by Debra Holt
Tomorrow would be her day off. She had three more places in mind to place applications. One bank in Fort Worth had offered her an interview at the end of the week. She had to hope that might be the one that would get her out of the roadside café on the outskirts of the city and onto the road to using her education. In the meantime, her skills at serving food came in handy to pay for the efficiency apartment that was in walking distance of the café. That certainly saved on gas and wear and tear on her pickup. Her savings wouldn’t last all that long so she had to be frugal.
Christmas songs were playing from the speakers in the ceiling. She would be so glad when the season was gone. Every tree, every angel, every song… all were reminders of those people she had come to love… and then lost. So much for the holiday spirit and believing in miracles.
The door chime signaled another customer needed her attention. She automatically reached for the coffee pot and a mug. She turned to the person who had taken a seat behind her. Thankfully, her grip held on the pot of coffee. Cole Drayton’s gaze was locked on hers. It was just as mesmerizing as she remembered and just as piercing. He wasn’t smiling. He was dressed in his uniform with a heavy leather jacket with a sheepskin collar turned up against the cold of the evening. A few flakes of snow melted on the dark brown crown of his hat. The badge and gun had drawn the attention of his fellow diners. They averted their eyes onto their own business.
“Coffee?”
“Please.” He wasn’t lowering his gaze.
She had to concentrate hard to keep from spilling the hot liquid. Her hand wanted to shake but she was determined to keep it steady. She set the pot on the burner and then turned back.
“Would you like a menu?”
“No thanks. Just a cup of coffee.” Cole raised the mug to his lips and took a couple of sips. He had no problem with shaky hands.
He seemed quite relaxed as he settled in to the spot at the counter. If he would just stop with the staring. The man beside him engaged him in a couple of questions and he responded. All just friendly conversation. She moved down the counter, trying to keep her mind on finishing her duties as her shift was over in less than a half hour. She could scoot out the back and he wouldn’t even know. That was the plan. If she could just get her breathing to calm down and her pulses to stop hammering in her ears.
To her surprise, she saw him rise, lay a bill on the counter, and without a glance in her direction, he left the café and went out into the night. He left. Just like that. What had made him appear if only to leave without more than a half dozen words to her? Maybe he just wanted to what? Gloat? Make certain she wasn’t anywhere close to his perfect life? Why had he felt the need to just show up? And then he left. Guess he got his fill of slumming. Emma didn’t know why she should be so angry and hurt both at the same time. He was gone. Good. Now put it behind her. She’d be moving on herself in a few weeks or less. Why did he have to come at all?
She pushed him to the back of her mind while she finished up her evening shift. Bundled up in coat and scarf over her head and secured around her neck, she pulled on her gloves and headed out into the darkness for the walk to her apartment. Christmas lights shone along the way. The small town had some pretty decorations from lantern stands lining the sidewalk and somewhere there was music being piped in along the way. More Christmas music. And when White Christmas began to play, the snowflakes took it as their cue to grow larger. Any other time, she would have found the moment to be perfect. Any other year that would be… but not this one.
A tall form materialized in front of her and she halted in surprise. She hadn’t expected to see Cole standing in front of her. She had thought he had left a while ago. Evidently, he had something on his mind.
“You should be careful walking alone at this hour.”
The lawman speaks. “I am aware of the dangers of walking alone. I don’t have far to go. And I have mace in my hand in my pocket.”
Was that a hint of smile? Don’t smile. She couldn’t stay strong if he turned on that smile. “Thanks for the heads-up. I won’t make any sudden moves.”
“Why are you here and how did you find me in the first place? This is way out of your jurisdiction and don’t try to tell me you were in the neighborhood.” Might as well get the cards out on the table.
He evidently had something he needed to get off his chest. “It might be warmer if we talk at your place.”
“And I’m fine right here. I don’t think we have much to talk about.”
He glanced around and made a decision. “There’s a gazebo at the end of the block. Let’s go sit for a minute.” He didn’t wait for an agreement and his hand was at her elbow.
She could make a scene but to what end? He could be stubborn as a mule when he put his mind to it. She went along with the plan. The gazebo had benches around the railings. Lights twinkled off and on over its roof and around each pillar. Now and then passersby would happen along the sidewalks but, for the most part, they were alone on the snowy night. He waited until she was seated and then he took his place, much too close to hers. It made it more difficult to concentrate.
“Okay. I found you because a very good tracker was able to trace your path in one of the many ways he has to make my job a lot easier.”
“I wasn’t trying to hide. I left notes explaining why and what I was doing.”
“Yes, you did. But not exactly why. I think that’s what needs some clarification. It took a while but, you see, there are some people back in McKenna Springs that happen to care a hell of a lot about you, and have been pretty miserable since you left, and they just won’t give up. Not yet. Not until we have the truth.”
“Is Charlie okay?” She hated the vision that came to her of the little girl upset.
