A Steele Christmas
A Steele Christmas"As I said, maybe they weren't here until yesterday." She opened her door. "Let's go see if Miss Noel will at least call her father."
"The first flight back to LA leaves in an hour," Remington told her.
"We should make it," Laura said as they walked up the freshly cleared sidewalk.
Remington lifted the brass doorknocker and let it fall. "Nice house," he commented, turning as the door opened. His jaw dropped, and his eyes slid to a delighted Laura. "I smell a rat," he muttered, as Mildred's smiling face greeted him. He could hear the sounds of children laughing inside.
Mildred gave them each a hug. "Merry Christmas, Miss Holt. Merry Christmas, Mr. Steele."
"Hmm," Remington murmured, still watching Laura as she removed her coat. "Care to explain?" he asked.
"Later, Harry," she said, slipping her left hand through his arm. "They're waiting for us."
"THEY?" he questioned, allowing Mildred and Laura to guide him into the living room, where Abigail Holt and the entire Piper family were gathered around a huge Christmas tree. There were empty boxes and wrapping paper strewn across the floor, with a pile of unwrapped gifts still partially hidden behind the tree. Laurie Beth Piper, her arms filled with a brand new doll, ran over to them.
"See what Santa brought me, Uncle Remington?" She held out the doll. "Isn't she the most beautiful thing you've ever seen?"
Remington picked the little girl up to more closely examine her new toy. "She's as pretty as you are," he told her.
Laurie Beth giggled, then squirmed to be let down. She ran to her mother. "Can we open the other presents now, Mommy?"
"MAY we open the presents," her sister Mindy corrected as only a big sister can.
Frances smiled at her youngest. "I suppose," she began, only to be interrupted by Remington.
"If you all wouldn't mind waiting for just one moment," he said, grabbing Laura's hand and pulling her toward the door, "Laura and I have something to discuss."
"We won't be a moment," Laura assured them as she disappeared around the corner.
He pulled her a safe distance from the doorway before confronting her. "What the- Would you PLEASE explain what's going on?"
She shrugged, fingering his tie. "I asked you to spend Christmas with us, remember?"
"And I said no," he reminded her.
"And I knew that you'd probably end up all by yourself today. I wouldn't have been able to enjoy myself at Frances and Donald's, knowing that."
"For your information, I had today all planned out," he insisted, straightening his jacket.
"Really? Care to tell me about it?"
"I was going sleep in, for starters. And then prepare a nice meal, -spend the day watching movies."
"Sounds WONDERFUL," she said, her voice dripping with sarcasm.
"So you tricked me into coming to Aspen. What about the case? I thought we were here to find Joy Noel-," he paused, his eyes widening. "Joy No-EL," he muttered.
"As in Joyeaux Noel," Laura nodded. "I knew you'd never agree to come here if you knew the real reason, so I-borrowed a page from your book." When he frowned, she grinned. "The Melnick case? San Francisco? You lead me on a wild goose chase just to get me there for a romantic weekend?"
"I remember, Laura," he said. "But-"
"And since I wanted you feel as if you had family of your own here, I invited Mildred, and-"
"Harry, my boy!"
Remington's gaze moved to the stairs to watch as Daniel Chalmers came down. "Daniel?"
"I thought I heard the door." He gave Laura a hug and kiss on the cheek. "Merry Christmas, Laura."
"Merry Christmas, Daniel," she replied. "Thank you for coming."
"Oh, I wouldn't have missed it for the world, my dear," he assured her, turning to embrace Remington. "Merry Christmas, Harry."
Mildred's head appeared through the doorway. "Everything okay out here?" Her eyes narrowed in disapproval as she saw Daniel.
"Fine, Mildred," Laura said. "We'll be right there."
After another dark glance in Daniel's direction, Mildred disappeared. He sighed. "I don't think she likes me very much," he said. "I suppose she's heard too much about me. Pity, though. She's really an attractive woman."
Remington looked at him, ignoring the remark. "I thought you had plans to spend the day in Nice?"
"Oh, you know me, Harry. I'm adaptable. When Laura called and told me what she was planning and asked me to join in, I couldn't very well say no, could I, now?"
"As I recall, you DID say no at first," Laura reminded him. "And then called back last week and said he'd changed his mind," she told Remington.
Remington gave Daniel a hard look. "WHEN did she call and ask you here?"
"A month ago, I think. Isn't that right, Laura?"
"Something like that," Laura agreed as Abigail Holt's blonde head appeared in the doorway.
"Laura, Remington, -" Her lips curved into a smile as she saw Daniel. "Daniel. I didn't realize you had come back downstairs."
"Only just," he told her. "Thought I'd stop and say hello to Harry and Laura."
"You DO like the tie, don't you?" she asked.
