Christmas Comes to Bethlehem - Maine

by Ludwig, Elizabeth

  He smiled. “In that case, Emma Townsend, will you marry me and make me the happiest man in Bethlehem, Maine?”

  “I will.”

  He lowered his head, and their lips met to seal the commitment they’d just made to each other. When Mike released her, he glanced back to the darkened nativity set and said a quick prayer of thanks for all the blessings that had poured down on their little town of Bethlehem since Hurricane Eleanor.

  He hugged Emma close, and she rested her head on his chest. “We made a promise to God tonight that we would give Him the praise each year when we present the nativity, but I want to make another promise to Him.”

  “What?” she murmured.

  “That no matter what comes our way in the future, you and I will get out of God’s way and let Him take control. Can you imagine what He can do in our lives if we give Him total control?”

  She snuggled closer. “I can’t, but I’m looking forward to finding out.”

  ONE HOLY NIGHT

  By Elizabeth Ludwig

  Chapter 1

  The door to the McElroy Veterinary Clinic whooshed open, ushering in a blast of frosty November air. Leesa ignored the accompanying chime of the doorbell, her attention focused on the cast she was applying to the leg of a temperamental schnauzer.

  “Want me to see who that is, Doc?”

  Leesa eyed the snarling schnauzer and then her assistant, Samantha “Sammy” Reynolds. “Okay, but make it quick. I can do without another complaint from this old guy, eh, Rupert?” She gave the schnauzer a pat on the rump with the back of her hand.

  Sammy grimaced and peeled the rubber gloves from her fingers with a snap. “Complaint? Right. He about took my finger off the last time he ‘complained.’ ”

  She scowled at Rupert then circled the metal examination table and ducked through the door toward the reception area.

  Smoothing the last strip of casting tape into place, Leesa smiled. Sammy was still in high school, but hiring her had been the best decision she’d made since opening the clinic two years earlier. Sammy worked well with both people and animals—even Rupert. It hurt her heart to think she might have to let her go.

  She bent to whisper into the dog’s twitching ear. “Lucky for you I need customers.” He growled, and Leesa sighed. “And lucky for me, your mommy doesn’t much care for old Dr. Norwood or his muzzle.”

  Stripping free of her latex gloves, she dropped them into a trashcan, one eye trained on the schnauzer. She’d given the dog a dose of acepromazine to calm him during the procedure, but that didn’t mean he wouldn’t lash out—an instinctive reaction to anxiety and fear.

  She patted Rupert’s trembling side and gently burrowed her fingers into his fur. “There, boy. Six weeks and you’ll be good as new.”

  Sammy reentered, a bounce in her step. “All done?”

  “Yep. Go ahead and call his mommy. Tell her everything went fine, but let her know I want to keep him a couple of hours for observation. I want to see how he’ll do with the cast.”

  “Will do,” Sammy said, already snuggling Rupert into a brown, fuzzy blanket adorned with doggie bones. Mindful of his teeth, she lifted him carefully from the table and turned toward the kennels off a hallway at the back of the clinic.

  “In the meantime, you have a visitor waiting for you up front. Kate Walters.”

  Leesa tugged at the snaps on her lab coat. “What does she want?”

  Sammy’s mouth turned up in an impish grin. The pooch cradled in her arms, she backed into the hall and disappeared.

  Great. This probably won’t be good.

  Drawing a deep breath, Leesa deposited her soiled lab coat into a laundry bin on her way to the reception area.

  Even with Leesa’s rubber-soled shoes, it was obvious Kate heard her approaching. Nervously pushing her stroller back and forth, she straightened, squaring her shoulders before she turned to extend a greeting. “Morning, Dr. McElroy.”

  Not fooled by her bright tone, Leesa rounded the counter. “Morning, Kate. How’s the little one today?”

  The lines smoothed from Kate’s face, replaced with a radiant smile as she peered down into the stroller. Motherhood agreed with her.

  “She’s just fine. Finally over her cold, thank goodness.”

