by Taylor Hart
His face was sad, dark shadows under his eyes. “The doctor told her by choosing to go through with the pregnancy, she would be choosing to give up ever being able to really dance again. Childbirth pushed her body hard.” He squeezed his eyes shut. “She gave up a lot. Her passion.” His eyes flipped open. “And she’s never complained about it. She’s never told anyone. Your grandparents and I were the only ones who ever had a clue about her physical trauma.”
Stunned, speechless, angry—that’s what I was. The anger smarted like a good, strong slap to the face.
His eyebrows furrowed. “She loves you, Molly. We both do.” He sighed. “Come back when you can.” Quietly, he shut the door.
Tears sprang to my eyes. I tugged on my roller bag and then hefted it into the rental car. I didn’t have to leave for a couple of hours, but I couldn’t go back inside.
Without thinking, I knew who I needed to talk to. He would help me sort this out.
I put my bag in the back of the car and trudged up the driveway to his house. Before I got to the front porch the front door flew open and Kevin stumbled out, his hair wild, anger on his face. His feet were bare.
Then something happened that turned this ridiculous, dramatic movie into the worst movie I’d ever seen.
A tall woman moved out of the door, wearing a white, puffy coat with brown, long hair. She grabbed him by the collar. “Merry Christmas, Kevin.”
Chapter 19
Okay, I’ll admit, I didn’t get that great of a look at her eyes, but they definitely looked ‘too close together.’
Her lips pressed to his.
Nausea filled me. I thought of how he’d been engaged. This was her.
The kiss didn’t last for more then maybe three seconds. When Kevin pulled away, he scrubbed his mouth. “Carrie!”
Carrie. That was her name. The Stephen King book. I’d never read it, but I could imagine the horrors this girl could put any man through. I turned for my car, going into sprint mode.
“Molly!”
I slipped into my car and turned the key. I could not do this with him.
As I pulled out of the snow bank, Kevin was there. Boots on, his messy black hair halfway in his eyes. “Molly!” He shouted and the side of the car thudded as he smacked it. “Stop!”
I didn’t know if it was my parents. I didn’t know if it was Kevin.
All I knew was that I couldn’t get out of Snow Valley fast enough.
***
The store bustled with Christmas Eve shoppers. I slumped next to the computer, putting in the latest sales figures. It was only noon and sales were up by double compared to other days. I tried not to think of the disappointment Pastor John would have in all of us—me and the customers. He would want us doing something to prepare for Christ’s birth.
I carefully ignored the angst that had resided in my heart since yesterday. I’d allowed myself a good cry on the way to Billings and as I’d sat in the airport and waited for my flight. I’d even cried as I’d told Christina the sordid details of the past few days. I’d allowed myself to grieve.
For my mom. For what giving me life had done to her.
For Kevin. The fact I’d allowed myself to fall for that stupid fairytale again. I wasn’t the love lost. I was the rebound girl. I picked at the last bit of nail polish left on my pinky finger next to my ring and immediately took the star ring off. If this star had guided me back to Snow Valley then I didn’t want it anymore.
The store phone rang and I picked it up, retail voice in place. “Hollingsworth Jewelry, how can I help you?
“You’re back.” Stan Hollingsworth’s voice sounded happy and relieved.
“Hey, Stan. I told you I would be back.”
“Oh, good. And the inventory problem.”
“All fixed.”
“Good, you don’t know how much it comforts my dad and me to know that you are there. I honestly didn’t know if my dad had spoken out of turn to take off ten thousand with the buyout, but I’m glad to see you pulled through for us. I’ll be happy next year to have you take my place as franchise owner.”
Unexpectedly, the thought of owning my own store gave me no happiness at all. “Thanks, Stan, I look forward to working with you.” I said the words robotically.
“Okay, well, I guess I’ll get back to my family, now that you’re back I can enjoy being with them.”
“Sounds good.”
“Merry Christmas, Molly.”
The words stuck in my brain. There was nothing Merry about Christmas. “Have a safe trip.” I hung up.
I took a long lunch, but just sat in the back parking lot in my car. Not hungry. Not going anywhere to eat. Completely alone.
On Christmas Eve.
My mind wandered to how Pastor John would be ordering the Christmas Pageant volunteers around. How my parents would be preparing their ham and fixings for dinner. How I wouldn’t be there to put the star on top of the tree before we read out of the Bible.
I hadn’t been there for the past two years.
A tear fell down my cheek. It didn’t matter. Snow Valley would never be my home.
My phone buzzed. It was Christina.
I sniffed and tried to put on a happy voice. “Hey.”
“Chica, where are you?”
“Why?” I wiped beneath my eyes and pushed open the car door.
“I’m in the store,” she said.
“I was just at lunch, I’m coming.”
She snorted. “Right, like you ate lunch.”
“Whatever.”
“I hope you’re not mad at me.”
I jogged around the building to the store and flung open the door. “For what?”
“For bringing him here.”
Chapter 20
Kevin.
He stood next to Christina, his black hair all modely. He wore a black pinstriped shirt and dark jeans. His facial hair was perfect.
A stir of attraction and anger filled me.
