The Christmas Compromise

by Susan Hatler

  Dallas leaned forward, his elbows on his knees. “That’s cool that the seven of you will perform again for Ms. King at the annual extravaganza. It’s like the good ole days.”

  “Definitely,” I agreed. “And even though I haven’t talked to Joy and everyone in years, my best friends from high school showed support for my new business. But not my own mother. It really hurts.”

  “We support you.” Dallas reached over and took my hand. I turned my head to look at him, a smile forming despite my flattened spirits. “I’ve never seen so many people with shampoo-commercial-worthy hair in my entire life,” he said.

  The compliment made my smile widen, but then it wavered. My heart ached and my mood fell again. Would my mom ever see that I was doing what I loved? That I was good at it and that I took a lot of pride in it? That it was my passion?

  Probably not.

  She’d somehow managed to foist Grace’s youthful dreams onto my shoulders. She honestly couldn’t recall that it had been Grace who had been into the bank and not me. She either wouldn’t see it or didn’t care to remember it that way.

  Grace had loved the bank, and I was not Grace. I could never be Grace. Even I had admired my big sister, who really had seemed perfect in every way. I didn’t know how to be the only daughter my mom had left, without being a huge disappointment.

  “Look how sweet, Connor.” Suddenly, Ruby clinked her glass into my brother’s. “Dallas and Morgan are holding hands.”

  Connor glanced at us with a smirk. “Aww . . .”

  I groaned. “Stop it, you two. Please.”

  Connor knocked back a sip of champagne. “I see my sister’s stalking finally worked on you Dallas.”

  My mouth fell open. “I didn’t stalk him,” I squeaked out.

  Ruby wiggled her eyebrows. “Maybe not this time. But when you were younger—”

  “Aren’t you supposed to be on my side?” I asked, gaping at her.

  Ruby laughed and dusted crumbs off her sweater. “I am on your side, Morgan. That’s why I said maybe not this time.”

  Dallas squeezed my hand. “I can attest to the fact that there was no stalking.”

  I glanced over at him. “Thank you.”

  He drank down the last bit of champagne in his glass. The Christmas music swirled around us, the lights on the ceiling twinkled, and the tree glowed. I wanted to be happy right now, but something was missing.

  My mom was mad at me, still refusing to accept my life choices. She would probably never step a single foot into the salon, or accept Dallas and me. I hated letting those things get in the way of my being happy about the grand opening. But I loved my mom.

  Dallas clapped his hands. “I have an idea. Let’s go to Flat Rock.”

  “Where?” Ruby asked.

  “You know the place.” Connor elbowed Ruby in a way that made me wonder what he wasn’t saying. “That big granite slab at that bend in Christmas River on the south side of town.”

  Ruby’s cheeks heated. “Oh, right.”

  “I’ll bring another bottle of champagne,” Dallas said, seeming oblivious to their curious exchange. “Let’s get moving.”

  I gnawed my bottom lip. “It’s pretty cold out tonight.”

  “There’s a fire ring back there,” Dallas said. “I have a cord of wood in the truck. We can make a fire and drink champagne, while watching the stars. It’ll be a night to remember.”

  My mouth stretched into a smile. “Okay, I’m in.”

  After the day I’d had, a night to remember sounded perfect.

  Chapter Sixteen

  The fire pit at Flat Rock sat next to the enormous flat rock that gave the place its name, and the view from just above the river was stunning. The water below glinted under the waning light, like a wide dark ribbon running along the banks. The occasional splash and croak and chirp of insects and other things lent a soft counterpoint to the music of the river flowing between the rocks.

  The fire was up and burning, the flames glowing reddish-orange. The moon sailed above, fat and silver, and stars pricked the sky. Even though the rocks behind us blocked the wind, a chill came through the air making me shudder.

  Dallas slipped his arm around me, pulling me closer to him. Much better.

  Connor threw a small rock over the edge and then turned to Dallas. “You remember the time we talked Morgan and Ruby into sliding down the rocks on that old sled?”

  “Definitely.” Dallas chuckled, giving me a squeeze.

