A Down-Home Country Christmas (11 page)

Her breath hitched in her chest as she took in the breadth of his shoulders and the air of authority he wore. She would try to remember him looking exactly this way when he had left for Atlanta and his new life there.

Pain and joy twisted together in her chest. This man had found her beautiful and desirable. He had wanted her enough to set aside his scruples for one glorious night. And she was going to lose him.

As he came closer, he saw her. She knew it because his expression transformed from cop to lover. She could see the blue of his eyes blaze brighter and his lips begin to soften into a smile. But he must have remembered their parting, and his face went back to cop as he nodded and added his grip to the backboard, before turning away toward the helicopter.

She and Kayleigh watched as Robbie directed the EMTs in loading the stretcher and strapping it down inside the chopper. Then he slammed the door shut and jogged back to open the pilot’s door. He lifted his hand in farewell before he leapt into the seat and the helicopter lifted and banked away in a maelstrom of wind and sound.

The way he’d looked at her for that tiny moment sent joy spinning through her. It would have to be enough for a lifetime.

“Mama!” Holly spun around at the sound of Brianna’s voice. She and Pete were trudging toward her with Noël plodding alongside them. Brianna handed Noël’s lead line to Pete and bolted toward Holly, running up and throwing her arms around her mother’s waist before bursting into tears.

Holly’s throat tightened and she pulled Brianna away just enough so she could kneel down to see her tear-stained face. “What is it, sweetie? What’s wrong?”

Brianna gulped on a sob. “I was so scared I was going to do something wrong and Mr. Boone would fall off Noël. But Noël was so good and did everything I asked her to.”

“You were perfect and so was Noël.” Holly pulled her daughter into a hug. She saw Kayleigh watching and reached out to pull her into the embrace. “So were you, Kayleigh. You were both such brave girls.”

As Kayleigh joined the hug, Holly lost her balance and they all tumbled into the snow in a heap. That started them laughing so hard they didn’t know if the tears on their faces were happy or sad or a little bit of both.

“I’m sorry, Pete.” Holly sat up and wiped her cheeks as the police officer patiently held the donkey. “I think we needed to blow off some tension, now that Grady’s safely on his way to the hospital.”

Pete offered his hand to pull her to her feet. “You don’t have to apologize for a thing. You and your girls just saved a man’s life.”

“All we did was help our friend.” Holly shivered and brushed at the snow clinging to her sweater.

“This must be your jacket, ma’am.” One of the EMTs approached from the ambulance, holding out the parka and scarf she’d wrapped around Grady. Holly thanked him and slipped into the jacket. He gave her a little salute. “That was good thinking, putting Mr. Boone on a donkey to get him out of the field. In a case like this, every second counts, so getting him to us for treatment more quickly was critical.”

He turned back to the ambulance, climbing in the passenger seat before it bounced away down the road.

“He’s right,” Pete said. “You all deserve a medal.”

Brianna gave the donkey’s neck a stroke. “Including Noël.”

“I know something Noël would like better than a medal,” Holly said. “There’s a bowl of apples on Mr. Boone’s kitchen table. I think he’d want Noël to have one as a reward, so why don’t you girls go get one and bring it to the barn?”

“Yes, ma’am.” Brianna and Kayleigh dashed away toward the house, their pink and purple boots flashing bright against the snow.

“Let’s take Noël back to her stall,” Holly said to Pete. As they walked through the barn door, Holly’s legs suddenly turned to rubber. “I think I need to sit down,” she said, stumbling over to a hay bale in the corner and collapsing onto it. She propped her elbows on her knees and dropped her head into her hands. All the emotions she’d been holding at bay so she could get Grady to safety came boiling up and her body began to shake.

“You okay?” Pete asked.

Holly nodded into her hands. “Just a delayed reaction. You go ahead with Noël.”

Fear for Grady’s life, terror of Noël’s hooves and teeth, joy at her passion for Robbie, pain at its imminent loss, pride in her daughters. The feelings swirled and grabbed and pounded at her chest, as the muscles in her legs and arms ached with fatigue and her damp sweater clung to her skin.

