A Yowling Yuletide

by Celeste Hall

  “I have a thing for incredibly sexy clowns.”

  All I Want for Christmas

  The snow storm continued until Thursday, the day before Christmas.

  Miranda had finally gone home, but she’d come back an hour later with a mysterious cardboard box and a zippered clothing bag.

  “I wanted to bring everything I might need for dinner tomorrow, so I wouldn’t need to make another trip back to the house,” she explained before hesitating, her eyebrows drawing together in concern. “Am I still uninvited, or is it alright if I join you now?”

  Matt cringed as he recalled the lie he’d told her, knowing she had immediately recognized it for what it was, an attempt to keep her away from him and his family. But things had drastically changed over the last few days.

  They’d spent almost every moment together and Matt knew he was in serious jeopardy of having his heart broken again.

  Rachel would be bringing Tyson as her date, and Matt just couldn’t stop thinking about the way that Tyson and Miranda had interacted together that day in the office.

  It wasn’t just the way that she’d looked at him. It was how the other man had made her laugh and how he’d talked to her as if they’d known each other for years.

  Matt couldn’t help but feel that there was something more going on behind the smiles they’d shared, and it stirred up something fiercely jealous inside him. He was afraid that if he took Miranda to the dinner, she might decide that she’d be happier with Tyson. Just as Tanya had.

  He could be setting himself up for the fall. But he also knew how much it would hurt Miranda if he didn’t invite her, and that was something he just couldn’t do again. He’d put her through too much pain already.

  So he did his best to smile as he helped her carry her things up to the bedroom.

  “I’m sorry I told you that you couldn’t go,” he admitted setting the box and garment bag on the bed so he could pull her into his arms and just hold her. “I want nothing more than to spend Christmas with you.”

  An idea sparked and he quickly continued.

  “In fact, you’re the only one I want to spend Christmas with,” he told her. “So let’s have our own private dinner here, at the house. We can go shopping today and pick up all the groceries we’ll need. Then we can cook it up together, light some candles, and just enjoy being together.”

  He could tell that she liked the idea, but after a moment she shook her head.

  “That sounds really nice,” she murmured. “But Rachel told me about your mother and Thanksgiving. I don’t want to be the reason she loses another holiday with her only son. Let’s do the private dinner tonight, then we can go spend Christmas with your family, like you promised.”

  Matt sighed and kissed her briefly on the lips.

  “You really are an angel. All right, we’ll go to dinner with my family. But I’m not making any promises to be nice to Tyson.”

  She only smiled and kissed him again.

  * * *

  The next morning was Christmas and they surprised each other with gifts which weren’t really a surprise because they’d actually gone shopping for them together. Then they went back to bed – and didn’t sleep – until close to one in the afternoon.

  As Matt helped Miranda whip up some scrambled eggs and bacon for a very late breakfast, he couldn’t think of a single day in his life when he’d ever felt so happy.

  There were Christmas carols playing softly in the background and the mouth-watering aroma of his favorite breakfast meat being fried on the stove. But the thing that really made the whole day brighter, was watching Miranda flittering around the kitchen like a tiny, redheaded house fairy.

  He was pretty sure that he could spend the rest of his life just sitting there watching her, and he’d be happy.

  But time passed quickly and the hour of reckoning crept up on him.

  By six that evening, Matt felt as though some clawed creature were writhing about in his stomach, gutting him from the inside out.

  He had started to dress in his usual blue jeans and a t-shirt, but Miranda had given him the stink-eye, so he’d gone back and found a pair of dark slacks and a button up shirt. He was glad that he’d changed when she emerged from the dressing room a few minutes later wearing a stunning chocolate brown dress that hugged her curves and made her golden eyes glow.

  Then he started shaking his head and pointing back towards the dressing room.

  “No way,” he argued. “If you go wearing that, I’ll have to beat Tyson up just for looking at you. You wouldn’t want to be responsible for me ending up in jail with assault charges, would you?”

