Marisa Carroll - Keeping Christmas

“Even if Andrew would be more than happy to have something happen to me,” Katie finished for her.

“Oh, Katie, can’t we change the subject?” Patrice asked helplessly. “I’m tellin’ you, you’re blowin’ the whole thing out of proportion.”

Her sister-in-law hated confrontations of any kind. Katie felt a momentary pang of guilt for forcing the issue. “Maybe I am,” Katie said, “but I can’t take any chances. Don’t you see? I’m all Kyle has in the world.”

“He has me. And Gregory,” Patrice said, hurt evident in her eyes and in the downturned corners of her mouth.

“I know you’d protect Kyle with your life if necessary.”

Katie forced herself to harden her heart against the glitter of tears in Patrice’s soft green eyes. Her sister-in-law had never felt the constrictions of living under Andrew Moran’s thumb, not the way Katie felt them. Perhaps it was the difference in their backgrounds? Patrice had been the middle child of a well-to-do, loving family. Her father was a strong man, who ruled his wife and children with a firm but benevolent hand. She had gone to an all-girl, Southern school and had married Gregory Moran right after graduating from college. She was content to be a stay-at-home, country-club sort of wife. Katie was not. She had never had anyone but herself to rely on. It made her look at people, at life, differently than Patrice.

“The truth is, Gregory is as much his father’s pawn as Michael was. And whether you want to admit it or not, you’re as much a prisoner in this gilded cage as I am.”

“That’s not so.” But Patrice looked disturbed, as though she, too, was realizing the shakiness of her argument. After all, she and Gregory had lived under Andrew’s roof for twelve years, their entire married life. “If you just didn’t always argue with him so much, tried to be a little more accommodating....”

Katie sighed. She was letting her fears get the best of her. And she was alienating Patrice, her only ally. “Maybe you’re right,” she admitted grudgingly.

“I know I’m right.” Patrice hurried on before Katie could qualify her statement. “Andrew isn’t a bad man. You can’t take Kyle away from him. He’s his only grand…son....” She looked down at her hands, folded protectively across her stomach, and deliberately unclasped her fingers.

Katie felt a quick stab of sympathy for her sister-in-law. Patrice was thirty-three, seven years Katie’s senior. She and Gregory had no children of their own. She never complained about her barrenness, but Katie knew how desperately Patrice wanted a baby.

“I won’t have him grow up under that old tyrant’s thumb,” Katie declared.

Patrice sighed. It was a familiar argument between them. One they’d never settle.

“I know you’ve been unhappy here since Mike died....”

“I’ve never lied to you about that.” Katie was determined to say what was on her mind, despite Patrice’s obvious reluctance to hear it. “I won’t have Kyle brought up to be a criminal.”

“Andrew’s not a criminal.” Patrice’s denial lacked conviction.

“He worked for organized crime for years. Michael told me so, just before he died. He wasn’t lying. He was too sick. He’s the one who told me to get Kyle away from here.”

“Why did he say such a thing?” Patrice looked genuinely confused.

Katie shrugged. She’d asked herself the same question over and over. “I think he was afraid of Andrew. He didn’t want Kyle to grow up in fear of Andrew, the way he did. I don’t want Kyle to grow up living on the fringes of organized crime.”

“Andrew’s connections with…those people…were severed years ago,” Patrice insisted. “Gregory told me.”

“Gregory manages Andrew’s business interests. What did you expect him to tell you?”

“Gregory wouldn’t lie to me.”

“I’m not so sure.” Katie narrowed her eyes. “You see the men who come here to talk to Andrew, the same as I do. They’re not your average run-of-the-mill businessmen.”

“Katie, please. Don’t make me choose sides like this.”

“I’m sorry,” she said. She didn’t want to argue anymore. Patrice couldn’t understand her fear because she didn’t have a child of her own. And she had never been to jail, like Katie had. Andrew Moran wants Kyle to grow up to be just like him. Cold, ruthless, determined to have his own way at any cost. The thought made Katie’s blood run cold.

“If you would only talk to Andrew. Or Greg,” Patrice tried again.

“You don’t need to cheerlead for Andrew. It won’t make any difference. I’m leaving,” she said abruptly, sitting beside Patrice. “I’m going. Today. Now.”

“Now!” Patrice’s mouth dropped open for a second, then shut with a snap. “Just like that?”

“Just like that,” Katie agreed with a sharp nod that sent short, silky tendrils of hair bouncing against her cheek. “I’ve got it all planned. But I need your help.”

“Katie…”

“I’m not going to ask you to tell Greg or Andrew any lies. I won’t even tell you where I’m going except that it’s somewhere there is winter and snow.”

Years ago she couldn’t wait to get away from the cold northern winters. Now she couldn’t wait to go back.

“How will you support yourself and Kyle?”

“Waiting tables, probably,” Katie said. “I’ve done it before. I was on my own from the day I turned sixteen. I can do it again.”

She’d been raised—if that’s what you could call her grandmother’s haphazard attempts to keep her in line after her parents split up—in Pittsburgh. She’d run away as soon as she could, quitting school, drifting south, ending up in Key West where she’d met Michael, a college senior who was there on spring break. He’d married her and brought her back to Miami. That had been the only time, she suspected, he’d ever gone against his father’s wishes. But Michael, weak, fun-loving Michael, had died and left her alone.

Her grandmother was dead, too. She had no idea where her parents were. There was nothing for her in Pennsylvania anymore. But she was going north. She was going to spend Christmas where it snowed.

“You’ll have to leave Kyle with strangers most of the time—or at day care. That’s no life for Michael’s child.” They both watched the little boy as he wiggled from his mother’s lap and toddled off toward the window.

“Neither is this.”

“Please, Katie. Don’t be rash.”

“I’ve given this a lot of thought. I’m not going to change my mind.” There was no use arguing with Patrice. Despite the advantages of education and family background she possessed, Patrice was as trapped in Andrew Moran’s web as Katie was. Patrice was trapped because she loved her husband. Only her husband was blind to the depths of that love because he was preoccupied with his business interests and winning his father’s approval. Michael had been the same way: in many respects a lonely little boy, still striving to win his autocratic father’s love. In Katie’s opinion, Andrew Moran had a lot to answer for.

“Katie…” Patrice persisted.

“I need money,” Katie said, taking her sister-in-law’s cold hands between her own warm, strong ones. Neither of them had jobs. The Moran men wouldn’t hear of it, but Patrice had access to more cash than Katie because of a trust fund left to her when her grandmother died.

Andrew had set up charge accounts for Katie at all the best stores. She’d never lacked for anything for Kyle or herself. And someday Kyle would be wealthy in his own right. But Michael had died in debt. Debts that Andrew had paid. And Katie herself had few assets. She didn’t even own a car or jewelry she could sell for cash.

“How much?” Patrice asked, still frowning, and Katie knew she’d won her over to her side.