But she found something underneath the vortex, something solid and calm. It was her center, the foundation she thought she’d lost under Frank’s emotional battering. That was where she’d found the strength to overcome her fear of Noël, to haul Grady out of the cold snow, to hold him on the donkey’s back.

And there was more there, enough to find a way to love Robbie.

As her children came through the barn door with apples cupped in their small hands, she pushed herself off the hay bale and walked with them to the donkey’s stall. Pete had refilled the hay net and the water bucket, and Noël was munching contentedly once again.

Holly thought of her sister Claire who’d known what she wanted to do with her life from an early age and pursued it with a steely desire. Her sister had found a Thoroughbred for her whisper horse. And Julia’s fiery artistic temperament had matched her with a giant black stallion. But Holly wasn’t driven or flashy; she was simple and sturdy. That made Noël the perfect creature to help her understand herself. She’d been given a whisper donkey to show her strength came in small, unassuming packages, and that worked for her.

“Let’s go in.” Holly unlatched the door.

“But you told us—” Kayleigh stopped when Brianna made a shushing gesture.

“Noël would never hurt us,” Holly said. “She’s my whisper donkey.”

Brianna gave a little gasp. Holly looked down to find her daughter’s eyes shining.

“Let me cut those apples up so Noël can eat them more easily,” Pete said, pulling a pocket knife out of his back pocket.

The girls handed him their apples one at a time, and he handed them back neat slices.

Holly took a slice from Brianna and walked up to Noël. The donkey flicked her ears forward and stopped chewing on the hay. Holly flattened her hand palm up and laid the apple slice on top of it. Noël stretched out her neck and reached for the apple, pulling her lips back from her big square teeth. A flicker of nervousness dancing up Holly’s arm but she took another step closer, extending her hand to Noël. The donkey lipped up the fruit and crunched it between her teeth.

Holly wrapped her arms around Noël’s warm, furry neck and murmured in her ear, “Thank you for giving me back my strength.”

Even when Noël lifted her head and let out one of her eardrum-bashing brays, Holly didn’t let go.

Chapter 13

Holly stood at the kitchen sink, rinsing out the candy cane-patterned mug she’d just drunk her nighttime tea from. The girls were in bed, exhausted after the drama-filled day, and she was close to being asleep on her feet.

Robbie had called from the hospital to say that Grady’s loss of consciousness was probably due to a mild stroke. The farmer had also sprained his ankle when he fell. After some rehabilitation, the doctor was optimistic Grady would recover full speech and mobility. Relief had made Holly sag into a kitchen chair before she relayed the good news to Brianna and Kayleigh.

It had been both heaven and torture to have Robbie’s voice vibrating in her ear over the phone. Not that he’d referred to what was between them; he’d simply been considerate enough to put her mind to rest about Grady. It didn’t matter what his words were; it reminded her of having him whispering in her ear as they made love, telling her how beautiful and sexy she was.

Shaking her head, she turned the mug upside down and set it on the drying rack. She jumped when the doorbell rang. Frowning at the clock, which read 9:30, she dried her hands on the plaid dishtowel and wondered who would be calling at this hour. For a moment, she felt a quiver of nerves that it might be Frank, but the anxiety died as quickly as it had been born. She’d lost her fear of him today, too.

She went to the door and peeked through the sidelight. Standing on the front porch, his hands shoved into the pockets of his police jacket, was Robbie. He stood with his legs apart and his head lowered. The porch light glinted on his badge and the polished tips of his boots.

Every atom of her body leapt and yearned toward him, but his stance was tense and somber, sending a frisson of disquiet up her spine. Had Grady taken an unexpected turn for the worse?

She smoothed her palms on the side of her jeans and pulled the door open. “Hey, Robbie. Is everything all right with Grady?”

He raised his head and nodded. “Grady’s going to be fine.” He stared at her for a moment, almost as though he was trying to memorize her face. “Can I come in for a few minutes?”

“Sure.” She stepped back to let him pass. It felt awkward not to touch him, seeing as she’d explored every inch of his body the night before. “Would you like some pie or something warm to drink?”

