Mistletoe Miracles

by Jodi Thomas

  Sunlan managed a smile. “You’re right. She’s not. My father made sure of that.”

  An hour later, Griffin finally faced Sunlan’s father. The Great Winston Krown. He wasn’t what Griffin had expected, but he was the opposite of his wife. If they’d been about the same age when they married, the gap seemed to have widened. Winston looked sixty or more. Dark circles and wrinkles on a face that once might have been handsome.

  “So, you are my daughter’s friend?” Winston opened the real conversation after he’d welcomed Griffin and they’d talked about the weather.

  Griffin figured he might as well lead with the truth. “I’m more than that, sir. I plan to marry her.”

  Winston’s stone face blinked shock. “Does my daughter know about this?”

  “She does. I wouldn’t be standing here if she had any objections.”

  Sunlan’s father puffed up a bit like a horned toad. “You get right to the point. You didn’t wait for her to wander over and soften the blow.”

  “This is between you and me. I love your daughter. I’d like your blessing, but I’m not a child and neither is she. We don’t need your permission. I’ve got a ranch—”

  “I know about your ranch. One of the oldest in Texas. Struggling like most these days, but good land.”

  “We’ll hang on.” Griffin met Winston’s stare. “We always have.”

  Winston nodded once. “Your great-great-grandfather built it when the fort line didn’t even reach that far north. From what I’ve dug up since yesterday, there is not a single skeleton in any Holloway’s closet. You’re the kind of man who could run for office and win.”

  “I not interested in running for office. I just want to run my ranch and marry your daughter. The wedding will be right before Christmas. You’re welcome to give her away.”

  Winston stared at him with the same light blue eyes as Sunlan’s. “I could make this hard on you, son.”

  “You could. But that won’t change a thing. I’m marrying Sunlan.” Griffin knew he was coming on strong, but he didn’t think a man like Krown would want it any other way.

  Winston watched his daughter heading toward him. “She tell you I was hard on her when she was growing up?”

  “She did.”

  “You plan to be?”

  “No. I don’t ever plan to try to make her do a single thing she doesn’t want to do. We’ll be partners. I’m not a manipulator or a bully. She’s a strong woman. She knows her own mind.”

  Winston smiled. “I know. That’s why I was so hard on her.”

  Griffin looked over Winston’s shoulder, and something dawned on him as he saw Marian come gliding across the room like the ball’s only princess. Winston didn’t want his child to grow up to be her mother. That’s why he fostered her love for horses, sent her away to school, bought a library of books she’d love, let her fly at eighteen.

  “Winnie,” Marian shouted. “You must turn loose of Sunlan’s handsome friend so he can dance with me. I simply have to dance in this dress. It almost floats.”

  Winston bowed slightly to his wife. “There is no music playing, dear. And don’t call me Winnie.”

  Marian seemed confused for a moment. Apparently, she hadn’t noticed music wasn’t playing.

  Sunlan stepped near and laced her fingers into Griffin’s, and he pulled her close.

  Winston turned away from his wife and faced his daughter. “I understand you had a fire at that worthless little place of yours in Colorado.”

  “What? No one told me,” Marian said, but no one seemed to be listening to her. “Let the place burn, who cares.”

  Griffin felt Sunlan stiffen as she faced her father. “We did. I lost ten head.”

  “If she hadn’t fought so hard, she might have lost more,” Griffin added.

  “You were there?” Winston raised an eyebrow.

  “I was. My brothers and I flew up as soon as we heard. The barn was still burning when we arrived. Most of her herd was transported to one of our barns on Maverick Ranch, but others will take time to heal. She’s got a great foreman there and my brother’s staying over a few days to help out.”

  Winston looked impressed. “You have any idea what it’ll cost to rebuild?” Marian looked bored.

  “A great deal,” Sunlan answered simply. “But I had insurance and with Griffin’s barns, I won’t have to worry about the horses.”

