‘LUCAS, WE HAVE a situation.’
Lucas looked up from his computer screen. His PA was standing in his doorway, smiling. She didn’t look too perturbed by the ‘situation’.
‘What is it?’
‘I think you’d better come and see,’ Sofia replied.
Lucas followed her out of his office. He glanced around as he crossed the lobby. Everything looked to be in order. Sofia continued across the floor and exited the lodge out onto the plaza. It was late in the afternoon, the ski runs had closed and streams of people were coming and going through the village. Sofia gestured with an open palm towards the bay where the lodge sleigh was parked. Three young girls, one with her platinum blonde hair tied in two short pigtails, stood beside it.
Lily. Even if he hadn’t seen her at the tube park last weekend he would have recognised her. She was just a down-sized version of her mother.
Lucas frowned. What possible reason could Lily have for being here? It had been almost a week since he’d seen Jess and he’d never met her daughter.
Since the kiss, he’d been snowed under with work, the hotel was at full capacity and he’d had some staffing and maintenance issues that had taken up a lot of his time, and although he had invited Jess and Lily to dinner during the week Jess had graciously refused. He wasn’t sure if she was avoiding him or not but he’d been too busy to push the invitation. Nevertheless, his curiosity was now piqued.
‘What do they want?’ he asked Sofia.
‘A sleigh ride.’
‘I’ve got this,’ he told her.
He’d been kicking himself since last weekend when he’d discovered that Jess had a child. He couldn’t believe he’d been such an idiot. He should have come back to Moose River sooner. He’d thought he’d had time, he’d thought he could afford to wait until he’d achieved his goals. They were both young and he hadn’t considered for one moment that Jess would have moved on. Not to this extent.
But a child wasn’t a deal-breaker. Not in any way. If Jess had been married, that would be a different ball game but he could work with her being a mother. If she’d let him. And he was intrigued to find out more about Lily. This might be the perfect opportunity.
He approached the girls. One looked to be Lily’s age, maybe a year older, and the other he guessed to be twelve or thirteen.
‘Lily?’ he asked. ‘I’m Lucas. This is my hotel. Is there something I can do for you?’
Lily looked up at him and he was struck again by the resemblance to Jess. She was frowning and she got the same little crease between her eyebrows that her mother got when she was unsure of something. ‘How did you know my name?’ she asked.
Lucas smiled to himself. He’d been imagining that Jess had mentioned him to Lily. He’d been flattered and encouraged to think she might have but obviously that wasn’t the case.
‘I know your mum. You look just like her. What can I do for you?’
‘Is this your sleigh?’ Lily asked, as she pointed at the brightly painted red sleigh that had ‘Crystal Lodge’ stencilled across the back of it in ornate gold lettering.
Lucas nodded. ‘It is.’
‘We wanted a sleigh ride. We have money but this man …’ Lily looked up at François, the sleigh driver with an accusatory expression ‘… says he can’t take us.’
‘François isn’t allowed to take you unless you have an adult with you,’ Lucas explained.
Lily folded her arms across her chest and frowned. Lucas expected her to stamp her tiny feet next and he almost laughed before realising that would probably not be appreciated. Not if she was anything like her mother. Lily looked up at him with big green eyes that were nearly too big for her face. She was a lot like her mother. ‘You could come with us,’ she said.
‘Me?’
Lily nodded. ‘You said you know my mum. You could take us. We have money.’
‘Where did you get the money from?’
‘Annabel’s mum,’ Lily said.
Lucas turned to the other two girls. ‘Is one of you Annabel?’ he asked.
The older girl pointed to the younger one. ‘She is,’ she said. ‘I’m Claire, her sister.’
‘Is the money supposed to be for a sleigh ride?’ Lucas asked.
Claire shook her head. ‘No. We were going ice skating but Lily and Annabel ran off here.’
‘Where is your mum?’
‘She’s at work,’ Claire told him. ‘She owns the bakery.’
‘The patisserie?’ he asked.
Lily giggled and her laughter set her pigtails swinging. ‘You don’t say it right,’ she told him.
‘Don’t I? That’s probably because I’m Australian. I don’t speak French.’
