Sealed With a Kiss (12 page)

John pulled on an old pair of sweatpants and
a T-shirt and walked barefoot down the wooden staircase. He
followed the music, stopping when he got to the kitchen door.

Bella was standing on a chair beside Rachel.
She was adding brown sugar and butter to the big electric mixer on
the counter, watching the ingredients spin inside the bowl.

Rachel passed her an egg. “Has Mrs. Daniels
shown you how to break the shell?”

Bella nodded and turned the mixer off. “Tap
the side and pull it apart. What if some of the shell drops into
the butter and sugar?”

“We can easily get it out. Are you
ready?”

Bella nodded. The first time she hit the side
of bowl with the egg, nothing happened. She tried again, hitting
the bowl a little harder. The shell splintered and she quickly
tipped the egg into the bowl. With a grin that caught at John’s
heart, she turned to Rachel. “No shell.”

Rachel held her hand up and high-fived his
excited daughter. “Good job. Now we add the molasses and vanilla,
then turn the mixer on again.”

Bella looked at the glass bowl Rachel passed
her. “All of it?”

Rachel nodded. “I’ll get the flour and the
spices ready.” She opened one small packet after another, carefully
adding teaspoons of spice to another bowl.

Bella watched Rachel, then looked across the
room.
“Daddy. You’re home.”
She jumped off the chair she’d
been standing on and raced across the room. “I’ve missed you.”

John hugged her tight. “I missed you,
too.”

“How was your meeting?”

John flicked his gaze to Rachel before
looking at his daughter. “It was okay. I’m glad I’m home. What are
you baking?”

Bella took his hand and lead him across to
the kitchen counter. “We’re making gingerbread cookies for the
drama club’s Christmas play. Do you want to help?”

“If you show me what to do, I’ll give it my
best shot.”

Bella jumped onto the chair and held a small
container toward him. “Put this in the mixing bowl, dad.”

He sniffed the spices. “Is this
cinnamon?”

“Cinnamon, nutmeg, and ginger,” Rachel said
softly. “I hope we didn’t wake you? When we heard that your flight
had been delayed, we thought you might have stayed in
Washington.”

John looked away from Rachel’s big blue eyes.
A man could get lost in those eyes if he let himself. But he wasn’t
the type of person to let himself fall that easily for a woman,
especially after what he’d learned this week. “It’s not so bad
waking up to the sound of Christmas bells. It was better than
waking up in a crowded airport. There were hundreds of people
waiting for rescheduled flights. I could have ended up at the
airport for another two days if my flight had been canceled.”

Rachel passed Bella a bowl of flour. She
watched her add it to the gingerbread ingredients, then glanced
quickly at him. “You’re probably wondering what I’m doing here this
early?”

The thought had crossed his mind. “You don’t
need to look after Bella on the weekends.”

“I promised Bella that I’d take her to The
Bridesmaids Club and yesterday was as good a day as any. Tess and I
planned on opening the boxes of dresses that had arrived this week
and sorting through the letters. While we were there, the weather
got so bad that Tank drove Bella and I home. Mrs. Daniels thought
it was safer for me to stay here last night.”

“Patty was right.” John watched Rachel’s
hands relax against the edge of the counter. “Do you need a ride
back to Tess’ home to get your truck?”

Rachel’s mouth dropped open as if she was
going to say something, then changed her mind.

John thought about what he’d said and felt
like an idiot. “I didn’t mean that I wanted you to leave now. I
meant later, when you’re ready to go home. You can stay for as long
as you like.”

Rachel nodded slowly. She took the empty
flour bowl out of Bella’s hands then looked at him. “Tank said he’d
drop me off at Tess’ at nine o’clock.”

“You’ll need a shovel to get rid of the snow
on your truck. It was nearly blizzard conditions when we drove in
from the airport.”

Bella looked at her dad. “I saw lots of
pretty dresses at The Bridesmaids Club. I helped hang them on a
special rack. Tess made cake and Rachel took our Christmas CD with
us.”

“Sounds like you had a great time.”