  Winston stared hard at Griffin, then glanced down to where his daughter’s fingers were laced in Griffin’s hand. When he looked up, he asked, “You two got it handled?”

  “We do,” Sunlan answered with a slight smile.

  “Excuse me,” Winston said as he stepped past them. “I have to make a few announcements.”

  “Oh, dear God, who is running for office now?” Marian pouted. “If it’s not horses, it’s politics. I come home every few years and the same conversations are going on.”

  Griffin held Sunlan close as they followed her father. He really wasn’t all that interested in Winston’s announcement, but he wanted to put as much distance between them and Marian as possible. The woman might be pretty, but every time she talked, she revealed inner ugliness. She was like the Wicked Witch’s twin sister.

  “Ladies and gentlemen.” Winston stood three steps up on the grand stairs. “Before we begin the annual Krown Christmas party, I have a very important announcement to make.”

  The crowd grew silent.

  “I’ve just been informed that my daughter has agreed to marry Griffin Holloway, who comes from an old Texas ranching family. I am very honored to welcome him into my family tonight, but I don’t think I’ll be able to give her away without a few tears.”

  Griffin glanced at Sunlan. She looked to be in shock. So did her mother, as people pushed past Marian to hug Sunlan.

  “Sorry, I told him before you were there,” he whispered in her ear. To his surprise, she rolled into his arms and hugged him so tightly around the neck he wasn’t sure if she was happy or trying to choke him to death.

  Finally, she pulled far enough away to kiss him, and people cheered.

  “I told you he’d like you,” she whispered.

  “He likes me, Sunshine, but in his gruff way, he loves you.”

  There was no time to talk. They had a few dozen people who wanted to pat them on the back and ask questions.

  Hours later, when all the guests had either left or gone to their rooms, Griffin lay on his bed, thinking about the night. It hadn’t been all that hard to figure out that Winston’s spies were everywhere. Old Sam had probably been taking his measure since he’d stepped on the ranch. Even the housekeeper was in on the game.

  The only clueless one in the room was probably Marian. Griffin had a feeling at least some of what she’d told Sunlan about her father over the years were lies. A man couldn’t run an operation this big and carry weight in politics and be a fool.

  Sunlan’s mother tried to get her to change the day to sometime in January, then finally gave up and said she’d try to make it, but that a place called Crossroads was not on her travel list.

  Sunlan spent the rest of the evening close to Griffin’s side. Marian passed her time circulating. Griffin had to wonder if Marian and Winston ever talked. No matter how rich you were, it’d be a hard life married to someone you didn’t like.

  A tap sounded at his door.

  Before he had time to say anything, Sunlan slipped in. She was wearing red silk pajamas tonight, with red shoes to match. The way she moved in them now would definitely keep him awake tonight.

  “Can I sleep with you tonight? Just sleep.”

  “Sure, but I should warn you, Sam comes in before dawn and perches on my headboard like an anemic vulture.”

  Sunlan climbed under the covers. “I can’t believe it went so well tonight. My father even talked to me a few minutes ago about sending a
few breeding horses to Misty Bend to replace the ones I lost.”

  “What’d you say?”

  She was halfway under the covers, trying to pull off her slippers. “I said no, thank you. I couldn’t believe he offered. First interest he’s even shown in the place.” One slipper flew across the room and thumped against the door.

  He propped his head up with his arm and watched her. “Just out of curiosity, what do you and your mother do when you’re together?”

  “She usually calls and we meet somewhere a few times a year. You know, New York, LA, Paris. She’s very busy, so we’re usually only together a day or two. We go to parties or luncheons, sometimes a style show or a play. But when she visits the States, we shop.”

  “You like to shop?”

  “Not really, but it beats sitting and talking to her.”

  He saw her point. The other slipper followed its mate and tapped against the door.

  “You know, Sunshine, I don’t want to just sleep with you, but that is exactly what we’re going to do tonight.”

  “All right, but why are you announcing this?”

