Mistletoe Bay

by Marcia Evanick

  “You have a bike,” yelled Tucker. “Ask for something else.”

  Her heart screamed in protest as her dream of a life with Coop faded. She turned and glanced at the bickering boys. Hope was hauling Tucker out from between the towering evergreens while Chase seemed to be inspecting every tree on the lot. Corey stuck his tongue out at Tucker as she slowly buried her face in her chilly hands and shook her head.

  She gave Coop the only advice she could. “Run.”

  Her dream not only faded. It had crashed and burned. The next sound she would hear over her breaking heart was Coop starting up the car and driving away. The man might think he was in love, but he wasn’t suicidal. She listened for the sound of the starting engine and peeling tires as he rushed from the parking lot.

  What she heard was a far cry from squealing tires. She peeked out through her fingers and dared to hope. What she saw sent her heart soaring. Cooper Armstrong stood there with his head thrown back, laughing like a fool.

  “Coop?” She slowly lowered her hands. The crazy man wasn’t running.

  Coop picked her up and swung her around in a circle.

  Her arms gripped his wide shoulders and she could read every emotion on his handsomely chiseled face. Coop had no intentions, of running.

  “My turn, my turn,” cried Corey as he hurried over to them. “I want a turn.”

  Coop slowly lowered her to the ground, gave her a wink, and reached for her son.

  The smile that had been plastered across her face slowly faded as she spotted Felicity and Sam standing at the entrance. Felicity had her arms crossed and was staring right at her. Her sister-in-law did not look happy.

  Dorothy dashed into the house to start the coffee for the adults and hot chocolate for the kids. The men were outside getting the trees out of the truck, and everyone was freezing. Oh, but what a wonderful time they’d all had.

  Eli had shocked Dorothy by pulling her into the shadows, while trying to find the perfect tree, and giving her a quick kiss. She had been too stunned to respond. By the time her senses came flying back in a rush, Eli had joined his daughters and declared that the tree they were holding upright was perfect.

  It hadn’t been perfect and just to teach the kiss-stealing sneak a lesson, she had taught his daughters how to pick out the proper tree. Eli had stood there grinning like a big ox while she explained how you had to make sure that the trunk was straight and that the tree was evenly filled out. She had even bent needles and shook the tree to test for dryness. The girls had been impressed and went searching for the perfect tree for their house.

  Eli had tried to drag her back into the shadows, and she might have gone too, if Tucker hadn’t jumped out from between a group of trees, growling like a maniac and nearly giving her heart failure.

  All the way home in the car, she watched Eli’s strong, capable hands on the wheel and wondered what they would feel like against her skin. What he would feel like in her bed. Wicked thoughts. Delightfully wicked thoughts. Eli Fischer might be six years younger than she, but the man was old enough to know what he wanted. He obviously wanted her.

  She was tired of arguing with him. Tired of running from her feelings.

  She tossed her coat on the back of a kitchen chair and got to work filling the coffeepot. If Eli ever tried to kiss her again, she’d make sure it was a real, proper kiss—one that would curl his toes and make him have these same crazy butterflies that were dancing in her stomach. She didn’t like being the only one walking around with them.

  She grabbed the milk out of the refrigerator as the men carried in the trees and once again the house was in total chaos. She couldn’t say she liked the chaos, but she was getting used to it. With the coffee flowing and the milk warming she went in search of the cookies she had baked this morning. Dreamsicles was the name of the cookie Eli had been raving about. They were orange-flavored cookies with white chips. She had never made cookies with Tang before, but she would be the first one to admit they tasted just like the ice cream bar Eli had been talking about.

  “Grandmom, can we have a cookie?” asked Corey as he sprinted into the room.

  “In a little while.” She loved spoiling her grandsons as much as she always did, but she was now making conscious decisions to cut back on too many goodies. Last night she had made them banana milkshakes using bananas and yogurt. Today, with the trees going up and little hands and feet frozen from being outside so long, they needed a celebration. A warm celebration. “Why don’t you go see if Coop or Eli need any help setting up the trees?”