“Mrs. Daniels and I made cookies before I
went with Rachel. I took some for Tess. Can I go again, dad? Tank
wanted to come home early because it was snowing. Tess said it was
okay if I go back to look at the dresses.”

John looked at Rachel. “If it’s okay with
Rachel, it’s okay with me.”

“Of course it’s all right. It will be good to
have another pair of hands to help unpack the boxes.” She looked at
the mixing bowl in front of them. “We’ve nearly finished the dough.
Just two more ingredients to add.”

“Then we can roll it out and make the
gingerbread cookies?”

“We need to put the dough in the fridge for a
little while. We could have breakfast and get ready for the day
while it chills?”

“And then can we roll it out?”

“You bet. Mrs. Daniels has got lots of cookie
cutters. Your dad could make some too, if he wants to?

The last time John had made cookies had been
when he was a boy. Grandma Fletcher used to spend most of December
baking for Christmas. Some of the cookies and cake were given to
friends and family. But most of the baking went to the local
shelter, helping other people enjoy the Christmas spirit.

He picked up one of the cookie cutters. “Does
the cookie cutter person get to sample some of the cookies after
they’re baked?”

Bella giggled. “You can have two, but you
have to wait until after we’ve put frosting on them.” She leaned
across to John and whispered, “They need to be decorated.
Otherwise, they’re not really Christmas cookies.”

John smiled at his daughter. “Thank you for
telling me,” he whispered back.

Bella added the last two ingredients to the
bowl and turned the mixer back on. Christmas music filled the
kitchen while Bella and Rachel got the dough ready for the
fridge.

“You’ve done this before,” John said to
Rachel.

“Just a few times. Christmas wouldn’t be the
same without special cookies.”

Bella patted the top of the dough in its
plastic wrap and smiled. “All done.”

Rachel carried it across to the fridge, then
washed her hands under the faucet. “Now comes the really exciting
part. The clean-up.”

Bella groaned. “Do we have too?”

John looked around the kitchen and smiled.
Flour was sprinkled across most of the counter and a collection of
dirty spoons and bowls surrounded Bella. “It’s not as bad as it
could be. Rachel’s already put most of the ingredients away.”

Rachel passed Bella a warm dishcloth. “I’ll
get the bowls ready to be washed while you wipe down the counter.
Your dad can sweep the floor.”

Bella sighed. “Okay.”

As they moved around the kitchen, the
Christmas music changed and a children’s choir started singing.

John got the broom out of the mud room. “Nice
music.”

Rachel’s eyes danced with laughter. “It’s the
same songs that Bella will be singing in the drama club’s Christmas
play.”

“And I know all of the words already,” Bella
said quickly. She put down the dishcloth and wiped her hands on the
pink apron that Rachel must have wrapped around her waist. When the
choir started singing the second verse of,
Silent Night
,
Bella took a deep breath and started singing with them.

Tears clouded John’s eyes. He remembered
another Christmas many years ago when another young girl had sung
the same song.

Jacinta had been about sixteen years old when
he’d first heard her sing. She’d loved music and had the kind of
voice that made people stop and listen. Even then, he’d known that
she was going to be an important part of his life.

The song came to an end and Bella looked
worried. “Are you okay, dad?”

He wiped his eyes and gave her a hug. “You
remind me of your mom. She was singing the same song on the night I
met her.”

“Did she like singing?”

“She did, but I think it was being part of a
choir that really made her happy. Our high school choir used to
visit the local retirement villages and the hospital. Your mom
liked making people feel better.”

Bella thought about what he’d said, then
smiled. “Do you think gingerbread cookies will make people feel
better, too? We could take some to Mrs. Daniels’ mom. She lives in
a retirement village in town.”

John gave Bella another quick hug. “That
would make Mrs. Daniels’ mom very happy.”

Bella jumped off the chair. She took the
recipe book they’d been using out of a drawer and flicked through
the pages. “Is it okay to make some more gingerbread cookies,
Rachel?”

Rachel leaned against the kitchen counter,
watching Bella and John closely. “As long as our cookie cutter
decides to stay and help, it’s a great idea.”

“Can you stay, dad?

