Christmas Magic in Heatherdale
Page 14
* * *
It didn’t work. She kept thinking of Ryan and his ever-changing moods. How he hadn’t wanted her to come into town, and how he’d fussed about her getting home safely, and the rest. Had it been that he’d felt guilty because it was because of him that she was leaving Heatherdale?
She excused herself from the gathering early and did as he had ordered and used a taxi for the return journey. She would have called to let him know she was home except that his house was in darkness and she didn’t want to disturb him.
She wouldn’t have done. The house lights had fused when he’d plugged the tree in and he’d been searching for a torch when the taxi had stopped in front, but he’d seen its headlamps shining in the darkness and had thought thankfully that she was back.
He had a gift for Melissa, a Christmas surprise that he would give her in the morning and hope it would last for ever, and with the lights back on, the turkey cooking slowly, and all the trimmings that went with it sorted, he went to bed, and in what seemed like no time at all the children were tugging at him to get up because Santa had been.
* * *
They’d had their breakfast and were upstairs surrounded by all the things they’d asked for when he phoned Melissa. The lights were on in the house next door, smoke was curling out of the chimney, and it was now a reasonable hour to get in touch.
When she answered he said, ‘Merry Christmas. Are you up and about?’
‘Er, yes’ was the reply. ‘I’ll be over shortly. I’ve got presents for you and the children.’ Ryan would hardly be jumping for joy when he opened his to find a book token!
‘Fine,’ he said, ‘but I’m not phoning about anything like that. It’s to tell you that the guy who is buying your house is outside and he wants a word. I think he wants to introduce himself.’
‘What?’ she gasped. ‘It’s Christmas Day, for heaven’s sake.’
‘So goodwill to all men, yes?’
‘Mmm, I suppose so. Where exactly is he?’
‘Waiting on the drive.’
‘All right, thanks for letting me know.’ She went to greet the stranger at her door.
But when she opened it there was only Ryan there, and looking around her she questioned, ‘So where is he?’
‘Quite close’ was the reply. ‘In fact, very close. If you reach out you can touch him.’
‘What? You?’ she gasped, holding on to the doorpost. ‘How? Why? What do you want with two houses?’
‘To make them into a home for the four of us, Melissa. Did you really think that I was going to let you go out of my life now that I’ve found you? Now, is it all right if I step inside? I don’t want to propose to you on the doorstep,’ he said gently.
Speechless, Melissa stepped aside to let Ryan in.
‘When you appeared in my life on a dark autumn night, distraught and dishevelled, the last thing I felt like was having to offer you food and find you accommodation. It had been a long, busy day at the hospital and all I wanted was to enjoy the meal that Mollie had cooked and then spend some special time with my children. But for ever kind and thoughtful about others, Mollie wanted to see you fed and warm before I took you to find a hotel, and I remember that I agreed to whatever she suggested with a reluctance that must have been obvious to you.
‘I little knew that I would fall in love with the stranger at my door and that the way of life I had set for myself was going to be thrown into chaos. It has taken the thought of losing you to bring me to my senses, and I’m buying your house for two reasons.
‘One, because we owe it to your grandmother. Because of her generosity in leaving it to you, you came into my life, and because our two houses made into one will be delightful when the builders have finished with them. So will you marry me, Melissa? Will you let me take you next door to tell the children that their wish has been granted, that Santa has sent them a mummy who will love them always?’
‘Yes,’ she breathed. ‘It is all I’ve ever wanted for weeks, to be your wife, but why buy my house when it’s yours for the asking to be part of our home?’
‘Because once you were rich and now are poor,’ he said laughingly. ‘And now you will be rich again.’
‘Having you and the children will be all the riches I need,’ she said softly.
‘Yes, I know,’ he agreed, ‘but nevertheless...’
With his arms around her they went to tell Rhianna and Martha their good news, and when they ran to her and held her close Melissa hoped that somewhere not far away their mother would be giving the four of them her blessing.
‘Can we phone Mollie and tell her that we’re going to have a mummy?’ Martha cried
‘Yes, but just a quick call,’ Ryan warned, as he and Melissa went to check that the food he’d prepared was cooking satisfactorily.
* * *
In a hotel in Italy, the bride of the day before was enjoying a late breakfast with her new husband when her mobile phone rang, and when she’d listened to what the childish voices had to say she cried joyfully, ‘Jack! There’s going to be another wedding!’
EPILOGUE
WINTER HAD PASSED. It was spring, with new life opening up in the parks and gardens of the famous market town and with the outline of the moors that surrounded it taking on a softer green than the bleak shades of winter.
The building work was finished, the two houses had been made into one, and the result was a gracious family home that was going to be a joy to live in.
Since Melissa had come to live with them, Ryan’s bed was no longer the loneliest place on earth. When he held her close in the night there was always the joy of knowing that she was his, always would be, and the spring wedding that they were planning would tell the world that it was so.
The children were on cloud nine because they were going to be bridesmaids again, this time in summery dresses with pretty posies. Julian, now recovered from his injuries, was going to be Ryan’s best man, and Jack Smethurst would be giving Melissa away.
Everyone who wasn’t on duty at the hospital was there to celebrate the wedding of two of its doctors, and the old stone church near the town houses was full of well-wishers, amongst them grateful parents of patients.
When Melissa arrived in a white wedding gown that was stunning in its simplicity, carrying a small ivory cross that had been her mother’s and with two young bridesmaids carrying her train, it felt as if she’d been waiting for this day all her life.
When she stopped for a second, framed in the doorway of the church as the organist began to play the music that announced the arrival of the bride, Ryan turned from his position in front of the altar and as their glances met it was there, the love that each of them had for the other, and like a blessing the scent of roses, Beth’s favourite flowers, was all around them.
* * *
The photographs had been taken in front of the church and as the guests began to make their way to the reception at an hotel in the town, Melissa and Ryan left the children with Mollie and Jack for a few moments and went into the graveyard. She laid the small white cross she had carried beside the roses that always graced the grave in the quiet corner then, hand in hand, they went to that other grave where Ryan placed the carnation he had worn on its weathered but immaculate surface and after a few moments in the silence that was all around them they returned to where the future was waiting.
* * * * *
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ISBN-13: 9781460320693
Copyright © 2013 by Abigail Gordon
First North American Publication 2013
CHRISTMAS MAGIC IN HEATHERDALE
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