A Family For Christmas (Hearts In Georgia; Harmony Cove)

by Marian Wilson

  Grace looked down at the green dress she’d chosen. It was her absolute favorite, and she’d been afraid it was going to be a little too formal. Based on his looks alone, she was right on the money.

  “You look great, too,” she said, somewhat breathless.

  His grin widened. “Thank you. Well, what do you think? Are you ready to go?”

  “Of course,” Grace said.

  They walked over to the car, and Lysander opened her door her for her. She blushed even more deeply as she slid inside. When had Aaron ever opened her car door for her?

  Lysander hopped in the driver’s side, and they were off.

  “So, where are we headed?” Grace asked. She was trying to force herself to remember that it was only Lysander sitting beside her, and that she had nothing to be nervous about.

  He gave her a sidelong grin. “I hope you like Italian,” he said. “I’ve fixed up something special for us.”

  “Is that what that heavenly smell is in here?”

  He nodded. “Hopefully everything will still be warm when we get there.”

  “And where are we going?” Grace asked, enjoying this subtle flirting back and forth.

  “You’ll see when we get there,” he told her.

  They weren’t driving for long before Lysander slowed the car and turned down a small side road. Grace didn’t recognize where they were going, but she also knew it probably didn’t help that it was so dark.

  Her excitement was full to bursting when they came to a stop. All she could see was the moonlight reflecting off a large body of water. Lysander chuckled when he saw her face before getting out of the car. He came around, opened her door, and helped her out.

  It was a lake, surrounded by thick trees on every side. There was nothing around aside from a single cottage a short distance away. Grace could just make out a small dock on the water, along with what looked like a deck just above it. There was a dim, warm, flickering light in the distance.

  Lysander had gone to the trunk and pulled out a few insulated grocery bags. When he closed the trunk, he came to stand beside her. “You ready?”

  Grace just nodded and let him lead her over toward the lakeside. As they approached, she saw that there was a small table set up on the dock covered in a white tablecloth and a lantern in the middle of the table. It was set with fine china and crystal glasses. Beside the lantern, she could see a vase filled with pale pink roses. Her heart fluttered at the sight.

  Lysander offered his arm to her as they reached the dewy grass, not wanting her to slip. Her face burned when she touched him, feeling his muscles flex beneath her fingers while they walked along together. Once they reached the table, Lysander pulled out her chair for her and helped her to get comfortable. As soon as she was, he set about getting the food ready. He’d prepared a homemade Bolognese, garlic bread, and a positively decadent platter of chocolate covered strawberries. He set everything out on the table and took his seat across from Grace, and all she could do was stare at him.

  He grinned sheepishly at her. “I know it’s a lot, but… I just hope it isn’t too much.”

  She perked up. “Oh, no, this is wonderful!” she said. “No one’s ever done anything like this for me before.”

  Stop comparing Aaron to Lysander, she reprimanded herself. There is no way that Aaron could ever match up to Lysander. This is our first date, and it is more romantic than any date that Aaron ever took me on.

  Lysander far outshone Aaron. As soon as Grace made that realization, it was easy for her to push him aside in her mind and focus wholeheartedly on the man sitting in front of her.

  Lysander’s smile became warm and gentle. “Well, a woman as amazing as you deserves to be treated like this. You deserve to know that you are valued.”

  “Thank you,” she said, blushing, “for all of this. You really know what it takes to make a girl feel special.”

  He shook his head. “I only did what I thought was best,” he said. “Homemade food, a quiet place away from everything… I knew after everything that’s happened, you needed some space. And how much more space can we have than out underneath the moon?”

  Grace looked up and saw the bright moon hanging in the sky above, with stars twinkling all throughout the velvety darkness. “It’s absolutely beautiful…”

  “I know,” Lysander said. When she looked down at him, she realized that his eyes had been on her the whole time.

  The meal, which Grace insisted on sharing every few bites, was delicious. She had never enjoyed a dinner with someone else more than she enjoyed this one. After they were sated, they walked together to the end of the dock and stared out into the night. The crickets chirped along the edge of the lake, and a chorus of bullfrogs echoed off the water. There was a gentle rush of wind through the trees as Lysander’s hand just barely brushed against the back of hers.

  Her heart began to beat rapidly as she turned and looked up into his eyes. They were round and green, even in the darkness. She could see herself reflected in them, and for a brief moment, she shuddered beneath the anticipation of kissing him.

  Grace thought she might just throw caution to the wind and make the first move, but everything had been so absolutely perfect that night that she was terrified of ruining whatever it was that was blossoming between them.

  No. Not yet. She needed to be aware of how her heart had been broken the day before. She would, in reality, need time to heal. As much as her emotions swirled standing out there on that dock with Lysander, she knew it was wise to be patient.

  It was also in that moment that she realized without reservation that she wanted Lysander to be the one to help her put her heart back together.

  11

  “Thanks, Mrs. Bevans. I’ll be sure to give him a call when I get a chance,” Lysander said. He tried to force a pleasant tone, but after almost two hours on the phone with a woman who couldn’t help but repeat everything she’d said to him—three times, no less—he was about ready to call it quits early for the day. “Yes. Mhmm. Goodbye.”

