White Christmas (5 page)

Chad groaned. “Don’t even get me started on that one. If I’d had six more months in office, I might have considered tackling the problem, but….”

“Well, as a senator for the state, you’ll have all the pull you’ll need at the Federal level,” Tessa said.

A slow smile spread over Chad’s lips. “Very clever. But you’re not going to get me to commit.”

Tessa laughed and the sound of it made Chad’s smile deepen. Her laugh was full, bright and sincere.

“Oh, come on,” she said. “We’re friends now. You can tell me. You are going to run for that seat, aren’t you?”

He leaned back in his chair, hooked his arm over the back of the seat and fiddled with his knife. He knew better than to say anything but somehow, he couldn’t seem to help himself. Tessa inspired trust. Before he could put much more into that thought, he shrugged. “All the cards would have to fall into place. It would take a lot of backing, especially financing.”

“Are you kidding?” she said with a twinkle in her eye. “You’re the party’s fair-haired boy. You’ll get all the backing you need.”

A hint of a smile slipped over his lips before he could stop it and he leaned forward. “There’s so much I could do, Tessa. So much good, especially if I had a great team. Just think of it, a young, vital group of go-getters like yourself in Washington, fighting for our state.”

Her eyebrows rose. “Why Mr. Fletcher, are you offering me a job?”

“Maybe,” he said, leaning back again. “Would you take it if I did?”

It was her turn to fiddle with the silverware in front of her. “I don’t know,” she answered, her voice low, thoughtful. “You have such a great vision. I’d love to be a part of something like that.”

He could see the wheels churning, her razor-sharp mind turning over the possibilities. Then she caught her lower lip between her teeth and suddenly, Chad wasn’t thinking of her mind. All he wanted was for it to be his teeth, his mouth tugging on her full, pink lip.

He couldn’t seem to stop looking at it and then, just as suddenly, Tessa froze. Time seemed to stop. The restaurant noise faded away. Chad could only hear Tessa’s short, nervous breath.

“Will that be all for you folks?” The waitress came up from behind Chad and her tone was impatient.

Tessa jumped and sat back in her chair.

Slowly, regretfully, Chad looked up. “Yes, thank you.” He couldn’t keep impatience out of his tone now.

“I didn’t realize how long we sat here,” Tessa said, looking at her watch, and then around the brightly-lit restaurant. “The tours started half an hour ago.”

The rest of the group had gone. Tessa and Chad had remained, talking and taking up space in the crowded eatery. With a grin on his face, Chad rose.

“Come on. Show me these historic homes.” He dropped an extra tip for the waitress, took Tessa’s arm and headed for the door. The cold air hit them and Tessa shivered.

“Brrr,” she said, tugging her lavender knit cap down over her curly locks. “If this keeps up, I wouldn’t be surprised if we get a white Christmas.”

“That’s what Aunt Nell said.” Chad watched her tuck some of the curls under her hat while others escaped. If he had his way, she’d let them all loose to bounce and curl around her face.

As soon as the thought came to him, he shoved his hands in his coat pockets and turned away. Those were the kind of ideas he tried to avoid. So where were his alarm bells? Where was that little voice that normally warned him off and made him step back?

He was pretty sure it got lost somewhere back in the restaurant when he looked at her lips. Or more probably, the voice got stomped down when she told him exactly where he’d gone wrong with his last bill.

Chad smiled. He’d been right when he told Nell that Tessa was a force to be reckoned with. He just hadn’t known what a powerful force she would exert on him.

“Let’s go see the apron display first,” she said as she led the way across Pioneer Square.

“That looks old enough to be real,” Chad said, pointing to a Conestoga wagon sitting in the middle of the square.

“It’s a replica,” Tessa said. “We keep the original in the storage shed over there.” She pointed to a huge metal barn in the back.

“So you have a real Conestoga wagon?”

“Yep,” she said. “White’s founder used it when he came out west with his family. We also have a little black surrey used by the town’s first doctor. But these are the only original things we keep out in the elements.” She pointed to several antique plows and farm equipment. “We have more than enough of this stuff to replace them if they get damaged in the weather.”

Chad laughed. “I’ll bet you do. All of this country was farms or ranches, right?”

