One Charmed Christmas Read online

  “How long ago did she die?” asked Sierra.

  “Six years,” Athena said, and looked almost ready to cry. “I still miss her so much. She was my best friend.”

  Catherine couldn’t help feeling sorry for her. “Life’s not the same after you lose someone you love,” she said.

  Her life hadn’t been. She’d felt so lost without Bill. Thank God she had such good friends.

  “But I do believe it makes the people left in your life all the more precious,” she continued, hoping to put everyone back in a happy frame of mind.

  Rudy smiled at his daughter. “Yes, it does,” he said, and she smiled back. It was plain to see how much they loved each other.

  “I always say, you should appreciate both what you had and what you still have,” said Denise. “My husband, Carlisle, was a good man and we had a happy life together, but after a year and a half of mourning I decided enough was enough. Those of us who are still here can’t spend the rest of our lives living in the past. That’s the worst kind of ingratitude, if you ask me. Life’s for living and if we’re still here we should be living it to the fullest.”

  “Well,” Catherine said, “no one can accuse you of not doing that.”

  “I should hope not,” said Denise. “I’m going to milk every bit of joy I can out of every minute of every day.” She pointed a finger at Catherine. “And so are you.”

  Catherine could feel her cheeks warming. Was everyone at the table wondering what kind of pathetic loser she was?

  “I am,” she said. “I’m here with you, aren’t I?”

  Denise smiled. “Yes, you are. And so you should be. Bill wouldn’t want you to stop living your life. You have to make the most of what you have now.”

  “Find something good in every day, right?” put in Sophie, looking at her sister.

  This was a good place to end such a serious conversation with people they’d just met. “Speaking of good, doesn’t this Bûche de Noël look delicious?” Catherine said as their waiter set one down in front of her.

  Athena wasn’t ready to switch topics. She ignored Catherine’s comment, frowned at Denise and said, “But you can’t just go skipping off and forgetting the people you’ve loved. I certainly can’t forget my mother.”

  “I didn’t say you should.” Denise’s tone of voice bordered on scolding. “But do you honestly think those who have crossed over before us are insulted if we enjoy our lives? They’re on to other things themselves, not placing bets with each other to see whose family can stay miserable the longest. Life goes on and we have to, as well.”

  Athena looked frankly disapproving. “That seems so...disloyal.”

  In a way it did, and Catherine felt suddenly guilty for being on a cruise, enjoying herself. Enjoying visiting with a handsome man.

  “All right, let me ask you this,” Denise said, settling in for a good debate. “Did your mother love you?”

  Athena’s brows lowered and her mouth dipped down at the corners. “Of course she did.”

  “And she loved your father?”

  “Absolutely. And he loved her.”

  “Goes without saying,” Rudy murmured.

  “Did it make her happy when your life wasn’t going well?”

  “Of course not,” Athena replied in disgust.

  “Did she enjoy making your father miserable?”

  Athena looked ready to beat Denise with a dinner plate. “No!”

  “Then why would she want to see either of you miserable now?” Athena didn’t have anything to say to that and Denise continued. “No one wants that for the people they love. I know my husband didn’t want that for me, and I sure don’t want that for my daughter. I’ve already told her when I’m gone I expect her to have a wake—invite all my friends and family to tell funny stories about me and drink and laugh. And I expect my daughter to take some of the money I plan to leave her and buy a fancy car and take a road trip with one of her girlfriends. I’ll be smiling down on her the whole time, bugging the angels to sweep aside the rain clouds and give her sunny skies the whole way.”

  “Well said,” Rudy approved. He raised his wineglass. “Here’s to sunny skies ahead for all of us.”

  “I’ll drink to that,” Catherine said, and raised her glass, as well.

  “Me, too,” said Denise.

  “And me,” said Sophie, and her sister smiled politely and lifted her glass, as well.

  Athena struck Catherine as the kind of woman who didn’t like to lose an argument. She wasn’t smiling when she raised her glass and she said nothing.

  In the hopes of ensuring she and Denise didn’t go another round, Catherine said, “I must confess, I am looking forward to this cruise.”

  “Good,” said Denise. “Bill would have been happy to see you fitting in something nice before...”

  Catherine cleared her throat loudly and gave her friend a pointed look. “Before anything could come up to stop you,” Denise amended.

  “You have to do something nice for yourself once in a while,” Sophie added, looking at her sister. “Even if other people let you down.”

  Sierra bit her lower lip and nodded. She pushed away her dessert plate, leaving her cake untouched. Who had let her down? What was her story?

  “Yes, you should,” agreed Denise. “A cruise is one of the nicest things you can do.”

  “You sure meet great people,” Sophie said, looking at Rudy. “And you never know, I’ve heard of people finding their soul mates on a cruise.”

  “I’ve heard of people getting taken in by con artists,” put in Athena, which made Sophie blink in surprise. “You never know about strangers.”

  “Well, I like to think the best of people,” Sophie said.

  “A good philosophy,” Rudy agreed, and she beamed at him.

  Denise pointed out the dining room window. “Look, everyone. We’re moving.”

