Uh-oh. She straightened. Damage control was needed right away. “Austin—”
“I know you don’t have to get married if you kiss someone, but wouldn’t it be great if you got married anyway? You wouldn’t have to go back to Philadelphia. And I could be your flower girl.” Kendall’s brown eyes implored her. “Please, oh, please. I’ve always wanted to be a flower girl.”
Carly’s chest tightened. She didn’t want to hurt Kendall, but letting the nine-year-old think a wedding was in the works would be worse. The wedding march ranked right up there with Christmas carols when it came to music Carly didn’t want to hear again. Besides, she didn’t want Jacob to think she was interested in marrying him. It was bad enough Carly thought he was still hot after all these years. “No one is getting married, sweetie.”
Kendall’s face puckered.
Carly squeezed the girl’s small hand. “I’m sorry.”
The apology didn’t keep the tears from welling in the young girl’s eyes. Great, Carly had been with the kids for less than fifteen minutes and already made one of them cry. If this was any indication of how the next two weeks were going to go, she should drive back to Portland International Airport and fly home before she really messed things up.
“Come on, guys,” Jacob said. “You’re getting a new baby brother or sister next week. Your aunt is here for Christmas. That’s plenty to celebrate.”
With a frown, Austin stared at Jake. “But you kissed her. I saw you. You have to get married. Those are the rules.”
“I only kissed your Aunt Carly on her forehead, buddy. That’s what friends do.” He flashed her another one of those teasing, tempting grins. “Good friends.”
Carly caught her breath.
The gesture had been a little too friendly. As Jacob had comforted her in the living room, Carly had felt a security and a sense of belonging she hadn’t felt in years. She’d forgotten everything and hadn’t wanted the moment to end. Thank goodness for Austin’s screech or she might have done something stupid like kiss Jacob herself. Not on the forehead, but on the lips.
What was going on?
She hadn’t wanted to kiss anyone in a while. Nor did she want to feel compelled to kiss anyone, especially someone who lived on the other side of the country. Okay, she’d once been curious about his kiss, but she’d been a girl then. Not a grownup. Best to keep her distance from him while she was here.
“So if you kiss a girl on the forehead you don’t have to marry them, but if you kiss them on the lips, you do?” Austin asked.
Carly bit back a sigh. “Sammy Ross might think you have to marry the person you kiss, but that’s not how it really works.”
“How does it work?” Kendall asked.
Feeling like a preschool teacher suddenly taking on a sex education class full of randy teenagers, Carly looked at Jacob for help. He tipped his chair back, clearly content to wait for her response. The devil.
“Well.” She wasn’t sure how to proceed, but catching a red-eye flight back East sure looked tempting. “First you meet someone you like, then you date, then you fall in love and then, once you know you’ll get along for a long time, you marry.”
Talk about an abbreviated lesson on dating. Maybe she should have told them to ask their mother instead. But Jacob flashed her the thumbs-up sign. She must have done okay to warrant that or he might have simply been trying to make her feel better.
“Where does the kissing come into it?” Kendall asked.
Carly didn’t bother looking at Jacob this time. Hearing a nine-year-old ask about kissing would probably paralyze any single guy. “Kissing can happen at any of those steps, but that’s something you do when you’re older.”
“Much older.” Jacob told Kendall. Funny, he sounded more like a dad than a bachelor.
The girl’s gaze darted between Carly and Jacob. “But you two could still get married. Then I could be a flower girl.”
“We can’t get married,” Carly said. “We’re…friends.”
“Shouldn’t you be friends with the person you marry?” Kendall asked.
The girl was too smart for her own good. Carly needed to be more careful with what she said. “Of course, you should be friends, but Uncle Jake and I are…more like brother and sister.”
Though that wasn’t really true. She’d never seen him as a brother. Growing up, she’d wanted him to be her boyfriend.
