Lizzy looked at Mark with round eyes and lips pressed together, then she shifted her gaze to the pony. A tentative nod followed.
Amy said, “Do you want me or your dad to put you up there?”
With no hesitation, Lizzy pointed at Mark, and he swung her up on the pony’s back. After patting Ginger’s neck for a minute, she leaned forward and tried to wrap her arms around the pony.
“You like Ginger, don’t you,” Amy said.
For an answer, Lizzy raised up and with a grin, grabbed Ginger’s mane in her fingers and bounced her legs against her belly.
Maybe she was ready to take another step forward. “There’s not enough room to walk in her stall. Let’s go into the hallway, but first, let me get Teri so she can lead.”
They walked Lizzy and Ginger up and down the hallway that led to the riding arena. Amy wasn’t ready to take Lizzy to the arena just yet. After half an hour, Amy said, “It’s time to put Ginger back in her stall, but first, you have to brush her down. Can Teri help you with that?”
With only a slight hesitation, Lizzy nodded, and Amy and Mark left her with Teri.
“What do you think?” Mark asked.
“She’s a bright kid. The reports from your previous therapist and Lizzy’s doctors indicate they believe the mutism is temporary, and I agree with them. That’s why I want to work primarily on getting her to trust me, and I’ll use Ginger for that, like we did today. Then we’ll start working on a program I used with the other patient with mutism.”
“Why does it work? I mean, I can understand someone with motor problems being helped, but how with mutism?” he asked, nodding toward the window where they could see Lizzy laying her head against the pony’s shoulder.
“I think part of it is that Ginger doesn’t judge, just accepts Lizzy the way she is and receives her love. It’s unconditional and I believe that’s the key to Lizzy’s problem. It’s also been proven that the gait of a horse triggers a series of physical and mental reactions in the brain. I’m hoping the combination—trust between Ginger and Lizzy and the repetitive movement—will release her to talk again.”
“I hope you’re right.”
Something in his voice made her turn and look at Mark. The love in his eyes for his daughter caught her off guard, bringing tears. Amy took a shaky breath as he shifted his gaze to her.
“Thanks for taking this on.”
Her heart thudded in her chest as his brown eyes sent shivers through her. “Uh, I’d like to see her every day, if that’s possible.”
He winked at her. “Very possible, especially if we can come after I get off work.”
That posed a problem. Teri and the other aides usually went home at five. “Can you be here a little after five?” Chloe’s wedding was at three sharp tomorrw, and Amy should be home by five. “And I’ll need you to be a walker.”
“What’s that?”
“Someone to walk by her side to make sure she doesn’t fall off. I think Teri will stay over to lead.”
“I can definitely do both, and I’ll make it worth Teri’s time.”
“It’s settled, then.” Now if only her heart would settle down. “See you tomorrow around five-fifteen.”
~*~
Mark couldn’t keep from grinning as Amy’s chestnut ponytail bobbed with each baa-baa and moo-moo she sang from Old McDonald Had a Farm. She made the sessions with Lizzy fun, like now singing while they untacked Ginger, but after eight days of therapy, he realized there’d be no quick solution to Lizzy’s mutism.
Even though she smiled more and totally relaxed when she was around Ginger, Lizzy didn’t utter a sound. After they put the pony in the stall, Lizzy helped carry a flake of hay and dusted her hands as she came out of the stall. He tapped the top of her shiny blue helmet. “Having fun?”
Lizzy’s blue eyes sparkled as she looked up from under the helmet and nodded. When Amy hooked the stall door, Lizzy tugged on her sleeve and looked pointedly at the pony.
“You want to say good-night?” Amy asked.
After an eager nod, Amy opened the door, and Lizzy hugged her briefly. The wistfulness on Amy’s face as her gaze followed his daughter caught him by surprise. She was so good with children that he didn’t understand why she didn’t have any. Amy turned and caught him studying her. He’d forgotten how green her eyes were—like the color of the nearby evergreens.
“What? Do I have something on my nose?”
