Summer had a week to get ready for Christmas Day after school was dismissed. The house parents were staying with those students left in the dorms, but Anita spent a lot of the time at the cabin and Summer was glad to have her help. She took care of cleaning the house while Summer baked, and it was pleasant to have Anita for company. In spite of the difference in their ages, they’d become good friends.
“The Blackburns asked me to spend Christmas with them,” Anita said one day.
“I overheard Hallie telling your housemother that she intended to ask you.”
“Do you think I should go?”
“I don’t have an opinion. I know very little about the Blackburns. Have you asked Edna? She’s been here a long time, and she’d know whether it’s a suitable place for you. Hallie can be cantankerous, but basically, I believe she’s a good person.”
“She likes me and she’s hinted that they’d give me a home when I have to leave The Crossroads after I graduate. They don’t have any kids, and I think Hallie’s worrying because they won’t have anybody to take care of them in their old age. But I don’t want to spend the rest of my life in these mountains—there’s a big world out there waiting for me.”
The comment amused Summer. How much that sounded like her own attitude when she was eighteen!
“I don’t want to live with the Blackburns,” Anita continued, “but I do think I’ll spend Christmas Day at their house. It will be a break from the usual routine.”
Anita might be angling for an invitation to spend Christmas at the cabin, but Summer didn’t ask her because she thought it was best for Timmy and Nicole to have some uninterrupted time with their grandparents.
As David and Summer made their plans, she hoped there wouldn’t be a repeat of the big snowstorm they’d had the first week of the month. After that heavy blast of winter, the weather moderated, and although the higher mountains didn’t lose their snow and the valley still had lots of snowdrifts, the county roads were cleared. The area was beautiful, and Summer realized that she no longer looked upon the mountains as a prison.
Three days before Christmas, when a few snow flurries buffeted by a strong wind danced in the air, the Browns and Summer set out to find a Christmas tree for the cabin. Summer had expected they’d walk and carry the tree, but when David arrived, he was driving the compound’s tractor with a low wagon attached.
Timmy and Nicole bolted out of the cabin.
“Just like Grandpa’s farm,” Timmy shouted.
“David, do you know how to drive a tractor?” Summer asked suspiciously.
“I’m driving this one,” he said.
“Have you ever driven a tractor before?” she yelled above the noise of the engine.
“Well, no,” he said, a mischievous gleam in his brown eyes, “but it can’t be much different than driving a car. If you don’t trust my skill, you can drive. You grew up on a farm.”
“No, thanks. Autumn was the farm worker. Besides, when I was growing up, Daddy used his Belgian horses more than tractors.”
Nicole had already climbed on the low wagon and pulled Timmy beside her. “Come on, Auntie,” she called. “It’ll be fun.”
With a skeptical glance at David, Summer joined the kids.
“Ho! Ho!” David called, and the kids giggled. The tractor lurched into action with a roar of the engine, and Summer shouted, “Kids, hold on.” But there weren’t any sideboards on the wagon bed, so there was nothing for them to grab in an emergency.
David glanced over his shoulder. “Everybody still aboard?”
“Yes, but not any thanks to you. Watch what you’re doing,” Summer said severely.
David started singing “Jingle Bells” and the kids joined in the merry tune.
“Sing with us, Auntie,” Nicole said.
David was traveling at a snail’s pace. The wagon bed wasn’t more than a foot off the ground and it probably wouldn’t hurt if they did fall off, so she joined her soft contralto to the singing. In the middle of “Oh, what fun it is to ride,” David suddenly hit the brakes, and his three passengers rolled off the wagon into a snowbank.
Timmy and Nicole shouted joyfully as they landed, but Summer’s fall dislodged some snow that completely covered her head.
“Hey, I’m sorry, are you hurt?” David shouted, and he jumped off the tractor.
“We’re all right,” Nicole shrieked, “but Auntie is buried in the snow.”
The force of the blow had stunned Summer momentarily, but she felt tiny hands clawing at the snow piled on her head. David knelt beside her and lifted her into his arms. Her face was plastered with snow, and she felt David’s soft touch wiping away the moisture.
“Summer,” he said, “speak to me. Are you all right?” His usually calm voice was rough with anxiety.