‘That’s why you sound funny,’ she said, as if everything made perfect sense now. ‘I know all about Australia.’
‘How much can you know? You’re only five.’
‘I am not. I’m six.’
Lucas was curious. He was sure Jess had told him Lily was five. ‘How do you know about Australia?’
‘My mum told me.’
Now he was even more curious. He’d been wondering about Jess’s circumstances, he’d spent too much time in the past week thinking about her if he was honest, but there was a lot to consider. Why wasn’t she living in her family’s apartment? Why had she taken basic accommodation? And what had happened to Lily’s father? Why wasn’t he in the picture? And why would she talk to Lily about Australia? He couldn’t ask Lily directly but he had another solution.
‘I need to call your mum,’ he told Claire. ‘Would you girls like to meet Banjo while I do that?’ he asked.
‘Who’s Banjo?’
‘He’s the horse.’
Lily and Annabel jumped up and down and clapped their hands.
‘You’ve met François,’ Lucas introduced the sleigh driver, ‘and this is Banjo.’ He was a handsome draught horse. He was dark brown but had distinctive white lower legs with heavy feathering and white markings on his face. Lucas rubbed his neck and the big horse nuzzled into his shoulder. ‘Would you like to feed him? He loves apples.’
‘Yes, please.’ The girls all answered as one.
‘Hold your hand flat like this,’ Lucas took Lily’s hand and flattened her fingers out. François passed him an apple that had been cut in half and he placed it in the centre of her palm. ‘Banjo will take it off your hand but keep your hand flat.’ He guided Lily’s hand to the horse and held her fingers out of the way. ‘He won’t be able to see the apple so he’ll sniff for it.’
Lily giggled as the horse’s warm breath tickled her hand. He took the apple and Lucas let Lily rub his neck as he crunched it. Banjo shook his head and Lily pulled her hand away.
‘François will give you each an apple to feed Banjo while I ring the patisserie,’ Lucas said, as he took his cell phone from his pocket. He got the number and spoke to Fleur. He explained the situation and also explained he was an old friend of Jess’s and offered to drop the girls off to her.
As he finished the call Sofia reappeared, carrying a small cardboard cake box, a flask and some takeaway coffee cups. ‘What are those for?’ Lucas asked.
‘I thought the girls might like some hot chocolate and something to eat on their sleigh ride.’
Lucas raised an eyebrow. ‘How did you know?’
Sofia smiled and shrugged. ‘You’re a soft touch.’
‘All right,’ he asked the girls, ‘who would like a lift home in the sleigh?’
‘Really?’
‘Yep.’
His offer was met with a chorus of squeals and as Banjo had finished all the apples that were on offer to him Lucas helped the girls into the sleigh before climbing up to sit on the driver’s seat beside François.
The sleigh had been decorated with pine wreaths, bells and ribbons, and François had also decorated Banjo’s harness with bells and tinsel. The shake of his head as he started to pull the sleigh set the bells ringing. Lucas asked François to take them for a turn around the plaza before heading to the patisserie. He’d acquiesced on the ride as he wanted a chance to chat to Lily, wanted to find out what she knew about Australia, but sitting up next to François while Lily sat in the back wasn’t going to get him the answers he wanted.
He delivered Annabel and Claire to their mother and told Fleur that he would take Lily to collect Jess.
‘Banjo can take you to your mum’s work, Lily. Would you like to sit up front next to François?’ Lucas asked, and when Lily nodded he lifted her onto the driver’s seat. This seat was higher than the passenger seat to allow François to see over Banjo, and the position afforded Lily an uninterrupted view of the Village. The sun had set and the streets and the plaza were glowing under the Christmas lights. Lucas grabbed a fur blanket from the back of the sleigh and tucked it over Lily’s lap.
On the seat next to them was the cardboard box Sofia had given him. Lucas peeked inside. Sofia had packed some pieces of cake and Lucas’s favourite chocolate biscuits. The girls had finished their hot drinks but hadn’t had time to eat anything. He showed the contents of the box to Lily as Banjo set off again, pulling the sleigh through the snow. ‘Would you like a piece of cake?’