Daniel lifted a hand to unnecessarily adjust the tie in question. "Of course I do. Perfect choice, my dear." He studiously ignored the looks he got from Laura and Remington.
"We're ready to open the other gifts," she told them.
"We'll be along in a moment, Abigail," Remington said. "Uh, Laura, why don't you join your mother while I ask Daniel about something?" He punctuated his request by lifting her left hand and bringing it to his lips.
"You won't be long?" she asked suspiciously.
"Only a moment." He waited for them to enter the living room before asking his mentor, "A month? So you knew about this when I called you last week and invited you to Los Angeles for Christmas."
"Actually, I'd turned Laura down until that call. Told her the same thing I told you: I was planning to spend the holiday in Nice. But when you called and told me what you intended to do, I called her back and said that I'd changed my mind."
"You didn't tell her about-?"
"Harry. You've never accused me of being a snitch before." He slapped Remington lightly on the back. "It would seem that congratulations are in order, since she's wearing the ring."
"Maybe," Remington agreed. "I thought you didn't approve of Laura?"
"Perhaps, in the early days. But I've come to realize that you're right where you belong. You have a name you can be proud of, a place to call home, people who truly care about you for the first time in your life. I've known for some time that you wouldn't be returning to the life, my boy. Any noises to the contrary were simply a way to test your resolve- and hers."
"Oh, Daniel," Remington said with a smile as he felt a small hand slide into his. Looking down, he found Laurie Beth Piper, standing there, her doll in her other arm. "Hello, there," he said, bending down to pick her up. "What are you up to, poppet?"
Laurie Beth giggled. "Don't you want to see what Santa left for you?"
"Oh, indeed I do," he agreed. "Coming, Daniel?"
Daniel shook his head and smiled at the picture his friend made, carrying the brown haired little girl into the other room. One could almost imagine that the girl was Harry's child-his and Laura's. With a sigh, he followed Harry and the child.
***
Mildred had watched Laura and Remington closely since their arrival.
There had been SOMETHING in Laura Holt's voice when they'd spoken
earlier on the telephone that had set Mildred's intuition into
high gear. Now, as she watched Laura kneeling beside the pile
of presents behind the tree, she noticed that her employer looked
younger, happier than she remembered ever seeing her.
Remington's entrance confirmed Mildred's suspicions. His and Laura's eyes met, and for a moment it looked as if they thought themselves the only two people in the entire world. Mildred couldn't help but notice how right he looked, with a little girl I his arms. Laurie Beth squirmed and he set her onto her feet as Laura announced, "Your presents are over there, next to that chair."
Remington noted the stack of brightly wrapped packages as Laurie Beth pulled him toward the chair. "See, Uncle Remington? I told you that Santa left you something."
"So you did, poppet." He sat down, eyeing the gifts. "There a certainly a lot of them, aren't there? Why don't you play elf and help me unwrap some of them?"
Laura Beth giggled again. "Oh, no. Elves don't UNwrap presents. They only wrap them."
"Ahh," Remington nodded, exchanging amused glances with the other adults in the room as Danny and Mindy Piper rolled their eyes and continued handing out the other gifts.
Danny Piper placed a package into Mildred's hands- TWO packages, actually. One was from her "kids"- Remington and Laura. The second had no name on the "From" tag. Mildred was about to ask about it when she noticed something catch the light of the Christmas tree. Her eyes widened as she finally saw the diamond on Laura's left hand. "Miss Holt-" Abigail, sitting nearby, gasped, and Mildred guessed that she'd seen the ring as well.
"Laura- WHERE did you get that ring?"
Laura, in the process of tearing the wrapping from one of her gifts (in a manner MOST unlike her usual careful removal), stopped and lifted her hand for everyone to see. "Oh, this old thing? It was a gift." Her shining eyes moved to Remington.
Remington squirmed as Laura's family all turned to look at him as well. "Gave it to her last night," he told them, attacking one of his own gifts.
"I suppose- congratulations are in order, then?" Donald asked cautiously.
"You'll have to ask Laura about that," Remington informed him, his gaze reminding Laura that paybacks could be hell.
"Well, we haven't actually set a DATE," Laura confirmed, fingering a bow with nervous fingers. Suddenly her face lit with a smile that warmed Remington's heart. "But I think we can safely say that you're getting the Christmas present you've always wanted Mother."
Abigail practically flew across to the room to enfold her younger daughter in her arms. "Oh, Laura. I had almost decided that this was NEVER going to happen!" she declared. "We're going to have SO much fun, planning a wedding, aren't we, Frances? We can invite everyone. I'm sure the Mayor of Los Angeles would be delighted to attend Remington Steele's wedding, don't you?"
"Uh-oh," Mildred murmured from her place near Remington.
