Chapter 1

Note: This story is a continuation of an older story, 'The Mistletoe Incident', to which it refers heavily, with bits of 'New Direction' and 'Spoiling It' thrown in. Merry Christmas! ~D

Standing in the foyer of Valerie and Bartholomew Mason's expansive but cozy home, Della Street realized she was welcome.

And expected.

The realization made her suddenly nervous.

It was baffling and unsettling, because she herself hadn't known she'd be anywhere near California, let alone Utah, for Christmas.

Perry hadn't been out of her sight in over twelve hours, so she knew he couldn't possibly have made a telephone call to his brother's house.

Could it be that since she had accompanied Perry to the Mason family Thanksgiving gathering in Los Angeles his sister-in-law had merely assumed she would accompany him to Utah for Christmas?

She hadn't thought about propriety or what reaction to her presence would be when Perry insisted that she spend Christmas with his family. Maybe she should have. But there really had been no time nor the inclination to think, not after spending four horrible days away from him with her awful family and finally stepping into his embrace, first beneath a fortuitously placed sprig of mistletoe and then on the dance floor, where they remained until the band packed up. She was so dang happy to be home and with Perry that nothing else mattered. They drank champagne, held hands, and stole kisses whenever they could beneath that hidden mistletoe, staring into each other's eyes as friends and colleagues whispered and winked. There wasn't a single thought spared for anyone or anything aside from the two of them living in whatever moment they became aware of.

Deciding that a twelve to fifteen hour drive to Utah would be too tiring after the tough week they had both endured, they decided to charter a private plane, and after stopping for breakfast at an all-night diner, boarded Byron's v-tail Beech Bonanza E35 for the two hour flight to Ogden-Hinckley Airport.

Which was how she came to be standing in the foyer at the home of Valerie and Bartholomew Mason on a Sunday morning, dressed in a sublime silk ball gown under a gorgeous fur coat, holding tightly to Perry's hand out of nervousness.

Valerie Mason drew Della into a warm hug, and to her great surprise, her husband Bart actually kissed her on the cheek. There was a terrible noise as Perry's three nephews tumbled down the stairs, whooping excitedly that Uncle Perry and Miss Street were there. All three teenagers hugged Della enthusiastically, and after being carefully instructed by their mother where to put every piece of luggage, scrambled back up the stairs even more noisily, jostling and squabbling the entire way. The youngest, Brett, banged against the wall, having been squeezed out by his brothers, and Valerie shook her head.

"Bart has already fixed three holes in the wall this year," she said with an indulgent sigh, turning her cheek to accept a kiss from her brother-in-law.

"They fix the next hole themselves," her husband announced gruffly. "There is no reason they have to go up and down those stairs like wild animals. Remember how startled Ken's little girl was while she was here yesterday and what she said when Brad came downstairs? 'What's that boom-boom-boom'? Pictures almost fell off the walls."

"They're boys, Bart. We're lucky the entire house hasn't come crashing down around us."

"If my two cents is worth anything," Della spoke up, "I think they are perfectly charming."

Bart grunted. "Give it a couple of hours and we'll revisit what you think." He ignored the frown his younger brother directed at him behind Della's back.

"Men are generally on their best behavior when Della is around," Perry commented, placing his hands on her shoulders and helping her out of the beaver coat.

"Oh!" Valerie exclaimed when Della's gown was revealed completely. "It's even more beautiful than I remem –" she bit off her words at Della's wide-eyed look of panic and slight shake of her head.

The men didn't seem to notice the little exchange between the women. Both heaved little sighs of relief.

"Where have you two been?" Bart demanded. "Those are pretty fancy duds for travelling clothes."

Perry flashed a grin at Della. "Last night was the Bar Association gala. Della and I outlasted the band, grabbed some breakfast, then overpaid our favorite pilot to fly us here so we wouldn't waste fifteen hours driving."

Bart grunted again. "Kids these days. Remember when we were silly enough to stay up all night, Val?"

"The band was very good," Della offered, and Bart just stared at her as Perry snickered. She bit her lip, remembering the last time her wit had gotten her in trouble with Bartholomew Mason.

Valerie smiled and linked her arm with Della's. "I'm so glad you're here, Della. It will be nice having another woman around for Christmas." She started toward the kitchen with Della in tow, but Perry stopped her.

"Val, we've been up for the better part of twenty-four hours, and the flight here was actually Della's second in forty-eight hours, so would you mind if we go upstairs and wash some of yesterday off of us? Besides, I hardly think Della's gown is proper attire for being your sous chef."

"Omigosh, why of course! I should have thought of that, but I'm just so happy that you're both here." She patted Della's arm. "Follow Perry. He knows where your rooms are. Dinner will be at one."