  She was pawning off her grandson on the men, but she wanted to be alone to savor Eli’s kiss. She frowned as she opened the tin and started to arrange the cookies on a plate. It hadn’t been much of a kiss and there really wasn’t much to savor, but it had been their first.

  Dorothy shook her head at the absurdity of it all. She was acting like a teenager.

  Warm, strong arms snuck their way around her waist and swiped a cookie. “Awh, Dorothy, you made them for me?” Eli’s husky voice was low against her ear.

  She closed her eyes, felt his warmth against her back and breathed in the scent of his aftershave. Eli used Old Spice, and the scent of it had been driving her nuts for weeks. If anyone walked into the kitchen, they might think Eli was playing around and teasing her for a cookie. She knew better. “You can have just one.”

  “One what?” Eli whispered and moved a step closer.

  “Eli?” She watched as her fingers trembled against the ceramic platter shaped like a penguin.

  “No one is here but me and you, Dorothy.” Eli’s voice was still low as he turned her around in his arms. “See?”

  She glanced over his shoulder, but she couldn’t see anyone. They were alone—an amazing feat in this house. “We won’t be for long.”

  “True.” Eli brushed another fleeting kiss across her mouth. “I think it’s time for me to repay you for all those dinners you’ve been feeding me.”

  The kiss had been too quick, but the butterflies weren’t slow dancing any longer. They were doing the mambo. “You did repay me, and quite wonderfully. I love the dining room, Eli.”

  “That’s good, but I was thinking about dinner, say, Saturday night?” Eli’s fingertips traced her lower lip. “Please say yes, Dotty.”

  How could she not when Eli looked at her as if she was the most beautiful woman in the world. “Yes.”

  Eli lowered his head and kissed her. Really kissed her.

  This time she stretched up onto her toes, wrapped her arms around his neck, and kissed him back.

  Neither one of them saw Felicity standing in the kitchen doorway.

  Friday night in the Wright house, and Bing Crosby was on the CD player in the family room and the Grinch DVD played on the television in the living room. The trees needed to be decorated, and a light snow was falling outside.

  “I want to put that one up,” Tucker said to his older brother.

  “Pick another one.” Chase hung on to the plastic moose. “This one is mine.”

  “Boys, please be careful. Some of those are breakable.” Jenni stood on one side of the tree as Coop, who was up on a stepladder, tried to string the multicolored lights on the family room tree.

  “Dorothy, are these all the lights you have?” asked Eli, frowning at the two strings of white lights in his hands.

  Dorothy stepped around a box and smiled when she saw what Eli was holding. “So that’s where those were. I knew I saved two strings from last year. I was looking for them.”

  Eli glanced around the room and raised a brow. “And you couldn’t find them? Amazing.”

  She chuckled. A small elephant could be hiding in the family room and she doubted she would be able to find him. How did two women end up with so many holiday decorations? Between Jenni and herself, they had enough to deck out the White House and its fifty-foot tree in the front yard.

  “Somewhere in this mess, Eli, are five boxes of brand-new lights. I picked them up the other week.”r />
  “Can you give me a hint on what color the boxes are?” Eli shook his head. “What do you need these for if you bought new lights?” Eli examined the string of lights before handing them to her.

  “The boxes are green, but the bag they are in is white, I think.” How was she supposed to remember what color Krup’s General Store’s bags were? She had bought them almost two weeks ago, and she was having trouble remembering what she ate for lunch today. Life in the Wright house was happening at a breakneck speed. She was holding on for dear life and loving every minute of it. She had never felt so alive.

  Eli groaned. “White?”

  “I think.” She glanced over at Hope and Faith, who were sitting in the middle of the chaos oohing and ahhing over Dorothy’s collection of mercury glass ornaments. The girls were handling each like it was made of the finest crystal.

  Eli’s daughters were sweet, most of the time. Like normal kids they bickered about things, and Hope tended to wear too much makeup if Eli wasn’t paying close attention. The one thing she did know about his daughters, they craved a woman’s touch and she could barely keep them out of her kitchen.