Christina surrendered, her hands going up next to her big silver, hoop earrings. “Your mother called and asked if I would pick him up at the airport and bring him here.”
I didn’t respond, my eyes on Kevin’s. The air had thickened with an electric force that would kill anybody that tried to touch it.
Christina fake laughed. “Well, I have to get back to the salon, but call me.” She waved and rushed out.
Kevin broke the connection, turning and picking up a large, wrapped present next him. He glanced at Sally and Joe, who had taken up residence next to me. “Can we talk?”
I didn’t respond.
Sally nudged me. “Why don’t you take an extra, extra long lunch?”
I shook my head. “It’s okay. I don’t need any more time for lunch, we have nothing to discuss.”
Kevin squeezed his eyes shut and then moved next to me, holding the present between us. “At least open your present.”
I didn’t look at the present. “I don’t like it when people have presents for me and I don’t have one for them, so I can’t accept it.”
His eyes narrowed. He slowly tore the wrapping paper off.
It was me. A younger version of me. Happier. Free. On the swing. With Kevin standing behind me. The look on his face told how much he adored me.
All the vulnerability from the past few days hit me with the force of a tsunami. Tears flooded my eyes and down my face. My heart hammered inside my chest.
“Mol.” Kevin reached out to me.
Ferociously, I blinked and turned for the door. “Not here.”
Kevin followed behind me. “Molly,” he called out.
I pulled my coat tighter around me. “Keep walking.” I went across the parking lot and into the mall. I had to be far away from customers for this.
He moved next to me. “Please, stop and talk to me.”
I didn’t stop. “Sorry if I interrupted you and the ex the other day.”
He took my forearm to stop me. “It wasn’t like that.”
I yanked my a
rm back. “Wasn’t it? Were you just embarrassed I caught you kissing on your porch? Maybe you’re just relieved you didn’t have to tell me you needed ‘time’ again.” I air quoted.
He let out a sigh and rubbed his forehead. “She just kissed me.”
I closed my eyes for a second, then opened them. “Kevin, I don’t know why you’re here, but I realized that you didn’t come for me a long time ago because you went off to college and you found someone else.”
“Pshhh.” He shook his head. “That’s what you think?”
“That’s what I saw.”
His hands clenched into fists. “Do you want to know the real story, Molly?”
I hesitated. “I…” I thought of the ‘real’ story with my parents. Everything felt like it was crashing down on me. My eyes fluttered. “I don’t know.”
He took a step toward me, closing the gap between us. “You know how Lacey talks about God’s plan?”
“Ohmygosh, if I have to hear about some ‘plan’ again—” I tried to move around him.
He put both hands on my shoulders. “Don’t. Don’t do this, Molly O’Hare.”
Tears spilled down my cheeks. Partly because I wanted him to let go and partly because I never wanted him to let go. “Kevin…” I couldn’t take it if he didn’t want me. If the one person I needed to want me didn’t want me.
He released me and stared into my eyes. “I couldn’t marry Carrie because I’d known you were the one since we were six and we sat up in that awful tree house Janet helped us build and made mud pies. Do you remember?”
My mind flashed to the gritty mess of the hauled up mud that we’d conveniently used his mother’s baking pans for. “I remember.”
“And all the years of pushing each other on that swing, do you remember?”
“Just stop.” More tears flooded my cheeks.
His eyes glistened. “Of course, it wasn’t like I really understood love or marriage.” He touched my hand and put it over his heart. “But I understood that I wanted to be with you.”
Goosebumps appeared on my arms.
“It wasn’t big, life altering…it was just an abiding love. Maybe it started as friendship.” He squeezed my hand. “But it turned into love. Yeah, even that twitterpated love in high school when I couldn’t stop thinking about you.”
Even though I didn’t want to, I smiled.
“And I haven’t been able to stop. All the time you were away, I tried to tell myself that you weren’t staying away because it was a sign that we weren’t supposed to be together. I tried to tell myself that childhood loves…first loves…weren’t forever, that I had made it up. But, guess what Lacey told me that night at the fireworks.”
I hesitated. “Wh-what?”
“That seeing us together made her think that the plan might work out.”
Thinking of Lacey made me soften.
“And you can call it fate or a fairytale or God’s plan, but I believe that we are meant for each other.”
I squeezed my eyes shut, hoping to shut out the emotion that his words echoed within me.
“Do you want to know why I couldn’t marry her?”
I sucked in a breath. “Yes.”
“I went to college and realized that the woman I loved…was here. And I’d let her go. Because I was stupid and scared. ” His eyes misted.
I could barely breathe. My heart pounded into my ears. I thought of us together when we were young on the swing. Doing chores together. Swimming in the ditch in the summer.
He touched my hand and fire burned into my heart. “I love you, Molly O’Hare. I couldn’t let you leave again and not come after you.”
Chills washed through me, the truth of it all surrounded me. Warm, peaceful. I stared into his eyes. “I love you, too.”
He pulled me into his chest. “I had no idea Carrie was coming yesterday, she just showed up and told me that Christmas was for miracles. She asked if I would take her back.”
I pulled away and sniffed. “Oh, yeah?” I hated hearing this.