"I'd like to help with dinner," Della began.

"Nonsense! You're our guest. I don't know why I tried to drag you into the kitchen in that gown. Just excited I guess." Valerie turned and headed for the kitchen, motioning for her husband to follow. "There will be plenty of meals for you to help with in the next few days. Get cleaned up and rest for a while. I don't want to see either of you for at least two hours."

Perry slipped his arm around Della's waist after his brother and sister-in-law had disappeared into the kitchen. He had detected Della's nervousness the instant Valerie flung open the door and by giving her an excuse to be by herself he hoped to quell those nerves. "Are you still nervous?"

She looked at him, startled. How did he know? "Not as much," she said slowly. "I think maybe I was overwhelmed when Valerie seemed to expect me to be with you. Even Bart was nonplussed at finding me on his doorstep."

Perry guided her to the stairs and stepped back so she could precede him to the second floor. "I was surprised by their reactions, too," he admitted. "I didn't tell them I was bringing you."

"That's a very bad habit you have, Chief."

"Do you not want to be here, Della?"

Della stopped and turned to face her employer. Her perfume was faded but still detectable, her curls still bouncy, her eyes still clear and bright. She looked incredible for having so little sleep the past three days. She bent forward and placed her hands on his shoulders, affording him a perfect view of her perfect bosom. Her lips were soft and cool when they touched his lightly. "I'm very pleased to be here with you and your family, Mr. Mason."

He smiled crookedly at her. "And I'm very pleased you're here with me and my family, Miss Street. I'll see that Bart behaves."

She kissed him again. "Don't worry about your brother. I have his number." She spun with a swirl of silk skirts and continued her ascent with a natural unaffected sway to her slender hips.

"I'll just bet you do," Perry said under his breath before following his secretary up the stairs.

Della couldn't have been more pleased with the guest room Perry led her to and presented with a flourish. Appointed with pearly white hand-carved French provincial furniture, ice blue satin duvet, matching satin drapes over filmy cream shears, and permeated with the scent of lavender, it was the single most feminine room she had ever seen. She gasped at the unexpected beauty of the room and Perry pulled her to him in a quick hug.

"Valerie's pride and joy," he said, taking in the cream walls and thick cream pile carpet. "The only room in the house that is completely hers. Bart let her remodel it for their 15th anniversary. I've never even been allowed to stay in it. I always have to bunk in Bart Jr.'s room, which is, to say the least, not as nice-smelling as this room."

Della tossed back her head and laughed. "I can't believe I get to sleep in a room like this."

"It isn't nearly as beautiful as its occupant."

She clutched the lapels of his tuxedo in her hands and snuggled against him. "Thank you."

"I only speak the truth, Della."

She yawned loudly. "To me," she mumbled against the pleats of his shirt, eyes drooping with the fatigue she had managed to disguise up until that very moment.

"Take a bath and get some rest. I'll come get you," he glanced at his watch, "in one hour and forty-five minutes." He kissed the top of her head and turned her toward the en suite bathroom. "I think you will be impressed with the bathroom as well."

"I feel like a princess," she said, and yawned louder than before, a two-note vocalization.

"That is a perfect set-up line, but I've already complimented you today. Can't spoil you too much."

"Yes you can," she said, staggering toward the bathroom.

Perry stifled a laugh. "Does the princess require assistance getting out of her gown?"

Della stopped at the bathroom doorway, turned her head, and tucked her chin into her shoulder as she swept her gaze up and down his tall frame with utter disdain.

The stifled laugh became a chuckle. "I meant would the princess like me to send up a handmaiden to assist getting her out of her gown?"

Della waved her hand at him dismissively. "Away with you. The princess is completely capable of dispatching with her gown by herself."

"Don't drown in the tub or suffocate in that feather bed," Perry warned right before closing the door.

Della took a shower, not a bath, and it was heavenly after sitting in cramped airplanes and dancing in three-inch heels for more hours than she could count. Her muscles were stiff and complained with every movement once she surrendered to utter weariness caused by three days with barely five good hours of sleep. She considered crawling into bed sans night gown because it was such an effort to open her suitcase, but felt that since she was seriously offending propriety by being here with her employer, the least she could do was clothe herself properly while a guest in said employer's brother's home. There were impressionable teen-agers present, after all.

She set the alarm clock on the bedside table to ring in an hour, and fell instantly into a deep sleep, a happy smile on her face.

Perry knocked lightly on the guest room door and leaned against the jamb, ankles and arms crossed. It took Della two minutes to open the door, but whatever she had done in those two minutes was totally worth the wait.