  “Dorothy, could you help us at our house with our tree?” asked Faith. “Dad isn’t very good at decorating.”

  “Hey!” Eli looked insulted, but she could see the glint of amusement in his gaze.

  “Dad, face it, you’re hopeless when it comes to making a bow or wrapping the garland around the banisters.” Hope joined her sister in the teasing. “Last year, Dorothy, he went out and bought nothing but gift bags so he wouldn’t have to wrap one present.”

  She had to admit she was curious as to what Eli’s home looked like. The way the girls always complained about all the stuff around the house their father made them do, it had to be neat and orderly—obviously not decorated, but tidy. Maybe she would go and help the girls add some feminine touches to the holiday decor, if Eli didn’t mind. She might even teach the man how to make a proper bow.

  She placed the strings of lights to the side and started to search for the lights that had to go on the living room tree first. Jenni had won that argument with logic. Dorothy’s decorations would be going on the nine-foot tree taking up the entire corner of the living room. The boys were allowed to watch television in the living room, but they weren’t allowed to roughhouse in the room. Rolling around and acting like idiots was to be done outside and in the family room, since the weather didn’t cooperate at this time of the year.

  Jenni had said that chances were, some pillow or toy would land in one of the Christmas trees this holiday season. It would be better if it smacked into the one with mostly plastic ornaments and shatterproof balls. Dorothy couldn’t argue against such logic.

  “Grandmom,” asked Tucker, “can you fix this for me?” Her grandson handed her a tangled mess of red plastic beads.

  She glanced down at the string of beads and wondered how they could have gotten so tangled. “What happened to them?”

  “Corey did it.” Tucker gave her that innocent look that she had grown to know.

  She looked over at Corey, who was lying on the floor and keeping busy by lining up all the ornaments that could stand. He had quite a collection of Disney characters before him. Her gaze took in the room until she spotted Bojangles, trying to worm his way under the couch. It was an impossible fit, even if the mutt didn’t have red plastic beads tangled around his back legs. “Tucker, go save Bojangles, and then I’ll untangle the beads.”

  “Jen, are you sure all these bulbs were lit before I put them on the tree?” Coop asked. “I see at least one blue and one red out.”

  “Mom, can I hang this one now?” Chase asked, holding up a Santa.

  “I’m hungry,” Corey said as he sat Scooby-Doo, wearing a Santa hat, on top of a three-inch reindeer. “When do we eat?”

  “As soon as Sam gets here. He had basketball practice after school.” Eli popped his head up from behind a stack of boxes. “Found it!” Clutched in his hand was the white plastic bag containing five green boxes of Christmas lights.

  Dorothy smiled at the look on Eli’s face. The man sure looked proud of himself for finding one simple bag.

  A knock sounded on the front door, and Tucker sprinted to go answer it. She glanced down at Bojangles, who was still trying to work his way under the couch, and sighed. Poor baby. If she believed in reincarnation, she would have to wonder what he had done in a previous life to come back as the family pet to her grandsons. She made a mental note as she dropped to her knees to rescue the bejeweled mutt to put something extra special into his Christmas stocking. A big thick bone tied in a ribbon would do the trick.

  “Hi. You guys look busy.” Sam grinned as he looked around at the chaos and stepped over a box. “Where’s Felicity?”

  Dorothy glanced up and frowned. She had forgotten to call Felicity down to help decorate. She had been on the way to the stairs to yell up when Eli had sneaked a quick kiss. Felicity had slipped her mind.

  Jenni looked at Sam in confusion. “I thought she was with you at practice.”

  Dorothy jerked her head around and stared at Jenni. “What do you mean, you thought she was with Sam?”

  “Yeah, why would Felicity be at my basketball practice?”

  Jenni frowned. “Yesterday she asked if she could have this afternoon off work. Said something about helping decorate the gym with school-spirit banners for your upcoming games.”

  Sam looked at Dorothy. “Did she come home from school on the bus?”

  Dorothy shook her head as her heart sank. “I don’t know. I wasn’t here. I was food shopping, and then I picked up the boys from day care.” Why would her daughter lie to Jenni? “She must be upstairs in her room.”