“No, thanks. Are the girls asleep?” He glanced over her shoulder as though looking for them.

“Yes, they were exhausted. Come on in and sit down.” She led the way to the living room where the Christmas tree’s lights glowed in all their colors and three quilted stockings dangled from the greenery-laden mantel.

Robbie walked to the unlit fireplace. He stared into it for a long moment, then pivoted to look her in the eye. “I have to ask you something I have no right to.” She saw the muscles in his throat move as he swallowed.

“What is it?” She hated to see him look so unhappy.

“You saved Grady’s life today.”

Why would that make him miserable? “A lot of people pitched in,” she said. “Even Noël helped.”

“You’re an amazing woman. A beautiful woman.” He paced away a few steps before returning his gaze to her. “I realized something today.” He swallowed again. “I love you.”

His words seemed to spin inside her chest, throwing off sparkles of warmth. She wanted to leap into his arms, but he stood stiffly, as though this brought him no pleasure, so she held herself still. She opened her mouth to tell him she loved him right back but he held up his hand to stop her.

“I know what your answer will be, but I have to ask,” he said. “Would you come to Atlanta with me? As my wife?”

She’d often told him she couldn’t imagine leaving Sanctuary because all of her support was here. Her sister Claire, who had sold her most precious possession to give Holly the security of owning her home. Claire’s solid, steady husband Tim who had helped rescue Brianna and Kayleigh when Frank had kidnapped them. Paul Taggart, who had handled all the legal problems of her divorce with such kindness. Her fellow moms who had brought food and offered free babysitting in the grim days after Frank fled with all her money. In Atlanta there would be no safety net.

She looked at the man in front of her, his eyes holding all she wanted for her future. And she made the leap, knowing he would always be there to catch her.

“Yes!” she yelped. “Yes, I’ll marry you and go to Timbuktu if you want to.” She hurled herself at him, wanting to kiss him so badly it was a physical ache.

He caught her with a look of such disbelief that she laughed, giddy with the joy of knowing he loved her as much as she loved him.

“Are you sure?” he asked, even as his arms came around her like warm bands of steel. “I know how you feel about uprooting Brianna and Kayleigh after all they’ve been through.”

She thought of Brianna leading Noël through the snow, and Kayleigh sitting alone in Grady’s house while helicopters and ambulances roared past. Her daughters were strong women too. “They’ll love the adventure. We all will.”

He dropped his forehead onto her shoulder with a groan that sounded like it came from deep in his soul. “I didn’t dare to hope…I can’t believe…” She felt a shudder run through him before he lifted his head. The blue of his eyes seemed to glow. “If you said no to Atlanta, I was going to turn down the job. I couldn’t leave you.”

She slipped her arms inside his jacket and wrapped them around his waist. “I would never ask you to do that.”

“You’re an incredible woman,” he said.

“You know what incredible women really like?” She gave him her most flirtatious look.

His hold on her tightened so she was pressed against his body from chest to knee. “What’s that?”

“To be kissed.”

He bent his head and brought his lips close to hers. “Remember that imaginary hedge of mistletoe I mentioned last night?”

“Yes.”

“Make it a forest.” He pulled her in and kissed her as though he was never going to stop.

Chapter 14

“Mama, look at all the cars!” Kayleigh said from the back seat of the minivan.

“This is more than last year,” Brianna chimed in.

“A lot more,” Holly said, joining the line of vehicles being directed by a squad of policemen in yellow traffic vests waving flashing batons. “Look! They’ve cleared the field for people to park in.”

She followed Tim and Claire’s big SUV into the plowed cornfield across the highway from Grady Boone’s farm. Another policeman waved them into an empty space beside her sister’s car.

Brianna and Kayleigh tumbled out of the minivan, the silver threads in their knitted hats glinting in the constant stream of headlights. Holly was still zipping up her parka when Kayleigh raced up to the nearest police officer. “Is Captain Robbie here?”

“He’s the boss, so he’s most likely out on the highway,” the cop said. “But don’t go there without your parents.”

