by Juliette Poe
Besides, she had said, “Christmas for us isn’t about the gifts. It’s just about being together and enjoying one another.”
I really loved that sentiment. In theory, it’s how all families should be.
There’s obviously not enough seating in the living room to accommodate everyone. People pile on the couches with women sitting on the men’s laps. Larkin pulls me down to the floor to sit beside the Christmas tree. It’s stuffed, over-cramped, and yet wonderful at the same time. The white elephant exchange goes off without a hitch. All the presents were well thought out—meaning they were horrifically cheap and hilarious—and the stealing of gifts seems to be done just for the sake of stealing. It was clearly a family thing, but I ended up laughing just as hard as everyone else.
As the gift festivities start to wind down, Jake, Laken’s boyfriend, stands from the couch, dislodging Laken who had been sitting on his lap.
“I have an announcement to make,” he says, and my gaze slides to Laken. I can tell by the look on her face that she has no clue what he’s about to say.
I move my regard back to Jake. His expression is filled with satisfaction as well as excitement over what he is about to tell the family.
“I’d like to announce that as of this past Friday evening at five, I completed the sale of the majority of my ownership shares in my company.”
There’s utter silence and you could hear a pin drop. Laken’s face pales, and her mouth drops open.
Jake turns to face her and takes her hands, giving her an impish grin. “Surprise.”
“What exactly does that mean?” Laken murmurs, but I can hear the tinge of excitement in her voice. She thinks she knows what it means, but she wants clarification.
“It means I am officially retired from that business. Now, I’m just a regular old farmer who will be living in Whynot, North Carolina with the love of his life—full time.”
I wince in pain as Laken actually shrieks from the proclamation, then jumps right onto Jake. I’m talking arms wrapped tightly around his neck and legs wrapped around his waist. She kisses him in an almost X-rated fashion right in front of her family. Everyone laughs and shares amused expressions with each other, but mostly they’re all bright with happiness as it appears Laken is getting her happily ever after.
Jake lets out a booming laugh. He manages to peel Laken off his body, setting her on the ground. Shaking his head, he admits, “That wasn’t even the good part of my announcement.”
Everyone stops talking.
We all freeze, waiting to see what he says.
Then the romantic in him comes out as he reaches into his pocket and pulls out a ring box just before dropping to one knee before Laken. I don’t really listen to what he says. It’s a well-thought-out proposal with words of affirmation and love. I mostly give my attention to Larkin beside me, who watches her sister get engaged with a dreamy, faraway look on her face.
She’s definitely ecstatic for her twin sister. But I can tell that what is happening to her twin is something she very much wants for herself. She wants marriage, kids, and the white picket fence here in Whynot.
The smile on her face is so beautiful and serene I wish I might have it in me to be that type of guy. I have never met anyone like Larkin, and I’m fairly sure when I leave Whynot for good I’ll never meet anyone like her again. She is definitely one in a million. Last night in her bed was beyond incredible. She’s sweet and trusting, but she’s also adventurous. She has enough sass and confidence to ask for exactly what she wants, only to be sweetly shy in the morning sunlight.
She basically pushes every one of my buttons in a good way. It appears if I’m not in bed with her, I’m more than happy to just sit near her and watch the changing expressions on her face.
Talk of when the wedding will occur starts. Trixie makes sure Laken understands she had picked out late May for her wedding to Ryland. “As soon as the pollen has cleared, we’re getting hitched. So you need to look either before or after May.”
Everyone starts offering their opinions. Larkin pushes up from the floor to go look at the ring and hug her twin. I’m surprised when I feel a presence at my side. Catherine Mancinkus sits next to me, holding out a Christmas gift bag with white tissue sticking out the top.
I cock an eyebrow as I move my eyes from the bag to her kind face.
“It’s a little gift. Nothing much. I just think you should have something to open on Christmas as well.”
