A Christmas Gift for Kate Read online

  A Christmas Gift for Kate

  Tess Brennan

  Illawarra ePublishing

  Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  About Tess Brennan

  1

  Outside, a car door slammed. Kate looked up from her book and cocked her head, listening. Visitors? She wasn’t expecting anyone today.

  The guilty thought occurred to her that she didn’t really want to see anyone, either. Outside, it was cold and rain threatened from the low gray clouds. One glance out of the window had convinced Kate to abandon her plans to plant petunia and alyssum seeds. Her schedule for some winter color in the garden, she decided, could wait another day or two. A few hours by the fire with a feel-good romance by one of her favorite authors sounded much more inviting.

  Another door slammed, and the sound of voices floated through the air.

  At her feet, Messy Nessy raised her head and looked towards the door.

  Kate sighed. She looked at Nessy, closed her book and put it on the table beside her. She rubbed the top of the dog’s head with her toe. “Yes, you heard right, Nessy. That was Amy.” Despite herself, her heart sank. Amy, her twenty-four-year-old daughter, had been a challenge from the day she was born. She’d been a difficult toddler, a nightmare as a teenager, and now that she’d married Lachlan, who was a self-absorbed social climber, she was impossible.

  “I’m an awful mother, Nessy,” she whispered, pushing down the familiar feeling of guilt. “I should accept her as she is. I know that.”

  But still… if Lachlan and Amy were here for a visit, something was up. Amy never came unless she wanted something.

  The doorbell chimed.

  Kate closed her eyes for a moment, took a deep breath and pushed herself up out of her chair to deal with whatever the day had in store.

  When she opened the door, she blinked. It wasn’t Lachlan standing there with Amy, but her two sisters, Brooke and Sophie.

  Amy was in a snit about something, that was clear. Brooke looked tense. Sophie, the peacemaker, had a fixed smile on her face.

  “Well, hi!” Kate beamed at them, pleasure warring with uncertainty, and opened her arms to her girls. She hadn’t seen Sophie for a good two months, and she missed her baby girl – not, she supposed, that you could call twenty-one a baby any more. Brooke, the middle child at twenty-three, had paid a flying visit only the week before. “This is unexpected,” she said through a round of kisses. “Come in, it’s freezing out there.”

  Watching Amy out of the corner of her eye, Kate saw both the tightening of her lips and the scathing look she cast around as she walked through the tiny hall to the cozy living room. Nessy ran up to each girl in turn, tongue out, eyes bright. She gave one short, sharp bark.

  “Hey, Nessy!” Sophie got down on her level and rubbed her head affectionately. “How’s my favorite mutt?”

  Ecstatic with joy, Nessy barked again and pushed in for a more thorough petting.

  “You’re going to get hair all over your pants, Sophie,” Amy warned her. “You know how she sheds.” She took a step away.

  “Take a seat, girls. Let me make coffee. Peppermint tea for you, Brooke?”

  “Thanks, that’ll be nice.” Brooke gave Nessy an absent-minded pat and followed her mother through to the living room.

  “I’ll have a latte,” Amy said. “Do you remember how to make one?”

  “Yes, but feel free to make it yourself if you want to be sure.” Kate reminded herself that Amy didn’t mean to sound critical; that was just her way. She was one of those unfortunate people who looked permanently dissatisfied, even when she didn’t mean to. It was the downturned thin lips she had inherited from her father – you couldn’t fight genetics.

  Ten minutes later, they were all seated around the fire. Amy looked as though she was preparing to make a speech, and from the looks that Brooke and Sophie kept exchanging, Kate had a resigned feeling she wasn’t going to like what she was about to hear.

  “You know what, girls,” she said amiably. “I’ve known you all your lives, and I can tell something’s up. So why don’t we cut to the chase?” She raised her mug in a mock salute and took a sip of coffee, smiling around at them.

  Amy frowned. “This isn’t easy to say, Mother.”