“No.” He removed a piece of straw that was tangled in her silky hair. The light scent of her shampoo made him smile—it was the same kind that Lizzy used. His fingers brushed hers as he handed her the twig, and electricity arced between them.
Standing this close to her without the pony or Lizzy between them reeled his senses and reminded him of what they’d been to each other once. Until now he’d been able to keep those memories at bay. Memories like dancing in the moonlight or sitting on the beach watching the sun come over the trees.
Amy dropped her gaze and stepped back. She’d felt the electricity between them, he knew it. It had been there all week, simmering just below the surface, and all the while he’d been pretending it didn’t exist.
“Look,” she whispered.
He looked over her shoulder. Lizzy had wrapped her arms around Ginger’s lowered head and pressed her cheek to the pony’s. The joy in his daughter’s face hitched his breath. He swallowed down the lump in his throat. “Thank you,” he said softly.
Amy slipped her arm around his waist and gave him a quick squeeze. “She’ll talk again. Just give her time.”
“I believe you.” He liked the feel of her arm around him, and leaned into it. “I wonder what our child, if we’d…” He let the words hang and looked down at her. “You know we still could. You know, pick up where we left off…maybe get married, have children.”
She stiffened, and he ignored it. She was leaving in less than a month. “Are you going to the cantata tomorrow —”
The barn door jerked open, and they pulled apart as two people hurried in. The Grahams? They hadn’t shown up last week, and he’d hoped they had changed their minds about coming for a visit period.
Gerald Graham stalked toward him while his wife Connie lagged behind. “What are you doing with my granddaughter at a barn? She could get hurt.”
Graham halted, and his eyes narrowed as he looked from Mark to Amy. “Just what’s going on here?”
Mark willed himself to not move. “A therapy session. And would you please keep your voice down.”
“I’ll get Lizzy,” Amy said and slipped inside the stall.
“You’re doing a therapy session in a barn? Where is Elizabeth?”
Just then, Amy brought Lizzy to the door, and Mark slipped the blue helmet off and scooped her up in his arms. When Ginger stuck her head over the stall door, Graham’s eyes bugged.
For a minute Mark thought the older man would stroke out.
“You allowed her to be in a stall with a horse?”
Lizzy put her hands over her ears and buried her face in Mark’s shoulder.
Connie laid her hand on her husband’s arm. “Calm down! You’re frightening Elizabeth.”
Mark stroked Lizzy’s back. “It’s part of her therapy.”
The older man’s lip curled. “What kind of nonsense is that?”
Amy stepped forward and held out her hand. “I’m Amy Logan, Lizzy’s speech therapist. I’ve found working with the horses to be extremely effective. I don’t think I caught your name.”
Whoa! What happened to the timid Amy he used to know?
His ex-father-in-law folded his arms across his chest. “Maybe because I didn’t throw it.”
Connie nudged him and then took Amy’s hand. “Gerald, be nice. I’m Connie Graham and this is my husband. We’re Elizabeth’s grandparents.”
Lizzy lifted her head and gave her grandmother a tiny smile. Connie was as sweet as her husband was cranky, and Mark set his daughter down so she could go to Connie.
Gerald patted Li
zzy’s head as she hugged her grandmother. “Hello, Granddaughter.”
Even though Gerald had softened his voice, Mark selfishly gloated that she seemed to be ignoring the older man.
Gerald shifted his attention to Mark. “This horse therapy business is ridiculous. It won’t work, and Elizabeth is our only granddaughter. I will not allow you to put her at risk. I’ll take you to court if you don’t agree to stop.”
“Then you better get yourself a lawyer.” Surely Gerald wouldn’t go that far.
“I will. Come on, Connie.” He grabbed his wife’s arm.
She pulled away from him. “I want to spend time with Elizabeth.”
“We will tomorrow when she doesn’t smell like livestock.” He eyed Mark. “We’ll pick her up in the morning at nine.”
“You don’t know where I live.”
“Oh, I know where you live all right. And where your parents live—how do you think we found you tonight? Come on,” he said to his wife.