  “You’ll just have to control yourself somehow, because this is the only dress I brought. Besides, I think it makes my hair look more like a rich auburn instead of shocking red.”

  He chuckled and gave an affectionate tug on one escaped curl.

  “I love your hair.”

  “People who are not redheads always say that,” she grumped, but there was a delighted twinkle in her eyes. “It’s almost time. I can’t wait to meet your mom!”

  Matt choked a bit on that declaration.

  “Hold up just a second,” he cringed, not wanting Miranda to be blindsided by what was coming. “I should probably warn you. The only time I’ve ever brought a woman home to meet my mother, was the night that Tanya agreed to marry me. So my mom is probably going to have a lot of questions about you.”

  Miranda tilted her chin to one side, considering that.

  “What do you plan to tell her?”

  “Hell if I know.”

  Matt could see that Rachel and Tyson's sleek luxury sedan was already parked in the driveway as he chauffeured Miranda down the lane towards his mother’s house. It filled him with dread, but he couldn't turn back now.

  The petite redhead seated beside him was almost buried beneath the gifts they'd purchased and wrapped for Rachel and his mother.

  It wasn't until he was helping her carry the packages out to the car that he noticed an extra gift marked for Tyson.

  "What's this?" He'd demanded, hands trembling with a sudden urge to smash it against the concrete a few hundred times.

  "It's a pair of leather driving gloves," Miranda answered with a smile. "I thought they might be nice on cold mornings when he drives in to the city."

  That was a damned thoughtful gift, which made him nearly rabid with worry.

  Was she just being nice and trying to include Tyson in the gift exchange? Or was she hoping that her gift might gain the millionaire's affection?

  It was never something he would have considered before Tanya, which was why he kept his fears to himself and the package was safely returned to Miranda.

  He really wanted to trust her, to believe that she was being honest with him. But now that they were approaching the point of no return, he found himself being eaten alive by doubts and fears.

  Parking beside the black sedan, he walked around the car to open Miranda's door and collect all the packages so she could get out.

  Again he was tempted to destroy the gift for Tyson, but again he talked himself down from the emotional ledge. Then they were being welcomed inside and the option was taken from him.

  "Hi sweetheart, thank you for coming," his mother beamed. "Those gifts are beautiful, go put them under the tree and come into the dining room. We're just sitting down at the table now. Oh...!"

  His mother offered a little gasp as Matt stepped through the door, revealing the petite redhead behind him.

  "Mom, this is Miranda. Miranda, this is my mother, Jeanne."

  He only made brief introductions, and although he could see curiosity burning in her eyes, his mother didn't ask for more.

  "It is real pleasure to meet you," the older woman smiled at Miranda, but there was a hint of concern behind her eyes. The last time her son had brought a girl home, the selfish creature had nearly destroyed him.

  "Thank you," Miranda beamed in return. "It's so nice to meet you. Matt almost didn't
bring me, but I promised to be on my best behavior."

  The self-depreciating humor seemed to soothe Jeanne's nerves a fraction, but Matt knew it would take some time before everyone in his family recovered from the damage Tanya had done.

  He quickly deposited his armful of brightly wrapped packages under the Christmas tree, then led Miranda into the dining room.

  His mother had already hurried in to add another place setting beside his, directly across from Tyson.

  Matt watched as Miranda's eyes lit up at the sight of the man and his gut tied itself into such knots he was sure he'd never be able to eat.

  For his part, Tyson looked just as delighted to see the redhead.

  "Hey there Little Red, glad you could make it," the good-looking millionaire offered with a chuckle. "Rachel claimed you were hanging around the farm, but I told her I'd believe it when I saw it."

  "You've already met?" Matt's mother looked greatly relieved. It was apparent that she trusted the other man's judge of feminine character more than Matt's.

  "Oh yeah," Tyson offered a roguish grin that left Matt sporting white-knuckled fists. "Freckles and I go way back."