  “That was here?” Ruby asked, laughing. “I’d totally forgotten.”

  “You claim that thing was a sled, bro?” I burst into laughter at the description. “It was only the bottom of a sled, remember? Someone had broken the actual sled and passed the remainder onto you two crazies. Then you guys talked Ruby and me into getting on that contraption.”

  Ruby held her champagne glass aloft, gesturing to the river. “I blame the heat for making me agree to slide on that thing. It was like a hundred and ten that day. Clearly the heat had given us a case of temporary insanity.”

  Connor leaned toward her. “Looks like that dunk in the river cured your being hot.”

  “I’d say so.” Ruby gave him a mock glare. “Even in the summer, that water was freezing.”

  “So cold,” I agreed, remembering back to that day and the memories we’d all shared.

  “I can’t believe you chickens agreed,” Connor said, laughing.

  “In our defense, you double dared us to try it.” I sipped the bubbly in my glass, the delicious flavor dancing along my tongue. Then I held up my empty glass. “Who’s got the bottle?”

  “Right here,” Dallas said, lifting the bottle and giving me a refill. “Anyone else?”

  Ruby shook her head. “That was the last dare I ever took, thank you very much.”

  “Probably a wise choice.” Connor winked at her, knocked back the rest of his drink, and then held it out for Dallas to refill.

  Sitting here with Ruby, Connor, and Dallas, caused a warm feeling of comfort to roll over me. “You know what’s weird?” I asked, knowing the champagne was affecting my mood and making me mushy. “I’d go to the beach in Miami and I loved the sand, surf, and sun. . . What’s not to like? But I missed this river. I missed home.”

  “Home missed you,” Ruby said, reaching out to squeeze my arm. “We’re glad you’re back.”

  “Definitely.” Connor raised his glass, clinking it against mine.

  “Can’t argue with that.” Dallas clinked his glass to mine and then brushed his lips against my cheek, sending tingles across my skin. Dreamy sigh.

  My heart felt light and my mood had lifted. But just like that I remembered my mom hadn’t shown up at my salon or spoken to me on the first day I’d embarked on my dream. Tears blurred my vision. I suddenly felt overwhelmed with emotion, but I didn’t want to ruin everyone’s happy mood. I needed a breather to compose myself.

  As Dallas and Connor began discussing a funding problem with the community center where the Christmas Extravaganza would be held, I told Ruby I’d be back in a minute. I set my empty flute on the upturned log we’d been using as a table and stepped toward the river.

  “Where are you going?” Dallas asked, his voice unusually concerned.

  “Just taking a better look at the water.” I rolled my eyes at his over-protectiveness. Although, I did find it completely adorable. My heart swooned. In my black, heeled boots I walked across the hard granite then swayed momentarily near the edge.

  “Morgan, be careful.” Dallas’s voice rang out with a sharp edge from somewhere behind me that suddenly seemed very far away.

  “Don’t worry.” I held my arms up, wanting to reassure him that I was fine and he could go back to his conversation. I turned to face him, but must’ve moved too fast because my foot slipped, jerking me backward. Thankfully, my arms were out so I regained my balance as I took a step backward to steady myself.

  But the only thing my back foot landed on was empty space.

  My arms f
lew up and flailed around me but there was nothing to grab onto. I opened my mouth and the words I fought to say—no, help, this is not good—turned into a short, sharp scream. The foot, hanging over into the space beyond the rocks, went down all of a sudden.

  Then the rest of my body toppled sideways as well.

  As I fell off Flat Rock, time felt funny. It stretched out like warm taffy. My body arced and hung in the air for an eternity and then tumbled toward the river at a gut-wrenching speed. I could see the sharp silver stars above me, the shape of the moon’s face, the sides of the rocks as I went past them, and the smell of the river came to me—all mineral-laden mud and moving water.

  I was falling.

  All of the breath knocked out of my lungs. Even though I couldn’t speak, the helpless feeling vibrating through my chest made my mind scream to do something to stop falling, but there was nothing to be done. Like it or not, I was going down.