“I’m sorry,” she mouthed when her husband stalked toward the door, then she hugged Lizzy and hurried to catch up with him.
“Is he always like that?” Amy asked when the barn door closed.
“Yeah,” Mark said. He understood that Gerald still grieved for his daughter, but he would not allow him to frighten Lizzy. Her little body was jerking. “It’s going to be okay, honey. You can still ride Ginger.”
Her blue eyes filled and silent tears spilled down her cheeks.
“I promise, Lizzy. Do you believe me?”
She searched his face, then slowly nodded.
His heart melted, and he smiled at her. “And tomorrow night, we’ll pick Miss Amy up, and all three of us will go to the cantata at St. Matthews. How would you like that?”
Amy startled. “I didn’t say I—”
Lizzy tugged on her sleeve, and when Amy looked down, his daughter put her hands together like she was praying. Amy laughed and shook her head. “Oh, all right, I’ll go.”
Chapter 5
Even with Lizzy sitting between them on the church pew, the musky scent of Mark’s aftershave wrapped around Amy, tying her stomach into knots. The music swelled to the rafters, intensifying the emotions that had been whirling through her since the night before.
All week she’d been fighting her attraction to him, but when he brushed the straw from her hair last night and looked at her with those smoldering brown eyes…the years since he last kissed her vanished. Thank goodness she’d come to her senses and stepped away from him.
If it hadn’t been for Lizzy, she would not have joined them for the cantata. Even now, she was afraid to look at him, afraid one glance from him and she’d forget the way he’d walked away twelve years ago when the band called. But, he’s given up the band. Was it possible they could pick up where they left off?
No. She was moving to Texas. And he wanted children.
The last notes of the Hallelujah Chorus ended, and as the lights came up, Amy applauded with the rest of the crowd.
“That was beautiful,” Mark said.
“Yes.” She risked a glance at him, and the look in his eyes warmed her all the way through.
“Would you like to grab a sandwich at Posey’s? Lizzy hasn’t been downtown at night yet.”
Neither had Amy. Since she lost the baby, she avoided the center of Christmas Town that celebrated children. Even the cantata tonight was a first for her in four years.
Lizzy slipped her hand in Amy’s, and she dropped her gaze to the child. Lizzy’s expressive face said please. Someone called Amy’s name, saving her from having to answer. She turned as her mother and Eli Welcome wove their way around people to reach her.
“I didn’t know you were here. Is Lia here, too?” Amy asked as she returned her mom’s hug. She hadn’t spent nearly as much time as she’d like with her mother since her return from Indiana. It wasn’t entirely Amy’s fault since her mom had opted to move into the cottage behind Eli’s house rather than stay at the farmhouse with her. Sometimes it hurt that both her mom and Lia refused her offer to share the farmhouse. Was she the only one who clung to the happy memories of the home? She brushed the thought away.
“The Logans are here in force… or were,” her mom said with a laugh, then answered Amy’s unasked question. “Your sister said something about going to Reindeer Meadow for a snowball fight.”
She turned and hugged Mark. “I didn’t know you were back in town. Is this your daughter?”
“This is Lizzy,” Mark said, then he smoothed Lizzy’s hair. “This is Mrs. Logan, Amy’s mom.”
Lizzy ducked her head, and Amy felt her pain. “She’s a little shy, Mom, except when she’s riding Ginger.”
Her mom’s eyebrows raised slightly as she caught the reference to the therapy horse. Turning to Mark again, she said, “Do you remember Eli Welcome?”
Mark extended his hand. “Yes, good to see you Pastor Welcome. I’m looking forward to your sermons.”
Eli held up a bandaged right hand then grasped Mark’s with his left. “Thanks, but I’m no longer St. Matthews’ pastor.”
“But if you’re ever in need of counsel, his door is always open,” her mom said.
Something in her mom’s voice caught Amy’s attention and for the first time tonight she really looked at her and saw a sparkle Amy hadn’t seen in years. And that 1000-watt smile on her lips…Amy’s gaze slid past her to the pastor-turned-writer she worked for. Eli had that same glow.
