In Love by Christmas

by Cari Lynn Webb

  She was unprepared for the sensations coursing through her from one simple touch. She wouldn’t be able to withstand the onslaught of emotions from his words. What more was there left to say?

  “Theo, you’re wanted for pictures.” Helen anchored her arm around Josie’s waist and steered her away from the crowd.

  “We’ll head to the reception venue,” Jin stated. “Food and a glass of wine will most certainly help.”

  Josie wasn’t certain an entire cheesecake and extra bottle of whipped cream could help her now. She slipped into the van that was ushering guests to the reception venue. Once there, she’d slip down the street and disappear into her own taxi.

  Josie wove through the guests milling on the vast lawns outside the private estate and reception hall. She searched the grounds, looking for a place to escape and call a taxi. Her gaze connected with Theo. The group and family photographs had ended. The wedding party mingled with the guests.

  Josie’s steps slowed. Her mind paused on the moment, afraid to press Play. Fearful of the impending hurt. She spun around. Cowardly? Yes. She couldn’t face him. Not here. Not again.

  “Josie Beck, I love you.” Theo’s shout carried across the lawns. Captured the guests’ full attention.

  His words rooted Josie in place. She closed her eyes. Surely she’d misheard. She was stressed, imagining things. Dreams didn’t come true for her.

  “Josie Beck, I love you.” This time Theo’s voice came from directly behind her. Still an octave too loud. An octave above commanding.

  Josie glanced around, took in the cameras filming and personal cell phones recording. More guests hurried across the lawn toward them. Josie twisted around. Theo righted her and gripped her hands.

  He said, “Josie, I—”

  “Stop talking.” She searched the grounds for a private area. Tugged on his hands to pull him away. Locked her gaze on his, urging him to move.

  He never budged, as if he always preferred public displays. Always preferred being the spotlight. “I have things I need to tell you.”

  Stubborn, stubborn man. “Hold onto them.” She yanked on him again. “We can talk in private.”

  “I want to tell you now.”

  “Now?” she whispered. “They’re watching. Filming. Recording.”

  “I don’t care.” He squeezed her hands, kept his gaze on hers. “Let them go. This is between you and me.”

  Josie moved closer to Theo. He wouldn’t move to a secluded spot. But she could close the distance. Create their own private space.

  “I love you, Josie,” he said again. Wonder in his voice. Affection in his gaze. On his face.

  His words stitched all those broken pieces of her heart back together.

  He continued as if he’d always spoken in rapid succession. “I love you, but you shouldn’t love me.”

  Josie opened her mouth.

  He set his fingers on her chin, closed her mouth. “You shouldn’t love me. I’m opinionated. Work too much. I don’t like to share. I don’t always listen and more times than not I do things my own way. I’m a terrible loser and an even worse winner. And if you ever want to win the Fiore-Reid gingerbread contest, it definitely won’t happen with me.”

  “You stand up for what you believe in. You’re passionate about work. You’re protective, confident and competitive.” Josie cupped his face. Pressed her lips to his and leaned back. “I love you, Theo Taylor for all those reasons and so many more. You’re not perfect, only perfect for me.”

  Theo lifted her off the ground and spun her around. Cheers and claps filled the lawn around them. One more kiss. More applause and Theo lowered her to the grass. Her feet might’ve been on the ground, but she was floating. The cloud-nine, over-the-rainbow, enchanted-fairy-tale kind of floating. And she never wanted to come down.

  “Shall we test our newly acquired dance skills inside?” He laced his fingers around hers.

  “Yes. We should.” Together, they walked toward the reception hall, leaning into each other. Supporting each other.

  Lilian Rose intercepted them outside on the terrace. “Can I have a word?”

  Theo tucked Josie into his side, wrapping his arm around her waist. He said, “We were going to see if we remembered our dance lessons.”

  Lilian Rose grinned. “You won’t forget. This will only take a minute.”

  Josie looped her arm around Theo’s waist and waited.

  “I thought you took the TV show from me, but you took something more valuable—my son’s heart.” Lilian Rose motioned for Josie’s hands and took them in her own. “But you gave us something even more precious—yours.”

  Josie searched Lilian Rose’s face. Found only sincerity. Candid and genuine.

  “I don’t always get this parenting thing right.” Lilian Rose’s eyebrows quirked, a wryness wrinkled across her smile. “But I understand love. I recognize the love between you and my son. It’s the same love I shared with Theo’s father.”

  Josie swayed into Theo. His hand fell on her lower back and anchored her.

  “We don’t deserve you in our family, but we’re better with you beside us,” Lilian Rose said.

  Josie spoke from her heart—one that was open and healed. “I’m better, too.”

  “I’m not the perfect mother. I get more wrong than right.” Lilian Rose laughed. “But I’ll try to be a better mother-in-law.”

  “I never had a mother. I never wanted perfect.” Josie squeezed Lilian Rose’s hands. “I only ever wanted a family.”

  “You have one now, if you’ll accept us.” Lilian Rose opened her arms.

  Josie stepped into her embrace. Lilian Rose released her and added, “I’d like to talk to you about a dress or two, as well.”

