A Christmas Wish

By Sally Paterson

Michael is a war veteran, who married his childhood sweet heart, and they had twin girls but fate had other idea's for this happy couple when 8 years later Michael's wife died from cancer, and he didn't know what to do, is there a happy ending for this man and his daughters.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Sally Paterson
• Release date: Sep 14, 2022
• ISBN: 9798215897300

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Copyright© Sally Paterson 2022

The right of Sally Paterson to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with the Copyright, Design and Patents Act 1988.    No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping, or by any information storage or retrieval system, without the permission in writing from the author

A Christmas Wish   

Chapter 1

May 2014 London

Hi, sweetheart, how you doing?

Ready, for you, to come home.

I know honey. I'll be home tomorrow and then no trips for a while. Are you and Angela being good for your Aunt Victoria?

Dad, we're thirteen, not six! He could picture his daughter Jessica rolling her eyes as she answered. He knew what was coming next, So why can't we just stay at home anyway. It's not like we can't take care of ourselves.

I don't know, I just have this vision of you and your sister running amok at home, having a wild party drinking all the booze, driving the SUV around town, picking up boys ... You know like in that John Hughes' movie 'Sixteen Candles. Dad, that film is so old it's probably on TCM by now ... and last time I checked we had a Hyundai SUV in the garage. Oh, yes. Well then I would worry, so let's leave it at that for now okay?

Well okay, you're the dad. He could hear the smile in her voice. So is Victoria around?

She's right here. See you tomorrow dad. I love you.

I love you too sweetheart, and give my love to Angela.

Hi Michael, how's London. Meet any nice girls?

Victoria, I thought that was your job to fix me up, I didn't know I was supposed to be working on the 'nice girls' department on my own! He laughed. There has got to be at least one woman in London who might be interested! It was her turn to laugh. Well let's see, I've been here five days and so far no luck and time is running out, I'm on the plane home in the morning.

Well, how about this, instead of wasting your time sleeping tonight, why don't you get out there and look. I mean what time's it there? A little after ten-thirty, The night is still young! she laughed. Changing the subject he asked, How are the girls doing? Good as gold as always. But they do miss you."

I know. I miss them too, Well, that's all from this side of the pond. He gave a dramatic sigh and continued, Guess I'll take your advice and spend the next several hours looking for a woman who wants to trade exciting London, and a life of clubs and parties for being a soccer mom in Lake Forest. Your girls don't play soccer. What? When did that happen? She laughed. See you tomorrow Michael. I love you, despite the fact you thwart my good intentions at every turn.

Michael (Mick) smiled as he ended the call to his sister. Just eighteen months apart, they had always been close. After three days as a guest speaker at a medical conference, and then two days of meetings at various hospitals in and around London to discuss a new procedure he had developed to treat pediatric head trauma, what he wanted was to grab a few hours sleep before heading back to Redburn in the morning.

He thought about Victoria's suggestion to go out tonight looking for women. She was, always trying. He did love his sister though and she did mean well. He'd been a widower for five years and was just now getting to the point where he could walk into their house after a day or a night at the hospital and not automatically want to call out to Naomi to tell her he was home. He'd just returned from dinner with a number of his professional friends from the UK. The food and wine and company had been very pleasant and intellectually stimulating, but at this point he just wanted to get home to his girls. In his mind he spent too much time away from them, even though he usually cleared his calendar to make it to all of their sporting events. They were just growing up too fast and he didn't want to miss a moment of it.

Were it not for the dinner he'd be in the air over the Atlantic right now. He was happy enough he hadn't been hosting and picking up the tab for the dozen or so people who attended, but he knew a reciprocal dinner would be on his dime one of these days in Redburn. As soon as good manners allowed he had said his farewells, declining an invitation to extend the evening at an exclusive London club, and escaped to his hotel. According to Victoria he should have joined them, but somehow he doubted he would find the new love of his life at some club, exclusive or not. He really wasn't sure he wanted a new love of his life anyway. The loss of Naomi to cancer had devastated him.

