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“Yep. I’m going to take you back to the little town where I grew up. You’ll get to see the house I lived in and my old high school and everything.”
“Wow! And the waterfall, too?”
“Yep. The waterfall, too.”
“Cool.” Then he frowned. “But will we be back in time for Christmas?”
“I was thinking we might spend Christmas there.”
“But what if Santa can’t find me?” Tyler asked, his eyes suddenly huge and extremely worried.
“I’ll make sure to let him know where we are, kiddo. Promise.” Tyler sighed in relief. “You get some sleep now. It’ll be a big day tomorrow.”
Tyler held up his arms and puckered up his lips. Jim leaned down for a good-night kiss. Then he left his son to his dreams of the perfect mommy, and went into his own room. But instead of packing, he sat down with his old high school yearbook, a yellow legal pad and a black-ink pen and he got to work on a list of potential mothers for his son.
CHAPTERTWO
Kara Brand came down the stairs, not touching the garland decked bannister, to find her mother and three out of four sisters waiting for her with the huge Christmas tree as their backdrop. She very nearly turned around and went right back up again. But those smiling, expectant faces wouldn’t allow it.
“You look wonderful,” her mom said, clapping her hands together. “Except for that doe-in-the-headlights expression. Girl, what are you afraid of?”
Edie elbowed the matriarch gently. “Now, Mom, ease off. It’s a big day for her. She’s got every right to be nervous.” She strode forward, eyeing her younger sister as if she were one of her photographs. “You do look great, hon.”
“Yeah, thanks to you.” Over the past year her model-turned-photographer sister had made Kara her pet project. She’d nagged her about her walk and her tendency to slouch, grilled her until her entire demeanor had changed. Kara didn’t trip over her long legs anymore. She walked surely, deliberately, and had broken the habit of hurrying all the time. She held her chin up and her back straight and she looked people in the eye when she spoke to them. Between that and the fashion coaching, shopping trips, skin-care and makeup tips and a half dozen new hairstyles, Kara almost felt beautiful now. And she’d finally begun to stop thinking of herself as a klutz.
But today she wondered if even Edie’s coaching and makeovers would be of any help.
“There’s no reason for you to be nervous, Kara,” her oldest sister Maya told her. “You’ve got a solid business plan and no competition. The bank will be tripping over itself to lend you the money.” She thinned her lips. “Caleb’s still a little hurt that you wouldn’t take a loan from us, but—”
“I want to do this on my own, sis,” Kara told her. “Just to prove I can.”
“Be careful coming out of the bank,” Selene told her.
She glanced at her youngest sister’s mystical silver-blue eyes and platinum hair and frowned. Selene sometimes...knew things. “Why? What...?”
“I don’t know. I just keep thinking it, so I’m telling you.”
Kara nodded, clutched her briefcase tighter and glanced at her reflection as she passed the picture window, which had paper snowflakes made by Maya’s twins, Scotch taped all over it. She blinked and looked again. God, she would never get used to seeing herself as she was now. Edie’s current hairstyle of choice for Kara was a shoulder-length cut that, with a handful of mousse and a little scrunching, turned gently curly. The color was her own dark brown with auburn highlights. She wasn’t all that dressed up. Casual chic, Edie said. Trousers with legs so wide they moved like a skirt. Burgundy button blouse. A cameo her mother had given her rested at her throat for luck.
She drew her gaze away and forced her feet to carry her to the front door, grabbed a jacket, and accepted the hugs of her family. Then she got into the car and drove into the festively decked downtown area of Big Falls, where every lamppost had a lighted wreath, and every shop window, a holiday display, for her appointment with Mrs. Terwilliger at the bank.
An hour later, she stepped out of the bank and into the bight winter sunshine with a very good feeling. It was cool but notcold.A brisk fifty degrees with an insistent wind. Mrs. T, as she’d insisted Kara call her, felt certain the loan application would be approved. Kara was going to have her day-care center.
She could hardly believe it!
She celebrated by allowing herself to indulge in her guilty pleasure of choice. Next door to the bank was Barlow’s Jewelry, and her ring—the ring she’d always thought of as hers, anyway—was on display in the window. Oh, it wasn’t huge. But it was the most romantic ring she’d ever seen. A pink diamond in a simple pear cut, accented by two tiny ruby chip, one on either side. She loved that ring.
Mr. Barlow saw her in the window, sent her a knowing smile. Her love of the ring was a secret they shared. She didn’t worry about him telling anyone. He would keep her confidence as surely as her own doctor would. And one of these days, if all went well, maybe she would march into that store and buy that ring for herself!
She tore her eyes away from the dream ring and turned to head for her car, and home. Remembering her sister’s words, she looked both ways before starting across the street. And then she looked again, because she thought she’d seen....
OhmyGod, shedidsee him. He was back in town.
Him. Jimmy Corona. The hottest hunk of Big Falls High, back in the day. He’d been the star quarterback of the football team. The most popular boy in school. And she’d been the biggest nerd. Too tall for her body, painfully shy, accident-prone and, some said, a jinx.
Klutzy Kara had been her nickname back then. Not that he’d ever called her that. She liked to think he was too nice to call her such a horrible name, but the truth was, she doubted he had ever so much as noticed she was alive.
Oh, God, he was looking at her!