  Leesa bent for a peek at the slumbering child. With her thumb tucked into her mouth, her cheeks flushed and rosy, she couldn’t look more cherubic. Leesa slanted her gaze up at Kate. It hadn’t been easy for her and her husband, David, to learn they were becoming parents again so late in life, but they’d made the transition and appeared blessed by it, despite the challenges.

  “I’m happy for you, Kate.”

  The professional mask Kate wore as the Bethlehem Town Manager dipped slightly. “Thanks, Leesa. It hasn’t been easy balancing motherhood with my job.”

  No doubt. Just thinking about trying to run the clinic while juggling marriage and a family made Leesa shiver. She gave an understanding nod then drew up her spine and crossed her arms. “Is that why you’re here? Work?”

  Kate slid back into her professional role. “Yes, as a matter of fact.”

  Leesa frowned. Just as she’d thought. “So what is Dr. Norwood complaining about this week?” She glanced at the flyer pinned to the bulletin board behind her desk. “Is it the rabies clinic I’m conducting next spring? I told him I’d be happy to coordinate with his office—”

  Kate’s forehead bunched in puzzlement. “Dr. Norwood? Oh. Right.”

  The confusion cleared from her face. Everyone in Bethlehem knew about the animosity between Leesa and the town’s older, more established veterinarian, Andrew Norwood. He made it a point to inform anyone who brought up her name that he thought Bethlehem was too small for the two of them.

  Kate shook her head. “It’s not him this time. I’m here because I need to ask a favor.” Her hand drifted to the stroller, and she resumed the nervous rocking. “You know the live nativity the town puts on at the green every Christmas?”

  How could she forget? It was a highlight of the season and drew hundreds of visitors every year. Even Hurricane Eleanor, whose 95-mile-per-hour winds had battered the small town just a couple of years ago, failed to curtail the event. If anything, the storm had only strengthened the bond between Bethlehem’s residents and their beloved nativity. “Of course. It’s one of the reasons I fell in love with Bethlehem.”

  That, and it’s hundreds of miles from Bangor.

  Leesa shoved that thought into a remote corner of her brain. “Why?”

  Kate’s face brightened with a winsome smile. A politician’s smile, Leesa corrected, her fingers tensing around a pen she picked up from the receptionist’s desk. Why did she suddenly get the feeling this “favor” was going to require something big?

  “As you know, there are a lot of animals involved in the production. Dr. Norwood is going to be out of town this year visiting family in Utah, which means we’ll need someone to step into the role of caring for them while the nativity is going on.”

  Big.

  “Of course, I thought of you. I’m hoping you might be interested in playing one of the shepherds…”

  Bigger.

  “…and maybe speaking to Logan Franks?”

  Biggest.

  Leesa put up her hand. “Hold on there…Logan Franks? How did he get in on this conversation?”

  A blush crept over Kate’s cheeks. She checked on her sleeping daughter then took a step closer. “Listen, Leesa, where do you think we get the camels the wise men ride every year?”

  Leesa gave a weak laugh. Truthfully, she’d never thought about it. “Camels-R-Us?”

  Kate’s echoing laughter flowed much more naturally. “I wish. No, we have to contract with a farm outside of Portland. Costs us hundreds of dollars to get them here, and with the economy being tight…” She shrugged her shoulders. “This year, it’s just not in the budget.”

  “Okaaay.” Seeing where this was going, Leesa bit her lip. “But Logan—”

  “
Logan Franks has hundreds of exotic animals, from camels to coyotes, and he’s right here in Bethlehem. We’d save a fortune if we could work out a deal with him instead of having to ship them from out of town.”

  “Then why haven’t you?” Leesa asked, frowning.

  “We’ve tried. In fact, it was Dr. Norwood who spoke to him when we were putting this thing together years ago.”

  “He wouldn’t do it?”

  Kate shook her head.

  “So what makes you think I’d have any luck?”

  Her eyes took on a wily gleam. “You still in the singles class at Sunday school?”

  Leesa took a defensive step backward. “Kate…”

  Kate blinked, dispelling the gleam as quickly as it had appeared. “Besides, with Dr. Norwood gone, I thought you might like to try your hand. After all, it’d be quite a coup, considering he wasn’t able to pull it off.”