I’m incredibly touched by her gesture, as well as impressed. I take the bag from her and ask, “How in the heck did you manage to find something? The entire town is closed today.”
Her eyes twinkle as she smirks. “You’d be surprised at how resourceful I can be.”
I laugh, trying not to feel guilty I wasn’t more resourceful in trying to find something for her family. I remove the tissue and open the bag, looking inside to find a black hand-knit skullcap.
I pull it out, admiring how simple it is and how functional it will be. I will absolutely use it, and it’s like she knows me.
“Thank you. But don’t think to tell me you had time to knit this yourself when you found out I was coming to supper.”
Catherine giggles, shaking her head. “I love to knit. I always have some of my projects laying around. I thought it would make the perfect gift for you.”
“It sure does.”
A hand clamps on my shoulder, and I glance up to find Gerry Mancinkus looking down at me. He tosses his head away from the crowd and says, “I’ve got a rusty latch on the front of the barn I need to fix. Want to give me a hand?”
I scan everyone standing around in a circle to discuss wedding plans, inherently knowing I’ll have a better time fixing a rusty latch with Gerry than in here. Even as I suspect this might be an overprotective father moment warning me off from his daughter, it’s still preferable than talking about weddings.
“Sure thing.”
When Larkin notices me walking out of the living room with her dad, she shoots me a thumbs-up signal. She knows I can handle my own.
I follow him through the kitchen and out the back door. We trudge across the yard to an old barn that serves as nothing more than a gigantic storage shed from what I can see. In the distance, there’s a cattle barn as well as a few large overhangs under which farm equipment is parked.
To my surprise, there is a rusty latch that needs to be replaced. Inside the barn, Gerry actually has a bag from Home Depot with the replacement piece.
He doesn’t need my help, though, so I stand by as he uses a screwdriver to take off the rusted piece. He doesn’t wait long to strike up conversation, and the subject of it is exactly what I’d expected.
His daughter, Larkin.
“I don’t think I have to tell you that you need to be gentle with my daughter.”
“No, sir.”
Gerry glances up at me, then goes back to his work. “She’s the dreamer in the family. The romantic. Larkin’s a true small-town girl. Her soul is here, and you’re a clear wanderer. If this isn’t anything for the long term for you, you need to be clear with her about that. Keep her expectations realistic.”
Not what I expected. His words make sense, and he isn’t telling me anything I haven’t already figured out. Still, I can’t help but try to poke the bear a little bit. “I figured you got me out here to threaten to kill me if I hurt her.”
Gerry locks his eyes on mine. His face is hard and slightly scary. “Oh, I will kill you if you hurt her. But I figured you sort of just understood that and didn’t need me to remind you.”
I want to laugh but I know he is deadly serious about this. All I can do is assure him. “I won’t hurt her. You have my word. I’m well aware that despite how much I like her, respect her, and have come to care for her, we are vastly different people. I won’t ever lead her on. And you need to give your girl some credit. She actually understands all of this fine on her own.”
Gerry nods, then returns his attention to the latch. But he’s not do
ne dispensing advice. “I’m sure she does. But the heart wants what the heart wants, and when it starts making you want something you shouldn’t have, then it can make you stupid. Trust me… I know this. You and Larkin are nothing but a repeat of Catherine and me. She was never going to leave Whynot and her family, and I sure as hell wasn’t a farmer. I didn’t want to give up seeing the world.”
“Yet, you stayed here,” I point out the obvious. “Why is that?”
“Real simple,” he says without even giving me his attention. “She was more important to me than anything else in the world.”
And there it is.
I really like Larkin, but I’m not sure she could ever be that important.
Could she?
On the flip side, I’ve never experienced anything like her before. She’s like an exotic travel destination all unto herself, and I am completely immersed in getting to know every bit of her.
I’ll just have to see what happens, but Gerry can rest assured that I will never intentionally hurt her.
