Up to Snow Good: A Small Town Holiday Romance

by Kelly Collins

  Max nodded and turned to Lauren, who tapped his arm and gave him a reassuring kiss on the cheek. His heart pounded, and his mouth turned desert dry. He stood and stepped into the center of the room.

  Chapter Forty-Seven

  Lauren

  Lauren sat quietly as Max stepped to the center of the room and turned to speak on her behalf. He was handsome in a new suit, dapper and professional. He seemed every inch her hero, a man as sophisticated as he was rugged and as slick as he was sweet.

  Her stomach turned with nerves as she surveyed the faces of her friends and neighbors, and many people she didn’t recognize.

  “My father believes he has a legal point,” Max began, “and he may be right. I’m not a lawyer, and he used devious means to prevent us from getting one. I believe he installed Sam as a spy, and that resulted in embezzled money, which made the debt impossible to pay. I can’t prove that, and the time and resources it would take for me to do so will come to the same result. We’ll lose our home to him one way or the other. My father portrays himself as a victim of Lauren’s blood feud, but I’m here to tell this isn’t true. He may see it that way, but I doubt it. He claimed to put his old feelings aside for our sake, for all of our sakes. I hoped he was sincere. I can’t stand here now and claim to know what’s in his head and heart, but I can tell you what’s in Lauren Matthews’ heart. She loves me, she loves the lodge, and she loves Moss Creek. All she wanted was to go on living here, with you, serving you, and our visitors. Times are challenging, but she wants nothing more than to remain by your side to face those obstacles together, and I want nothing more than to stand by her.”

  Her pulse quickened, and a warm rush filled her.

  “And I will,” Max said, “nothing that is said or done here today can stop that or come between us. We’ve been apart too long, and we’ll never separate again. So, we’re not here to appeal to you for that reason, but we do want to stay at the lodge that her parents owned, and that will be up to you. It’s rare that any of us has the chance to change a person’s life. When do we have it in our power to give a person’s home back to them, to give them new hope for a new life? It’s a Christmas miracle, or would be if you’d all join us and rise to the occasion.”

  The townsfolk shared guilty glances.

  “The lodge isn’t just our dream, not only her parents’ dream, it’s everybody’s dream, it’s the American dream. Can we really stand by and watch as it’s swindled out from under her? My father has a point. If this happens today, it will happen again. Maybe not tomorrow, but soon. What happens here, the choices we make today, will resonate long into our future. I know I’ll be able to sleep tonight having made the choices I’ve made. Will you all be able to do the same?”

  He looked out over the crowd before sitting down next to Lauren. Mayor Shipley glanced at her with a hopeful nod of his head. “Did you want to say anything, dear?”

  Lauren looked at Max, a cold, nervous chill passing through her despite his reassuring nod as she stood on wobbly legs. She’d given it some thought, preparing her remarks in advance. She cleared her throat, surveying the grim expressions of the community.

  “I very well might lose today, and that is discouraging because my greatest regret is that I won't be able to continue the legacy of my parents. All they wanted was to provide a place where people could come and share a story, a meal, and a laugh.” Her voice grew louder, stronger, and no longer quivering with nerves. She glanced around the room. “Each one of you has been there. If you think long and hard enough, I’m sure you could come up with a time when my family offered you something you couldn’t get anywhere else. It was most likely advice, a hug, or Ruthie’s stew.” She sighed. “I miss my parents. The lodge is the biggest thing I have to remember them by, but it’s not the only thing.” She placed her hand on her chest. “They live in my heart.”

  Lauren sat back down next to Max. She leaned against him, hands trembling as he wrapped his arms around her. There was nothing more to say. Their futures lie in the hands of people they would forgive, no matter what decision they came to.

  Chapter Forty-Eight

  Max

  Mayor Shipley considered his constituents who were gathered for the meeting. He seemed weakened, and Max believed it was because the man had been bought off or otherwise influenced by his father.

  “All right,” the mayor said, “we’ve heard the arguments, and you all know what’s at stake. In the matter of proposing the lodge for qualification as a National Heritage Site, we are about three hundred strong, and the bylaws show that this is the voting party. How do you vote, by a show of hands: yay on the proposal?”

  Max and Lauren looked around as the hands rose. Ruthie was the first, with no hesitation. Surrounded by women of her age, they all raised their hands along with her. Several men, whom Max took for local gardeners, raised their hands as well. They wore expressions of grim determination, seeming to know who they were standing against, and what they were standing for.

  Patrick and Cindy stood among several others, many their age, just out of their teenage years. They were young, which told Max they had nothing to lose. Patrick turned to glare at those around and behind him before raising his arm. The others did the same. Cindy smiled and nuzzled him, raising her own arm along with the others.

  Sally sat among her friends and fellow business leaders. She looked around, hesitating, her arms remaining at her bosomy sides.

  Max couldn’t help but be drawn to Lucille. She shot Sally a wicked glare, filled with as much disappointment and disapproval as one person could wordlessly express. Lucille herself raised her hand, joined by several well-dressed Moss Creek citizens of her stature.