“I’ll keep that in mind, Mrs. Logan,” Mark said. “I’ve asked Amy to go with us to Posey’s for a sandwich. Would you two like to join us?”
“Maybe next time.”
The look her mom exchanged with Eli told Amy they had other plans. They’d been spending a lot of time together lately. Eli conducted Chloe’s wedding that her mom had practically arranged, then dinner…something told her tonight was different, though. Amy would be talking to her mom later this evening.
After they walked away, Mark said, “You’re not going to leave us high and dry are you?”
She was about to say she was when Lizzy slipped her small hand in Amy’s and tugged. How could she say no? It would be fun to see the little girl’s reaction to Elmer, the elf. “Lead the way.”
~*~
Moonlight shimmered on the newly fallen snow around the farm as Mark pointed his pickup toward the farmhouse.
“I can’t believe we stayed two hours at Posey’s,” Amy said.
“It was fun though. Did you see Lizzy’s face when she found Elmer in the bells over the door? When did Posey come up with the idea of hiding the elf for customers to find, anyway?”
“Several years ago, and she looks forward to the game all year.” Amy glanced behind her at the child asleep in the booster seat. She’d fallen asleep right after they left town. “You’ll have to take Lizzy back so she can find him again.”
He idled the motor in front of her door and turned to face her. “Come with us?”
“We’ll see.” She opened the truck door, and Mark pulled a blanket from the back seat and spread it over Lizzy. “No need to walk me to the door.”
“But I want to. Lizzy will be fine—it’s only twenty feet away, and the truck is warm.”
At her door, she said, “Thanks for talking me into tonight.”
“Can we do it again?”
She tried to look away, but his gaze held her. “I don’t think—”
“Don’t think.” He cupped her face in his hands and stroked his thumb along her jaw. “This past week has been…” he sighed. “We had something really good once until I messed it up. That won’t happen again. I was serious last night—I want another chance. I want us to have children together, a brother or sister for Lizzy.”
She couldn’t give him that. The thought slammed her. What if he reacted the way Kevin had? “I can’t get pregnant.”
The words shot from her mouth, but she wouldn’t call them back if she could—he had to know.
Confusion clouded his eyes, then u
nderstanding. “Is that what’s worrying you?”
That and a hundred other things.
“I would never have mentioned children if I’d known.” His eyes held hers. “That really doesn’t matter to me. You’re what matters. We can adopt if we decide on more children. And we have Lizzy. Something tells me she might be all we can handle.”
He didn’t care? She blinked back tears.
“I’ve never stopped loving you, Amy.” His lips brushed hers, teasing, then he captured her mouth as she melted against him. When he released her, he said, “That’s a down payment on my promise. Let’s see if what we had is still there.”
She drew a shaky breath. Mark had always been the love of her life. Not that she hadn’t loved Kevin, but he’d never captured her soul the way Mark had. Could she stay in Christmas Town? “But I’m moving to Texas after the first of the year.”
“That can be changed. Give us a chance.”
She thought of the contract that came in today’s mail, awaiting her signature. The opportunity to study hippotherapy under Dr. Topliff. Why did Mark have to come back to Christmas Town now?
~*~
Mark tucked Lizzy and her small plush pony into bed. There was a glint of sparkle in her eyes. “Tonight was fun,” he said.
She wove the pony’s mane in her fingers and nodded.
“We never did name your pony there. It’s almost the color of Ginger. Would you like to call it Little Ginger?”
Lizzy graced him with a tiny smile.
“Then, Little Ginger it is. Are we ready to say our prayers?” Another nod and he said the same blessing over the whole family he said every night, but tonight he ended with, “And bless Grandfather and Grandmother Graham.”
Lizzy nodded approval.
“…and bless Miss Amy, too,” he said, wrapping up.
This time she practically beamed, and his heart caught. What if things didn’t work out between him and Amy? It wouldn’t be good for Lizzy to get so close and then lose someone else. Somehow, he had to convince Amy to stay in Christmas Town.
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