He glanced down. Drat, he dropped her hand. The ribbon floated to the floor like a long crimson snowflake.
“My grandfather is coming.... If you all take his money or not, he’ll show up to see that the town is destroyed. You might as well have something for it.”
Of course, she’d known that all along. They all had. It didn’t mean that her heart wasn’t breaking over it.
It didn’t mean that they wouldn’t all continue to hope for a miracle.
She snatched up the ribbon from the floor and tied it while she walked toward the tree, just to have something to do other than weep.
Big masculine footsteps thumped behind her, then stopped halfway across the room.
After placing the ribbon on the tree, she went back for another one.
Rayne stood in her way. She walked around him, pretending not to notice that he stood smack under the mistletoe.
He caught her hand. She glanced back at him over her shoulder.
“I plan to stand with you,” he said. “With you and the town.”
“How can you? Against the railroad...and your grandfather? Rayne, you have so much to lose if you do.”
“I have more to lose if I don’t.” His thumb caressed her wrist, then the palm of her hand. “Like kissing you under the mistletoe.”
“Not unless it means something.” Her mouth went suddenly dry while her eyes flooded. “I won’t take—”
“It means everything.”
* * *
Rayne drew Laira Lynne toward him. It seemed a bold move to appearances, but his insides pitched about. If she snatched her hand out of his, it would be the worst moment of his life, but if she didn’t...
“Everything? It has to mean that you want more than this kiss.” She leaned toward him, her eyes bright and misted. “It’s you and me for good and all. And the girls...we all come as one.”
This day had shown him that there was nothing he wanted more. His feelings for Laira Lynne and the girls had hit him fast and hard. They would not change with time and reflection.
This morning he had experienced the first Christmas joy of his life. Holding that old train after so many years, to have it given to him by the girls only days before it would have been destroyed was more than coincidence. It was magic. Holiday magic.
Grandfather had tried to teach him that December twenty-fifth was just another day, but Laira Lynne had showed him different.
Right now, feeling her come to him, press against him then lift her face to be kissed was more than holiday magic...it was a Christmas miracle.
He was a believer.
“I’m asking for your hand, Laira Lynne, and the hands of all who come with you. Will you marry me?”
“Yes.” She touched his cheek, then cupped his ear and feathered the hair at his temple.
“You don’t feel that I’m rushing you?”
“I love you, Rayne. All the time in the world, waiting to make sure, won’t change it.”
“Marry me tomorrow, then, after the pageant. We’ll already be in church with everyone gathered together. We’ll wake up on Christmas morning, man and wife. What do you say?”
“You can kiss me now.”
“There’s no going back...this being a mistletoe kiss.”
“Where would I go, now that there’s you?”
Desire for her made him want to chomp down on her lips and feast, but he’d never given a permanent kiss before. This one needed time and savoring.
He nibbled softly, tasting the plump swell of her lower lip, smelling the sweet warmth of her breath.
“You are my heart, Laira Lynne.”
All of a sudden, his intended climbed on top of his boots, wrapped her arms around his neck and showed him just what a feast his future would be.
Chapter Nine
Laira Lynne rose from her bed before dawn, not that she had slept a wink in it.
Today was December twenty-fourth. A day of days all by itself, but this Christmas Eve was going to be like no other.
This would be the first Christmas the girls would spend without their parents, her first without her cousin. Her prayer for this morning would be for the grace to give the children the comfort they needed and the strength to find joy in this day.
Everyone in Snow Apple Woods would need strength today. She suspected that the good Lord was hearing a bucketful of prayers at this moment regarding the evictions.
And the most amazing, most unexpected thing was that this was her wedding day. She had to stomp her feet and give her head a vigorous shake to make sure this was not just a dream that she hadn’t yet awoken from.
The floor was cold; the windows rattled in the predawn wind.
She picked up her robe from the foot of her bed, put it on then hurried downstairs. She needed to get a fire going to greet the girls when they got up.
Halfway down the steps she heard the snap of burning wood.
“Rayne?” she called softly.
Footsteps padded across the parlor; his head peeked around the doorway. When he saw her he grinned, then approached the foot of the stairs.
From the third step, she launched herself into his arms. She buried her face in the crook of his neck and he spun her about.
“Merry Christmas, love,” he said, setting her on the floor with a long, wonderful kiss.
“In spite of everything, it is a merry Christmas.” She squeezed him about the middle and gazed up at his face. “Are we really getting married tonight?”
“No matter what else happens today, we’re standing in front of the preacher. Even if we say our I dos on the road to...somewhere, we’ll be man and wife.”
She took his hand and pulled him along to the kitchen. She needed to light the stove and put the cinnamon bread in the oven. Christmas Eve morning had never begun without it.
Five little girls were bound to feel the presence of their mother when they came downstairs.
Early today, before she had even got out of bed, she had sensed her cousin. There had been a feeling...something just out of sight that was a joyful presence.
