A Home for Christmas (22 page)

"Jenna.  Thanks for bringing him. 
Could you give us some time alone?"

"No."

And here we go, Cam thought when he saw his dad's
eyes narrow and his nostrils flare.

"Come on, Jenna, I want to talk to my
son."

She sat in a chair by the door, dropping her
purse at her feet.

"So, talk.  But I'm not leaving him in
here on his own."

"Are you kidding me?" his dad snapped.

"Don't yell at her," Cam shot right
back.  "I don't want her to leave.  I wanted Riley in here, too,
but Lainey said that probably wasn't a good idea."

"Riley?  He's here?" Wade snarled.

"He goes where we go," Cam told him.

"Fine.  Look, Cam, I wanted to tell
you, I'm really sorry about the way things have been the last few years. 
I haven't been in a good place and I want you to know I'm working on fixing
that."

Cam stared at his dad.  It was an apology
but all he heard was I this and I that.

"OK."

"OK? Cam, son, I'm trying to apologize
here."

Cam glanced over at his mom, then back at his
dad.

"So, you apologize and I'm just supposed to
forget all the times you let me down the last couple of years?  Do you
realize that the only times I've seen you the last two years have been for two
weeks over the summer, and during that time I'm usually with whatever nanny you
hired for the two weeks rather than with you.  You never spend time with
me any more.  I guess if I ever want to ride with you again, I should
enter one of your contests.  Jake Henstridge couldn't stop talking about
the ride he had with you.  How you spent two hours with him and told him
how to take the whoops a little faster and make his jumps steadier.  Said
how you told him you'd never seen a more natural rider.  Thanks for that,
by the way.  He made sure to tell everyone that
my
dad said
he
was the best rider he'd ever seen.  Over and over and over."

"Cam, I have to be nice to the contest
winners.  I didn't know you knew that kid."

"Come on, Dad!  How stupid do you think
I am?"

"Why are you being like this?"

"Like what?  Like myself?  Like
you, maybe?  Let me take a page out of the Wade Blackwell handbook:
Everything'll be all right, Dad.  I've spent my token amount of time with
you so that I can tell everyone I saw my dad on Christmas.  So, here are
your presents.  Don't worry.  I know you've been stuck here so you
don't have any for me.  So, Merry Christmas, Dad, and I will leave you in
the capable hands of the nice people here at the facility."

With that, Cam got up and walked out of the room,
leaving Wade in stunned silence.  Jenna sat with her hand over her mouth,
shocked at what Cam had said, but at the same time, secretly proud of
him.  She braced herself for an explosion from Wade, but he surprised her
by sitting quietly, head down.

"Wade?" she asked, keeping her voice
soft and gentle.

He looked up at her, his eyes red.

"I guess I deserved that, huh?" he said
quietly.

"You have to understand; he was really hurt
by the way you've treated him.  You damaged the trust he had in you and
it's going to take time to get it back."

"He hates me.  My son hates me."

She got up then and crossed over to where he sat
on the edge of his bed and squatted down in front of him to take his hands into
hers and look him in the eye.

"He doesn't hate you.  He loves you,
and that's why this is so hard.  He just wants his dad back.  I know
you don't want to hear this, but I didn't realize how starved for male
attention he was until I met Riley.  And you need to understand that Riley
is a part of our lives now.  A serious part.  And Cam is already
attached to him.  Did you notice his hair?"

Wade gave her a funny look.  "Whose
hair?"

She sighed.  "Your son's, Wade. 
Cam's.  The last time you saw him, his hair was long and shaggy like
yours.  It's cut short and military-style now and spiked...like
Riley's.  I have no problem with that, other than the fact that while
Riley loves Cam...
you
are his father and he needs
you
to step up
and
be
his father, Wade, and you can't do that if you are high and
wallowing in your own pity party.  So, again, pull yourself together and
then come fix your relationship with your son.  The ball is in your court
now.  You are the only one who can fix this.  Do you understand what
I'm telling you?"