She started to open her eyes and assure him she was all right, but remembering the many times he’d pestered her with his dry wit, she decided to teach him a lesson. She moaned and went limp in his arms.
“Summer,” he cried. “Don’t tell me you’re hurt!” His arms tightened possessively.
Touched by the concern in his voice and being so comfortable in his embrace, Summer’s heart sang with delight. In spite of herself, she grinned and opened her eyes. David stared at her and burst out laughing.
“You mean you were only funning me!”
“Next time, watch how you drive!”
But her amusement suddenly diminished and excitement replaced it when a muscle quivered in David’s jaw and he lowered his head. She struggled in his arms and her lips parted in surprise when he whispered her name in a silky tone she’d never heard him use before. Summer eagerly responded to the touch of his lips, and her arms went around his neck, molding her body into a closer embrace.
She had difficulty returning to reality when he lifted his head, whispering in her ear, “We’ve got an interested audience in case you’ve forgotten.”
Her eyes snapped open to see Timmy and Nicole kneeling beside them, a glint of wonder in their eyes at this display of affection between their aunt and uncle. She and David had been so careful before not to exhibit their mutual attraction in front of the children.
Breathlessly, Summer said, “Let me go, David. I’m not hurt. What happened?”
He stood up and steadied her. “A deer ran in front of the tractor.” In a teasing tone, he said to the kids, “It might have been Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, and I didn’t want to hit it. Are you kids okay?” he asked.
Still wide-eyed at the adventure and its aftermath, Nicole and Timmy only nodded. David tried to catch Summer’s eyes, but she didn’t look at him as she helped the kids back on the wagon.
“I’ll be more careful,” David promised. “There might not be a convenient snowdrift the next time.”
Timmy and Nicole huddled together, whispering, as he put the tractor into motion. Summer tried to ignore their words, but one comment did disturb her when Nicole murmured, “Just like Mommy and Daddy,” and darted a quick look in Summer’s direction.
The children had enough to threaten their security without seeing the passionate display David and she had just exhibited. And Summer couldn’t deal with it, either. She didn’t want to become more closely tied to David than she was already, but these passionate encounters were occurring more and more frequently, and it was easy to see where they were heading. Although she seldom remembered her desire to leave The Crossroads and return to the corporate world, her ambition did surface occasionally. Increased emotional involvement with David would be a hindrance to that ambition.
David stopped the tractor near a grove of small evergreens, and the kids bolted through the trees, arguing over which one they should cut. Summer and David hurried after them.
“Remember,” Summer cautioned, “there isn’t enough room in the cabin for a big tree. We should have one that sits on the table.”
“Here’s a little one,” Nicole said, stopping beside a tree that was over five feet tall.
“I meant a tree not much taller than you are,” Summer said.
“Oh, Auntie, we want one bigger than that,” Nicole protested.
After they’d searched the area and didn’t find any small trees that suited the children, Summer threw up her hands in surrender.
“All right.” She gave in graciously. “We’ll move the desk out on the porch, cover it with plastic, and put the tree where the desk stands.”
David handed a saw to Nicole and Timmy and showed them how to make a few indentations on the tree trunk with the saw before he took an axe and cut the tree. Summer stood to one side and watched her adopted family with gentle and contemplative eyes. David was wonderful with the children. He was patient with them and had stepped easily into the role of a father.
When they tied the tree on the wagon, there was hardly any room left, so David held Timmy on the tractor seat with him, and Nicole and Summer walked back to the cabin.
While David and the kids worked to secure the tree in the holder, Summer made toasted-cheese sandwiches, heated two cans of soup and washed several red apples.
Although the kids were excited and seemed happy as they trimmed the tree, Summer wondered if they were remembering the previous year when their parents were with them. Had she done enough to bring security and contentment to Timmy and Nicole?
Spring’s tree decorations had once been used at the Weaver home in Ohio, and Summer reminisced on her childhood days as they worked. She’d let the kids choose a few special ornaments when they’d gone Christmas shopping the previous week, intending to start a tradition for them. At first Summer tried to organize the trimming so the tree would be artistic and decorative, but she finally gave up and let the kids do what they wanted to. The tree ended up being a hodgepodge of mismatched ornaments, jumbled tinsel and lopsided lights, but David and the children stood back and viewed their efforts with pleasure.
