wake-up call for all the Conways. So they had decided to gather for Christmas at the family ranch a few miles out of town. No excuses were accepted. The whole clan came and so far, it seemed everyone was having a good trip.

By the time her nieces and nephews had finished with Santa, Tessa was more in control of herself and her reactions to Chad Fletcher. And yes, they were intense. He was after all, pretty near perfect. What woman wouldn’t want him, or fall head-over-heels the first time he gave her that, “you’re the only woman in the room” look?

But she knew she could resist. Where there was a will, there was a way. She just had to put her intense focus on something besides Chad Fletcher. They called her Tessa the Terrier for a reason. For the first time, she was glad of her nickname.

“Are you coming with us?” Jessica asked, a frown creasing her brow. “The hot chocolate’s this way.”

Tessa glanced over at the table and saw her grandmother and Nell standing with Chad, sipping steaming cups. “No. I thought I’d go on over to the living Nativity. Wanna come?”

“I’ll be there in a minute. I promised the kids cookies, and if I don’t follow through, there’ll be a riot. We’ll meet you as soon as we’re done.”

Tessa handed her grandma’s camera to her sister, tucked her gloved hands into the pockets of her lavender ski jacket, and headed towards the living Nativity display.

It was just a short way down Main Street to the large brick church where the Nativity scene was staged. It was always one of Tessa’s favorite parts of the first day festivities. There were hay bales, live animals and people dressed in biblical clothes. The performers chosen to play the parts of Mary and Joseph and the Three Wise Men didn’t do much more than stand there. But Tessa still loved the scene, anyway.

The couple chosen to play Mary and Joseph always seemed fresh-faced and innocent. Tessa was sure they chose performers with those qualities to remind people how young and inexperienced Mary and Joseph had been when they accepted the call to be the parents of the Savior. The choice worked for Tessa. It always put her in awe of Mary and Joseph’s faith. Would she have had such obedience and courage?