A Christmas Affair (19 page)

“No,” she choked out. “I swear.”

“And I should believe you because?”

Once again, Corona tried to erase the distance between them and reach out for him.

“Don’t,” he barked. “Don’t touch me. I don’t know you.” He choked on those last words. “I thought I did, but … “ Lyfe shook his head. “The woman I fell in love with would have never done something like this. Maybe … that was the problem all along. You were never the woman, or the girl, I thought you were.” He turned. “I got to get out of here.”

When he reached the door, Melody called out, “Wait!”

He froze.

Melody pushed past her mother to come up behind him. “I … I’d really like to get to know you.”

Slowly, he pivoted around and exposed his own tears. “I’d like that very much.” He reached into his jacket and pulled out a business card. “Call me. We’ll talk and arrange something.”

Melody smiled as she clutched the business card. “Thanks.”

He nodded and, without sparing Corona another glance, he raced out of the door.

“I
believe that this belongs to you,” Corona said, slipping off her ring and sliding it across her dining room table.

Rowan gave her an awkward smile. “Maybe you should keep it.”

“What? So I can have something to remember you by?” she asked with her own smile. “That’s all right. In the end, everything worked out for the best between us.”

He nodded. “Are you going to call him?”

She’d confessed about her and Lyfe and what she’d been doing since he was off cavorting with Danica Foxx. She figured his interest in her and Lyfe was helping him with whatever guilt he still felt for his impromptu marriage.

“Call him and tell him what? That everything he said was right?”

“That’s a start.”

She shook her head. “I don’t know. Right now I think I’m the last person he wants to see. But … I guess I should be grateful that whatever transpired between us isn’t preventing him and Melody from developing a relationship. He wants her to go to Georgia for Christmas next week and meet her other family. She’s practically bouncing off the walls with excitement.”

Rowan reached a hand across the table. “I really do hope that everything works out for you.”

Despite promising herself that she wasn’t going to spend another day crying her eyes out, tears started to gather in rebellion.

“Well, I guess I better go,” he said, standing up from the table.

She stood as well and then walked him to the door. “Good luck, Rowan.” She leaned over and brushed a kiss against the side of his face. “I really do wish you and Danica the best.”

“Thanks. I wish the best for you and your true love, as well.”

Christmas was suddenly barreling toward Corona at warp speed. And before she knew it, it was time for her and Melody to pack for Georgia. She figured that, while Melody was getting acquainted with the Altons, she would spend Christmas at her parents’. A first in fourteen years.

They took an early morning flight then rented a car for the drive to Thomason.

Melody was over the moon. “Five uncles,” she kept saying and shaking her head. “I hope that I’ll be able to keep their names straight.”

“If they’re anything like I remember, you won’t
have any problem distinguishing them for one another. Though they all are quite the pranksters.”

“You mean like how they stole you and Dad’s clothes when you went skinny dipping together?” Melody asked, chuckling.

Corona’s ears burned with embarrassment. “I still can’t believe you read my diaries.”

“Aw. C’mon, Mom. I think it’s kind of cool that you used to do stuff like that.”

“Yeah. Well … don’t let me hear about you doing that crazy stuff.” She frowned.

Melody laughed. “You look like Grandpa Rufus when you make faces like that.”

That was reassuring. She was turning into her parents. When she pulled their rental car into the Alton’s driveway, she couldn’t help but be transported back to the days when she spent as much time at this house as she had at her own.

“Okay, ‘bye, Mom.” Melody leaned over and pressed a kiss against her cheek and then hopped out of the car.

“You be good,” she shouted, a second before the passenger door was slammed in her face. Nervously, she watched as her daughter raced up the wraparound porch to knock on the door.

A second later, it opened, and Lyfe stepped out in an over-the-top Christmas sweater with a yellow labrador barking at his heels. He quickly enveloped his daughter into his strong arms while a look of sheer delight covered his face. The sight of them together caused a new ocean of tears to gather at the back of Corona’s eyes. She had been so wrong to keep the two of them apart. So very wrong.

Lyfe glanced over to the car and, for one brief second,
their eyes connected. The smile that he’d shared with his daughter faded at its edges, as hurt flickered in his eyes. Then just as quickly, he glanced away and escorted his daughter into the house, where she could meet her new family.

“Corona?” Tess inquired, dipping her head into her sister’s old bedroom. “Are you all right?”

Corona glanced up and closed her diary. “Yeah. I’m fine.”

Tess lingered at the door as if afraid to cross the threshold. “I’m so sorry,” she said. “This is all my fault. I thought that if … I got you two together, that everything would work itself out. I figured that as crazy as Lyfe was about you that—”

“It wouldn’t matter that I kept him from his daughter?”

Tess dropped her head. “Given how he’s always felt about you … yeah, I really did. It just didn’t go down like I planned.”

“Things rarely do.” Corona chugged in a deep breath. “But … if you hadn’t put your nose where it didn’t belong, I guess I would’ve put off telling Melody about her father until she was eighteen. That probably would’ve been an even bigger mistake.”

“Soooo … does that mean that I’m forgiven?”

A small smile flickered at the corners of her lips. “Yeah. I guess so.”

Tess bolted into the room and gave her sister a much needed big hug. But when she pulled away, she went right back to her old ways. “You know, there’s still a chance that Lyfe may calm down and talk to you.”

Corona Mae shook her head. “No. It’s over,” she said, remembering his face that afternoon. “He’ll never forgive me for this one.”

An hour later, Corona Mae sat swinging on her parent’s porch swing, looking up at the blanket of stars while Christmas music still played inside. Every memory she’d ever shared with Lyfe in this small town scrolled through her head. It didn’t seem so oppressive now that
she’d lived in the big city. She sort of enjoyed how much slower and calmer life was out here.

