A Christmas Spark (Hudson House Holiday #2)

Chapter Three

“I can’t believe George took all these photographs we never knew about,” Holland said, brushing at her tears with a handkerchief before they fell onto the precious images. “What a beautiful, unexpected gift you’ve brought to us, Dori. Thank you.”

Dori smiled and kissed Holland’s cheek. “I’m glad I found them just before we left. If it won’t be in anyone’s way, may we spread out the photos on the dining room table? There are so many boxes of them I need to sort through, Sarah and I thought it would be a good place to accomplish the task.”

“Of course, Dori. Whatever you need. I’ll ask Gareth to make the table longer so you have plenty of room,” Brant said, picking up a photo of him at the beach holding Sarah on his shoulder when she was about six while Drake and Kase leaned against his legs. “If you require boxes, additional document folders, anything at all, let me know. I’ll be sure you have a supply of paper and pens.”

“Dad and his pens.” Sarah laughed. “You’d think after all these years of using his favorite Waterman pens, at some point they’d cease to be a wonder, but he still gets that look of awe each time he picks one up.”

Kase and Holland nodded in agreement, while Brant scowled at his daughter.

“Oh! I remember this Christmas!” Holland held up a photo of her waltzing with Brant at the ball they used to host on Christmas Eve. Because it was such an important time for families, they’d moved the ball to New Year’s Eve, which worked well and freed up Christmas Eve for loved ones to be together. “I was so excited because I’d just discovered the happy news our family of two was about to become three.”

Even though Holland hadn’t spoken Drake’s name, Dori could see Kase mentally withdraw from them as they sat in the sitting room where the family preferred to gather in the evening. The furniture was comfortable, the fire cozy, and the room filled with special keepsakes full of sentiment rather than value.

One of Dori’s favorite things in the room was a painting Brant had made for Holland. No one seemed to know why he’d chosen sea otters, but the faces on them were so sweet and cute, it made Dori want to step into the watercolor to see them in person.

“This was a fun day. Do you remember, Kase?” Brant asked, lifting a photo of the two of them standing on a sailboat. Kase appeared to be about seven or eight. Even then, he had that stubborn tilt of his head and looked as though he were ready to take on the world and win.

“I remember,” Kase said, taking the photo from his father and staring at it for an inordinately long period.

Dori wondered what he saw when he looked at it. Blue sky? Ocean waves? Could he hear the seagulls crying overhead and taste the salt in the air? Or was the memory of a day spent with his brother and father more than he could bear?

As though he sensed his son’s need to focus on something beyond the past and the missing piece of their family in the present, Brant smiled at Sarah and Dori. They sat on the floor on the other side of the coffee table from where he and Holland rested on the thick leather couch.

“Tell us how you both liked your classes this semester,” Brant said. “Sarah, did you enjoy learning Russian? And Dori, did your photography instructor ever arrive at the conclusion you should have been teaching him?”

Dori waited until Sarah discussed her classes and how hard learning Russian had been. She then spoke a sentence in Russian with flawless elocution, making her parents smile.

Brant said something in Russian, then looked at the rest of them. “I told her, ‘We love you too, sweet girl.’ My Russian is a little rusty. Perhaps the two of us can practice while you’re here.”

Sarah nodded in agreement, then bumped her shoulder against Dori’s. “Tell them about the photographs you’ve been taking.”

“Yes, please!” Holland said with enthusiasm, making Dori smile.

“There’s not a lot to tell. I’ve been taking photographs for students on campus. It seems many want a portrait to send to their family, or share with a sweetheart. It’s provided much appreciated funds.”

“She’s also taken photographs for some of the departments at the college. The botany professor raved about her work.” Sarah offered Dori a look full of pride. “Dori’s photos really are superb. One Saturday morning we were traveling to Uncle Dean and Aunt Eloise’s home on the ferry, and she took several photographs of the fellow passengers. My favorite was of a little girl bundled up against the cold, leaning against the railing. It was spectacular. She sold that photo to the newspaper.”

“Really? That’s fantastic news, Dori. Congratulations.” Brant smiled at her. “What type of camera are you using these days?”

“I still have the box camera Dad gave me years ago. Uncle Dean and Aunt Eloise gave me a thirty-five-millimeter camera for my birthday. They are relatively new, and I’m still learning how to use it to capture the best images, but I really like it.”

“Have you tried one of the motion picture cameras?” Holland questioned.

“I did get a chance to use one in my photography class. I loved it. Just think, we can not only capture a still image and preserve it for all time, but record the movement. Like Brant with his pens, every time I pick up a camera, I’m awed.”

“Did you put in a request to Santa for a motion picture camera of your own?” Brant asked.

Dori shook her head. “Hardly. Those things are expensive, and there are far more important things I’d ask ol’ Saint Nick to bring me.” Even if she really, really wanted one of the motion picture cameras, it wasn’t something she could afford.

