It was touching to witness it, and realize that Mary and Joseph were real people caught up in extraordinary events together.
When the play was over, Haley was lost in the crowd and in thought as she trailed behind the group to the bonfire. As everyone began to sing Christmas carols, all songs she loved, she couldn’t join in. Her heart wasn’t in it. The sadness that had been following her caught up with her.
She wanted to share her life with someone.
All she could think of was that Will wasn’t beside her. Did she really need time to figure out what she wanted out of life?
Because she was holding on to a silly grudge.
She slipped from the crowd and walked over to the Nativity scene. Christmas was almost here. The celebration of Jesus’ birth. A time of great joy.
A time of renewing, of remembering what was important.
She knew what was important, but could she trust herself? A tear slipped down her cheek and Haley brushed it away with the back of her hand. She looked hard into her heart and didn’t like what she saw. God had given her something that not everyone got to experience in their lifetime, and she’d selfishly thrown it away and blamed her problems on everyone but herself. She’d tossed everything aside without seeking His guidance and will in her life. And still, with all of His infinite love, He’d brought her back to Mule Hollow and given her a second chance—
“Haley.”
At the sound of her name on Will’s voice, she spun around. “Will.” Her heart and head began pounding out a duet.
“Haley, I have something to say.”
She took a step toward him, overwhelmed by the timing and the clarity that suddenly suffused her being. “I have something to say, too. I—where have you been?”
“Thinking. Praying. Coming to my senses.”
Haley took another quick step toward him. He looked so wonderful, obviously having dressed for the evening, though he had only just now shown up. “Me, too.”
“I know I promised to stay away from you. But I’ve come to tell you that I’m going to have to break my promise.”
Haley smiled. Her heart was about to bust out of her chest. He looked so serious. His brown eyes caught just a hint of the flames from the fire down the street. “You are?” she managed to say.
“Yes. I should have come for you before, when you ran. I shouldn’t have let you go. Not without a fight. Even though I thought I wasn’t what you wanted, I should have at least fought to keep you. No wonder you can’t forgive me.”
“I do forgive you. But only if you can forgive me.”
“What?”
Haley laughed and closed the gap between them in one stride, the chains of the past falling away. “We both messed up. And I was just standing here, thinking about how God has given us another chance to have a life together and because I had some puny little grudge I was going to let you get away from me because I couldn’t trust my feelings.”
Will frowned. “After the way I behaved that’s understandable. But…” He reached out and cupped her face in his hands and looked deep into her eyes. “But, I make this promise to you here and now, I let you down once. I didn’t put your wants and needs on the same level as mine and that will never happen again.”
“Will,” Haley murmured, reveling in the feel of his warm palms against her cheeks and the look of love in his eyes.
“I love you, Haley. I don’t want to waste another moment without you.”
Haley knew it was true. They’d both made mistakes and that they would work them out. Later. But right now, there was only one thing she wanted. “Will,” she said again.
“What?” he asked, looking so serious that Haley couldn’t help but smile.
“I love you, too,” she chuckled, then added, as the light brightened in his beautiful eyes, “now, could you put me out of my misery and kiss me please? I don’t want to waste another minute.”
His eyes crinkled at the edges as a smile bloomed across his face and lifted into his eyes. “You don’t have to ask me twice,” he murmured.
The low, husky sound of his words sent joy straight through Haley’s heart and she knew as long as she lived, she would never take this love for granted again.
“I love you, Haley Bell,” Will said, then he lowered his lips to hers and kissed her as though he meant it.
And this time Haley believed him.
Epilogue
“Are you ready?” Applegate asked, looking down at Haley, his expression grim, his nervousness surprising her. She smiled up at her sweet granddad, the commander of “Operation: Married by Christmas.” She loved it! Just the thought that he loved her enough to bring her and Will together again tickled her soul.
“Well, don’t just stand there,” Norma Sue hissed from where she and Esther Mae were hiding behind the door. They were her wedding planners, which was fitting since they, too, had been part of the covert operation to get her married.
“And don’t even think—” Esther Mae added, stepping in front of the church exit “—about coming back this way until it’s as Mrs. Will Sutton! ’Cause me and Norma might be in our sixties, but we’ll tackle you and hold you down this time.”
Haley chuckled. “Believe me, this time someone would have to drag me away from that altar,” she whispered with a wink. Then she looked up at Applegate and nodded.
She’d floated through Christmas on a cloud of happiness. Not taking anything for granted, she’d never felt so blessed in all of her life. But she’d known that the entire town worried as they helped her plan her wedding, knowing her history and that she might choose at any given moment to run. But minutes before as Adela had begun to play the “Wedding March,” Norma Sue and Esther Mae had pulled the doors of the chapel open, and she’d seen Will standing at the altar waiting for her, Haley had had no worries. This was it, her happily ever after.
The congregation of friendly faces turned to watch her, and Haley’s smile grew and her heart skipped with happiness as her granddad patted her hand. This was her family. The place she felt loved and safe. The place where she now knew all her dreams would come true.
Will was smiling as her gaze met his. She knew he was as ready as she was to begin their new life together.
“Let’s go, Grandpa. I’m ready. I’m so ready.”
Like a horse out of a starting gate, Applegate took off. Haley didn’t think that there had ever been a wedding march that had been as fast. Within seconds she was being handed over to Will, and if she hadn’t known better she’d have thought Applegate was trying to get rid of her. But one look into his wizened eyes told her that wasn’t the case.
Pastor Allen spoke the vows, and Haley and Will managed to make it through the service, though Haley found herself giggling as she said her vows. She couldn’t help it. She was feeling so joyful that she was bubbling inside. And Will, why he had tears in his eyes. Tears.
When the service ended, Pastor Allen said that Will could kiss the bride, and he did, and Haley just kept right on smiling….
She didn’t think she would ever stop.
ISBN: 978-1-4268-0743-5
OPERATION: MARRIED BY CHRISTMAS
Copyright © 2007 by Debra Clopton
All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or in part in any form by anyelectronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including xerography, photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, is forbidden without the written permission of the editorial office, Steeple Hill Books, 233 Broadway, New York, NY 10279 U.S.A.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental.
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