“He’s not your brother though. My daddy was your brother.” Two lines formed over Kendall’s nose, the same way they used to on Nick, making Carly’s chest tighten. “But if you married Jake, he’d really be our uncle, not just someone we call uncle, and I could be a flower girl, Aunt Carly. Jessica Henry has gotten to be a flower girl twice. And I’ve never even been asked to be one.”
Carly knew what growing up and comparing yourself to someone else felt like. She needed to tell her niece something, even if it meant facing the part of her past she’d tried hard to forget. “Did you know a long time ago, when you were only three years old, you were going to be a flower girl?”
“I was?”
She nodded.
“Was I going to wear a pretty dress?” Kendall asked.
“Yes,” Carly said. “A very pretty red dress made out of velvet and taffeta with layers of tulle to make the skirt poof out and a wreath of flowers in your hair.”
“You looked like a princess wearing it,” Jacob added.
Remembering, Carly smiled softly. “You sure did.”
“But I never saw any pictures of me dressed like that,” Kendall said.
Jacob started to speak, but Carly stopped him. “The wedding never happened.”
Kendall tilted her chin. “Why?”
Why? That question still haunted Carly. “The boy…the man I was going to marry, his name was Iain, had an accident when he was climbing with your daddy.”
Kendall’s mouth formed a small O. “He died with my daddy on the mountain so you couldn’t get married.”
“Yes.” Carly felt Jacob’s gaze on her, but she didn’t—couldn’t—look his way. She didn’t want to see sympathy or pity in his eyes. She’d had enough of that those first few months to last a lifetime. That was one of the reasons she’d left Hood Hamlet and headed to Philadelphia. She’d wanted to go somewhere—anywhere—where she could make a fresh start.
“Did I know him?” Kendall picked up a cracker. “Iain?”
Carly nodded. “He thought you and Austin were the two coolest kids around and loved you so much.”
“Do you miss him?” Kendall asked.
Carly forced herself to breathe. This was fast turning into the trip home to hell. Not that she blamed anyone, but dredging up the past this way wreaked havoc with her emotions. Ones she’d thought were long under control.
“Yes, sometimes I still miss him.” She inhaled deeply. All she wanted was five more minutes with Iain. Thirty seconds would do. To say goodbye with love, not frustration and anger as had been the case. “But you know what? Iain is still with me. The same way your daddy will always be with you. In your heart.”
“That’s what mommy said,” Austin said. He’d been so quiet Carly had almost forgotten he was there. “But I don’t remember him at all. Not even when I look at his picture.”
“That’s okay, buddy.” Jacob mussed the boy’s blond hair. “You were only a year old.”
“That’s right. You were just a little guy back then.” Carly put her arm around Austin’s chair. “But I can tell you lots of stories about your dad if you want. You can remember him that way.”
Austin smiled. “Uncle Jake and Mommy tell me stories, but I want to hear yours.”
“And you will.” Carly cleared her throat. “I know some really good ones.”
“I remember him. Our daddy.” Kendall got a faraway look in her eyes. “Well, his voice. He used to sing to me.”
Carly felt a tug on her heart. She could almost hear Nick’s voice drifting down from the nursery upstairs. “Your daddy sang to you all the time.
You loved the song ‘My Favorite Things’ from The Sound of Music.”
“If he stopped singing that song, you would cry,” Jacob said.
Austin laughed. “Crybaby, crybaby.”
“Be quiet.” Kendall frowned. “You’re the one who’s a big crybaby.”
Austin folded his arms over his chest and pouted.
“That’s enough, guys,” Jacob said.
Austin returned to his snacks, but not Kendall.
“You know, Uncle Jake,” she said. “If you started dating Aunt Carly tonight, you could probably get married before she has to go back home, and I could be a flower girl before I went back to school after winter break.”
“Uh-huh. Listen, kiddo—” Jacob stopped, obviously unsure how to proceed. He rubbed his chin.
“You go after what you want, don’t you, Kendall?” Carly asked.
The girl nodded.
