GABRIEL'S GIFT: A Lost Hearts Christmas Story (5 page)

"I do." Kate whipped out her phone and sent a text. "There. Now everyone knows they should call her Arabella."

Kate never wasted time. She always got things done.

Kate continued, "Mrs. Kaya flew to Dallas. About the time she was landing, Mac found Susan's photo in missing persons and traced Mrs. Kaya. He had to pull some strings, but of course, being Mac…"

With a sense of growing relief, Gabriel said, "He succeeded."

"Right now, she's landing in San Antonio with Hope and Zack and their kids, and Devlin and Meadow and their kids."

Something tense inside him relaxed. "All we have to do is keep Arabella around until she gets here."

A huge crash sounded upstairs.

"The twins probably just broke both her legs. That'll keep her here." Kate stepped to the bottom of the stairs and shouted, "Don't make me come up there!"

A chorus of voices. "No, ma'am!"

Loud and clear, she said, "If you're not unpacked when your cousins get here, you can't help decorate the tree!"

No answer.

"I can't hear you," she yelled.

"Yes, ma'am!"

She turned to face Gabriel, all sweet-faced and graceful, and in his toughest Texas drawl, he said, "You look like such a pleasant li'l thing."

Kate batted her eyes at him. "I am. I'm also a television reporter who covers national politics and, even worse, Texas politics. Don't kid yourself, Gabriel. I eat nails for breakfast."

Gabriel's extended family was packed with successful people, all determined to get their own ways. It caused some almighty loud battles occasionally, but when the dust settled, everyone was still friends, and the children were all well-loved, bright and happy.

"I have to start dinner." Kate headed into the kitchen.

He followed. "I made chili."

"Oh, no!" She walked more quickly. She stepped into the kitchen, stopped and looked around in amazement. "Who cleaned up for you?"

She didn't even for one moment imagine he had cleaned up after himself. "I could have done it."

She ignored that. "Must have been Susan. Arabella. She's a good kid."

He gave up. He wasn't going to win this one. "She is."

The front door swung open. The cold wind rushed in. The bells on the tree chimed. A babble of voices and a clatter of footsteps brought another rush of family into the house.

Gabriel headed out into the living room and collided with Roberto and Brandi and their children. Brandi and the kids screamed with excitement and he got hugs and kisses. Roberto embraced him and kissed his cheeks, too — Roberto was an Italian count and Gabriel's half-brother — then faced the stairs where Kate's children were launching themselves at him.
"Bella bambini!"
He kissed and hugged, then turned to Susan who lingered on the last step. He took her chin and looked into her face. "I don't remember you, and I always remember a beautiful woman. You must be this friend of Gabriel's I have heard so much about."

She nodded, her jaw dropped, her gaze fixed on Roberto, as she fell in love for the very first time. Without even trying, Roberto had that effect on women from newborns to 100 years old. Gabriel knew it was okay; Roberto was a good, safe crush for an adolescent.

They barely got the luggage into the living room when Mac and Nessa and their kids arrived. More cold wind. More bells. More greetings. More laughter. More open affection.

They got the luggage in and the big double doors shut, and as Nessa hugged Gabriel, she said in a low tone, "Mac got me a full-length down coat for Christmas, for Philadelphia when we visit, and I convinced him it would be okay if we gave it to Susan so she'd have a present to unwrap. She needs it more than me."

Gabriel said, "I heard from a good source" — from Mac — "that the coat was a surprise."

"It was supposed to be," she conceded. "He's not very good at keeping secrets."

Or Nessa was good at prying them out of him.

She continued, "Also, he's got an opening at the bank for a bookkeeper that will be a substantial raise over what Mrs. Kaya makes."

"She wants to go to college."

"That's good. Mac loves ambitious people. We'll help her with that."

"We can all give her a hand financially." Gabriel didn't ask how Mac had found out where Mrs. Kaya worked or how much she made. Mac was a ruthless, powerful son-of-a-bitch, a man so arrogantly confident he had almost lost Nessa before he won her. Only her love and the love of her family — and the good will of the city of New Orleans — had saved him. Gabriel was grateful to Nessa; if not for her, Mac would be a damned uncomfortable brother to be around.

Gabriel kept an eye on Arabella — he couldn't think of her as Susan quite yet — and every time she tried to edge away, the family would pull her back in. The kid didn't realize what she was up against with the whole platoon of his family fighting to keep her with them.

Hope's daughter and her husband and their two-month-old daughter arrived from California.

Cooing ensued.

Pepper and Dan and their kids arrived on another rush of cold wind, and while Pepper was embracing Gabriel, she murmured, "The rest of the family just pulled up and Mrs. Kaya is getting out of the car."

The adults and the older children were smiling, vibrating with anticipation.

The younger children picked up the excited atmosphere, and they bounced around the huge room as if they wore pogo sticks on their feet.

Gabriel called, "Arabella! Come and see what we got you!"

Surprised, she looked around. When she saw everyone watching, she frowned, wary and worried.

He went to the double front doors and flung them wide.

The cold wind blew in, rattling the branches on the Christmas tree, setting the silver bells to chiming.

For a moment, all he could see was a great mass of beaming faces. Then the crowd parted, and a woman, a thirty-year-old version of Arabella, stepped forward. This was Mrs. Kaya. This was Arabella's mother.

She saw Arabella.

Arabella saw her.

They looked at each other. Just looked at each other.

No one moved. No one breathed.

Then Arabella burst into tears and ran to her mother.

Mrs. Kaya met her halfway.

