Together for Christmas

by Debbie Macomber

  “Not bad,” he agreed, then fell silent as he chewed on his lower lip.

  “What is it?”

  “Let’s take a walk.” He stood and held out a hand to her.

  Foreboding settled on her heavily. This wasn’t a happy, romantic walk they were about to go on. She hesitated and he reached down, took her hand and gently towed her to her feet. Then he led her away from the fire.

  Five

  THEY WERE AWAY from the other people. They should have been about to kiss. Instead, Stephen drove his hands into his pants pockets.

  “What’s wrong?” Muriel asked, not wanting to hear the answer. Something was wrong. She’d known it all evening. Heck, she’d known it since she saw him at the parade. Yes, he’d smiled at her, but it hadn’t been a lover’s smile.

  “I’m leaving town.”

  She blinked. Proof was mounting up but she refused to see it. “For how long? When will you be back?”

  “I won’t. It’s time to move on.”

  “Move on?” she repeated. “Why don’t you want to stay?”

  He looked beyond the park, beyond the town, to the highway. “This isn’t working out.”

  “What’s not working out?” she persisted. “Us?” He couldn’t mean them.

  “Muriel, you know what I’m talking about. I saw the way your dad looked at me at the parade today.”

  So while she’d been smiling encouragement, her father had been sending a very different message. And to think she’d made breakfast for him.

  “He doesn’t approve of me. He’s never going to.”

  “And so you’re leaving? Just like that? You’re not even going to stay and fight for me?”

  “Look, it’s been great. You’re great. But I don’t want to be tied down,” Stephen said. “Life’s too short.”

  “I wouldn’t tie you down,” she protested. “I’ll go anywhere you want to go.”

  “Would you really, Muriel?”

  “Of course!”

  “Prove it. Get on my bike right now and ride out of town with me.”

  “N-now?” she stammered. Without even saying goodbye? That didn’t make sense.

  He shook his head. “That’s what I thought.”

  “You thought wrong!”

  He shook his head again. “No. I know you think you’d follow me anywhere. And maybe you would for a while, but you’d wind up wanting to come back here.”

  She ground her teeth in frustration. “I want to be with you, Stephen.”

  “This town is in your blood. It’s your life, the center of your world. You own a chocolate company for crying out loud.”

  “I don’t own it. My father owns it.”

  “You’ll run it. It’s your inheritance.”

  She didn’t want an inheritance. She wanted Stephen.

  “And a good one at that. You’re lucky, Muriel. You have a place where you belong, family and friends who love you. Don’t give that up on a whim.”

  “Do you think all you are to me is a whim? I’ll be packed in half an hour.”

  He closed his eyes. Then he kissed her. It wasn’t a kiss filled with promise. “Goodbye, Muriel,” he said and turned and started walking.

  She chased after him, catching his arm. “Stephen, don’t do this. We belong together.”

  “Ah, Muriel, you’re so naive. Everybody isn’t equal in America. I’m just a guy from the wrong side of the tracks and that’s all I’ll ever be to your dad.”

  “That’s not true,” she insisted, even though she knew it was.

  He gave a disbelieving grunt. “People judge you no matter what. Never mind that I put my ass on the line in ’Nam. You know what happened to me when I first came home? I was at the airport, still in my uniform, and some kid spat on me. I got rid of the uniform and grew my hair and people are still spitting on me. I’m gonna keep riding till I find someplace where they won’t.”

  “No one’s spitting on you here,” Muriel said. He had such a big chip on his shoulder he couldn’t see past it.

  “I don’t belong.”

  “Yes, you do. You belong with me!”

  His only response was to remove her hand from his arm. “I’m done,” he said, and walked away.

  Stephen had been right, Muriel thought bitterly. He was no hero. And he wasn’t the man of her dreams, either. That man wouldn’t give up, wouldn’t walk away. The dream was over. She stood for a moment, watching him, then buried her face in her hands and wept.