Remington tensed at that statement, seeing the abject terror on Laura's face at the thought of being forced into her mother's company while planning a huge wedding. He felt Daniel's hand on his shoulder, and looked up, trying to decide how best to proceed when Donald Piper saved the day.
"Abigail, maybe Remington and Laura would prefer a small, quiet wedding. Just family and friends."
Remington sent Frances' husband a grateful look then tried to answer Abigail Holt's next question. "Surely not, Remington. I mean, you're such a well known figure in Los Angeles."
"Donald's right, Abigail. It's precisely because I spend so much time in the public eye because of business that I really think it would be best for Laura and myself to keep our marriage low key." Was he really sitting here, calmly discussing marrying Laura, he wondered? He saw Abigail's disappointment, and wondered briefly if his statement had made an enemy of his future mother in law. But Abigail's disappointment fled quickly as she bounced back, as she always seemed to do.
She smiled, and came over to give him a kiss on the cheek. "Oh, well. At least she'll finally be settled and I can stop worrying about her."
"MOTHER," Laura managed between clenched teeth.
"I must say that I'm glad to know that she won't be chasing people all over Los Angeles anymore-"
"Who says she won't be?" Remington asked. "I'd never dream of asking Laura to give up her job. She's one of the agency's most valuable assets. I'd be foolish to even suggest that she stay at home and do the cooking and cleaning."
Frances' soft laughter broke the silence. "It's a good thing. You'd starve to death. Laura's definitely NOT a cook." She reached over to give her sister a hug. "Best wishes, Laura. I can't tell you how happy I am for you."
"Thank you, Frances."
Laurie Beth looked at Remington with wide brown eyes that reminded him strongly of her aunt's. "Are you gonna be my uncle for REAL?"
"It looks that way."
She threw her arms around his neck. "Good. Because if she didn't marry you, I would."
The adults laughed, and Daniel said, "May I add my best wishes, Laura? I think that the day Harry found you was probably the luckiest day in his life."
Laura met her former adversary's eyes with a smile. "No, Daniel. It was the second luckiest day. The first was the day he met you." Her public acknowledgement of Daniel Chalmers' importance in the life of the man they both loved was a surprise.
Daniel cleared his throat. "Thank you, my dear."
Mildred gave Remington a hug. "Congratulations, Chief," she said, wiping a tear from her cheek. "I wondered when you two were going to realize how right you are for each other."
"I knew the moment I met Laura," Remington confessed. "It just took me a little time to convince her."
Laurie Beth tugged on Remington's sleeve. "Aren't you going to open the rest of your presents?"
***
Later, after what had turned into a celebratory dinner replete with champagne, Remington and Laura returned to their hotel. Once the door closed behind them, Laura turned into his arms. "Now, was spending Christmas with my family so terrible?" she asked.
"I think I could get used to the idea," he admitted as she began to unbutton his shirt after slipping his jacket from his shoulders.
"Now, if Daniel can just convince my mother not to move back to Los Angeles, things will be perfect."
"Speaking of Daniel, Laura, did you notice the way he and Mildred kept NOT looking at each other all evening?"
"I wasn't paying much attention," she confessed, pulling his shirt from his pants. "For two people who don't like each other, they were making a big show of not letting the other see them watching."
She stopped. "You don't think that Mildred and- DANIEL? Oh, no. Mildred's too smart to fall for someone like him."
"You did," he reminded her.
"I fell in love with Remington Steele. Remington HARRISON Steele."
"Hmm," he muttered as she led him toward the bedroom. "Laura- one more question about this little wild goose chase you led me on: if Joy Noel and her father didn't exist, how do you explain everyone here knowing Lars Milkin?"
She pushed him onto the bed, giving him a long kiss before drawing back, taking his tie with her, to begin removing her own clothes. "Because he DOES work here. I went to college with his sister. They live here in Aspen- and he IS getting married in two days. If you'll remember, no one we talked to mentioned his fiancée's name."
He lay there, watching as she slowly removed her sweater and slacks, teasing and tantalizing him with her every move. "Come here," he said.
Laura smiled with relief but remained where she was. "I was beginning to think you wanted to talk all night, Mr. Steele."
"Just wanted to get a few things straight," he told her, watching as first one strap of her teddy fell, then the other. She crossed her arms and turned away from him, then allowed the scrap of fabric to fall to the floor. Turning, she fell back on top of him. "Sorry I didn't have any fans," she said.
"I think I can live without them," he said, pausing to look into her eyes. "I love you, Laura. For now and for as long as I live."
"Harry-"
"Hmm?"
"Shut up and kiss me."
"You're the boss, Miss Holt," he said, obediently pulling her head down to follow her orders as she whispered a response.