by CeeCee James
Slowly, the crowd parted, and Jason came forward, his mouth curled into a half-grin.
Miranda stopped, open mouth and speechless. “What the—?”
“Hi, my love,” he said, his voice low and husky.
Miranda’s gaze flashed around at the crowd. “What’s going on?”
Cassie waved, her face split by a huge smile. Got you! she mouthed. Several people clapped. Some chuckled softly. Her blue eyes fastened back on Jason.
Suddenly she felt silly.
He walked up to her, and she raised her hand to his cheek. “What are you doing here, Jason?”
“You’re so beautiful.”
Miranda raised her hand self-consciously to her frowsy hair. “Oh, crap! I forgot! I look like a werewolf!”
He laughed and cupped the back of her head, resting his forehead against hers. Slowly, he drew her closer in for a long kiss. A few whistles rose around them.
Jason pulled away and whispered again. “You’re gorgeous.”
Miranda smiled. “You make me feel beautiful.”
He took a twist of her hair and wound it lightly around one of his fingers. Gently he tickled the wisp across her nose. “What we have is real. More real than anything else in my life. I want it to last forever. You are my best friend, my rock, and the love of my life. My Bonnie. I’m never letting you go again.” He bent down to one knee and pulled a velvet box from his pocket. “Miranda—”
She gasped and covered her mouth. Jason reached out his hand to her and Miranda grasped it and fell to her knees next to him.
He gave his half smile, showing his crooked tooth. “You’re suppose to remain standing, hun.”
“Wherever you are, that’s where I want to be,” she whispered, squeezing his hand tightly.
He lifted her hand to his lips and kissed it. “I know there has to be a God, because you’re here. You are my heart. And sometimes, I swear you were my very breath when I thought I couldn’t go on. You make everything in my life have meaning. I don’t know what the future has in store for us, but I do know we will always climb those mountains together. Sometimes you’ll be pulling me, and sometimes I’ll be pushing you.”
A few quiet laughs filled the air around them.
“One thing I know for sure is, I can’t live my life without you. Will you marry me?”
She nodded without speaking, her eyes locked on his. He snapped open the box to reveal a simple white gold ring with a diamond solitaire. On each side of the setting, the slender necks of two swans, in the shape of an S, reached up to support the diamond.
Miranda drew in her breath, her eyes glistening. He slipped it on her finger and pulled her to him. Slowly they kissed, his arms wrapping tightly around her. “I love you, Miranda.”
“I love you so much, Jason. Partners in crime forever.”
“And ever, and ever,” he murmured back.
The End
Copyright © 2015 by CeeCee James
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
Part I
Kisses in the Snow
A Second Chance Romance Novella
Copyright © 2016 by CeeCee James
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
Created with Vellum
* * *
For my Family
1
Jason stared out the window. Snow fell, not in swirling, dancing flakes, but in a thick white curtain slapping against the window pane. A soft whistle escaped him, falling somewhat loosely into the tune of a Christmas carol. He squinted to see if he could make out his old Ford truck parked by the barn. Nope. It was invisible in the storm.
Going to be a pain to dig out. He shook his head. Even though it was hard in the winter, he loved this little cabin that had been built long ago by some ol’ timer. The hand-hewn boards squeaked under his feet but they still held a craftsmanship unequal to any of the new builds. He sniffed. Those new builds up there in town were like cookie-cutter rat traps. Loud, cramped and polluted.
Here, his house was on the shores of a lake, where the deer still visited in the cool dawn light. Jason ran his thumb along the maple window sill. He’d lived here since he’d been a teenager. At that time, he’d been homeless, trying to make it as best he could on the streets. It’d been a nightmare until Mr. Stewart had rescued him and gave him a roof to live under.
The kind old man had treated him like an uncle, And when Mr. Stewart had passed, he’d left the house to him.
It had been home ever since.
Jason lifted his gaze to look for the lake that lapped at the edge of the property. Nothing for it. The steely-grey water had disappeared long ago under a fog covering.
Yep. Living out here is good for making memories, but bad to be so far out in storms like this. His brows lowered, and he fought back the anxious feeling weighing in his stomach. Weather channel said it wasn’t going to be too bad, though.
The overhead light flickered ominously before it rallied back to its original brightness. Whoa…. Jason rubbed the back of his neck and glanced down at the black German Shepherd sitting by his feet. “Not looking too good for the Christmas party, Archer.”
The dog tilted his head at the sound of his name, and his shaggy tail wagged in happy circles. He loved the snow and had just been outside jumping in huge bounds and burying his face into the drifts in search for a lost ball. Clumps of snow still hung from the dog’s tail and dangled from the fringe on the backs of his legs.
Jason stooped to pick the snow off from the dog’s fur. “T-minus two hours,” he continued, flinging the frozen ice into the fireplace. It landed with a sizzle. “And, despite what the forecast said, the night sure ain’t cooperating with the whole all is calm, all is bright sentiment.” He grabbed the cast iron poker and stirred the dying fire. It crackled and flared in bright orange. Still deep in thought, he fed it another log. Sparks flew and danced up the chimney.
