Mari stood and faced Leigh as every noise in the restaurant came to a stop. “I don’t know who you are; Leigh, is it? But I do know you don’t have a clue what you’re talking about. See I spent Thanksgiving with Beau at his ranch. Then the day after we had a few kisses in my office. He’s been to see me every day since and spent most of today with me walking around and enjoying Santa’s Village. Then tonight he’s brought me to have dinner and do some dancing. So while you may have only gotten two dates with him, I’m well past that. So if you’ll excuse us, my man and I would like to eat so we can dance. Bye, bye.”
Leigh flushed and then turned and huffed off. Not long after that their food came and Beau and Mari ate and chatted. Once they were done he pulled her onto the dance floor where they held each other close and danced. His lips or hers found the others several times throughout the night. When they finally left and headed back to the park Beau knew that this wasn’t something he was willing to give up. He wasn’t going to wait on Vi to graduate or for things to be settled. No, he was going to continue to date Mari and before too much longer he was going to make sure she knew he meant to marry her.
They walked to her door and he pulled her into his arms again. “I had a great time tonight Mari, and I’m not willing to let you go. I want you to be mine. Not for one or two dates but for all your dates and all my dates.”
She looked up at him with those eyes that called to his very soul. “Perhaps you weren’t listening when I told Leigh that you were mine. You had better not be attempting to date anyone but me from now on, Beau Hart, or I’ll make what I put that poor girl through seem like a walk in the park to you. Do you understand me?”
He lowered his head and caught her lips in his, taking their kisses even deeper and when he licked the seam of her lips this time she opened to him and he did plunder her mouth. Tasting her, stroking her mouth and making sure she knew exactly what he understood. When they came up for air she placed several small kisses on his neck as she lowered off her toes. “Good. I’ll see you tomorrow then.”
“Until tomorrow, Mari. Sleep sweet.”
“I will Beau, dream of me tonight.”
He smiled and without thinking answered her. “Just like every night, love.”
He watched her close her door and heard it latch before he wandered back to his truck and drove home.
Chapter Eight
M ari walked into the office the day after her date with Beau to find Vivian sitting in her office with coffee and doughnuts from Mrs. Claus’s Bakery. She looked at Mari and smiled. “So spill, my brother dragged in around eleven last night and he had bright red lipstick all up and down his neck. How do you think that happened, Mari Christmas, you strumpet?”
Mari took the cup Vi held out to her and picked up an angel cream filled pastry. “What did Beau tell you?”
Vivian sighed. “Absolutely nothing. My brother is a true cowboy, he doesn’t kiss and tell. But we’re girls, so dish about this date.”
Mari giggled. “I’m not giving you a blow by blow of my date with your brother. I will tell you I didn’t think he was going to let me leave the cottage. He took one look at my outfit and ordered me to go change.”
“He didn’t!”
“He sure did; said he’d end up in a fight if I wore what I had on. I laughed at him and made him take me anyway.”
“And did he have to threaten anyone?”
“No, but I thought I was gonna have to slap a girl. That Leigh girl you told me about. She walked up and called me a hussy after your brother staked his claim by kissing me in the restaurant.”
“What?”
Mari nodded. “She told me I must be the type of girl to spread my legs on the first date. So I politely informed her that Beau and I spent Thanksgiving together, and every day since and that dinner was my second date of the day with him. That shut her up especially when I told her he was my man and we wanted to enjoy dinner and a few dances.”
“Oh, Mari Christmas, you are so on Santa’s naughty list.”
“Well since the man in red works for me, I think I’m a-okay.”
“So tell me about those lipstick stains on my brother’s neck.”
“I’ve told you all I’m going to tell you, except to say we ate and danced and had a very nice time. I made it plain to your brother that we are exclusive and I expect him to act like it.”
“Well that’s no fun. I wanted to know if he curled your toes at least.”
“Let’s just say that your brother knows how to kiss and leave it at that.”
Vivian stuck out her tongue and blew a raspberry at Mari. “A three-year-old knows how to kiss, that doesn’t tell me anything.”
Mari leaned close and said. “I honestly don’t think you want me to tell you what your brother’s kisses do to me. There are some things a little sister doesn’t need to know about her brother.”
Vivian’s eyes got big. “EWW, don’t say anything else. I don’t want to know.”
“Don’t want to know what?” came a masculine voice from the doorway and both Mari and Vivian spun to see Beau leaning up against the door frame, a bunch of red tulips in a vase.
“None of your business, Beau. My friend and I were engaging in some prework girl talk. What are you doing here this morning?” Vivian asked.
“I wanted to bring my girl some flowers to tell her how beautiful she is.”
He walked up to Mari, pulled her close with one arm, then leaned down and kissed her so thoroughly that her arms snaked around his neck and one foot popped off the ground like in the movies.
“Will you stop slobbering on my boss at work, please. I don’t need to see that ever.”
Beau pulled back from her lips and looked at his sister. “Hey, Lil Bit, you keep telling me to stop treating you like a child because you’re a woman. Well, this is me not treating you like a child and kissing my girl when I feel like it.”
