by Noelle Adams
She’d been happy before, but she was even happier now.
She’d never have to live without Russ again. And Tommy wouldn’t either. He was their family now.
After the meal was over, they opened a couple of bottles of expensive champagne (and sparkling grape juice for Tommy and for Rebecca and Penny, who were both pregnant). They all made toasts. Scott and Olivia, Penny and Kent, Phil and Rebecca. Even little Tommy who had no idea what a toast was supposed to be but earnestly thanked everyone for his Christmas presents and said the wedding cake Rebecca had made was the best one he’d ever eaten and then announced he was planning to beat Russ in their video game later today.
Russ gave the last toast.
He stood up. Cleared his throat. Glanced down at Laura, who could see the emotion twisting on his face.
She reached to take his hand and held it as he spoke.
“Six years ago, when my brother died, both our families were broken. We were supposed to be close, friends, family, but we’d been torn apart by a long, painful series of mistakes and unforgiveness.”
The big table was silent now. Even Tommy was listening with big round eyes.
Russ cleared his throat again and went on. “I think back now and try to figure out how and when things started to change for us, and the truth is I really don’t know. But I feel like it might have started with Laura. When she was looking back through her dad’s papers and saw the truth for what it was. She didn’t try to hide it, although that would have been the easiest thing. She wasn’t afraid to face it. Wasn’t afraid to try to make it better. My life changed that day she came to me and told me what she’d learned about her father. I’d never seen courage and honesty like that. I’d never had anything so real and good in my life before. And I wanted it.”
Laura was shaking now, her throat aching painfully. Russ had looked down at her with his normal calm composure, although adoration was evident in his amber-brown eyes.
“That was when my life changed, and it changed again a year ago when I realized I didn’t have to just watch that kind of goodness from a distance. I could actually share in it. My old, broken soul had never believed that was possible. But my soul was mended. And our families were mended too. And I feel like today might be when we’re finally put back together for good.”
Tears were streaming down Laura’s cheeks now, and she wasn’t the only one.
Russ’s voice was thick, far more emotional than she’d ever believed he’d show to anyone but her. He lifted his glass. “So here’s to healing, to fixing what’s broken, to being put back together again. And to love, the only thing that can do it.”
They toasted. And cried a little. And then laughed when Tommy spilled his glass of juice all over Kent’s lap, making the big man leap out of his chair like he’d been bitten.
Laura was hugging Russ afterward when she whispered into his ear, “I’m going to stop taking my birth control, if that’s okay with you.”
His whole body jerked. “Are you sure?”
“I’m sure. I want to have a baby with you, if you still want it too.”
“I want that more than anything.”
She pressed a soft kiss on the side of his jaw. “I told you that you were secretly a romantic.”
He laughed and tightened his arms around her, like he’d never let her go. “It’s not much of a secret anymore.”
IF YOU ENJOYED Stranded for Christmas, be sure to check out the rest of the Holiday Acres series.
An excerpt from another of my “snowed in” romances, One Night in the Ice Storm, can be found on the following pages.
Stranded on the Beach (Book 1 about Rebecca and Phil)
Stranded in the Snow (Book 2 about Olivia and Scott)
Stranded in the Woods (Book 3 about Penny and Kent)
Stranded for Christmas (Book 4 about Laura and Russ)
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Excerpt from One Night in the Ice Storm
RACHEL WAS MOVING TOO fast as she finally approached, and she skidded toward the passenger side of the truck.
She stopped herself abruptly by slamming into it, jarring her body uncomfortably.
She slid over to the passenger door and tried to open it, but her hands were almost numb since she’d been too distracted to put on gloves, and that door had always had a tendency to stick anyway.
She shivered and pulled and huffed in frustration, trying to pull the door open. Ice had mostly covered the window, so she couldn’t even see inside very well to ensure that David was okay.
Suddenly the door was opening, pushed out from inside. She almost toppled over from the unexpected momentum of the door.
“What the hell are you doing?” a male voice demanded from inside. David had leaned over to open the passenger door, and he was now glaring at her. “You’re going to break your ankle or freeze to death out here.”
Rachel gasped in indignation as she tried to catch herself from falling by clinging to the seat of the truck. She managed to pull herself back to a stable position. “I thought you were hurt. You didn’t come in. What are you just sitting out here for?”
The sight of David’s familiar face—well-sculpted features, dark eyes, five-o’clock shadow, short brown hair—made her stomach twist in pain. Every time she saw him, he looked more mature and even more handsome. Her instinctive attraction compounded her annoyance with his tone, when she’d gone way out of her way to help him.
“I was talking to your brother. I didn’t even know you were at the house until he told me.” David showed her his smartphone, with which he’d obviously just hung up with Brad. “Get in the truck before you catch pneumonia.”