  He smiled. “Because I want to do this right. I want to get to know you. Maybe fall in love like normal people do. We’re going to make love because we can’t even breathe if we don’t, not simply because you want someone to cuddle up with.”

  “We’ll talk about it in the morning on the way home.”

  He grinned again. “On the way home.” He liked the sound of that.

  The next afternoon, her father drove them to the plane and hugged his daughter goodbye. Neither said much. Griffin decided the little they had said was enough. Winston would be at their wedding in Crossroads.

  Sunlan talked about her plans to rebuild at Misty Bend and Griffin tried to sleep.

  When they landed at Maverick Ranch near dusk and drove around the white barn, Griffin caught sight of his headquarters. For a moment, he thought he was at the wrong house. No, the place was right but the year was wrong. His headquarters glittered in the night almost like he remembered it had at Christmas when he was a kid.

  Huge evergreen wreaths hung from every window. Mistletoe twirled in big balls from the center of each circle of green. Red ribbons danced in the breeze below the windows and a string of white lights ran the roofline.

  “You decorated,” he said as he saw a twelve-foot tree in the great room shining through the windows.

  “It’s time, Griff. I found several boxes of ornaments going back generations. They’d been carefully stored in a closet that looked like it hadn’t been opened in twenty years,” she said. “It’s time the Holloways celebrated the holidays again. I had Cooper and the boys help hang them. They had to find a tree big enough to hold all the generations. I hope your dad won’t mind if they took one of his trees from Mistletoe Canyon.”

  “I’ll plant another dozen come spring. If he glances down from heaven, he’ll like watching them grow.”

  They stepped out of the ATV and walked up the steps. She hugged his arm and he thought about how much he liked the simple gesture.

  “Do you mind, Griff?”

  “No. I said you could decorate the house any way you wanted. I just didn’t know that what you did would look so right. We got to do this every year. Our kids are going to love this.”

  “Our kids?”

  “Sure.”

  As they stepped inside and stopped beneath a mistletoe ball, he paused and kissed her. When he pulled away, he smiled. “I could get used to doing that.”

  “Good.” She laughed. “There’s mistletoe hanging in every room.”

  CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE

  Midnight Crossing

  MALLORY STAYED WITH Jax for almost a week after Curtis had tried to get to her. Though the sheriff fought to keep him in jail, Curtis brought in lawyers from Dallas. It took a week, but he bonded out.

  He’d told several people in Crossroads that his lawyers assured him he’d never serve any more time than the week. After all, it was just a lovers’ quarrel. His word against hers. The bruises might have been from the wreck. Curtis even claimed he’d gone to the O’Grady cabin to win her back and he’d taken the bat along because her dog was vicious.

  When Tim drove out to Midnight Crossing to tell her Curtis was out, Mallory didn’t bother to ask questions. Now he wasn’t just mad at her; Curtis would also come after Jax for helping her. She knew what she had to do.

  “The guy is even threatening to sue the county for wrongful arrest, but that’ll go nowhere.” Tim, as always, loved being part of the team at the sheriff’s office. “You might want to get that old .30-30’s stock fixed, Jax. You might need to use it as a club again.”

  “I have another idea.” Mallory looked directly at Jax. “I’ve decided I am going to call my old roommate in Galveston. I haven’t talked to her in a few years, but when we were close, she was always inviting me to come down and stay with her. If I could borrow Tim’s phone, I could call her. Maybe the offer is still open.”

  Jax was silent, but he nodded once. They both knew she’d be safer somewhere else.

  Tim agreed. He even offered to take Charlie into the vet to get the chip removed. “The sooner we get you away, the better.”

  While Jax and Tim moved onto the porch to plan how they’d get her out of town unseen, she called her college roommate and took her up on the longstanding offer to visit Galveston.

