Lakeshore Chronicles [10] Candlelight Christmas

by Susan Wiggs

  Darcy’s breath caught. She thought about the past year. She and Logan had grown closer and closer, and she hoped with all her heart that they were about to take the next step together. At the moment, his face was unreadable.

  They put on parkas and snowshoes and walked out into the woods together. It was a quiet, snowy morning, the air still, the birch trees and evergreens motionless. To Darcy it felt as if the world was holding its breath. They went to the clearing where they’d decorated the tall evergreen tree, both last year and this.

  Logan took a flat, oblong package from his pocket. “I actually bought this last year, on Christmas Eve. I knew then, Darcy. I knew I wanted to be with you forever, but we were so new. I wanted you to feel ready. You were still hurting. I didn’t want to scare you.”

  “I don’t hurt anymore and I’m not scared,” she said. “How’s that for a big change?”

  He placed the box in her hands. It wasn’t a ring box.

  She hated the fact that it wasn’t a ring box. It was covered in thick, glossy gold paper and tied with a bright golden bow.

  “Go ahead,” he said. “Open it.”

  She took off her mittens and removed the paper, then peeked into the slender black box. “A charm bracelet.” She smiled, but it felt bittersweet, because her expectations had painted a different scenario. “You got me a charm bracelet.” She lifted the silver chain from the box. It was pretty, catching glints of light.

  “Check it out,” he said. “The first charm is the Camp Kioga flag, because that’s where I met you for the first time. Got it from the gift shop there.”

  “I yelled at India for trying to fix us up.”

  “I think I did, too,” he admitted. “Now I can’t thank her enough. Okay, the next two. A surfboard and a dolphin.”

  “Our Florida Thanksgiving.”

  “Our first kiss. I was so hot for you I couldn’t see straight.”

  “Yeah?” she teased, liking the bracelet more and more, even though it wasn’t what she expected. “I guess you couldn’t see the screen on your phone, because you never called. You never wrote...”

  “Hey. I made up for it. Here’s the snowshoe charm for last Christmas. The heart—that’s Valentine’s Day, of course.”

  “We were in New York, taking Maya to lunch to celebrate her release. I loved that day, Logan.”

  There were charms to mark the milestones through the year—a seashell for the first time she’d taken him to Cupsogue and introduced him to her family, and a tiny lighthouse for the weekend they’d spent in Montauk, where the O’Donnells lived. A maple leaf for their fall weekend in Canada, and a pinecone from Mohonk Mountain House, where he’d taken her for her birthday.

  “It’s very romantic,” she said. “You’re very romantic.”

  “Because you’re very inspiring.”

  The last charm was a pickle. “It’s a tiny silver pickle,” she said stupidly. “Who knew there was such a thing?”

  “I had no idea, until you explained it to me last year.”

  “So the pickle is to commemorate this Christmas?”

  “Yep. It means you win the pickle prize.”

  “Isn’t this bracelet the pickle prize?”

  “Nope. This is.” He opened his hand and, in one smooth motion, slipped a diamond ring on her finger.

  Her jaw dropped, even as her heart soared. “Logan...”

  “I want forever with you. I’m going to love you until the end of time. Darcy, will you marry me?”

  She threw her arms around him, burying her face in his parka. The inevitable tears came, but she was laughing, too. “Oh my gosh. Yes, of course yes. A thousand yeses wouldn’t be enough.”

  There was a sweetness to their kiss that felt brand-new, like something she’d never tasted before. “You had me going,” she murmured against his soft mouth. “You made me think I was getting a silver bracelet for Christmas.”

  “Instead, you get me. And Charlie. And Taffy.”

  “And forever,” she said. “You’re my forever person. Ah, Logan. I’m so happy. I was just thinking this morning, I’ve never felt this kind of happiness. It’s amazing. You’re amazing.”

  He kissed her lips, and then her hand with the ring on it. “Hold still,” he said. “I’ll put the bracelet on you.”

  She admired the collection of charms, a chronicle of their year together. “Let’s go back and tell everyone. And I still haven’t given you your gift.”

  He leaned over and gave her a kiss, and whispered in her ear, “I haven’t opened a single present, but I already have everything I want.”

  * * * * *

  Keep reading for an excerpt from RETURN TO WILLOW LAKE by Susan Wiggs.

  “Wiggs paints the details of human relationships with the finesse of a master.”—Jodi Picoult

  If you loved Candlelight Christmas, don't miss the rest of the titles in the Lakeshore Chronicles series by #1 New York Times bestselling author Susan Wiggs. Available wherever ebooks are sold!

  Summer at Willow Lake

  The Winter Lodge

  Dockside

  Snowfall at Willow Lake

  Fireside

  Lakeshore Christmas

  The Summer Hideaway

  Marrying Daisy Bellamy

  Return to Willow Lake

  Be sure to also catch Susan's The Apple Orchard—a novel of sisters, friendship and the invisible bonds of history that are woven like a spell around us.

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  Chapter One

  Moments before the wedding was to begin, Sonnet Romano shuddered with a wave of nervousness. “Mom,” she said, hurrying over to the window, which framed a view of Willow Lake, “what if I screw up?”

  Her mother turned from the window. The late afternoon light shrouded Nina Bellamy’s slender form, and for a moment she appeared ethereal and as young as Sonnet herself. Nina looked fantastic in her autumn-gold silk sheath, her dark hair swept back into a low chignon. Only someone who knew her the way Sonnet did might notice the subtle lines of fatigue around her eyes and mouth, the vague puffiness of her skin. Just prior to the wedding, she’d attended the funeral, up in Albany, of her favorite aunt, who had died the week before of cancer, and the grief of goodbye lingered in her face.

