A Steele Christmas
A Steele Christmas"AUGH!" Laura Holt was ranting as her "boss" entered the offices of Remington Steele Investigations. "I can't believe that man!" she told Mildred, obviously angry.
Remington gave her a wary look. "Really, Laura. I haven't done anything to warrant this reaction."
"It's not YOU, Mr. Steele. It's our new client. Mr. Noel."
Remington frowned. "Mr. Noel. Ah, that's right. You were meeting with him while I was forced to attend yet another dreary meeting. And this one was worse than the last."
"Please, Mr. Steele," Laura said through clenched teeth. "This is MY crisis we're discussing at the moment."
"What crisis, Miss Holt?" Mildred asked. "I thought he wanted the agency to find his missing daughter?"
"The man's daughter is missing?" Remington questioned, concerned. "Of course we'll locate the child."
"She's not a child," Laura informed him. "She's nearly twenty five. Mr. Noel thinks she's run off with her current boyfriend. He found this in her room."
Remington and Mildred both examined the torn section of newspaper that contained an advertisement for reduced airline fares to Aspen, Colorado. "Aspen?"
"Apparently her boyfriend is a ski instructor there," Laura told him. "She met him during a visit last year. Mr. Noel is afraid the man is after her inheritance, wants us to find her, and check out the boyfriend."
"We'll make reservations for next week," he began, sounding delighted with the prospect as he rubbed his hands together. "Ah, Aspen. Hot buttered rum, a roaring fire-"
"He wants us to leave tomorrow," Laura told him.
"Very well. We'll leave-" his words were cut off by Laura's frustrated glare. "Is there a problem?"
"Tomorrow's Christmas Eve, Chief," Mildred reminded him."
"Ahh," Remington said, understanding Laura's anger at last. Christmas was important to Laura. She'd told him last year that it was her favorite holiday. The woman practically turned into a bloody elf this time of year. Even now, she was wearing a plastic holly leaf in her hair as decoration. She had even tried to convince him to join her at her sister's on Christmas Day. "Did you inform Mr. Noel that you had plans?"
"Of COURSE I did!" Laura said. "But he insisted that he had to find Joy as soon as possible. Something about her inheritance kicking in on her birthday- which is tomorrow."
He sighed. "You go spend the day with your family," he told her. "I'll go to Aspen, see what I can dig up."
"Alone?" Laura asked. "I don't think that's a good idea, Mr. Steele. MUST I remind you that I'M the one with the private investigator's license?"
"Not bloody likely," Remington muttered. "So what ARE we going to do?"
"Go to Aspen, I suppose," she told him. "I don't see that we have much choice. I can't afford to turn down the retainer Mr. Noel gave us." She turned to Mildred. "Make the reservations, please, Mildred."
Mildred picked up the telephone as Laura headed toward her own office. Remington followed. "Look at it this way, Laura," he told her. "Might give us a chance to do some skiing, spend a nice, romantic evening before that blazing fire we once talked about."
"I'd rather be with my sister," Laura told him with a sour expression. She sat down, wincing at his hurt expression. "I'm sorry. It's just that- well, you know how much Christmas means to me. The idea of being away from my family is upsetting."
"At least we'll have snow," he told her. "Christmas without snow just isn't-Christmas."
Laura looked at him. "I thought you didn't like Christmas, Mr. Steele?"
"It's not that I don't LIKE the holiday, Laura," he clarified. "It's just that I've few good memories to endear it to me." He moved closer. "Who knows? This might just be the start of an entirely new tradition." Laura remained where she was, listening to that soft voice. "What was it you said? A roaring fire, two people?"
She leaned closer, as did he, only to roll his eyes as the door opened. "Oh, sorry, Mr. Steele, Miss Holt," Mildred said apologetically.
"That's all right, Mildred," Remington said.
"I got the reservations. You two are booked on the nine a.m. flight to Aspen."
***
Once on the airplane, Remington looked at Laura, who was still
wearing the holly leaf in her hair. "Was Frances very disappointed
when you called?"
"Yes. She promised to save me some of her special Christmas cake."
"Let me guess: chocolate?" he asked in a teasing voice.
Laura took a deep breath. "Let's not talk about it," she said. "It just depresses me that I won't be there."
"I'll try to make it up to you," he promised, taking her hand in his. He saw her sit back, her eyes on Los Angeles as the airplane gained altitude. "Where are we staying?" he asked.