‘No, thank you, I don’t really like cake.’
‘How about chocolate biscuits, then? I know you like chocolate.’
‘How do you know that?’
‘Who doesn’t like chocolate? And these are the best chocolate biscuits ever. I get them sent over to me from Australia,’ he told her.
‘Really?’ she asked, as she picked one up and bit into it.
‘Do you like it?’
Lily nodded.
‘So that’s something you know about Australia—we make good chocolate biscuits. Tell me what else you know.’
‘I know about the animals.’
‘Do you have a favourite?’
Lily nodded again. ‘Mum says I remind her of a platypus but I like the koala best,’ she said with a mouthful of chocolate biscuit, ‘because it’s so cute. I know what the flag looks like too but I like our flag better. Did you know you’ve got the same queen as us?’
‘I did know that.’ Lucas smiled. She really was adorable.
‘I can sing “Kookaburra sits in the old gum tree”.’
‘Did your mum teach you?’
‘No, I learnt it in school. Mum taught me “Waltzing Matilda”.’
Lucas remembered teaching that song to Jess and explaining what all the words meant. Why had Jess told Lily so much about Australia? ‘Did you know that in Australia it’s summertime now? It’s so hot at Christmastime we all go to the beach for a swim.’
‘That’s silly. Who would want to go to the beach on Christmas?’
‘Yeah, you’re right.’ Lucas had come to love a white Christmas but that might be because it reminded him of Jess. It was far more romantic to think of cuddling by a warm fire with snow falling outside than sweating under a blazing sun, battling flies and sand. He loved summer but he didn’t have to have it at Christmastime.
Lucas checked his watch. It was almost five. ‘We’d better get you to the medical centre,’ he told Lily. ‘Your mum will be finishing work soon and I promised Fleur I would have you there on time.’
‘Oh.’ Lily pouted. ‘Is that the end of my sleigh ride?’
‘I have an idea. Does your mum like surprises?’
Lily nodded. ‘She likes good surprises. She says I was a good surprise.’
‘Excellent. Why don’t we go and pick her up from work in the sleigh? Do you think she’d like that?’
Lily nodded, her green eyes wide.
‘That’s healed up nicely, Oscar,’ Jess said as she removed the stitches in the chin of a teenage boy. He had come off second best in a tussle between the snowboarding half-pipe and his board and Jess had assisted Cameron when he’d fixed him up a week earlier. She snipped the last stitch and pulled it from the skin. ‘See if you can stay out of trouble now, won’t you?’ Oscar was a regular visitor to the clinic and Jess suspected his skills on his snowboard didn’t quite match up to his enthusiasm.
‘I’ll try,’ he said, as he hopped up from the examination bed. ‘But maybe I should make a time for next week just in case I need it.’
‘I don’t want to see you again for at least two weeks.’ She laughed. ‘Off you go.’
Oscar was her last patient for the evening and she checked her watch as she typed his notes into the computer. She was finishing on time and was looking forward to collecting Lily from Fleur’s and getting home. Sliding her arms into her coat, she switched off the computer and pulled the door closed as she prepared to leave for the day. Heading into the reception area to say goodnight to Donna, she was surprised to find Lily there.
‘Hi, Lil, what are you doing here?’ She frowned as she bent down to give her daughter a kiss.
‘We have a surprise for you.’
‘We?’
Lily took her hand and led her outside. Lucas was standing on the porch.
He looked gorgeous. He was wearing a grey cashmere coat that contrasted nicely with his forget-me-not-blue eyes. His coat looked smart and expensive. Her own coat was several years old and Jess was well aware of the contrast in their wardrobes.
‘Lucas,’ she greeted him.
‘Hello, JJ.’ He smiled at her and her heart beat a tattoo in her chest.
She hadn’t seen him for a week and the sight of him took her breath away all over again. How was it possible that she could forget the effect his smile had on her? It was like seeing the sun coming out when she hadn’t noticed it was missing. She’d never thought her day needed brightening until Lucas had popped into it.