  * * *

  News spreads fast in a small town. By the sixth of July all her friends knew Stephen was gone. Her father had taken the car in to Swede’s for servicing, so he knew, too. She was grateful he didn’t say anything. Instead he gave her a hug and a kiss and told her he loved her before he left for the Sweet Dreams office.

  How sad that it was her father’s love that drove Stephen away. And how sad that the two most important men in her life had been such a huge disappointment to her. “What to Do When the Men in Your Life Disappoint You.” She wished she knew.

  Later that day, when she was working in the gift shop, Pat stepped inside.

  “Did you come to buy chocolate?” Muriel greeted her stiffly.

  Pat shrugged. “I’m looking for my friend. I think I’ve lost her, but I’m hoping...” She stopped and bit her lip. “Oh, Muriel, I’m sorry. I’m sorry he’s gone and I’m sorry we fought.”

  That was all it took to bring Muriel around the counter for a hug and a good cry.

  As they dried their tears, Pat said, “Fighting over Stephen was stupid.”

  Muriel nodded. “It was.”

  Pat stood there for a moment, running a hand along the counter. “You know, if you’d gotten engaged I’d have come to the wedding.”

  “Come to the wedding? You would’ve been a bridesmaid.”

  That made Pat cry all over again, which called for another hug. Finally she said, “Let’s never fight over a man again. Promise?”

  Muriel nodded. “Promise.”

  “Next time we’ll flip a coin, okay?”

  Muriel managed a smile. “Okay.” Would there ever be a next time? She thought she knew the answer to that, and it was all she could do not to start crying all over again.

  * * *

  Summer dragged on, hot and heavy, and Muriel slogged through it listlessly. Her friends tried to cheer her up. Pat and Olivia assured her on a regular basis that someone else would come along. Arnie brought her bouquets of mountain meadow flowers. Lenny wrote her a song about better times ahead that thoroughly depressed her. And she consoled herself with so much chocolate that she gained seven pounds.

  Her father took her out to dinner at Schwangau, the fancy new restaurant in town, and talked about things working out for the best. Meanwhile, she had her family and friends, and the company. He wanted her to work full-time in the office come September. She could start out as a receptionist.

  “This is all going to be yours someday,” he reminded her.

  She nodded.

  “This company will take care of you and your family long after I’m gone,” he continued.

  Before she could have a family, she had to have a man. She wiped at her teary eyes with a corner of her napkin.

  Her father reached across the table and laid a hand on her arm. “Honey, he wasn’t good enough for you. If he was, he would have stayed.”

  “Maybe he would’ve stayed if he thought he was welcome.”

  “No,” her father said adamantly. “If he’d really cared about you, he’d have stayed.”

  Deep down she knew he was right. Maybe Stephen had simply been looking for an excuse to leave.

  She’d finally had all she could take of well-meaning friends and fatherly advice. She slipped away on a Sunday afternoon and went for a walk. The walk led her to Lost Bride Trail.

&
nbsp; As she hiked she could hear the thunder of the falls. That poor, miserable bride. Her life hadn’t turned out as she planned, but at least she’d had a chance to be a bride. Muriel never would.

  “You have to stop this,” she told herself.

  All this wallowing in self-pity was becoming ridiculous. She was too young for her life to be over. She could still make something good of it. She’d learn more about her family’s business, and maybe, down the road, she’d marry Arnie and he could help her run Sweet Dreams. They could have a family.

  Little Arnies running everywhere.

  Maybe she’d stay single and hope her father lived until he was ninety.

  She was at the falls now. She stood in awe, watching the water plunge over the rocks. How many women had something as incredible as this practically in their backyards? And how many women had a chance to live in such a beautiful town with so many wonderful people? So she was alone. But she had family and friends to be alone with. And—What was that? She strained to see more clearly.

  A woman in a long, white dress darted under the cataract.

  Muriel blinked. All right, she was imagining things.