“Pretty much,” Tessa said as she opened the door to the old school house. “This building used to be located three streets over but about ten years ago, the city moved it here and established Pioneer Square. It’s been a center for the local population and a draw for tourists ever since.”

Chad studied the polished floors and pristine hooks along the coat room walls of the school building. Hung all around the ceiling were red and green paper chains.

“The elementary school students make the decorations for the schoolhouse. They work on it for months ahead of time,” Tessa said.

They stepped into the main room. All of the wooden school desks had been pushed to one side. In the open space, various headless mannequins displayed aprons. Across the room, Grandma Sophie stood talking to a young couple with several small children. She was dressed in an old-fashioned dress with small print flowers. Over the dress, she had an apron with a bib and a blue ruffle. Instead of her normal modern glasses, she wore rimless square ones, perched on the tip of her nose.

“Well,” she said, peering over the rims at the two of them. “I wondered if you’d ever make it over here.”

“It’s my fault,” Tessa said. “I started talking politics.”

“Oh my,” Sophie said with a shake of her head. “You should have warned him.”

Chad laughed. “It wasn’t a one-sided conversation.”

“I imagine it wasn’t,” Grandma Sophie said with a smile, and Chad realized where Tessa got her twinkling blue eyes.

“I doubt Chad’s very interested in aprons, Tessa. Why don’t you give him the quick tour version and then get on down to the White House before it gets too late.”

“The White House?” Chad said, frowning.

“I’ll explain on the way,” Tessa said as she took his arm.

Outside, the cold air hit them again. But as bitter as the wind felt, the night didn’t seem empty and cold. The beautiful Victorian lampposts were lit. Draped with old-fashioned looking vines, they sparkled in the crisp night air. A group of carolers in Dickens costumes strolled up and down the street, singing and greeting visitors all along the way.

“After the Civil War, Thaddeus T. White came west with his family,” Tessa explained as she looped her arm through his. “He planned to ranch like most everyone else, but after he got here, he realized how badly they needed a general store. So he picked a flat spot near the crossroads and built one. The town grew up around it and made Mr. White rich. He built our first mansion.”

She gestured to a large, two-story house in front of them. It had wood clapboard siding and a large front porch. Tessa held open the gate to a white picket fence.

“Really?” Chad said. “Complete with a picket fence?”

“Complete,” Tessa said. “You can’t get much more apple pie Americana than here in White…or as it was first known, White’s Flat.”

Tessa swung the gate back and forth with a smile. Chad chuckled and went inside the yard. This house, like the school, had been lovingly restored. Nevertheless, the wooden step creaked when Chad stepped on it and he decided to tread carefully as he crossed the porch.

The top half of the front door was glass and inside the large parlor, Chad could see Grandpa Jim, sitting in a large wooden rocker. A fire blazed in the fireplace as Jim rocked and carved a piece of wood in his hands. Without hesitating, Tessa hurried inside, crossed over and planted a kiss on her grandfather’s cheek.

“I see they couldn’t convince you to wear a period costume again this year,” she said as a greeting.

“Nope. No need to dress fancy. I’m old enough to remind people about the past without silly costumes.”

Tessa laughed and once again, Chad found himself delighting in the sound of it…and the sight of Tessa, standing by her grandfather’s side. She was so bright, so full of life and love. She drew him to her like a child to a sparkly toy.

“It’s a pleasure to finally meet you, young man.” Grandpa Jim’s tone was stern.

Chad looked down and realized Jim had been watching Chad stare at his granddaughter. His look made Chad feel like a teenager caught on the front porch kissing, a feeling he had not had in a long, long while.

Clearing his throat, he extended his hand. “It’s a pleasure to meet you too, sir.”

Jim swapped the knife to his other hand and shook the carvings loose before he grasped Chad’s hand.

“I see you’re working on another piece,” Chad said, anxious to get past his feeling of discomfort.

“Is it another nativity?” Tessa asked.

“It’s the season for it. Listen, Tessa, do me a favor and run to the kitchen for that broom and dustpan. I need to get some of these shavings off the floor.”

Tessa nodded and headed into the hallway, quite certain she was being sent away, but not certain why. Once she reached the darkened hall, she slowed her steps, listening to the conversation between her grandfather and Chad.

