A Miracle Mountain Christmas

by Ciara Knight

  Savannah’s gut clenched. He’d chosen someone else? And just a few minutes ago, he had the nerve to hold her hand? Play with her mind? Lie to her and tell her there had been no other woman since her?

  No. She wasn’t going to stand for that. And she wasn’t going to keep that ring. She had once dreamed of wearing it, as proof to all those girls around town that she was the one he chose. The girls who swarmed in after her sister’s death, thinking they’d win his heart by comforting him in his grief.

  He wanted the ring? Fine, she’d give it to him.

  She tossed the shovel to the floor, grabbed the ring off the post and marched back to the house. With fire in her belly and betrayal in her heart, she stormed up the steps and threw the front door open. Mason stooped over a table in the sunroom, scrubbing the surface. “Mason Harrington. I have something for you.”

  He straightened and dropped the rag on a chair.

  She closed the distance between them then opened his hand and placed the ring on his palm. “I hope she cherishes it.”

  “Who?”

  “Birdie told me you were asking for the ring. Well, here you go.” She rushed out the back door, down the steps, and as far from Mason Harrington as she could get.

  Chapter 8

  Mason sat on the plush bed Birdie had made up for him with the ring in his hand. How would he explain that he’d asked for the ring to give it to Savannah? It had been a stupid idea, a thought a few weeks ago about winning her back after another cataclysmic break up. One that shook the Sears Tower with his ex yelling something about his heart belonging to another. He hadn’t denied it. That’s when he realized the truth. No other woman would ever measure up to Savannah. The realization had crushed his resolve to stay away forever.

  He envisioned showing Savannah all she could have in Chicago, wooing her with his success, but she didn’t care about that. She never cared about any of it. Why did it take him seven years to realize that?

  He rolled the ring around in his palm, knowing it would never be on any other woman’s finger. Only the two most important women in his life could wear this ring, and if he couldn’t have Savannah, he’d give it back to Aunt Birdie. He’d asked his aunt for it on the last day of high school. Both Savannah and he were headed to college, but he wanted to ask her to marry him. To go on their college adventure together. To go on all their life adventures together, but it wasn’t meant to be for them. He had asked her to meet him at their secret spot the next day, planning to propose, but then… “Maybe the ring’s cursed,” he mumbled.

  “Then why’d you ask for it?” Aunt Birdie entered the room and sat at his side on the bed. She reached up and began rubbing slow circles on his back with her thin hand, like she did when he was ill or upset. It was comforting, but also made him feel like he was a stupid kid again.

  “You know, I had this ring when Theresa died. I’d planned on proposing to Savannah that day.”

  “I know, but it wasn’t your fault. Haven’t you beaten yourself up enough?”

  Mason watched the lamp light sparkle in the small diamonds surrounding the large emerald at the ring’s center. “Why’d you tell Savannah I asked for the ring?”

  “Because as much as I love you, I couldn’t let you give that to someone else. If you’re leaving for good this time, then Savannah needs to move on with her life. She’s been holding on to you far too long.”

  Mason snapped his head to the side. “She has?” Birdie smacked him in the back of the head. “Ow! What was that for?”

  “For bein’ dense. That girl’s never so much as looked at another man, much less dated one, since you.”

  Mason rubbed the back of his head where Aunt Birdie’s bluntness still stung. “You can’t be serious. I mean, she’s beautiful and smart and strong. Men must be flocking to her.”

  “Oh, sure, but she pretty much carries ’round a twelve gauge full of anti-man bullets. I’d warn ya to be careful, but I love that girl and I think you deserve a good shot in the rear.” She fluffed her hair and stood.

  “Wait. There’s something you need to know.”

  Aunt Birdie straightened a large, gold-framed, faded picture of the inn, likely taken back when it was first built. “What’s that?”

  Mason folded his fingers over the ring and held it to his chest. “The ring. I asked for it, not for another girl, but for Savannah.” He shook his head and sighed. “I’d planned on sweeping her off her feet and taking her to Chicago with me. I thought maybe we could have a life there together.”

  “Well, that was stupid.”

  “I know. I realized that afterwards and chickened out. I knew she’d never want to marry me.”

  “Geesh, Cookie was right. You are daft. Savannah isn’t gonna leave here. It’s her home. She loves horses and large tracks of land. She can wander those mountains for hours. The girl finished up school and opened her own construction business. She has a house at the lake and looks after us. She’s happy here. You think someone like that would be happy in a big city like Chicago? You can’t just go draggin’ her away.”

  He lowered his head. “What am I going to do?”

  “What do you care more about, your fancy life up in Chicago, or your family?”

  “You know I want you to come live with me—”

  “I ain’t talkin’ about me. You need to listen. Savannah is your family, too. Now, what’s it goin’ to be? Family or job?”

  Mason thought about his nice, yet empty apartment. He thought about the girls he’d gone on one or two dates with only to find them lacking something. He hadn’t figured out what until the latest one accused him of being in love with someone else. Then he knew. They lacked Savannah, her hair, her eyes, her attitude. “I choose family, but Savannah won’t even speak to me. How am I ever going to win her now? She’s never going to believe that I wanted the ring for her. Why would she? We haven’t spoken in years.”