Dean and Eloise were beyond generous with her, and she had a little money from selling her childhood home and most of the furnishings, but she had no idea how long the money would last. It seemed prudent to live as frugally as possible.

Gratitude filled Dori, and emotion rolled through her. If not for the kindness of her mother’s best friend—of her own best friend—Dori had no idea where she’d be. Likely living in a tiny hovel of an apartment in a terrible neighborhood, working for a third-rate photographer as an assistant if she were lucky.

Because of people who lifted her up, she lived a beautiful life, even if her parents weren’t there to share it with her.

Before she sank into maudlin thoughts, Dori nudged Sarah, then offered Brant a cheeky grin. “Your daughter has been talking for weeks about trouncing you in a game of Parcheesi.”

“Oh, ho! Has she now?” Brant rose and went to a cabinet built into the wall. He opened a door and pulled a box off a shelf, and returned to set it on the coffee table.

Dori quickly gathered the photos and placed them back into the box from which they’d come, then took a seat in one of the chairs by the fire.

“Aren’t you going to play?” Sarah asked as she cleared the decorations off the coffee table.

“I’ll watch this round. I think it should be a heated Hudson family fight to the finish.” Dori grinned at her friend.

“Well, in that case, someone better poke Kase to wake him up.” Sarah opened the Parcheesi board on the table and got out the playing pieces.

“I’m not sleeping, and I’m not playing.” Kase scowled, although he didn’t get up to leave as Dori half expected him to do from the things Sarah had shared about him the past year.

“Join us, honey. It’ll be fun,” Holland said, motioning for him to move from where he sat back, slightly removed from the rest of them.

Dori thought his position perfectly mirrored his inner turmoil—slightly removed from the rest of the world. This sullen, solitary person was so vastly different from the Kase she remembered. Although Drake had been the one with the easy laugh and ready smile, Kase had seemed energetic and happy in her childhood memories, even if he had regarded her and Sarah as annoying pests.

“Kase and I can play as a team,” Dori said, then had no idea where the words had come from.

Kase looked as surprised by the suggestion as she felt.

“That’s a wonderful idea. I still plan to beat you all,” Sarah said, settling back on the floor with the dice in her hand. “Out of respect to our elders, Dad should go first.”

Kase almost grinned as his father snatched the dice out of Sarah’s hand and tossed them onto the table.

Dori slid out of the chair and onto her knees by the coffee table. Kase scooted his chair closer. When he nodded once at Dori, she felt the triumph of the small victory of involving him in the game. If she won little battles every day she was at Hudson House, maybe Kase would be more like himself by the time she left in January.

She and Kase took turns throwing the dice and moving their game pieces. Both of them were shocked to realize they’d won the game.

“I demand a rematch while you girls are here,” Brant said, handing Sarah the game pieces as she returned the board to the box. “How about another game night tomorrow?”

“That sounds like fun,” Dori said, enjoying the time she’d spent with the Hudson family this evening.

“Does anyone want dessert?” Holland rose from her seat beside Brant.

“Me! Us! All of us!” Sarah said, making them all laugh, Kase included.

“I’ll go see what Dulcie left for us.” Holland crossed the room. Brant stood and joined her, wrapping his arm around her waist and kissing her temple as they stepped into the hallway.

“I love watching your parents,” Dori said to Sarah as she returned the game board to the cabinet.

“Why?” Kase asked as Dori settled onto the chair she’d occupied earlier.

She hesitated to say, afraid he’d find her answer silly, or childish, or even worse—hopelessly romantic.

“Come on, Dori. Tell us,” Sarah prodded when Dori remained silent.

Dori sighed and stared into the fire instead of at the Hudson siblings. “Because their loving relationship reminds me there is someone special out there for each of us if we trust God to lead that person into our lives. It’s beautiful to witness love that has flourished, deepened, and grown in a world where relationships are all too often fleeting, and love mocked or scorned.”

Sarah hugged Dori around the shoulders with tears in her eyes. “That was lovely,” she whispered.

Dori bolstered her courage and chanced a glance at Kase. He swallowed hard, but nodded his head in agreement.

“Here we are!” Holland said in her cheerful voice as she and Brant returned to the room pushing a tea cart filled with dishes.

Dori sat back in her chair, enjoying the moist yellow cake topped with chocolate fudge frosting and cups of cinnamon-spiced tea.

“What a perfect way to end our day,” Brant said, resting against the cushions of the sofa. “It’s so good to have our girls here, and Kase with us.”

Holland reached over and patted Kase’s hand, then smiled at Sarah and Dori. “We are so, so pleased all three of you spent the evening with us. We hope there will be many opportunities to be together during the holiday season. We don’t have any formal plans for tomorrow, so Dori, if you’d like to start sorting your photographs, feel free to do so.”

“Thank you.” Dori could hardly wait to get started on what she hoped would be an endeavor that brought joy to all the members of the Hudson family.