Rearranging two ornaments that she’d made in school out of clothespins, Nicole said, “I like it, don’t you, Auntie?”
David’s generous mouth trembled with unexpressed laughter, and Summer frowned at him. Determined not to lie, Summer said, “It’s the most interesting Christmas tree I’ve ever seen.”
Her answer seemed to satisfy the kids, and Timmy said, “Can we put out some presents? Please!”
“Promise you won’t be tearing the paper to peek in the packages,” Summer said.
“We won’t,” the children shouted in unison.
Summer looked at David to get his approval, and he said, “I won’t peek, either.”
Summer shrugged her shoulders in a helpless gesture. “You’re as bad as the kids. Go ahead and open the box from Grandpa and Grandma Weaver.”
Summer washed the dishes while David opened the big carton and Timmy and Nicole pulled out a dozen beautifully wrapped boxes and placed them under the tree.
“I’ll see that the kids get in bed,” David said.
Summer was seated on the couch, her hands unconsciously twisted together when David finally returned to the living room after trying for an hour to get the children settled into bed.
“Too much excitement today. They’re wound up tonight. I hope they won’t have nightmares.”
“Timmy hasn’t had a nightmare for several weeks.”
David glanced at his watch. “Almost eleven o’clock. I’d better go, I suppose.”
Summer didn’t answer. He sat beside her and placed his hand over hers. She cringed slightly, and he knew this wasn’t the time for a repeat of what had happened earlier.
“Want to talk?” he asked.
“Oh, I don’t know, David,” she said in a resigned tone. “When we moved to The Crossroads, I hoped we’d become friends, but things are getting out of hand. There’s no use ignoring what happened between us this afternoon.”
He lifted his hand and caressed the curve of her jaw. “I don’t want to ignore it.”
“We’re together too much,” she said, ignoring the import of his words. “But I don’t think I can raise Timmy and Nicole without your help.”
“It’s only natural that we’d become close. I’m fond of you, Summer. I’m beginning to wonder just how fond! Do you suppose Spring and Bert had more than one reason for bringing us together?”
“I don’t know! I don’t even know who I am anymore. I’m losing my identity as Summer Weaver. I’m Auntie to the kids. I’m a big sister to the students. I’m not the same person I was a year ago, and it scares me.”
“But I like the new Summer Weaver!”
A flash of humor crossed her face. “Didn’t you like the old one?”
“Sure. But you’ve become more human, more alluring, more provocative. I wouldn’t have kissed the old Summer like I did you this afternoon.”
“Well, I haven’t given up going back to New York, and I wonder what identity I’ll have then. The present Summer wouldn’t be happy in a corporate office. Will the former Summer surface when I’m back in New York, or is that Summer gone forever?”
“You’ll always be yourself, even if your outlook on life changes. It’s too late tonight for any philosophical discussions. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
He kissed her forehead and left the cabin. Even if her lips did say that they were spending too much time together, in her heart, Summer knew no matter how many other people were there, the cabin felt empty when David left it.
As Christmas Day neared, Summer overheard Timmy and Nicole talking about their parents. Nicole had little flights of fantasy when she pretended that her parents were coming, rather than her grandparents. And Timmy expected the Weaver grandparents whom he’d seen more often than David’s folks. Although troubled about their illusions, Summer ignored her concerns, hoping the children would forget about missing Bert and Spring in the joy of Christmas.
David’s parents arrived soon after noon on Christmas Eve. Patrick and Joyce Brown were both of medium height, and they had brown hair, brown eyes—people who wouldn’t stand out in any crowd. But when you started talking with them, you realized how sincere they were in their Christian faith, and how their examples of morality, truth and honesty had produced sons like Bert and David. Summer had been so distressed during the time she’d seen the Browns at Bert and Spring’s funeral that she hadn’t passed more than a few words with them. Welcoming them to the cabin was almost like having strangers come, but she wanted to make them feel at home. This first Christmas after Bert’s death would be a difficult holiday for them.
Still, she was a little nervous when David brought his parents to the house, wondering if they’d compare her to Spring and expect her to be like her sister.