“Crap!” Miranda, his wife, yelled from down the hall. Hmmm. What’s my bride up to? The dog nudged his hand. “Do I want to know, Archer? Not sure I do.” Scratching the dog’s head, Jason tipped back until he could see Miranda wrestling with the vacuum cleaner. She had poles and attachments and hoses all mixed up. With a furious expression on her face, she was attempting to jam them together.
They’d been married just over four months and this was their first Christmas together as well as their first official hosting of dinner for their friends. His wife had been stressed out for days, and her anxiety was rising like a pressure cooker.
Miranda spun around with the hose and bumped hard into the wall. She grabbed her elbow and stifled a colorful word. Her face blushed as red as the flannel shirt she wore.
Hey, that’s my shirt.
“What the heck are you doing?” he asked, walking over. Archer trotted at his feet.
“You wouldn’t even believe it. There were cobwebs everywhere.” she said. Her dark hair escaped in wild wisps from her pony-tail. “And our tree lost so many pine needles it practically killed the vacuum trying to suck them up! I told you we got it too early.”
Actually, it was you who wanted the tree this early. He eyed her wielding the pole around. But I’m not saying anything.
Miranda clicked the metal extender back onto the vacuum and shoved it in the closet, wedging it beside wrapping paper tubes, boxes of odds-n-ends, and stacked plastic bins. “Don’t you dare,” she warned the trembling pile as it threatened to avalanche out into the hallway. She slammed the door and turned with a somewhat satisfied look on her face.
“Feel better?�
� Jason asked.
Miranda looked ready to respond but instead sneezed. Something dangle before her face and she stared at it nearly cross-eyed. “What’s this in my hair? Spider webs?” Her voice rose in a near a shriek as she brushed them out with wild hands.
“Honey.” Jason tried his best to hide his smile. “Why are you stressing out so much? Calm down.”
Miranda slowly turned her head in his direction and raised her eyebrows. Oh Crap. Wrong word. Wrrrrong word.
She answered in a cool tone. “Calm down? When in the history of mankind have you ever heard of those words working to actually calm someone down? Because I can assure you, they aren’t working at this moment.”
Oh. It’s one of those questions. I’m not answering that one. He shrugged and held his hands palm up.
“Right. So don’t say that again.” Miranda opened the closet again and flung the duster inside. The vacuum made a trembling motion and she quickly banged the door shut.
“Now,” Miranda continued. “We have ten people who are coming. Most of them are your friends.”
“Our friends,” he interrupted.
“Your friends,” Miranda continued. “And some of them don’t think too highly of me. And since my sister can’t be here, it feels like it’s just me facing the lions in some ways. So please understand that I want everything to be perfect.
“Miranda, they like you. I think you’re reading too much into this.” He reached to brush away the one remaining web from her hair.
“Too much? I overheard a conversation where one of your buddies said they were taking wagers on how long we’d last.”
Jason sighed.
“Whatever. I’m determined to win them over. That’s why we invited them. But in the meantime, I’d appreciate your help.”
“How can I help, hun?” Jason asked. His stomach tightened. She sure looks cute in my shirt unbuttoned like that.
She groaned. “There’s so much to do. Can you double check the bedroom? Is the laundry picked up? Bed made?” She rubbed her hand along her cheek as if to ease a headache, leaving behind a dirty smudge.
“No one’s going to be checking our bedroom.” Hmm, maybe I could talk her into checking it with me. He took in her flushed, tense face. Nope, not a chance.
“It still has to be clean.” Miranda walked into the kitchen. “You never know. People wander.” Her blue eyes shot a quick look around the room and his gaze followed to try and see what she saw. Everything seemed okay to him.
“Why would they be in our bedroom?” he asked mildly.
“I don’t know! It doesn’t matter. It has to be clean.”
She dragged a chair from the kitchen table over to the pantry and climbed it. Stretching, she tried to reach the top shelf. Finally, on tiptoes, the chair teetering, she grabbed at boxes and began shoving things around. “Where the heck are the pinecones? I swear I put them up here last week,” she grumbled.
Archer nervously whined. Jason reached down to scratch behind the dog’s ear. “The house is festive enough, babe. It looks great.”
“Sweetie, I don’t think you get it. I already feel like a train wreck because I forgot to pick up candles, the tree is dying, the nativity is missing one of the wisemen, and I’m freaking out about serving people food that I actually cooked! You know my luck with food. And now, no pinecones.” She pushed the final box out of her way with a frown.
“I just don’t want you to worry. That’s all I meant. This stuff always works out.”
She nodded and climbed down. “Honestly, I don’t know what my problem is. I hate being so stressed but I can’t help it. I just can’t shake the feeling like I have something to prove. Now, do you want to come help clean the bedroom or not?”
“I’m coming. I’m coming.” Jason patted Archer on the head one last time and followed Miranda up the stairs. His hand trailed along the polished railing. “You feel like taking a ride down this thing again?”
“Jason! I did that when I was a kid!”
“I guess the fun’s all gone now that you’re in your twenties, eh? Old married lady now, huh?”
“Quit teasing and hurry up.” She froze in the bedroom’s doorway. “Oh my gosh. What did you do?”