  Mother. Kate quashed the impulse to raise her eyebrows and nodded encouragingly. She’d always been “Mom” until Amy married Lachlan.

  “I need to tell you about something I’ve been told in confidence,” Amy said. “I did some poking around, and told Brooke and Sophie what I found, and they agree that you should know.”

  It’s about Dan, Kate thought immediately. Amy was furious with her father, and almost as angry with Kate, although the divorce was his idea, not hers. Sometimes Kate thought Amy had married Lachlan in rebellion, determined to make her life more of a success than her parents had.

  “Hmm,” she said, keeping her face impassive. “I’m not going to like this, am I?”

  “It’s not fair, Mom.” Sophie looked distressed. “You deserve—”

  “Save it until I tell her,” Amy cut in with a fierce look at her sister.

  As always, Sophie gave in. She slumped unhappily in her chair.

  Amy’s lips tightened and her face looked even more pinched. “Dad has money.”

  “I’m not surprised,” Kate said. “He was always good at what he did, and he said he and Martine were going put all their energy into this a new business.” She was proud of the evenness of her voice when she mentioned Martine’s name.

  “No. I didn’t say he was making money. I said he has money – money that should be partly yours!” Amy burst out. “He was hiding it somewhere all along. And you need to get your share of it.”

  Kate looked at her, open-mouthed. When Dan’s interior design business had collapsed, their world had crashed with it. They’d had to move out of their opulent house in Laredo, sell it at a huge loss, and pay off creditors. The cars had gone, the holiday home at the beach had gone, and most of Sophie’s college fund had been eaten up. Finally, Dan had gone too, off to start again with Martine, his head designer.

  At forty-nine, Kate had been left with just shy of eighteen thousand dollars to start her life over. She’d been lucky to find this sweet little cottage in Hope Valley, and a warm community at the local church to help her through. It was Grace Irwin from the church, who lived next door, who’d told her about this cottage coming up for rent.

  Every day since, Kate had counted her blessings in finding such a wonderful neighbor and such a supportive group of new friends. And now, listening to Amy, she realized with surprise that she no longer cared whether Dan had been hiding money from her.

  Life was about more than money.

  Kate put down her cup and sat forward, meeting Amy’s eyes. “Amy, if your father has done such a thing, then shame on him. But it has nothing to do with me.”

  “What?” Outraged, Amy stared at her, her mouth open. “You can’t be serious. I mean, look at you. Look at this place!” She cast a disgusted glance around, and stabbed a finger at the hallway. “You’ve invited us all for Christmas, and honestly? Where are we going to fit? Two bedrooms, and a dining room the size of a shoebox. You could be in something much better, where you could entertain guests – and you should be!”

  Hurt, Kate made herself count to ten before she responded. Where had she gon
e wrong bringing up this child? There was no doubt what was important to Amy… money and things.

  Sophie jumped in to fill the tense silence. “Amy, that’s a bit harsh. Mom’s done a great job on this place. It’s really sweet. And I don’t care where I sleep at Christmas; the sofa bed is fine.”

  Brooke looked anxiously from Sophie to Amy. She was the middle child, all right: always caught between her volatile elder sister and her little sister Sophie, who got upset at any kind of fighting. “I agree Mom deserves more, Amy, but this is a nice little house.”

  “I love this house,” Kate said tightly. “And I have wonderful neighbors. And Sophie, Brooke – you’ve been to church with me. They’re lovely people.”

  “Oh, Mom!” Amy sat back in disgust. “I’m not saying you don’t have good friends and neighbors. It’s not about that. Can’t you see? Dad’s done the wrong thing, and he shouldn’t be allowed to get away with it.” She held up a hand to forestall her mother. “And don’t tell me to turn the other cheek, either. I’m tired of hearing that. You’re a doormat, Mom!”

  Kate didn’t know what to say. A doormat? Was that really how Amy saw her?

