Page 101 of The Holiday Gift

Ben glanced around the table, obviously picking up on the sudden shift in mood.

“I’ll admit, I don’t know much about art, but I find that piece striking. I don’t know if it’s the horses in the foreground or the mountains or the fluttery curtains in the window of the old cabin but every time I look away for a few moments, something draws me back. That’s real talent.”

Her heart warmed a little at his praise of their mother’s talent. “She was brilliant,” Caidy murmured.

He looked at her and she saw an unexpected compassion in his eyes. Seeing it made her feel even more guilty. She didn’t deserve compassion from him, not after her mean words.

“Several of her paintings were stolen eleven years ago,” Trace said. “Since then, we’ve done our best to recover what we can. We’ve had investigators tracking some of them down. This one was located about three years ago in a gallery in the Sonoma area of California.”

“It was always Caidy’s favorite,” Ridge put in. “Finding it again was something of a miracle.”

This shifted all attention to her again and she squirmed. Did anybody besides Laura and Becca pick up the tension in the room? She doubted it. Her brothers usually were oblivious to social currents and the kids were too busy eating and talking and having fun. Just as they should be.

To her relief, Laura—sweet, wonderful Laura—stepped up to deflect attention. “So, Dr. Caldwell, you and your children are coming along on the sleigh ride after dinner, aren’t you?”

“Sleigh ride!” Jack exclaimed and he and Alex, best buddies now, did a cute little high-five maneuver.

Ben watched them ruefully. “I don’t know. I kind of feel like we’ve intruded enough on your family.”

“Oh, you have to come,” Destry exclaimed.

“Yes!” Gabi joined her. “It’s going to be awesome! We’re going to sing Christmas carols and have hot chocolate and everything. Oh, please, come with us!”

If things weren’t so funky between them right now, she would have told him he was fighting a losing battle. One man simply couldn’t fight the combined efforts of the Bowmans and their progeny, adopted or otherwise.

“We’re not going far,” Ridge promised. “Only a couple miles up the canyon. Probably shouldn’t take more than an hour.”

“Resistance is futile,” Taft said with a grin. “You might as well give in gracefully.”

Ben laughed. “In that case, sure. Okay.”

The kids shrieked with excitement. Caidy wished she could share even a tiny smidgen of their enthusiasm. The only bright spot for her in the whole thing was that Ben’s presence probably eliminated the need for her to go along. Ridge couldn’t claim they didn’t have enough adults now. She would just offer an excuse to stay at the house and let the rest of them have all the Christmas fun.

She was still going to have to figure out a way to apologize to the man, but at this point she would take any reprieve she could find, however temporary.

Chapter 9

After dinner had been cleared, the girls’ other friends began arriving. Caidy threw in the trays of cookies she and Destry had readied, her brothers headed out to hitch up the big draft horses to the hay wagon and everyone else began donning winter gear. After the cookies came out, Caidy walked through the house gathering all the blankets she could find.

As she headed down the stairs with an armload of blankets, she saw through the big windows that the snow had eased and was only falling now in slow, puffy flakes. Moonlight had peeked behind the storm clouds, turning everything a pearlescent midnight-blue.

It was stunning enough from here. She could only imagine how beautiful it would be to ride through the night on the wagon, with the cold air in her face and the sound of children’s laughter swirling through the night.

She was almost sorry she wasn’t going with them. Almost.

She continued down the stairs, doing her best to avoid making eye contact with Ben, who was helping Jack into his boots.

“Sleigh ride. Sleigh ride. Sleigh ride,” Maya chanted, wiggling her hips that were bundled up along with the rest of her in a very cute pink snowsuit with splashy orange flowers.

Caidy couldn’t help laughing. “You’re going to have a wonderful time, little bug,” she said, kissing Maya’s nose. She loved all of the children in her family but sweet, vulnerable Maya held a special place in her heart.

“You come,” Maya said, reaching for her hand.

“Oh, honey. I’m not going. I’ll be here when you get back.”

“What do you mean, you’re not going? You have to come,” Ridge said sternly. “Where’s your coat?”

“In the closet. Where it’s staying. I figured somebody needs to stay here. Keep the home fire burning and all that.”

---