A Christmas Family Miracle. Rebecca Winters

was over last evening and commented that a week ago she was sick with worry and feared things were going to get worse. But the opposite has happened. Your being here has turned everything around and injected the happiness that’s been missing.”

      “I know what you’re saying. My little boy is behaving like his old self, too.” That was Raoul’s doing.

      “Forgive me for wishing you lived here all the time?”

      Her comment was too much of a reminder of what she’d be giving up by refusing to accept Raoul’s fantastic offer. But she couldn’t live in his sphere.

      She clutched the nearest chair back. “There’s nothing to forgive.” Needing to get past this moment she said, “I’ll just run upstairs for my coat and purse. I want to buy some flowers for Jules, too. If we get to market early enough, we’ll have our pick of the ones we want.”

      Later in the day Jules remarked on the bouquets as Raoul had helped him in the house. Arlette insisted he go straight to his bed, where he could rest until the family congregated for dinner. While Raoul visited with his father, Crystal and Vivige stayed busy in the kitchen to help get everything ready, then Crystal picked up the children.

      Jules was all choked up when they gathered around him in the salon after they’d eaten. He gave Philippe back the little Père Noël ornament.

      “I knew he’d make you better, Grand-père.”

      Crystal’s heart melted on the spot. While they were all engrossed, she slipped out to the kitchen with Vivige to do the dishes. In time, Bernard was the one who finally broke things up because everyone needed to get to bed, including Jules.

      When Raoul was ready to drive the boys to his house, Philippe hurried over to Crystal to hug her good-night. This time she’d packed clothes for him to wear to school in the morning. “Guess what? Tomorrow we’re going to get our angel costumes to try on.”

      “How exciting!” She helped him on with his parka.

      “Do you know how much I’m going to miss you? This will be two nights in a row you’ve slept away from me.”

      Suddenly Philippe whispered in her ear. “Can you sleep with us?” That was the third time he’d tried to get her to be with him and Raoul.

      “I think I’d better stay here with your grand-père just barely home.”

      “Okay.”

      Over his shoulder she sensed a pair of dark piercing blue eyes staring at the two of them. Their intensity left her reeling. “Be good for Madame Fillou tomorrow.”

      “I’m always good.”

      She kissed his cheek and let him run to the man who’d become Philippe’s raison d’être.

      Soon the house had emptied. Crystal said good-night to her in-laws and went up to bed, but she was haunted by her son’s eagerness to get her and Raoul together. He was too young to have an agenda, so it meant that in his pure, simple way, he wanted the three of them to be together.

      That spelled agony for Crystal, who couldn’t find any peace. Maybe a long soak in the tub would help. Hoping to get her mind on something else if only for a little while, she started reading. But as absorbing as the mystery was, she kept remembering the way Raoul had stared at her earlier. She soon found herself reliving every moment with him and realized she’d get no reading done tonight and shut the book.

      After getting out of the water, she got ready for bed and climbed under the covers. She could only hope sleep wouldn’t elude her, as it had last night, but her mind had become a torture chamber of emotions she couldn’t shut off.

      When her phone rang, she assumed it was her mom and was glad for the distraction. But her senses whirled when she reached for her cell on the bedside table and saw Raoul’s name. Uh-oh. Maybe he was having a problem with Philippe. She couldn’t comprehend it, but no one knew all the things going on inside her son. She clicked on. “Raoul?”

      “Sorry to bother you, Crystal, but I’ve been called out on an emergency and have to go. The boys are asleep. Could you come over now?”

      “I’ll be there as soon as I can.” She shot out of bed and started getting dressed. “What’s happened?”

      “One of the guides took out a small party this morning for a day climb, but never returned. There’s been no word from him. We know where he was headed. I’m going out with a search party, but it’s anyone’s guess how long I’ll have to be gone.”

      Her hand almost crushed the cell phone she was holding. If anything happened to Raoul … “I’m heading out of the house now. See you in a minute.” She hung up and got in the car.

      On the short drive over she had to remind herself Raoul had been going out on emergencies for years. He was the most sought-after mountaineer in the Alps. But he wasn’t infallible. Eric’s horrible death during the downhill had taught her that a champion of champions was still susceptible to the dangers other mortals faced.

      By the time she’d pulled up in the drive, he appeared at the side of the car and opened the door for her. Dressed in all his gear for a night climb, her heart did its own version of a tremor.

      “Thanks for getting here so fast.” His voice sounded an octave lower than usual. “The guest bedroom is waiting for you.”

      She nodded. “Please be careful.”

      “I’m always careful, ma belle.”

      “Don’t joke, Raoul. Not about this.”

      “Are you telling me you’d miss me?”

      Her heart was in her throat. “You know very well how we’d all feel if you—” She couldn’t say it and said instead, “If you got into trouble. It could happen.”

      “I’m not talking about how everyone else would feel,” he growled. “I’m talking about you.”

      Heat swept into her cheeks. “Of course I’d miss you.”

      “That’s all I wanted to hear. Keep thinking about my offer and we’ll talk about it when I’m back.”

      She’d already thought about it. It was more out of the question than ever.

      “I don’t want to be in the program if Uncle Raoul isn’t going to be there.”

      The school Christmas performance was about to begin. Philippe had no idea the kind of agony Crystal was in right now dealing with two crises, both of them of earthshaking proportions. The thing she’d hoped would never happen, had happened.

      No one had seen or heard from Raoul since Thursday night. Though it didn’t alarm the family because dealing with emergencies was a part of his life, her son didn’t understand that. As for Crystal, she was in turmoil fearing that something awful had happened to him.

      It was now Saturday afternoon. She’d had a struggle getting Philippe in the car so she could drive him to school to get ready. “You have to carry on, honey. Your teacher has been so nice to let you go to class with Albert. If you were to let her down, that wouldn’t be fair to her.”

      There was no response. “Your grandfather is coming just to see you.” Still no reaction. “Do you think it would make your uncle happy to know you quit at the last minute?” Maybe that argument would help since nothing else had worked.

      She was looking at him through the rearview mirror. He put his head down. “No.”

      “Uncle Bernard’s going to be taking movies. That means your uncle Raoul will be able to watch them after he gets home.”

      “What if he died like Daddy?” Out of the mouth of a child. Philippe had just voiced the fear lurking in her heart ever since Raoul had phoned about the emergency. With two deaths already in the family, it wasn’t hard to make the leap to a place too awful to contemplate.

      “That’s