  He hung up the phone and lay back in his chair, his head falling against the headrest. He spun in a lazy circle, staring up at the dull ceiling overhead. His ceiling fan spun round and round, lulling his mind into a serene state of blankness. It freed him from the burden that had been that phone call.

  Well, his mind wasn’t entirely blank. Since his date with Grace, Lysander had not been able to think of anything for very long before his thoughts inevitably drifted to her. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d had a more magical evening. Everything had been perfect; actually perfect. The food, the atmosphere… So many things could’ve gone wrong. The weather could have ruined his plans. The food could have been terrible. Worst of all, Grace could have been completely put off by his over-the-top romantic advances. He knew it had been a risk, especially so soon after her breakup with Aaron.

  But that hadn’t happened. If anything, he felt rather proud of himself. It was as if he had read her mind. He’d been riding on cloud nine ever since then. Things were certainly off to a good start.

  There was a knock on his office door, and he sighed. Time to get back to the real world, he told himself, even if someone else needs my undivided attention.

  He wasn’t sure if he’d have the energy to deal with another needy client. It was Friday, and it had been an excruciatingly long week. It probably didn’t help that Lysander had been hoping to run into Grace stopping by her parents’ every day. He felt like he was a schoolboy with a crush, even though he’d seen her twice that week already: once for coffee, and then out for ice cream with his kids.

  “Come in,” he said, sitting straighter in his chair and lifting his hot cup of tea toward him. He figured that he might need the extra caffeine to get through the last few hours of the day.

  To his immense surprise, a familiar face stepped into his office. Vibrant red hair was the first thing he saw. The honey brown eyes of Nora stared across the distance between them, and then her pretty face split into a sm
ile.

  “Nora,” Lysander said, his jaw falling open for a moment before he snapped it shut.

  “Lysander,” she said, looking around his office. “Or should I call you Mr. Wright while I’m here?”

  “No, that won’t be necessary,” he said, getting to his feet. “Well, what can I do for you?”

  “I’m sorry I just sort of showed up out of nowhere,” Nora apologized. “I’m sure you’re really busy and everything, but I had to talk to you without Grace being around.”

  Lysander’s chest tightened, and his eyes narrowed. “Why wouldn’t you want Grace to be around?”

  “Because I don’t want her to hear what I’m going to tell you,” she answered, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. Lysander adjusted his tie, and with a tight smile, he gestured to one of the chairs across from his desk.

  “Why don’t you take a seat and we can chat for a few minutes?”

  “Thanks!” she said brightly, plopping herself down in the chair. “You’ve got a pretty swanky set up here.”

  “My parents have been very kind to help me get some nice furnishings. First impressions mean a lot in my line of work,” Lysander said. “Can I offer you something to drink? A bottle of water? Maybe some tea?”

  “No, thanks.” Nora shook her head. “It won’t take me long to say what I need to.”

  Lysander’s stomach was twisting in knots as he resumed his seat across the desk from her. She met his gaze with a steady, unflinching stare. What in the world could she want to speak with him about while Grace was absent? That was either really good… or really bad.

  “So…” Lysander leaned on the desk and folded his hands like he would do when asking his children about things they were reluctant to talk to him about. “What’s this about?”

  “I wanted to talk to you about something personal,” Nora began, looking away. “Something that I probably should have said sooner.”

  With a jolt of fear, he wondered if maybe she’d somehow gotten the wrong impression of him from the beginning. She’d been very friendly to him at Grace’s family’s Christmas party. He thought she was just being the nosy friend, but was it possible that she was actually interested in him, too?

  “Nora…” Lysander shifted uncomfortably in his chair, straightening his tie again. “Look, I think you’re a very nice woman, and I have enjoyed getting to know you, but I should probably let you know that I am really quite interested in Grace, so I—”

  “Wait,” Nora interrupted, holding up a hand, her eyes narrowing. “Did you think I was interested in you?”

  Lysander was taken aback. He scratched his fingers across his jawline, picking at the edge of his beard. He let out a small, low laugh of embarrassment. “Well, don’t I feel like a fool for being so presumptuous?”

  Nora laughed, too, slapping her knee. “No, no, it’s okay! I guess I can see why you might think that, what with me wanting to meet you here and talk privately. But no, that’s not what I’m here to talk to you about. And as good-looking as I think you are, you just aren’t my type, and more than that, I could never do that to my best friend, you know?”

  Lysander was relieved, but still felt like an idiot for crossing that line. “My apologies,” he said. “I really meant no harm by it.”

  “No harm done,” Nora said with a warm smile.

  “All right, so what did you want to talk about then?” Lysander asked.

  Nora shrugged her shoulders. “I thought that was obvious. I wanted to talk about your relationship with Grace.”

  “Ah.” That uneasy pit in Lysander’s stomach lessened only slightly. “The infamous best friend conversation, I take it?”

  “Pretty much,” Nora said. “But I thought I should tell you some stuff about Grace that she would never say herself. Not because she wants to hide anything, nothing like that. It’s more that she doesn’t really know this about herself, or she’s just too good to admit it.”