  Sure enough, the lights of the city were slipping by. They were on their way.

  “Oh, my,” Sophie said weakly.

  * * *

  It had been a big, delicious dinner. Too much of a big, delicious dinner, and Sophie was feeling uncomfortably full. Now, with the boat moving, she was suddenly feeling more than full. She was beginning to feel queasy.

  “I think I’m getting seasick,” she announced.

  “You can’t get seasick,” her sister assured her. “There are no waves on a river.”

  “I don’t know,” Sophie said uncertainly. She was sure she was getting sick.

  “You’re imagining things,” Sierra told her.

  Sophie shook her head. “I don’t think so.”

  “You were fine until Denise said we’re moving,” Sierra whispered. “It’s all in your head.”

  Not all of it. Some of it was in her stomach.

  “Rudy, what’s the best thing for seasickness? Is it too late to take Dramamine?” Sophie asked him.

  “It’s best to take it ahead of time,” he said. “Maybe all you need is some fresh air.”

  The good doctor didn’t offer to accompany her to the upper deck for some of that restorative fresh air. Maybe it was just as well. Barfing was something a woman should do without witnesses. And yes, she was sure she was going to be sick.

  “You do look a little green,” Athena said. “You might want to go lie down.”

  She wanted to go, all right. Time to hang over the railing. She excused herself and bolted out of the room.

  * * *

  Trevor had seen the two women enter the dining room and had been following them in, determined to get a seat at the same table, when Harriet and the giggler found him.

  “We saved you a seat,” Harriet said, taking him by the arm and hauling him toward two tables, each filled with students.

  “Actually, I was going to...” he began.

  “We had a be
t,” Harriet interrupted him. “Hugh said you’d ditch us as soon as you could. I told him you were here to be with your brother and you weren’t that big of a jerk.”

  Yeah, he was.

  “Harriet, you guys are my brother’s responsibility, not mine.”

  Her eyes got big. “Don’t you want to spend time with your brother?”

  “I’ll have plenty of time to spend with my brother.”

  “Hugh was right,” the giggler said in disgust.

  “I’m not part of your tour, guys,” Trevor explained.

  “You don’t want to sit with us at all?”

  Great, now Harriet looked about ready to cry. Well, shit.

  “Sure, I do,” Trevor said. “But I want to mingle a little, too.” Except the sisters had found a table for six and taken the last two seats. Too late to mingle. “But I’ll sit with you guys tonight,” he said to Harriet. “I don’t want you to lose your bet with Hugh.”

  Harriet smiled. She wasn’t a bad kid, really. Just annoying. Even so, he vowed to make this the last night he sat with the German 201 class.

  “What did you wager, by the way?” he asked as the girls towed him toward the table where his brother was holding a conversation with the class in German.

  Harriet’s face turned red. “One of your chocolate bars. I was going to pay you,” she hurried to add.

  “That’s good to know.”

  “Um, are you going to be giving away some more of them?”

  “I’ll give you a bar at breakfast,” he promised.

  “Awesome,” she breathed. Then, to the giggler, “I told you he was nice.”

  Most of the kids were nineteen and twenty and were excited at the prospect of getting to drink legally. Many of them already had beer and a couple of the guys were well on their way toward fueling their high spirits, laughing loudly and drawing irritated looks from the senior citizens seated at a nearby table.

  “Ruhe, bitte,” Kurt said to them as Trevor settled himself on a chair between Harriet and the giggler.

  Yeah, like that would shut them up. He felt a little like he used to feel at big extended family Thanksgiving meals when he and Kurt were relegated to the kids’ table. No room at the grown-up table. You kids are all sitting here. And don’t throw olives at each other.

  Hugh was seated on the other side of the giggler and Harriet leaned across her and said, “I told you he’d come. You owe me a refrigerator magnet.”

  Hugh made a face and took a drink of his beer.

  “Make a bet with her tomorrow night,” Trevor said. “I guarantee you’ll win.” That made Harriet scowl and the giggler giggle.

  Trevor looked longingly at the other tables where everyone was enjoying adult conversation. At his table one of the boys was demonstrating how to make a spoon stick to his nose. Another was breaking the sound barrier with his belch.

  It was a long dinner.

  “Bûche de Noël,” Harriet was saying when dessert arrived. “Do you know what that translates into?”

  Trevor saw the elusive blonde at the other table get up and suddenly leave. To heck with Bûche de Noël.

  “I bet Hugh doesn’t know,” he said, getting up. “Excuse me.”

  “Where are you going?” Harriet called after him.

  Wherever that woman is going. He gave Harriet and company a farewell wave and hurried out of the dining room. It was a small ship. He’d find her.

  5

  The top of the ship had a walking track and miniature golf course, lounge chairs and the requisite shuffleboard, all in demand in nice weather. But on this nippy night no one was up there watching the city of Amsterdam slip away into the darkness except Sophie, and her pleasure in that was tainted, both by the cold and her upset stomach. She could very well freeze to death before she even managed to hurl. And hurl she was going to, she just knew it.