“Since when am I your girl?” Mari said flippantly. “Last we talked you didn’t want to get into a relationship until your sister was settled in a career and done with university.”
Beau sat the vase on Mari’s desk and took her into his arms. “Like she keeps telling me, she is an adult and can take care of herself. I think maybe it’s time I started thinking about my own future. I’m thirty-one, Mari. I’m ready to settle down and start a family. But only with the right woman. Do you know anyone who might be willing to be that woman?”
Mari looked up into his whiskey colored eyes and saw the starbursts of darker amber in them. She swallowed at the attraction she saw in them and something deeper, love maybe? At least the beginnings of love. She cleared her throat that was suddenly so dry she felt like she’d swallowed sand. “I might know a woman who would want the job,” she whispered.
His sister walked up and slapped him on the back of the head. “Beauregard Nigel Hart, that better not be how you plan on proposing to my friend. Mari deserves a real proposal, not that backhanded half a proposal thing you just did.”
Beau turned to his sister. “For your information, Vivian Delta Hart, that wasn’t a proposal, it was a gauging of interest. When I propose to the love of my life and your future sister-in-law, you and everyone else will have no doubt that’s what I’m doing.”
Mari looked at him and could see it wouldn’t be long before she got that proposal. She wondered at what he was planning because she could see the wheels turning behind his eyes. He kissed her again and then said “I brought you tulips because the florist said they have a dual meaning. Red tulips signify beauty and the black heart shaped stem in the middle signifies the giver’s passion is dark because it’s so deep for the receiver.”
Mari blushed and then kissed him again, keeping it light. “I love them, thank you.”
Beau nodded at his sister. “Do you think if I brought you lunch this afternoon we could kick my sister out of your office for a private romantic moment or ten?”
Vivian laughed. “You’d better propose soon, big brother, or I might en
d up an aunt before I’m a sister-in-law.”
“I’ll propose when the time is right and there will be no jumping of the vows for me. That better apply to you too, Lil Bit, or I’ll know the reason why.”
Mari caught the color leaving Vivian’s cheeks and had a sinking feeling that she might need to talk to her future sister-in-law woman to woman because as sure as Beau was serious about marrying her, she knew her friend was worried she might be in a family way.
“Beau, lunch would be great but Vi and I really need to talk to the oncoming shift about keeping the numbers of people that come through the rides. Can we talk at lunch more about our future?”
He smiled and kissed her again. “Sure love, anything for you. I’ll bring sandwiches.”
“Sounds good, and a hot chocolate too, please.”
He winked as he headed for the door. “You got it.”
Mari waited until he was gone. “Want to tell me why you’re afraid you might be pregnant?”
Vivian looked at her and burst into tears. “I pray I’m not, but it’s possible. My last boyfriend didn’t take no for an answer.”
Mari pulled the girl into her arms and held her. This was every single woman’s worse nightmare. “Vivian, you need to talk to the police.”
“Why? It’s my word against his. We were dating, no one will believe me.”
“I believe you. Beau will believe you. Those words are what the guy told you, wasn’t it? That no one would believe you because you were a couple.”
Vivian nodded. “Let’s make a call and get someone in here to talk to you. A policeman. Even if nothing comes of it, you need to report it in case he tries again.”
Vivian shook her head. “That’s why I agreed to stay here and finish my courses online. If I’m not there he won’t be able to try again.”
“Don’t you still have stuff at the campus?”
“Yeah, but I’ll make Beau go with me to get it.”
“Please, for my peace, let’s report him. You don’t want to feel guilty if he does this to some other woman, do you?”
Vivian looked at her. “I hadn’t even thought of that. Okay, you call.”
Mari nodded and looked up the local number for the sheriff’s office. She knew this wouldn’t be considered an emergency and she wasn’t even sure what they could do at this point. “How late are you?”
“I’m not really yet. I’ve never been regular, you know?”
“I’ll ask the officer to pick up a test on the way in, okay. That way you’ll know.”
Vivian nodded as Mari dialed the number.
Beau sat staring at the email he’d just received from Leon. He couldn’t believe what his friend was telling him. The article about the park had been put up on the paper’s website yesterday before the actual paper came out and they had been contacted by the associated press. The article was going to be running as a human-interest story all over the United States. Leon had even been told that USA Today was running it on their human-interest page.
He had sent a link to Beau for that story.
AP- At this time of the year everyone thinks about Santa and making sure that children’s letters get to the big man. But for one town in Montana, the Christmas season isn’t just a few short weeks out of the year. North Pole, Montana has made a living out of Santa and his famous workshop. The town has a year-round amusement park called Santa’s Village that employs most of the town folks. Even the businesses not in the park stay in operation because of the families that come all year long to ride rides and visit the home of Santa and Mrs. Claus.
But for the last eleven years there’s been a Grinch in North Pole trying to shut down the park. A member of the local city council has proposed the same motion every holiday season since 2007. A motion to not renew the operations license for the park. The park owned by the Christmas family (Yes really, the Christmas family) has been run for the past fifty years by the same couple, Nick and Dora Christmas. Nick and Dora have stood against this councilperson silently reminding the town’s leaders of the memories and stories they themselves have of time spent at the park. But this year due to health reasons Nick and Dora have retired and left North Pole, leaving their niece in charge.
Once again the motion has been made but this year Nick and Dora Christmas aren’t there to remind the leaders of the town about their own personal connections to Santa’s Village. Their niece has only been in charge a short time and has already made upgrades to the park bringing it into the twenty-first century with a website www.santasvillagenp.com and Facebook and Instagram pages. However, she doesn’t know the stories of the park. Not the personal ones.
This reporter has been told that thousands of tourist every year visit the park and locals even have their own stories and legends about the park. But without those stories this may be the year that the Grinch steals Christmas from the town of North Pole and closes what is an American institution for tourist. We the press would like to help the Christmas family and North Pole keep their park alive. To do that we need your help. If you have ever visited Santa’s Village Amusement Park in North Pole, Montana, and have a fond memory or story, will you share it with the town of North Pole? You can email your stories to [email protected] and we will publish some in our local paper, but make sure that each and every story gets to the town council in print form. You can mail your letters to Santa’s Village Letters, Care of North Pole Times, P.O. Box 1010, North Pole, Montana, 00000. If you are in North Pole on January 4th of next year and wish to speak to the council on this matter, the meeting is open to the public and will start around six pm. Let’s show the Grinch that the spirit of Christmas is alive and well and living in North Pole, Montana.
The article in the North Pole Times had been harsher and had mentioned Sylvia by name and what her accusations against the park were. But this piece had been toned down to reach a wider audience. Leon had emailed him to let him know that emails had already started flooding in so fast that they had to hire temps to do nothing but print off the letters and stack them. Beau couldn’t wait to share this with Mari at lunch. But for now he need to talk to Mr. Johnstone at the jewelry store. He wanted his paternal grandmother’s ring cleaned, and if needed, resized before Christmas Eve. He had an idea for how to propose to his Mari Christmas, one steeped in tradition and maybe even a little bit of a Christmas legend.
Chapter Nine
T ime flew as Beau and Mari spent every spare minute together. They were almost never seen apart in the weeks getting closer to Christmas. Locals recognized them, making it hard for the two of them to spend any alone time together. Beau had gotten Vi to help him figure out Mari’s ring size and his paternal grandmother’s ring had been cleaned and sized to fit her perfectly. Things had gotten exciting with the park as well. Letters, both email and regular mail, had poured in to the point that the post office was bringing the regular mail to the Park office now instead of the newspaper office. Leon too had started forwarding the emails to the park’s email account and Mari and Vivian had hired a bunch of local teens to print the letters off and stack them in bins.
The Television news, not to be left out of the story, had come and done a story on the park and they’d even offered to send a crew to Christmas Florida to do a live satellite link for Nick and Dora to attend the City Council meeting. The Mayor agreed to let them attend that way and Mari was feeling more confident that with that and all the letters and her plans for the next year, she would secure the license for another year. Beau agreed with her and because of that he’d gotten Vivian to help him with a very special plan for his proposal. Tonight was Christmas Eve and that meant his and Vi’s tradition of riding the reindeer together on the Christmas carousel. Tonight he’d take Mrs. Claus’s note to heart and bring a little truth to a local legend.
He looked at his watch, the time had come and he and Vi had their ride and then she went to get Mari who was waiting for him at her cottage. He stood beside the swan sleigh and waited.
He saw Vi leadi
ng Mari his way and quickly sat in the sleigh. His attention locked on the woman he loved and then he caught a movement out of the corner of his eye and saw Leigh Cranston making a beeline for him and the sleigh. She just wouldn’t give up in her quest to force him to date her.
Mari came up beside Leigh also headed for him and the sleigh. Just as the two drew close it seemed to Beau like Leigh tried to trip Mari keeping her from getting in the sleigh first. The act backfired however, dumping Mari right into his lap. Leigh stood there looking shocked. The locals seeing Beau and Mari in the swan together, her sitting on his lap, started chanting. “Kiss, Kiss, Kiss, Kiss.”
Mari looked around startled as she noticed the eyes of everyone on the carousel were locked on her and Beau. “What’s going on?”
“There’s a local legend about this sleigh, Mari. I’m afraid they won’t stop until we kiss.”
She leaned into him. “A legend, hmm? And it demands a kiss?”
“That’s part of it, yes.”
“Well it is my park, so who am I to stand against tradition and legend?”
He pulled her close and kissed her, letting all the passion and love he felt for her into the kiss. She gave back as good as she got and all the chanting turned to cheers. Beau reluctantly pulled away from her lips and took the microphone his sister handed him. “There’s a legend, Mari, about this carousel and this sleigh in particular. The legend is that any couple who sits in it on Christmas Eve will be married by New Year’s Day. I was recently told there is a bit of truth in every legend and I know there’s more than a bit in this one. I’ve gone through those letters we’ve been receiving and have found over one hundred couples who say that they sat where we are sitting and shared a kiss on Christmas Eve and they were all married by New Year’s Day.”
Music Box Christmas (The Ornamental Match Maker Book 3) Page 6