  “That’s wonderful,” Jeanne beamed, stepping back out of the room to bring in the Christmas ham. It was a tradition for her to bring it out last, fresh from the oven and smelling like heaven.

  She placed it in front of the empty chair at the head of the table, the place where Matt’s father had always sat. She still set a place for her husband as well, keeping him a part of their holidays, even though he had passed away almost six years ago.

  It was a romantic gesture that her children treasured. They’d both grown up dreaming of the day they’d find a love as deep as their parent’s.

  “Will you serve for us, dear?” Jeanne asked her son, and Matt silently nodded, standing to better separate large slices of the glazed meat for each of the individuals seated around him.

  This was a traditional gesture that he’d inherited from his father and the familiarity helped to flush some of the bitterness from his stomach.

  After that, dinner seemed to progress without any unnecessary drama and he actually started to enjoy himself.

  Despite their initial banter, Tyson and Miranda shared only casual conversation with the others at the table, and she even held Matt’s hand for awhile as they were waiting for his mother to bring out dessert.

  Then it was time to clear the table and exchange Christmas gifts.

  At first, Matt was only vaguely concerned about Tyson’s response to receiving a gift from Miranda, but that was before the millionaire offered his gift to Rachel.

  “I know we haven’t been together for very long,” the man murmured, placing a kitten sized box in front of Matt’s sister. “But I wanted to prove to you how much you actually mean to me.”

  Rachel looked confused as she gave the package a soft shake and everyone heard something small rattling around inside.

  Unwrapping the gift, she looked inside and hesitated as if afraid that whatever it was might bite her. So Tyson reached inside and pulled out the small velvet coated box, kneeling beside her as he did so.

  Everyone in the room went abruptly still and silent as they all watched him open that box.

  Inside was an enormous diamond ring.

  “Oh my god,” Miranda whispered, matching Rachel’s gasp word for word, so that the exclamation fell upon Matt’s ears in a muted stereo surround sound.

  Tyson’s hands were actually shaking as he held the little box up.

  “Will you marry me?”

  All eyes immediately focused on Rachel as she stared down at the huge gemstone twinkling in the light of the Christmas tree. Then she was nodding and smiling, tears sparkling in her eyes as Tyson breathed a tremendous sigh of relief.

  Matt managed to tear his shocked gaze away from the happy couple to look down at the redhead seated beside him.

  If Miranda had dreamed of winning Tyson’s affection, then this twist in events was almost certain to reveal her true motivation for being here.

  She might be kind enough to wait until the evening was over before telling Matt she wasn’t coming back to the house with him. Or she might simply find an excuse to leave early and then spend the rest of her life avoiding him and his family.

  That clawed creature was back in his chest, tearing at his heart and making it almost impossible to breathe.

  As Tyson slipped the ring onto Rachel's finger, Matt looked down at Miranda and saw tears streaming down her cheeks. She was crying even more than Rachel and his mother combined. But were they tears of joy for the new couple? Or was it the weeping of a broken heart?

  He found out after his mother finally finished congratulating and hugging Rachel and Tyson long enough for Miranda to slip in.

  The pretty redhead threw herself into Tyson's arms, sobbing so violently it was difficult to understand what she was saying.

  But Matt heard it clearly enough.

  "When we were in school together, you always promised that we'd someday marry each other," she accused and Matt instantly felt the world around him grow cold and dark.

  The sound of Christmas Carols faded away to be replaced by the harsh rasp of his ragged breathing. The lights and decorations surrounding him took on a cruel tin-like emptiness.

  He was drowning in the realization that he'd been fooled once again. He'd dared to pin his hopes and heart on the fantasy of a red haired angel, but she was still in love with another man.

  He told himself that it wasn't her fault. That love could be cruel and fickle. But it didn't stop the pain, it only made it worse. Because he loved her and he wanted her to be happy, even if that happiness came from being with someone else. That realization was the final agony, the truth that broke him.

