“Was this complaint lodged by Scott Carson by chance?” Rob asked.
“Yes,” said Dave. “And he said he would withhold his help with materials including the trailers if you stayed on the committee. Without those, we can’t complete our floats.”
“He’s jealous,” Rob growled. “And you can’t undo the work she’s already put in. The parade is almost here. If it weren’t for Celia, I wouldn’t have remembered about the Christmas Parade or known about the festival. Let’s not forget I bought a barn so we could have the festival. It’s the same barn where we’ll hold the party after the parade.”
At the reminder, Dave shook his head.
“Jealous, huh? I could see that,” Dave said with a wink toward Celia. “I delivered the message, but don’t believe it. Wish I could tell him if he doesn’t want to be on the committee with you then he can take himself off, but the hardware store donates the trailers that haul the floats. He can’t fire you from the committee, but he can refuse to provide the trailers. It would be a shame to give up the parade because of jealousy. Lots of people have worked hard to make it what it is.”
“Celia is one of those people,” Rob said.
“And so is Jackson,” she added. “He goes to school and works at the grocery store and helps everyone out in his free time.” She tried hard not to cry, but she needed to.
“I need to give Jackson his truck back,” she said. “Thanks for stopping by, Dave.” Her stomach flipped and flopped. She thought she might be sick. She heard the message loud and clear. If she stayed on the committee, then there wouldn’t be a parade. She wasn’t stepping down. Some things were worth fighting for and tradition was one.
“I’m sorry, Celia,” Dave said.
“Don’t be. I’m not letting Scott Scrooge ruin Christmas.” She spun around to leave. “Mr. Carson and I are going to have a talk.”
Rob touched her arm. “Wait a minute.”
“What?” she snapped back.
“I don’t want another second to pass without telling you something,” he said. “Before you walk out that door feeling like you failed or that you’re not good enough, I want you to know that I love you, and you’re perfect for me.”
Her heart did a triple flip. He was such a good man. “I love you back.” She fell into his hug.
“Go get him,” said Dave. “Do you mind if I take Mrs. Claus back to my house? I have a way with the older ladies.” He laughed. “A little touch here and there and I’ll get her working again.”
Chapter Twenty
Rob
Rob wanted to rage at Scott but there wasn’t a place for that approach in Pinetop. He drove Jackson’s truck back into town but gave Celia space to figure out what she would say. While it was in his nature to step in, he knew this was something she needed to take care of herself.
“Not a word to Jackson,” she said as they parked.
She dropped off the keys and together they went into the hardware store. Rob stood by her side and listened. The one piece of wisdom his mother gave him was that women didn’t want rescuing, they wanted someone to hear them.
“Scott.” She moved toward him like a charging rhinoceros. “How dare you?”
He had nothing to say. He could no more stand his ground against the beautiful Celia than Rob could have.
She stood in front of him and poked his chest with her finger. “I’ve been nothing but kind to you. Jackson left us—” Her voice cracked, and she regained herself. “And I have waited a long time for happiness. My son and I deserve it.” She pointed to Rob. “I’m going to marry this man because damn it … he makes me happy.”
Rob grinned. He tried to contain his joy, but he couldn’t.
“If you’re mad at me, then talk to me about it, but do not punish the entire town because you’re having a childish moment. You’re not a toddler. You’re a man. Act like one.”
“He’s …” Scott started.
“Who I want,” she finished. “Now apologize,” she ordered.
Scott huffed and rolled his eyes but did as she demanded.
“I'm sorry, Celia,” he said. “It’s just …”
“No justs. It’s time to be the guy I know you to be. A generous man who has a lot to offer someone other than me.”
“You’re right, but you’re a hard one to let go,” he said.
“You can’t let go of something you never had. Let’s be friends. You wouldn’t want me to be your enemy.”
He nodded. “Friends.”
“The Christmas Parade is on as planned, right? No more threats?” she asked.
“No.” He lowered his head like a kid in time out. “No more threats.” He looked at Rob and shook his head. “You’re one lucky bastard.”
“That I am,” he said, and held his hand out to shake. Part of him didn’t want to sweep the harassment under the rug, but as a resident of Pinetop, he had to let it go. He came out the victor. Celia had chosen him. The last time he’d felt this accomplished was the first time he’d completed a multimillion-dollar deal. That achievement didn’t make him feel all warm and fuzzy inside. It didn’t make his heart feel full enough to burst. He’d been chasing deals all his life to fill the void left by an unhappy childhood. Funny how he had to come back to the one place he’d sworn off to find his future.
Celia turned to him. “Can I drive the Jag home?”
Rob laughed. “Anything you want.”
He expected her to drive back to his mom’s house, but she drove to the inn. He followed her lead because it felt like she had a plan. She put the car in park and made her way to the front door. With her hand in his, she led him through the common area and to a door off the kitchen. Once there, she flipped a switch and lit an apartment that looked like they’d built it in the 1950s. Remodeled or newer construction, but not Victorian.
“This is your place?” he asked.