“I’m not going to get in the truck,” she snapped back. “You’re never going to get it out of the ditch in this weather, and if you do, you’ll just end up back in the ditch farther down the driveway. You’ll have to leave your precious truck and walk back to the house like a sane person.” Her voice was loud by necessity, to be heard over the wind whipping through her loose blond hair and damp clothes.
Her voice might have been a little louder than it needed to be.
He rolled his eyes, impatient either at her tone or at the situation, but he dug into the pockets of his coat and pulled out wool-lined, leather gloves. “Here,” he said, thrusting them at her. “Wear these. Why the hell did you leave the house without gloves?”
Rachel’s fingers were a scary red color now and so cold she could barely feel them. But she wasn’t going to put up with that kind of treatment.
Especially not from him.
David had fucked her and dumped her when she was seventeen, and she hadn’t been smart or mature enough to keep it from happening. But she was an adult now, and he wasn’t going to lecture her like a foolish little girl.
She’d actually come out here in the ice to help the asshole.
Instead of giving him the rude retort that sprang to her lips, she said coolly, “Since you obviously don’t need my help, you can get back to the house on your own or freeze to death with your truck, whichever you’d prefer.”
Then she slammed the passenger door, a motion that jarred her hands painfully, and started walking—slipping—back to the house.
To her horror, she was almost in tears. Because it was such a small town and he was still her brother’s best friend, she still ran into David frequently—whenever she came to visit her family, which averaged about once a month. She was usually able to act as though he didn’t exist or else respond to him with disinterested civility.
This direct confrontation, however—on top of the effort and discomfort of the trek through the sleet—brought all her old hurt and anger to the su
rface.
Her brother was right. She should be over this by now. David shouldn’t still mean so much to her. She shouldn’t react like this for no reason.
She hated him even more for making her feel so young, so helpless.
Her grandfather had been the most influential man in the county before he died last year. He’d owned three lucrative car dealerships and had his hands in every aspect of local politics. Their family had founded this town generations ago. All her life, people had assumed she was a spoiled princess no matter how hard she’d tried to prove herself otherwise.
She hated feeling that way—like no one thought she was capable of holding her own in the world.
Her walk down the drive was unstable and clumsy since her little ankle boots had absolutely no traction on the ice.
She didn’t look back to see if David followed her, although she desperately wanted to do so.
She’d gotten more than halfway to the house when one of her feet slipped on the sheet of ice covering the pavement, and she completely lost her balance.
She fell down in an ungainly sprawl, the ice burning the skin of her freezing palms as she caught herself. One of her ankles twisted beneath her.
The only thing she could process—as irrational as she knew it to be—was that this whole horrible mess was David’s fault.
Without warning, strong hands started hauling her up.
Startled and disoriented, she fought them instinctively.
“Damn it, Rachel,” David gritted out, leaning over again and getting a better grip on her waist so he could help her to her feet. “Why are you so ungodly stubborn?”
He was a lot stronger than she was, so she didn’t have a choice about standing up. Naturally, she wouldn’t have wanted to stay on the icy ground, but her teeth were chattering with cold and fury both as she straightened up. She was about to tell him very clearly that he was the stubborn one of the two of them when her weight landed on her left foot.
It hurt so much her knees buckled, and she had to grab David’s arms to keep from falling again.
“What is it?” he demanded, sounding more bossy than concerned. “Your ankle?”
“I’m fine. I just twisted it.” She let go of him and forced herself to take a step. It hurt. A lot. She ignored it though.
When boys in her class at school had laughed at her insistence that girls could climb trees as well as boys, her pride had compelled her to prove herself by climbing the same tall tree all the boys were, even though she’d been shaking with fear when she’d reached the highest branches.
When David had dumped her that summer eight years ago, her pride had compelled her to keep anyone from knowing how much he’d crushed her.
She certainly had enough pride to make it back to the house on a twisted ankle now.
“You’re being absolutely ridiculous,” David said, falling in step with her and catching her with one arm when she slipped again. “You can be invincible once we get back to the house, but you’re going to have to put up with my help until then.”
YOU CAN FIND OUT MORE about One Night in the Ice Storm here.
About Noelle Adams
NOELLE HANDWROTE HER first romance novel in a spiral-bound notebook when she was twelve, and she hasn’t stopped writing since. She has lived in eight different states and currently resides in Virginia, where she writes full time, reads any book she can get her hands on, and offers tribute to a very spoiled cocker spaniel.
She loves travel, art, history, and ice cream. After spending far too many years of her life in graduate school, she has decided to reorient her priorities and focus on writing contemporary romances. For more information, please check out her website: noelle-adams.com.