Her Christmas Wish

“That’s nice.” Alina felt a pang of homesickness. She missed her own family. On holidays all the women gathered to prepare a big meal and gossip. From the time she could walk she and her sisters were welcomed into this exclusive female territory. They’d be given simple, menial chores like sorting beans or filling salt cellars and would sit for hours, enthralled by the stories, jokes and gossip of the older women. She missed that warm camaraderie, that feeling of being part of a special group, of sharing a family history that went back for centuries.

Those holidays in the family kitchen were when her grandmother Fania had first told her about the blond man she’d one day marry—the one she’d been waiting in vain for all these years.

When Alina was fifteen, her grandmother had announced one morning that she had dreamed Alina’s future. No one was surprised at this; Baka Fania was known for her ability to predict the future. She had been born with a caul, or a veil of tissue, over her face and had gypsy blood on her grandmother’s side—to everyone’s way of thinking, it would have been more surprising if she hadn’t been able to see things before they happened.

“What kind of future did you see for me?” Alina asked.

“I saw a big blond man, very handsome.” The old woman grinned. “He is the key to your future happiness. Find this man and all will be well.”

Alina had been looking for the big blond ever since.

“How long have you been in the United States?” Eric asked.

“Almost a year. I came as part of an exchange program for skilled technicians between Croatian hospitals and hospitals in the United States.”

Her parents had been horrified when she told them she’d signed up for the program. “No one else in our family has been to the United States,” her mother had scolded. “Why do you need to go?”

“I want to see what it’s like. To meet new people.” Not to mention she’d already dated every eligible man in their small town at least once and none of them had sparked any real feelings in her. Her sisters were happily married with homes of their own, and Alina wanted that, too. Since she hadn’t found the man of her dreams in her hometown, she reasoned it was time to be a little more daring and try something new. Some place new.

But she only had three and a half months left before her work visa expired, and her dream man had so far failed to materialize.

Maybe Baka Fania had been wrong. Or maybe old-time prophecy didn’t apply in the twenty-first century.

“Some friends and family are getting together tomorrow afternoon for a barbecue at my house,” Eric said. “You should come.”

She started to say no. With only a few months left in the States, she had no business starting anything with a new man, no matter how handsome he was. But Eric’s smile made her forget common sense and she found herself nodding. “Yes, I’d like that,” she said.

“Great.” He patted his pockets. “Do you have a piece of paper? I’ll write down the address.”

She searched her purse until she found a flyer about upcoming emergency training at the hospital and handed it to him. He scribbled an address and a few lines of directions. “It’s really easy to find,” he said. “Show up around two. It’s going to be fun.”

“All right.” It would be nice to get to know him better.

“I’m looking forward to seeing you again,” Eric said, his eyes locked to hers.

She nodded, struck dumb by the intensity of his gaze and surprised at the strength of her attraction to someone who was so unlike the man of her dreams.

ERIC LINGERED SO LONG at the Vinotok celebration he was almost late for his shift with Gunnison Valley Emergency Medical Services. As he clipped on his radio, his friend Maddie Ansdar emerged from the office. “I was beginning to think you weren’t going to show up,” she said.

“I stopped by Vinotok,” he said.

“How did it go?”

“Silly as usual. Zephyr stole the show with his turn as Sir Hapless.”

“What about Max?” Maddie asked. “Wasn’t he the Green Man?”

“I thought so, but Jack Crenshaw took his place—and then proposed to Tanya Bledso, right there in front of the burning Grump.”

“How romantic!” Maddie’s expression took on the soft, goopy look women wore at the mention of weddings, babies or other such subjects. Eric’s sisters were no different. And Maddie was probably more susceptible than most, since she’d been married only a few months to Eric’s fellow ski patroller, Hagan Ansdar.

“It’s crazy if you ask me,” Eric said. “What if she’d turned him down?”

“He must have been pretty sure she wouldn’t,” Maddie said. “Besides, women like men who take risks, didn’t you know that?” She grinned.

“And here I thought it was just my ski patrol uniform that attracted them.”

“Hey, Eric, Maddie.” Marty Padgett, one of their coworkers, strolled in. Over six feet tall with unruly blond curls, Marty had the sweet, round face of a cupid on a wrestler’s body.

“Hey, Marty, how’s it going?” Eric asked.

“I’m beat.” Marty sank into a chair at the table in the center of the employee locker room. “I was up late studying last night. Greek and Hebrew.” He made a face. “I’m terrible at languages.”

“I have a cousin who’s a priest,” Eric said. “He’s always studying. Very brainy.”

Marty looked even more unhappy. “I really just want to preach and help people,” he said. “I never thought getting a divinity degree would be so hard.”

“If you need to hide back in the ambulance bay and study, we won’t tell,” Maddie said. “If you’re lucky, it’ll be a slow night.”

Marty shook his head. “A Saturday night? Not likely. I’m off tomorrow. I’ll study then.”

“You’re both coming to my house tomorrow afternoon, right?” Eric asked.

“Sorry. Hagan and I both have to work,” Maddie said.

“I’ll be there,” Marty said. “I’ll hit the books after.”

“Good. There’s somebody I want you to meet.”

“Oh?” Maddie looked at him curiously.

Marty laughed. “It’s a woman, right? I can tell by your voice.”

“Alina Allinova.” Her name had a musical quality that delighted him. “A little Croatian respiratory therapist from the hospital. I met her at Vinotok tonight.”

“I know the one you’re talking about,” Marty said. “Very pretty. Sexy voice, too.”

“You’ve talked to her?” Eric felt a pinch of jealousy. Everybody liked Marty—especially women. They were always hanging on him and flirting with him, though he always said he was too busy with school and work to date much.

“Just in passing. She seems nice.”

“Croatian, huh?” Maddie said. “How did she end up in Gunnison?”

“Some exchange program with the hospital.”

“And you just met her tonight and persuaded her to come to your family’s party?” She laughed. “You work fast.”

“We really hit it off,” he said. He didn’t know how to explain what had happened: one minute he’d been laughing at Zephyr’s antics and the Vinotok play, the next he’d spotted Alina in the crowd. Everything around him had faded—his sight became fuzzy, sounds muted—as he stared at the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen.