The Secret of Santa

by Liz Isaacson

  She’d have to take it back tomorrow to get a few minor alterations completed before the shoot next week, but she’d wanted to show it to Bethany Rose. Her sister should be here any minute, and Holly Ann kicked off her shoes and hung the dress in her closet, right next to the Santa suit that was tucked away in a nearly identical black garment bag.

  Her phone chimed and the doorbell rang at the same time. Snickers barked and scampered down the hall.

  “Oh, it’s just me, you silly thing,” Bethany Rose said.

  “He needs to go out,” Holly Ann called.

  “All right,” her sister called, and her footsteps went away from the hall leading to Holly Ann’s bedroom. She stepped out of her jeans and shed her blouse, adjusted her new, amazing bra, and unzipped the bag holding her dress.

  She took it off the hanger and eased into it, turning her back toward the doorway, so when her sister entered, she wouldn’t be able to see the full beauty of the dress.

  Bethany Rose’s footsteps came closer, and then they stopped. “Holly Ann.”

  “Come help me with the zipper in the back.” Holly Ann gathered her hair over her shoulder so Bethany Rose could access the zipper.

  Her fingers held a chill as she lightly touched Holly Ann’s back. “This is a wedding dress, Hols.”

  “I’m aware.”

  “I thought you weren’t getting married until, and I quote, ‘at least October.’”

  “I’m not.”

  “It’s not even March yet.”

  “I’m aware.”

  “Okay, you’re annoying me.” Bethany Rose finished with the dress, and Holly Ann put her hair back over her shoulder. She pressed back into her sister, nudging her back until Holly Ann could see the full length of herself in the dress in the mirror.

  A sense of wonder and stillness held her in place as she gazed at the dress.

  “I see why you bought it,” Bethany Rose finally said.

  “Right?” Holly Ann asked. “It’ll be perfect in October, or July, or April.”

  “When is Ace going to ask?”

  “I don’t know.” Holly Ann smiled at herself in the mirror. “I told him I wanted it to be a surprise, and that I wanted time to date and fall even more in love with him.”

  “Yeah, that’s why he took you to New Orleans and back in a single day and then flew in hot dogs from New York City just because you said you wanted to try one.”

  Holly Ann giggled with her sister. “He’s something else,” she said. “He didn’t try this hard all of last year.”

  “He’s not trying hard,” Bethany Rose said. “He loves you, and now that he doesn’t have to hide it, he’s going to show you.”

  “I don’t need him to show me,” Holly Ann said. “I can feel it. He says it. I know it.”

  Bethany Rose rested her chin on Holly Ann’s shoulder. “Daddy said he got an offer on the house today.”

  “Oh.” Holly Ann wasn’t sure why her mood had dampened. She’d known for a while that Daddy would sell the house and leave it.

  “It’s a good offer, he said, and he’s going to take it.”

  Holly Ann nodded, and she drew in a deep breath as her doorbell rang again. She looked toward the open door, as did Bethany Ann. Snickers yowled out a series of barks, all twenty pounds of him racing toward the front door.

  “Holly Ann,” Ace’s voice came down the hall. “It’s just me.”

  “Oh, my word,” she hissed. “Get the door. He can’t see this dress!”

  Bethany Rose hurried over to the door and said, “I’ll stall him. Can you—?”

  “No, I can’t get the zipper.” Panic reared up inside Holly Ann, and Bethany slammed the door, shock on her face when she turned back. “What is he doing here?”

  “He visits his mother on Thursdays,” Holly Ann said. “He stops by in the evenings. I just forgot.” This scenario seemed so familiar to one from a few months ago that Holly Ann had to giggle as her sister unzipped her wedding gown.

  “Okay, you get out of this, and hurry up, because I’m not good with making stuff up about why you can’t come out.”

  “Just tell him I’m changing. It’s the truth,” Holly Ann said, and Bethany Rose slipped out the door through the smallest opening possible.