He clutched her hands and nodded. 
"Yeah...I do...and I'm working on it."

Riley looked up when Cam came back into the lobby
and he could tell things hadn't gone well.  Cam came straight to him and
to Riley's surprise, launched himself into his arms.  Riley held him
tight, sending Lainey an alarmed look.  She crossed over and sat next to
Riley, placing her hand on Cam's back.

"Cam?  What happened?" she asked
him.

He didn't let go of Riley, but he looked over at
Lainey.

"Just what you said would happen.  It
was all about him and I called him on it.  And he listened and he didn't
yell at me."

"Oh, honey, that's great.  Things will
start to get better now, you'll see."

Cam nodded.  He really, really hoped so.

When Jenna walked out, she saw Cam in Riley's
arms and she just melted.  Lainey sat next to them, talking to Cam and she
shamelessly listened in.  Cam was upset but not overly so.  Wade was
devastated but she felt like he was finally seeing the light about how he'd
been treating Cam. 

"Hey, bud," Jenna said, coming up to
them.  Cam pulled back from Riley and looked up at her.

"Can we go now?"

"In just a minute, but I'd like you to do
one more thing before we go."

"Yeah?"

"Could you go back and tell your dad that
you love him?  I think he really needs to hear that from you right
now."

Cam groaned.  "I told him Merry
Christmas before I left."

"Yeah, I know, but...it is Christmas, and it
would really help your dad to feel better, especially since he's going to be stuck
here for Christmas."

"Jeez, pack your bags, going on a guilt trip,"
Cam mumbled.

"Cameron," she gasped, but knew from
the look on his face that he would do it.

"Fine, I'm going, I'm going."

Jenna glanced at Riley and then followed Cam down
the hall.

Riley looked over at Lainey, the big smile on his
face showing his pride in his family.  "I am...the luckiest guy alive
right now," he told her.

Cam knocked on his dad's door again but this time
didn't wait for him to answer but walked right in.  His dad stood up when
he walked in.  For a minute, they stood there just staring at each
other.  Then, Cam took two steps forward and wrapped his arms around his
dad.

"I love you, Dad," he told him, and
closed his eyes when his dad returned his embrace.

"I love you, too, kid," his dad said,
kissing the top of his head.

Jenna met Wade's gaze when he lifted his head and
offered him a soft smile.

"Merry Christmas, Wade."

After leaving the facility, they stopped for
lunch and then went back home to bake Christmas cookies.  Riley was in awe
of Jenna and Cam's system and the sheer number of cookies they made.  They
made chocolate chip cookies and oatmeal raisin cookies, peanut butter cookies
and Christmas cut-out sugar cookies.  Then they divided them and put them
into cookie tins.

"Next up is to deliver them all," Jenna
said when they'd finished packing the last tin. 

Riley counted at least two-dozen tins. 
"You deliver all of these today?"

She smiled at his wide-eyed expression. 
"We do.  Although many people aren't home so we just leave them at
their door."

Cam laughed at Riley's expression. 
"I'm betting it's going to take us slightly longer this year than normal,
because a lot of Mom's work friends are going to want to talk more because of
you."

"So, we deliver all these cookies and then
what?"

Jenna glanced at the clock, calculating time in
her head.

"Well, normally, we spend two to three hours
at my folks, go to City Park to see the Christmas lights and then come home. 
This year we have to work your folks' party into the plans as well, so things
need to be tightened and adjusted accordingly."

He nodded.  "My folks' thing is just a
stop by and say hi thing.  Nothing formal really.  It's a dessert
thing.  She sets up a buffet of all kinds of desserts under the sun. 
It's great," he told Cam.

"Awesome!"

"So, when do we exchange gifts?"

"Usually when we get back from City Park,
Mom lets me open one present and then we watch The Polar Express before
bedtime."

"We may have to cut City Park out of the
routine to fit in Riley's parents.  Is that all right, Cam?"

"Yeah, sure, that's fine," he replied.