“No. She isn’t. She mopes around the house, or drives me crazy with ‘remember how Emma used to make the pancakes in funny shapes? Could you try to tie the bow like Emma can? Emma said this or Emma said that’… you are a lot to live up to.”
“Sorry that I’m such a thorn in your happy side. But she’ll get over things… kids are tough. Besides with Christmas coming soon, she’ll have a lot of other things to concentrate on.”
“I don’t think you’re sorry at all… at least not about being a thorn in my side. And kids aren’t all that tough all the time. I know some adults who sure aren’t strong. Mae and Vernon to name a couple. Darcy for another one. People stop me every day, wanting to know where you are and when you’ll be back. Not that you give them much thought probably.”
“Are you trying to make me angry? Because I don’t see the point in you coming all this way at all. My stay in McKenna Springs was never to be permanent. You said that more than a few times yourself.”
“So, I did.” He gave a sigh and his gaze looked up to the sky.
A few snowflakes blew around them on the night breeze and one ended up on his lashes. Emma had to resist the urge to brush it away. She kept her hands curled inside her pockets. He dropped his silver gaze back on her. It wasn’t as cold as it was before. She certainly didn’t need to see any of those remembered looks he could give her that made her knees go weak and threaten to melt her into butter with their heat.
“I guess people just got confused. They had hoped you might have changed your mind and wanted to stay longer.”
“Things change. People change. It was best I kept to the plan.”
“Waitressing in a small café in an out of the way town, is that part of the plan?”
“I have interviews at the end of the week. I won’t be here for long.”
Cole’s eyes darkened. He seemed to have the need to move. He stood; his hands came out of his pockets to rest just above the gun belt at the sides of his waist. Was he going into his lawman mode of interrogating? She had her answer soon enough.
“Did you leave because of Pamela? Something she said to you… something she might have mentioned about her and me or her delusions along that score?”
Emma hesitated. What was the best
course to take? He didn’t give her long to think.
“The truth, Emma. Direct questions require direct answers.”
“Yes. Once she told me how close the two of you had become since she had returned, it was clear I needed to not be any sort of obstacle to your reuniting and making a family for Charlie.”
He blew out a frustrated sigh. “I see. So Pamela gave you the impression that she and I had reunited and you believed her? What about how close I thought you and I were on the way to becoming? Or was that just a figment of my imagination?”
“No. But that was before she came back. Things changed then. I didn’t want you to think there was any reason you had to give me… us… our situation a second thought.” She was stumbling with her thoughts.
“You took whatever she told you at face value. Without giving me the benefit of the doubt.”
“Where is Pamela? Still in McKenna Springs?”
“It took some negotiations… a little bit of blackmail… and some interesting court documents from her time in California. In the end, cold cash saved the day. Pamela left the country a rich lady. She signed documents and she can never come into Charlie’s life again. She found that life in South America or some such place might be more to her liking. It took a while for all that to happen because I knew two things as a lawman. As much as one might wish to place their total faith in the judicial system, things can go wrong and not all judges should be administering the laws at all. I had seen too many cases where there was a clear-cut case to remove a child from a mother but, no matter what, the judge ended up siding with the mother… no matter how bad she might have been.
“That was a role of the dice I wasn’t prepared to take. I knew if I had the time and dug deep enough and long enough, there would be something that would make it impossible for any court to allow her back into Charlie’s life. I called her bluff and it helped she admitted she could be bought off for the right amount of cash. And that was overheard by a pair of rangers who were listening. That was what took time and why I might not have been able to cover all the bases I wanted to, but I had one thought and that was Charlie. I needed to make certain that Pamela could never be a threat to my family ever again. I had to hope you would understand that.”
“It would have been easier if I had known some of this at the time. But I just knew I had to do whatever I could to make things easier… for everyone concerned. I’m glad that Charlie is safe from her.”
“Pamela was one part of the problem. That’s been dealt with. Now, did Charlie say something to you about the angel and a wish before you left?”
His swift change of questioning caught her off guard. “Yes.”
“What did she say?”
“She wanted her mother back. That’s what she wants more than anything for Christmas. I believed that somehow, she knew who Pamela was. If that was the case, I knew it was time to get out of the way and let your family do what it needed to do to heal itself. So, I left. End of story.”
“You don’t know the full story. Charlie wanted the angel to bring her the mother she wants for Christmas. You assumed she meant Pamela. How could she want that when she has never met the woman nor seen a photo of her or even knows of her existence?” He drew within a foot of her and his hands reached out. She placed hers in them automatically and he drew her to stand in front of him. Emma had to look up a bit to see his face that was half in shadows.
“The mother Charlie has begged that angel for each and every night is not and never was Pamela.”
“Then who? I don’t—”
“You. Charlie wants you. In her mind, the angel was the one sure way she had of making her dream come true. Mae and Vernon want you. Half of, if not all, the town wants you. Does that make any difference at all?” His voice changed and a tone came into it… the one that made her bones all quivery was there.
Emma realized just how much she had missed hearing it. His hands found their way to her shoulders. Her breathing was having some difficulty.
