Sara in Montana - A Christmas Wish (14 page)

Trent smiled as he saw the excitement on Jane’s face. Nodding, he informed her, “Samuel and I spoke this morning, and there’s a good chance that he will be joining us for the Christmas holiday. It seems that he forgot to mention using his leg to block a bullet several weeks back. He’s on non-active duty until the doctors clear him.”

“Samuel got shot?  But he’s okay now, right?”

Trent hid his smile at Jane’s questioning. He had known for several years now that his friend Samuel and Jane had been avoiding their attraction to each other. He also knew that Jane was one of the reasons his friend chose to spend his vacation time in Montana instead of on some tropical beach. Maybe this time they would be able to put aside their fears and figure out that they had a lot of things in common.

Seeing that Jane was waiting for his reply, he answered, “He’s going to call me later this evening and we’ll discuss it. Right now, however, Miss Sara needs to put these bags in her room and get ready to talk to her sister. She should be calling here any minute.”

Sara hurriedly gathered up the bags, and with Jane’s help, carted them off to the bedroom to be put away a little later. Hearing the phone ring, she bolted down the hallway and skidded to a stop just inside the kitchen as Trent picked up the phone.

“Hello?”

“Yes, Grace. She’s right here. Is everything going alright for you and Daniella?”

“Good. Yes, I heard that Daniella was bribed with a trip to Disneyland. I look forward to hearing all about it as I’m sure your sister does as well. Let me put her on. And Grace, feel free to talk as long as you both want. There’s no time limit on this phone call, okay?”

“You too. Here’s Sara.”

Sara tried to piece together her sister’s side of the conversation and then decided it didn’t really matter. Trent handed her the phone and then turned and left the kitchen so Sara could speak to her sister in private.

“Gracie?  It’s so good to hear your voice.”

“You too. That Trent guy sounds really good over the phone. What’s he like in person?”

“Grace?!” Sara replied with an attempt at being shocked.

“Oh come on, just give me a little hint. He’s gorgeous, isn’t he?”

“Yeah, he really is. His eyes are fantastic and he kisses like a dream.”

“Well, I’m glad something good is coming from this whole sordid affair. Samuel said that everything should be over by tomorrow afternoon and then you can come home.”

“Yeah, he told me the same thing.” Sara could already tell where this conversation was going and tried to find a nice way of telling her sister she did not intend to come home for Christmas.

“So, when do you think you’ll be coming back to California? Maybe I could ask for a couple of extra days off. We don’t officially break for Christmas until the 19
th
, but maybe I could take the last few days off. Class sizes are fairly small this month anyway.”

“Grace, wait…let me speak, please?”

“Sure.”

“Grace, Trent has asked me to stay in Montana until after the New Year, and I’ve agreed.”

Sara didn’t like the silence coming from the other end of the line and hurried to justify herself, “It’s not like I have a job to go back to anyway. Grace, I’ve never felt so at home as I do here. I can’t explain it, but it’s like Trent and I have known each other all of our lives. And his Aunt Jane, she lives with him and does his cooking and housekeeping, she’s like the older sister I never had. I wish you could meet them both. And the snow…I’ve never seen so much snow in my life.”

“You’re not coming back to California for Christmas? But, Daniella and I will really miss you. What am I supposed to tell her?”

Sara heard the tears in her sister’s voice and then another voice filtered through the phone. It was a man’s voice and it sounded like he was trying to calm her sister down. “Grace? Grace? Please don’t cry. Talk to me, please?”

“Sara, its Samuel. Grace is pretty upset right now. Could you please tell me what you two were talking about?”

“I just finished telling her that I was going to stay in Castle Peaks for Christmas. I…”

“Hold on a sec.”

Sara could hear Samuel talking to Grace in the background and then Samuel came back on the phone, “Sara, is Trent around?”

“Yes, he just went into the other room. What’s going on? Is Grace okay?”

“Grace is fine. Could you let me speak with Trent for a minute? I promise you can talk with Grace again.”

“Sure, let me find him for you.” Sara took the phone and exited the kitchen, following the sound of voices until she located Trent talking with Jane in the family room.

Seeing her enter with a confused look on her face, he rose and met her, “What’s going on? I thought you were talking to Grace.”

“I was, but when I told her I was going to stay here for Christmas she got really upset, and then Samuel got on the phone. Now he wants to talk to you.” Sara held the phone out to Trent.

Trent took the phone and raised it to his ear, “Samuel, it’s Trent. What’s up?”

“Yeah, I meant it. You know you’re always welcome.”

“Sure. I can do that. When do you think you’ll get here?”

“That would be great. I know of one young woman who is going to be thrilled.”

“Great. Send me your itinerary and I’ll make sure someone meets you at the airport.”

Trent held the phone back out to Sara and just nodded at her questioning look. Sara grinned and happily took the phone back, “Grace, did I understand this right?”

“Yes! Samuel’s going to bring Daniella and I to you for Christmas. Oh, Sara, I’ve missed you so much, I can’t wait to see you.”