“Yes,” she said. “I think someone with money owned the house. That’s why I thought this would make a perfect inn. It has accommodations for a staff and stuff. The mother-in-law suite out back is like this too. I believe at one time a huge team operated this house.”
“And you do it all by yourself.” He admired her for so many things but mostly for her resilience and never give up attitude.
“Jackson helps.”
“I know.” He was in love and Jackson was part of that equation. While he would have been in love with Celia regardless, having Jackson around just made it sweeter. “I can’t say it enough—he’s a great kid.”
“That warms my heart to hear that,” she whispered. “He needs a good role model.”
She slipped her hand behind his head and drew him in for a kiss.
He remembered something and abruptly broke away.
“Wait,” he insisted in an urgent whisper and dashed back to the entryway for his coat.
He pulled out something he’d discovered in the attic. In the box that rested on his mother’s dresser for years was his grandmother’s wedding ring.
He carried it back to her, hoping she liked it, or they could figure out how to make it theirs. The ring was platinum, that much he knew. The stones looked like diamonds but who knew? What he liked was the story behind the ring.
His grandfather had ridden a horse for a hundred miles to get back to his grandmother Charlotte after the war. He’d traded his prize horse for the ring and traveled the last fifty miles on foot. It proved that a good woman was worth the sacrifice. He’d give up everything for Celia if he had to. She was worth more than a horse.
Rob got to the threshold of her apartment and paused. His hands shook. He proposed and told her he loved her at moments that were less than romantic. Sucking in a deep breath, he approached her and dropped to his knee.
“Celia.” Emotion threatened to take his words.
She beamed down at him as Rob offered her the ring.
“I know this is fast, but I’m a fatalist and believe the gift of the land was my mother’s way of calling me home to be with you and
Jackson. The second I laid eyes on you was the first day of the rest of my life.”
He’d never given marriage a thought. Never envisioned what he would do if he proposed, but as he balanced on one knee, tears trailed from the corners of his eyes.
“Will you take this ring as a symbol of my love and commitment?” He slipped it on the edge of her finger. “I want to be by your side forever, if you’ll have me. I’ll be a good husband and a good father to Jackson. I’ll be proud of him for the man he is with no expectation of who he should be.”
“Oh, Rob.” She looked down at the vintage ring. “This is beautiful.”
He knew her well enough to know she meant it.
“You have the same expression as when you came across my mom’s lawn ornaments,” he said. “Is that a yes?”
“Yes,” she replied with a nod.
He rose, letting his hands feel the backs of her thighs on his way up. The sweet, firm curve of her backside filled his palms before he moved his hands north to cup her face and kiss her.
“I like this proposal stuff,” she whispered.
“It gets better,” he promised in a husky tone.
He lifted her until she wrapped her arms and legs around his waist and walked with her toward her bedroom.
“This way?”
“Uh-huh.” She tucked her head into the crook of his neck and breathed him in.
“I love you more than you’ll ever imagine, Celia.”
“I can imagine a lot.”
“I love you a lot.” He set her down on the mattress.
“You know what?” She rubbed her hand over the soft duvet. “No man’s been in my room since my ex left.”
He swept her hair from her face and kissed her before stepping away to undress. They held one another’s eyes as they took off their clothes.
When Celia stripped down to her bra and panties, she moved back on her bed and offered herself to him. Through passion-heavy lids, she unhooked her bra and slipped off her panties.
The world moved in slow motion as they made love. In an instant nothing else mattered but Celia, her pleasure, and her happiness.
As she peaked, he slowed the pace to make the moment last. He made love to her until the afternoon turned into early evening. Sated and in love, they soaked in a bubble bath in Celia’s claw-footed tub.
“So, future Mrs. McKenna,” he said. “We have a fake Victorian with a barn, your lovely inn with this great apartment—”
“Our lovely inn,” she corrected him with a sweet smile.
“Our lovely inn,” he amended. “And my mom’s house. Plus, a resort in the making. What do you think?”
“It’s a lot,” she said. “I like your mom’s house.”
“And I’m loving this tub,” he said. “We fit wonderfully in it.”
“We do.” She relaxed against his chest and sank deeper into the bubbles. “At first thought, we could run the resort as a business, run the inn as a business, and fix up your mom’s place to live in.”
“You enjoy fixing up stuff, don’t you?” He rubbed a soapy sponge down the center of her chest.
“I think I like it better than the customer end of the inn.”
“Alex and Nicole like it here,” he said. “I could rent the fake Victorian to them. And then there’s Jackson. He may stay on in town after he graduates. Maybe he’d like to have one of these places.”
“We are not giving our son a house for high school graduation.”
“Too much? What about the Jaguar?”
She turned her head to look up at him. “You know it’s not what you give us that makes us love you, right?”
He held her chin in place. “Yes, it is. I give you my love.”
She giggled. “You’re right, and it’s the most valuable gift I’ve ever received.”
He pulled her against his chest so she could hear that his heart beat for her.
Chapter Twenty-One
Celia
The Pinetop Christmas Parade started at one end of town and followed a path through the residential areas until they came out on the other side. The floats were lined up while folks in costumes waited to board them. Dave Swanson was the official Santa Claus and would ride in the last float and pass out candy to the children who waited on the sidewalks.