  “Like what, exactly?” he asked. The little hairs on the back of his neck were standing up straight. None of this sounded encouraging. Nora sat back in her chair as comfortably as if she were in her own home.

  “Grace and I have been friends for a really long time. Like since we were kids,” she started. “Our families go way back together and all that jazz. But that’s not what’s important. I saw her get into that mess of a relationship with Aaron. From the beginning, I didn’t think he was right for her. He did nothing but go out with his friends and apologize time and time again for forgetting promises he’d made her. When they finally did go out, she clung to the few honorable things he did and based all of her affections on those things. He knew that she was too good for him, but he treated her like it was the other way around.”

  Nora folded her arms across her chest, and Lysander could see the anger building in the way that her eyes continued to narrow to slits.

  “They started three or four years ago,” she went on, “but I worried that he was seeing other girls on the side, even early on. Now looking at what he’s done with this woman at his office, my suspicions were confirmed. Maybe it was this girl that he was seeing all along. It doesn’t matter. What does matter is that my best friend got completely screwed over and got her heartbroken because she was unwilling to see the truth of who he was.”

  “Which was a scumbag,” Lysander added, rubbing his chin thoughtfully.

  “Exactly,” Nora said. “I think she thinks she loved him. She was not so much devastated as she was angry about what happened between the two of them. She never really talked about marriage with him. It was just something that was going on in her life. She may tell me that she cared, but I think it was more that she wanted to find that perfect love, except maybe she just didn’t really believe it existed. Now, though…”

  Lysander’s heart skipped as Nora’s face split into a smile.

  “I gotta tell you, Lysander,” she said, “Grace has been a totally different person since you took an interest in her. It’s like she’s finally finding herself. Able to stand on her own two feet. She’s confident, collected, and she’s happy. Happier than I’ve seen her in a really, really long time.”

  “Really?” Lysander asked, his heart starting to swell with excitement. He had no idea. “She’s changed me, too. I never thought I’d be able to find another woman that I cared about, someone that just captivated me the way that she does.”

  “So this brings me to why I’m really here,” Nora said, her gaze cooling as she looked at him. “Lysander, I like you. But Grace is my best friend. I can’t see her get hurt again. So I need to step in on her behalf and ask what your intentions are with her.”

  Lysander shifted in his chair. He was used to dealing with difficult topics with clients, but this was personal. It hit him in his core. Still, he met her gaze steadily. This was a woman who really cared about her friend and her friend’s wellbeing. He respected her decision to come down here on Grace’s behalf and speak with him. It took guts, and she didn’t seem intimidated by him in the least. In fact, he felt more intimidated by her than the other way around.

  “I can’t tell you exactly where things will go with us,” Lysander confessed. “But… I can tell you that I really am finding myself caring about Grace, and that unlike her last relationship, there will never be anyone that could come between us. Grace is precious. I know this. I was fortunate enough to meet her and to be given any of her time, especially since I didn’t exactly make the best first impression.” He scratched the back of his neck, looking down.

  “Good.” Nora jumped out of her chair.

  “That’s it?” Lysander demanded, following after her with his gaze.

  She nodded. “Yeah. Look, I can see that you care about her. And I really think you’re different than Aaron. In a good way. Majorly good way. I just needed you to know that if you do anything to hurt my best friend, you’ll have to answer to me. And I took three whole weeks of karate when I was eighteen.”

  The wink she directed at him made Lysa
nder grin. “I appreciate you taking the time to be so open with me about this. You’re a good friend.”

  Nora threw back her head and laughed. “Yeah, I am a good friend, aren’t I?”

  12

  “Now, all you need is to have a good grip on your spoon, and just swirl the back of it across the frosting,” Grace said, holding the sugar cookie in her hand. It was cut in the shape of a reindeer, and even though its legs had baked a little darker than she would have liked, it didn’t matter to Lily, who was watching her every move as she swiped the back of her plastic spoon slathered in green frosting across the treat with big, round eyes.

  “Like this?” asked George, who was sitting in one of the barstools on the other side of the kitchen island. He’d picked red frosting for his Santa cookie and was generously swiping streaks of it back and forth, covering more of his fingers and the palm of his hand.

  Grace laughed. “Maybe a little less frosting on that next one, all right?”

  George grinned up at her as he set his cookie down on the plate that her mother had provided for them to use.

  “How’s it coming in here?” asked her father, who’d just walked into the room.

  “Charlie, Charlie, look what I did!” George clamored down from the stool, trying his hardest not to get frosting everywhere. “I frosted Santa Claus!”

  “Well, lookie there,” her dad said, winking at her over the top of George’s head. “Santa is going to be mighty impressed with your decorating when he comes down the chimney this year.”

  “Santa’s never come down our chimney before,” Lily said, licking some of the green frosting from her fingers.

  “He hasn’t?” Grace’s father asked.

  George shook his head as he climbed back up onto the stool and grabbed another cookie. “We didn’t have a fireplace when we lived in Seattle.”