Timmy and Nicole were standoffish at first, but they soon cuddled up to Patrick on the sofa and started talking about their school friends.
“Mrs. Brown,” Summer said, “let me show you the bedroom. The house is small, but I hope you’ll be comfortable.”
“Don’t fret about us. We came to visit Spring and Bert when they first moved in here. It’s a nice little house, but small for a growing family.”
“Yes, it is,” Summer agreed. “Daddy has offered to build another story so Timmy and Nicole can have separate rooms. But we’ll wait and see how everything works out.”
“David said you’re adjusting to the situation.”
“Yes, adjusting. David makes a good father, but I don’t know how successful I am at mothering. It hasn’t been easy for either of us.”
“We know it’s been a great sacrifice for you, but God will help you if you’ll trust Him for guidance.”
Summer didn’t answer. Her faith was too new to understand God’s will for her life, and how He’d brought her to this time and place.
When David and his father took the children sleighing, Summer was uneasy at being alone with David’s mother. But Joyce was a comfortable woman to be around, and Summer soon felt at ease with her as they worked together to finish their Christmas Eve dinner.
Following the Weaver tradition, Summer had planned oyster stew, turkey sandwiches, raw vegetables and dip, fruit salad and an assortment of cookies for Christmas Eve. Joyce had brought fruit cake and a baked ham with pineapple sauce for dinner on Christmas Day.
“I hope you won’t think I’m presumptive for bringing food. My fruit cake is a favorite of David’s, and Patrick and I wanted to help out with your finances, so that’s the reason for the ham. It wasn’t that we thought you couldn’t provide a meal.”
Summer’s face broke into a wide smile. “You were wise to take precautions,” she said. “I’m learning, but this is the first time I’ve ever been responsible for preparing the Christmas meals. I’d never cooked much, and I soon learned that children today don’t eat the foods my mother provided for us. David is handy in a kitchen, so that’s helped. He eats with us most of the time to give Timmy and Nicole a sense of family with a male influence, as well as mine.”
After they ate supper, David and Patrick insisted on washing the dishes, and Summer decided David had followed the example set by his father. Later they sat around the fireplace while Patrick read the Christmas story from the book of Luke, then they sang carols and traditional songs.
Summer persuaded the children to go to bed so they could be up early to open packages, and after she returned to the living room, David said to his parents, “I think you’ll be pleased to know that I’ve rededicated my life to Christ and that Summer accepted Him as her Savior a few days ago.”
“That’s wonderful news, David,” Patrick said. “We’ve been praying for that to happen.”
“It makes our work more meaningful,” David said. “We knew we weren’t qualified to take over a mission school, but we have a young chaplain who’s taken care of the spiritual needs of the students.”
“He’s been a help to me, too,” Summer said. “I had no biblical background to understand what was lacking in my life, but Curtis has counseled with me.”
“Then both of you received the real gift of Christmas,” Joyce said. “It will make a change in your lives.”
David lingered until his parents went to their room, and he helped Summer set the table for breakfast.
“It will be pandemonium here in the morning,” he said, “but we’ve made it easier for the children to face Christmas without their parents.”
“I hope so.”
David didn’t want to leave this cozy home atmosphere and go to the dorm, but he’d loitered as long as he could. He put his arms around Summer and kissed her soft hair. She fit so well into his arms that he drew her closer.
“Merry Christmas, Summer.”
She lifted her head, and their gazes held for a few electric moments before their lips met in a slow gentle caress. When he kissed the tip of her nose, she opened her eyes.
“Merry Christmas, David. The first Christmas we’ve spent together.”
“Will it be the last?” he asked musingly, eagerness in his eyes.
“I don’t know.” But she threw him a kiss as he opened the door and left the cabin.
As she undressed for bed, Summer considered that their emotional life was becoming more complex. Where could they go from this point? She always felt comforted and cherished in David’s arms. Could she be in love with him?
As David walked back to the dorm, his arms felt empty without Summer in them. The hours he spent with her and the children were satisfying, and the cabin home had the same atmosphere he’d always enjoyed as a child. But it disturbed him that Summer occasionally mentioned returning to New York. It seemed as if she still had to hold on to the past.