Celia had never figured out what she wanted to do for her float. Her mind was so full of Rob that nothing came to her. She stood on the curb and watched everyone take their places. This year she’d be one of hundreds of spectators, and that was okay.
Looking for Rob and Jackson, she walked through the dozens of floats until she came upon one that said Christmas Inn Love.
“Why hadn’t I thought of that?”
Lucky came out of nowhere, tugging Jackson behind him. “Mom, do you love it?”
“I do, but whose is it?”
Rob stepped out from behind the wooden cutout painted like an inn. Her inn. He moved through the flocked shrubbery placed to mimic real foliage.
“It’s yours.” He offered his hand and pulled her up to take one rocker on the fake front porch. Jackson and Lucky joined them.
“You built this for me?”
Rob shook his head. “You built this. All of it.” He spread his arms and turned around. “How did you think the Christmas Parade could do without you?”
“It has every year. I’ve never had a float in my life.”
“Time for new traditions, Mom,” Jackson said.
She looked at the sign swinging from the eave of the porch. “It’s so spot on I might have to rename the inn.” Without it, she would have never been in Rob’s path. The inn had been her savior. Looking at the two men in her life, she realized she had more than a person deserved, but she wasn’t complaining about anything except for the weather.
The air was crisp and cold with a storm coming in. She rubbed her arms and shivered.
“Got you covered.” Rob pulled a blanket and a thermos of hot chocolate from a nearby bag.
She wrapped it around her shoulders. Small-town values surrounded her. There was hard work, family and friends, commitment, simplicity, support, tradition, and teamwork, but nothing was better than love. Love of family, love of self. Love of Jackson and Lucky and Rob. Love was the core of all things good.
“I’m not dressed for Christmas.” She glanced down at her jeans and boots. “I could have dressed as an elf or a cobbler if you’d told me.”
“Cherry or apple?” Jackson asked.
“Haha.” She laughed. “You’re thinking about your stomach.”
“I’m a growing boy.”
Rob patted him on the back before he took the other rocker. “You’re a young man, and I’m proud of who you’re becoming.” They sat in chairs with Jackson and Lucky on the floor below them.
“Shall we tell him?” Celia asked Rob.
“That I’m not buying him a car for Christmas?” he joked.
Celia playfully socked him. “No, silly. Tell him, tell him,” she hinted.
They had agreed to wait on telling Jackson about their engagement until the ring was adjusted and back on her finger. They wanted the moment to be special for all of them.
“Love is our theme,” she said looking down at her son. “To me family is love.” She held out her engagement ring for Jackson to see. “You, me, Rob, and Lucky are a family.”
Rob looked to Jackson, hoping for his approval.
“You’re getting married?” His voice cracked as each word rose an octave.
“Are you okay with that, buddy?” Rob asked. “I would ask you for your permission and everything, but I opened my big mouth and asked her first.”
Jackson turned his head and Celia knew he was about to cry.
She was fearful that she had made a mistake in telling him this way, or that maybe he liked Rob, but she should have run the decision by him first. But when Jackson lunged forward and threw his arms around Rob in a big hug, she knew they’d done the right thing. The three of them embraced.
“
My fiancé loves prefab, and this is perfect, but who did the design?” Between her and the resort, Rob didn’t have a free moment, so someone had to help.
Alex stuck his head outside the cab of the truck. “We’re moving. Are you ready?”
“You.” She pointed at him. “You designed this?”
He shrugged. “It was a group project.”
Having a designer around was quite a boon. She held Rob’s hand as the parade began and their float lurched forward. Above them, the Christmas Inn Love sign swung back and forth. It wasn’t only a pitch for her inn but a declaration of their love.
Celia looked down at where Jackson had taken a seat with Lucky. “Do you think he’ll be okay while we’re moving?”
“Yeah, I brought lots of treats,” Jackson said.
“So did I.” Rob reached into the bag and came out with boxes of cookies and bags of chips. “These are for humans.” He ruffled Lucky’s fur. “But we’ll share.”
“That’s what families do,” Jackson said as the float made its way down Main Street.
The weather held as the caravan progressed from town through the residential areas.
“Look,” Celia said to Jackson. “That’s Rob’s mom’s house. And look …” She nearly flew off her rocker. “Mr. Swanson fixed Mrs. Claus.”
Even though it was twilight, the lights on Fiona McKenna’s house were lit, including the vintage lawn ornaments they’d dug out of the attic. She looked at her ring as she laced her fingers with Rob’s. “I love you,” she said.
“I love you,” he replied. He turned to Jackson. “I love you too, son.”
“If I call you Dad, do I get to drive the Jaguar?”
Rob laughed. “See, sweetheart? We don’t have to give it to him. He just wants to borrow it.”
“Wait, what?” Jackson almost fell off the float, but Rob reached forward and grabbed him before he toppled off the side.
“Let’s make it through Christmas, and we’ll see what the new year brings,” Celia said.
Christmas Inn Love Page 14