The Christmas Inn

by Stella MacLean

  “I do, but we’ll have lots of dinners together in the future. Besides, It’ll give me a chance to get to know the new men in my life a little better.” She gave him an impish smile.

  He had no intention of leaving her out of his plans tonight. He’d had a hard day and needed her with him. “Not an option. I’m not letting you out of my sight.” He searched the phone book, and retrieved two names and numbers, and began dialing. To his dismay, neither babysitter was available. Of course not, it was Christmas Eve. Who’d want to babysit tonight? “I should have done better than this. How could I not have had a backup plan?”

  “It’s been a busy day, and you’ve had a lot on your mind.”

  “But I wanted to take you to dinner,” he said.

  “I understand, but we can’t do anything about it now.” She checked the kitchen clock. “And you have to get dressed.”

  As much as he hated to agree, she was right. “On one condition. You’re staying over tonight.”

  “Are you sure that’s what you want?”

  “Why wouldn’t I want it?”

  “We… Our relationship…it’s new. It’s Christmas Eve—”

  He placed his hands on her arms. “Marnie, it’s what I want. I’ll get Max to make you a special dinner, and I’ll bring a bottle of champagne for our private celebration after I’m finished with my hosting duties.”

  She brushed her hair off her face, her glance skipping to Ethan. “Okay, but we have a very special mission tonight.” She nodded in Ethan’s direction. “Getting ready for Santa,” she mouthed over the scraping sound of Ethan’s spoon over his bowl.

  “More!” Ethan held out his spoon and bowl to Marnie.

  She scooped out more pasta from the pot on the stove and topped up Ethan’s apple juice. “We’ll have lots of time to celebrate when you get back.”

  His heart shifted in his chest as he followed her to the stove and pressed his lips along the nape of her neck, his body responding in a very obvious way. “I’d better get out of here before I do something that will have Ethan talking for weeks.”

  “Mmm. That feels wonderful,” she sighed, leaning back into his arms.

  “Don’t tempt me,” he warned.

  “Hurry back,” she said, turning in his arms and pulling his face down for one last kiss.

  Not wanting to leave, he held her for a few minutes longer. “Oh! Forgot to mention. I’ll have another man with me when I return. Henry is probably still in his bed behind the reception desk, but he likes to spend his nights with Ethan.”

  “Henry likes cookies,” Ethan announced triumphantly, and they both laughed.

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  MARNIE WAS AWASH IN FEELINGS she couldn’t describe as she watched Luke stride out of the kitchen and down the hall toward his bedroom. It was as if she had finally come home, as if being here with Luke and Ethan was the most natural thing in the world.

  She waited for Ethan to finish his dinner and then cleaned up the kitchen. Ethan asked a million questions about Santa—when was he coming, would his daddy be back when Santa got here and whether Santa would come into his room. She answered all of his questions, as best she could, only to have him come back to some of the questions again and again.

  When she was done cleaning up, Ethan raced into the living room, scooped up his jacket and searched his pockets. “I got the treat for Santa,” he said, waving a clear plastic bag containing a half-dozen cookies over his head.

  “That’s great. What will Santa drink with his cookies?”

  “Chocolate milk,” Ethan said with conviction as he eyed the bag. “I’ll give him just one cookie.”

  “And who will get the rest?” she asked, knowing the answer.

  “Me…and Henry.” He looked at her from under furrowed eyebrows.

  Luke came down the hall, dressed in a tuxedo, and looking so handsome it made her gasp. “Wow! Now I wish I was going with you. I’d better dust off my club.”

  “Your club?”

  “All the better for beating off the women trailing after you,” she teased.

  Luke laughed. “What women? There are no single women here, remember?”

  “You’re a sitting duck if you believe that married women aren’t tempted.”

  “You could always send Ethan to ward off the women,” he joked.

  “I’m not sure your guests are ready for rocket man, and besides he’s got a previous engagement with me.” She tousled Ethan’s hair.

  “You can read to me,” Ethan announced, his head bobbing as he raced off to his room and returned with an armload of books.

