Adelaide scarcely heard it. As she hit the stop button, her mother-in-law’s message was still playing in her mind: He said he was in love with you.
Was it true? Would Maxim really have come right out and said that to Mark’s parents?
Stunned, Adelaide slowly sank onto the sofa. Was she being as smart as she assumed? Or was she letting Mark ruin what she had with Maxim the same way he’d ruined the last few years of their marriage?
Her hand shaking, she reached into her purse, got her phone and turned it on. She’d missed eighteen calls from Maxim. Why would he spend his whole Christmas Eve trying to reach her if he didn’t really care? He couldn’t have been doing it simply to neutralize the opposition. The scandal that had broken tonight would cripple her campaign; he wouldn’t have to worry about her even if she did keep running.
He said he was in love with you.
Her eyes welled up with tears as she dialed his number. She didn’t really expect him to answer. Not after what she’d said to him at the door. But he did.
“Hello?”
“Maxim?”
“Yes?”
“I’m sorry. I—” Her voice broke but she battled through it. “I think I’m just scared.”
“I’m not like Mark, Adelaide,” he said. “You can count on me.”
Recalling the way he’d hauled her out of that Cessna and made her dig that snow cave, Adelaide smiled. He was right. She could count on him.
“Will you come back?” she asked hopefully.
“Are you kidding? I turned around the second I saw it was you. I’m already pulling into your driveway.”
Tossing her phone aside, Adelaide hurried to the door—and rushed into his arms as he came up the walk.
“Thank God,” she said. “I thought I’d lost you.”
EPILOGUE
AS ADELAIDE FINISHED arranging the last of the presents under the tree, she could hardly believe an entire year had passed since she’d been stranded in the Sierras. So much had changed since then—she’d dropped out of the race, gotten married, had a baby. But she didn’t regret those changes; they’d all been good. She didn’t even regret that Maxim was still in politics. Not only had he won the primary, he’d retained his seat in the November election, but the way he handled his job was so different from Mark.
“What are you thinking about?”
She smiled as Maxim walked into the room carrying Connor, their three-month-old. “How close we came to walking away from each other last year.”
“We didn’t come that close,” he said.
She arched her eyebrows at him and he grinned.
“I was in love. I wouldn’t have let you get rid of me that easily.”
Returning his smile, she adjusted the garland on the tree. “Do you think Harvey ever regrets what he did?”
“I would guess he does. He loved California politics. I’m sure he wasn’t happy when there wasn’t another politician in the state who’d work with him.”
“You have to be able to trust your campaign manager,” she said. “It was nice of Luke not to hire him. He could’ve justified doing it, you know.”
“No, Luke’s a good man. He didn’t appreciate what Harvey did, even though Harvey returned my money.” He held up his son and laughed when the baby gave him a goofy smile. “I’ve been encouraging Luke to run for the state assembly.”
“That’s a great idea.” She reached for the baby. “Here, hand him to me and grab his car seat. We need to head to the airport to get the girls.”
Maxim checked his watch. “You’re kidding, right? We’ve got an hour.”
The wait was making Adelaide crazy. “Maybe they’ll get in early.”
“And maybe we’ll have to drive around that pickup circle a million times until they show up.”
“Come on.” She waved him toward the baby’s car seat, which was sitting near the sofa. “I can’t wait to see them. And I know they can’t wait to see the baby.”
“They just saw him at Thanksgiving.”
“But he changes so fast. And they love having a little brother.”
“They love having a mother again, too,” he said softly. “Thank you for being so good to them.”
Adelaide didn’t even have to try. They enriched her life as much as Maxim or Connor. “I never dreamed I could ever be this happy,” she said.
He raised her chin to kiss her. “And I never dreamed I could ever be this much in love. Merry Christmas, Mrs. Donahue.”
Adelaide closed her eyes as their lips met. She had everything she could ever want, thanks to one snowy Christmas….
A DUNDEE CHRISTMAS
Brenda Novak
To all those who have written to let me know how much they love my other Dundee stories:
1083—A BABY OF HER OWN
1130—A HUSBAND OF HER OWN
1195—A FAMILY OF HER OWN
1242—A HOME OF HER OWN
1278—STRANGER IN TOWN
1296—BIG GIRLS DON’T CRY
1344—THE OTHER WOMAN
1422—COULDA BEEN A COWBOY
CHAPTER ONE
WHEN THE RATTLETRAP truck crested the slight rise that showed Dundee, Idaho, looking stark and barren beneath several feet of snow, Cierra Romero nearly swore. She would have—those words were the easiest English to remember because she’d even heard them growing up in Guatemala—except she’d promised God that if He got her safely to this town, she’d leave all the bad habits she’d picked up behind. “Fu…dge! You gotta be freakin’ kidding me!”
The farmer and his teenage son who’d brought her all the way from where her last ride had ended—a place called Boise—glanced at each other and started laughing.
Cierra lowered her eyelids but watched them as closely as she could without being obvious. She’d heard that expression a lot since coming to the States. Had she said it wrong? Or was it merely that they had never heard those words spoken with a Spanish accent?
She didn’t know, but now that they were making fun of her, she was glad she hadn’t bothered to listen when they’d given their names. Cierra made it a habit not to grow too familiar with people if she could help it. Especially white people. These men would drop her off in Dundee and go to whatever place they’d mentioned—the name had been unintelligible to her—and she’d never see them again.
It was better not to get attached. To anything. She’d even had to find a new home for the kitten Charlie had bought her when she arrived in Las Vegas—because all her dreams had died when he did, including her ability to take care of anyone or anything she loved. Maybe she’d never been fond of her American fiancé. She hadn’t gotten to know him well enough for that. Almost fifty years her senior, he’d chosen her from a bride website, and although he’d brought her to the U.S. more than two months ago, he’d spent most of that time in his office, running his business.