"Hi," she fairly sang. "Is what I'm wearing all right? I didn't ask if we were dressing for dinner."

Perry bestowed a huge grin on her. The dress she wore was one of his favorites: a heather green long-sleeved shirtwaist of the softest wool with big brown buttons lined up from collar to hem, cinched at the waist with a brown suede back-buckle belt. Three-inch brown suede pumps and a carved wooden bracelet pulled the entire outfit together impeccably. He had watched several judges and opposing attorneys gape at her when she wore the dress to court and was incredibly proud that his very capable, extremely efficient, indispensable secretary was such a treat to the eyes. Those men were jealous of him because of her obvious beauty but if they truly knew her, knew how intelligent and witty, how loyal and intuitive, how kind and generous she was they would literally burst into flames with red-hot envy.

"It's perfect," he said, still grinning at her like the cat that ate the canary. He offered her his arm, and she tucked her hand into the crook of his elbow while pulling the guest room door closed behind her.

"I take it you had a nice nap," Perry observed.

She raised sparkling eyes to his as they reached the stair landing. "How could I not in that gorgeous room?"

"I'm glad one of us had a good rest."

"Oh come on, BJ's room can't be all that bad."

"He's a teen-age boy. Do you have any idea what teen-age boys smell like?"

Della slapped his arm and laughed as they descended the stairs. "I can't for one minute believe that any room in this house is less than spotless. There isn't a speck of dust anywhere or a knick-knack out of place."

"And Val does it all herself," Perry announced with pride in his sister-in-law. "Bart and I don't agree on much, but the one thing we do agree on is that he married the best woman in the world."

"I know you don't like it when I say this, but you are a very good, very nice man, Chief."

They had reached the bottom step and Perry turned to face her. One hand cupped her face while the other rested at her waist. "Make that the second best woman in the world." His head dipped and he touched his lips to hers.

"Oh my," she whispered as his teeth nipped her bottom lip and his tongue swept soothingly across the tiny bite. She tilted her head and parted her lips in invitation.

For several moments they stood in the foyer, exploring familiar contours, tongues plundering and searching, barely breathing. Perry's arm circled Della's waist and pulled her against his solid frame and she moaned, a purr deep in her throat he had never heard before and it shook him to his core. It was Perry who broke the kiss, Perry who adjusted her dress, Perry who wiped lipstick from her chin with trembling fingers.

"Chief," she said, catching his deeply blue eyes with her own, which were dark green and misty. "This…being here with you and your family…it could change everything."

"Change is good."

"Sure. As long as the change is good."

Perry smiled tenderly at her. "What are you getting at? You said you weren't uncomfortable being here"

"I'm not. I love Valerie and the boys. Bart is an acquired taste, but I'm sure I'll get used to him."

"What about me?"

"I like you."

He kissed the tip of her nose. Being liked by him, he had discovered, was very important to her. And being liked by Della Street was a great compliment indeed. "I like you, too."

"Chief, earlier…when I was nervous…it only lasted a moment. Valerie hugged me I wasn't nervous anymore. It was so different from how my own family greeted me..."

"Are you going to tell me about your trip home?" He asked as her voice trailed into silence.

She shook her head and glanced down briefly. "I don't think so. At least not until after Christmas. It's not a good story. I wasn't there five minutes when I realized that home is L.A. Home is you."

It was times like this, when they were so close to everything he hoped for, that her youth tripped him up. He had run the gamut of women and knew exactly what he wanted and needed, but she was still discovering so much about herself. Her admission demonstrated that with aching clarity. "Della," he said gently, "you've always told me you prefer the journey over the destination."

"Some destinations are be better than the journey."

"That's a very masculine viewpoint, my dear."

"It's a very human viewpoint. Getting to know you, working with you…our friendship…it's been the best journey of my life." She had never known she could be so close to a man without actual intimacy being involved. Everything with Perry Mason was a new, different experience for her and she couldn't imagine what her life would be like without him in it.

"I told you we'd have fun."

"If everything changes, if the destination isn't what either of us thought it would be, will the journey be enough to…"

Perry wrapped her in his arms and crushed her to him, mouth slanting over hers almost desperately. "Our journey isn't over, baby. In relative terms, I think we're at the very beginning. I'm glad you came home to me."

It wasn't rejection, she knew that deep within her heart, and appreciated his patience and honesty. There really was so much at stake. Even so, she couldn't help but be a little bit disappointed in herself for virtually throwing herself at him. "There is one more thing…"

Perry's shoulders shook with silent laughter. She pleased him so much. "Yes?"

"My Aunt Mae can never, ever know that I came home early and spent Christmas with your family."