  But no, there was the woman again. A shiver ran down Muriel’s spine and she gasped. The lost bride! She dashed off the trail, moving toward the edge of Icicle Creek to get a closer look.

  Muriel had never been the most athletic girl in town. She still wasn’t. She tripped over a tree root and tumbled down the bank, oomphing her way right into the shallows of the creek. She staggered to her feet, muddy and wet, and stared up at the falls.

  All she saw was water.

  Wishful seeing, she told herself in disgust as she made her way back up the bank. There was no proposal in her future.

  She was never walking Lost Bride Trail again. Ever.

  * * *

  Labor Day weekend. It was the last hurrah for the grade school and high school kids, and the starting flag for many of the older ones. Pat would soon be attending Cascade Junior College and Olivia was looking into culinary school. Lenny was going to nearby Washington State University and Nils had been accepted at the University of Washington, where he wanted to study to become a pharmacist. Before leaving, though, he’d proposed to Hildy and she’d promised to wait for him. Hank Carp had gotten Stephie pregnant and they were getting married the following weekend. Even Arnie was moving on, bound for the University of Washington, like Nils, where he was planning on majoring in business.

  Muriel was staying put, working at Sweet Dreams. And she’d decided she was happy about that. Daddy had given her an assignment that she was truly enjoying—designing a logo for their growing company. And he’d promised to let her write the ad copy for their next catalog. It wouldn’t be quite as exciting as writing for Seventeen or Woman’s Day, but it would come close.

  Yes, she’d decided she was perfectly happy with where she was in life. After all, how many women had their very own chocolate factory?

  Still, as Friday wound down, she found herself looking out the office window at the Wenatchee River, thinking about her life and sighing. Something was missing.

  Make that someone.

  She shook her head. What was the point of revisiting that old dream? She needed to move on with her life. Maybe she’d take some evening classes at Cascade Junior College, try her hand at writing a novel. Or possibly submit some more magazine articles. “How to Survive a Breakup,” by Muriel Patrick, chocoholic. Except moping probably didn’t count as good advice.

  She was just locking up the gift shop when she heard the roar of a motorcycle coming down the street. She turned and saw a lean man in jeans and a black leather jacket with blond hair. Short blond hair? Still, there was no mistaking who it was.

  “Stephen!” She dropped her purse and ran to meet him, barely giving him time to stop and turn off his bike. “You’re back,” she said gleefully, stating the obvious. Then she grabbed his arms and kissed him, right there on the street for anyone passing by to see.

  “I’ve missed you,” he said.

  “Is that why you’re back?” This was too good to be true. Was he really here? She held on to his arms, sure he’d vanish if she let go.

  “Yeah, it is. I need you in my life.”

  “I’ll go away with you.”

  “No. You’d just be helping me run away from my own insecurities. Anyway, this is where you belong so this is where I need to be.” He smiled. “It’s where I want to be.”

  “Oh, Stephen!” she cried, and kissed him again.

  “Get your purse, then hop on back,” he said. “I’ll take you home. It’s time your dad and I had a talk.”

  * * *

  If her father was surprised to find Stephen in the living room, sipping lemonade with Muriel and Mother when he came home from work, he didn’t show it. “I see you’re back.”

  “Yes, sir, I am. I came to talk to you.”

  “Come on, Muriel,” Mother said, “let’s go see about dinner.”

  She didn’t want to see about dinner. She wanted to stay right here in the living room and supervise this all-important talk.

  “We’ll be fine,” Stephen assured her, and Mother nudged her out of the room. Daddy made it final by shutting the pocket door in her face.

  Happily, the phone rang. Her mother picked up the kitchen extension. “Oh, hello, Betty.”

  That was a gift. Mother would be talking to Mrs. Green for a good fifteen minutes. Muriel escaped and hurried down the hall, where she positioned herself by the pocket door. She pressed her ear to it.

  “I see you cut your hair,” Daddy was saying.

