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She had to say something. She had to remind him of what kind of woman she was.
“I spoke to Veronica and Olivia today,” Maya said softly. “I’ve learned so much about my family. And I know I couldn’t have done any of it without you. I wanted to thank you.”
Brad’s eyes stirred. “You found Olivia?”
“Rainey told me where she was.”
Brad looked more confused than ever. He turned and padded into the living room, where he collapsed on the couch and pointed at the La-Z-Boy beside him. As though he didn’t fully want to, he said, “Please. Have a seat.”
Maya removed her coat, hung it on the rack, and followed him. But she remained standing. Sitting in the chair across the room from the man she was falling in love with felt too alienating.
“Brad,” she began. “I came here tonight to tell you something.”
Brad clasped his hands. “I already know.”
Maya cocked her head. Was he about to refuse her?
“I met him the other night at the bar,” Brad went on. “Nick, right? He’s really handsome. Successful. Charming.” He raised his shoulders. “I’m sure you’ll be really happy together.”
Maya’s jaw dropped. “You met Nick?”
“You don’t have to pretend we’re in love or anything,” Brad went on. “I get it. You and Nick needed a break from one another. You came here. We had a fling. Whatever? It happens. We’re adults.”
Maya’s heartbeat was in overdrive. She thought she might have a heart attack. “No!” She cried, dropping down onto Brad’s couch and taking his hand. “I didn’t know Nick was coming. This morning, when I saw him, it threw me for a loop. That’s true. But all day, I’ve thought about you, Brad. About how happy I am with you. About how I believe in a different future than the one I saw for myself in Manhattan.”
Brad’s eyes caught the glow of the Christmas tree near the window. He looked at her with disbelief. Maya wrapped both hands around one of his and whispered, “You can’t think for a minute I’d forget the past few weeks with you. They were the best in my entire life.” She swallowed. “I told Nick it’s over. I’m done, forever. If I could, I would wipe the past five years from my memory and start over here with you.”
Brad wrapped his hand around the back of Maya’s head and gazed at her. She felt unlike she ever had with Nick, as though she were the only woman in the world.
“I’m falling in love with you, Maya,” Brad whispered. “Maybe it’s a mistake. But right now, I don’t care.”
This was all Maya needed to hear. She cleared the distance between them, closing her eyes as she kissed him. They wrapped their arms around one another, cradling each other as a wicked wind barreled against Brad’s little house. The home was a dramatic contrast to the mansion in which they’d first fallen in love, yet with the fire crackling in the fireplace and the Christmas tree’s bright lights, Maya felt it was the safest and warmest place in the world.
ChapterTwenty-Four
On Christmas morning, forty-two years to the day after the accident that had taken Maya and Olivia’s mother’s life, Maya awoke to a gorgeous snowfall. Tenderly, she stepped from the bed she shared with Brad and tip-toed toward the window, where she gazed at the rolling hills, blanketed with what looked to be at least eight inches of new snow. There was something about it that felt fresh and clean; it felt like starting over.
“You’re glowing.”
Brad’s voice interrupted Maya’s reverie, and she turned to gaze back at him. He was still in bed, propped up on his elbow, smiling happily. Maya bounded back to bed to kiss him and slip back into the warmth beneath the sheets. “Merry Christmas,” she whispered. She’d never been so happy to realize it was the 25th of December.
“Merry Christmas to you.”
“Did you have any dreams?”
Brad smiled. “Nothing. I slept like a log. You?”
Maya bit her bottom lip, remembering the flashes of her dream, even as it faded with the light of the morning. In it, she and Olivia had been little girls scampering around the field outside the Albright mansion. Someone had been calling their names. Had it been their mother?
A few minutes later, Maya padded downstairs to make a pot of coffee, listening to the creaks and moans of the massive house. After she set up the machine with filtered coffee and fresh water, she tip-toed to the living room to turn on the lights of the Christmas tree. Immediately, reds, pinks, blues, purples, and yellows illuminated the gorgeous space and reflected from the baubles that hung from the branches.
The decorations were quite old, probably purchased during the years after Diane and Victor had moved to the United States from England. Veronica had told Maya where they were in the attic. “You can use them if you want to,” she’d said with a shrug. “Just because my mother had a wicked streak doesn’t mean she didn’t have great taste.”
And when Veronica had seen the Christmas tree for herself on Christmas Eve, her eyes had welled with tears. “I can’t believe it. It looks just like it did when I was a girl.”
Apparently, Veronica hadn’t bothered to decorate her home for Christmas since her divorce. “I allowed myself to celebrate with the Hollygrove Christmas Festival,” she’d explained. “But here at the Albright Mansion, I mourned my darling little sister, Bethany.”
Maya poured herself a cup of coffee, made a fire, and sat on the couch, thinking about the day ahead. It was only seven-thirty, and they had an entire day of celebration ahead of them. Wonderfully, Brad’s sister planned to bring her children over in the afternoon. Maya looked forward to that. She imagined that the echoes of children playing in the hallways would rejuvenate the old place.
