The Majors' Holiday Hideaway

by Caro Carson

  “Not a classmate. She was a firstie when I was a plebe. That means she was a senior when I was a freshman, but I remember her well. She terrorized me.”

  “Well, she’s a lieutenant colonel now, and she told me she’d always thought you were sharper than the average plebe. I thought you’d like to know.”

  “It’s a small world.”

  “She’s back at your alma mater now. She’s chairing the Department of Foreign Languages at West Point. She’d brought a dozen cadets to the conference, so they’d get a feel for military terminology between allies.”

  “Okay.” He waited. There was more to this story, he could tell.

  “You know how I said the army would never need an officer who speaks Danish to be stationed in Texas?”

  “Right.” But Aiden put his hand on the kitchen island for balance. For some reason, he thought he might need to keep his balance.

  “Yes, I was right, unfortunately. But do you know what the army does need? They need officers with advanced language degrees to teach all the current young Cadet Nords their foreign languages. Cadets are required to learn at least one foreign language. Your Colonel Grant said they could use a professor who knew more than Spanish and French, although I assured her I could go ahead and get certified in those, too.”

  “India.”

  The satellite beamed him an image of his new wife biting her lip.

  “Baby, are you going to teach at West Point?”

  “I have until Friday to let her know. Do you think it would be good?”

  “Yes, hell yes.”

  “Daddy, that’s a bad word.”

  “Sorry, but—sorry.” The girls were still in the room, of course, but he’d forgotten because this news was—well, it was making his heart pound. “Baby, we’ll be on the same side of the ocean. A flight from New York City to Austin is only three hours.”

  “More like four, but it’s better than fifteen hours. And it’s four hundred dollars for a ticket instead of two thousand.”

  “No customs, no passports. You’re going to say yes, aren’t you?” He was squeezing the phone so hard in his hand, it was a wonder it didn’t crack.

  “I met another guy at the Pentagon who knows you, too. You ring-knockers do get around.”

  “You got a second offer?”

  “No, this guy had nothing to do with languages. Rich Moore? He says hello.”

  “Okay. Nice—but this West Point thing...you’d be so good with the cadets—”

  “Rich is working in personnel now at the Pentagon.”

  Aiden remembered his tough, athletic classmate and laughed. “He’s a desk weenie?”

  “Hey, I resemble that remark.”

  “If you’re a desk weenie,” he said, “I’m a ballerina.”

  She tilted her head and glared at him.

  “Okay, sure, you’re a desk weenie, baby. You’ve got me totally fooled.”

  “Listen, Rich was standing there while I was talking to Colonel Grant about becoming an instructor...and about being married to you, his old discus-throwing buddy...”

  “Right. We were on the track team together.” He leaned against the island at that, after glancing at the girls to make sure they weren’t doing anything dangerous. They were only getting into a tug-of-war over a fairy doll, nothing unusual there.

  “And he mentioned that the athletics department at West Point has a slot for an operations officer, because there are apparently millions of dollars at stake when it comes to the logistics of all of the academy’s intercollegiate teams. He didn’t know if you’d be interested, but when Colonel Grant called me yesterday to offer me the instructor slot, she said Rich was hoping you’d give him a call.”

  The girls were popping off with every P-word they could think of, Poppy’s penny, princess, Pop-tarts, popcorn, so oblivious to how much their father’s life was about to improve. To how much their lives were about to improve. They were about to be a family of four.

  “What do you think?” India asked.

  How could she sound unsure?

  Yet, she did. She was rushing now, explaining herself. “I didn’t make any commitments for you. You’re on the fast track for battalion command right now, and this isn’t a traditional step after battalion S-3, but it would have other benefits. West Point is supposed to be a beautiful place to live, up on the Hudson River. I guess you already know that. Would the girls like to live at West Point? The fact that it’s a college sounds fun. I mean, there’d be football season and we could take the girls to the games—”

  “Yes.”

  “You might have to travel with sports teams now and then, but I would basically be working Monday through Friday. You know how rare that is in the army. It would make childcare arrangements really easy. I’d be able to be home with the girls on the weekends if you had to travel for varsity games on Saturdays.”

  “Yes.”

  “We’d be so close to your parents in Connecticut, less than an hour’s drive. The girls wouldn’t get to see Debra as often, but they’d get to see their grandparents a ton more. That might be good for them.”

  Aiden knew that them referred to his parents, not his daughters. It would be good for his parents. Maybe, just maybe, they could enjoy their grandchildren instead of blaming themselves for Melissa’s death. India knew. She understood.

  “Without any of that,” Aiden managed to say, feeling like he was choking on the happiness of hope, “I would still say yes. I just want to live with my wife.”