“Your dad did the same thing.” Nick never used to give up when he set his mind on something. That’s how he’d ended up with Hannah. Carly smiled at the similarity between her brother and his daughter. “Tell you what. If I get married, you can be the flower girl and Austin can be the ring bearer.”
“Promise?” The girl’s hopes and dreams filled the one-word question.
“Your aunt said if, not when,” Jacob clarified. If being the key point, and Carly was grateful for him pointing it out.
“But if you do, Aunt Carly…”
Even Austin leaned toward her in anticipation of her response.
She smiled. “I promise.”
Married? To Carly? Too funny.
Jake could barely contain his laughter when the kids had brought that up, but the way she’d sent dagger-worthy glares his way kept him quiet.
Poor Carly. Those kids had pushed every one of her buttons. Some twice. With a shake of his head, he carried Carly’s suitcase upstairs.
She followed behind him. “I’d forgotten all about the wall of infamy.”
He glanced back and saw Carly staring at the photographs. “You mean wall of family.”
She didn’t take her eyes off the pictures. “I call it as I see it.”
“Me, too.”
Eight years ago, he had dreamed about being a real part of the Bishop family, of having his photo up on that wall. A wedding photo. He’d wanted to be Nick’s brother-in-law, Carly’s husband. And then, while Jake was taking his time waiting for her to grow up, Iain had taken his shot at happiness. The daring young climber had almost blown it though, and given Jake another chance, but when all was said and done, Carly stuck with Iain after he apologized for putting a climb before her birthday.
At the time, Jake told himself everything worked out for the best. But it hadn’t.
Not for Iain, killed right before his wedding.
Not for Carly, widowed before she was a bride.
Not for Nick, dead before his time.
And not for Jake, either.
He continued up the stairs.
But what had happened or how he had felt about Carly was in the past. All that remained was for him to make sure she was happy and living life the way she should. Once he knew that, then he, too, could move on.
“Hannah will run out of wall space someday.” He glanced back and saw Carly still staring at the pictures. “Or photos.”
“Wall space perhaps,” she said. “But thanks to digital photography, Hannah will never run out of pictures.”
“True, she carries her camera everywhere.” He listened to the kids in the kitchen doing homework. “Hope that wasn’t too much for you downstairs.”
“Well, it’s not every day you get into a head-on collision with your past.”
“Good thing you had an air bag to soften the blow.”
“What air bag?” Carly asked.
“Me.”
“Oh, yes, that thumbs-up was a huge help.”
“You were doing great on your own.” He respected the way she handled the situation. “I just provided a little cushion.”
Her mouth twisted on one side. “How can Mr. Hard Body be a cushion?”
He grinned, remembering the teasing from years gone by. “I’ll take that as a compliment.”
“You would.”
Jake laughed. “Still the pesky little sister shadowing her big brother, aren’t you?”
“Being here brings it all back.” The amusement had disappeared from her voice. “But that’s not such a bad thing. Living so far away, it’s easy to forget.”
He entered the guest room and placed the suitcase on the bed. “Everyone’s missed you.”
“I’ve missed them.”
Jake had missed her, too. But he saw a new maturity in her, a difference from the girl she’d once been. That hadn’t come across in her e-mails. He liked the changes.
“The promise you made to the kids,” he reminded. “They will hold you to it.”
“I expect them to.”
“So you plan to marry someday.”
She shrugged. “I’ve learned you can’t really plan on something like that. But if I met someone and fell in love…well, maybe I’d want to marry him.”
Not the answer Jake was looking for. “You don’t sound like the girl who started reading bridal magazines when she was sixteen.”
“I haven’t met anyone I’ve wanted to marry….”
Except Iain.
Though Jake wondered how marriage to an adventurous, full-time climber would have been for Carly. Still, the fact she hadn’t seemed to have gotten over Iain’s death made Jake feel guilty. Okay, guiltier.
