No Place Like Home (Holiday Classics) by Fern Michaels Read Free Book Online Page A

promises. You can go first, Dad, because you’re the authority figure. Any promises we make today, we have to honor forever and ever. Is it a deal?”
    “Of course it’s a deal,” he said happily. “A promise should never be broken. A man or a woman is only as good as his or her word. I want you all to remember that. Since I’m going first, here’s what I would like you to promise me. I want your promise that you will never knowingly do anything to shame your grandmother, me, or yourselves. Whatever you undertake in life, I want you to give a hundred percent and no skimping anywhere along the way.”
    “We promise,” the Trips said in unison.
    “Good. I promise the same thing.”
    “Can we promise always to spend Christmas together? It was Mom’s favorite time of the year, and she said she didn’t care about other holidays, but everyone had to be home for Christmas,” Hannah asked, a catch in her voice.
    “That’s a really good promise. I promise,” Jonathan said.
    “We do, too.”
    “I have a question before the promise,” Sam said. “What will happen if…if something happens to Cisco? Will you get married again? What if we don’t like who you’re going to marry?”
    Jonathan cleared his throat. “Nothing’s going to happen to Cisco for a very long time.” He hoped he spoke the truth. “We’ll go on, though, if something does, just the way we did when your mom died. We’ll stick together because we’re a family. Family is the most important thing in the world. I promise you that I will not marry anyone you don’t like. I would never do something like that to you. I want you all to stop reading those wicked stepmother stories. Do you hear me?”
    “We hear you,” they bellowed.
    “Promise us that we can always stay with Cisco. Promise us that we’ll take care of her if she gets sick.”
    Jonathan nodded. “That’s an easy promise.”
    “I’m going to write all this down when we get back home, and we’ll each get a copy,” Sara said. “We have to save this list of promises forever and ever, okay, Dad?”
    “You bet. They’re all wonderful promises. They’ll be easy to honor.”
    The balance of the trip was filled with other promises.
    “Promise we can date when we turn sixteen.”
    “Promise we get to drive every weekend when we get our licenses.”
    “Promise three trips a year to New York and to Mom’s grave in Metuchen.”
    And then the best promise of all. “Let’s all promise to love each other the way Mom loved us and not let anyone or anything ever come between us.”
    Jonathan laughed. It was such an easy promise to make. He pulled the car to the side of the road and came to a full stop. He turned to look at his children and smiled as he plopped his hand down on the back of the headrest. Six hands slapped down on top of his. His left hand was the last to complete the tower. This was the Trips’s way of sealing the deal.
    Fishing, hiking, swimming, campfires, storytelling, sharing memories. It was going to be a wonderful five days.
    The sound of the telephone woke him from his dream. He groaned and rolled over, his eye going to the caller ID next to the phone. He rolled back over. He didn’t want to talk to Alexandra at five-fifteen in the morning. He didn’t want to talk to anyone at five-fifteen in the morning.
    Today was supposed to be a nothing day. A day just to stay in, possibly watch some videos, go out to dinner, or even brave some of the stores on Fifth Avenue. He hated shopping with Alexandra.
    He knew he wasn’t going to be able to get back to sleep. He might as well get up and have some coffee.
    His head started to pound when he swung his legs over the side of the bed. Damn, how much wine had he guzzled last night? Obviously a lot, since he hadn’t felt like this since shortly after Margie died. Back then, he drank just to be able to sleep. Sometimes it helped the gut-wrenching hurt, and other times it just left him feeling numb. He probably would have