  Ethan dropped his books on the coffee table and held his arms out to Marnie. She picked him up. “I guess I’m reading.”

  Once he was settled in Marnie’s arms, he leaned toward his father. “Love you, Daddy.”

  He kissed Ethan’s cheek. “I love you, too.” He leaned toward Marnie and kissed her on her lips, a lingering kiss that had Ethan squirming in protest.

  Luke put his hands on her shoulders, sandwiching Ethan between them. “Don’t let him go to bed before I get back, if you can help it.”

  “I don’t think that’ll be a problem. We’re in the middle of negotiations over whether Santa should have all the cookies, or whether Ethan and Henry should have some of them. I see a sugar high in his future.”

  Luke chuckled as he made his way to the door. “See you later.”

  “Bye, Dad,” Ethan yelled in his outdoor voice, making Marnie wince.

  He wiggled out of her arms and made for the sofa. She read the first two books to him and then insisted that he get his teeth brushed and his pajamas on. He went willingly, the cookies forgotten at least for now.

  Max arrived with her dinner, a Cornish hen with stuffing, garlic potatoes, a Waldorf salad and plum pudding in a tiny baking dish. “I wish I could stay and visit, but things are hopping in the kitchen and I need to get back. You’re keeping the kid? No babysitter I hear,” he said.

  “Yep. And we’re enjoying ourselves. I’ve been reading to him, and he reads along with me.”

  “He’s one bright little boy,” Max said as he turned to leave.

  “Thanks for dinner.”

  “Anytime.” With that, he was out the door, and Marnie took her meal to the kitchen, sitting in a chair where she could keep an eye on Ethan while she ate what turned out to be the best meal she’d had in ages. After she took her last bite of plum pudding, she settled on the sofa and watched a children’s Christmas program with Ethan for a while, marveling at how engrossed the child was in the story of the Grinch who stole Christmas.

  Taking advantage of the break, she dug her cell phone out of her purse.

  Despite her feelings around the call she’d had with her mother earlier, she felt guilty that she wouldn’t be there this evening. She glanced over at Ethan, who was sucking his thumb, watching wide-eyed as the Grinch did his worst to ruin Christmas.

  Was this her Grinch performance? Deserting her family at Christmas? She dialed her parents’ number, and her dad picked up on the first ring. “Hi, there.”

  “Hi, Dad,” she said, instantly missing everyone, especially her time with her dad making caramel popcorn and chocolate fudge to the blaring accompaniment of Bing Crosby, her father’s favorite Christmas crooner.

  “How’s your Christmas Eve going? I hear there’s a new man in your life,” her father said, his voice nearly lost in the background confusion of people singing along with the music.

  “Yes, Dad, there is—” Tears clogged her throat, and she choked on her words.

  “I’m happy for you. I really am, but it’s not the same here without you.”

  “You mean you miss my cooking and bartending,” she said, attempting to keep a teasing tone in her voice.

  “I miss you. So does your mother. Here, I’ll put her on before she tears the phone from my hands.”

  “Hi, Marnie.”

  “Hi, Mom.”

  “Wait a minute. I’m going to the bedroom so
I can hear you,” her mother said. “Are you having a good Christmas Eve?” Without us was implied but not spoken.

  “I’m having a wonderful evening with Ethan, Luke’s son.”

  “He left you alone on Christmas Eve?”

  “Only for a couple of hours while he hosts a dinner for his guests.”

  “Marnie, I don’t understand. What happened to his wife?” her mother asked carefully.

  “She died in a car accident three years ago. Ethan was one at the time.”

  “Oh, how difficult it must have been for Luke…for his little boy.”

  “Yes, it was, but he…we’ve been given this chance to be happy. And I love him, and he loves me. He’s hosting a dinner tonight, but he’ll be back in time to put Ethan to bed, and then we’ll put the Santa gifts out for Ethan.”

  “Marnie, you sound so happy.”

  “I am, and I want you to be happy for me.”

  “Marnie, I shouldn’t have said some of the things I said to you earlier. I was a little upset at not having you here for Christmas. But it would appear that your life has taken a whole new direction. I can’t wait to see you and hear all about it.”

