Rebecca Winters - Daddy's Christmas Miracle

“Yes. By now she’s been back in Salt Lake for a while.” He moved a chair over to the side of the bed and sat down. “I brought you a drink.”

“Thanks.” She sat up cross-legged and took it from him. They both opened the tabs and drank. Colt liked the way Kathryn had done her hair with the neck scarf. “I apologized to Jen and her parents,” she volunteered.

“That’s good.” After finishing off half the can, he put it on the floor. When he looked up, her eyes were swimming in tears.

“I’m sorry for what I did, Dad. I mean … about everything.”

“Honey.” He took her can from her and put it on the floor next to his. “I’ve the gut feeling this has to do with your mother, so before this talk goes any further, I want you to know I take full blame for what happened. This is about your mother, right?”

She nodded before burying her face in her hands.

“Dad?” Matt’s voice sounded from the hallway.

“In your sister’s room!” he called back. “Come on in.”

Matt stood in the doorway staring at the two of them. “What’s going on?”

“As I just told Allie, it’s my fault she went to Salt Lake without telling anyone. It’s time the three of us had the conversation I should have had with you years ago. Pull up the other chair.”

He saw his twins exchange a private glance before Matt did his bidding.

“I’ve already told you my parents froze to death during a blizzard when I was four and your aunt Sherry was six. They didn’t marry until their mid-thirties, so we came along late in their lives.

“What’s interesting is that my grandfather didn’t meet my grandmother until they were in their thirties. My father was their only child and he wasn’t born until my grandmother was forty. I’m telling you all this because I was the dark horse in the Brenner family. I got married at twenty and had you two right off the bat.” They both laughed.

“My grandparents loved you like you were their own children. They helped me raise you. I wish you could remember them, but you were too little when they passed away within a year of each other. I can tell you this much.” Emotion almost closed his throat. “They were saints.”

He eyed them with an ache in his heart because he was about to break his silence. When they heard the unvarnished truth, it would shatter them. His grandmother had warned him to tell them everything when they were old enough to understand, but for fear of hurting his children, he’d waited years too long. Now all three of them were going to be in a new kind of pain.

ON SATURDAY MORNING, Kathryn finished checking on one of the children at Renaissance House who needed to see a dentist, then went downstairs to make the appointment. When that was done, she let herself into her brother’s office. While she waited for him to get off the phone, she wandered over to the windows overlooking the snow-dusted east gardens of the estate. The grounds became a fairyland of flowers in every season but winter.

It was cold out there this morning. Beneath an overcast sky, everything looked dead. Her thoughts flew to the Cloud Bottom Ranch, as she liked to think of it. Winter clothed the pines in a grandeur of pristine white.

Colt, astride his stallion, would be up on the mountain checking the herds. She could see the lone, tall cowboy in silhouette. He would be dressed in sheepskin and a cowboy hat covering midnight-black hair while he looked over his empire, making sure everything was in working order. His hard-boned feat—

“Yoo-hoo! Kathryn?” When she realized her brother was talking to her, she turned around, flush-faced. “Where were you?” he teased with a smile.

“I was wondering if it’s going to snow before the football game this afternoon.”

His blue eyes searched hers. “I don’t think that was the only thing on your mind. You’ve been different since you got back from Montana. Everyone at Thanksgiving dinner noticed it.”

She averted her gaze. “It’s because that little girl hasn’t been found yet.”

“That and something else.” Cord was psychic. “Whenever you want to talk about it, I’m your man.”

“You think I don’t know that?”

“Just checking. Are you going to the game with all of us?”

“That depends on what’s happening at the foundation.” She walked over to his closet for her parka and put it on. “I’m heading there now. If more volunteers are needed to continue the search, I’ll be manning the phone.”

“I’ll save a seat for you in case you come late.”

“Thanks.”

“Do you know you work too hard? All the signs are there.”

She leaned over the desk to peck his cheek without saying anything before leaving the mansion through the south entrance. The plaza was only a block down the street. Except for a few frozen spots, she accomplished her short jaunt on mostly dry pavement.

A group of people surrounded the “Blessed are the Children” sculpture that stood in the courtyard. She hurried past them to enter the doors and immediately heard the recording, “Welcome to the Kathryn McFarland Foundation. Take the time to come in and learn how to help us fight crime so the next kidnapping won’t be your child.”

Walking past the lobby screens showing the dates and times of the latest kidnap victims, Kathryn headed for the front desk. She could see several of the staff huddled together.

“What’s going on?”

One of the new volunteer recruits named Melanie turned to her. “I was just going to phone you. We heard from a team of rescuers. They came across a little girl’s unclothed remains up Millcreek Canyon.”

A moan broke from Kathryn. It could be Whitney, but no one would know until the forensic expert got busy. Whatever the answer, someone’s dear little child had been murdered.

“I’m going to my condo and calling home. My parents need to know what we’ve learned.” They would want to be there for Whitney’s family and wait for the news with them. “I’ll be back.”

“But I thought this was your day off.”

“I don’t always take one.” Kathryn would rather be here. She was too restless. Work kept her from thinking. “See you in a while.”

She walked out to the lobby and headed for the bank of elevators servicing the plaza tower. She took the private lift used exclusively for the penthouse. Only Kathryn and her family knew the code.

As soon as she walked into the living room, she removed her parka and sat down on the couch to phone her parents. As she knew they would, once she’d given them the update, they called off their plans to attend the game. No one could enjoy it right now.

After she hung up, she set the HD/DVR to record it. She’d left the condo without eating breakfast and knew she needed nourishment, but the news about a little girl’s remains having been discovered hit her like a body slam. Her appetite was nonexistent.

Those poor parents.

Every time there was a watch-and-wait period, she thought about her own parents’ agony of thirty years ago and got sick inside. Kathryn had assumed that after running the foundation since her graduation, she wouldn’t react like this, but if anything her response to each new tragedy seemed to be affecting her more adversely than ever.

Her parents were so strong! Kathryn wasn’t anything like them and would never be able to measure up. That distressed her so terribly she couldn’t stand her own company. She freshened up, eager to get back to work. Working kept the demons at bay.

On her way through the living room for her purse, her cell rang, causing her stomach to clench. Kathryn didn’t think it possible the child’s body could be identified this quickly, but a comparison of dental records might have already been done.