  She quickly pushed the dress off her hips and hung it back on the hanger. She zipped up the bag and pushed it against the one holding her Santa suit. She nudged the closet door closed and put her clothes back on. After taking a moment to fix her hair and press her lips together, she left the bedroom, glancing over her shoulder at the secret in the closet.

  In the living room, Ace stood with Snickers in his arms while Bethany Rose stood in front of the fridge, both doors wide open.

  “Hey, baby,” she drawled, stepping over to her boyfriend and her dog.

  “There you are.” He grinned at her and kissed her quickly. “How was the shopping and the lunch?”

  “Amazing,” she said.

  “Are we not going out?” he asked, nodding toward Bethany Rose.

  “We are,” she said. “Unless you want me to heat up some of that sausage and potato casserole from the Keller anniversary….”

  “I have a special reservation tonight,” Ace said with a bright glint in his eyes.

  “You do?”

  “Holly Ann,” he said, his voice a bit frustrated. “It’s your birthday this weekend.”

  “Yeah,” she said. “On Sunday. Not today.”

  “We’re celebrating all weekend,” he said. “Starting today.”

  “I didn’t know Thursday was part of the weekend.”

  “Well, now you do.” He grinned at her and set Snickers on the floor. “It’s right here in town.”

  “Great,” she said. “I have that private dinner tomorrow night.”

  “Oh, I’ve heard about that,” Ace said with a smile. “What did Cactus decide on for the main course?”

  “He is impossible,” Holly Ann said. “I told him he wasn’t great at making decisions, and he just chuckled and asked me if I thought no one had told him that before.” She rolled her eyes. “I mentioned it to Montana, and she nearly lost her mind. I guess he hadn’t picked the plans for his house yet.”

  “So what are you making?”

  “I want to do the spice-rubbed pork loin, so that’s what I’m going to do. He said to surprise him, and I think that probably will.”

  “When you finish at his house, will you bring me the leftovers?” He took her into his arms, and she sure did enjoy the strength in his biceps and the ease with which he teased her and then kissed her.

  “I’m still here,” Bethany Rose said, and Holly Ann broke the kiss by ducking her head. She stepped away from Ace to walk her sister to the door, and they had an entire conversation with a single look.

  “Call me later,” Bethany Rose said.

  “I will.” Holly Ann waved to her sister and turned back to Ace, who stood there watching them.

  “What am I missing?”

  Holly Ann took a couple of slow, teasing steps toward him. “I may or may not have bought a dress today.”

  “Oh? I thought Montana was paying for the bridesmaids’ dresses.”

  “It’s a wedding dress,” Holly Ann said, reaching him and tiptoeing her fingers up the front of his jacket.

  His eyebrows went up farther, but he didn’t ask another question.

  “It’s all-season, so I’m still in no hurry.”

  “Mm.” He reached up and pushed his cowboy hat forward. “Do I get to see the dress?”

  “No way, cowboy,” she said. “That’s bad luck.”

  He nodded, the hint of a smile barely showing beneath the brim of his cowboy hat. “All right. Should we go?”

  “Yep.” She turned back to the coat closet by the front door and took out her jacket. Ace stepped over to her and helped her put it on, and she grabbed his lapels and drew him in for a kiss.

  Sunday morning, Holly Ann woke, and in that few moments before she had to face the worl
d as a thirty-eight-year-old, she felt a sense of peace and pure contentment. She loved the softness of the morning before the busyness of the day began, and she felt it a special gift from God that she could start each day this way.

  She got up and picked up her phone, holding it as she stretched toward the wall to her left, then over to her right.

  She already had texts, and she grinned at the one that had come in at twelve-oh-one. From Ace: I better be the first one to wish you happy birthday. I set an alarm to send this text. I love you, and I hope this year is the best one for you yet.

  She smiled at her device and sent him a heart emoji.

  Her phone rang in the next moment, and she swiped on the call from the sweetest boyfriend on the planet. “Hey, baby.”

  “Just reminding you that I’m bringing breakfast,” he said. “I’m almost there.”

  Holly Ann scoffed even as warmth ran through her. “Reminding a person of something indicates that you’ve told them before.”