  “We’ll be there the day after tomorrow. Luke wants to meet you and the family and have you meet Ethan. You’ll love them both, you really will,” she said hopefully.

  “If you love him, that’s all that matters.”

  “Luke plays the piano,” Marnie said, looking for something to connect her mother to him.

  “The piano?” Her mother’s voice mellowed. “That’s how your father and I met. He was playing in a jazz club to pay his college expenses, and I was giving music lessons to cover my tuition.”

  “I didn’t know that.”

  “No? I guess the subject never came up before.”

  “How did I not know about you and Dad meeting that way?”

  “There’s a lot you don’t know about your father and me. And a lot we don’t know about you, it would seem.”

  “Mom, I need you to understand that the minute I met Luke I knew this time it was different. I can’t explain it…somehow there was this feeling, this sensation that I’d been waiting for this person.”

  “That’s how I felt about your dad. It was the first time I’d been in a jazz club. I hated jazz, but I loved your father from that moment on. But let’s talk about all that later. Is there any chance he and his son could stay here for the week between Christmas and the New Year?”

  “I could ask him.”

  “When will you be home?”

  “We’ll be there sometime the day after Christmas.”

  Please trust me, Mom. Please let me find my new life with Luke. I need you to believe in me.

  “Marnie, I want you to be happy, to have someone in your life who loves only you.”

  Marnie swallowed and wiped the tears from her eyes. “Mom, I can’t wait to get home to you and Dad.”

  “And we can’t wait to see you. Meanwhile, you enjoy your time with Luke and Ethan. I’ll miss you this evening and tomorrow, but we’ll see each other soon.”

  “Thank you, Mom. Merry Christmas.”

  She put down the phone and looked around the room with its Christmas decorations and the little boy lying on the sofa. Her heart swelled with emotion—with love for everyone on this night of all nights.

  She settled in to watch How the Grinch Stole Christmas with Ethan. He rested his head on her shoulder, and she kissed his curls, thinking that this could easily be the best Christmas ever.

  * * *

  LUKE LOOSENED HIS TIE as he ran down the corridor toward his apartment, with Henry in hot pursuit. He couldn’t wait to see Marnie and to get started on their first Christmas together. Suddenly his life was rife with possibilities.

  He eased open the door and tiptoed in to find Marnie and Ethan snuggled together on the sofa, the TV turned off. Henry promptly climbed up on the sofa, giving a huge sigh of relief as he flopped down. Next to the tree, Ethan had set out a glass of milk and three cookies, which meant that Marnie must have negotiated pretty hard with Ethan. They both appeared to be asleep.

  He touched the back of the sofa, and Marnie woke suddenly, glancing around before her eyes came to rest on Luke. The smile she gave him flooded his heart. “Sorry, didn’t mean to startle you,” he whispered.

  “What time is it?” she asked, yawning as she sat up.

  “Nearly nine. I’ll put Ethan to bed, and then we can get back to us.” He came around and gathered his son in his arms, the faint smell of cookies filling his nostrils as he lifted him up against his shoulder. Ethan squirmed, opening his eyes for a few seconds before falling back to sleep.

  Marnie stood up and stretched. “He cuddled right into my arms tonight and fell asleep,” she murmured wistfully.

  He smiled at her. “The two of you looked like you belonged together.”

  “We do. I love him.” She smoothed Ethan’s curls off his forehead and placed a light kiss there.

  “What about me?”

  “Your turn is coming,” she teased.

  “I’m counting on it,” he said before heading down the hallway to Ethan’s room. Henry jumped off the sofa and followed him.

  He put his son in bed, pulling his Spider-Man sheets over his sleeping form before kissing him gently on the forehead, a ritual that had been part of his life since the day Ethan had been born. “Merry Christmas, Ethan,” he whispered.

  Henry curled up on the rug next to Ethan’s bed, and heaved a huge sigh of contentment. Luke crossed the hall to his room and changed out of his tuxedo and into a T-shirt and jeans.