  A horrific pain lanced into my skull as I hit the water. The ice-cold river soaked through my clothes, immediately chilling me to the bone. My head immersed and I frantically kicked until I reached the surface. When my head popped out of the river, I sucked in a breath, noticing the others at the edge of the flat rock, gaping down at me.

  Then the water rushed into my nose and mouth and they disappeared from sight. I coughed and sputtered, spitting out water. The cold was so complete that my body went numb. I went under again, the cold water dragging me lower this time. Everything within me screamed to fight, to get back to the surface, but the numbing icy water held me in its grasp and wouldn’t let me come up.

  “It’s going to be all right, sis,” came a familiar female voice.

  Holding my breath, I blinked. That voice—I knew that voice. I was still under water and my soaked clothes felt thick and heavy, weighing me down. My skull was in agony but that voice blanketed me in comfort.

  I forced my eyes open. My lips shaped a single word that was also a question as I stared at the young girl floating before me. “Grace?”

  Her blue eyes comforted me as she gave me her warm smile. “Don’t worry. Everything is going to be all right.”

  Tears wanted to come but the water, the pain, the strangeness of seeing my sister again, held me fast as I stared at her. It was the young Grace I’d known. The big sister I’d looked up to. I’d never been so scared in my life, but at the same time I’d never been so comforted.

  “I miss you,” I whispered. I could feel a slow beat in my chest but it was slowing down.

  “I’m always with you.” Grace moved closer to me. Her hair floated around her shoulders and there was a smile on her face. I wanted to reach out and touch her, but I couldn’t move anymore. “Just hold on a few more seconds, sis,” she said, then the image before me vanished.

  Strong arms grabbed hold of me, pulling me upward at a fast pace. I came up out of the water, sucking in the sweet feeling of air. My whole body felt limp and my eyes were wide as I stared up at the stars. My mouth opened. “Grace . . .”

  “Morgan?” Dallas’s voice was low and sharp. He held me tight against his chest as we moved toward shore, his legs working hard beneath us. His face was a pale oval below the light of that waxen moon, but he looked like an angel. “Morgan? Stay with me, Morgan!” he said.

  I dragged my eyes away from him and looked at the shore. Connor appeared above us, holding out his arms to me. My eyes blinked open and closed. I found air and sucked it in again. Connor grasped under my arms, pulling me up to the bank.

  Ruby stood beside him, with a phone to her ear. She cried out, “She’s out of the river. Please hurry!”

  Wrapped in my brother’s arms, I shivered uncontrollably as he murmured the same words to me over and over between his sobs. “It’s going to be all right, sis. It’s going to be all right . . .”

  I was so confused that I turned to look at the river, wondering if Grace had told him, too.

  Chapter Seventeen

  I sat huddled on the narrow hospital bed, hugging my arms close to my body. The nurses had taken my wet clothes, exchanging them for a gown and robe and some weird socks that rolled up to my knees. The socks itched like they’d sewn ants into them and I scratched mercilessly. Since the socks were marginally better than suffering the stinging sensation of having my feet freeze inside my boots, I didn’t complain.

  At the riverbank, Dallas had wrapped his leather jacket around me for warmth and it lay over the chair beside the bed. Dallas hadn’t been allowed in to see me since he wasn’t family. But Connor sat in the chair next to the bed in the sterile room.

  “You feeling better?” he asked.

  I lifted a hand to my head and winced. “Not especially.”

  Connor blew out a long breath. “You scared us.”

  “I scared myself, too,” I admitted, dropping my hand back to the sheets.

  Everything in the curtained off room smelled like strong bleach and detergent and the sounds coming from the other side of the curtain weren’t encouraging. I could hear someone crying from a distance and the squeak of someone’s shoe against the floor, plus a whole lot of dinging from equipment and monitors.

  “I’m just glad you’re okay.” He squeezed my hand just as his phone beeped. He pulled the cell out of his pocket and looked down at it. “It’s Dad. He’s on his way back to town from a business meeting in Helena. Sorry, let me call him so he doesn’t panic. I’ll be right back,” he said, waiting until I nodded before he left the room.