♦
“Hot chocolate with a shot of Bailey’s, just as you requested,” I say to Larkin as I enter her living room from the kitchen. I’m carrying the mug of spiked cocoa for her, along with a beer I’d found in the fridge. I have to think she bought it solely for me since she didn’t have any two days ago.
We came back to her place after supper at her parents, the deal being I’d make us hot chocolate and she’d find It’s a Wonderful Life on TV for us to watch. If it had been my choice, I’d have been happy carting her off to bed as soon as we arrived, but watching this movie is a personal tradition of hers since she’d reached adulthood and started living on her own. I was not about to deny her that. Frankly, now that I think about it, cuddling with her on the couch while we watch a movie sounds pretty damn nice too.
“Got the movie queued up and ready,” she replies as she settles into the middle of the couch. Her eyes are on me as I round it, holding the hot cup out to her. I then take the end farthest from the TV, push my back into the corner supported by two throw pillows, then motion for her to scoot into my side. She does so with a grin, wiggling a little to settle in.
“Ready?” she asks, holding the remote control in her free hand and pointing it at the TV.
“Not just yet,” I say as I set my beer on the side table near me. I lean a little farther over the side of the couch to grab something I’d set there earlier. Before we left to go to Larkin’s parents for Christmas supper, I’d gone back to Millie’s for a few things. I’d grabbed a shower and packed my duffel to bring back to Larkin’s, then I made sure to grab the present I’d bought for her in Raleigh yesterday. I had no clue if I’d even see her for the Christmas holiday, but I’d wanted to get her something.
I’d stashed it here when I’d returned, not bothering to explain the duffel bag I’d dropped in her bedroom. I assume she understood I’d be staying here with her and not at Millie’s for the duration of my stay in Whynot.
“Merry Christmas,” I say as I swing it over the couch so it comes into view.
Larkin shifts, her eyes widening when she sees the gift. I’d had it gift wrapped at the store with cheery red paper with fat Santas all over it, parceled in a white ribbon and bow. She leans forward and sets her cocoa on the coffee table, but she doesn’t make a move for the gift.
“You got me a present?” she asks in disbelief.
Giving it a little shake, I grin. “Sure did.”
She just stares at the box, nibbling at her lower lip in consternation.
“I’ve got it on good authority that women like gifts,” I tease her, and it causes her eyes to snap up and lock with mine.
“But I didn’t get you anything,” she murmurs guiltily.
“So?”
“So?” she replies incredulously. “So? That’s like the biggest breach of etiquette a Southern girl can have. To fail to get a gift for a momentous occasion, then it adds insult to injury when a gift is given to her without it being expected. It’s totally romantic and swoony, and I cannot reconcile these feelings of guilt and inadequacy with the overwhelming need to snatch that out of your hand to see what you so thoughtfully got me.”
“When you talk, sometimes you sure do like to shoot off at the mouth in long run-on sentences. It’s really cute.”
Lips pursing, she rolls her eyes. “Shut up and give me my gift.”
I hand over the box, which is square and about seven inches on each side. She unwraps it carefully, lifting the tape and preserving the paper. I never really understood that, but I suspect that’s her Southern gentility suppressing her need to rip with excitement.
“Just take the damn paper off, Larkin,” I growl. “Go crazy.”
Her eyes lift to mine, consider me for a moment, and then she gives me a lopsided grin. The paper starts shredding, and she’s yanking the top of the box off.
Inside is another box, much smaller and coated in navy-blue velvet. It’s got a jeweler’s logo on the outside, and any woman would know it holds something shiny and most likely expensive inside.
Larkin’s gaze comes back to mine for a moment, her chocolate eyes warm and filled with wonder.
I nod back down at the box. “Open it.”
She does, eyes going wide as she gasps. “Oh, Deacon… they’re beautiful.”
There’s no explaining what the tone in her voice does to me. I’ve never given jewelry to a woman before, but the humility and gratitude I hear within—as if she’s not worthy of such a thing—but laced with joy and excitement, is almost better than sex.