With the baking begun and the scents of nutmeg and cinnamon in the air, Rayne lifted her to the countertop and nuzzled his hips between her thighs.
“I have something for you...a Christmas present.” He drew a small wrapped package from his pocket.
He looked so happy about the gift, not a bit like the man who had only days ago believed that Christmas was just a day among many.
He tugged on the ribbon and the wrapping fell away to reveal a beautiful silver music box. It glittered in the lamp’s glow. She lifted the lid and listened to the pretty carol.
“It’s exquisite,” she said. “But I don’t have anything for you.”
He took her face between his wide palms and kissed her. She was out of breath when he let her go, her limbs as pliable as taffy.
“Nothing but a family.”
“I love you, Rayne. I suppose we should give some thought as to where we display this music box next year.”
She ran her fingers over the etching of a Christmas tree on the silver lid.
“I don’t think the girls would thrive in New York,” she added.
“We’ll thrive anywhere, as long as we’re all together, but this is where the children need to be.”
“It doesn’t seem possible with the railroad.... Your grandfather?”
She hugged Rayne tight about the middle. Her wool robe was pressed to his flannel shirt. Without undergarments to get in the way, her breasts absorbed the warmth of his chest. She felt the solid beat of his heart.
Without a doubt, this is where she wanted to be for the rest of her life.
“What about expecting a Christmas miracle? You can’t back out now that you’ve got me b
elieving.”
“Oh, I believe.” How could she not? This time last week she didn’t know the man of her dreams existed; today she was marrying him.
“Look, my grandfather is a hard-nosed moneyman, and that’s the truth...but I can be hard-nosed, myself. Let’s just see if we don’t end up staying here.”
“Would you be happy here? It’s a different life than what you are used to. The ranch is your inheritance. Someday it will be your duty to take it over.”
“My duty...my promise is to you and the girls...our girls now. The details will come together as they’re meant to.”
“Their daddy would have liked you.”
“If the girls are right, there’s no ‘would have’ about it. I’ll need to prove myself worthy in the here and now since he will be here for Christmas.”
“Here come the girls now.” Footsteps and giggles bounded down the stairs. “I hope our news makes them happy.”
He kissed the tip of her nose, then set her back on the kitchen floor.
“Oh, my!” Lynne gasped.
“Santa’s Spoon kissed Auntie’s nose,” Abby and Jane declared in unison.
“That’s because we’re getting married tonight.”
“You gonna be my new daddy?” Belle asked, the frown on her face dark and severe.
Rayne knelt down, took her chin in his fingers and looked her in the eye. “You’ll always have your daddy. I won’t pretend to be him. What I will do is love you and take care of you like he would ask me to.”
“All right, then.” Belle hugged his neck.
“Could be that you are our Christmas gift from Daddy,” Ruthie observed with a hitch in her voice.
In truth, Laira Lynne could not say that he was not.
* * *
At six o’clock the church bells chimed, calling the residents of Snow Apple Woods to the Christmas pageant.
Rayne carried the platter of fancy cookies, watching his bride-to-be walk beside him toward town.
He could scarcely blink or breathe for fear that she would vanish, that none of this had really happened.
He’d come to Snow Apple Woods a man nearly as callous as his grandfather. That man was as gone as last summer.
While the town folk waited on their own miracle, he had already received his. She walked beside him looking like an angel in her fur-trimmed cloak, her smile and eyes sparkling.
“There might be snow,” she observed, scanning the cloudy sky.
“Of course there will be, Auntie.” Ruthie, walking ahead with her sisters, turned her head to grin. “It’s Mama and Papa’s gift...besides Uncle Rayne, that is.”
Rayne watched the girls strolling ahead. They tipped their heads skyward as they scanned the clouds. Each one of them held his heart and had his devotion.
Coming into the church, Rayne was greeted with friendly handshakes, smiles and apologies for treating him as they had.
He couldn’t blame them for being resentful. He’d come to turn them out into the cold...and on Christmas Eve, no less.
He reckoned there really had been a bit of Satan’s spawn in him last week.
Tonight he listened to the children’s choir singing, some of them at perfect pitch and some off-key. It was the most beautiful sound he had ever heard. Their shining faces, full of the joy of the holiday, filled in the ache that had crippled his joy for most of his life.
If only Laira Lynne could teach his grandfather what she had taught him. There was no need for him to be such a bitter old man. Especially now that he had five little girls to call him great-granddad.
The singing ended, but the children remained standing where they were.
Preacher Jones read the story of the nativity, then closed his bible.
Rayne took Laira Lynne’s hand. He squeezed it.
“You ready, love?”
She nodded, squeezing his hand back. He led her to where the preacher stood at the front of the church before a tall stained-glass window.
The children sang something pretty, something holy sounding, as he and his bride walked hand in hand down the aisle.
The preacher called the group dearly beloved, he told of faithfulness and love. All the while Rayne couldn’t take his gaze off his Laira Lynne’s face.