  I sank back against the pillows, exhausted and wanting to take a nap. Just as I started to drift off, the curtain flew back. I popped my eyes open, shocked at what I saw.

  My mom stood there, gaping at me. Neither of us spoke. I couldn’t speak, because Ivy Reed never—repeat never—left the house looking anything less than pressed. So I’d been shocked into silence. My mom looked rumpled, to say the least. Her makeup was already off for the night and her hair, always so carefully coiffed, was in a low knot at the back of her neck. She wore a big sweater and coat and her shoes didn’t match.

  And it wasn’t like she had on one bone-colored shoe and one taupe-colored shoe, either. On one foot she wore an ankle boot in solid black leather. On the other she had on what looked suspiciously like one of her rubber garden boots.

  She stood there, her face so pale I could see the fine tracings of blue veins in her temples and her hand lifted to her mouth. She lowered that hand and then rushed the rest of the way into the room. “Morgan, are you all right? Where’s the doctor? Have you had an X-ray? An MRI? Tests to make sure you’re fine? That you aren’t dying? Or—”

  “I’m fine,” I said, cutting her off so she’d stop pelting me with questions.

  Her eyes widened and she turned to the door, hollering, “Someone get Dr. Blake on the phone. I want her in my daughter’s room now!” She turned back to face me. She advanced and then took a few steps back toward the open space beyond the curtain. Her mouth worked and my heart went tight and stuttering. “I-I was getting ready to lie down. I’d put my nighttime snack by the bed and was opening my book when Cora’s daughter Maggie called because her boyfriend’s brother works with a guy who moonlights as a paramedic. You remember him, I’m sure. He went to school with you.”

  I blinked, having no idea who she was talking about. “Okay . . .”

  Mom nodded briskly. “Well, he heard . . . and then he told . . . So, anyway. You . . .” She stuttered and stopped, finally walking over to the bed. Her eyes widened and then she swallowed with an audible click. “Are you okay, sweetheart? I mean, really . . .?”

  Guilt slammed into me so hard it hurt worse than my aching head. I’d scared my poor mom. She’d already buried one daughter and now I’d freaked her out again.

  “I’m fine, Mom. Don’t worry,” I said.

  She twisted her fingers together and then began straightening the sheets and covers, aligning the edges until they were perfectly straight. Then her gaze met mine. “What were you thinking going up to Flat Rock so late this
time of year?”

  “We were celebrating,” I said, surprised that she’d gone from concerned to scolding me so quickly. “The river looked so pretty and I stepped closer to get a better look and . . .” And I’d had too much champagne and wasn’t paying attention to how close I was to the edge. Stupid, stupid, stupid me. I looked away. “I didn’t mean to worry you.”

  “Well, you did.” Mom’s cry cracked my heart. “I-I thought . . .”

  “I’m sorry,” I said, knowing what she’d thought. I tried to reach for her but she turned away, her hands going to her face.

  When she spoke again her voice was muffled and hoarse. “What were you thinking? Why were you even out there? Flat Rock’s dangerous in the daylight. They should rope that place off, all those rocks get wet and cause people to slip and fall.”

  “I’m sorry,” I repeated, swallowing back hurt that had nothing to do with my injuries. I understood what she was going through and I’d caused that hurt and worry after everything she’d already been through with Grace. “It was an accident.”

  She turned to face me. The tip of her nose was red. “You shouldn’t have been there in the first place. What on earth would possess you to go out there at night?”

  “We’d had such a good day, so Dallas suggested—”

  “Dallas Parker.” Mom’s voice held anger and agony. “Of course it had been his suggestion. He’s always been reckless and he still is. Why can’t you see he’s going to hurt you? You need someone who’s never going to put you in harm’s way.”

  My eyes overflowed with tears. “We’re good together, Mom. Everyone’s talking about our businesses—”

  “A furniture store and a beauty salon?” She shook her head, blowing out a breath. “That makes no sense. You belong in the bank with your family,” she said, slipping onto the bed next to me, encircling me with her arm.