  Muriel had to stifle a groan. This wasn’t going well.

  “It’s easier to take care of when it’s short.”

  “Is that what you’re about, young man? Taking the easy way?”

  “If it was, I wouldn’t be here, sir. If it was, I’d have gone to Canada instead of ’Nam.”

  “You were in Vietnam?”

  “Yes.” The word came out curtly.

  “Well,” Daddy said slowly. “I had no idea. Did a tour in Korea myself. A man sees things.”

  “Yeah, he does.”

  “So, why are you back in town?”

  “I think you can figure that out, Mr. Patrick.”

  Muriel smiled.

  “You could’ve come to me the first time, you know,” Daddy said sternly.

  “I could have. But Muriel made it clear you didn’t want to meet me.”

  All that sneaking off to meet him, it had seemed like such a smart idea. Now she realized it had been immature and foolish and had done nothing to help the cause.

  “Did she?” Daddy said thoughtfully. “Well, she was right. You didn’t look like the kind of man I want for my daughter. And I’m still not convinced you are. What are your plans for the future?”

  “I’m not sure yet,” Stephen admitted. “But one thing I do know—Muriel’s the most important part of it.”

  It was all she could do not to open the door, fly into the room and throw herself into Stephen’s arms.

  “Look, I’m not a bum,” Stephen said, “and I want to marry your daughter.”

  “She’s too young,” Daddy told him.

  “I’ll wait until she’s old enough, then.”

  “And just what will you do while you’re waiting, ride around on that motorcycle of yours?”

  “I’ll do whatever I need to do—dig ditches, drive a delivery truck.”

  “And that’s how you plan to support my daughter?”

  Muriel knew that tone of voice. She pressed a fist to her mouth.

  “No. There are colleges nearby. I’ll go back to school on the G.I. bill.”

  Now all Muriel could hear was silence. She pressed her ear harder against the door.

  “Okay, son,” Daddy said at last. “Show me you mea
n business and then we’ll talk.”

  “No offense, sir, but I’m not waiting four years to date your daughter.”

  Good for you, Stephen. Good for us! Muriel smiled. She thought she heard her father chuckle.

  “Tell you what,” Daddy said. “You get a year of school under your belt. Go back to Swede’s or get a job in the grocery store. If you can hold down a job for a year and I hear good things about you, then maybe I can find a place for you at Sweet Dreams.”

  Muriel could hardly believe her ears. It was like the king promising a peasant part of his kingdom.

  “You’ve got a deal,” Stephen said.

  A moment later, her father called out, “You can come in now, Muriel. I know you’re out there listening.”

  How had he known? Who cared? She entered the room smiling and linked her arms through Stephen’s. “I told you that you were wrong about him, Daddy.”

  “Time will tell,” said her father.

  Six

  COME CHRISTMAS THAT YEAR, Muriel had an engagement ring.

  “It’s beautiful,” Pat said, when she’d stopped by to exchange gifts. “I’m so happy for you.” She handed over Muriel’s present. “I hope you’ll like this.”

  Muriel opened the box to find a photo album inside. “Someplace to put the pictures of you and Stephen.”

  It was a perfect present, and Muriel thanked her and hugged her. Then she pulled a small box out from under the Christmas tree. “And here’s yours.”

  Pat opened it and gasped in delight at the sight of the silver heart necklace. She picked it up and read what had been engraved on it. Best friends forever. “It’s perfect,” she said. “I love it!”

  “That’s us,” Muriel said. “Let’s never forget it, because friendship is the best gift a woman could ever get.”

  EPILOGUE

  “STEPHEN WOUND UP going to college, and after he graduated he went to work for my father,” Muriel said to the girls gathered around her. “A few months later we were married. Sweet Dreams turned out to be a perfect fit for my husband. He fell in love with the business, and he and my father actually became good friends. Eventually, Daddy retired and Stephen took over running the company. I helped out in the early days, but then I got busy running our home. And writing.