“Why should you go first?” I can hear my words booming through the auditorium, but I don’t care. If I set aside my anger, then nothing is left but the hurt. And I won’t go there.
“You’re not being logical.”
“I have a right to stand up for what I believe whether it’s logical to you or not.”
“You’re just saying that because she’s a woman,” calls Angel from the front row. “You wouldn’t call a man illogical.”
“Let him talk,” a man calls out. “Find out what he has to say.”
“Yeah, let’s hear him.” The cries for hearing Garrett out come from all corners of the room. I even see Sam, looking sober and interested, watching from the front row.
I put my hands on my hips. “Fine. But when you finish, I’m going to tell you what I think.”
He smiles at me. Smiles. Not a smarmy, smirky smile. But the regular old everything’s-going-to-be-okay smile. The one I’ve trusted my whole life. “I’m counting on it.”
I take a deep breath and purse my lips. “Go ahead.”
Still carrying his chart or whatever, he walks up the steps behind us to the stage microphone. The other town council members turn their chairs toward him. I consider not moving, but as bad as I hate to admit it, I want to see his face.
He clears his throat. “As the paper reported. . .” He nods to Jack Feeney. “. . . a few months after I moved to California, I started a small online sporting goods business called Summer Valley Outdoors. After a couple of years, I was ready to find investors and open my first store.”
“Spare us the history lesson. . .” I mutter.
Uncle Gus glares my way, but Garrett ignores me.
“I’d heard that Jingle Bells was suffering after the distribution center left. Bringing the store here seemed like the perfect idea. But then one of my two investors had a market survey done, and as you know, it showed that if the town around the store was called Summer Valley, the store would be more popular.” He shrugs. “Something about a village feel. It wasn’t what I wanted, but I felt like it was the lesser of two evils for Jingle Bells. The other option being not putting the store here.”
A few murmurs come from the crowd. At least one, “Oh, no.” And a “Good option.” So they’re still split, but the yelling doesn’t resume. He definitely has control of his audience. Beneath my fury and the hurt, a twinge of pride lurks. He’s come a long way from humble beginnings. If only he hadn’t turned into a ratfink.
“However, last week, someone pointed out to me that Jingle Bells is more than just a name. Just like all of you, I’d read the sign. I knew it was the town where the spirit of Christmas lives in our hearts all year long. But I’d forgotten how the name came to be. How a little girl was lost, but an entire town banded together to find her, willing to sing a nonsensical song in the cold, all night long, if that’s what it took to do it. That same attitude is here today. You’re willing to do whatever it takes to help each other.”
He holds up his chart, or whatever it is, and removes a blank sheet of poster board from the front of it. He lifts up the remaining board for everyone to see. It’s a rough sketch of our welcome sign. Only it says, “Welcome to the Twin Cities—Jingle Bells and Summer Valley—Where the Spirit of Christmas Warms Our Hearts All Year Long.
Oh, boy. I remember what Woody Feezor told us at our first committee meeting when this idea came up. I raise my hand. “How is that going to help Jingle Bells? If you incorporate the area around the lake as the town of Summer Valley, we won’t get any of the taxes from the new business,” I say into the mike. People need to think this through before they get their hopes up.
“Good question,” Garrett says, beaming at me like I just congratulated him on his plan. “Normally that’s right. However, if the town council votes on it, Summer Valley can be an annex of Jingle Bells with all taxes and revenue to remain under Jingle Bells’ authority. Our investors are willing to agree with this, if your town council is.”
Oh. Well, then. Scott nudges me. “That would work.”
“Are you sure?” I whisper.
He nods.
Call me suspicious. I’m still looking for the catch. “Why didn’t you do this in the first place?”
He gives a self-deprecating laugh. “I don’t know. I guess I didn’t think of it until I was properly motivated.”
What does he mean? Is he getting some extra kickback? “What motivated you now?”
“You.”
Driven by anger and a sense of injustice, I’ve had no qualms about speaking out, but now that he’s talking to me personally and not the audience as a whole, I’m suddenly aware that we’re having a private conversation in front of half the town. “Me?” I squeak.
He nods. “I didn’t mean to ‘betray you.’ I’m sorry. In the beginning, the fact that I owned Summer Valley was going to be a surprise. A pleasant one, I thought. Then I realized how strongly you felt about the name change and I couldn’t figure out how to tell you. Will you forgive me?”
All the anger washes away like pollen after a spring rain. I can see how this whole crazy mess happened. If I’d listened to him earlier and not been so close-minded, maybe we wouldn’t be having a public showdown. “Yes.”
