He’d come to love Holly’s little boys as much as he loved his own children. And he knew Holly felt the same way about his daughters.
He shrugged and followed that with a very sober, searching look. “Sorry, but what kind of bastard leaves a woman with two adorable kids? Asks not to be apprised of their welfare or progress, only to come back over three years later and want to reopen the custody case?”
Holly flashed a wan smile and said finally, in a wry attempt at a joke, “My ex-husband?”
Another silence fell. Every protective instinct Travis had surged to life. “When does the attorney want to see you?”
“As soon as possible.” She released a short, impatient breath and continued to hold his eyes like a warrior princess in battle. “He says if I call his office, he’ll fit me in.”
Travis’s frown deepened. “Are you going to do it?”
“What choice do I have?” Holly grumbled, keeping her voice slightly above a whisper. “I mean, I could hire a lawyer, but I don’t want to do that—I don’t want to go back to court unless I absolutely have to.”
Travis couldn’t blame her for that. What he knew of divorce court, from those who had been forced to appear there, was not pleasant or pretty. And it would be especially unpleasant at this time of year, which should all be about love and joy, hope and giving. “Want me to go with you?”
Holly nearly sagged with relief. “If you wouldn’t mind, I’d really appreciate it,” she said, squeezing his hand. “It’ll be a whole lot easier to face this crisis with you at my side.”
Chapter Two
Travis and Holly sat side by side in the elegant law firm reception area. They were ten minutes early and she was a bundle of nerves, wondering what this was all about.
“So I was thinking…” Travis said quietly, in his attempt to distract her while they waited. His arm nudged hers as he bent his head nearer. “Maybe there is a way to give the kids what they want for Christmas, or pretty close to it.”
Jerked out of her reverie, Holly turned to face him. Like her, he was dressed for a business meeting, instead of the construction clothes he normally wore to work. And although she had seen him many times in a suit before, she was struck as always by how handsome and successful he looked.
“What are you talking about?” she blurted, before she could stop herself. “You can’t actually be…you’re not just going to…!”
“Marry?” Travis shook his head, as if even the idea was ludicrous. “Of course not. But I was thinking we could build your boys a wooden spaceship for the back yard that they could climb in.”
“Are you serious?” Holly twisted around fully, her nylon-clad knee nudging his thigh. A tingle went through her at the unexpected contact. Deliberately, she pushed it away.
Oblivious to the awareness suddenly surging inside her, Travis met her eyes. He shrugged his broad shoulders and spoke in a low, mesmerizing tone, “What’s the point of owning a construction company if you can’t do things to help out your own family, or someone else’s?”
True, Holly thought. And it was so like Travis’s generous nature to think of it. They needed to be fair in the gift giving, though. She studied his face, zeroing in on the compassion in his dark brown eyes. “What about your girls?”
Travis grinned, pleased she was thinking about his children as much as her own. “Well, obviously, we’d have to build them something for our backyard, too. I was thinking maybe a little cottage they could play house in.”
“Ah.” Holly smiled. “So although they wouldn’t be getting a mommy…”
“…any more than your boys would be able to actually fly to outer space.”
“But they would be able to pretend,” she concluded.
He nodded. “They’re only little once. And maybe this will take the sting out of not having a mom.”
And whatever was coming next for her sons, Holly thought pensively.
Travis touched her hand, drawing her back to the conversation. The brief feel of skin on skin was as warmly reassuring as his presence. “So what do you think?” he asked softly.
At the thought of how much joy this would bring to their offspring, Holly felt a wave of excitement. She found herself suffused with the Christmas spirit once again. “Can we get it done in time?”
He nodded, confident as ever. “Sure. I’ll have both items built off-site in the warehouse where a lot of our custom cabinetry is done, and then delivered early on the twenty-fourth.”
The first glitch presented itself. “How will we be able to do that without the kids seeing?”
“We’ll keep them busy elsewhere until it’s dark on Christmas Eve, while the delivery is made. And probably also cover the structures with black construction tarp, to ensure they’re obscured from view. We’ll take that off while they are sleeping, replace with large ribbons. And when they wake up the next morning we’ll give them some time to enjoy what Santa left them under the tree, then take them to the backyard for the big reveal.”
“Sounds like a great plan!” Holly exclaimed.
Travis held out his hand for a fist-bump of victory. Holly fist-bumped back.
The receptionist nodded in their direction.
A minute later, they were settled in family law attorney Martin Shield’s private office, which was just as old-money-intimidating as the reception area of the venerable Texas law firm.
“I’m glad you agreed to come in,” said the distinguished, sixty-something lawyer in the two thousand dollar suit. “Cliff would like to keep this as informal as possible.”
Holly’s throat was so tight it was all she could do to get the words out. “What exactly does he want?”
“To see the kids.”
She had been afraid of that. Determined, however, to play it cool, she held Martin Shield’s gaze. “After all this time?” Did Cliff and his attorney not understand how ludicrous—not to mention selfish—this request was?
Cliff’s attorney did not bat an eye. “My client is well aware it’s been three years, five months and two days since he saw the twins.”
Anger surged inside Holly. She had thought the hurt and pain of her ex’s betrayal was well behind them. She wanted it to stay that way. “Cliff voluntarily chose not to exercise his right to visit the boys at the time we divorced—over my objections, I might add.” Back then, she had been desperate for him to do right by his kids.
“Things have changed. He was making plans to work and live in Europe at the time he divorced you. Now he’s in the process of moving back to the United States. His new position is in Connecticut.”
Holly wasn’t surprised to hear Cliff was on the move again. Frequent transfers were part of the process of climbing the investment banking career ladder. Had the two of them stayed married, she would have been prepared to adapt.