  Jax came back inside alone. “We’ve got a cousin in Plainview who said he’d rent you a car and then lose the paperwork. You can drive it to the coast. My cousin’s sons go to Sam Houston State in Huntsville. It’s not far from Galveston, so they’ll drive down and pick the car up next week when the semester is over and they’re heading home for Christmas. Their dad said they could probably use the extra trunk space for hauling dirty laundry anyway.”

  “You have cousins everywhere?”

  “Pretty much.”

  He joined her in the small kitchen, where she was starting supper. As soon as she’d been able, she’d taken over cooking the evening meal. Told him it was the only way she’d survive.

  Jax leaned against the counter and watched her work. “I still don’t know about you driving so far. It’s all the way across Texas.”

  “I’ll be fine. If I get tired, I’ll pull over at a motel where I can pay cash.” She put her hands on his shoulders. “I’m okay, Jax. You took good care of me. Saved my life when I needed a friend. But at twenty-seven, it’s time I grew up. Opened my eyes. I’ve got a degree in business. I can start over.”

  There were still shadows of bruises on her face, but the hard cast on her arm had been replaced by a brace that she could remove when she showered. She was healing, mentally as well as physically.

  Saying goodbye to Jax was hard. He’d touched her body and heart. He’d held her when she was hurting. He’d seen all her scars, inside and out, and never judged her. He’d saved Charlie’s life. “Jaxson, you do know that you’re my hero?”

  He shook his head. “I should have shot the guy. Now you’ll be looking over your shoulder.”

  “Not for long. Curtis will forget about me. And I’m glad you didn’t shoot him. He wasn’t worth it. There’s a kindness in you. I’d hate to see you lose that.”

  He touched her hair. “Midnight curls,” he said, more to himself than her, she thought. “You taught me a great deal, Mallory. I don’t know if I’ll ever step back into the world, but I’ve been asked to present a paper on fire investigations next mouth. I thought I might leave the day you do and check out Seattle for a while before the conference.”

  She nodded. “The town will think we left together. That’s how you’re planning it, isn’t it?” He was still thinking about protecting her. Curtis wouldn’t know where she’d gone, and he’d think she had Jax with her. Two reasons keeping Curtis from trying to find her. She felt like she was building a wall aroun
d herself and Jax was helping.

  “We’ll keep in touch.” She hugged him. “I don’t want to lose you.”

  “We’ll keep in touch,” he echoed but didn’t hold on as hard as she did.

  Two days later, as she stood ready to drive away, she whispered, “You know I love you, Jax. We both do.” She patted Charlie’s head. “I think I have since that morning you carried me back into the hospital and said I’d be safe with you.”

  “I know. I love you, too. It was good having you both here. I felt I was helping out for a change. Doing something good.”

  “Any chance you’d come to see me after you get back from Seattle?”

  He shook his head. “I’m the county hermit, remember? But I won’t forget you, not ever. A few times in life, someone comes along that changes the shape of your heart. You did that for me. I’ll always remember you.”

  She kissed his cheek. “I’m not giving up on you, Jaxson O’Grady. One day I’ll walk out of my office building in a big city and there you’ll be waiting to take me on a date.”

  “I’m too old for you.”

  “Nine years isn’t so much.”

  “It’s a lifetime, kid.”

  “I’ll still watch for you. Think about it. You take me on a date. I might cook you breakfast for a change.”

  He laughed. “That’d be a switch.”

  She climbed into the car Tim’s cousin had rented her. While Jax strapped Charlie in his riding seat, she added, “I’ll send you a note now and then. I’ve got enough savings to buy what I need and get an apartment when I settle somewhere. I’ll let you know when I take a job. My friend says she’s already got some possibilities lined up.”

  Jax didn’t know how to say goodbye. He simply nodded and waved as she drove away.

  As she disappeared, Tim stepped off the porch and joined him. “Why didn’t you tell her you loved her like you meant it? You said it like friends say they love each other.”

  “She can do better than me.”

  “Yeah, like the guy who hit her?”

  “She’s broken. She needs time to heal. I’d just be in the way.”