Holiday Wishes by Nora Roberts Page B

her community projects. He couldn’t impose on her by asking her to watch the twins. Kim’s after-school schedule was filling up, and he simply couldn’t accept the idea of having his children becoming latchkey kids.
    Still, the solution had suited everyone. Kim would take the kids to her rehearsals, and he would save his sister a trip to school by picking them all up and driving them home.
    Kim would have a driver’s license in a few more months. A fact she was reminding everyone about constantly. But he doubted he’d plunk his boys down in the car with his sixteen-year-old niece at the wheel, no matter how much he loved and trusted her.
    You coddle them. Mac rolled his eyes as his sister’s voice played in his head. You can’t always be mother and father to them, Mac. If you’re not interested in finding a wife, then you’ll have to learn to let go a little .
    Like hell, he would, Mac thought.
    As he neared the auditorium, he heard the sound of young voices raised in song. Subtle harmony. A good, emotional sound that made him smile even before he recognized the tune. A Christmas hymn. It was odd to hear it now, with the sweat from his day just drying on his back.
    He pulled open the auditorium doors, and was flooded with it. Charmed, he stood at the back and looked out on the singers. One of the students played the piano. A pretty little thing, Mac mused, who looked up now and then, gesturing, as if to urge her classmates to give more.
    He wondered where the music teacher was, then spotted his boys sitting in the front row. He walked quietly down the aisle, raising a hand when he saw Kim’s eyes shift to his. He settled behind the boys and leaned forward.
    “Pretty good show, huh?”
    “Dad!” Zack nearly squealed, then remembered just in time to speak in a hissing whisper. “It’s Christmas.”
    “Sure sounds like it. How’s Kim doing?”
    “She’s real good.” Zeke now considered himself an expert on choral arrangements. “She’s going to have a solo.”
    “No kidding?”
    “She got red in the face when Miss Davis asked her to sing by herself, but she did okay.” Zeke was much more interested in Nell right then. “She’s pretty, isn’t she?”
    A little amazed at this announcement—the twins were fond of Kim, but rarely complimentary—he nodded. “Yeah. The prettiest girl in school.”
    “We could have her over for dinner sometime,” Zack said slyly. “Couldn’t we?”
    Baffled now, Mac ruffled his son’s hair. “You know Kim can come over whenever she wants.”
    “Not her.” In a gesture that mimicked his father, Zack rolled his eyes. “Jeez, Dad. Miss Davis.”
    “Who’s Miss Davis?”
    “The m—” Zeke’s announcement was cut off by his twin’s elbow.
    “The teacher,” Zack finished with a snarling look at his brother. “The pretty one.” He pointed, and his father followed the direction to the piano.
    “She’s the teacher?” Before Mac could reevaluate, the music flowed to a stop and Nell rose.
    “That was great, really. A very solid first run-through.” She pushed her tousled hair back. “But we need a lot of work. I’d like to schedule the next rehearsal for Monday after school. Three forty-five.”
    There was already a great deal of movement and mumbling, so Nell pitched her voice to carry the rest of her instructions over the noise. Satisfied, she turned to smile at the twins and found herself grinning at an older and much more disturbing version of the Taylor twins.
    No doubt he was the father, Nell thought. The same thick dark hair curled down over the collar of a grimy T-shirt. The same lake-water eyes framed in long, dark lashes stared back at her. His face might lack the soft, slightly rounded appeal of his sons’, but the more rugged version was just as attractive. He was long, rangy, with the kind of arms that looked tough without being obviously muscled. He was tanned and more than a little dirty. She wondered if he had a dimple at the left corner