  “You’re not going to screw up,” Nina said. “You’re going to be fabulous. You look amazing in that dress, you’ve memorized everything you’re going to do and say, and it’s going to be a wonderful evening.”

  “Yes, but—”

  “Remember what I used to say when you were little—your smile is my sunshine.”

  “I remember.” And the memory did its magic, bringing a smile to her face. Her mom had raised Sonnet alone, but only now that she was grown did she appreciate how hard that had been for Nina. “You gave me lots of memories, Mom.”

  “Come here, you.” Nina opened her arms and Sonnet gratefully slipped into her mother’s embrace.

  “This feels nice. I wish I had a chance to come back here more often.” Sonnet turned her face to the warm breeze blowing in through the window. The sheer beauty of the lake, nestled between the gentle swells of the Catskills, made her heart ache. Though she’d grown up in Avalon, the place felt foreign to Sonnet now, a world she used to inhabit and couldn’t wait to leave.

  Despite her vivid memories of her childhood here, playing in the woods with her friends or sledding down the hills in winter, she’d never truly appreciated the scenery until she’d left it behind, eager to find her life far away. Now that she lived in Manhattan, crammed into a closet-sized walk-up studio on a noisy East Side street, she finally understood the appeal of her old hometown.

  “I wish you could, too,” Nina said. “It’s time-consuming, isn’t it, saving the world?”

  Sonnet chuckled. “Is that what I’m doing? Saving the world?”

  “As a matter
of fact, it is. Sweetie, I’m so proud to tell people you work with UNESCO, that your department saves children’s lives all over the world.”

  “Ah, thanks, Mom. You make me think I do more than write emails and fill out forms.” Sonnet often found herself wishing she could actually work with a child every once in a while. Buried in administrative chores, it was easy to forget.

  On the smoothly-mown lawn below, guests were beginning to take their seats for the ceremony. Many of the groom’s friends were in military dress uniform, adding a note of gravitas to the atmosphere.

  “Wow,” said Sonnet, “it’s really happening, Mom. Finally.”

  “Yes,” Nina agreed. “Finally.”

  A chorus of squeals came from the adjacent room, where the rest of the bridal party was getting ready.

  “Daisy’s going to be the prettiest bride ever,” Sonnet said, feeling a thrum of emotion in her chest. The bride was Sonnet’s best friend as well as her stepsister, and she was about to marry the love of her life. To Sonnet it felt like a dream come true...but also, deep in a hidden corner of her heart, a loss of sorts. Now someone else would be the keeper of Daisy’s most private secrets, her soft place to fall, the person on the other end of the phone in the middle of the night.

  “Until it’s your turn,” Nina said. “Then you’ll be the prettiest bride ever.”

  Sonnet gave her mom’s hand a squeeze. “Don’t hold your breath. I’m busy saving the world, remember?”

  “Just don’t get so busy you forget to fall in love,” Nina said.

  Sonnet laughed. “I think you need to embroider that on a pillow. How about— Hello.” Her mind drained of everything but the sight of the tallest groomsman in the wedding party, escorting the grandmother of the bride to her seat in the front row.

  In a dove-gray swallowtail tux, he moved with long-limbed grace, although his height was not the most striking thing about him. It was his hair, as long and pale as a banner of surrender, giving him the otherworldly look of a mythical creature. She couldn’t take her eyes off him.

  “Holy cow,” she said. “Is that...?”

  “Yep,” said her mother. “Zach Alger.”

  “Whoa.”

  “He’s finally grown into his looks, hasn’t he?” Nina commented. “I’d forgotten how long it’s been since you last saw him. The two of you used to be so close.”

  Zach Alger. Surely not, thought Sonnet, practically leaning out the open window. This couldn’t be the Zach Alger she’d grown up with, the whiter-shade-of-pale boy who lived down the street, with his big goofy ears and braces on his teeth. Her best friend in high school, the freakishly skinny kid who worked at the Sky River Bakery. This couldn’t be the college geek working his way through school, obsessed with cameras and all things video.

  Zach Alger, she thought. Well, well. Since high school, he and Sonnet had gone in different directions, and she hadn’t seen him in ages. Now she couldn’t take her eyes off him.

  After helping Daisy’s grandmother to her seat, he pulled a flask from his tux pocket and took a swig. All right, thought Sonnet. That was the Zach she knew—a guy with more talent than ambition, a guy with a troubled background he couldn’t seem to shake, a guy who was part of her past, but had no possible place in her future.

  Movement in the next room reminded her she had an important job to do today. She peered through the doorway at Daisy, who was surrounded by the hairstylist, makeup artist, wedding planner, her mom Sophie, the photographer and several people Sonnet didn’t recognize. “What do you say?” she asked her mother. “Shall we go help Daisy get married?’

  Nina grinned. “She wouldn’t dare make a move without you.”

  “Or you. Honestly, when you married Daisy’s dad, she hit the stepmom jackpot.”

  Nina’s grin turned to a soft smile, and her dark eyes took on an expression that pulled Sonnet into days gone by, when it had just been the two of them, making their way in the world. Nina had turned a teenage pregnancy into a small but lovely life for herself and Sonnet. Yes, she was married now—unexpectedly, in the middle of her life—but their two-against-the-world time together belonged solely to Nina and Sonnet.

  “You’re going all mushy on me, aren’t you?” Sonnet said.

  “Yeah, baby. I am. Just wait until you’re the bride. I’ll need CPR.” The shadows in the room were just starting to deepen; evening was coming on.

  “No, you won’t, Mom,” Sonnet assured her. “You’ll rise to the occasion. You always do.”

  Nina took her hand again, and together they stepped through the door.

  Copyright © 2013 by Susan Wiggs

  ISBN-13: 9781460320846

  CANDLELIGHT CHRISTMAS

  Copyright © 2013 by Susan Wiggs

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