  Honestly, the woman changed tactics faster than a Navy Seal. Leesa shook her head. “No fair throwing his name into this.”

  “It is if it works.” Kate’s shoulders lifted in a contrite shrug. “C’mon, Leesa. Please? You’re always talking about how you never have time to get to know people. What better way than the nativity?”

  Leesa turned her back, taking her time as she retrieved the receptionist’s chair. Against the tiled floor, the wheels made a gentle clacking sound—something that wouldn’t be heard if the kennels were full. But thanks to Dr. Norwood…

  No, she chastised, Norwood was only part of the problem. The people of Bethlehem didn’t know her, had not yet learned to trust her expertise. What Kate was offering was more than a chance to drum up business. It was a chance to take part in something the community loved—finally feel a part. But Logan Franks…

  Her heart thumped just thinking about his imposing frown. The man could freeze a volcano with one of his glares. To have to actually ask him for something meant risking frostbite. Or worse. Like death from hypothermia.

  Too bad he was also stop-you-in-the-street good looking.

  Leesa sighed and plopped into the chair. Across the counter, Kate’s eyes shone hopefully. To her credit, she’d held her tongue while she waited.

  Leesa drummed the desktop once, twice, then blew out her cheeks and nodded. “I’ll do it. I’ll play one of the shepherds,” she added quickly when Kate’s face lit with excitement, “but you know I can’t guarantee Mr. Franks will even speak to me.”

  “He will,” Kate said, with far more confidence than Leesa felt at the moment. “He comes across as unapproachable, but you’d be surprised how kind he can be. I remember a time…” She dropped her gaze as though embarrassed by what she’d been about to say. “Anyway, let me know how it goes, will you? I’ll need an answer fairly quickly, so we can start planning one way or another.”

  Leesa nodded, and after promising she’d get back with Kate soon, watched as she wheeled the stroller out of the clinic and down the street. What did Kate know about Logan Franks that Leesa didn’t, and why hadn’t she shared it?

  The questions nagged her long after she’d gone home for the day. Kind and Logan Franks were not words she’d have strung together. No, she thought as she removed a plate of leftover meatloaf from the refrigerator for her supper, Logan Franks was more like this dish—cold and a little bit stiff.

  The thought made her giggle, but it was his menacing glare she remembered later as she brushed her teeth and got ready for bed, and his scowl she saw when almost an hour later, she finally went to sleep.

  Chapter 2

  The sun peeking above the miles of rolling hills had yet to melt the frost off the trees or the grass under his feet. Logan drew a long breath of icy morning air and blew it out slow, like the steam from a locomotive. Funny how, on days like this, he could still be transported to his youth—for a moment, anyway.

  His heart clenched, and he lowered his gaze to the pair of yellow eyes watching him curiously. “Right. Let’s get moving. Too cold to stand here gathering wool.”

  The wolf’s nose twitched in agreement.

  Lifting the latch on a long, metal gate, he pushed through, waited for the wolf, then let it clang shut. On a typical day, feeding the livestock came first, but the wolf made the camels nervous, so Logan veered toward the aviary.

  A high, tinny whistle carried on the air, mingling with bird songs. Not surprising. His hired hand, Pete, was an early riser for a college kid—earlier than Logan.

  He entered the aviary, the wolf on his heels. Greeted by a blast of warm air, he unwound the scarf from around his neck then directed a sharp glare at the wolf. “No tricks. Sit there and be good.”

  As if to say that had been his intention all along, the wolf dropped to his belly at the door and laid his head on his paws with a long-suffering sigh.

  Pete rounded the corner. In each hand, he lugged a large bucket brimming with chopped fruits and vegetables, mixed with seed. “Morning, Boss.”

  “Morning.”

  Logan relieved him of one of the buckets then followed him to the center of the aviary, where they made short, silent work of distributing the food. That was one of the things Logan liked about Pete. He didn’t feel compelled to fill up the quiet.

  The two toiled side-by-side for almost an hour—cleaning the aviary, changing the water in the bathing pool, sweeping out leaves and debris. It was menial, mind-numbing work, but these days Logan appreciated the simplicity. It filled his days, leaving him with little time to think.