“Does it make any difference when I say that I knew you’d be trouble from the moment I found you in my bed that night when Mae brought you home? It was sealed as fact that next morning when I hauled you out of that engine and you stood there with that scraggly mutt beside you… your blue eyes not giving an inch. I just didn’t realize what kind of trouble you might be until later.
“As the days passed and I found myself getting used to beginning the day with your smile and hearing laughter from you and Charlie in the next room, or watching how you engaged people and had them your best friends in nothing flat… your efforts to bring life to the garden around the house, planting your bulbs to bloom in the spring… wanting to make it beautiful for all of us. There are so many things.
“You became something more before I knew it. And it wasn’t trouble you brought. You brought a second chance to live life with a love I never knew could exist because I never had found it before you. But then Pamela arrived. I felt you slipping away, but I was too involved in trying to fight the danger that she brought with her to also see that something far more important was slipping away at the same time. And then you were gone. It hurt. It made me question if I had misread how you felt. Maybe I had trusted in the wrong person again. I thought that’s what you wanted… to leave.
“And it took a group of friends and family, one silly dog, and one feisty, maddening, beautiful woman to make me a believer. I added my own wish to the angel on top of the tree at home… right before I left to come here. I’m believing in a Christmas angel to not let me down.”
“A tough lawman like yourself?”
His smile was so endearing and so perfect and it lit the night with warmth. “This tough lawman has the same Christmas wish as his daughter and everyone else in McKenna Springs who loves you. Come home, Emma. I love you and that’s my Christmas wish for now and always. Be my wife and be the mother Charlie has chosen for herself. Will you be our Christmas wish come true?”
The moisture in her eyes was the visible happiness erupting in her heart. Cole had said the magic word… love. He wanted her for a lifetime, not just a few months. Everything she had ever dreamed about in her young years had come to stand in front of her in that moment. Cole offered her a home… filled with love and laughter and beauty and the promise that she would never be alone again. It had indeed become her turn and all things possible had become her reality.
Emma’s palms lifted to hold his dear face between them. His love shone like a beacon down upon her. Cole was her destiny, her world… her dream come true.
The answer was the easiest one she’d ever make. “I think that angel has worked overtime… bringing us all together in one place, at the right time, and opening our hearts to the greatest gift of all this Christmas. I love you. I love Charlie. And I want to sit in a rocker on that front porch beside you each and every night for the rest of my life.”
Cole’s kiss would be her treasured memory of a Christmas that had brought the best miracle of all to hearts that believed in a child’s simplest faith in a wish. They kissed beneath the twinkling lights and shimmering snowflakes… two hearts beating as one.
Christmas, McKenna Springs, Texas…
Christmas morning found a fresh mantel of snow covering the ground around the ranch house. It glistened like a blanket of diamonds in the early morning sunrise. All was quiet inside. Then, the silence was broken by a creak on the staircase. A couple of moments later, Charlie, clad in her purple and pink nightgown and slippers, appeared in the doorway to the living room. Angel trailed her.
The solemn-faced child approached the tree and looked at the angel still smiling down at her from the top of the tree. Nothing had changed. The brightly-wrapped presents under the tree’s branches did not claim her attention. The stockings stuffed with goodies weren’t noticed. Charlie slowly shook her head and sank to the floor, Angel nudging her arm until it could snuggle closer to the child in dual commiseration.
“It didn’t work Angel. The angel on the tree di
dn’t listen. She didn’t make my wish come true.”
“Are you so sure about that?”
Both Charlie and the dog jerked their heads around at the voice coming from the woman standing in the doorway. Emma moved forward and Charlie sat speechless. She took no note of Cole and his parents moving to stand in the hallway, watching the scene unfold.
“It’s Christmas morning. You asked the angel for the mother you chose. I believe the angel said that was me. Was she right? Is your Christmas wish that you want me to be your mother?”
Charlie was on her feet. Her nod was emphatic. “Yes, you’re the one! I really, really want you more than anything. I promise I’ll be a really good daughter and I’ll always try to remember my manners and I’ll—”
Emma knelt in front of the child and gathered her small hands inside hers. “Charlie, you don’t have to promise me all of that. It’s enough that you love me as much as I love you… and as much as I love your daddy and granny and grampy…and even Angel. I would be very proud to be your mother for the rest of my life. Merry Christmas, my sweet little angel girl.”
Charlie’s reply was to wrap her arms around Emma’s neck in a tight hug that Emma knew she would always remember because it meant she had found that place she had always sought… that place where the Christmas spirit lived all year long in the hearts of those who believe in the magic of miracles and wishes made to angels… no matter what shape or form they might take. Cole joined them and drew them both into the wide circle of his arms. They were home. And the angel on top of the tree shone brighter than ever upon them.
Epilogue
“Seven days. One week. Either way you say it, it doesn’t get any longer or give us any more time to plan and prepare for a wedding.” Mae Drayton shook her head, hands on hips, brow furrowed in deep consideration.