  “Well, unfortunately, you made that bed, so now you have to lay in it. The past can’t be changed, so the only thing you can do is face the future. You need to convince her how much you care.”

  Aunt Birdie never ceased to surprise him with her sudden and unexpected bits of wisdom.

  “I think this calls for a little GG action.” Sunny stuck her head inside the door.

  “I don’t know. Ms. Melba hates me, too.”

  “Nonsense,” Ms. Melba said, her head popping into the doorway next to Sunny’s. “And it’s Cookie to you.”

  He eyed her silver hair and grey eyes, bright with mischief. “You sure? I don’t want to tick you off again.”

  “The only way you’ll tick me off is if you blow this. If you shatter her heart again, I’ll shatter you and make sure no one can find the pieces. So, you best make sure this is what you want before we work our magic.”

  He thought for a moment, realizing for the first time how much he’d worked the past few years and how little he enjoyed it. How lonely he’d been. While a part of him didn’t want to throw it all away, he realized none of it mattered in the long run. When he got to be Aunt Birdie’s age, he wanted to still have Savannah by his side. To spend his remaining time in these mountains, just as Aunt Birdie had chosen to do. “I want to come home. If you think the town won’t lynch me this time.”

  “Don’t worry about that. They’ve plumb forgot about all that business ages ago. And they all know now that it wasn’t your fault. Besides, since Savannah’s family moved away, you don’t have to worry about them turning the town against you. After that diary was found, they knew who was truly to blame. Now, you’ve just got to move on.” Cookie threw her arms around him and hugged him so tight he thought she’d popped a rib.

  Sunny joined her, hugging him within an inch of his life. Then Aunt Birdie. When they finally released him and he could breathe again, Sunny clapped her hands together. “It’s time for some GG magic. Let’s go, ladies.”

  They whirled out of the room, leaving him sitting on the bed dazed and confused. Hearing the scampering of the
ir steps down the stairs, he realized he’d just given them permission to spin their spells and make a mess of everything. Nothing ever ended well when they got together and planned something. His rental car still sitting in the ditch at the bottom of the hill was evidence enough.

  “Wait,” he called after them. “I don’t think this is a good idea.” He raced downstairs and looked around the atrium, then the kitchen and out on the front porch. Yet, all he found were the taillights from a pickup truck barreling down the drive toward town. The workmen all seemed to be pulling out as well, tossing tools into the beds of their trucks and hightailing it down the driveway.

  Herbie rounded the corner of the house with his toolbox in hand.

  Mason rushed down the front porch steps to stop him. “Where’s everyone going?

  “I ain’t know nothin’,” Herbie said before he too hopped in his truck and drove away.

  Mason climbed the front porch steps and sat down in one of the rockers until a chill took hold and he couldn’t take it any longer. With no sign of Savannah in the house, he knew she had to be around somewhere, and likely with no clue she had been stranded at a dilapidated inn alone with him. But he had a good idea where she’d gone, where she always went when she was upset about something. The barn. The one they used to hide in as kids when the McGregor’s owned the property. They had spent a lot of time on this property hanging out with his best bud Tom, before they decided to take a big city job and sold the place to a private nursing home company.

  After finding an old coat in one of the hall closets, he made two cups of hot chocolate then carried them down to the barn. It looked the same as when they were kids, except the stalls were empty and colored lights had been strung all over the inside. It reminded him of something his Aunt Birdie would do.

  Savannah sat on a bale of hay, cleaning a horse bridle. A freshly polished western saddle sat on the bale next to her, and judging by the pile of riding equipment in front of her, she planned to be at this for a while.

  Mason set the hot mugs on a nearby post and closed the barn door to shield them from the cold. “I came with a peace offering.” He held up a mug to her, but she didn’t respond. “I know you’re mad at me, but it’s not what you think.”

  Savannah dropped the bridle on the ground and eyed him through her thick lashes. “What do I think? That you asked for the ring because you planned to marry someone? It’s your right. You didn’t do anything wrong. That’s why I gave the ring back. It doesn’t belong to me. I’m not part of your family.”

  “But you should be. I want you to be.” Mason knelt by her side and held the mug in front of her. “Please take it. You’ve got to be cold out here.”

  “I’m fine.”

  Mason caught her gaze. “And as stubborn as ever.”

  Reluctantly, she took the mug and drank some before she finally looked at him again. “Thank you.”

  “You’re welcome.” He retrieved his own mug and sat at her side. Taking a deep breath, he said, “I asked for the ring because I wanted you to have it.”

  Her mug hung in the air inches from her lips.

  “I never meant to hurt you,” he continued. “Not then, not now.” He held his breath, hoping, willing her to believe him.

  “You didn’t. I’m fine.”

  “Savie…Savannah, I’m not giving the ring to another woman.”

  Savannah shook her head. “I’m sorry if it didn’t work out. But it doesn’t matter now. You have the ring. You can give it to the next girl who comes along and not have to worry about ever returning here again. I’ll look after Aunt Birdie. Don’t worry.”

