Author: Robyn Carr

Once more, he looked completely disconcerted. Hannah gave him the present. He handled it gingerly, studying the large, flat box with suspicion.

“What does it say on the tag?” Savannah asked, curious herself.

“Just Trace,” he said. “No other name.”

“Must be from Santa, then,” she teased.

He slipped open the paper, then pulled out the box and lifted the lid. The grin that broke over his face was like that of a boy who’d just unexpectedly received his heart’s desire.

“What is it?” Savannah asked, trying to peer over his shoulder.

“It’s the biggest, mushiest card I could make,” Hannah said, grinning. “And Mrs. Jones took me to get it framed so Trace could hang it on his office wall.”

Trace stared at her, looking completely mystified. “But I lost the bet.”

“I know,” Hannah said delightedly. “But I could tell you really, really wanted the card, so I made it anyway.” She threw her arms around his neck. “Merry Christmas!”

To Savannah’s shock, there was a distinct sheen of tears in Trace’s eyes as he hugged her daughter.

“It’s the very best present I ever received,” he told her with such sincerity that Hannah’s whole face lit up.

If this didn’t stop, Savannah was going to spend Christmas morning bawling like a baby. She was about to head for the kitchen to start on breakfast, when Trace grabbed her hand and halted her.

“Wait. I think there’s one more present for you, Savannah,” he said, pointing Hannah toward a flat box beside the chair where he’d been sitting earlier. “Bring that one to your mom.”

The box weighed next to nothing, but when Savannah tore off the paper and looked inside, her mouth dropped open. “Stock certificates?” she asked, turning to Trace. “In Franklin Toys? I can’t possibly accept such a gift from you.”

“It’s not from me,” he said firmly. “Not directly, anyway. These were Mae’s shares of the company. She gave me power of attorney to vote them for her during the last weeks of her illness, but she told me I’d know what to do with the shares after her death.” He looked straight into Savannah’s eyes. “I think she would want you to have them.”

“But she left me the inn,” Savannah protested. “And Franklin Toys is your company.”

He grinned. “I hope you’ll remember that when you vote, but in many ways the company was as much Mae’s as it was mine. She’d want you to have the financial independence those shares can give you.”

“But I don’t know anything about running a corporation.”

“You can learn,” he said. “Or you can sell the shares back to me, if you’d prefer to have the cash. The choice is yours.”

Savannah sat back, still filled with a sense of overwhelming shock and gratitude. And yet…She studied Trace carefully. “Is this really what you want to do? She gave you her power of attorney, not me. I think she wanted you to control these shares.”

“She wanted me to do the right thing with them,” he corrected. “And I think that’s turning them over to you. They’re yours, Savannah. My attorney took care of the transfer yesterday.”

Once again, Savannah looked at the certificates. She had no idea what each share was worth in today’s market, but it had to be a considerable amount. The thought that she would never again have to worry about money was staggering.

This truly was a season of miracles.

Christmas morning had been incredible. It was everything Trace had imagined, from the awe and wonder on Hannah’s face to the amazement on Savannah’s when she’d realized that her financial future was secure. Trace had given the two of them everything he knew how to give. He’d been deeply touched by their gratitude.

Somehow, though, it wasn’t enough. He wanted more, but he had no idea how to ask for it, or even if he had the right to, especially after knowing the two of them for such a short time.

Struggling with too many questions and too few answers, he wandered into the kitchen where Savannah was just putting the turkey into the oven.

She turned at his approach, studied him for a minute, then gave him a hesitant smile. “Everything okay?”

“Sure. Why wouldn’t it be?” he asked, feeling defensive.

“I’m not sure. You seem as if you’re suddenly a million miles away.”

“I’ve got a lot on my mind. In fact, if you don’t need my help right now, I was thinking of taking a walk to try to clear my head.”

“Sure,” she said at once. “It’ll be hours before the turkey’s done, and everything else is set to go in the oven once the turkey comes out.” She continued to regard him worriedly. “Want some company?”

Trace shook his head. “Not this time. I won’t be gone long,” he said, turning away before the quick flash of hurt in her eyes made him change his mind. How could he possibly think about what to do about Savannah if she was right by his side tempting him?

He heard her soft sigh as he strode off, but he refused to look back.

Outside, the snow was a glistening blanket of white. The temperature was warmer than it had been, though still below freezing if the bite of wind on his face was anything to go by. He almost regretted the decision to take a lonely walk when he could have been inside in front of a warm fire with Savannah beside him.

He headed for the road, then turned toward town. He’d only gone a hundred yards or so when Nate Daniels appeared at the end of his driveway. He was bundled up warmly, an unlit pipe clamped between his teeth. He paused to light the tobacco, then regarded Trace with a steady, thoughtful look.

“Mind some company?” he asked, already falling into step beside him.

“Did Savannah call you?” Trace asked.

“Nope. Why would she do that?”

“I think she was worried when I took off.”