But that didn’t explain what he was doing there. In front of her work. With her daughter. Lily didn’t know Lucas. He didn’t know Lily. She had deliberately kept them apart. She didn’t want him getting to know Lily. Not until she’d decided what to do. So what on earth were they doing together? What was going on?
‘Why are you here?’ she asked. ‘Why are you both here?’
‘Lily went walkabout.’
‘What’s walkabout?’ Lily wanted to know.
Lucas looked at Lily as he explained. ‘It’s something we say in Australia. It means you went wandering.’
‘What? Where?’ Jess was worried. She had wanted Lily to be able to roam around the village safely, she’d felt confident that it would be possible, but she realised now that she’d assumed Lily would be wandering with her permission. Not taking off on a whim whenever the mood struck her. ‘Did you find her?’
‘No.’ Lucas was shaking his head. ‘She came to the lodge.’
‘Why? What for?’ Why would Lily go to Lucas? Jess turned to her daughter. ‘Lily, what’s going on?’ She could hear the note of panic in her voice but there was nothing she could do to stop it.
‘Jess, it’s all right.’
Lucas’s voice was calm, his words measured. He was always very calm, very matter-of-fact and practical. A whole lot of personality traits that Jess was sure she could use but it wasn’t his place to placate her.
‘Don’t tell me it’s all right!’ she hissed at him.
‘Lily, Banjo looks hungry.’ Lucas turned to Lily, ignoring Jess’s outburst. ‘Why don’t you go and ask François if he has another apple that you can give him?’
Jess watched as Lily went down the steps at the front of the clinic to where the Crystal Lodge sleigh was waiting in the snow. She hadn’t even noticed it she’d been so distracted by Lucas and Lily arriving on her doorstep. She assumed Banjo was the horse, a very large but fortunately placid-looking horse.
Once Lily was out of earshot Lucas turned back to Jess. ‘Lily was quite safe. I thought this was what you wanted—for her to be able to feel safe in the village?’
‘Within reason,’ Jess snapped. ‘I didn’t expect her to roam the streets alone or take off without notice.’ Who knew what might happen? All Jess’s insecurities, deeply embedded into her psyche by her parents, came to the fore.
‘Is this about Stephen?’ Lucas asked. He was watching her carefully with his gorgeous eyes. Was he waiting to see if she was going to explode with anger or dissolve into tears?
Jess had to admit that in a way it did all relate back to her brother. She nodded. ‘I wanted Lily to have the freedom I never had but I expected to know where she was. She’s too young to be getting about on her own. She’d supposed to have someone with her.’
‘She wasn’t alone. Annabel and Claire were with her. Claire was supposed to be taking them ice skating.’
‘So what happened? How did Lily end up with you?’ Lucas shrugged. ‘She wanted a sleigh ride so I gather she convinced Annabel to take off with her and they came to the lodge to see if they could use their ice-skating money for a ride instead.’ he said, as if that was a perfectly natural request to make of a complete stranger.
‘And you said yes, I see.’ Jess was annoyed. Not only had Lily gone and found Lucas, she’d also managed to wangle a sleigh ride out of him. She’d been planning that as a holiday surprise and Lucas had taken that gift away from her. She knew it wasn’t his fault—he hadn’t done it deliberately—but it still irked her.
‘I did clear it with Fleur first,’ he told her. ‘You should be proud of Lily. She wanted something badly enough to go after it. That shows initiative, determination and commitment, and I thought she deserved to be rewarded.’
He would think that, Jess thought, even though she knew her bitchy attitude was unfair.
‘And I didn’t think you’d mind, especially if you got to share it with her.’
‘What do you mean?’
‘We’ve come to give you a lift home in the sleigh. We thought we’d take the long way around. What do you say? Am I forgiven?’ He held his hands out, palms open, beseeching her, and she couldn’t stay mad. She knew she shouldn’t be cross with him anyway, he had only been trying to do something nice for Lily and for her.
And he was right. Did it matter that she hadn’t organised it? She should be happy. Lily was safe and she was getting her treat. And it wasn’t costing her anything. Well, not money at least. It was costing her some pride and now she would owe Lucas a favour.
He smiled at her. His dimples flashed and his blue eyes twinkled. She would owe him a favour, but when he smiled at her she figured she could live with that.
