Holiday Fantasy

by Adrianne Byrd

  Their waitress arrived and asked if they wanted dessert. Mark told her he wanted the check.

  Andrea felt helpless as the woman walked away. But she had to get through to Mark. She just had to.

  “You’re right, Mark, things have been moving fast. But when it’s right, what’s the point in waiting? Life is short. I’ve learned that firsthand. We’re together now, right here, because this was meant to be. Please, Mark. Look at me.” She stared at him until he met her eyes. “You heard what Terrence asked at the zoo. He wanted to know if you had saved me because you’re supposed to be his daddy.”

  “That’s exactly why I say things are moving—”

  Andrea held up both hands. “Hear me out. I’m not saying we have to rush down the aisle, or that we’ll ever make it down the aisle. But I am saying that things happen in life for a reason. There was a reason you sat at my table that day, a reason you had the dream about where to find me. A reason we’ve been trying to reconnect. I know you believe in God. And I know you know He works in mysterious ways. What if this is all part of God’s plan? What if we were meant to be together from the start? We messed up when we were younger, but what if this is our second chance?”

  The waitress arrived with the check, sparing Mark from answering Andrea’s question.

  But it was on his mind, even as he drove Andrea home and said goodbye to her. It was still on his mind the next morning when he got on a plane and headed back to Chicago.

  Chapter 12

  Mark spent the entire weekend in a foul mood, even if he did feel that his leaving Andrea was for the best. He meant what he said about things moving too fast, so fast that he wasn’t sure if he was really feeling what he thought he felt, or if he was just caught up in emotions of the past.

  That and the drama of having saved her.

  It was a romantic notion to believe that fate had brought them together. Andrea believed it, and he wanted to believe it, too. Indeed, since the story of Andrea’s rescue had become national news, it seemed that everywhere he went people recognized him and asked him about her. The flight attendant on his flight to Buffalo asked if he was going to see her, and when he’d said yes, she joked that the two of them were bound to get married.

  That’s when Mark had realized that he was caught up in the middle of a story, the story of a man who had saved the life of a woman he’d once loved. It made for good press, and everyone wanted a happy ending, especially at Christmas. But Mark’s life wasn’t simply a story, and happy endings weren’t guaranteed in real life.

  He had tried to work off some stress by playing tennis with his colleague, John, at the club, but that hadn’t helped much.

  Monday morning came, and he was glad to be back at work. Work could always help him forget his personal life. Or so he thought, because so far this morning Andrea still occupied his thoughts.

  His last conversation with her continued to play out in his mind. What if this is our second chance?

  Could it be?

  The only thing Mark knew for sure was that he needed some space. Space to figure out if what he was feeling was real. And Andrea needed to figure out the same thing, whether she accepted that or not. “Mr. Potter?”

  Startled at the sound of his name, Mark looked up from the papers on his desk and stared into the emerald green eyes of his secretary, Shirley McNamara.

  “Yes?”

  “Mr. Feinstein has arrived. He’s waiting in the lounge.”

  Damn. Mark had completely forgotten about his ten o’clock meeting with George Feinstein, local owner of Feinstein Art, a gallery that imported and sold fine art. Fishing for his client file among the ton of papers on his desk, Mark groaned when he couldn’t find it.

  “If you’re looking for his file,” Shirley announced, “you won’t find it on your desk. It’s in your filing cabinet.” She smiled.

  Once again, Shirley had cleaned up after him when he’d left in a hurry Friday afternoon to head to the airport. In her late fifties, his administrative assistant had proven to be a godsend. She always knew where everything was and she knew his schedule like the back of her hand. She was with the company when he’d first started Creative Image Advertising six years ago, and Mark couldn’t imagine what he’d do without her.

  “Thank you, Shirley,” Mark said, returning her smile. “Just give me five minutes, then send him in.”

  The meeting with Mr. Feinstein went well. He liked all the suggestions Mark made regarding an advertising campaign, and even agreed to a series of commercials. Mark prided himself on living up to the name of his firm, always offering his clients innovative ad campaigns.

  His business was going well, but he still longed for a woman to complete his life.

  Rising from his soft leather chair, he strolled to the windows. The sky was gray, and he wondered when the sun would make another appearance.

  You left the sun in Buffalo, a voice in his mind said.

  The thought disturbed him, even as an image of Andrea’s smile suddenly warmed him all over.

  Damn, he missed her. But was he really missing her, or missing the dreams he’d once had for them?

  His desk phone rang, and Mark snatched up the receiver. “Mark Potter.”