  Josie brushed the tears off her cheeks and nodded.

  Lilian Rose hugged her son and pointed over her head. “You two should really be more careful about where you stand. See you inside for the reception.”

  Josie and Theo looked up. A mistletoe bouquet trimmed with red ribbon and silver bells hung over their heads.

  Theo pulled Josie into his arms. “Did you know it’s considered bad luck to refuse a kiss underneath mistletoe?”

  Josie curved her arms around Theo’s neck. “Well, we have to honor tradition.”

  “Let’s start a few of our own, too.” Theo kissed her.

  And it was perfect.

  EPILOGUE

  “DON’T MOVE. Don’t even breathe.” Theo raised his hands away from his project, slowly and carefully. He tapped his shoulder into Josie’s and whispered, “My walls are finally standing.”

  Josie chuckled and eyed her own gingerbread house. She added two more candy canes to line the walkway and surveyed her work.

  Theo grinned at her and plucked a candy cane from her walkway.

  “Stop sampling my display.” She kissed him and eased the candy cane from his grip.

  “I’d rather practice our new traditions.” He pointed at the mistletoe he’d hung from the kitchen light.

  Josie laughed. “Is there any place you haven’t put mistletoe?”

  He tucked her hair behind her ear and curved his palm around her cheek. “If there is, I’m going to have to order the fake kind. I think I bought out Baylee’s entire supply.”

  “You never do anything half-measure, do you?”

  “Where’s the satisfaction in that?”

  Josie pulled him toward her and kissed him again. Poured her heart and love into the kiss.

  “It’s a good thing someone in this family is taking the first annual Taylor-family gingerbread competition seriously.” Lilian Rose’s cheerful voice suspended their mistletoe moment.

  Josie turned and gaped. Lilian Rose carried a cutting board with a two-story, Victorian gingerbread house standing in the center. Snow-capped trees and a sleigh decorated the
gingerbread’s front yard along with a chocolate-candy picket fence.

  “What?” Lilian Rose’s grin was infectious, her laughter light-hearted. “You didn’t think I could make a good gingerbread house, did you?”

  “Mother, where did you buy that gingerbread house?” Theo asked.

  “I resent your implication that I cheated and purchased this gem.” Lillian Rose adjusted her hold on the cutting board.

  “It’s quite perfect.” Josie took in the straight walls, neatly cut windows and tall chimney.

  “It really is.” Lilian Rose grinned and chuckled. “I did mention that in addition to being a very good dancer, Kirk is also quite the skilled baker. With his engineering brain and my creativity, we put this together ourselves. No professional assistance required.”

  “But we agreed to all build our own gingerbread houses alone,” Theo said.

  “Kirk and I realized that we’re stronger as a team.” Lilian Rose shrugged. “And we came up with the same idea for the next new Taylor-family tradition.”

  “You only get to name the next family tradition if you win the gingerbread contest.” Theo tapped the wall of his house, forcing it upright.

  “I’m well aware of the rules.” Lilian Rose walked slowly toward the kitchen counter.

  “Mother, let me help.” Theo reached for the cutting board.

  “Hands off, Theo. There will be no sabotaging our house.” Lilian Rose aimed her smile at Josie. She set her cutting board beside Theo’s undecorated cookie sheet and wobbly house. “Kirk and I fully intend to win tomorrow night. You’re going to love our idea for a new family tradition.”

  The roof slipped off the side of Theo’s gingerbread house. Josie slapped her hands over her mouth and caught her laughter.

  Theo never flinched. “I’m going for open-concept living. It’s all the rage.”

  “Unacceptable.” Lilian Rose shook her head and tried to hid her smile. “Everyone inside your house will freeze.”

  Theo stuffed cotton candy on top of his roofless house. “There. Insulation.” He eyed his creation and nodded. “It’s not that bad.”

  Josie bent down to peer inside the windows of Lilian Rose and Kirk’s Victorian masterpiece. “You added candles to the windows. It’s almost not fair.”

  “That was Kirk’s idea,” Lilian Rose said. “It added much-needed warmth to the whole house.”

  Lilian Rose’s voice was warm every time she mentioned Kirk’s name. The pair had been inseparable since Adriana and Ryan’s wedding last weekend, then through the Christmas gatherings and celebrations. Now the New Year approached, the pair appeared even closer. Josie had heard Lilian Rose mention the appeal of a spring wedding several times.

  “The competition isn’t until tomorrow night, before the New Year’s Eve party.” Theo pulled out a mixing bowl and the flour container. He reached for the blender and nudged his elbow into Josie’s side. “There’s still time to challenge Kirk and mother.”

  “Are you suggesting that we team up together, too?” Josie asked.

  “We are better together.” Theo leaned over and kissed her cheek.

  “I’ll leave you two to your baking.” Lilian Rose hugged them both and walked toward the back door. “Kirk and I are off to pick up a few more decorations for tomorrow night’s party. I’ll leave our house for inspiration.”

  Theo eyed his collapsing gingerbread. Two walls sagged into the center, the third teetered as if unsure which way to fall. “Maybe this wasn’t such a good idea.”