Grandpa had some old-fashioned ideas and he wasn’t as eager as Grandma to do matchmaking. In fact, most of Tessa’s high school boyfriends had received more than one stiff warning from Grandpa. Just as there was a lull in the conversation, and Tessa was sure that her grandfather would make his move, the front door opened. A group of his friends strode in on a wave of cold air. Sighing with relief, Tessa hurried to the kitchen.

When she returned, she found her grandfather talking and laughing with his friends, just the kind of conversation Chad seemed to flourish in. But he didn’t take part. He stood at the back of the room, watching, an odd, half-smile on his lips.

Tessa swept up the shavings, and then tossed them into the fire. Placing the broom and dustpan to the side of the fireplace, she patted her grandfather’s shoulder.

“I’ll see you later,” she said.

Chad joined her and they walked outside. They were half way to the gate and still, Chad hadn’t said anything. His quiet, speculative mood gave Tessa the opportunity she needed.

“It isn’t true, you know. What you said earlier about a political career and a family not being a good mix. I think it’s just the opposite.”

He halted his footsteps and turned to her. “What do you mean?”

“Well, I think a politician, of all people, needs his family’s love and support. Needs to know they’re behind him. They keep him on track, balanced, and everyone needs a place to lick their wounds. I know I sure do.”

“Wounds? Watchinski’s star watch-dog?”

“Remember the Jayco Fuel Company?”

“That was you?” All sense of humor had fled his tone.

She nodded. “Somehow, they got past me. I gave them a stamp of approval. When the truth came out it was just awful.”

“That was a long time ago. You must have been very young.”

“My first solo investigation. I almost walked away from my job. I came home and cried for days. Until my mother told me to pull up my big girl pants and get back to work.”

“Sounds like your mother is someone else I’d like to meet.”

“Aunt Tessa!” They’d reached the gate of the picket fence by this time and Tessa looked up to see her sixteen-year-old niece and her friend.

“Hey, you!” she called out. “Chad, this is my niece Ashley, and her friend, Tiffany. Are you two taking the tours?”

“Not this year,” Ashley said with a shake of her long, brown hair. “We just left rehearsal for the church play. We’re meeting Dad at the diner. You’re coming to the play tomorrow, aren’t you?”

“I think Grandma said she already bought the tickets. If not, I’ll get my own!”

“Great! I’m the innkeeper’s wife…a not-to-be-missed role,” she said with a wry grin.

“You can come, too,” Tiffany blurted out. Tessa looked to see the young, dark-haired beauty flashing a flirty smile at Chad. “I’m playing the part of Mary.”

He cleared his throat and shifted uncomfortably.

Tessa covered her smile with her hand as Ashley poked her friend in the side with her elbow.

“What?” Tiffany said, under her breath.

Ashley grabbed her arm, “Come on. We’ll see you tomorrow, Aunt Tessa,” she said.

“Sure and I’ll bring Chad if we have any extra tickets.” Tessa couldn’t resist the teasing.

Tiffany peeked back over her shoulder and sent another smile in his direction before Ashley jerked her around.

“You’re embarrassing me,” she said in a not-so-quiet whisper.

Tessa did a better job than her niece of keeping her voice suppressed. “And that Mr. Fletcher,” she said in an undertone, “is another reason why you should get married. Think of all the hearts, pining away for you if you don’t.”

Chad’s smile faded. “Broken hearts is exactly one of the reasons I don’t want to marry.”

His too serious tone made Tessa feel as if someone had splashed cold water in her face. “Oh, Chad. I’m so sorry. That was really thoughtless of me.”

She touched him. Through her gloved fingers she felt the strong muscles as his arm tensed. Then he placed his own gloved hand over hers.

“Don’t be,” he said in a quiet voice. “I think one of the things I am grateful for is the fact that by the time my engagement ended, we were both more relieved than hurt.”

His voice was low, almost intimate. She could feel his body heat coming through the cloth of both their gloves, the feel of his strength beneath her fingertips, and his clean masculine smell, like the crisp air around them. She could have stayed there for hours, listening to his voice, feeling as if she were important to him. Because it felt so right, because she wanted it so much, she shook her head and stepped back.

“Chad, you don’t have to explain.”