When at last he said “I do” and she vowed it back to him, the preacher said he could kiss his bride.
This was a direction he followed with great dedication. Everyone cheered, and some eyes welled up.
With a hand under her knees, he scooped his bride up into his arms and kissed her again.
“Look out the window behind you, Mrs. Lantree,” he whispered in her ear. “It’s snowing.”
“Ruthie!” Laira Lynne called to her niece, who, standing with the choir, had her back toward the window. “Look outside!”
Ruthie covered her face with her hands. She hopped up and down, weeping and laughing at the same time.
“They came,” she hiccuped. “Just like I knew they would.”
The doors to the church blew open. Cold air sucked the warmth from the sanctuary.
Grandfather and the sheriff stood side by side with swirls of white at their backs.
Chapter Ten
“What, Rayne Lantree, are you doing clutching a woman in your arms?” William Lantree’s voice boomed off the walls of the sanctuary.
“Marrying her.” Rayne grinned in that crooked way that made Laira Lynne’s heart swell. “You showed up just in time to wish us well.”
The silence that crushed the room was as loud in its way as the elder Lantree’s bellow had been.
“William?” Mrs. Blue’s voice, high and birdlike, broke the stillness. “Is it really you?”
“Who did you expect, Santa Cl—” William Lantree squinted at the woman advancing upon him between the church pews. “Beatrice Blue?”
“I’m disappointed in you, Willie. You’ve grown thin and mean.”
“Bettie, you’re the same as I remember.”
“I only wish you were. My Willie would never sell my house out from under me.”
“That’s an unreasonable way to look at it. My grandson, on my behalf, has offered you more money than the place is worth.”
“Tell me, what is a memory worth? I can’t fathom that you want to tear down the very room where we first...” Mrs. Blue stood on her toes and whispered in his ear.
Rayne also whispered, “I’ve never seen my grandfather blush before.”
As much as she wanted to remain in the security of her new husband’s arms while she met his notorious grandfather, she wriggled out from his embrace.
“As long as you’re here,” Mrs. Blue said, “I suppose you might as well stay. Partake in the Yule tidings, but don’t you dare eat one of my special sweetie buns. You, Sheriff, may eat as many as you like, since the old fool probably dragged you from your family...and on Christmas Eve.”
Mrs. Blue shot William Lantree a long, scorching glare.
“Come along, children.” The petite woman fluttered her hand at the choir, who stared, round eyed, at the men in the doorway. “It’s time to celebrate while we all wait for Santa.”
The man charging up the aisle behind her looked like an older version of Rayne, except that he had hard scowl lines creasing the corners of his mouth. They scratched the edges of his eyes, as well.
Even so, it was easy to see that fifty years ago William Lantree would have been a man that Mrs. Blue would have been mad over.
Instead of following Mrs. Blue into the social room, Mr. Lantree halted in front of her and Rayne.
“Explain yourself, boy.”
“Merry Christmas, Grandfather.”
Rayne slipped his arm around her waist, apparently undisturbed by his grandfather’s ill humor.
&
nbsp; “Merry nonsense.... I raised you better than that. Kindly explain what these people are still doing here.”
“Celebrating the most joyful day of the year...and our wedding. Wouldn’t you like to meet your new granddaughter?”
The old fellow did look shamefaced for an instant.
“I beg your pardon, Mrs....” Faintly, but she saw it, pain darkened the old man’s eyes. He swallowed hard. “Mrs. Lantree. I was taken by surprise. I’ve never known Rayne to be impulsive.”
“As I heard the story, you married my grandmother after three days,” Rayne said.
“That was different. We were young and in love...foolish.”
“I used to agree with you.” Rayne looked at her, his eyes flashing a message of just wait until I get you home. “Not anymore.”
“Clearly,” William Lantree grunted.
“I’ve learned something since coming here, Granddad. You won’t like it, but I’ve discovered the truth. Christmas is not just another day. It’s special. Look around. All these people refused your money because they wanted to spend it together, one more time. This isn’t just another day to them...or to me.”
“They’re fools. They’ll be out of their homes tonight and broke to go with it. I’ve brought the law to see it done.”
Laira Lynne glanced toward “the law.” The sheriff stood at the dessert table with a sweetie bun in one hand and a cup of steaming cocoa in the other. Mrs. Blue was evidently telling him something very interesting, because he glanced back and forth between her and William Lantree with his eyebrows raised.
“You, my dear—” he nodded at Laira Lynne “—do not need to worry. You will have a home at my ranch.”
“That’s kind, but I don’t want a home at your ranch.”
“Of course you do. It’s a sprawling house with a cook and housekeepers. It could use a mistress.”
“What about five little girls?” Rayne asked.
“The orphans? Are you the aunt who came from New York?” His eyebrows shot up in his forehead. “I offered you extra because of them.”
“They don’t want your money,” she said. “They want the home they grew up in...where the memories of their parents live. And very possibly, they might want a great-grandfather.”
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