He set his phone on the desk and turned his attention to his schedule for tomorrow. He grabbed the room service menu and ordered the 'Full American Breakfast' to be delivered by six in the morning. The Europa was a boutique hotel which catered to a high-end clientele, and they really knew how to prepare breakfasts. Despite a well-regarded chef in the restaurant downstairs, that was the only meal he'd ever eaten there. Lunches and dinners were always out someplace and ran the gamut from the rubber chicken at the conference to upscale restaurants with colleagues, to a local pub near some neighborhood children's clinic.

Fortunately he didn't have to do it often because these trips from Redburn, across the pond to London, or across the country to Spain or San Francisco got old in a hurry. 'Across the Pond'- that phrase was certainly a misnomer, probably invented by someone in the travel business, who actually never had to travel. It made the trip sound like a pleasant excursion across some small body of water. The reality was something quite different - like getting up at zero dark thirty, fighting congestion getting to O'Hare, being hassled at security, despite his frequent flyer 'trusted traveler' identity, then being stuck in a large metal tube for hours on end, even in business class or first class, and then the crowds at Heathrow, even when someone wasn't on strike. And then a couple of days later he'd do it all over again, just in reverse.

He wondered how his friend and attorney, Paul Ryan dealt with the constant back and forth to Dublin. Well actually he did know, Mick had attended Paul's wedding to Geraldine Flannigan last year. She was a gem and they were now expecting their first child.

He had also known Paul's ex, Kerry for more than twenty years and he thought she was beautiful, smart and focused. He'd liked her a lot and they seemed happy. She had gone out of her way to welcome him and Naomi to their home on numerous occasions, and he was most grateful especially when he was a struggling med student. And it was Kerry who Naomi turned to for advice when one, or both of their girls, were having problems. It was a shame they'd split up, although it appeared that it was Kerry who split them up. Naomi would have been devastated. They had become close friends and Paul and Kerry were Godparents to his daughters.

Mick opened his door to hang the menu on the handle when he heard loud voices from down the hallway. He stepped out and first saw a tall, very attractive twenty-something with dark red hair. She was wearing a black cocktail dress that hugged her slim body perfectly and came just above her knees. Her long legs were amazing and her wavy shoulder-length hair framed high cheekbones and a pert nose. He almost laughed as he imagined asking the beautiful young woman if she'd like to audition for the part of soccer mom in Lake Forest. Smiling, he shook his head.

He was a forty-two year old widower with twin teen daughters and she was most likely ten or twelve years his junior or more. He didn't have time for romantic entanglements anyway. Naomi's picture was still the first thing he saw when he powered up his phone. He still regretted all the time his schooling and practice had stolen from their time together. The girls, blonde like their mother were now thirteen and he devoted all his free time to them and their activities, although of late even they were getting less than subtle in their hints that he should have some kind of a social life. He was sure those hints were aided and abetted by Victoria.

Michael. She was one of the few who actually called him anything but 'Mick.' It's time you had a woman in your life again. Like tonight on the phone, they'd had that conversation many times over the last couple of years and so a stream of young lovelies would parade through Victoria's home at Thanksgiving, backyard parties, or any other social event she could organize and drag him to. The girls spent a lot of time with their aunt and uncle and three cousins who lived only about a half-hour away. But he wasn't ready. Anytime he saw an attractive woman and his thoughts wandered in that direction he'd feel guilty – guilty of betraying Naomi's memory.

So he didn't date, and he had lost the art of flirting if he ever had it, and responded to many invitations from the medical center staff, primarily female, who wanted to fix him up or present themselves as the next Mrs. Mick Williams with a smile and a plea for understanding that his surgery schedule and his girls kept him too busy for most outside social activities. Of course he couldn't avoid Victoria's blatant attempts to 'set him up with someone.'

And he was dismayed to discover he was still grist for