  Sally seemed to feel the scrutiny as much as Max did, and while more and more hands climbed around her, Sally broke a sad smile and raised her own arm to join the others.

  Pastor Higgins and several others from the church raised their hands, chests out and shoulders back as they radiated more pride than Max had ever seen in them. He decided then that he’d probably start going to church wherever they wound up.

  The mayor and his deputy looked the crowd over, a clear majority of the hands in the crowd raised to support the proposition. Mayor Shipley glanced at Eaton, who maintained a stony expression, his eyes locked on the town’s leader with a cold certainty that Max recognized from other deals and negotiations. He didn’t doubt his father’s hand corrupted the mayor, perhaps even the city council, but they were all about to find out.

  The mayor looked at the grim-faced council members at each side of him. Deputy Mayor Roberts glared at Mayor Shipley, reassuring Max that the young politician was on their side.

  It wouldn’t be enough, and he seemed to know that as clearly as Max did. Lauren clung tighter, and he turned to see her sad face. His heart broke a little for his failure.

  Mayor Shipley said, “Since the residents of Moss Creek are not unanimous, it requires a vote from the city council to put the proposition forward. By a show of hands, how do you vote? Yes?”

  One hand went up, then another. Max and Lauren clung to one another, his stomach turning, his heart seeming to beat in time with hers. Two more hands stayed down, eyes falling to Max and Lauren, but also to Eaton. A murmur sweeping across the room as another hand went up, then two more stayed down.

  The murmur became a rumble, and Mayor Shipley had to pound his gavel to quiet them. “Order, I’ll have order in this place.” A few more raps quieted the crowd, and Mayor Shipley cast one more glance at the council members.

  “By a show of hands,” Mayor Shipley said, his voice already deflated, “nay?” Three hands went up to replace the others.

  “Let the record show that three of the twelve members of the city council voted nay, the proposition does not pass. The meeting is adjourned.”

  Lauren fell into Max’s arms, with tears already spilling from her eyes, reminding him of his failure to correct his father’s misdeeds. He’d always thought he could, but his father had proven a
force well beyond his control.

  His love for Lauren would endure. Wherever they wound up, they would always have each other, but they wouldn’t have much else.

  Ruthie sobbed, and she fell into Lauren’s arms, pressing her head into Lauren’s shoulders.

  Max could feel her misery pulsing in her wailing lungs, tears storming down her face.

  He looked over to see Patrick and Cindy trying to find comfort in each other’s embrace.

  The city council members sat glum, even Sally was unable to fashion her usual smile on her made-up face.

  He knew what he had to do. He and Lauren stepped away from Ruthie and walked toward his father, who stood near his grandmother and Jane.

  Sam left the room, and Max didn’t doubt he’d be on his way out of town, probably never to return.

  “Congratulations,” Max said. “You finally got what you wanted—your revenge. Does it feel good?”

  “To tell you the truth,” his father said, “no, it does not, but you broke the cardinal rule, Max, you went against the family, you betrayed your elder.” He shook his head. “You’ve still got a lot to learn, so let this be what you take away from this, never turn your back on your family.”

  Lauren softly said, “Good luck with the lodge. I hope it’s as good to you as it was to us.”

  “Nnnnnnoooo!” The voice seemed to come out of nowhere, grabbing everybody’s instant attention. Every conversation in the room came to a dead stop, all eyes turning to find the source of the shrill cry.

  Max and Lauren turned to see his grandmother sitting in her chair. Her eyes, normally fixed facing forward, were shifting from Max to Lauren and to his father.

  Eaton seemed stunned beyond disbelief. He took a step toward her. “Mother?”

  The room was completely quiet in anticipation, all eyes fixed on the Hunter family. She was more lucid than Max had seen her in years and struggling against the stroke’s paralysis more than he’d ever seen. She grunted a bit, her body twisting in the chair.

  “Don’t.” Ethel pushed out, her voice raspy and growly, her eyes fixed on her son’s. “Don’t do it.”

  The room hummed with astonishment. Shocked glances passed from person to person.

  “Don’t do it,” she echoed clearly and forcefully. “The lodge is hers.” His grandmother struggled to form words. “Do. The. Right. Thing.”

  Max had no doubt about what his grandmother was saying to his father, and nobody else seemed to have any question either. Lauren held on to Max’s arm, her excitement causing her hands to shake.

  His father looked around him, taking in the scrutiny of those watching. He was being measured and judged. A frail old woman who was his mother, his elder, the matriarch, and someone he could not betray had overtaken his power.

  It was a cardinal rule, and everybody heard him say it, but he seemed struck by more than shame. His mother had spoken for the first time in years. She was thinking and acting in a way that had to give him new hope for her future.

  He sat down by his mother’s side, took her hand in his, and looked deep into her gray eyes. “Mother?”

  A tear crawled down her withered cheek, and she repeated, “Don’t do it.”

  His father, the most powerful man in Moss Creek, could hardly speak. His own tears trickled down his cheek to match his mother’s—a generation thought lost to each other was reunited by sheer force of will.