She sighed. ‘I’m sorry I snapped at you. And, yes, you’re forgiven.’
‘Good. Shall we?’ He bent his elbow and Jess tucked her hand into the crook of his arm as he led her down the steps to the sleigh. She put one foot onto the running board and felt Lucas’s hands on her hips as he helped her up. She sank into the soft leather seat as Lucas lifted Lily up beside her. He climbed in on the other side of Lily and tucked rugs around them all.
François clicked his tongue at Banjo and the big horse moved off slowly, bells jingling.
‘Mummy, I can’t see,’ Lily complained.
She was tucked between Jess and Lucas and was too small to see past them or over the front of the sleigh.
‘Hold up, please, François, while we do some reshuffling,’ Lucas said.
Lily and Jess swapped seats so Lily could see out of the side of the sleigh but this meant that Jess was now sitting beside Lucas. Their knees were touching under the blanket and Jess was very aware of the heat of his body radiating across to her. He took up a lot of space and she could have shifted closer to Lily to give them both some room but she didn’t want to. It felt good to sit this close to him.
‘How has your week been?’ he asked, as Banjo set off again.
‘It was busy. Apparently the resort is almost at full capacity, I suppose you know that, but we also really notice the influx of the tourists as we get an increase in patient load.’
‘Do you still think you’ve made the right choice taking this job?’
‘Definitely. It’s so much better than my old job in so many ways. No shift work, no weekends. Three minutes from home. It’s heaven.’
‘What are your plans for the weekend?’
‘I’m not sure. Nothing much. We’ll probably do a bit of skiing. Lily has been having lessons after school so I like to see how she’s progressing. She’s been pestering me for a sleigh ride since we arrived in Moose River but I won’t need to do that now.’ She smiled at him, all traces of her earlier irritation having vanished. The sleigh ride was relaxing and romantic, even with Lily in tow. It was a lovely end to the working week and sitting beside Lucas was the icing on the cake. ‘Thank you.’
‘My pleasure.’
She could see his forget-me-not-blue eyes shining in the light of the streetlamps. He looked very pleased with himself. As he had every right to be.
He was humming carols—something about it being lovely weather for a sleigh ride together—as François took them on a circuit around the village. Lucas’s hand found hers under the blanket. He squeezed it gently and didn’t let go.
Jess rested her head on his shoulder. She didn’t stop to think about what she was doing. It just felt natural. It felt good. Banjo headed up the hill where François stopped to let them take in the view of the village, which was spread out before them. The lights sparkled and danced and the sounds of happiness drifted up to them on the breeze. Jess sighed. Sitting in the sleigh, listening to Lucas humming, and seeing Lily’s smile, she imagined this could be what her life would be like if they were a real family. Cocooned in their own little bubble of contentment.
She suspected that anyone looking at them now would assume that’s what they were. A blond family, bundled up in their furs, being pulled through the snow on a sleigh. They could be the perfect image on a festive season card.
Lucas wasn’t her reality. He wasn’t her Prince Charming.
She still didn’t know if he even wanted a family.
Telling him everything might ruin it all.
Banjo had begun picking his way back down the hill and within minutes François had guided him to a stop in front of her apartment block. It was late now. It was time for dinner.
Lucas helped them down from the sleigh and walked them to the door.
‘I know you have other priorities and I don’t want you to feel as though I’m intruding on your life, but I would really like to spend some time with you. With you and Lily,’ he said, as he held the door open. ‘Tomorrow evening is the first Christmas market for the season and we’re switching on the lights on the Christmas tree out the front of the lodge. I’d like the two of you to be my guests for the tree lighting. What do you think?’
Jess thought she should refuse politely but she couldn’t. She wanted to see him too and Lily would love it.
If Lily and Lucas wanted something badly enough, they would both go after it. That was definitely a trait of nature, not nurture, but why shouldn’t she do the same? She and Lily could spend time with Lucas, it would give her another chance to see how he interacted with Lily, another chance to watch him. Was it her fault if having Lily there meant she had to hold onto her secret for one more day?
‘We’d love to,’ she said. ‘Thank you.’