No longer forcing the smile, she wondered how to snuggle closer to him on the sofa without being too obvious about it. He just looked so inviting, with that tousled red hair, those big shoulders. “You, sir, are preaching to the choir.”

“I need to tell you about Maya,” he said abruptly. “I think you might have questions.”

“I might.” So much for snuggling. She instantly wondered if they had a past.

“She’s just a friend,” he stated as if reading her mind. “We met when our kids became friends at summer camp. Charlie and André really hit it off.”

“Where is she?” asked Darcy. “Is she coming up for the holidays?” Her stomach curdled. There was a spare twin bed in her room. Was she going to have to share it with Sofía Vergara’s twin?

“Unfortunately, no.”

Whew, thought Darcy. “That’s too bad,” she said. Liar.

“She had to go away for a while. Until February, actually.”

“She’s not going to be with her kids at Christmas?”

“She can’t. See...” He planted his elbows on his knees and stared into the fire. “She got in some trouble earlier this year. Legal trouble.”

“Oh gosh.”

“Made a bad decision. Her kids’ father is not a good guy. He was running drugs and convinced her to make a delivery for him. It’s always just a simple transaction, right? That’s what they always say.”

“And she got caught holding the bag.”

“Yes. She could have been sentenced up to twenty-one months, but she got sixty days instead, so that’s a lot better. The bad news is, her sentence spans Christmas.”

“So that’s what she was doing at the train station. Dropping off her kids.”

“Yep. We’re trying to make it as easy as possible for them.”

“Wow. That’s incredible of you to take the kids.” What a kind thing to do, she thought. She wondered if, under similar circumstances, she would be that kind.

“I just thought about Charlie. If I were facing a similar situation, I would hope someone would do the same for him.”

“How are they doing?”

“Pretty well. They think she went away for work. The little girl, Angelica, does, anyway. André... I think he suspects. Maya’s a full-time nanny to a family in New York. She was. They’ve let her go, so she’ll have to start over after her release. Anyway, that’s the story of Maya and me.”

“I am really impressed,” she said. “You’re incredibly generous.”

“Doesn’t feel that way. I want to make sure the kids have the best Christmas possible.”

“So far so good,” she said. “They seem really excited to be here.”

“Angelica still believes in Santa Claus, a hundred percent. So when they all go see Santa tomorrow, we need to pay attention to what she wants for Christmas. Because no matter what it is, she’s getting it.”