A Family for Christmas (Willow Park #3) Read online

  A Family for Christmas

  Noelle Adams

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental.

  Copyright © 2014 by Noelle Adams. All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce, distribute, or transmit in any form or by any means.

  Content Editing: Kristin Anders, The Romantic Editor.

  Proofreading: Vanessa Bridges, PREMA Romance

  Contents

  One

  Two

  Three

  Four

  Five

  Six

  Seven

  Eight

  Nine

  Ten

  Eleven

  Twelve

  Excerpt from Bittersweet

  About Noelle Adams

  One

  Lydia took ten deep breaths in a row.

  When she was still so angry she wanted to scream, she took ten more deep breaths before pulling her car out of the church parking lot and heading for the interstate.

  She’d only calmed down slightly when she grabbed her phone and connected to Daniel, the pastor of her hometown church, who was always her first call after a meeting as frustrating as the one she’d just had.

  It rang four times, and Lydia was about to hang up, realizing it was Sunday afternoon and Daniel was probably resting.

  Before she could disconnect, he answered the phone. “Hey, Lydia.”

  “Hi,” she said, feeling even guiltier, since he sounded kind of distracted. “Sorry to call on a Sunday afternoon. I should have waited until tomorrow.”

  “It’s fine. Jessica and I were just cleaning up from lunch.” He paused, as if he were briefly searching his memory. “You were visiting another church this morning?”

  “Yeah. In Charlotte.”

  “I guess it didn’t go well, then.”

  “The presentation and Sunday School hour went great, but not the meeting with the Session.” She paused to take another deep breath, reliving again her frustration from the meeting she’d just had with the elders of the church.

  “What happened?” Daniel asked.

  “Why the hell doesn’t anyone think I can do legal work in India without being married? How exactly is a husband supposed to be necessary for me to work with trafficked women?”

  She was exaggerating a little, since the NGO she was planning to work with was fine with her being a single woman. But she needed to raise support for her salary and expenses, since the Christian human rights organization wasn’t able to give her a salary yet. That meant asking for money from individuals and churches. The churches in her circle always had money in their budgets for mission work, which is how they would classify her plan to work toward rescuing and restoring girls and women forced into the sex trade, but her Presbyterian denomination was a small and conservative one, which was making her attempt to raise support more difficult than it should have been.

  She’d been at it for eight months now, and she wasn’t even close to having the yearly pledges she needed.

  “You know,” she went on, “one of the elders asked me today why I wanted to do this instead of getting married and starting a family.”

  She was venting, and she sounded too frustrated, so she tried to dial it back. “Sorry. You’ve heard all this before. I’ll call back tomorrow so you can enjoy your afternoon.”

  “Are you headed for Columbia now?”

  “Yeah. I’m not sure it’s going to be worth my time, since it’s such a huge missions conference, which means I’m not going to get much attention. But I’ll give it a try.”

  “Try not to exude impatience with people. They can pick up on it.”

  She bit back her reply, which would have been neither patient nor gentle. She had always been an honest, straightforward person—some people would call her too much so—but as she’d gotten older she’d learned to temper these qualities with courtesy.

  For the most part.

  But it wasn’t like she’d be snapping at the church elders from whom she was asking money.

  “I’m doing my best,” she gritted.

  “I know. Sorry. I know you’re in a tough position. Hey, when you’re in Columbia tonight, you might touch base with Gabe Alexander. I was talking to him last week, and he’ll be at that same conference this evening. You two have a lot in common.”

  “Who is this?” She’d reached the exit for I-77, so she pulled her car onto the interstate, heading south.

  “Gabe Alexander. You remember him, don’t you? He was in Willow Park one summer several years back.”

  Lydia felt flustered and distracted from her aggravating morning, but she tried to search her memory for that name. “Maybe.”

  “It was the summer the Johnsons were visiting from India. He heard their testimony too and felt called to India just like you did. You really need to connect with him.” Daniel’s tone changed, as if he was just making a connection in his mind. “I don’t know why I didn’t think about it before. I’ll text you his phone number. Promise me you’ll talk to him this evening.”

  “Okay. I promise.” She had no idea why Daniel sounded so excited, but she had no reason not to look the guy up. “Wait, is he Mary and Henry’s son? From church? I think I remember their son, if it’s him. He and his wife had a new baby that summer, didn’t they? I took care of her in the nursery some and babysat for them once. They paid really well.”

  She didn’t know why she added the last bit, since it was irrelevant, but she remembered it, so she said it.

  She usually said what she thought.

  “Yeah. That’s him.”

  “So they’re going to India too?”

  “He is. They’re not married anymore.”

  “Oh. Okay. Sure, I’ll talk to him.”

  “I think it would be really worth your time.” Daniel paused, before he added in a different tone. “Jessica is giving me the sign to hang up. Call me tomorrow at the office if you want. Let me know how it goes tonight.”

