Snowbound with the Santas (Forbidden Fantasies)

25. Nick

25

NICK

“ S how me?” Tilting the phone to get a better look, I watch my daughter step back from the screen and spin in her new dress. “It’s beautiful!”

“Thanks, Dad.” She flops back down against the phone, grinning, while my heart backflips painfully in my chest. It’ll never stop being amazing to hear her say that, and nothing can keep the smile from my face. One thing caught my eye, though, when she stepped away from the camera.

“Frieda, are you at Mee-Maw’s house?” I ask.

“Yup.”

“You’re spending Christmas there?” I have prayed for days that the connection would last long enough for me to call my daughter on Christmas Eve, but Freida’s grandmother is incredibly nosy. I don’t want this to end early because that woman can’t keep her nose out of someone else’s business.

“Yeah, Mom dropped me here a couple of days ago.” Freida tilts her head, playing with one of the straps on her new dress.

“She dropped you there. Wait, is she not with you?”

“Nope.” Freida pops the P and then meets my eyes. “She left on some sort of trip.”

Amanda has every right to comment on my lack of parenting in Freida’s early years, and deep down, I can’t know the struggle of raising a child, but this news angers me. Every year, Amanda rubs in my face how much of a family Christmas she hosts and how I haven’t earned her forgiveness enough to be a part of it. Each year, I grit my teeth and accept it because I live in hope that eventually, I’ll have shown her enough how much I’ve changed. Knowing she’s chosen to abandon Freida and have her spend this Christmas with her grandparents when she could have been with me is infuriating.

I grip the phone and keep my smile level. “Is it a business trip?”

“No, she said it was something important she had to do,” Freida replies. “I don’t mind. I like Mee-Maw’s house.”

“I know, sweetie. I’m just… surprised because if she needed someone to watch you, then I would have been happy to.”

My daughter’s face crumples slightly. “Oh. I would have liked that.”

“I know.”

“But then she’d know I’m talking to you.”

“No, she wouldn’t,” I assure her quickly, and the screen fuzzes from the bad connection. “I’m always asking after you, regardless of whether I hear from you or not.”

“Really?”

While that seems to lighten her spirits a little, there’s still concern in her eyes, so I balance the phone down on the dresser. “Hold on.” Darting away, I return a minute later with her Christmas present. “Look, I made this for you.” I hold up the badly knitted Christmas sweater, and Freida bursts out laughing.

“Dad, you made that for me?” She giggles. “I love it!”

Just as my heart flips once more, there’s a knock at the door and Rayne’s head pops through the gap.

“Hey, Archer says the—” She pauses when she sees the screen and immediately straightens up. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t realize you were in the middle of something.”

“Who is that?” Frieda demands immediately, peering around me.

I hold out one hand to Rayne and smile. “It’s okay. Do you want to say hi to my daughter?”

“Oh, sure!” Rayne eases in through the door and quickly smooths her hands down her hair as she approaches. Once in the line of sight, she gives a nervous wave. “Hi.”

“Freida, this is Rayne. The woman I was telling you about?”

“Oh!” Freida’s face widens and she grins brightly. “Hi! Dad told me he found you in a princess dress!”

“Oh.” Rayne laughs. “It was pretty princessy, that’s for sure. Not as princessy as your dress, though. Oh, goodness. Are those bows?”

I watch my daughter light up and dance away from the screen, spinning as she shows off her dress. “Yes! You like it?”

“Oh, I love it. And the little reindeer along the hem? Beautiful!”

“Thank you.” Freida jumps back at her phone. “I wanted to show Dad since I won’t get to see him here for real.”

“That’s a shame,” Rayne says softly, and she flashes me a sympathetic look. “I know he would be there if he could.”

“I’m not so sure I want him to now. Look at that sweater!”

As Rayne takes in the bad knitting and wonky hem, they both start laughing heartily, and there’s something so achingly familial about the whole thing. Emotion stings at my eyes, and I swallow down a growing lump in my throat.

“I tried, okay?” I laugh along with them. “Next time, you can show me where I went wrong.”

“Oh, I will, absolutely, because?—”

The connection wavers and the call dies, bringing with it a painful silence as the No Signal warning flashes across my old phone.

“Oh, no,” Rayne says, and she reaches for my arm. “I’m sorry. Can you get it back?”

I shake my head. “There’s always a small window, and Freida knows that it’s the connection and not me. It just um…”

“Hurts?” she offers.

I can only nod, then I hold up the sweater. “At least I got to show her this.”

“It’s adorable.” Rayne grins. “I didn’t realize you could knit.”