  She leaned on the railing and groaned. Maybe she shouldn’t have come on this cruise, after all. She hated the idea of being sick the whole time. She hated throwing up. It was such a nasty experience.

  Dramamine tomorrow, she vowed. She’d take one first thing in the morning. If she survived until morning.

  “You’re not going to jump, are you?”

  She turned at the sound of the male voice behind her and saw a tall, beautiful specimen of manhood walking up to her. He wore jeans and a trendy-looking sport jacket with a maroon-colored sweater underneath it. He looked like he should be getting ready to pose for the cover of GQ.

  In her current state of misery all she could think was, Who cares who he is?

  She waved him away with a hand. “I’m seasick.”

  He didn’t go away. Instead, he came and stood next to her. “Wow, you must get motion sickness just watching car chase scenes in movies.”

  Actually, she had once. She held her head in her hands and shut her eyes so she couldn’t see the water swooshing alongside the boat. “I think I ate too much.”

  “Easy to do. All that great food. Lucky for you, I happen to have the cure for seasickness with me.”

  She turned and looked at him hopefully. “Dramamine?”

  “Something better.” He took a small chocolate bar from his jacket pocket and tore off the outer wrapping.

  “Chocolate?” At a time like this?

  “Chocolate with candied ginger. Ginger is great for an upset stomach. And you know how good dark chocolate is for you. All those flavanols and polyphenols.” He unfolded the white inside paper around the bar, then held it out to her. “Try a bite. It will help.” When she hesitated, he added, “I promise.”

  She did love chocolate. And she knew ginger was good for an upset stomach. When she was a little girl her mom used to make her ginger tea whenever her tummy was upset.

  She took it, broke off a piece and put it in her mouth. The chocolate was smooth and sophisticated and the ginger added a sharp bite and brought back memories of herself stretched out on the living room sofa with a blanket and a pillow stuffed into one of her mother’s fancy embroidered pillowcases, her mom leaning over her with a pretty china mug.

  “That is good,” she said to the man, and took another bite. To make sure she got enough ginger in her stomach. “Do you always carry chocolate bars with you?”

  “You never know when someone may be having a chocolate emergency,” he said. He leaned against the railing and smiled at her. He had the kind of smile that could drop a woman’s panties at ten paces.

  She took another bite. “This is really good.”

  “Thanks. I’m pretty proud of that flavor.”

  She studied him. “Wait a minute. Is this... Are you a chocolatier?”

  “As a matter of fact, I am. My name’s Trevor March and I own a chocolate company.”

  “That is seriously impressive,” she said, and took another bite.

  She offered the last third to him and he shook his head. “You need it more than I do. Is it working?”

  She didn’t feel so sick. “It appears so.” Chocolate wasn’t a cure for freezing to death, though. She should go below where it was warm.

  She stayed put and tried not to shiver.

  “Good,” he said.

  “What’s the name of your chocolate company?” she asked.

  “Cupid’s Chocolates.”

  “Cupid’s Chocolates? Seriously? I just opened an account with your company. Sophie’s Helping Hand. We shop so you won’t drop.”

  She gave up on the not-shivering thing. She really needed to get back inside before she caught pneumonia, but she hated to end her conversation with Trevor March. It wasn’t every day a woman met a great-looking guy who owned a chocolate company. If only he was a doctor.

  “I think I saw an order come through from you a couple of weeks ago,” he said as he took off his jacket.

  She nodded. “For a nonprofit fun
draiser dinner dance. We placed your little truffle gift bags at each plate as party favors.”

  “So you’re Sophie of the Helping Hand, then?” He draped his coat over her.

  “Thanks. Yes, I’m Sophie Miles.” Now she was a little warmer but he was going to freeze. “We should get back down below before you catch pneumonia.”

  “I never get sick. I get plenty of vitamin C.”

  “Oh, that is good for you. I take one every day.”

  “I mean the other vitamin C.”

  There was another she didn’t know about?

  “Chocolate,” he said. “Chocolate cures everything.”

  She snickered. “What a bunch of baloney.”

  “You feel better, right?”

  She did. “That’s probably because of the ginger.” Or pheromones.

  “Let me buy you a drink to warm you up, a brandy or something,” he offered.

  “Oh, I have people waiting for me.” Her sister would be. And if she didn’t get to the lounge and stake a claim on Dr. Rudy one of the older women would for sure. Trevor March was a treat, but he wasn’t a doctor.

  “I’ll go down with you,” he said. “Who all are you here with?”

  “My sister. And some other friends.”

  He nodded as they walked toward the stairway. “Old friends?”

  “New ones.”

  “So you and your sister are doing some kind of girl trip?”

  “Her husband was supposed to come. But at the last minute he couldn’t so she called me. I’d never done a cruise before and she convinced me it would be fun. How about you?”

  “My brother suckered me into this. He got the bright idea that if he brought his German class he could get a discount on the cruise. Not sure the discount was worth it.”

  “I saw that group,” Sophie told him. “It looks like they’re having fun.”

  “They are, and they’re nice enough kids. But I’m not into babysitting.”

  “Not into kids?” she half teased. A lot of men didn’t like children. She had no intention of getting together with someone like that.