“No!”Her voice rose, aghast.“They’re kids.Kids do dumb things.And sometimes the smartest kids do the most ridiculous things.”
“But it’s Jillian leading Olivia astray, isn’t it?”he asked.
Cat reluctantly nodded.“She is definitely the ringleader.”
“But why?She has everything in the world—”
“But her mom,” Cat interrupted as kindly as she could.“She wants her mom here.She wants to have Christmas with her family, like you usually do.”
“Her mom and I have been divorced for years.”
“Yet you’ve still celebrated Christmas together every year, and being a child, she probably thought you always would.”
He said nothing, just looked away, toward the window, brow furrowed.
Cat felt his displeasure all the way through her but had to ask what she’d been wondering ever since she arrived.“Did anyone prepare the girls for how different this Christmas would be?Did they have time to process that their mother wouldn’t be here?”
“Probably not,” he admitted.“Lyndsey only sprang it on me a few days before their winter break, and I panicked.I decided we needed to do Christmas somewhere else and thought of the cottages here.One was open and I booked it, and now here we are.”
“So, the girls weren’t excited about Christmas at Langley Park?”
“Iwasn’t excited about Christmas at Langley Park, but trust me, it would have been ten times worse if we’d stayed in London.Lyndsey was always the Christmas one, full of holiday cheer.Everything we did in December was because of her, and maybe it makes me a terrible father, but I’m having a hard time keeping my girls safe, never mind giving them a Christmas to remember.”
“Did your wife—”
“Ex-wife.”
“Ex-wife give you a reason for changing the plans at the last minute?”She saw his expression darken and hurriedly added, “I know it’s none of my business but I’m trying to figure out if Jillian knows what’s going on and if that’s maybe part of what’s upsetting her so much.”
“Lyndsey has been seeing someone this year, and it’s apparently now serious.Roger invited her to St.Barts to meet his children next week.”
“At Christmas.”
He gave her a look that made her quail a bit, but she wasn’t going to back away now, not when Cat was trying so hard to understand.“Does Jillian know that her mom is spending the holidays with someone else’s kids?”
“They’re not kids.Roger’schildrenare adults.They’re in their late twenties and thirties.”
“You are being obtuse,Dr.Harmon,” she said, emphasizing the doctor part.“Age isn’t the issue.It’s the fact that she’s chosen to spend the holidays with someone else’s family instead of her own.”Cat gave a tight smile and left the room because she didn’t like conflict.
It wasn’t enjoyable for her and today had been nothing but conflict since she woke up.
At the front door, she took her coat off the peg and pulled it on before stepping outside to clear her head and hopefully calm her temper.She didn’t like how she was feeling at the moment, didn’t like feeling angry because it brought up the past and the years she had been angry.Angry that her parents had died.Angry that she had to live with her grandmother.Angry that she changed schools and cities, leaving everything she knew best.
Even though her grandmother had tried to make the adjustment as easy as possible for Cat, she couldn’t escape the grief.Grief, she discovered, wasn’t quick or simple, either.
After her parents died, Cat had felt abandoned.Lost.She wanted to express her fury but was afraid her fury would alienate her grandmother and so, except for small rebellions and the odd temper tantrum, she kept her rage and pain and fear bottled up inside, unless Grandmother also thought she was too much and sent her away.And then who would have her?Where would she be then?
Rhys’s girls hadn’t lost their mom and dad forever, but clearly the divorce had been hard on them, and now, for the first time, their mother wasn’t going to be with them during the holidays.Worse, it sounded as if, also for the first time, their mother had found someone who might be permanent, someone who could potentially replace them in her affection.Of course, good mothers didn’t forget their kids, or replace them with new families, but Jillian and Olivia didn’t know that.They needed reassurance, a lot more reassurance than they so far had been given.
The sound of footsteps crunching gravel made her glance over her shoulder.Rhys, wearing his black wool coat, was walking in her direction.She stopped and waited since it was clear he was pursuing her.She managed a smile as he approached.“I’m not running away.”
“You do know the old dairy is in the opposite direction.”
She shook her head, but she was amused.
He was clever; she’d given him that.“I thought a little fresh air and blue sky would help put everything in perspective.”
“Has it?”