Holly recognized the young man. “Sam, where on earth did all these cars come from?”

Sam waved another minivan into a vacant spot. “Well, word kind of spread about a heroic little donkey and a special nativity scene.” He looked down at Brianna and Kayleigh. “I hear there’s some extra-good hot chocolate across the street.”

A little jab of guilt hit Holly. At the meeting to organize Christmas Eve refreshments, she’d offered to bring cookies or hot chocolate, but had been told by Bernie Weikle that she’d done enough for the nativity scene. She hadn’t known how to overrule the forceful Mrs. Weikle, so she’d come empty-handed.

Claire and Tim strolled up beside her. “Wow, the Christmas Eve nativity scene tradition just got a lot bigger,” Claire said, surveying the mass of cars and people. “Thank goodness, Captain Robbie is on top of things!”

Holly couldn’t quell the smile of pride that curved her lips, although her engagement to Robbie was still a secret between the two of them. She wanted to shout the news to the world but they had decided to give the news to Brianna and Kayleigh tomorrow evening as a sort of Christmas gift. Then they’d share it with family and friends. “I wonder how he knew all these people would show up.”

“Like any good cop, he has his sources,” Tim said.

Holly took the girls’ hands and their little group hurried along the frozen ground, stepping carefully over the stubs of cornstalks, to the gate onto the highway. Robbie’s best friend Pete was shepherding pedestrians across the road. “Merry Christmas Eve!” he greeted them.

“And the same to you,” Holly said, as the crowd surged across the asphalt. “Is Robbie here?”

Pete shook his head. “But he’ll be back. He had to pick up a package.”

“A package?”

“Or maybe he said a special delivery.” Pete grinned and went back to directing traffic. He gave her a little salute as she crossed the road, keeping a firm grip on her children’s small, mittened hands.

“I wish Mr. Boone was here,” Brianna said, her eyes wide as she took in the crowd stretched out along the highway.

A twinge of sadness hit her at her daughter’s words. She hated to think of Grady being in the hospital over Christmas. “Me too, sweetie. Mrs. Weikle has promised him a copy of the news video she’s going to shoot tonight, so at least he’ll get to see it.” She’d made Bernie promise to leave her out of the video though.

“Bri! Kayleigh! Merry Christmas Eve!” A group of little girls squealed as they caught sight of her daughters. “We saw the brave little donkey. She’s kind of small, but really cute. Come get hot chocolate with us!”

“We’re going to see the nativity scene first,” Holly said.

“Okay, Mrs. Snedegar. We’ll see you later.” The girls whirled off up Grady’s farm road to where the food trucks were parked. From somewhere in that same direction, the sound of
Away in a Manger
being sung by amateur but enthusiastic voices made her smile.

She let Tim and Claire go first since her giant brother-in-law easily cleared a path through the spectators. As she walked along the side of the road toward the field where a glow of light arched up against the clear, starry sky, friends and neighbors called out holiday greetings. She and her girls smiled and waved and kept walking.

Everywhere she looked, people were smiling and hugging and wishing each other a happy holiday. Despite the numbers, there was no jostling or shoving.

As they reached the nativity field, Tim found an empty spot along the fence and squeezed the two little girls in. He waved Holly into the space just behind them.

There, lit by floodlights that made the newly-painted figures glow brilliantly against the snow, was the restored nativity scene.

One of the neighboring farmers had volunteered to take care of Grady’s livestock while he was in the hospital. Evidently, the farmer had decided to add his own animals to the spectacle because there were several sheep, a goat, a horse, and a dog in a doghouse, in addition to Grady’s cow Flo and the chickens.

But in the place of honor, placidly munching her hay at a manger set up right beside the Virgin Mary, stood Noël, wearing her green-and-red plaid blanket and a big red bow around her neck.

“Noël looks so pretty,” Brianna said. “I wish we could go pet her.”

“We’ll bring her some Christmas carrots tomorrow,” Holly said.