Despite her being the talk of the town, everyone was still pleasant when they saw her—and most told her how beautiful her daughter was. She guessed that meant Lyfe was out showing her off like a proud father.

“Looks like you sprung a leak,” her father said, stepping out onto the porch.

Corona Mae mopped at her eyes. “Hey, Daddy.”

“Hey.” He slid his hands into his pockets and then joined her on the swing. “I would ask how you’re holding up, but after watching you trip over your bottom lip all day, I think I get the picture.”

She smiled.

“You know, uh, I never got the chance to apologize for uhm … “ He searched for the right words. “Well, I guess for ruining your life.”

“What?” She twisted toward him.

He shrugged. “None of this would’ve happened if I hadn’t overreacted when I saw you … in there … back then.”

“Oh, Daddy. You didn’t ruin my life.”

“Didn’t I? If it wasn’t for me, then you would’ve never ran away from home, never had to try and raise that child on your own … who knows? In all likelihood, you and Lyfe would’ve gotten together in your own time.” His eyes started glistening. “And if I wasn’t so stubborn, I would’ve apologized long before now.”

She reached over and took his hand. “It’s all right, Daddy. Turns out that I overreacted too when I ran away.”

“Does that mean that I’m forgiven?”

“Yes. Yes. A thousand times, yes. I love you, Daddy. I know that you only did what you thought was right.”

“Thank you, baby. I really needed to hear that.” He inched closer. “You have to forgive yourself as well.”

Corona lowered her eyes. “I don’t know if I deserve it.”

“None of us deserves it, baby girl. But we all need it. I know it may surprise you to hear me say this, but Lyfe is a good man. And he would be so lucky to have you.”

She shook her head. “He doesn’t love me anymore.”

“Nonsense. When a man loves a woman for as long as he has loved you, it will take a hell of a lot more than this to change it. He’s just hurt right now. Go to him.”

The tears started rolling faster again. “B-but he won’t listen to me.”

“Then we’ll have to figure out a way to make him listen.”

“I love you, Daddy.”

“I love you too, baby girl.”

She smiled and then launched herself into his arms. They held each other and cried.

Bright and early on Christmas morning, Corona Mae opened her eyes and immediately wondered how Melody was enjoying herself over at the Alton’s house. No doubt that she would be smothered with Christmas gifts, which would probably take a week to pack and ship back to New York. For most of Christmas Eve, her daughter had texted photos of her and her new family. It looked as if half of Georgia had come down to see her.

“I’m happy for her,” she whispered up to the ceiling.

“Rise and shine,” Tess said, bursting into her room like she used to do when they were younger.

“Don’t you know how to knock?” Corona groaned.

Tess turned back around and knocked on the open door. “Better?”

“Whatever.” Corona rolled her eyes, picked up a pillow and then buried her head underneath it.

“Nah, huh. None of that. Time to get up. Time for presents.”

Corona groaned.

Tess placed her hands on her waist. “How on earth do you run a big agency when I can’t even get you out of bed?”

She lifted the pillow. “I’m on vacation!”

“No. You’re working my nerves.” She grabbed the pillow and tossed it across the room. “Now get up! Everybody is waiting.”

“Not everybody. Melody isn’t here.”

“Melody is downstairs.”

“What?” Corona finally jumped out of bed. “She’s here? Is something wrong? What happened?” She didn’t even wait for an answer before she shot out of her bedroom and raced downstairs. Sure enough, Melody was laughing in the kitchen with her grandma.

“Melody, baby. What are you doing here?” She grabbed her and wrenched her into a tight hug. “Oh, I’ve missed you so much.”

“It’s only been two days, Mom.” She laughed.

“But why are you here?”

“We always spend Christmas together,” Melody said. “I don’t see why today has to be any different.”

“Oh.” Corona’s squeezed her tighter, feeling her heart explode with love.

“Momma, I can’t breathe.”

“Ah, sorry.” She released her but continued to give her a weepy puppy dog look.

“All right now. Y’all gonna have me crying in these pancakes. Go on now. Get out of my kitchen with all that carrying on.”

“It’s okay, Momma. We’re going to stop crying now.”

“Uh-huh,” she said with a smile.

“So.” Corona turned back to Melody. “How did you get over here?”

“Grandpa Rufus came and got me. Then he and my uncles helped load up your Christmas present in his truck.”

“My Christmas present?”

“Yeah. It’s downstairs in the basement.”

“The basement?” She glanced over at her mother, who quickly returned her attention to her skillet. Corona turned toward Tess, but she was suddenly interested in the paint on the ceiling. “All right. I’ll bite. I’ll go look.” She marched out of the kitchen with Melody following closely behind.

She slowly descended the staircase, bracing herself for the unexpected. However, nothing in the world could’ve prepared her for seeing Lyfe strapped down and tied to a chair.

“Oh, my God, what is going on?”

Royce, Hennessey, Dorian, Ace and Jacob all glanced up from their handiwork while her father lowered his shotgun.

“Morning, sweetheart,” her father said. “You’re up early.”

“Hmmmp, hmmpft,” Lyfe mumbled beneath his gag.

“You kidnapped him?” she asked, astonished.

“Well,” her father said, adjusting the bill on his cap.

“The way we figured, you two were going to waste an awful lot of time being mad at each other. So me and the Alton boys here thought that we’d just speed up the process so you two can talk.”

“Yeah,” Hennessey said. “Lil man here was working our nerves with his bottom lip hanging out these past few days. We all know that you love each other, so y’all are going to stay down here until you work this thing out.”

Corona shook her head while still trying to process it all. “Y’all can’t do this.”

They looked at each other. “Sure we can.”

“And we got something for you, too.” Ace held up some rope and then launched toward her.