"Mildred made reservations for us at the lodge where Joy's boyfriend works. Mr. Noel has a house in Aspen," she told him. "He checked with the neighbors, none of them have seen Joy, but he wants us to check it out, anyway, just to be certain."
"And this ski instructor that she's taken up with? What's his name?"
"Lars Milkin," Laura told him. She had shown him the photo that Mr. Noel had given to her the day before.
Remington settled back into her seat. "You know, for the first time in a long time, I think I'm actually looking forward to Christmas."
"Really?" She looked at him. "What did you do on Christmas before we met?" she asked.
He shrugged. "It was just another day, really," he told her.
"You didn't even exchange gifts? Put up a tree? Anything?"
"Oh, we usually gave each other something, and one or two times Daniel put up a Christmas tree, but by and large, we simply went on with our lives. After I went out on my own, I made it a point to try and call him on Christmas if I could, and we spent one Christmas in San Moritz," he recalled, smiling at the memory.
"It must have been a nice Christmas," she said, noting that smile.
"One of the few," he admitted. "The chalet where we stayed put up an enormous tree. You've never been to Switzerland, have you?"
"No."
"You'd like it," he told her.
"Maybe we'll go- someday," Laura said hesitantly. Talking about the future always seemed difficult for her, Remington noted.
"I'd like to show it to you. That- and the rest of Europe. There's so much more than Cannes, and Malta. Paris, for example."
"Why was that Christmas in San Moritz so special?" Laura asked him.
"I'm not sure. But for the first time, I felt as if I had a family. The chalet was family owned and operated, and they invited all of their guests to attend the festivities." He grinned in remembrance. "They mistook Daniel for my father, and instead of disabusing them of that notion, we let it stand. I must say, it was rather nice, that feeling of having a family, even if it was only make believe."
"Daniel Chalmers as your father?" Laura commented. "Heaven forbid."
"Don't be so hard on him, Laura," Remington said. "I owe him almost as much as I owe you. If it weren't for Daniel's having taken me in and polishing a diamond in the rough, then I would never have been there to become Remington Steele." His eyes met hers. "Of course, you might not consider that a blessing."
It was Laura's turn to take his hand. "Of course I do. I can't even remember what the Remington Steele I invented was supposed to look like. Everytime I try to visualize him, I see your face."
He grinned. "Why, Laura. I think you just paid me a compliment." Her smile was his reward. "You know, I think we both needed to get away from Los Angeles for Christmas this year. Especially after the fiasco last year."
Laura nodded, recalling how three men dressed as Santa held them and several others hostage in the office on Christmas Eve in an attempt to extort money from the building's owner. "At least my Christmas wasn't a total loss last year. I got to Frances' in time for dinner." Her next question was wary, uncertain. Her questions about his past had usually caused him to fall silent. "Surely when you were a child there had to have been ONE Christmas that was happy."
Remington nodded slowly. "Not that I recall. Most of the people I stayed with simply saw the day as yet another excuse to drink too much and fight even more. It got to where as soon as I saw a Christmas tree go up, I found a place to hide."
Laura could picture the terrified little boy with dark hair and blue eyes huddled in a corner, trying to make himself as small as possible. She covered his hand with her own. "It was just the opposite with my family. Even after Daddy left, we seemed to put all our differences aside on Christmas." She grinned. "Even my mother keeps her little barbs to herself." The grin became laced with something else. "At least she DID until a couple of years ago."
Remington looked at her. "What happened to change things a couple of years ago?"
"She met you," Laura said simply. "And every year, even though I would insist that you probably had already made other plans, I barely kept her and Frances from calling you and inviting you to Christmas dinner."
"Really?" he asked.
"Well, I thought you DID have other plans. You never mentioned anything about Christmas, pro or con. I just assumed that you would go back to London or wherever for the holiday."
"Yet you relayed the invitation from you sister this year," he noted.
"I thought you might enjoy spending the holiday with-with us," she said. The hesitation wasn't lost on Remington. "As part of a family."
"But I wouldn't be. You know how fond I am of your family, Laura, but in their eyes, I'm still your employer- and that makes me an outsider."
"That's not true and you know it," she scolded gently. "Donald considers you a friend. Who did he call last month when he had that extra ticket to the Chargers game? My mother and Frances are both convinced that you can do no wrong. And the kids adore their 'Uncle' Remington." She sighed. "Sometimes I think they're disappointed when I show up alone for a visit."
"Perhaps next year," Remington said gently. "I'm just not certain that I'm ready for a real family Christmas with the Holts."
Laura squeezed his arm. "Maybe we can make some happy memories this Christmas," she said.