  That was so wrong. There was a huge difference between being a doormat and being content with what you had.

  With a flash of insight, Kate suddenly realized that even in a tiny house that she didn’t own, with an old car and a small savings account, she was content.

  Far more content than she’d ever been with Dan. Oh, she’d thought she loved him, and she had been truly thankful for all the blessings that went along with a high income and a lavish lifestyle. But when it came down to it?

  It had all been an empty shell.

  Dan hadn’t loved her enough to stay through the hard times – in face, she found herself wondering if Martine had been on the scene long before the business collapsed.

  She opened her mouth to respond to Amy, but again, Sophie beat her to it. “Amy, that’s unkind. Mom’s not a doormat. She always supported Dad, it’s true, but she had her own life.”

  Kate jumped in before anyone could speak for her again. “It’s all right, Soph. I can fight my own battles.” She sat up straight and fixed Amy with a reproving glance. “That was not just unkind, Amy, it is untrue. I’m far from being anyone’s doormat. If you think back to decisions that your father and I made, you’ll realize that I had plenty of say in what went on.”

  “Yes, but you let him control the finances, the investments. You didn’t know how heavily the house was mortgaged until everything fell apart, did you?” Amy was remorseless. “He took you for a sucker, Mother.”

  So we’re back to ‘Mother’, Kate thought. Amy on her high horse.

  “I’m sorry you feel that way,” she said stiffly. “Perhaps I didn’t monitor our finances as closely as I should have, but I trusted your father.”

  Looking distressed, Brooke finally spoke up. “We don’t blame you, Mom. Honestly. But it’s not fair that he did this to you. It’s not fair that he has plenty of money and you don’t.”

  “And he earns so much more than you do,” Sophie contributed. “Think about your future, Mom. Your retirement.”

  She had a point there, Kate thought heavily. She tried not to think about how little she would have in retirement, and working three days a week at the gift store in Hope Valley didn’t bring in enough to allow for savings.

  Nevertheless, she wasn’t going to get involved in a fight over what money Dan did or didn’t have. It was over. It was over.

  Before she had a chance to speak, Amy rushed in again, sitting forward in her seat as though preparing for battle. “And he owes it to us, too. Especially Sophie. Brooke and I got through college before everything went south, but Sophie had to defer and get a job.”

  “But I like my job,” Sophie interjected, sending apologetic glances at her mother.

  “Sophie!” Amy glared at her. “Stop putting a good face on things. You always wanted to be a vet, and you got terrific grades. Now you work at an animal shelter for peanuts.”

  Sophie looked at her feet. “I like it.”

  “And you’ll never save enough to go to college,” Amy said flatly. She sent her mother a challenging look. “Whatever you decide, Mother, we are going to fight this. Lachlan has a friend who’s a lawyer, and he says we’ve got a good chance of getting a settlement. We’re just here to see whether you’re in or out.”

  Kate pressed a hand to her wildly beating heart. This couldn’t be happening. She knew in her gut that this was not the path for her.

  It wasn’t the path to happiness for her girls, either – but how could she convince them of that?

  2

  From there everything went pretty much downhill. Sophie and Brooke tried to lift the tone and chat about Christmas, but Amy sat with a face like a storm cloud and after a tense fifteen minutes said that she was sorry, but she had to go. Her expression told the world that she wasn’t sorry at all.

  “I’ll come visit again next week,” Brooke promised as she kissed her mother on the cheek, with a guilty glance at Amy walking swiftly to the car. “Sorry about Amy.”

  “What your sister does is not your concern.” Kate had to smile and patted her on the cheek. “Don’t worry so much, Brooke. Amy and I have always butted heads, you know that.”

  Sophie slung an arm around her shoulders, worry and guilt in her eyes. “I know you don’t want us to do this, Mom, but we all agree we should. What Dad’s done, it’s wrong.”