“Me either. This Christmas is going to be the best one ever.”

Trent wrapped his arms around Sara, pressing her back against his chest and leaning his chin on her head. Sara relaxed in his hold as she finished speaking with her sister. After disconnecting the call, she looked up at him and with her heart in her eyes told him, “Thank you. You just made Christmas wish number two come true.”

“Just call me Santa’s little helper,” Trent told her with a twinkle in his eyes.

Chapter 18

Two days later…

“Sara, they’re here,” Trent called to her in the kitchen.

Wiping her hands on a towel and giving Jane a big grin, Sara skipped down the hall to meet her sister and niece. Trent had just opened the front door for them when Sara came around the corner. Letting out a squeal of delight, both women rushed toward each other and wrapped each other up in a big hug.

As old pals, Trent and Samuel gave each other a bear hug too but turned around to find the two women still hugging and crying. Finally, Daniella decided she had been ignored long enough and turned to the men and asked, “Can’t you do something about that? Aunt Sara hasn’t even hugged me yet and she’s crying all over mommy.”

Chuckling, Samuel reached down and tousled the little girl’s hair. She was a precocious child and spending so much time with her the last several days had made him re-evaluate where his life was headed. He discovered that he really wanted to settle down and have a couple of kids. At the age of 39, he figured he should probably make that a priority for the New Year. After all, he wasn’t getting any younger.

Sara heard her niece and giving her sister one last squeeze, turned and knelt down, holding her arms out. Daniella ran into her arms and threw her arms around Sara’s neck, bestowing kisses upon her cheeks and talking a mile a minute about the adventures she’d had the last several days. The highlight seemed to be Disneyland, coming in second only to the big airplane that had transported them from California to Montana.

Sara laughed as she tried to follow the child’s conversation and finally gave up. Exchanging grins with her sister, she stood up, bringing the child with her. Daniella finally realized that it had grown quiet and everyone was watching her. She closed her mouth with a snap and buried her face in Sara’s neck.

“It’s okay, sweetie. You’ll have plenty of time to tell me all about Disneyland and the airplane and all of the other adventures you’ve had. Why don’t I show you and mommy to your room so you can unpack and then you can tell me all about them?”

The trip had taken its toll on both mother and daughter and Grace looked relieved to hear she was only moments away from being able to take a small rest. She gave Sara a nod of thanks and mouthed that Daniella would be asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow.

Sara nodded her head in the direction of the hallway and led the way to the second guest bedroom. Trent had borrowed a small foldaway bed from the local B&B so that Daniella would have her own bed to sleep in. Sara had taken great joy in purchasing linens for it along with a pile of Christmas gifts, which now resided wrapped under the tree.

Passing the kitchen, Sara stopped and introduced Grace and Daniella to Jane. Grace and Jane seemed to immediately hit it off. Sara was hoping that would be the case. She planned to suggest that Jane stay with Grace when she took her vacation to the beach.

Jane handed Sara a small tray containing a plate with several of the decorated sugar cookies on it, two glasses, and a small pitcher of milk. She had offered Grace a cup of coffee, but Grace had declined. She had the same aversion to coffee as Sara and much preferred hot tea.

“I’d be happy to heat some water for tea,” Jane offered.

“No, really. Milk is fine. To be honest, it’s been a really long day and I think Daniella and I are going to take a small rest.”

“That’s fine. We want you to feel comfortable here. Please make yourselves comfortable.”

“We will.”

Sara led Grace to the guest room and helped her get Daniella settled in. Daniella had eaten the cookies, but had sounded disappointed when she found out that Sara and Jane had decorated all of them.

“Don’t you worry yourself. We’ll just have to make some more sugar cookies. You can never have too many,” Sara assured her.

“Goody. That’s my favorite part of Christmas. Well, not counting the presents, and Santa Claus, and…”

Chuckling, Grace took her daughter’s empty glass and set it back on the tray. “I think we get it. You really like everything about Christmas.”

Daniella nodded enthusiastically. Yawning, she didn’t even fuss as Grace laid her down on the bed and pulled a blanket up around her shoulders.

Sara gathered up the tray and let herself out of the room. She would have plenty of time to catch up with her sister. Taking the tray back towards the kitchen, she stopped when she heard Jane talking to someone.

“How have you been?”

“Fine.”

“Are you going to continue to answer me in one word sentences?”

Jane had the grace to blush. Every time she found herself alone with Samuel, she became tongue-tied and her personality took on the character of a mouse. “No, I can use complete sentences.”

“Wow! So you can. So tell me, how have you really been? Trent tells me you’re going to treat yourself to a vacation. Anywhere specific you’re thinking of going?”

Jane looked up at the man standing in the doorway to the kitchen. What would happen if she said she was planning on paying a visit to his house out in California?  She hadn’t originally thought of visiting Samuel when her and Sara first discussed her visiting the beach. But ever since that conversation, visiting Samuel had become a priority on Jane’s agenda.

“I was thinking about leaving between Christmas and New Year’s.”

Samuel nodded, “Any specific place you’re headed?”