  He was rendered deaf, dumb, and blind to those that surrounded him.

  Standing on legs that felt wooden and numb, he walked out of the room. Then out of the house.

  He kept walking, unaware of where he was going or of the cold that bit at his exposed skin. He might have continued walking right into a frozen grave, if a warm hand had not seized his arm and pulled him around.

  Matt stared down in confusion, finding it difficult to register what he was seeing or gentle hands that were forcing him to put on a thick coat.

  When he finally managed to speak, it was only one word.

  "Why?"

  "Because you'll freeze to death, you loon!" Miranda scolded him, tugging at his collar until he lowered his head enough for her to pull a knit cap down over it.

  "Why didn't you wait for me?" She finally asked, zipping up her own coat and pulling the hood up to frame her angelic face. "And why aren't we taking the car?"

  Matt looked up and found himself halfway across the pasture, heading towards home. He must have been running on an automatic homing instinct.

  "I just had to get out of there," he admitted, avoiding her eyes as he stated walking again.

  Miranda kept pace beside him. She was quiet for several minutes, then looked up at him with a frown.

  "Do you really hate him that much?" She murmured softy.

  Matt was surprised to hear her ask such a question, especially now that she had just as much a reason to dislike Tyson as he did.

  "Don't you?"

  Miranda looked incredibly confused.

  "Me? No. I love him."

  "Yeah, I heard that part," Matt growled, feeling dagger-like claws twisting in his gut. "But he's marrying Rachel."

  "Yeah, I think it's great. They're perfect for each other. Besides, now that he's getting married, he'll stay closer to home, I'll get to see him more."

  Matt gaped at her.

  "You can't seriously think you still have a chance to win him back? Do you have any idea how much that would destroy Rachel?"

  "What? Win him back? Matt, you aren't making any sense. Why would I want to be with Tyson? I'm in love with you."

  He stopped and turned on her so abruptly she walked right into him, bu
mping her nose on his chest.

  "Ouch."

  He was too distracted to apologize, grabbing her shoulders and giving her a little shake to force her to look up at him.

  "Don't lie to me," he growled furiously. "You have no idea how hard it was for me to see you crying over him in there. To see you throwing yourself into his arms and begging for him to marry you instead."

  He'd seen Miranda happy, hurt, sad, mischievous, afraid, and a whole lot of emotions in between. But he'd never really seen her mad, until now.

  "Throwing myself into his arms? Begging him to marry me instead?" Her voice was growing louder and shriller with every word. "Win him back? Damn you, Matt! Are you really this idiotic? I'm beginning to think I should have my head checked for trying so hard!"

  She struck his chest with both of her hands, knocking him off balance physically as well as emotionally.

  "I should turn around right now and just give up on your sorry ass," she snapped, her golden eyes flashing with feline iridescence. "I'm beginning to wonder if you're really worth it. If there is anything left in there worth saving, or if that blonde tramp you loved before took all of the good bits with her."

  Matt was speechless, backing away from her fury as she advanced upon him, still hissing and spitting out curses and accusations that rang dangerously close to truth. But he was unable to cut a word in edge wise.

  She stalked towards him like lioness, filled with predatory grace and threat. Although she was only as tall as his chest, and probably half his weight, there was a fiery passion in her that made up for her size.

  Passion and an exquisite, feline grace and beauty.

  And she loved him. If nothing else that she was yelling struck home, that part rang through loud and clear.

  A warm joy began to swell inside his chest, radiating out to fill all of his limbs and bring an incredulous smile to his lips.

  Abruptly, he stopped retreating from her fury and embraced it.

  Wrapping his arms around her, he lifted her up, capturing her mouth with his own to finally silence her tirade.

  At first she struggled against him, still too mad to surrender. But as he seduced her with his lips and tongue, she began to grow soft and pliable in his arms.