As the person beside them moved away, Claire stepped up to the fence while Tim stood behind her with his arms wrapped around her waist. “It looks amazing, Holl,” she said. “Even better than before.”

“It does look nice,” Holly said, “but what’s even nicer is all these people brought together on Christmas Eve. That’s what I wanted to keep.”

The wail of a siren broke through the laughter and conversation of the crowd. Everyone turned to watch a police cruiser and an ambulance make their way through the police barricades to turn into the farm road.

“It’s Robbie,” Holly breathed, recognizing his car. Happiness surged through her in a warm wave, even as she wondered who had the misfortune to require the ambulance. Needing to get closer to her fiancé, she turned to Claire. “Would you mind taking Brianna and Kayleigh for a minute?”

“Of course not,” her sister said. “Go see what’s happening.”

Holly jogged past the onlookers until she reached the two parked vehicles. The back door of the ambulance was open and a wheelchair sat on the road beside it. Robbie stood by the wheelchair, his gaze on the medical technicians leaning into the emergency vehicle.

Holly walked up beside him, just barely stopping herself from taking his hand. “Is someone hurt?” she asked.

He didn’t feel any such constraint because he slipped his arm around her waist and pulled her against his side, looking down at her with such love in his face that she nearly gasped with the joy of it. “We brought Grady back to Sanctuary for Christmas. It didn’t seem right for everyone to be here without him, and the doc has arranged for all the medical care he needs in his house for the next two days. Grady was so happy, he practically jumped out of his hospital bed.”

The technicians emerged with a bundled-up Grady supported between them and helped him into the wheelchair. Holly knelt beside the farmer and kissed him gently on the cheek. “It’s so good to have you back. This is the best Christmas gift ever.”

“I had to make sure that young whippersnapper Purvis was taking good care of Noël and Flo.” Holly was relieved to hear that his speech was only slightly slurred.

“They look just fine,” she said. “And you’ve got quite a crowd tonight.”

Grady shook his head in wonder. “I wish Bess could see this. She’d be that chuffed.”

“Mr. Boone!” Brianna and Kayleigh ran up to the wheelchair with Claire and Tim following behind. “We wanted you to be back for Christmas.”

Grady’s face lit up. “And here I am.”

“Will you come to our house tomorrow for Christmas Day?” Kayleigh asked Grady. She looked up at Holly. “It’s okay to invite him, isn’t it?”

“It wouldn’t be Christmas without him.” Holly smiled up into Robbie’s eyes for a fleeting moment. “Captain Robbie will be with us too.”

“I don’t want to get in the way of your celebration,” Grady said, but his face told another tale.

Holly shook her head. “I think Noël would be disappointed if you didn’t come. She worked hard to get us all together.”

“Then I reckon I’ll join you, if the doc says yes,” the old farmer allowed.

“Okay, let’s get you over to see how the nativity scene looks,” Robbie said.

The wheelchair couldn’t roll over the snow-covered gravel but there was no lack of strong, willing arms to carry it to the smooth pavement of the highway. Robbie took Holly’s hand and drew her along with him as he signaled his officers to hold the traffic while Grady was wheeled along the edge of Route 60. Brianna and Kayleigh walked on either side of the farmer, occasionally waving to their friends, while the med tech stood aside to let Robbie take over pushing the farmer.

As their little procession trundled along, a low murmur began to ripple through the spectators who lined the fence. Someone started clapping, the gloved hands making a strange, muffled applause. Soon the sound rose from one end of the crowd to the other and people called out, “Thank you, Mr. Boone! Merry Christmas!” as he passed.

“Well, I’ll be doggoned,” Grady muttered.

As they came to a spot directly in front of the nativity scene, Robbie turned the wheelchair. Once again, helpers sprang forward to lift the chair over the snow and carry Grady to the fence. Brianna and Kayleigh stood on either side of the wheelchair, pointing out to the farmer which figures they’d painted.

Standing behind Grady and the girls, Robbie wrapped his arm around Holly’s waist and said, “This is one heck of a first Christmas together.”

Holly snuggled in closer to him. “And we’ll take all this love with us wherever we go.”