  He finally said, “All right, Mother, all right.” He brought her hand to his lips for a kiss, his tears coming more freely. “She can keep it. Anything you want, I’ll give you.”

  Jane looked on with a loving smile, one hand on Ethel’s shoulder, and one on his father’s. She seemed to be just where she belonged, and Max was glad for her, for all of them.

  His father had succumbed to the pressures of his own mistakes, but he’d also risen to admit them. Giving the lodge back would allow for his redemption and be the start of a journey to make them a family again.

  Max extended his hand to his father and offered him a smile. “Thank you, Pop.”

  His father sat in teary shame, looking at his mother, her nurse, at Lauren, and finally at Max and his extended hand. He rose slowly, and the two men shook hands and shared a quiet moment before Max pulled him in for a hug. The strength of one man fortified the other; blood on blood—a family reunited.

  Max couldn’t fight the tears, and he didn’t want to. They came fast and hard, shaking his body and pulling raspy sobs from his throat.

  He was holding his father and his grandmother again, they’d been blessed with another chance, and that was more than he could have asked for, but it was just what he had hoped for.

  Chapter Forty-Nine

  Lauren

  The lodge’s Yule Village opened up to usher in the Christmas week. The whole community gathered around. The story of the reunion of the Hunter family and the end of the feud between the Matthews and the Hunters had captured the attention of and ignited fresh hope in everyone.

  The modern-day Romeo and Juliet tale with a far happier ending had brought fascinated visitors to Moss Creek.

  When the Yule Village opened, the local news was only one of many crews to cover the event. Attendance far surpassed expectations, and nobody doubted that they’d find some way to market the lodge. Even though it was not destined to be a National Heritage Site - that no longer mattered.

  In the spirit of the holiday season, they put their differences behind them. Max and Lauren were together, the Hunters were a family again, and the lodge would not change hands. They had survived with hope, faith, and a lot of love to guide them.

  Ethel watched from her chair as children petted the reindeer. Cindy made a fetching maiden, and her stable boy fiancé never seemed to stop gazing at her from across the yard, his renewed hope for the future anchored firmly in the new life created by the love between them.

  Ruthie was busy in the kitchen, working with two new members of her staff, assembling the sop, soup and stews and other “rustic,” but delicious meals that were fast becoming the talk of the town.

  Even the competitive Sally Clemens came and stood with none other than Lucille Dubois. The two women chatted in a corner of the yard, and Lauren wasn’t quite as surprised as she might once have been.

  The Sunshine Lodge had a way of bringing people together. She and Max, Patrick and Cindy, and Max and his father had all experienced its magic.

  The place had a kind of power, as if it had a loving influence all its own and had a will to join hearts and people. Somehow, she thought it was the presence of her parents. Not their ghosts per se, but the love they left behind that would live forever in the land, the walls, and the people. The joyful and loving memories they helped create would offer respite and welcome to others for years to come.

  Lauren pulled Max close as she watched a joyful scene of community and sharing that could not have even been imagined just days earlier. New hearts were replacing old grudges and petty differences. Hope and faith and love would restore what they had lost.

  Eaton looked resplendent—and even generous in the big throne they’d built for Father Christmas, wearing the colorful folkloric Nordic robe and long white beard. Jane stood next to him, dressed as an older woman. Her true zeal to be of service shone in a gray wig and glasses, she ushered the children up to Father Christmas and then back again.

  A little tickle touched Lauren’s nose, and she wasn’t sure what to make of it. A second tiny touch hit her cheek, and she looked at Max. He seemed just as surprised, and both looked up to see a sprinkle of snowflakes falling over the lodge. Snow fell from the clear blue sky above them.

  It stunned everyone, and one by one, their hopeful faces looked up to see what couldn’t be, but certainly was—snow.

  It was a miracle without a doubt.

  Max’s mouth dropped open, looking to Lauren for some explanation, but he also seemed to know what she already knew in her heart. It was a blessing, a gift from her parents; their reassurance that Lauren a
nd Max had not failed them, and that the two had succeeded beyond their wildest dreams. It was a glistening and gorgeous offering from above.

  Around them, children frolicked in the thickening snow as it gathered. The Sunshine Lodge was bathed in heavenly white powder.

  Max and Lauren broke out in laughter. The years of dry heat and unseasonal winters in Moss Creek had at last ended.

  “Silent night,” a child sang, capturing the crowd’s attention. Lauren and Max turned, all eyes falling on the little girl whose lone voice rang through the air.

  “Holy night,” Max and Lauren sang, “all is calm, all is bright.”

  She glanced over at Eaton and Jane and Ethel, who sang along.

  “Round yon virgin …”

  Patrick and Cindy looked on, smiling at Lauren as they nuzzled, Patrick’s hand falling lovingly to Cindy’s belly.

  “Sleep in heavenly peace…”

  They were no longer minions of a strong and powerful man, but instead, a part of his family.

  The residents of Moss Creek joined in the true spirit of the holidays and gave the lodge that Christmas feeling.

  “Sleep in heavenly peace…”

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