  “Yes, well, I suppose I’m just bringing you breakfast then, and I wanted to make sure you weren’t walking around the house in your wedding dress or anything.”

  She laughed and said, “I just got up. I think I’m going to shower, but you can come in and get started.”

  “Will do.”

  Holly Ann did just what she said, and she dressed in her red and white polka dot dress for church. Just because it was her birthday didn’t mean she and Ace wouldn’t go hear a sermon. Besides, it was Willa’s turn to preach, and Holly Ann really liked her talks.

  When she walked out into the kitchen, the scent of maple syrup and sausage filled the air, and Ace’s presence in the house reminded her of how much she loved him. He wore a white shirt, no tie yet, black slacks, and an apron over his clothes.

  His cowboy hat sat on the end of the counter, his tie draped over it. So he was planning to go to church too.

  She took in the tray of French toast on the counter, as well as the pan full of sausage links.

  “Wow,” she said. “Did you make this?”

  He chuckled and shook his head. “No.” He opened the microwave and took out a glass measuring cup of syrup. “This is the second time I’ve heated syrup. The first time it boiled all over. Then it was like, chunky, and your microwave was full of it.” He peered inside the appliance. “I think I cleaned it all up.”

  Holly Ann giggled, and she shook her head. “You’re really impossible in the kitchen.”

  “I’ve told you that a bunch of times,” he said, grinning as he came around her island. “Have I told you today that I love you?”

  “Yes,” she said. “As a matter of fact. At twelve-oh-one this morning.”

  He shook his head, chuckling again as he took her into his arms. “I love you, Holly Ann.”

  “I love you too, Ace.”

  Instead of kissing her, he stepped over to the counter and picked up his tie and cowboy hat. He draped his tie around his neck and settled his hat onto his head. “Let’s eat before this gets too much colder.”

  He put a plate in front of her. “I asked Ida what to do because you were in the shower, and she said to put the French toast in the oven. I didn’t dare do that, because the last time I turned on an oven, I filled the house with smoke.” He shrugged and gave her a coy smile. “So.”

  He moved around the counter and paused. “Oh, what’s this?” He put his hand flat on the surface, and Holly Ann looked down to see a black velvet box sitting there.

  She gasped, and somehow that removed all the air from her lungs. “Andrew,” she said, her voice twice as high as normal.

  He picked it up. “Maybe I should open it?” His eyes sparkled with pure delight, and he looked down at the box. He cracked it open and turned it toward her. He dropped to both knees and held up the box with the diamond ring in it. “Holly Ann Broadbent. I’m really bad in the kitchen. I sometimes say too much. I get excited over soils and crops and cattle. But I love you, and I will do everything in my power to make you happy every day of your life. Will you marry me?”

  Holly Ann’s eyes filled with tears and she clasped her hands together in front of her, the sight of the man she loved holding up a diamond the best thing she’d ever seen. “yes,” she whispered.

  “I didn’t quite hear you.”

  “Yes,” she said louder. “Yes, yes, a million times yes.” She got down on the floor with him, as she was so tall, and took his face in her hands again. She kissed him, this man who loved her and whom she loved.

  He pulled away a few seconds later and slipped the ring on her finger. Their eyes met again, and they said, “I love you,” together before she reached out to tuck his tie under his collar. She proceeded to knot it, her fingers working the silk into place.

  “There,” she said, looking at him.

  Ace growled, his desire for her shining in his eyes and a grin curving his lips. Then he touched his mouth to hers again, and kissing her fiancé brought more joy to Holly Ann than she’d ever felt before.

  She couldn’t wait to marry Ace Glover, and she pulled away and asked, “Do we have to wait until October to get married?”

  “You tell me when you want to say I-do, sweetheart, and I’ll be there.”

  Read on for the first couple of chapters of the next book in the Shiloh Ridge Ranch in Three Rivers series, THE HARMONY OF HOLLY.

  I hope you enjoyed Ace and Holly Ann, seeing more of the Glover Family, the Ackermans at Three Rivers Ranch, and celebrating the holidays in our beloved town of Three Rivers.