  Kate looked up at her youngest daughter, now taller than any of them. “Amy was right about the impact on you, Sophie, I’ll admit that. You deserve to have the career you want, if your father can afford it.” She swallowed. “I can see why you want to do this.”

  “I do like my job at the animal shelter.”

  “You’d like any job that involved animals.” Kate hesitated, glancing from Sophie to Brooke. “Will I see you girls for Christmas?”

  Brooke frowned. “If you’re upset about what Amy said about the house being too small, forget it. I’d sleep in the shed rather than miss Christmas with you, Mom.”

  “Same here,” agreed Sophie. She exchanged a look with Brooke. “We’ll work on Amy and Lachlan, don’t worry.”

  “Don’t pressure them,” Kate said immediately. “I’m sure Lachlan wants to see his parents at Christmas, too. We can Skype.”

  Brooke snorted. “Not likely. Amy told me Lachlan hasn’t been back to see his parents at Christmas for years.”

  Remembering the offhand way Lachlan had treated his parents at Amy’s wedding, the news didn’t surprise Kate. She gave another inward sigh at her daughter’s choice for a life partner.

  It’s Amy’s decision, she told herself firmly, and then took a step back and flapped her hands at her daughters, shooing them away. “Go on, now, Amy’s waiting. We’ll organize who’s bringing what for Christmas over the next few weeks. Love you, girls.”

  “Love you too,” they chorused, and hurried off to join their impatient sister.

  Kate watched them, and then on impulse raced after them. She went to the driver’s door and tapped on the window.

  It slid down and Amy looked at her suspiciously. Kate felt a sudden surge of love and pity for her difficult daughter. This child was always going to have a hard road in life, she knew. Had always known it. All she could do was support her and give her unconditional love. Easy to say, not so easy to do.

  She reached out and stroked Amy’s cheek. “I hope this all works out for you, Amy. Let’s not have ill feelings about it. I love you, you know.”

  “I know, Mom.” She frowned and drummed her fingers on the steering wheel. “I can’t help getting mad when you won’t fight for what’s yours, that’s all.”

  “We’re different, Amy. I accept that. Can you accept it too?”

  “I’ll have to, won’t I?” She shot her mother a frustrated look. “Even if you won’t be part of this, we’ll see if we can get something out of him for you, too.”

  K
ate gave up. She wasn’t going to win this battle. She contented herself with just giving Amy a small smile and stepped back. “Thanks for coming. Drive safely.”

  Amy nodded and buzzed the window up again. Then they were off, and Kate stood watching the car head off down the road, her heart sinking.

  So much for her relaxed day with a book.

  Kate felt too on edge to sit down with her own company. The cookies she’d baked for her neighbor were in the kitchen cooling. She’d pop them in a pretty box and take them next door.

  A dose of Grace’s lively humor was just what she needed.

  After Grace’s recent knee surgery, Kate was accustomed to her taking a while to get out of her chair and answer the door, but today her knock was answered within seconds. The door swung open, and doorway was filled by the bulk of a man with steady blue eyes and dark hair flecked with gray. His eyes went to the red and silver box she carried, decorated with a jaunty Christmas bow. “That,” he said, “looks like something intended for my Mom.” He smiled at her.

  Liking him instantly, Kate smiled back. “If your Mom is Grace, you’d be right. I’m her neighbor, Kate.”

  He slung the tea towel he carried over his shoulder, put out a hand and shook hers. “I’m Tolly, Grace’s eldest. Nice to meet you. Come on in.”

  Grace had spoken of her son often, but he lived on the other side of the country. She must be ecstatic to have him visit.

  Grace was seated by the fire, with her usual giant mug of coffee beside her. She beamed at Kate. “Perfect timing!” She gestured at her mug. “I’m trying a new blend that Tolly brought for me to try. And I have a new coffee machine!”

  Kate held up the box. “Excellent. I brought cookies.” Her spirits lifted, as she had known they would.