A Holiday To Remember. Jillian Hart

his. “I’m sure your lovely mother had plenty of people to talk to at the table, especially if you were there.”

      Debra bit her lip, trying to keep from smiling, but it didn’t work. She pulled on her gloves and joined her daughter and the amicable Mr. Fraser on the sidewalk, trying to ignore the wash of peace she felt simply from being near to him.

      Mia rolled her eyes, lighthearted. “Okay, okay, so I talk just a little too much.”

      “Just a little?” Jonah gently teased.

      Mia only seemed more delighted. “I know, sure, I talk too much. But I just have so much bubbling up from my spirit. My grandmother Millie used to say I’m like the sun shining, except I don’t shine, I talk.”

      “Hey, I wasn’t complaining. Your grandmother must have been a very fine lady. You both must miss her a lot.”

      Mia added sweetly and sadly all at once. “We really do.”

      Debra watched, riveted by this man. “Mom would have loved being here, meeting her son, his family and his friends. She would have loved this town.”

      “There’s a lot to love about it.” Jonah didn’t meet her gaze as they walked along. “It’s the reason I always come back.”

      “You’ve lived in other places?” she found herself asking. Hadn’t she decided not to ask questions about this man?

      “I’ve been around. I joined the marines for a few hitches. The greater good and all that.” His voice sounded light and dark all at once, but if that made him sad, he didn’t let it show. “But the old adage is true. There’s no place like home.”

      The marines. It didn’t come as a big surprise. His being like a soldier had been her first impression of him. She wouldn’t have been surprised if he’d said he was Special Forces. He kept to the outside edge of the sidewalk protectively and it was an old-fashioned thing to do, gentlemanly.

      Wasn’t she going to stop noticing all of Jonah’s fine attributes? She wasn’t the kind of woman who looked twice at men. And yet her gaze kept finding him in the half-shadows.

      Mia chimed in. “That’s what I keep telling my mom. The Stanton School is not home and I don’t want it to be.”

      Here we go again. Debra wasn’t sure what to do with her daughter’s stubborn streak. Once she decided something, she was like a speeding train on a track. “It’s a big adjustment to get used to living away from home. You have to give it time, Mia.”

      “Wait one minute. Why the new bedroom set?” Jonah sounded surprised. “I thought you’d be using it.”

      “Only when I’m home for a school break.” Mia sighed, greatly burdened, but beneath the bit of dramatics, there lurked an honest note of sorrow. “Mom and me are hardly together at all because I’m away from home. And now that Grandmother Millie’s gone, it’s like I’m a-loone.”

      She’d never heard Mia say it quite that way before, and it made her heart ache. “I get lonely for you, too, kid.”

      “I know.” Mia didn’t seem to doubt that. “I’m all miserable and stuff, but, hey, I gotta go because it’s tradition and it’s sooo important.”

      Why hadn’t she ever heard the pain beneath her daughter’s sarcasm before this? It was Jonah. It was as if her inner defenses went down when he was near. With the shields around her heart nonoperational, she felt her daughter’s loneliness as sorely as her own. “We’ll talk about this later, Mia. This isn’t the time.”

      “But—”

      “Tradition is important.” Jonah spoke up. “I bet that’s an awful nice school you get to go to. Not everyone gets an educational opportunity like that.”

      “I guess.” Mia was polite about it, but she clearly didn’t agree. “I just don’t like going away to school.”

      “There are worse things in this world.”

      Although he’d said the words simply, why did she feel the weight of his grief in them? It was Jonah. Being near to him made her vulnerable and oddly open at heart.

      To make matters worse, Debra couldn’t help admiring the way Jonah was the first to step into the sidewalk, protectively checking traffic before she and Mia followed a half a step behind. It was a small thing, but a nice thing to do and it just went to show what a gentleman Jonah Fraser truly was.

      Wasn’t she going to stop noticing all of Jonah’s fine attributes? It only proved how overworked and overstressed she was. She breathed in the fresh crisp air, felt the caress of snow against her face and smiled at the family who had stepped out of line to greet them.

      Debra wished she’d worn earmuffs when Mia and Olivia ran toward each other with a few shrieks and giggles and joined hands, talking excitedly.

      “I’m so glad for the girls.” Leah, with the baby cradled against her, smiled in that kind, lovely way of hers. “Look at the two of them. They’re like long-lost friends.”

      “It’s wonderful,” Debra agreed, aware of Jonah as he and Ben exchanged pleasantries. “It’s just what Mia needed.”

      “Olivia, too. I hope you and Mia can spend a lot more time with us before you have to head home.” Leah paused as the infant stirred. “I was hoping you might want to spend tomorrow afternoon with us. Maybe stay for dinner?”

      “We would love to.” Debra truly meant that. She heard Jonah’s low rolling chuckle, and it was a warm cozy sound that seemed to chase the chill out of the wintry night. Since she wasn’t noticing Jonah Fraser at all, in the slightest, Debra kept her back turned to him and leaned to get a glimpse of the baby as he stretched and yawned. “He’s adorable. You are so lucky.”

      “I’m greatly blessed and I know it.” Leah’s contented sigh said everything. “Two years ago I was alone and now look. I have my daughter back and my wonderful Ben. Joseph came along to add even more happiness. Now I have a new sister and niece and the rest of your family we have yet to meet. God is gracious, indeed.”

      “That’s what my mother would always say.”

      “I know I would have liked her.”

      “She would have liked you right back.” Time was making the sorrow easier, but now and then it came fresh in waves. So many emotions tugged at her from different directions. The issues with Mia. Her unusual reaction to Jonah. Ben, and all the lies her mother had told her. And now this, seeing her little nephew, so sweet and dear, and wanting—Oh, everything she could not have. “You need to come to Baltimore and meet everyone there. I was hoping you could come stay for New Year’s.”