The Christmas Gift. Darlene Gardner

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СКАЧАТЬ steeled herself against her mother’s protests. As soon as she was through with dinner, Krista intended to book her return flight. She wouldn’t be in Pennsylvania at all if her mother hadn’t manipulated her. “I already paid for the trip, Mom. The reservation’s nonrefundable.”

      Krista’s mother stuck out her lower lip. “What if I were still in the hospital?”

      “You’re not,” Krista’s father interjected. “Leave the girl alone, Ellie. If Krista has to go back, she has to go back.”

      Krista reached for her glass of water to wash down the tight feeling in her throat. Next to her, she was aware of Alex watching her silently.

      So much had changed since Krista had left Pennsylvania, yet one thing remained constant—her mother didn’t want her to leave, but her father couldn’t wait to shove her out the door.

      Krista didn’t blame him, especially because she was the one who’d put him in the wheelchair.

      CHAPTER TWO

      KRISTA WOKE TO THE SOUND of silver bells.

      As a child snuggled under her warm blankets, Krista used to listen for the bells until she fell asleep. They’d dangled from the wreaths that hung from her bedroom window, tinkling together with every gust of wind.

      Krista’s room had been her refuge while she was growing up. She’d never tired of the glow-in-the-dark yellow stars her father had put up on the ceiling, insisting that one day she’d travel to the moon. In her teens, she’d plastered the walls with posters of more realistic places to visit—Venice, Paris, Rome, London.

      Now that bedroom was a home office, and Krista was sleeping on the sofa bed in the basement recreation room. So why had she still heard the bells?

      They jingled again. Pushing the cloud of hair from her face, Krista sat up in bed. Something sleek and white leaped onto the chair opposite the sofa bed and stared at Krista from glistening green eyes. It was a cat with bells on its red collar. Since when did her family have a pet?

      “Where did you come from?” Krista asked aloud.

      With sinewy grace, the cat jumped down from the chair and disappeared, the bells tingling together in its wake. Krista was about to lie back down when she caught sight of the bedside alarm clock.

      Nine o’clock!

      She didn’t even sleep that late in Prague, where it was already partway through the afternoon. Krista should have asked what time to be ready to leave for the Christmas shop and set an alarm.

      She scrambled out of the sofa bed and hurried to her open suitcase. Since it was carry-on size, her wardrobe choices were limited. She yanked out dark slacks and a plain red sweater that was as Christmassy as her wardrobe got.

      Ten minutes later, after using the bathroom in the basement that was adjacent to her sister’s empty bedroom, Krista hurried up the stairs. The smell of brewing coffee assailed her before she reached the kitchen.

      A young woman sat at the kitchen table, her hands wrapped around a coffee mug, her long blond hair parted in the middle and tucked behind her ears. A newspaper was spread in front of her but she didn’t appear to be reading it.

      If they’d been anywhere but inside the house, Krista might not recognize the woman as her sister, Rayna. The twenty-one-year-old’s face was thinner and her hair much lighter than when Krista had last seen her.

      Feeling her mouth curving into a smile, Krista started toward her sister. “Rayna! You’re so grown up!”

      Rayna lifted her large dark eyes from her coffee mug. Her lips were unsmiling, her body language distant. “I heard you were home.”

      Krista stopped midstride, her hands dropping to her sides. She blinked sudden moisture from her eyes, annoyed with herself. Only a fool would expect a warm welcome after so many years apart. “I got here last night but crashed early because of the time difference.”

      Rayna said nothing.

      Krista cleared her throat. “I came because Mom called me and made it seem like she was really sick.”

      “A few days ago, she was really sick. Her skin was gray and she was so run-down she could barely stand.” Rayna’s eyes didn’t waver from Krista’s face. “Then she started vomiting blood. Nobody knew why when we got her to the emergency room.”

      Krista hugged herself, disturbed by the frightening scenario her sister was describing. “The doctors must have figured it out pretty quickly.”

      “Not until the endoscopy. Even after they put her on medicine, she was too weak to get out of bed. They kept her in the hospital for three days.”

      Some of the annoyance Krista had felt at her mother the day before faded. “I didn’t know any of that.”

      “Yeah, well, it’s not like you live around here,” Rayna said.

      Even though the statement was true, it felt like a criticism.

      Rayna’s eyes dipped to the newspaper. It was open to the sports page, the section Krista usually skipped. Was Rayna into sports? She hadn’t been as a child. She didn’t have a cat, either, although Krista’s guess was that the one downstairs was hers.

      “Where is Mom?” Krista asked.

      Rayna didn’t look up. “She and Grandma left early for the nursery.”

      Krista had missed her grandmother, just like she thought. She hadn’t considered her mother would be working at the shop today, too.

      “Shouldn’t Mom be resting?” Krista asked.

      “Sure should,” Rayna mumbled, eyes still on the page.

      The topic was too important to let her sister’s lack of response dissuade her. “Then why isn’t she?” Krista persisted.

      “Mom promised she’d take it easy,” Rayna said.

      “Will she?” Krista asked. “Probably not.”

      “Maybe I can make sure she doesn’t overdo it,” Krista said, thinking aloud.

      Rayna’s eyes finally flickered upward. “Yeah. You do that.”

      Krista tried not to take offense. She couldn’t expect her sister to instantly trust her. “Is Dad still here? Maybe I can hitch a ride with him.”

      “Dad doesn’t drive, Krista,” Rayna said dryly.

      Krista should have expected that. Her parents had purchased a handicap-accessible van before Krista moved to Europe but it hadn’t been equipped with hand brakes. Once again Krista wished she’d thought to reserve a rental car. “How will he get to work?”

      “The Christmas Shoppe isn’t his thing.” Rayna waved an arm in a dismissive gesture. She wore a sterling silver bracelet with a heart-shaped charm dangling from it. Inside the charm was the name Trey. Was he Rayna’s boyfriend?

      “But the nursery’s still open, СКАЧАТЬ