  “If only you hadn’t agreed to turn it into a contest,” Josie said.

  Theo tossed leftover flour at Josie. “I blame Adriana and Ryan for that. I think it was their suggestion after we forgot to monitor which cake was finished first at their wedding reception.”

  Josie dipped her finger in Theo’s icing. “If I recall, we were too busy dancing to watch the dessert table.” And too interested in being together to worry about a bet they’d made and declaring a winner. So both Theo and Josie got to choose something to do on New Year’s Eve. Josie picked a New Year’s Eve party for their family and friends. Theo chose gingerbread-house building.

  How the contest came about...well, that was anyone’s guess really. They’d shared a family dinner on Christmas Eve. A home-cooked meal set out on Theo’s large dining-room table. Every seat had been filled—even the film crew had stopped in without cameras and their new TV star, Daphne Holland. The producers had determined Daphne’s matchmaking business fulfilled their criteria for a hit TV show better than Coast to Coast Living. The Taylors had willingly stepped aside and agreed to revisit a potential TV show at another time. It’d been a lively dinner, where conversations rolled over each other and laughter filled the air. And love joined them all together.

  Josie licked the frosting from her finger and wiped her hands on her apron. “I suppose we should get baking if we’re going to win.”

  Theo took her hand, spun her in a circle and drew her into him. It was exactly where she wanted to be.

  “Or we could take a moment and dance,” he said.

  Josie closed the distance and set her cheek over Theo’s heart. The simple moments really were the most precious. Especially with Theo—the man she loved. And her new family. The ones she was going to love forever and always.

  * * *

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  The Christmas Kiss

  by Virginia McCullough

  CHAPTER ONE

  THE PHOTO OF Parker Davis in the Bluestone River Weekly didn’t do him justice. Not even close. The headshot of the newly hired director of the Hidden Lake Bird Sanctuary had appeared with the article announcing his arrival in town. Emma O’Connell guessed the man with a wide mouth and an appealing cleft in his chin to be around forty or so. If he were a corporate type, his wavy blond hair would need a trim, but the unruly look suited his outdoorsy appearance.

  Now, seeing him standing maybe thirty feet away, Emma was drawn to what the photo didn’t show. Like the muscular arms filling the sleeves of his snug black T-shirt. No baggy work pants, either. His sawdust-flecked jeans were a perfect fit, along with the tool belt.

  Parker’s hands were braced on a plywood sheet balanced on two sawhorses positioned on the gravel patch at the edge of the woods. He was studying what looked like a blueprint spread out on top of the plywood and anchored with rocks on the four corners.

  “Good morning,” Emma called out, surprised he was so deep in concentration he hadn’t already noticed her heading his way.

  Seemingly startled, he snapped his head up. “Uh, same to you,” he returned in a flat voice.

  She checked the uneven ground in front of her and tightened her grip on her cane as she stepped toward him. When she was almost close enough to extend her arm to shake his hand, she casually tossed the cane a few inches in the air and caught it at the bottom end. She gave it a quick twirl under her arm so the handle pointed toward him. “Appropriate for a visit to a bird sanctuary, don’t you think?”

  Carved in the shape of a duck’s
head with other birds etched into the stick, her cane always brought some kind of reaction. This time it caused the corners of Parker’s mouth to turn up in a closemouthed smile. Emma preferred photographing landscapes to aiming her camera at people, but she’d have enjoyed catching Parker’s expression in that moment. Much better than the picture in the paper.

  “Emma O’Connell. Nice to meet you.” She freed her right hand and held it out to him. He quickly brushed his palm back and forth across his jeans before he shook her hand in a quick, formal way.

  “I’ve, uh, heard so much about you,” Parker mumbled.

  Not quite enough, Emma thought, or she wouldn’t see such frank surprise in his dark blue eyes looking at her through glasses, also dark blue.

  Suddenly aware of how intently she was staring at him, Emma shifted her gaze over his shoulder and waved to two carpenters, a father-son team whose truck she’d noticed in the sanctuary’s parking lot. She knew them from other construction projects, including one on her land. At the moment, Bill and Will Rivera were attaching a railing to supporting slats for the boardwalk-in-progress, the sanctuary’s newest feature. The smell of freshly cut wood mingled with the typical earthy scents of fall after a day of rain. “You got the boardwalk project underway fast. You haven’t been here all that long.”

  Parker gestured behind him. “We’re just getting started. A few people from the sanctuary board have dropped by to see what we’re up to, so I’ve got my spiel down pretty well by now. Other people in town hadn’t heard about the boardwalk so I’ve filled in a lot of detail about it, mostly why it’s being added.” He paused. “In your case, I guess I can skip those basics.”

  From his low tone, Emma wasn’t sure if Parker thought that was good news or bad. But being a major donor to various Bluestone River projects almost always brought a mix of responses. Long ago, Emma learned it was possible for people who did the hard work of running programs and projects to appreciate her financial contribution, but still be a little apprehensive around her, too. She could almost see people’s guard rising the minute they saw her coming. Like Parker.