Almost.
The earrings are gold hoops with a crusting of small diamonds—little chips, really—on the outside curve. They didn’t dent my bank account as I’ve saved so much money over the years I could easily give her a new pair every day for the foreseeable future.
Which is something I’d gladly do for that look on her face right now.
It goes right along with the feeling I’ve been having that I’m not sure there isn’t much I wouldn’t do for her.
CHAPTER 18
Larkin
I use a piping bag filled with vanilla cream to fill horns that have come out of the oven and cooled. It’s slow for the day after Christmas, as most people are still in “holiday” mode, spending time at home with their families. But most businesses on the town square opened back up today.
With Mely and Lowe in town to run the day-to-day operations of Millie’s, all I need to worry about is providing the food for morning breakfast and the high teas. Currently, I have one of my longtime part-timers, Giselle Montford, in the back, working on today’s scones as well as a batch of lemon curd.
I chose to fill pastries as the rote work lets me daydream a bit, and my current favorite pastime when I’m not spending time with Deacon is to think about him.
After Christmas supper last night with my family, we went back to my house. There was no question he was staying the night as he’d brought his duffel from Millie’s. He made me cocoa and gave me diamond-and-gold earrings. He then cuddled on the couch with me. We’d watched It’s a Wonderful Life, and I fell asleep in his arms.
I have no clue what happened after that. When I woke up this morning in my bed, again in his arms, I was in one of his T-shirts. Vague memories hit me of him undressing me and then slipping the soft cotton that smelled just like him over my head.
Yes, I could daydream all day about waking up pressed against his naked chest. He was wearing his boxers down below and it sort of felt to me like we’d been together forever. Where I’d naturally wear one of his T-shirts to bed, him with his boxers, and we’d read the paper at the table, dressed the same way, while we sipped coffee.
Weird this was just the second morning I’d woken up with him, but the comfortability was solid. I didn’t care what my butt looked like, although, granted, a good chunk of it was covered when I slipped out of his embrace to pee.
The tinkling of bells permeates my thoughts, and I blink the sexy haze away to
find Penny walking in the front door. Giving me a hard look, I point to the little table in front of the window that seats two. “It’s time for you to take a break now, missy, and tell me everything.”
There’s enough emphasis on everything that I know she wants the juiciest of details.
I set my piping bag down, give my hands a quick rinse, and call over my shoulder to Giselle. She’s immersed in a huge metal bowl of scone batter.
“I’ve got a few minutes,” I say, coming out from behind the counter.
“Oh no you don’t,” she says as she points at the case. “I want a bear claw and coffee.”
It takes precious time to fulfill her request and ring her up, but once I’ve got her settled into her chair picking a toe off the claw, with a second cup of coffee for me, I tell her my story in as short a fashion as I can.
She knew about him rumbling into town weeks ago as I’d told her about my exciting encounter. I tell Penny pretty much everything that goes in my diary, so she is not without details.
But, oddly, I had not told her about him coming back to town, so she demands to know my reasoning. “Why am I just now finding out about this?”
“Well, he’s only been back a week, Penny,” I mutter.
“The minute he checked into the bed and breakfast, I should have been texted,” she huffs.
“Sorry,” I say with meaning. “It’s just… it didn’t seem real. I was afraid I’d jinx it if I even gave credence to how amazing he is.”
“I heard he handcuffed you to his bed,” she says with a tiny bit of bitterness to her voice. “That’s something the best friend should have been told about the minute he gave you freedom.”
My face flames. “That’s not exactly how it went down.”
Penny stares at me pointedly, chewing on her pastry.
Leaning across the table, I murmur, “I got curious. Found handcuffs while I was cleaning his room and tried them on. Then I got trapped in them and couldn’t get out.”
“Oh my gawd,” Penny guffaws, bear claw spraying across the table. She laughs as I use a napkin to wipe it up, and I wait for her to get herself under control.