“But you could.” He wouldn’t be happy until she moved on with her life the way Hannah had. Carly deserved a happy ending, too. Jake would somehow make sure she found one. He owed her that much.
“I could.” Carly didn’t sound that confident as she opened her suitcase.
Jake didn’t blame her. He hadn’t known what to make of Iain the first time he’d met him. The kid’s confidence bordered on cockiness, but Jake had soon learned the talented climber had a heart of gold. He couldn’t help but like and respect Iain. Envy him, too. For his fearlessness. For his climbing talent. For being the recipient of Carly’s love and adoration.
At least until finding Iain’s bloody, bruised and broken body covered in snow. The image had given Jake nightmares for years. He blinked, hoping to erase the picture in his mind. “You really should.”
Another shrug. “Do we need to check on the kids?”
He listened to the sound of voices drifting upward. “Nope. I hear them.”
“I thought it was good when kids were quiet.”
“Noise is good,” Jake said. “Quiet means start worrying, but I can hear them. We’ll help them with their homework later.”
“What about you?” Carly asked.
“My homework days are long past.”
“That’s not what I’m talking about.” She picked up a black camisole from her suitcase and threw it at him. The same way she’d tossed a dishrag or a sweatshirt at him years ago.
He caught it as he always had. “Nice throw.”
But the action felt too intimate to Jake in a way it never felt before. This was the kind of top a man peeled off a woman.
Pink tinged her cheeks. “Sorry, habit.”
“It’s okay.” Jake handed her the top rather than tossing it back to her. “What did you want to know?”
“Have you given marriage much thought?” she asked.
He was hoping she wouldn’t go there, but maybe after coming home to face her demons—and the devil kids downstairs—she deserved the truth. It wasn’t as if the information would change anything between them. “I was engaged, but other than that…”
Her gaze met his. “Nobody told me. You never told me.”
He shrugged. “It was four…no, five years ago.”
“So what happened?”
His jaw tensed. “I don’t want to talk about it. I barely remember it.”
He’d wanted to forget. While Hannah
and Carly had been holding themselves together, he’d been falling apart.
“Come on. Tell me,” she urged. “Did you kiss her and then have to get married?”
If only it had been that simple.
“Not exactly.” Jake wasn’t proud of what he’d become or done back then. “I was partying too much, met a woman who was nice but totally wrong for me and asked her to marry me. Luckily I realized getting married wasn’t the thing to do at that time in my life so I broke it off.”
And got his out-of-control life back together.
“Do you ever think about settling down now?” Carly asked.
“No. I see no good reason to change the status quo.”
She grinned. “That’s what I say, too.”
Jake found her words hard to believe, even harder to take. Her joy and excitement over her upcoming wedding to Iain seemed a hundred and eighty degrees away from where she was coming from now, and that hurt. She was meant to be a bride.
Someone else’s bride, Jake reminded himself.
He didn’t deserve her.
If he’d been on the mountain six years ago with Iain and Nick, everything would have been…different. Better. Okay.
And it was up to Jake to make things right.
For Hannah, Kendall, Austin and…
Carly.
CHAPTER THREE
PATRONS PACKED the bar and dining area of the Wy’East Brewing Company. Carly hadn’t seen so many familiar faces since…
She felt a pang in her heart.
Since Nick’s and Iain’s funerals.
With a sigh, Carly glanced around the lodge-style building. Jacob’s place. She could see the care he’d taken with it, the improvements he’d made to the interior and the menu offerings since taking over after his father retired.
The aromas of beer and grease mingling and wafting in the air reminded her of the brewpub she managed back home. The conversations of customers drowned out the music being piped in through speakers. At least Christmas carols weren’t playing.
Too bad everything else was decked out for the holiday.
A swag decorated with miniature lights, pine cones and holly berries hung around the bar. Wreaths dangled from the vaulted log-beamed ceiling. A twinkling Christmas tree sat in the corner next to a small stage with neatly wrapped packages underneath.
Rescued by the Magic of Christmas Page 3