“As you can see, I can’t. But I finished this a few months ago. I get her a present every year for birthday and Christmas. When Amanda sent them back unopened, I began keeping them for myself to give her when I finally get to meet her in person again.”

Rayne squeezes my arm and her smile turns a little watery. “That’s so sweet. I’m sure she would appreciate that. She seems like a sweet kid.”

“Yeah, thankfully, she doesn’t take after me or her mother.”

“That’s not true,” Rayne replies. “You’re plenty sweet.”

“Mmhmm.” Tapping the screen, I briefly try to reconnect even though I know it won’t work. Once the internet dies around here, it’s out for good until the next flicker comes our way. “You mentioned Archer?”

“Oh, yes. Rayne clasps her hands together. “Archer wanted me to ask you if you still wanted him to dig out the good stuff from the spot. He said you’d know what that meant.”

Did he mean the last of the frozen turkey we had stored in the outside larder? We’d been saving that for a special occasion, but with Rayne here, maybe this was the occasion.

“I’ll go and talk to him.”

“Awesome. I’m going to shower because Frankie got me absolutely covered in flour.”

As she leans up to kiss my cheek, I spot the flour handprints all over her clothes, including her ass. “What were you making?”

“Biscuits,” Rayne grins.

As she leans away, I catch her chin and pull her in for a proper kiss. “I bet they’ll taste amazing.”

“Oh, sure, keep telling yourself that.” With that final quip, she slips out of the room and a few moments later, the shower clunks into life.

With her gone, it’s the perfect window for me to return to my closet and dig out the rest of my poorly made gifts for my friends. It’s the thought that counts, but I know they’ll see the funny side to the poorly knitted items. Wrapping paper is scarce, so I settle for some old newspaper to wrap them up, and then I place them under our gorgeous tree.

In the kitchen, Archer is busy making some kind of red sauce that smells fruity and amazing while Frankie is crouched on the floor in front of the oven.

“What are you doing?” I ask, ruffling his hair on the way past.

“Making sure the oven will heat everything evenly this year. We don’t need a half-frozen turkey for dinner.”

“We’re going with the turkey, then?” Archer glances up.

“I think so.” I nod quickly. “When was the last time we had a Christmas like this? Not for a few years, at least.”

“My broken tree was at least six years old,” Frankie agrees.

“Well, then.” Archer dips his head and focuses on his sauce. “A real Christmas this year.”

“We can thank Rayne for it.” I busy myself boiling some water and filling a thermos with some chocolate powder. “She’s really seemed a lot happier these past few days.”

“I was surprised,” Archer murmurs, “when the mountain team said the roads were closed. Thought she’d want to get home.”

“Seriously?” Frankie swivels where he’s crouched. “Back to the same place her ex is?”

Archer glances up. “No. Back to the airport and home ,” he clarifies.

“Maybe she likes it out here too much.” I smile, filling the thermos. “When she’s out of the shower, can you send her out to the truck?”

“At this time of night?” Both Frankie and Archer stare at me.

I shake the thermos and nod. “Yes. Please?”

They nod and murmur their agreement, then I grab my coat and trudge outside. While it’s bitterly cold, the cold is kept at bay after I’ve turned the truck on and covered the truck bed in blankets. I climb up and settle amid the nest to wait.

Rayne arrives thirty minutes later with her coat bundled up to her ears.

“Having me out here after a shower is cruel,” she declares, climbing onto the truck bed next to me.

I chuckle. “Just hush and get under here.” Rayne wastes no time in burying under the blankets, and when she cuddles into me, she presses a cold hand right up my shirt.

“Hey!” I yelp sharply. “I’ve been building all this warmth for you and you’re trying to steal it!”

Rayne laughs and presses firmer against my body. “So, what is this?”

“Well, I thought what better way is there to count down to Christmas than to sit under the stars on a truly perfect night like this?” I lean up and quickly pour two cups of hot chocolate from the thermos, then I lean back down. Rayne returns to my side and sips her drink, then she settles her head against my shoulders and looks up.

“Wow,” she breathes out. “I can’t get over how beautiful everything is here.”

“Agreed.” I kiss the top of her head, and we snuggle together, watching the stars drift lazily across the sky. I point out a couple of the constellations I’m familiar with, and she points out star clusters that resemble things she likes. After three sheep and a collection of stars that she swears looks like Jesus trying to push a lawnmower, I glance at my watch.

Perfect.

“Rayne?”

“Hmm?” With sparkling eyes and rosy cheeks, she rolls her head to look me in the eye. We smile at one another, and I set my empty cup aside in favor of cupping her jaw lightly. Her eyes flutter slightly as I lean down and press a gentle, loving kiss to her lips.

“Merry Christmas.”