Santa's Sweetheart (The Christmas Tree Ranch #4)(65)

His eyes had searched for Grace, but he hadn’t seen her. Could she have been avoiding him? It wasn’t like her to hide. She’d probably just been busy backstage.

Now it was Wednesday night. Maggie had gone to bed after a busy time playing with her friend Ann Marie. Too tired to move but too restless to sleep, Sam sat alone on the couch, using the remote to flip through the TV channels.

Surely, by now, Grace would have seen what he’d written inside the envelope when he’d sent the check to school with Maggie. His best hope was that she would read it, call him, and give him a chance to apologize for wanting too much too soon. But it was getting late, and no call had come. Maybe it was time he faced reality—he wasn’t going to hear from her.

He almost wished he’d forced himself to go to the final meeting of the Christmas ball committee. At least he might have been able to talk to her there. But if she didn’t want to see him, his presence would only make things awkward. Anyway, he hated sitting through those damned meetings.

He yawned. Maybe it was time to drag himself to bed. He had switched off the TV and was about to get up when he heard the patter of small bare feet. Maggie stood before him in her blue snowman pajamas.

“Aren’t you supposed to be asleep, young lady?” he asked.

“Uh-huh. But I can’t sleep ’cause I remembered something I was supposed to tell you, Daddy. Promise me you won’t get mad.”

“How could I ever get mad at my best girl? Sit down here and tell me.” He made room for her next to him on the couch and waited for her to sit down. “Now, what’s this you were supposed to tell me?”

“It’s about Miss Chapman. She had to go away.”

“Go away? Go where?”

“I don’t think she said where. Yesterday she got a phone call in the office. When she came back, she told us that her dad was in the hospital. She had to go and see him. That’s what I forgot to tell you.”

“So, she wasn’t at school this morning?”

Maggie shook her head. “We had a substitute.”

“And you say this was yesterday. Did you give her the envelope with the check in it?”

“Uh-huh. She said she’d open it later. I think she put it in her purse.”

“Okay.” That would explain why he hadn’t heard from Grace. “Did she say what was wrong with her father?”

“No.” Maggie took a deep breath. “Daddy, did you and Miss Chapman have a fight?”

“No, honey. We’re still friends.”

“But something’s wrong. I can tell. Why did you have me give her that envelope? Why didn’t you give it to her yourself?”

She wasn’t making things easy. “Nothing’s wrong. We’ve just decided not to see each other, that’s all.”

“But why?” Maggie looked stricken. “I know you really like her. And I’m pretty sure she likes you. What’s the matter?”

Sam sighed, knowing that only the truth would satisfy Maggie. “I do like Grace,” he said. “I like her a lot. But there’s a problem. When she was about your age, her father left the family to marry another woman.”

“That’s awful,” Maggie said. “I bet she was really sad.”

“She wasn’t just sad. She was scared. Ever since then, she’s been afraid to trust men. She’s afraid she’ll fall in love with a man and he’ll turn out to be like her father.”

“But you wouldn’t do that, Daddy. If you loved her, you would stay forever.”

“I know that. And Grace knows that. But she can’t stop being scared. And when she’s scared, she runs away, even when she doesn’t want to. Does that make any sense, Maggie?”

She frowned. “Kind of. But it’s . . . complicated.”

“Complicated. That’s a good word for it.” Sam pushed himself to his feet. “Come on, let’s both get some sleep. If I’m feeling strong enough tomorrow, I’ll take you and Ann Marie to a movie at the mall. Popcorn and sodas and everything.”

“Yay! I know just the one we want to see!” Maggie scampered off to her room.

Sam followed more slowly, lost in thought. If Grace’s father was in the hospital, and if she had left to be with him . . . He was too tired to finish the thought. But the implications hung in his mind.

Grace was a strong woman. But facing her father, especially if he were dying, would be a wrenching experience. How would she deal with it?

Would it change her? Sam wondered.

When it was over, would she come back to him?

*

Michael Aldrich Chapman died peacefully at 4:46 A.M. on Thursday morning. Grace and Cooper, who’d been there through the night, sat on either side of him, holding his hands as he slipped away. Grace was weeping freely, but her tears were good tears, a release of the anger, grief, and fear that had festered since that long-ago day when he’d walked out of the house for the last time.

Arrangements had already been made with the mortuary. They would collect the body and prepare it for cremation on Friday. There would be no service, but his children would be there for a final farewell. Cooper would keep the ashes until next summer when they would be scattered.

Drained and exhausted, brother and sister walked out of the hospital to a clear dawn. The storm had passed, leaving a foot of glistening snow that lay like an ermine robe over the ground, the roofs, and the trees. Grace had seen snow in Oklahoma and Texas, but it had never looked like this.