“The only thing I wanted to do was visit
Emerald Lake. If we make the gingerbread now, I can book the
helicopter for later this morning.”

Bella clapped her hands together. “Rachel
could come with us. We haven’t shown her where our new home is
going to be built.”

John tried not to frown when he looked at
Rachel. With a red and green apron covering her clothes and a
dusting of flour across her cheeks, she was ready for anything
Christmas could throw at her. But that didn’t necessarily mean that
she wanted to spend more time with them.

She probably had lots of other things she’d
sooner do on a Sunday morning. Things that didn’t include an
eight-year-old, a team of bodyguards, and an overprotective father.
And then there was the billionaire issue.

Rachel opened a bag of flour. “I didn’t know
you’d bought one of Jacob Green’s properties. I’ve seen the photo’s
Molly took of the lake. It’s really lovely.”

“So you’ll come with us on the helicopter?”
Bella held her hands tightly in front of her. “You could sit beside
me. It’s not too scary.”

Rachel picked up a measuring cup and dipped
it into the bag of flour. “A helicopter ride sounds exciting. I’d
love to go with you.”

John nearly dropped the broom.

Bella’s face broke into a wide grin. “This is
the best day ever. Wait until I tell Mrs. Daniels where we’re
going.”

John had no idea what Patty would say. He
hadn’t invited another woman anywhere with him and Bella for years.
Even though Rachel was his daughter’s tutor, it felt strange to
have her join them.

Strange and new, and maybe a little like the
beginning of something that could be amazing.

***

Rachel gazed out of the helicopter’s window,
staring at the beautiful landscape below them. Snow covered
everything, from the top of the tallest mountains, to the pine
trees huddled together on the valley floor. Last night’s snowstorm
had left its mark on the world, a mark that was far more beautiful
and majestic from the air than it was from the ground.

Bella pointed to a herd of buffalo. Rachel
watched them lumber across the frozen field, looking for food that
had been buried by the snow.

For as long as she lived, she’d never get
tired of the simple beauty that surrounded her. Montana was the
most magical place she knew, and the one place she would always
call home.

“Look to your right,” John said through her
headset. “Emerald Lake is over the next ridge.”

Rachel kept her eyes on the scene unfolding
below her. Big Sky Resort, one of the most famous ski destinations
in America, was nestled in the mountains on the left-hand side of
the helicopter. John had told her that Emerald Lake wasn’t far from
the winter playground that attracted thousands of tourists to
Montana each winter.

She wondered why he’d bought a parcel of land
in the middle of nowhere. He didn’t seem like the type of person
who’d enjoy solitude or the peace that came from being miles away
from the nearest store.

The helicopter drifted over the ridge and
Rachel’s mouth dropped open. “It’s beautiful,” she whispered into
her microphone. The circular lake had frozen solid, but it still
looked incredible in the mid-morning sunshine.

John didn’t reply, and Rachel hadn’t expected
him too. A person could lose themselves in the pure energy
surrounding them, or if they were lucky, find something that was
missing.

The helicopter carried them across the center
of the lake toward an area covered with tall trees.

“Jacob and Molly’s property is over there,”
John pointed to their left. “One of the other parcels of land is
sold and the last one is still on the market.”

Rachel held onto her armrest as the pilot
landed on a snow covered plateau. “When are you going to move out
here?”

John took his headset off. “We start building
in early April. If everything goes to plan, we should move in
around the end of September.”

Rachel opened her door and breathed in the
cold mountain air. She looked around and smiled at a hawk circling
in the clear blue sky. It was almost as if the rest of the world
had disappeared and left them to enjoy the morning.

“Welcome to Emerald Lake,” John said from
behind her. “What do you think?”

“I couldn’t work out why you’d want to live
here, but now I know why. It’s absolutely stunning. If I had enough
money, I’d buy the last parcel of land and live here myself.”

“If you keep working for me you could put a
deposit on the land by next Christmas.”

Rachel laughed. “I told you I was being paid
too much. Just be thankful that Bella’s going to school soon.
You’ll be able to save thousands of dollars each week when you
aren’t paying my salary.”

“I’m not paying you that much,” John
growled.