  “You don’t know?” Sam sounded angry. “What kind of mother are you that you don’t know where your own daughter is?”

  “Enough!” snapped Eli as he reached down to help Dorothy back up onto her feet. “Apologize to Ms. Wright this instant. She didn’t deserve that crack. Felicity is seventeen, hardly the age where her mother has to be waiting for her every day to get off the school bus.”

  She reached out and laid her hand on Eli’s arm. She could feel the tension radiating in him. “No, Eli, Sam’s right. I should have at least checked on her when I got home with the boys.” She blinked back the tears threatening to overflow.

  “Sam, could you please do me a favor and go upstairs to see if Felicity would like to join the family and decorate the trees?”

  Sam still looked upset. “Fine.” He turned and stormed out of the room.

  She pushed a box of silver garland to the side, made room to sit, and then lowered herself to the couch. What kind of mother was she? What kind of family were they that they hadn’t even noticed that Felicity hadn’t joined them? She had been about to decorate the tree without her own daughter. Impossible—Felicity always helped her decorate the tree. It was a tradition.

  “Dorothy”—Eli squatted down in front of her—“it’s okay.”

  She glanced over at Jenni, who was pale and biting her lower lip. Jenni knew it wasn’t okay. Her daughter-in-law had tried to tell her something was up with Felicity, but she had chalked it up to teenage angst. The problem hadn’t been with Felicity, it had been with her mother.

  The boys, sensing something was wrong, hurried to their mother’s side. Corey reached for Coop’s hand.

  In the distance she could hear the pounding of Sam’s feet as he headed back downstairs. She could hear only one set of feet. Felicity wasn’t going to come down.

  Sam hurried into the room, clutching a piece of kiwi-colored paper. “She’s gone.”

  Dorothy stopped breathing.

  “What do you mean, gone?” Eli stood up.

  “She left a note wishing us all a merry Christmas.” Sam stepped forward and held out the paper to Dorothy.

  She couldn’t raise her hand to take it. If she didn’t read it, it wouldn’t be true.

  Jenni stepped forward and took the note. Jen
ni gave it a quick glance. “She doesn’t say where she went.”

  Corey started to cry. “Where’s Felicity? I want Felicity.”

  Coop scooped the boy into his arms. “Don’t worry, Corey, we’ll get her back.”

  Eli placed a hand on Dorothy’s shoulder offering comfort and support. “Sam, where do you think she would have gone? You know all her friends. Which ones would she go to?”

  “I don’t know.” Sam was pale and shaken. “She left a pile of presents on her bed. They’re all wrapped and there’s one for each of us.”

  Dorothy looked at Sam and saw the tears in his eyes. Sam really did care for her daughter, and all this time she’d kept trying to break them apart. She had kept trying to put some space between them. She put her face into her hands and started to cry. How was she going to get Felicity back if she didn’t know where she went? How was she ever going to make this better?

  Eli pulled her to her feet and wrapped his arms around her while she sobbed. “Shhh . . . Dorothy, we’ll find her. It will be okay.”

  “How, Dad? How are you going to make this okay? Don’t you get it, Felicity doesn’t feel like she is wanted here. She told me she felt invisible, that no one cared or paid any attention to her. How are you going to fix that, by dating her mother? Yeah, that’s going to help Felicity one hell of a lot.”

  She cried harder upon hearing Sam’s words.

  “Not now, Sam. We’ll figure out the how and the why after we have her home, safe and sound.”

  Eli cupped Dorothy’s chin and forced her gaze to meet his. “Do you have any idea where she would go?”

  She could see the worry on Eli’s face. He did care about her daughter. “Sam. She would have gone to Sam.” She glanced over at the young man, who looked crushed. “I’m sorry.”

  Sam nodded. “I’m going to check with all the kids she knows in school. Someone has to know something, or seen her. I’ll have my cell phone, call me if she shows up here first.” Sam turned and walked out of the room.

  Chase and Tucker now were crying too. Jenni was brushing away tears and trying to comfort the boys. Hope and Faith started to cry.