“She called earlier to wish me a merry Christmas, but that was hours ago,” Nate said. He regarded Traced curiously. “Funny thing, she seemed to have the idea that I was over there this morning playing Santa. Where would she get a notion like that?”

“Santa did bear a striking resemblance to you,” Trace said.

“You didn’t tell her, though, did you? You let her go on thinking that Mae was behind all the gifts and that she was the one who conspired with me to bring them.”

“Oh, she suspects I had something to do with it, but there were enough surprises to throw her off.” He glanced at Nate. “So, if Savannah didn’t call, what brings you out into the bitter cold?”

“The truth is, I was all settled down with a new book my son gave me for Christmas when I felt this sudden urge to go for a stroll.”

“Really? A sudden urge?” Trace said skeptically.

Nate nodded. “Finding you out here, I’m guessing Mae put the thought in my mind.”

Trace kept his opinion about that to himself. Maybe Mae did have her ways even from beyond the grave.

“Something on your mind?” Nate inquired after they’d walked awhile in companionable silence.

Okay, Trace thought, here was his chance to ask someone older and wiser whether there was such a thing as love at first sight, whether a marriage based on such a thing could possibly last.

“Do you think there’s such a thing as destiny?” Trace asked.

Nate’s lips didn’t even twitch at the question. “’Course I do. Only a fool doesn’t believe there’s a reason we’re all put on this earth.”

“And that applies to love, too?”

“I imagine you’re asking about you and Savannah,” Nate said. “Now, granted I’ve only seen the two of you together once or twice, but looked to me as if there was something special between you. It’s not important what I think, though. What do you think?”

“I don’t know if I even believe in love,” Trace said dejectedly.

“Well now, there’s a topic with which I’m familiar,” Nate said. “You know about Mae and me, I imagine.”

Trace nodded.

“You probably don’t know so much about me and Janie, my wife. Janie and I met when we were kids barely out of diapers,” he said, a nostalgic expression on his face. “By first grade I’d already declared that I wanted to marry her, though at that age I didn’t really understand exactly what that meant. Not once in all our years of growing up did I change my mind. Janie was the girl for me. We married as soon as I graduated from college, settled down right here and began raising a family.”

He glanced at Trace. “Now that should have been a storybook ending, two people in love their whole lives, married and blessed with kids. But Janie’s nerves started giving her problems. The kids upset her. Anytime I was away from the house for more than a few hours, she’d get so distraught, I’d find her in tears when I came home. The doctors checked for a chemical imbalance. They tried her on medicine after medicine, but slowly but surely she slipped away from me.”

Tears glistened in his eyes. “The day I had to take her to Country Haven was the worst day of my life. I told her she’d be home again, but I think we both knew that day wouldn’t come. She’s happy at Country Haven. She feels safe there. But there’s not a day that goes by that I don’t miss the carefree girl I fell in love with.”

“It sounds as though you still love her deeply,” Trace said.

“I do,” Nate said simply.

“Then what about Mae?”

“After Janie went into the treatment facility, Mae helped out with the kids from time to time. They adored her. They stopped by the inn every day after school, and she always had cookies and milk waiting for them. Soon enough, I took to stopping by, too. Mae was a godsend for all of us during that first year.”

He met Trace’s gaze. “It’s important that you know that nothing improper went on between us. I considered myself a married man and I loved my wife. But I loved Mae, too. Since you’re not even sure if love exists, I don’t know if you can understand that it’s possible for a man to love two women, but I did. If I had thought for a single second that my friendship with Mae would hurt Janie, I would have ended it. But the truth was, there were times when Janie didn’t even seem to know who I was, didn’t seem to care that I was there to visit. That never kept me from going, but it did make me see that I didn’t need to lock my heart away in that place with her. I gave Mae every bit of love I felt free to give her. I also gave her the freedom to choose whether to love me. I admired her too much to do anything less.”

He sighed. “Given the way of the world now, a lot of men would have divorced a wife like Janie and moved on. That wasn’t my way. I’d made a commitment, and I honored it in the only way I knew how. And whether you believe it or not, I honored my commitment to Mae the same way.”

“I’m sorry you were in such a difficult position,” Trace said. “It must have been heartbreaking.”

“Having Mae in my life was one of the best things that ever happened to me. I can’t possibly regret that it couldn’t have been more, except for her sake. She deserved better.”

“I think you made her very happy,” Trace told him.

“I hope so,” Nate said, then paused and looked directly into Trace’s eyes. “There’s a reason I’m telling you this. I always believed that one day Mae and I would be able to be together openly, that we’d marry and spend our remaining years together. Maybe even do a little traveling. We never had that chance.”

Trace understood what he was saying. “This is your way of reminding me that life is short and unpredictable.”

“Exactly. If you love Savannah, don’t waste time counting the days until it seems appropriate to tell her. Don’t fritter away precious hours planning for the future. Start living every moment. I’ve lived a good long life, but I’m here to tell you that it’s still a whole lot shorter than I’d like.”