Mother and daughter hugged, kissed. Bits of sentences burbled forth. Words overlapped words. "Love you." "I'm sorry." "Scared me to death." "I was so scared." "We were doing okay, weren't we?" "Never ever again." "My fault. I should never have said…" "So sorry. I should never have said…" "Love you." "Always." "Together." Both of them were crying. Mrs. Kaya dug in her coat and pulled out a wad of tissue — did mothers automatically come equipped with tissues? — and mother and daughter wiped their eyes and blew their noses.

Then they embraced again, and rocked back and forth in silent joy.

Gabriel looked around, blinking at the mist that may have gathered in his eyes.

His family watched the affectionate reunion, then turned to each other and hugged each other, mothers and daughters, fathers and sons, husbands and wives, brothers and sisters.

Gabriel stood apart, happy and yet … a little alone in the crowd.

Suddenly Arabella looked around for him, and when she located him, she tugged her mother over to meet him. "Mom, this is my friend, Gabriel Prescott. He fed me, and he … he helped me think about stuff."

Mrs. Kaya took his hand and pressed it in both of hers. Her eyes were damp and her voice broke as she said, "Mr. Prescott, I can't thank you enough for what you've done for Susan."

Susan said, "Mr. Prescott, you can call me Arabella."

He grinned and ruffled her hair. "You will always be Arabella to me." To Mrs. Kaya, he said, "I just kept her safe here until you could arrive."

"You did so much more than that. You and your whole family." Mrs. Kaya looked like she was going to cry again. "I will always keep you in my prayers. Always."

"You'll join us for Christmas, I hope," he said.

"We c…couldn't impose." Mrs. Kaya's voice wobbled.

In his beautiful, Italian-accented voice, Roberto said, "It is no imposition. Guests are a blessing on our family!"

Arabella sighed in adoration.

Like her daughter, Mrs. Kaya looked at him and promptly fell in love.

Gabriel nudged Arabella. "Hey. What about me? I rescued you."

Arabella nodded solemnly. "Mom, he fed me the best chili in the world. He
told me
it was the best."

The family laughed.

She took his other hand. "And he talked to me about … stuff. Important stuff."

"We have a lot in common," he told her.

"We do." She crooked her finger at him. He leaned down and she whispered, " I think you'll make a great father."

He thought about it, about the things they'd discussed and how he'd handled this emergency. He thought about how much he liked children — he loved them, too, but he liked them, learned from them. And he thought that as long as he remembered to listen…

When he met Arabella, he had recognized the opportunity for what it was — a chance to help a mixed-up runaway.

Yes, he had helped her. But she had helped him, too. The truth was … she had been God's Christmas gift to him. He nodded. "Thank you," he said to her. "You're right. I will be a good father."

Roberto cleared his throat meaningfully.

Gabriel straightened.

Gabriel looked at him, looked at all the sly grins directed at him, looked back at Roberto.

Roberto tilted his head toward the open doorway.

The family crowded there moved aside.

The bells on the tree chimed in the wind.

And there she stood, bags in hand: his Hannah. Smiling at him.

His heart leaped. "My God," he said; a prayer of thanksgiving. He walked forward, arms outstretched.

She dropped her bags with a thud and walked into his embrace. He kissed her, long, passionately, and reveled in the knowledge that, once again, he held the woman of his heart close at Christmas. When he lifted his head, she laughed and gasped. "So you're glad to see me?"

He leaned his forehead on hers and looked into her eyes. "Always. You didn't have to operate?"

"That girl woke up wanting pizza and her mommy. We're not going to have to do surgery. She's going to be fine." Hannah glowed with satisfaction. She wrapped her arms around his neck and hugged him tighter. "All my Christmas prayers are coming true."

"I think you're right." He lifted his head and winked at Arabella, then turned back to Hannah. "All of your Christmas prayers
are
coming true … Mommy."

"Really?" She caught his face in her hands. "Are you sure you're ready to become a father?"

"I have it on good authority I will be a great father."

Hannah took a long breath. "I know you will. What do you think? Shall we try for a baby? Or would you like an older child?"

"If we get a baby, we could name her Arabella. But we'd have to wait for a baby. Maybe we should start with an older brother or sister."

"Maybe we could get a baby and its older siblings. A little family that needs us."

They smiled at each other, then faced the relatives. "Congratulate us," Gabriel said. "This year, we are going to be parents. We are going to adopt our own child, or two, or three!"

And at last, Arabella smiled.

Christina Dodd
here: Thank you for enjoying
GABRIEL'S GIFT
: A Lost Hearts Christmas Epilogue, and I hope you'll take this opportunity to join my mailing list,
http://christinadodd.com
so I can keep you informed of books sales and new releases.

Gabriel is featured in the
Lost Hearts
series, which I published in e-book
enhanced it with bonus material: synopses, new chapters and author commentary exclusive in these e-book editions
. The three Lost Hearts books are:

JUST THE WAY YOU ARE

Mystery and misery scarred their young lives. Three sisters and their foster brother, torn apart by tragedy and scattered across the country to grow up alone, without the loving family they had known…

As Hope Prescott searches for her family, she gathers friends around her, including
Griswald, gruff old butler for wealthy Zack Givens. Meeting Griswald is a shock; he is neither gruff nor old, but a powerful, handsome man. In fact, he is Zack Givens, cold, heartless — and charmed by the artless young woman who falls in love with the humble man she imagines him to be. When she discovers Zack’s secret and faces his betrayal, she leaves him without a backward glance. How far will Zack have to go to prove he is the man of her dreams?

ALMOST LIKE BEING IN LOVE

Witness to a brutal murder, Pepper Prescott flees to the only place she’s safe—a small mountain town & the arms of the man she left behind. But Dan’s time in the Special Forces has left him wounded, body & soul, & harboring a dangerous secret. Can they learn to trust—and love—before murder & treachery finds them?