  “Mr. Potter,” Shirley said, “Cynthia Nichol is on the line. I told her you were busy but she’s demanding to speak to you,” Shirley added in a weary tone. “Says it’s urgent.”

  Not Cynthia again, he thought. But he said, “Put her through.”

  “Mark, hi,” Cynthia began in her best bedroom voice. “I thought I would have heard from you by now.”

  “Cynthia, you really have to stop calling me. I am tired of telling you that our relationship is over.”

  “Mark, please. Christmas is on Thursday. I want you to spend it with me. Let’s put all the bad stuff behind us and start over.”

  Mark couldn’t quite believe his ears. Perhaps Cynthia was delusional. “There is nothing to start over.”

  “When will you stop being angry with me?”

  “Is that what you think is going on—that I’m angry with you?” When Cynthia didn’t say anything, Mark continued. “Let me make this clear. I’m not angry. I’m not hung up on what happened between us. It’s not about me needing to trust you. Cynthia, it’s simply over. I don’t feel anything for you anymore.”

  Cynthia started to sob. “How can you say that? I thought you loved me.”

  Now he knew she had to be delusional. “I’m sorry you’re hurt. That’s not what I want. I just want you to accept that it’s over. You have to move on with your life.”

  And suddenly, Mark realized why it was so easy to walk away from Cynthia, while walking away from Andrea hurt like hell. Cynthia had never had his heart, not for a minute. In fact, on the occasions when she expressed her love for him, his stomach always twisted because he didn’t feel the same way about her.

  Yet, when Andrea had told him those words not too long ago, something inside of him had come alive. Something inside him had also started to ache. For the first time in ten years, he realized just how close he was to bringing down the wall around his heart. And that was a scary prospect. He had wanted to tell Andrea he loved her, too, but fear had held him back.

  Fear, because Andrea was the one woman with the power to hurt him. The one woman who had hurt him so badly he had barely recovered from it.

  It was obvious now why he was pushing her away. He didn’t want to give her that power again, but who was he kidding? He had given her his heart ten years ago, and she still had it now.

  Mark tuned in to hear Cynthia saying something about how they could make it work. He cut her off. “Cynthia, you can’t make something work if it isn’t there to begin with. But I thank you so much for your call. You have helped me in a way you’ll never know.”

  “What are you talking about?”

  “You’ve helped me realize that I’m in love with someone else. I’ve just been too afraid to face that.”

  For a moment, Cynthia was silen
t. Then she said, “You’re a jerk. Go to hell.”

  She hung up on him, and Mark felt relieved. Because for the first time since he’d ended things with Cynthia, he truly believed that he would not be hearing from her again.

  Things were definitely back to normal at Mama’s Place.

  “Andrea,” Trevor began when she emerged from the staff bathroom, “I know you’re doing hostessing duties, but you’ve seen how busy this place is. You can’t be taking breaks like this.”

  “Sorry, Trevor.” What was she supposed to do, never take a bathroom break?

  “Everyone’s in the weeds. I need you to go around and refill coffee for the waitstaff, okay?”

  “But what about the hostess stand? Like you said, the place is extremely busy.”

  “Forget hostessing. I can cover it. Just get to the coffee ASAP.”

  Oooookaaay, Andrea thought. Sheesh, you’d think the guy could cut her some slack, considering she was even back at work. But no, Trevor didn’t spare anyone his sharp tongue.

  For goodness sake, Christmas was two days away. Couldn’t Trevor try to fake some holiday cheer?

  It was times like this that Andrea wished she didn’t need the money so badly because she’d definitely quit this job. The past weeks she’d spent at home had been a luxury. It had been wonderful to spend more time with Terrence.

  With a coffeepot in her right hand, Andrea made her rounds on the restaurant floor. She was tired of “Mama’s Special Tuesdays.” Everyone and their dog seemed to come out for the half-price specials. Even though she normally made great tips, she definitely ran herself ragged.

  She was about to turn the corner toward the second half of the restaurant when Rosalie, one of the waitresses, blocked her path. “Andrea, I need a favor.”

  “What?” Andrea asked warily.

  “I’m so busy. Do you mind running this bill over to table fifteen?”

  “I only have one good hand,” Andrea pointed out.

  “Here.” Rosalie took the coffeepot from her and slipped the bill into her hand. “Thanks so much!”

  “Sure, don’t mention it,” Andrea said with sarcasm as she watched Rosalie sprint in the direction of the kitchen.

  Andrea headed toward table fifteen. The person there had the Buffalo News open covering his or her face. “Excuse me,” she said. “Your waitress asked me to bring you your bill.”