  “Okay. Will do. Thanks.”

  Lydia hung up and stared out at the highway in front of her.

  Since that summer when she was eighteen and she’d met the missionaries from India who were visiting Willow Park, she’d known what she wanted to do with her life. Work with children and women caught in sex trafficking. She’d made two trips to India in college and then two more during the summers she was in law school, working with the legal team at the organization she was planning to work with now full-time.

  She was sure this was what God wanted her to do, and it just didn’t seem right that something so trivial was standing in her way.

  So she was a single woman. She was still capable of doing good work in India.

  What was wrong with people, anyway?

  Maybe she was intrinsically different than other women she knew, but she’d never felt a strong urge to get married and have children. She’d had crushes on guys before—sure. She’d dated several different guys through college and in the two years she’d worked in an office after she’d graduated. But, once she’d started law school, fewer guys had asked her out, and she’d started to focus more and more on what she wanted to do with her life.

  Marriage just wasn’t as important as what she could do in India. She was absolutely convinced of it now.

  She’d dreamed of working in India for the last several years, the way some women dreamed of a wedding day. She was so close now, and she was going to finally get there—whether she was married or not.

  ***

  When she got to Columbia, it wa
s mid-afternoon, and she called Gabe Alexander from her car.

  They had a brief, slightly awkward conversation while she explained who she was and why she was calling him out of the blue.

  When she told him that Daniel said they should touch base, Gabe suggested they meet for coffee at five, an hour before the missions conference began.

  That sounded good to Lydia, since she’d been thinking they’d have to meet afterwards, which would put her drive back to Willow Park even later.

  She only had vague memories of the man. She’d been eighteen—at home for the summer after her freshman year in college. Mr. Alexander and his wife were just a new couple at the church with a newborn baby.

  He’d come across as quiet, intelligent, and always busy—even when she’d been over to babysit, and he and his wife had been on their way for an evening out. His wife had been charming and stylish. She’d seemed maybe a little superficial.

  Lydia hadn’t known them well, but they’d seemed happy enough. She wondered why they’d gotten divorced.

  The girl must be nine now.

  Lydia and Gabe arranged to meet at a coffee shop near the church. She had some trouble finding a parking space, so she was running about five minutes late when she walked in.

  She stood at the entrance and looked around, hoping she’d recognize him when she saw him.

  Almost immediately, her eyes landed on a man sitting alone in a corner. He wore a suit, but his dress shirt was unbuttoned, and he wasn’t wearing a tie. He had medium brown hair and broad shoulders and a slightly heavy-lidded gaze, making him look tired…and kind of sexy.

  She wasn’t sure where that thought had even come from, but she was sure this was Gabe Alexander. She walked over to him.

  His eyes widened, and he stood up as she approached.

  “Lydia?” he asked.

  “Yes.” She reached a hand out toward him. “It’s nice to see you again. It’s been a long time.”

  “It has.” He shook her hand, his grip strong and very warm. Then they both sat down at the small table. “I’m not sure I would have recognized you.”

  She gave a half-shrug. She didn’t think she looked that much different now than she had back then. She still had shoulder-length dark reddish hair, green eyes, and tall figure. She worked out regularly, so she was in decent shape—although not as fit as she’d been in college, when she’d swum competitively. She was dressed more maturely than she used to, since she was now wearing one of her normal church-visit outfits. Long flared skirt, a fitted jacket, and tall leather boots.

  But still, she didn’t think she looked all that different.

  “Can I get you a coffee or something?” he asked, gesturing toward the counter.

  She saw he didn’t have anything to drink yet, so she nodded. “Sure. Just black coffee. Thanks.”

  She watched him as he went up to the counter to order their drinks. She saw other women watching him too.

  He really was very good-looking, with a kind of understated power in his stance and expression, like he was accommodating the world to go on as it liked until he decided differently. But, when he put his foot down, the world would listen.

  It was a strange sort of response to such a brief meeting. Irrational, really, since he hadn’t done anything but shake her hand and get up to get them coffee. Probably a sign that Lydia needed to catch up on her sleep.

  Since there was a line waiting to pick up ordered drinks, he came back and took his seat again after he’d ordered. He asked, “So Daniel thought we should connect?”

  “Yeah. He said we have a lot in common, since I’m working on raising support to get to Bangalore. So you’re trying to get to India too?”

  He nodded. “I’ve been working with the business center in Bangalore for eight years now—making a two-week trip every year. Now there’s a co-director position open that I want to take.”

  “What does the business center do?”

  “It provides training, resources, and mentoring for people trying to start businesses in India who need some extra help or support.” He leaned back in his seat and looked at her with half-closed eyes. “It’s a great ministry, really helping people get their businesses going.”

  “Well, that sounds great. You started your own business here, didn’t you?” One thing Lydia remembered from back then was that the Alexanders had a lot of money, at least by Willow Park standards.

