Coming Home For Christmas. RaeAnne Thayne

to walk away from the life they were building.

      Yeah, he’d had better days.

      “I’m fine.” He gave his second lie of the evening. “I just wish I could be home with the kids. How are they doing? Did you have a good day?”

      “Yes. I took them to church,” she answered.

      Luke didn’t miss the hesitancy in her voice. He knew his sister well enough to sense she wasn’t telling him something. “What happened? What’s going on?”

      “Nothing you need to worry about. You have enough on your plate right now. We can talk when you get home.”

      “Megan. What happened.”

      She sighed. “I guess I need to tell you. Bridger got in a fight after Sunday school.”

      “No, he didn’t!”

      “Do you think I would lie about something like that?”

      Bridger was not that kind of kid. He was sweet and good-natured, always willing to focus on the good in other people. “I’m sure there was some kind of misunderstanding.”

      “Maybe. One of the other parents saw the whole thing and intervened before it could get too ugly. Apparently another kid said something mean to Bridger and he punched him.”

      “Who was it?”

      “Jedediah Sparks. That kid is a pistol. The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree, you know?”

      He did know. Jed’s father, Billy, and his mother, Arlene, were some of Luke’s most vocal critics, making sly comments about wife killers and criminals going free whenever they happened to inhabit the same space. The boy probably heard all kinds of nasty gossip from his parents.

      “Did Bridger say why he lost his temper?”

      “He’s not talking. He only said it was a difference of opinion and he wanted to make the other kid shut up. He feels awful.”

      “He should feel awful.”

      “He’s upset about punching someone in church and thinks God is going to be mad at him. More than that, he’s afraid you’re going to be mad at him. Or at least disappointed. He said you always told him the most important lesson a man has to learn is how to control his temper.”

      Megan didn’t say more, but Luke knew what she was thinking. They had both shared the same son of a bitch for a father. Paul Hamilton had never given a single damn about controlling his temper. He had been harsh, demanding, cruel. Both Luke and his sister had barely survived their childhood.

      “Is he already in bed? I’d like to talk to him.”

      “He is. They were pretty tired after helping me shovel snow earlier at the inn.”

      “Are you okay staying overnight with them? I’m sorry to do that to you. I can find someone else if you have things to do. I’m hoping we can get an early start, but I don’t know how long this weather will hold out.”

      “We will be great. Tomorrow is a slow day for me. I’m just working on photos and my schedule is totally flexible. I can get the kids off to school and work after that.”

      “Thank you. I owe you.” Again, the words seemed wholly inadequate. “I’ll keep you posted about the weather here.”

      “Is that all you have to say? You don’t want to tell me your impressions about Elizabeth?”

      He shifted, telling himself the sudden warmth seeping through him came from the gas fireplace in the lobby. “Nothing to tell. She’s a stranger now.”

      “You must have had a million questions. What kind of explanation did she give? Why did she run off? Why did she change her name? Where has she been all these years while you have been raising your children, living under a cloud of suspicion?”

      He gazed into the dancing flames, thinking of the woman probably asleep in the room upstairs. “I don’t know any more than I did this morning. She’s still a mystery. I told her I didn’t want to know anything. I don’t care. She can tell her story to the district attorney tomorrow.”

      Okay, that had been a stupid, stubborn thing to say, his knee-jerk reaction. He was afraid that the more he knew, the angrier he would become.

       The most important lesson a man has to learn is how to control his temper.

      It was the advice he’d given his son and also the advice he most needed to follow himself. He found it tough enough to keep his temper contained around Elizabeth. He feared the task would become impossible once he knew the full story about her reasons for leaving him.

      “Seriously?” Megan pressed. “You don’t know anything?”

      He knew Elizabeth was still lovely, though very different from the woman he had married. He knew he was still attracted to her. He knew he missed the wife he had loved with a deep, yearning ache.

      “Not much. She doesn’t look the same. You wouldn’t know her if you bumped into her on the street, but I do know she’s been back to Haven Point at least a few times over the years. I recognized her and realized I’ve...seen her around town before.”

      Megan’s outrage seemed to pop and sizzle over the phone line. “What? And she never stopped to see the kids? Every time I think I can’t despise the woman more, I discover I’m wrong.”

      For one crazy moment, Luke was almost tempted to defend Elizabeth. She seemed so fragile, so vulnerable, the sort of wounded creature he had always tried to nurture back to health.

      What the hell was wrong with him?

      She had left him. Worse, she had left the kids. That was unforgivable, as far as he was concerned.

      “How’s the wedding planning?” he asked, a blatant ploy to distract her.

      To his relief, the diversion worked. “It’s good. But next time I decide to plan a winter wedding, remind me not to.”

      “I hope you don’t plan another wedding ever,” he replied.

      “So do I.”

      “What do you hear from Elliot?”

      Megan sighed. “Nothing. I know it’s the job and one of the things I’m going to have to learn to live with, but I hate having him out of contact. I need him here, you know?”

      He didn’t like thinking about Megan and Elliot together, especially considering recent history between them. While it would take a long time to repair the damage of the past seven years when the FBI agent had suspected him of harming his wife, Luke still respected him. Elliot had always focused on doing the right thing. He had been the one to locate Elizabeth, through tireless investigation that he’d undertaken for Megan’s sake, not for Luke’s.

      The man came close to being good enough for Megan, though nobody could ever really hit that bar.

      “Oh, that’s Cyrus. I need to take him out.”

      He pictured her funny-looking little dog and almost smiled. “Okay. I’ll let you go. Thanks again for taking care of the kids. I can’t tell you exactly what time I’ll be back but I’ll be in touch.”

      “Be careful,” she said. Luke had a feeling she wasn’t just talking about the roads.

      “Yeah. Thanks. Give them both a hug for me in the morning and tell Bridger to stay away from Jedediah.”

      “I will. Maybe I can get him to tell me a few more details about what set him off.”

      After he said goodbye to his sister and ended the call, Luke sat for a long moment in the lobby. He had a feeling the desk clerk wouldn’t be happy if he just stretched out in this comfy chair and went to sleep down here, but he really didn’t want to go back to that hotel room to face Elizabeth yet.

      Outside, the storm was either on