  “I see Wolf’s back.”

  Logan cut his gaze to the door, where the wolf’s ears perked at the mention of his name. “Yeah. He was gone longer this time. I was starting to worry.”

  Pete shook his head. “Probably got himself a girl up in the woods. That time of year.”

  “Uh-huh.” Logan leaned against the broom handle. “Speaking of the time of year, shouldn’t the college be letting you out for Christmas break soon? I assume you’ll be going home?”

  Even with Pete’s head lowered, Logan saw the flush coloring his cheeks. The kid hunched deeper into his shoulders and cleared his throat. “Actually…I was kinda thinking about sticking around Bethlehem.”

  Logan clenched his jaw and went back to sweeping. “That’d make two years in a row, Pete. I’m sure your parents miss you.”

  “My parents won’t mind, if they know I’m needed here,” he blurted, his face reddening.

  No, they probably wouldn’t, considering how many prayer-filled cards and letters they’d sent. That still didn’t excuse Logan from claiming their eldest son for a second Christmas. Finished with the broom, he stowed it and the dustpan in a small closet then twisted his wrist to read his watch. Almost seven thirty.

  He clapped Pete on the shoulder. “I’ll finish up. You’d better head to class before you’re late. We’ll talk about the break another time.”

  Though he said nothing, Pete looked almost as forlorn as the wolf. He bobbed his shaggy head—the kid needed a haircut, bad—then ducked out the aviary door and loped toward a beat-up Oldsmobile Cutlass.

  A wry smile tipped Logan’s lips. No wonder Pete had been one of Miranda’s favorite students. He was a good kid. And he loved animals. He’d make a wonderful zoologist one day. Miranda always said so…

  The usual pang that accompanied his wife’s name rippled through his chest—a warm, familiar ache that Logan welcomed. Anything to be able to feel again.

  Giving a whistle, he led Wolf out of the aviary, securing the door behind him, and turned for the barn. Though he was by no means tame, the wolf sat obediently when ordered and waited while Logan filled feeders and cleaned stalls.

  The job took most of the morning. Stepping from the barn, Logan wiped the sweat from his brow and peeked at the sun high overhead. Almost midday. Time to eat. His body reminded him of the need for sustenance even though his mind tended to lapse into forgetfulness.

  He headed for the house and was surprised when the hum of an engine rumbled up the winding driveway.

  P
ete back already? Class must’ve let out early. Logan waited at the gate, narrowing his eyes when it wasn’t a Cutlass that rounded the curve a quarter-mile down the road, but a newer model Ford. White. The vet.

  He scowled and crossed his arms. What did she want?

  She pulled to a stop a few feet shy of him and climbed out of the car, her blue eyes wide and hopeful, a bright smile pasted on her lips. “Morning, Mr. Franks.”

  He resisted the urge to shoot a glance at the noonday sun. No need to be rude. “Dr. McElroy. What brings you out this way?”

  Her mouth slackened at his directness, and her booted feet skittered to a halt on the gravel drive. “Well…I…” Her focus slipped past him to something beyond his shoulder.

  Wolf. He heard the low growl before he turned to look. “Easy, boy.”

  The wolf crept to Logan’s side, his gray head lowered and his gaze fixed on the intruder.

  “My fault.” Dr. McElroy retreated a step. “I’m in his territory uninvited. He’s just doing his job as the pack leader.”

  “His job?” In spite of himself, Logan cracked a smile. Sounded like something Miranda would say.

  Pang.

  Huh. Twice in one day.

  “You know wolves are a hot button issue in the state of Maine, right?” she continued and then stopped when he stiffened. “Sorry. Not why I’m here.”

  “No problem.” Seeing her shiver and rub her hands over her arms, he gestured toward the shelter of the barn. “Come inside?”

  Inviting her in was a definite mistake. She’d cut her visit short if she was cold. Still, he couldn’t stand by and watch a person freeze. He swung toward the barn. This time, the wolf didn’t follow. He sniffed the air as Dr. McElroy passed. Shooting Logan a deep look of disgust, he turned and disappeared into the woods.