  Reviews are welcome and appreciated. They can be as long or as short as you’d like. Even a star rating is amazing and appreciated. Thanks in advance.

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  Sneak Peek! The Harmony of Holly Chapter One:

  Cactus Glover put on his left blinker and turned into a cul-de-sac. The teenagers in the back seat had fallen silent a couple of minutes ago, and he wasn’t sure what to make of that. He couldn’t believe he’d allowed Aurora Martin and Oliver Walker to come along on this little expedition in the first place.

  He glanced over at Lincoln, who sat in the front seat. The boy pointed up ahead. “It’s that one on the left. The blue house.”

  “All right.” Cactus pulled into the driveway of the appointed house, which stood two stories tall and could easily fit three of his houses inside. His brother, Bishop, and his fiancée, Montana, had started construction on the Edge Cabin. It would be another few months at least until the expansion and remodel finished, but Cactus had made peace with the dust.

  Sort of. As much peace as Cactus could make with anything, he’d made it with the constant film of dirt in his house.

  He worked all the time, so at least he didn’t have to be home with the hammering, sawing, and loud music Bishop liked to play while working on a project.

  Their birthing season at Shiloh Ridge had extended into March this year, and Cactus frowned just thinking about it.

  “You’re still gonna get the dog, right?” Lincoln asked.

  “Yes,” Cactus said.

  “We’re just sittin’ here,” Link said.

  “We’re waitin’ for Grandmother,” Cactus said. He caught movement in his rearview mirror. A black truck eased in front of the blue house, kissing the curb as Cactus had taken the driveway. “There she is. Everyone out.”

  He opened his door and got out of the sedan he’d bought so he could take Willa Knowlton to dinner. Aurora and Ollie got out on his side, and the teens immediately locked hands again. He swallowed back the pinch in his chest, as well as his annoyance, and stepped down the driveway.

  “Donald,” he said, reaching to shake his mother’s boyfriend’s hand. “Mother.” He gave her a quick kiss on the cheek, noting they reached for each other too. He turned away, telling himself that he’d see Willa soon. Hopefully.

  He exhaled out and faced the white front door. “All right. Let’s go check out these dogs.” He reached for Lincoln so he’d have som
eone’s hand to hold, even if it was a nine-year-old’s. He also told himself he was thrilled his mother had found someone to spend good time with. Donald made her laugh and smile in a way Cactus hadn’t seen for a while, and he’d spent so much time observing everyone in the Glover family, he felt like he would know.

  “Jace says they’re so cute,” Link said, trying to dance ahead of Cactus. “Are you gonna get the gray one or the black one?” He looked up at Cactus, pure wonder in his wide eyes.

  Cactus loved the boy with his whole heart, and he smiled at him. “I’m not sure yet,” he said. “I want to see ‘em both again.”

  “But we’re taking them home today, right?” Link asked. “And you said I could sleep over, remember, Cactus? So I can help with the puppy.”

  “I remember,” Cactus said, trying to keep the dryness out of his voice. Lincoln had asked him about fifty times if he could sleep over to help Cactus with his new puppy, as if he couldn’t do it himself. Cactus had had a few dogs over the years, and he knew what to do with a pup, but he’d told Lincoln that of course he needed the boy’s help.

  Cactus was almost forty-four years old, and if he didn’t have to take the dog out in the middle of the night, he was all for that.

  Besides, Sammy and Bear—Lincoln’s parents—were expecting their baby any day now, and Cactus had agreed to be in charge of the boy. He could feed a child and make sure he got his homework done. Lincoln loved to come out to the Edge and read to Cactus anyway, and he came almost every day as it was. Driving him to school would be the only thing Cactus wasn’t currently doing that he’d have to add to his plate.

  That task got him to town, and he’d asked Willa if she might be able to go to breakfast next week.

  Since Christmas Eve, when he’d gotten his cousin’s message and hurried to the barn because Willa was there, they’d been out a few times. Her schedule had changed, as she’d picked up her sermons again, and she’d taken a long-term substitute teaching job at the high school, leading all three choirs there.