Do? What did I do? “What do you mean?” he asked, feeling a little anxious at her tone. He followed her into the bedroom.
“Just look at this.” Her eyes wide, Miranda pointed to the bed covered in a mound of clothing. She blew hard, causing the wisps of hair that had fallen over her face to flutter. With a shake of her head, she sat on the bed, looking tired.“Why on earth did you start the laundry?”
Jason shrugged. “The clothes were dirty?”
“Yes, but I had them all hidden. They were in the washing machine and dryer. Now I have to hurry and put all this away.” With a sigh, she began to fold the clothes.
“It’ll be okay. Here let me help.” He grabbed a towel and snapped it open.
Miranda shot him a smile as she reached for a sock. She searched through the pile for its match. “I can’t believe we’re having our first Christmas. It’s weird. For the first time I feel like I’m really married. It’s hitting me hard. Like, wow. It’s official.” She glanced at him. “You’re so cute trying to fold that towel.”
He looked at the towel he’d folded into thirds. His brow wrinkled in confusion. “What’s wrong with it?”
Miranda eyed it for a second, before dragging her gaze up to him. “Okay, I know I’m complaining. But it just can’t be folded that way.”
“What? Don’t be ridiculous.” He smoothed it flat. “It’s fine.”
“No, hun. It’s not fine. It has to be folded a certain way to fit in the linen closet.” She quickly refolded it. “See? Isn’t that nicer?”
His eyebrow raised slightly. “If you say so.”
The light on the nightstand dimmed to a dull brown for a few seconds before shining brightly again. Miranda closed her eyes and took a deep breath. “I hope the power remains on long enough for dinner to get done. You know how I got up at six this morning to stuff that darn turkey.”
“I’m impressed. I never knew apples could be used that way.” Jason smiled. He reached over to rub the dirt smudge off her cheek.
“Are you teasing me?”
“No, Ma’am!”
“Ugh. I guess I am being a little sensitive. It’s just I’ve been searching Pinterest for weeks trying to come up with an awesome menu for tonight. I want everything to be perfect. By the way, that was so sweet of you to get out of bed and make me coffee this morning.”
He winked and grabbed her in his arms. Slowly, he pushed her back onto the bed. His mouth gently pressed against hers.
“I think we should take a break,” he murmured against her lips. He nuzzled her neck, taking in a deep breath of her vanilla scent.
“You do, huh?” she laughed, as his hand slid down her arm to the bottom of her shirt. He started to tug it up teasingly slow.
Miranda sniffed. “Wait a minute.” She sat up, and he fell to his side groaning. “Something”s wrong. Something terribly wrong.”
“What?” His hand squeezed his temple. He rolled to look at her but she was already flying to the door.
“Oh no!” she wailed as she raced down the stairs. The loud thump of her feet against the stair’s treads underlined her panic.
Sighing, he followed her. “What’s wrong?”
“Why am I not smelling the turkey?” She scrambled around the chair by the pantry, sending it careening on two legs with a crash into the wall. She wrenched the oven door open and stared inside.
The turkey sat pale and goose-pimpled in its roasting pan. “Oh no, no, no.” Her widened as she spun around to Jason. “There’s something wrong with the oven! It’s broken!”
He hurried over, trying to calm her with slow hand gestures. “It’s okay. Let me just—” He examined the knobs. Oh no. “Baby….” He swallowed. This isn’t going to go over well. “It seems, it didn’t get turned on.”
; “What?” her voice came out in a strangled whisper. “I set it…”
They both stared at the display. The timer ticked happily down, but the thermostat was off.
“Oh, my freak. How could I have been so stupid?” Miranda covered her face with her hands and shook her head in denial. “No. No. No!” When she looked up, her face was white. “What am I going to do now?” her voice squeaked. “How are we going to feed ten people?”
Before he could answer, Jason’s phone dinged. He retrieved it from his pocket and read the text. “Well, here’s some good news. We only have to worry about eight people, now. Tom and his wife aren’t going to make it because their truck won’t start.”
Her lip turned up at one corner. “I didn’t really like them anyway.”
“Miranda!” He shoved his phone back, his new wedding ring getting hung up on the top of the pocket.
“What? They’re the ones that started the gossip about us!”
“He’s my oldest friend. Come on, now.”
“All right. All right. I take it back.”
The overhead light flickered again. They both looked at it and then at each other. The light strobed against their faces for a second before returning to normal.
Miranda gathered the flannel shirt more tightly around her and crossed her arms. “Jason, honestly, I don’t have a good feeling about this dinner. Maybe we should just cancel.”
Jason watched her shoulders slump. He reached for her hand and pulled her in close to his chest. “Hey, it’s an adventure.” She sighed and shook her head. He studied her face and smiled. She’s so beautiful and she doesn’t even know it. “And you have nothing to prove. If anyone doesn’t like what you’ve done, they can pound sand.”
Her eyes crinkled. “Pound sand, huh.”
“Well, I’d say something worse, but innocent ears….” he dipped his head indicated Archer. The dog’s tail thumped on the floor when the two of them looked his way.