“Good.” Garrett sets the sign down and again turns his attention to the audience. “Since I was old enough to notice there was an opposite sex, I’ve loved one girl. Most of you know she’s led me on a merry chase. But I’ve let her get away twice because I was too slow to speak. I hope you’ll all forgive me for making a public spectacle of myself, but I don’t want to make the same mistake again.”
Still on the stage, he gets down on one knee.
In front of me.
I can’t breathe.
“Kristianna Harrington, whether we live in Jingle Bells or Timbuktu, I love you with all my heart. Will you marry me?”
I stare, mesmerized, at his twinkling green eyes. All I can do is nod.
“Now’s no time to go speechless, girl,” Dottie yells from the end of the table.
Uncle Gus sticks the mike in front of my face.
“Yes,” I croak.
Garrett jumps down off the stage and takes me in his arms. With no mistletoe above us, he seals our deal with a tender kiss that’s impossible to misunderstand.
The crowd goes wild.
Epilogue
In honor of my upcoming nuptials, I close the store at noon. As I flip over the “Closed” sign, I glance out at Jingle Bells. My town, safe and sound. I sit down with a hot cup of coffee and flip absently through a catalog. When I turn the last page, I glance around the shop. What will I do with the rest of the day? Maybe I’ll take Ami’s advice and have a short nap, followed by a nice long bubble bath.
As I head upstairs for some pre-wedding pampering, my phone rings. I snatch it from my pocket. “Hello.”
“Hi, Miss Bride-To-Be!” I’m not at all surprised to hear Ami’s voice on the other end. “How’s your wedding day so far?”
I grin at the excitement in her voice. “Silly. It’s just like any other day. You know we’re not making a big deal of it.”
“It doesn’t matter if you are just getting married in the preacher’s office. It’s still your wedding day. Is it okay if I bring lunch over? A girl has to eat, even a soon-to-be-married one.”
“How about in a couple of hours? I just ate a late breakfast. Soo. . .I’m heading upstairs for the power nap and bubble bath someone recommended.”
She giggles. “See you at two thirty or three.”
I don’t know if everyone showers after a bubble bath, but I do. Otherwise I feel like a soapy mess. I’m barely out of the shower and dressed when Ami knocks. “Come in.”
She pops in, sets a duffle bag down, and waves a takeout container from Buon Natale’s.
“Mmm. . .my favorite.”
She grins. “I know. It’s your day.”
While we’re eating, Garrett text messages me. We decided to go one step farther and not even talk to
each other today, but apparently he decided text messages are exempt. I’m glad.
I hit the Read button on my cell phone and frown.
“What’s wrong?” Ami asks.
“Something’s come up. The preacher isn’t going to be able to do the ceremony until eight.”
“Bummer. You’ll have to wait an extra hour to be united with your true love.” She puts on her best Billy Crystal voice. “Love. Twoo Love.”
I laugh and swat at her with my napkin. “You’ve watched Princess Bride too many times.”
She shakes her head. “Not possible.”
“Twoo. I mean true.”
When we finish eating, she grabs her duffle bag. “Since you guys decided you didn’t want to take the time to plan a real wedding, I wanted to do a few traditional things.” She begins pulling makeup and hair products from her bag.
I smile. “I love your enthusiasm. But you don’t have to feel sorry for me. Garrett wanted to wait and give me a big Christmas wedding.”
“I know,” Ami says. “And after you teased me about not being able to wait to marry Mark, you’re the one who wanted to elope.”
I shrug. “It’s amazing how being in love shifts priorities. I’d rather have today with Garrett, than a thousand Christmas weddings with someone else. We’ve waited long enough to be together. Simple is the name of the game today.”
“And that has nothing to do with you being scared to walk down the aisle, right?”
I motion with my finger across the left side of my chest. “Cross my heart.” No fear.
“I believe you.”
After I clean up from lunch, I give in and allow Ami to be my stylist for the day. She won’t let me look until she’s finished. Much later, she spins my desk chair around to let me see the results in the mirror.
I’m stunned. I look very bride-like. “Don’t you think this might be a little overboard for the preacher’s office?” I stick a finger in one of the cascading curls coming down from a not too “done” up-do. “It’s gorgeous, but I’m just going to be wearing my white Easter dress, nothing fancy.”
“Garrett will love it.” She grins at me in the mirror.
“He did say he liked my hair up when we went to the Peabody on Valentine’s.”
She’s too busy “making me up” to respond. She sweeps my cheek one last time with the blush brush. “Perfect. Now I’ve got to go get ready. You don’t want your witness wearing yoga pants and a ponytail, do you?”
She slips out the door, and while I’m trying to decide whether to keep the new look and take a chance on looking really foolish, I hear a knock downstairs. “We’re closed,” I mutter, but I go anyway.
