Free Family Ties by Danielle Steel

were in love. Ted had not yet said the words, and he knew that when he did, the woman he said them to would be in his life forever. Until then, in his mind, they were having an affair. Lately Pattie cried whenever he said that to her, and she looked deeply wounded by his words. He didn’t want to mislead her, and he wasn’t sure if he was in lust or in love.
    He had hardly talked to Annie and his sisters since Thanksgiving. He just didn’t have the time, and he was always with Pattie now, whenever he wasn’t asleep or in school. She wanted to know when she was going to meet his family, and Ted had told her gently but firmly that it was too soon. He knew that he cared about Pattie, but he hadn’t figured out yet what was happening between them. And he knew without a doubt that his aunt and sisters would be extremely shaken up by her age and the fact that she had kids. Ted wasn’t ready to face the hurdle of their opinions yet. And Pattie was hurt by that too. She said she didn’t want to be the secret in his life, and she reminded him just before Christmas that that wasn’t fair to her. She wanted to be front and center in his life, not hidden in a closet. She said she was better than that, and she was extremely upset that he had told her he wouldn’t be able to see her on Christmas. He was going to be at home with Annie and his sisters, and there was no way he could invite Pattie to come by with her kids. Annie would have had a fit, and he wasn’t willing to deal with that yet. Annie had no idea she existed, let alone that she was an older woman with two kids.
    “So what am I supposed to do?” Pattie asked him plaintively when he stopped by on Christmas Eve. She had been crying for the past hour about him leaving her. “What do you expect me to do? Just sit here alone with my kids?”
    “What would you normally do, if we hadn’t met? What did you do last year?”
    “Hank had the kids, and I cried myself to sleep.” Ted looked upset, but there was no way he could spend Christmas with her. And at least her ex wasn’t taking the kids this year, so Ted knew she wouldn’t be alone.
    “I’ll try to come over the day after Christmas, or Christmas night.”
    “And what about later tonight?” Pattie asked, dabbing at her eyes.
    “I can’t. I told you, we have dinner at home and go to midnight mass.”
    “How touching, and how un-Christian to leave the woman you love sitting at home alone.”
    “You’ll be with Jessica and Justin,” he said gently. “And I can’t do anything about it. My aunt wouldn’t understand if I went out tonight. It’s our tradition.” She made him feel like Scrooge.
    “You sound like you’re twelve years old,” Pattie complained, and then she looked disappointed when he gave her a beautiful white cashmere sweater that had cost him a fortune. She didn’t say it to him in words, but the message came across clearly that she had hoped for something like a ring, a promise ring of some kind. She had been talking about it for days, giving him strong hints, but Ted felt it was too soon. They had only been dating for four weeks, and as much in love as Pattie said they were, it still seemed very new to Ted. There was plenty of time for a ring of some kind later. He was not thirty-six years old like her, he was only twenty-four, and this was only the second serious relationship he’d ever had.
    The compromise they finally came to was that he would try to drop by for a while on Christmas night, but he had already warned her that he couldn’t spend the night, whether her kids were there or not. Pattie had been talking about paying Mrs. Pacheco to have them sleep in her apartment if he came by, but he said he would have to go back to Annie’s after a few hours. She would be suspicious of what he was up to if he didn’t.
    “Maybe it’s time for you to grow up,” Pattie said unkindly. “You fuck like a man, maybe you should act like one too.” He was hurt by what she said, and she