Holiday Wishes by Nora Roberts Page B

with mouths full of cookies, was more enchanted than she when Santa walked in the front door with a bag over his shoulder.
    He had the chance for one booming
Merry Christmas
before he was surrounded. Too stunned to move, she watched the children bounce and jump and tug.
    â€œSanta needs a chair.” Jason sent her a long, intense look that had her swallowing before her feet could move. Dashing into the back room, she brought out a high-backed chair and set it in the center of the room.
    â€œNow you have to line up,” she began, scooting children around. “Everyone gets a turn.” Grabbing a bowl of candy canes, she set them on a table beside the chair. One by one, the children climbed up on Jason’s knee. Faith needn’t have worried. She’d had to school Jake to make the right responses, and most important, not to promise and risk disappointing. After the third child had climbed down, Faith relaxed. Jason was wonderful.
    And having the time of his life. He’d done it just to help her out, perhaps even to impress her, but he got a great deal more. He’d never had a child sit on his lap and look at him with complete faith and love. He listened to their wishes, their confessions and complaints. Each one was allowed to reach in the sack he carried and pull out one gift.
    He was hugged, kissed with sticky mouths and poked. One enterprising boy had a good grip on his beard before Jason managed to distract him. Happy, they began to file out of the shop with their parents or in groups.
    â€œYou were great.” Faith turned her sign around after the last child had left to give herself a chance to catch her breath.
    â€œWant to sit on my lap?”
    Laughing, she walked to him. “I mean it, Jason, you were. I can’t tell you how much I appreciate it.”
    â€œThen show me.” He pulled her down onto his lap where she sank into pillows. She laughed again and kissed his nose.
    â€œI’ve always been crazy about men in red suits. I wish Clara could have been here.”
    â€œWhy wasn’t she?”
    With a little sigh, Faith let herself relax against him. “She’s too old for all this now—so she tells me. She went shopping with Marcie.”
    â€œNine’s too old?”
    She didn’t speak for a minute, then moved her shoulders. “Kids grow up fast.” She turned her head so she could look at him. “You made a lot of them happy today.”
    â€œI’d like to make you happy.” Reaching up, he stroked her hair. “There was a time when I could.”
    â€œDo you ever wish we could go back?” Content, she let herself be cradled in his arms. “When we were teenagers, everything seemed so simple. Then you close your eyes for a minute and you’re an adult. Oh, Jason, I wanted you to carry me away, to a castle, to a mountaintop. I was so full of romance.”
    He continued to stroke her hair as they sat, surrounded by dolls and the echo of children’s laughter. “I didn’t have enough of it, did I?”
    â€œYou had your feet on the ground. I had my head in the clouds.”
    â€œAnd now?”
    â€œNow, I have a daughter to raise. It’s terrifying sometimes to realize you’re responsible for another life. Did you . . . ?” She hesitated, knowing the ground was dangerous. “Did you ever want kids?”
    â€œI haven’t thought about it. Sometimes I have to go into places where it’s tough enough being responsible for your own life.”
    She’d thought of that—had nightmares about it. “It still excites you.”
    He thought of some of the things he’d seen, the cruelty, the misery. “It stopped exciting me a long time ago. But I’m good at what I do.”
    â€œI suppose I always knew you would be. Jason.” She shifted again so that her eyes were level with his. “I am glad you came back.”
    His fingers tightened when she