I make it to the door and the teenage delivery boy who brought all the Summer Valley gifts is standing patiently waiting. I open the door and he holds out a beautifully wrapped box. I laugh out loud at the candy cane paper. I don’t even have to ask who this is from. He disappears quickly just like he always does.
I rush inside, tear open the paper, and lift the lid. What in the world? A gorgeous white wedding gown. In my size. With shoes to match. Again in my size. I open the card. Can’t wait to see you in this. Someone will pick you up at 7:30 sharp.
I look at the clock in disbelief. Forty-five minutes. I have forty-five minutes to get completely ready. My hair. Done. My makeup. Done. I murmur a prayer of thanks for Ami.
I slip the dress on, amazed. It looks exactly like something I would have picked out. But nothing like the two I sold on eBay. And it fits like it was made for me. The shoes are perfect and in the bottom of the box is a smaller box. A diamond and pearl necklace that will go beautifully with the earrings I already have.
A few minutes later, I feel like Cinderella as I turn in front of my full-length mirror. The up-do completes the look. Ami must have known about this surprise. I try to picture the look on Brother Tom’s face when I walk into his office looking like this. Can you say overdressed? But happy.
I make my way carefully down the stairs to wait for my ride. I’m turning out the lights, when I hear a jingling noise in the distance. At first I think I’m imagining it, but there it is again. Jingle, jingle. Curiosity nudges me out the door. My eyes widen as two beautiful white horses clip-clop to a stop. Behind them is a sleigh. Eighty degrees in the shade and I’m pretty sure there are wheels at the bottom, but it’s definitely a sleigh.
Tears edge the corners of my eyes. Garrett has given me a little piece of my dream Christmas wedding. And even though I was happy with wearing my Easter dress and driving to the preacher’s office, I love him for it.
“Miss Kristianna, you’ve never looked lovelier,” Sam says as he takes my hand and helps me into the carriage.
“Thank you, Sam. You look nice, too.” He looks sober and happy. Just one more thing to make the day perfect.
Once I’m seated, he slowly eases away from the curb. We’re going slow enough that my hair doesn’t blow. As we jingle our way through the streets, there are hardly any people out. Here I am, in a gorgeous dress, and a horse-drawn sleigh, and there’s no one to see, no one to wave to. Oh, well, they probably all ran to hide from the crazy woman on a sleigh ride in June.
I lean up. “Sam, the church is the other way.”
He just laughs. “Just sit tight and enjoy the ride.”
Before I can say anything else, he turns. The daylight is just beginning to fade away and I can see a glow coming from up ahead. From. . .the mayor’s house. As we get closer, I see them. Strings and strings of Christmas lights. We pull up in front of the beautiful mansion and my dad is waiting. In a tux. And Ami’s beside him. In a beautiful green bridesmaid dress, clutching two red rose bouquets.
I’ve died and gone to Christmas Wedding heaven.
I blink the tears away and allow Dad to help me out of the carriage. Ami smiles at me. “Welcome to your dream wedding.” She hugs me tightly and hands me the bigger bouquet.
I turn around and try to take it all in. Christmas lights on all the trees and candy canes all along the sidewalk leading up to the house. Everyone in town, it seems like, are in folding chairs on Uncle Gus’s lawn. I bet Mrs. Harding loves that. Behind the house, I can just make out the edge of a tent, all lit up. Even a reception.
Before I can say anything, the music begins to play. Ami starts slowly down the sidewalk toward the porch. The front door of the house opens and Brother Tom walks out, followed by Mark. Last, but certainly not least, comes Garrett. My precious, amazing Garrett.
“Are you ready?” Dad asks, holding out his arm.
The music changes to the “Wedding March” and everyone stands. I glance toward the front and there’s Mother. She’s clutching a tissue and she may try to claim it is, but I don’t believe she’s suffering from allergies. Garrett’s mom is standing by her, and even though I haven’t seen her in years, I can’t wait to hug her.
I tuck my hand in Dad’s arm and walk slowly down the aisle. But not too slowly. My knees aren’t shaking and I have no desire to run anywhere but forward.
Finally, we stop where Garrett waits.
“Who gives this woman to be married?”
“Her mother and I do,” Dad says proudly and places my hand in my groom’s. A drop of moisture hits my bare arm. Oh, no. Surely it’s not going to rain. I look up and gasp. It’s snowing. Garrett smiles at me. “It’s a snow machine,” he whispers. “Merry Christmas.”
I laugh as I gaze into his dancing eyes. Suddenly I remember that Christmas afternoon, sixteen years ago, on Snowy Mountain when a green-eyed boy gave me a pop-top ring and I gave him my heart. Who knew he’d never let it go?
ter: grayscale(100%); filter: grayscale(100%); " class="sharethis-inline-share-buttons">share
Forever Christmas Page 21