Riley nodded.  Even though the ring was
burning a hole in his pocket, he figured the best time would be when they got
back from his folks' place.  It was tempting to ask her now but he wanted
the setting to be right...at night with the lights glowing and the fire
crackling.

"Well, it's nearly five o'clock now. 
If we're going to make all these deliveries, go by your folks place and make it
to mine by eight, we need to get a move on," he said, kissing her cheek.

"Let's load up, Cam!"

Delivering cookies with them turned out to be
more enjoyable than Riley thought it would be.  She was right; most of the
people weren't home.  Those who were chatted briefly with them, but Jenna
and Cam were masters at keeping conversations short and light.  Most of
the people they delivered to were Jenna's employees, who were over-the-moon to
meet their boss' new boyfriend.  He found that the six ladies who worked
for Jenna were pleasant and absolutely devoted to her.  She ended up
leaving their houses with goody boxes of her own.  Cam's favorites were
Rosa and Escalinda who both gave large batches of tamales.  Riley had to
admit they smelled wonderful.  They also delivered to families of Cam's
friends, most of whom lived in Jenna's neighborhood. 

As they made the neighborhood stops, Riley began
to think of the future.  He liked Jenna's house, but it wasn't big enough
to raise a growing family.  They would have to move into a larger house
and he wondered how she would feel about leaving this neighborhood.

"OK, ready to head to Grandmother's?"
she asked Cam when they'd delivered the last cookie box.

"Yep.  I'm hungry!"

Jenna laughed and Riley felt it spread through
him like warm, sweet honey.  They were almost to her parents' house when
his phone rang.  He checked the number then raised it to his ear, seeing
it was the police station.

"Stanton," he answered.

Jenna and Cam sobered, Riley's tone alerting them
that something was up.  He didn't speak much, was listening, but then they
heard him giving instructions to assemble the SWAT team.

"Riley?" Jenna asked, concerned.

"Got a call-out, babe, I gotta drop y'all
off and head out."

"But, it's Christmas Eve," Cam said,
alarmed.

"Lot of people get crazy on the holidays,
bud.  Got a hostage situation at a jewelry store.  Gotta get there in
case negotiations go south," he told them, pulling into her parents'
drive.  "I'll be back as soon as I can, OK?"

Jenna and Cam both sat frozen for a moment. 
Jenna's heart was pounding, fear nearly robbing her of her speech.

"You'll be all right, won't you,
Riley?" Cam asked, his voice small and scared.

Riley turned in his seat to meet Cam's gaze.

"Ninety-five percent of the time, the
negotiators talk these people down and we never even get involved."

"But, at the convenience store, you were the
one doing the talking," Cam said.

"That was a different situation.  I got
there before the negotiators.  They're already at the jewelry store. 
It's going to be fine, but I have to go, OK?"

Cam nodded and opened his door and scooted
out.  Riley turned back to face Jenna, pulling her to him to give her a
quick kiss.

"I love you, Jen.  I gotta go."

She nodded, her brow pressed to his, fingers on
his lower lip. 

"You come back to me, Riley Stanton."

"Always," he promised.

She kissed him again then got out, standing with
Cam and watching him drive away.

"He'll be OK, right, Mom?" Cam asked,
eyes huge.

"Of course he will," she said brightly,
putting on a brave face for him.  "He's good at what he does, we have
to remember that.  Come on, let's go inside."

They went to the door and rang the bell, holding
tight to each other's hand while waiting for someone to answer the door. 
Her mother came to the door, a bright smile on her face until she saw their
faces.

"Jenna?  What's wrong?"

"We need to turn the news on," Cam
said, pushing past his grandmother.

"What?" her mother asked, watching Cam
rush into the living room.

"Riley just got a call out.  There's a
hostage situation at a jewelry store in town.  He had to go," Jenna
explained as she followed her mother inside.

"What's going on?" Jackie asked,
nodding toward Cam as he was frantically flipping through the channels looking
for news coverage.