  “But if you could live with your wife on a beautiful post on the Hudson River, wouldn’t that be even better?” India was wiping tears from the corners of her eyes.

  “It would be a dream come true. I could reach through this phone and kiss those tears away.”

  “You need to talk to Rich Moore. He wants to fly you up to West Point to make sure you know what the job would entail. Tom and Helen said they’d watch the girls for you. Right, guys?” She turned around and held the phone a little farther away from herself. Tom and Helen were standing near her. They waved.

  “Hey, guys, thanks,” Aiden said automatically.

  Then he froze. Tom and Helen? Tom and Helen, his neighbors, were in this video chat? “But—wait—”

  “We’ll live together in just a few months! Isn’t it great? I’d love to celebrate with you, but there’s this door in between us.”

  Before India could hold up the phone to show him his own front door on the video app, Aiden had run past his daughters to rip that door from its hinges.

  They lived happily ever after.

  * * * * *

  Don’t miss Helen and Tom’s story,

  The Captains’ Vegas Vows

  Available now from Harlequin Special Edition!

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  Special Forces Father

  by Victoria Pade

  Show Me a Hero

  by Allison Leigh

  and

  The Captain’s Baby Bargain

  by Merline Lovelace

  Keep reading for an excerpt from A Stonecreek Christmas Reunion by Michelle Major.

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  A Stonecreek Christmas Reunion

  by Michelle Major

  Chapter One

  “More lights.”

  Maggie Spencer surveyed the work taking place in the town square, a mix of confidence and anxiety spiraling through her. Her small town of Stonecreek, Oregon, was about to be thrust into the national spotlight.

  Or at least the social media spotlight. LiveSoft, a wildly successful software and mobile app development company, was searching for a new location for its company headquarters. The over-the-top lifestyle in Los Angeles, their current location, clashed with the app’s branding and corporate culture. LiveSoft was all about using technology to slow down and simplify life. LA wasn’t a great place for that.

  So in conjunction with a request for proposals, the company had launched a marketing campaign during which its social media followers would help determine which Pacific Northwest city would be the best fit for a company move.

  As Stonecreek’s recently reelected mayor, Maggie was determined to make sure her town was chosen and had been working around the clock since the election to that end. Stonecreek had arrived late to the proverbial party, finding out about the proposal deadline only a week before submissions were due. But she’d been thrilled to learn just before Thanksgiving that her town had been short-listed by the company’s CEO.

  And why not? Stonecreek was only an hour south of Portland and she liked to think the community boasted the potential workforce, opportunity for growth and work-life balance LiveSoft had outlined in their preferences. The company was best known for its mobile app that claimed to “balance internal life with the outer world.” Of course, she had yet to download the app herself, but it was on her to-do list along with a million other items.

  “We’ve already added two dozen extra strands.” Jacob Snow, head of the town’s maintenance department, had been coordinating the town’s holiday decorations for the past two weeks. “At this rate you’re going to be able to see this place from the moon.”

  “There’s no such thing as too festive,” Maggie told him.

  “You ever seen that National Lampoon Christmas movie?” Jacob asked with a soft chuckle. “I feel like Clark Griswold out here.”

  Maggie frowned, looking around at all the activity with fresh eyes. The entire town square was draped with lights while a huge, elaborately decorated fir tree stood in the center of the park waiting for tonight’s tree-lighting ceremony. An almost fifteen-foot tall menorah had been given pride of place in front of the main archway into the square, ready to be lit on each of Chanukah’s eight nights. Wreaths had been draped over every lamppost and nearly life-size nutcrackers lined the main path. In addition to a makeshift stable that had been built to house the nativity-scene animals, there was a display of Santa riding his sleigh, complete with reindeer painted by the high school’s art department, and all the planters situated through the park burst with oversize ornaments and colorful dreidels.

  “Oh, my.” She clasped a hand to her chest when her heart started beating out of control. “Is it too much? Our theme is winter wonderland. I don’t want it to be gaudy. Are we trying too hard? It has to look effortless, like the holidays in a TV movie. Charming and quaint, not over-the-top. Should we take down some of the lights? What about the live manger? I knew those goats would cause trouble.”

  Jacob stared at her for several seconds then climbed down from the ladder. He’d been working for the town since Maggie was a girl, hired when her grandmother had been mayor.

  He’d never married and rarely dated as far as Maggie knew. In fact, Jacob Snow was a bit of a mystery, keeping the town running smoothly but rarely participating in the myriad of festivals and fairs that delineated the seasons in Stonecreek throughout the year. Other than his silver-white hair, he looked very much like he had twenty years ago when Maggie first met him.