  “Yeah. Medical supplies.”

  The way he said it was understated, as if his company weren’t that big a deal. But it was evidently really successful. She was about to ask a question when she noticed something up at the counter.

  Frowning, she said, “Are our coffees ready?”

  He glanced up casually. “Doesn’t look like it.”

  “Well, that girl was behind you in line, and she already got hers.”

  “What does it matter?”

  She was faintly annoyed at his disinterest, but she knew that feeling wasn’t rational. So she made herself relax. “Well, it doesn’t matter a lot. But generally people get their stuff in the correct order.”

  When she turned back to him, she saw he was watching her face with a mingling of interest and amusement.

  “What?” she asked.

  “Nothing.” He was smiling for real now, and it was so attractive she momentarily lost her breath. “It’s just coffee.”

  “I know it’s just coffee. But I think people should be served in the right order.” She gave him a sheepish smile. “Patience isn’t my virtue.”

  “I can see that.”

  She was going to respond to his teasing, but she saw their drinks finally get set on the counter, so she jumped up to get them.

  He was still smiling as he watched her walk back to the table. She wasn’t sure what to make of the expression in his eyes.

  Then she realized they should get down to business, since the missions conference would be starting in forty minutes. “You were telling me about the business center,” she prompted.

  “Yes. It’s a great ministry, and I really think they could use my experience.” He shook his head and let out a long breath.

  “So what’s the problem?”

  He gave her a dry half-smile. “My problem is I don’t have a wife.”

  She gasped and straightened up, suddenly realizing what Daniel had seen they had in common. “Seriously? So you’re having problems raising support?”

  “No. I’m rolling in support. I don’t even really need it, since I’ve got more than enough income on my own.”

  Lydia tried very hard not to resent this leisurely declaration, when it was like pulling teeth for her to get even the smallest of pledges.

  He continued, “The problem is the mission organization that runs the center. They keep hesitating, since they’re not sure I’m in an appropriate ‘domestic situation’ for the role of co-director.”

  “They really think you need to be married to do the work? I thought it was just women who were blessed with those concerns.”

  “I think they’re okay with me being single. They’re not okay with me being a single father.”

  “Oh.” She thought about that. “So you have custody of your daughter? What was her name? Eleanor?”

  “Yeah. Ellie. I have full custody. This is evidently a problem.” He sounded almost lazy, but she recognized a faint bitterness in his eyes, one that told her he was just as frustrated with his situation as she was with hers.

  “And they don’t think, since you’re able to work out the care of your daughter here, you’ll be able to handle it there too?”

  “I guess not. I’m not even going to be in India year-round. I’ll stay here for the school year and then just go over there for the summers. I can make other short trips during the year as needed and do a lot of the work virtually anyway. I’m moving back to Willow Park so my folks can help out more in watching Ellie when I have to make the shorter trips. But they’re not all convinced.”

  She gave him a sympathetic sm
ile. “We’re kind of in reverse situations, then. My organization is fine with me not being married, but I can’t raise the support I need because the churches don’t think I should be gallivanting around the world when I could be staying here and having babies.”

  He raised his eyebrows. “Is it really that bad? So what exactly would you be doing?”

  She sighed. “Maybe I’m exaggerating. But I’m having a lot of trouble raising support. I’d be working with the legal team. The organization does investigation and provides legal assistance for under-aged girls in brothels, trying to rescue them and then give them the help they need to get reoriented afterwards. I can’t practice law there, of course, but I can work with the Indian lawyers. There are laws in India against a lot of the sex trafficking—the laws just aren’t always enforced. Anyway, there’s really important work to do, and I think I can help. But everyone’s worried that I can’t do it for some reason, as an unmarried woman.”

  “There are plenty of single, professional women in India.”

  “I know. I’ve heard it justified so many ways it makes me want to scream, but not very many churches want to support me.”

  His eyes were so dark a blue they almost looked violet, and they were sympathetic at the moment as they gazed at her. “No wonder Daniel said we should talk.”

  “Yeah. If only we could somehow pool resources.” She gave a huff. “I need financial support, which you have more than enough of. And you need…”

  “A wife.” The one word was drawled, as if in jest.

  But, after a pregnant pause, both of them stiffened. Their eyes flew up to meet in an odd moment of complete understanding.

  They were basically strangers, but she knew—without doubt—that they’d both had the same bizarre idea at the exact same time.

  After a minute, Gabe put down his coffee, which he’d been holding frozen halfway to his mouth. “No, it’s crazy.”

  “Yeah,” she said, letting out a breath and feeling ridiculously deflated. For a moment, it was like all of her prayers had been miraculously answered. “I guess so.”

  His shoulders slumped slightly too, as if he were feeling some of her disappointment. “I mean, it might work in the short run, but what would happen when you wanted to get married for real?”