  “I’m not worried. I know that you’d keep an eye on her even if I still lived here. But that’s not what I mean.” Frustration labored his thoughts and words.

  Savannah handed him back the mug then stood and headed for the barn door. “What do you mean? I’ve been trying to figure that out, but I can’t. And now, I just don’t care anymore. I hope you realize you’re going to break your aunt’s heart when you leave. And I refuse to let you break mine. Not again.”

  “Wait.” If she walked out that barn door, he knew she would find a way to go home, car or no car, and not return for days. He eyed the sparkling lights throughout the barn. “I know you don’t owe me anything, but would you help me do something nice for my aunt?”

  Savannah halted with the door half open. “What?”

  With that one word, hope sizzled through him. She’d do anything for the GGs.

  He stood and closed the distance between them. “I was so worried about Aunt Birdie that I raced here without thinking. I barely have enough clothes to last me, let alone any kind of Christmas gift for her. I don’t have a way of getting one either, not with my rental still at the bottom of the hill, but there’s something I can do to show her how much I love her.”

  She watched him warily as he took another step. “And that is?”

  “Well, you know how much she adores Christmas lights.” He gestured around the barn. “Would you help me string them inside the inn, too? I’d like to surprise her by putting them up all over, in true Aunt Birdie fashion, so there’s twinkling, tacky lights everywhere.”

  “You can’t surprise her when she’s inside the inn.”

  Mason stepped closer to her. “She’s not. They’re not. The GGs went somewhere. And if we work together, I think we can do it before they get back.”

  Savannah disappeared through the door without a word, and he slumped with defeat.

  “Are you coming or what?” Savannah asked. “Grab that large green container with the rest of the lights.”

  Elated, he grabbed the container and trotted after her, sliding on the icy path in his dress shoes. He was starting to despise those shoes more and more, and longed for a good pair of winter boots.

  “There’s more lights in the storage shed out back.”

  He followed her around the house toward the shed when she stopped abruptly. “Where is everyone?”

  “Don’t know. They all took off, even Herbie.”

  “What are they thinking? They can’t take a break. They were supposed to finish the inside today. The atrium is almost done, but the upstairs guest rooms and sunroom still need work. We’ll never make our deadline at this rate.” She pulled out her cell phone and pressed a few buttons then slid it back into her pocket. They entered the shed, and she stacked another box on top of the container Mason carried and grabbed two more herself before kicking the shed door closed behind her.

  He followed her up the back porch steps and into the sunroom. With the exposed studs and no insulation, it didn’t feel much warmer inside, but at least they were out of the wind. Hopefully, the chimney inspector had given his stamp of approval.

  Her phone rang, so she dropped her boxes onto the floor and answered. “Herbie, where are you?” She opened the box and pulled out some lights. “What do you mean you’re not coming back today? There’s a ton of work to do yet, and the men have Christmas Eve and Christmas Day off. I need you to―” She paced back and forth across the sunroom, her arms flailing as if pointing out all the little things that still needed to be done. “Fine, I’ll get someone else to take me. I’ll see you tomorrow.” She slid her cell phone back into her pocket and sighed. “A stop order was placed. We failed some inspection, so Herbie headed to town to fix the issue. Something about changing the inn to being a historical landmark, but we weren’t designated a historical landmark. Someone must have filed something wrong.”

  Not sure how to ease her frustration, he held up the container of lights. “Well, I guess that means you get to take a break, right?”

  She slid out of her coat then headed for the atrium where she set it on the reception desk. Rolling up her sleeves, she said, “Let’s get to it then. How do you want them to be put up?”

  He took the ring and placed it behind the desk, not only to keep it safe but to hide the constant reminder of broken promises. He pulled out several boxes of string lights and plugged them in to t
est them. Red, green, and white bulbs lit up. “When I was a child―after my father ran off―I came home to the living room full of lights. They were strung from the center outward, like a circus tent. Aunt Birdie said it was to invoke Christmas magic. We lit a fire and cuddled under a blanket and watched the lights flicker. She told me stories of how much my mother loved me when I was born. A subject my father never allowed. She told me about how she’d take me everywhere, showing me off and talking about every milestone I achieved no matter how minor. She explained my father running off wasn’t about me, but about his grief he’d lost himself in when I was only two. The day my mother died, she took my father’s soul with her.” He stared at the twinkling lights in his hands. “That night, she gave me the best Christmas present I’d ever received in my life…happy memories and a promise to love me always.”

  Savannah unwound another set and tested it. “What was that?”

  “A loving home.” He longed for that full feeling again, the kind you experience when you have everyone you care about around you, making you feel complete. He swallowed and gathered all the strength he could manage. “I want that again. I want a loving home. With you.”

  Chapter 9

  Savannah clipped a plastic hook onto the edge of the chandelier in the center of the room while Mason held the ladder. His words echoed in her head over and over again, but how could she believe him? How could she trust him? How would she know he wouldn’t leave her again the moment something happened?