  Back in the living room, Marnie met him with a glass of red wine. “By the way, my dinner was fantastic. You have a great chef.”

  “Don’t you mean ‘we have a great chef’?” he asked, taking the wine and raising his glass in a toast. “To us and our new venture. In business and in life.”

  “To us,” she said, clinking her glass with his, her face radiating happiness.

  “And to our first Christmas,” he said, kissing her, welcoming the way she moved her body against his. “Keep that up and there will be consequences,” he said.

  “Why shouldn’t I?” she asked, putting their glasses on the coffee table and sliding her arms around his neck. “We’re alone, finally. We love each other.”

  “And we still have some work ahead of us. Remember who’s coming tonight?”

  “Will Santa be the only one?” she asked, her expression sexy and playful.

  “Definitely not, but first I have Santa duties to perform.”

  “Hmm. I have a few performances in mind, as well.”

  “Ooh. Can’t wait,” he said, kissing her before practically galloping to the hall closet where he reached up to the top shelf, behind the box of Ethan’s shoes and boots.

  “I got him the train set he wanted, and another set of Lego. The rest of his gifts are in the closet in my bedroom.”

  They knelt down together, and Luke began assembling the train.

  “You don’t wrap the Santa gifts?” she asked.

  “No. When I was little, the floor in front of the tree was always covered in unwrapped gifts from Santa, and of course, the milk and cookies were gone.”

  “Ours were never wrapped, either. I was always the first one up because I couldn’t wait to see what Santa had brought me.”

  Luke finished up what he was doing, and then turned to her. “I’ve waited so long to feel…to love again.”

  She took his hand. “Me, too.”

  He went out to the kitchen, and brought back two glasses, and then popped the cork on the champagne. They toasted again and sipped the bubbly liquid. As they sat together, with the light of the tree on her face, he knew he was the luckiest man alive. “I have something for you,” he said.

  “Oh, no! You didn’t buy me something, did you? I didn’t get anything for you or for Ethan, either. How could I have been so thoughtless?”

  He took her hand. “What matters is that you�
�re here with me.” Dropping her hand, he went into his bedroom and came back with a small parcel. “Open it,” he said, his voice suddenly tight with emotion.

  She took the jeweler’s box and slowly untied the ribbon, her gaze questioning. “What is this?”

  “Something I saw when I was in the village after they finally cleared the snow. It seemed like the perfect gift for you.”

  She opened the box, and there, nestled in velvet, was a charm bracelet with a silver disc dangling from it. She turned the disc over in her fingers. Marnie and Luke.

  “It’s beautiful,” she whispered, “but I feel so bad—”

  He stopped her with a kiss. “I have the right to buy you something special without you feeling you have to do something in return.”

  She nodded, her eyes shining with joy.

  They settled on the sofa, their arms wrapped around each other. Glancing up at the glowing tree, Luke let the moment wash over him, the love, the happiness and how good she felt next to him.

  “If I’m staying the night—”

  “There’s no ‘if.’ You’re staying.”

  “What will Ethan say?”

  “Do you think he’ll have eyes for anything but Santa’s gifts when he wakes up?” He kissed her lips, and ran his fingers through her hair, seeing the way her eyes widened in pleasure. “I’ll bet you could run naked through the living room tomorrow morning and Ethan wouldn’t even notice.”

  “Should we test your theory?”

  “I’m game if you are,” he said, pouring more champagne.

  “I’ll have to get a few things from my room.”

  “Like what?”

  “Toothbrush. Nightie.”

  “I’ve got spare toothbrushes and you won’t need the nightie. You’re not leaving me tonight no matter what.”

  “That’s easily the best offer I’ve ever had.”

  “I couldn’t agree more,” he whispered against her cheek as he took her champagne flute from her hand. “We have a long night ahead of us,” he warned as he began to undress her.

  EPILOGUE

  Two days before Christmas

  One year later

  LUKE HIT REDIAL ON HIS cell phone. Where was Marnie? She’d gone into Wakesfield hours ago, and should’ve been back by now. He glanced at his watch as the numbers he dialed sounded over the line. She didn’t pick up.