  The newspaper lowered, and Andrea gasped.

  Mark!

  His dimples came to life as he smiled up at her. Damn, he was still so gorgeous, still so irresistible. She knew she wanted to spend the rest of her life with this man.

  But he didn’t want the same thing as her.

  Or did he?

  “Mark.” To her own ears she sounded breathless. “What are you doing here?”

  “Would you believe it if I said fate?”

  Butterflies began dancing in Andrea’s stomach. “Mark…”

  “I’m sorry,” he told her. “Sorry about what happened the other night. Sorry I walked away from you the way I did.”

  His dazzling smile unnerved her, much the same way it had on the day they’d first met.

  “So you’re here to apologize…?”

  “Is that why you think I’m here?”

  More butterflies. “I don’t know. Maybe you’re here to tell me that you feel bad about what happened, but you still want us to be friends.”

  “Fate didn’t bring us back together just to be friends.”

  There was movement to Andrea’s right, and she looked over her shoulder. Rosalie, Trevor, and other staff members stood not more than twenty feet away from her, grinning as they watched the interaction between her and Mark.

  She whipped her head back around to face Mark. “Were they in on this?” she asked him.

  “They did what they had to to get you over here. Now it’s my job to do the rest.” Mark reached for her hand and took it in his. “When you told me that you loved me—”

  “Oh, Mark. We don’t have to—”

  “Yes. We do.” He paused. “When you told me that you loved me, something inside of me came alive for the first time in many, many years. And it also frightened me because you had hurt me so badly.”

  Andrea’s knees started to wobble. “Can I sit down?”

  “Of course.” Mark got to his feet and pulled out a chair for her. As he sat back down, he continued. “You still have my heart, Andrea. That’s why I was so afraid of what was happening between us, because I didn’t want to give you the power to hurt me again. Now, I realize that if I walk away from you, I’m only hurting myself.”

  Andrea drew in a long, shaky breath. “So you want to continue seeing me?”

  Mark shook his head.

  “No?” Andrea asked, confused.

  “I want it all,” he told her, the truth in his voice touching the deepest place in her heart. “I want you in my life today, tomorrow, always. I want Terrence in my life. Because I love you, Andrea. I always have and I always will.”

  “Oh, Mark.” Andrea started weeping softly. And when he drew her into his arms, the entire restaurant erupted in cheers.

  Andrea smiled through her tears.

  Mark framed her face. “I do believe in fate. I believe God brought us together to give us a second chance. How can I walk away from that?”

  Tears streamed down Andrea’s face. “I’m so happy. And I’m so sorry about the years we’ve been apart.”

  Mark shook his head as he wiped at her tears. “No, don’t be sorry. If things had worked out differently, you wouldn’t have Terrence.”

  She knew right then that Mark was the most special man in the world. As long as she lived, he would have her heart.

  “You’re right, Mark. You’re so right.” And she wouldn’t change Terrence for the world.

  “We weren’t ready to make it work before. We were too young and we both needed to grow up. But now…there’s nothing to keep us apart.”

  “Mark, I love you so much.”

  “I love you, too, Andrea. And I want you to be my wife.”

  Andrea’s heart filled with more love than she thought possible. “You don’t have to say that. We can take things slowly.”

  “You’re my destiny,” he told her. “We both know that. So why wait any longer than we already have?”

  Andrea gazed lovingly into Mark’s eyes. “You’re right. You’re absolutely right.”

  “I know I am. Now kiss me. Right here, in front of all these people.”

  Andrea looked around self-consciously, but saw only a room full of smiling faces. She giggled as she faced Mark once again. “Right here, right now?”

  “Right here, right now.”

  She sighed happily, knowing that finally her dream had come true. She had a man who loved her, a man who also loved her son.

  Leaning forward, she framed his face. “How can I refuse the man I love?”

  She couldn’t.

  So she kissed him in front of a hundred witnesses, a kiss that healed the hurts of the past and promised a wonderful future.

  HOLIDAY FANTASY

  ISBN: 978-1-4592-1537-5

  Copyright © 2011 by Harlequin Books S.A.

  The publisher acknowledges the copyright holders of the individual works as follows:

  FINDING THE RIGHT KEY

  Copyright © 2006 by Adrianne Byrd

  ’ROUND MIDNIGHT

  Copyright © 2004 by Donna Hill

  Previously published by BET Books in 2004

  BLIND FAITH

  Copyright © 2005 by Kayla Perrin

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  This is a work
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