Kevin gently touched my face. “But I told her I had my own Christmas miracle that I was trying to work out.”
I lifted an eyebrow. “It sure didn’t look like you’d told her that when she kissed you?”
A slow grin played on his face. ”Noo…you see I heard…or read, maybe on Christina’s Facebook posts, that she dreamed her best friend would kiss her true love on Christmas Eve.” He winked at me. “I knew I had to make that happen.”
I laughed, surprise winding through me. “Of course, you are friends with Christina on Facebook.”
The side of his lip lifted. “Of course.” He pointed up. “And it looks like the well-placed mistletoe is in our favor.”
I took a step back and looked up. We were standing underneath a Christmas display with mistletoe hanging right over us. I shook my head. “Did Christina tell you about that, too?”
His arm circled me and yanked me against him. He grinned. “Oh, you mean that you hate the stuff, that you rip it down when she puts it up?”
My heart pounded and I could swear I felt his pounding heart, too.
He looked down at my lips. “Hey, Mol?”
I grinned. “Yes.”
“Do you think you can give me a push on the swing when we get back?”
I laughed and closed my eyes. “Maybe.”
“Good, I’ve been waiting for too long.” His lips touched mine.
Our lips held together and I let myself get lost in this moment.
The man I loved, had always loved, was kissing me, under the mistletoe, on Christmas Eve.
This was the best movie I’d ever watched. But something was missing…
I yanked back. “Miracles…Kevin, we have to get on a plane back to Snow Valley. I…I’ve been so horrible to my parents.”
He laughed. “What?”
I tugged my phone out of my coat pocket. “We need to catch a flight back to Billings if we’re going to make it to the pageant.”
Kevin put his hand over my phone. “Why?”
Impatiently, I tugged it back. “Because Christmas is for miracles…and maybe I can be the ‘prodigal daughter’ or something like that.”
Kevin grinned and dug in his pocket, pulling out my ring. The star ring. He held it out.
I stared at it. “Where did you get it?”
“I found this on the floor by the cash register in your store.”
I stared at it.
His grin widened. “After I found it, I took it as a sign and I asked Sally to help me book two tickets back to Billings at four o’clock.”
“You did?”
“I did.” He shrugged. “Every miracle requires faith. I took a chance.”
I grinned. “I guess His plan is bigger than any of us.” Warmth cradled me. And an urgency to see my parents propelled me. “C’mon.” I took his hand and we rushed to my car.
Christina was waiting inside of it.
I jerked open the door and her kohl-lined eyes sparkled back at me. “Yay!” She did small claps then got out and rushed around the car to hug me. “I knew you’d come back with the heartbreaker.”
I laughed and held her close. “I’m going home.”
She pulled me from side to side. “I know…I dreamed about this baby eagle returning to its’ nest last night.”
I laughed, again. “Are you going to be okay?”
A tear fell down her cheek. “I have Luis.” She winked. “I dreamed about him last night, too and everything is going to work out fine.”
“Merry Christmas.” I gave her one last hug before getting into my car.
She waved. “Merry Christmas!”
Chapter 21
The service had barely started when Kevin and I walked into the packed church.
Kevin got on his toes to look around, then pulled me forward. “Your parents are up there.”
We found them and I slipped next to my mother. “Any room for angels that have been very unangel-like?”
She
turned and stared at me, dumbfounded. “Molly?”
My father immediately reached for my hand.
Kevin slid in next to me.
I took my parent’s hands. “I’m so sorry.”
My mother covered her face, tears ran down her cheeks. “I told the Lord that I just needed something tonight. Something to show me that it would be okay.” She grinned. “On the way here, I looked up and saw the North Star. It was bright. It reminded me of that night in Bethlehem. I knew it would all be okay. That you would find your way home.”
I blinked back tears. “I appreciate the sacrifice you gave to give me life.”
My father’s face was happy, tears on his face. “We love you.”
I sniffed. “I love you guys, too. Thank you.” I nudged my mom. “For everything you gave up.”
Her face brightened and she paused. “Molly, you don’t understand. I didn’t give up anything, having you gave me everything. You are a miracle. You are our miracle. I know that being a mother is the greatest gift I’ve ever been given.”
I put my arm around her and love filled me. I knew I had been given a second chance. To be a daughter. To love the man I’d always loved. I thought of what Pastor John had said about seeing other people’s pain. That was my own, personal Christmas miracle. “I love you.”
Pastor John took the stand. The little pageant kids stood behind him, restless and noisy. Parents' shooshing went through the air.
He pushed back his glasses. “I want you all to think about a baby born on a night much like tonight. A Savior to the world. A Savior that could give us all peace and joy and love. A Savior that could save us from ourselves.”
Kevin took my hand. “Molly.”
I grinned and squeezed his hand. “Shh.”
Pastor John kept talking. “I want you to remember that Christmas miracles are real.”
“Molly.”
I turned to him.
His aqua eyes were intense.
“What?”
Kevin grinned. “I just have one miracle I need to ask for?”
The moment went slow and sticky—just like in the movies before the lead guy and the lead girl…
“Will you marry me?”