  “Slow down. It will be beautiful,” he said, awkwardly patting her shoulder like he knew she needed comfort but wasn’t sure how to offer it. “Like it always is.”

  “This year is different,” Maggie whispered. “It matters more.”

  “Because of that new company thinking of coming here?” He reached for another strand of lights.

  She nodded. “LiveSoft is one of the fastest-growing technology companies in the region. It would mean new jobs and increased tax revenue for the town. We could fund programs for impacted kids in the school district. Some of those maintenance requests you’ve put in would be approved.”

  “Like a new snowplow?” he suggested with a wink.

  “Exactly.” She drew in a slow breath. “I’m freaking out.”

  Jacob smiled. “I hadn’t noticed.”

  “There’s no reason for me to freak out, right?”

  “None at all.”

  “But there’s so much I want to do for Stonecreek. Now that I’m mayor—”

  “You’ve been the mayor for two years,” he reminded her. “You were reelected by a landslide last month.”

  She sighed. “Yes, but it feels different now. I feel like the town elected me and not Vivian Spencer’s granddaughter. It changes everything.”

  Maggie had finally stepped out from behind the long shadow her grandmother cast. The Spencers had been one of Stonecreek’s most powerful families since the town was founded in the mid–eighteen hundreds. But Maggie’s grandma had taken their leadership to a whole new level. As soon as Grammy married into the family, she’d made it her mission to ensure the Spencer name was synonymous with Stonecreek.

  Grammy had been the biggest force in Maggie’s life, especially after she’d stepped in to help when Maggie’s mother died eleven years ago. Maggie owed Grammy so much—they all did—but she also wanted a chance to make her own mark on the town. She loved this community.

  Although she’d won the election, the months leading up to it had been tumultuous to say the least. Her opponent had been Jason Stone, cousin of her ex-fiancé Trevor who she’d left at the altar last spring when she’d discovered he’d been cheating on her.

  As if that didn’t complicate things enough, she’d then fallen for Trevor’s brother Griffin, the black-sheep of the Stone family, who’d returned to town to work on the vineyard the family owned and operated outside town. When Griffin broke her heart a little over a month ago, it had made her question everything.

  Everything except her dedication to the town, which was why she had to do an amazing job as mayor. Her work was everything to her now. She might be a dismal failure at love, but she could succeed at this.

  “Maybe you’re the one who’s changed,” Jacob told her gently. “I’ve known you since you were a wee girl, Ms. Maggie. You were always the apple of your grandmother’s eye. She wouldn’t have encouraged you the way she did if she didn’t think you could handle it. I see how hard you’re working for the town. Everyone around here does, and we appreciate it.”

  “Thanks, Jacob.” Emotion clogged Maggie’s throat. “I’m going to go check on Dora Gianelli at the bakery. It’s the first business we’re spotlighting as part of the ca
mpaign. What says holidays more than hot chocolate and a Christmas cookie?”

  “Cocktail weenies and a beer?” he suggested.

  She nudged his arm, the tension in her shoulders relaxing as she grinned. “When are you going to come to Christmas with our family? There’s plenty of room.”

  “Vivian likes to keep things private,” he said, scrubbing a hand over his whiskered jaw.

  “Grammy would love to have you join us,” Maggie countered, even though she’d never discussed the matter with her grandmother.

  “She never mentioned it to me.”

  Maggie rolled her eyes. “She gets busy around this time of year. I’m not going to force you, but keep it in mind, okay?”

  “Okay,” he agreed. “I’ve got one more string of lights to hang.” He held up a hand when she opened her mouth to comment. “Trust me on this. One more strand will be the perfect amount.”

  She nodded. “I’ll see you later tonight at the tree lighting.”

  “The whole town will be here to make you look good.” He rubbed a hand over his jaw once more. “I may even shave for the occasion.”

  She leaned in and bussed him on the cheek. “I’m lucky to have you.”

  Maggie watched for another minute as he climbed the ladder, feeling marginally better that she could accomplish her goal. There was no reason LiveSoft wouldn’t want to come to Stonecreek. Nestled in the heart of Central Oregon’s Willamette Valley, the town had great restaurants, outdoor activities, a fantastic school system and tight-knit community.

  Groaning softly, Maggie realized she was becoming a bit too obsessed with work when even her internal thoughts made her sound like a billboard for the town.

  She turned to head across the town square toward the bakery only to find Griffin Stone blocking her path.

  He looked as handsome as ever, the bright afternoon sunlight shining off his dark blond hair. He wore a flannel button-down, faded jeans and work boots. She couldn’t see his green eyes because of the sunglasses perched on his nose, but the set of his jaw and the way his broad shoulders remained rigid told her this wasn’t going to be an easy conversation.