Jenna explained, watching Cam surf the news
channels.  Nothing was on TV as of yet and she knew there was a good
chance it would not be.  Not every time the SWAT team was called out would
be on TV, she knew that.  It didn't help her nerves any, though.  She
realized that if Riley was going to be in their lives, she would have to get
used to this...unless she could talk him into giving it up.

"So, Riley is part of the Springfield SWAT
team?" her dad asked, breaking her thoughts.

"His uncle is the Chief of Police. Riley
agreed to help train the SWAT team and work with them on an as-needed
basis."

"Aunt Jackie, do you have your laptop?"
Cam asked, "I want to see if any of the news channels' pages are saying
anything."

"Yeah, sure, honey, it's on the dresser in
my room."

Cam scrambled up the stairs to retrieve the laptop. 
Jenna took several deep breaths to try to calm her racing heart and carried the
bags with her parents' and Jackie's gifts over to her mother's Christmas tree
to put them underneath.  When she stood, her mother was there and pulled
her into her arms.

"Try to relax and trust that everything will
be all right, sweetheart."

Jenna nodded, returning her mother's
embrace.  Her mother really seemed to like Riley, which both surprised and
bewildered Jenna. 

"Mom!  Here it is!" Cam exclaimed,
drawing Jenna back into the living room. 

She had an eerie sense of déjà vu, watching the
helicopters circling the scene.  She spotted the SWAT team, but in all
their gear and with the overhead view she had no clue which one was
Riley.  It was just sobering to see them in full gear, rifles in hand.

"That's at Goldstein's," Jackie said,
mentioning the popular local jewelry store.  "Oh, wow.  Can you
imagine? Someone tried to rob a jewelry store on Christmas Eve?"

"Couldn't have been a local," Ramsay
said, "Everyone knows how their security doors automatically lock if the
alarm is tripped."

"Riley said that having cameras watch when
the SWAT team was called out wasn't the norm, but this is twice in a
month," Jenna said, her voice barely above a whisper.

"It's a jewelry store on Christmas Eve,
though," her dad said, "it's a big story."

They listened to the coverage and learned that
three suspects wearing Santa suits stormed in the store an hour ago and that
there were roughly twenty hostages.  She could see that the SWAT team was
starting to spread out, guns trained on the front of the store.  The on
air reporter announced that they were being asked to pull their cameras back,
making her heart pound all the more.  Not being able to see what was going
on closely was torture.

At Riley's request, the news cameras were pushed
back.  The last thing he needed was for Jenna to see his work unfold on
camera yet another time, especially after he'd assured her the last time that
it was a rare thing.  Upon arriving on scene, he was fairly sure this
situation would resolve itself without the use of the SWAT team, but he also knew
that you could never just make blind assumptions.  Any situation could
escalate at any given time.  But the negotiators were doing a good job and
the request for the SWAT team had been more of a theatric ploy than actually
needing their services.  Riley could see from the suspects' faces that
once the SWAT team arrived, it wouldn't be much longer before they
surrendered.  They were fairly young guys and wanted no part of the ten
rifles trained on them.  It was just a matter of waiting them out.

"Sorry to call you out on Christmas
Eve," his uncle said, coming to stand beside him.

Riley shrugged.  "Happens."

"Lainey tells me you've met someone...and
that it's serious."

"As a heart attack," he said, eyes
trained on the lead perp.

"Didn't you just meet her?"

"On Black Friday."

"And she has a kid?"

"Ten-year old son."

Riley watched all three perps place their guns on
the ground and stand with their hands up in surrender.  He moved in, rifle
trained on the lead perp while the officers rushed in to cuff them.  As
soon as the last one was cuffed, Riley put his rifle down and then went back to
his uncle.

"Asking her to marry me later tonight, if
this hasn't scared her off."

"Really?" Gavin asked, surprised.

"She's the one.  Not wasting any
time."

"Obviously.  That's great, kid. 
Happy for you."

"Thanks.  I just hope this hasn't
scared her off.  The convenience store thing shook her up pretty
bad."