An Old-Fashioned Christmas Romance Collection

by DiAnn Mills

  Grace was frustrated that his simple words and good looks would stir her emotions. “I know, and I’m sure Mother knows, but I can’t make the decision for her.”

  “I’ll continue to pray,” he said while his gaze roved her face.

  “Perhaps you should pray that God doesn’t send us another disaster.” Her temper flared.

  A frown creased his gentle brow. “Please, don’t blame Him. Your family is still together. You just need to trust Him for your future.”

  “Don’t preach at me, David. My family is a shadow of what it used to be,” Grace blurted out before she slowly began to calm down. “I know the Lord can turn out all things for the best—” she took a deep breath “—but I just don’t think I can take another ordeal.”

  David’s hand reached for her, but she plodded toward the kitchen, pulling on her last reserve of energy.

  Grace and David worked together all afternoon on repairs to the kitchen. David’s father came with two men from town to help board up the broken windows and remove the trash. Grace’s mother had stayed in her upstairs bedroom all day, and Grace checked her often to see that all was right.

  It was past the supper hour before they had a chance to sit down. Mrs. Matthews had sent a warm casserole over in the late afternoon, and Grace was relieved of cooking in the disarrayed kitchen.

  David sat with Grace in the parlor while she spooned the noodle casserole into her father’s mouth. She had found a tin of undamaged cookies, and David munched them contentedly.

  “Thanks for all your help today,” she offered without looking at him.

  “You’re welcome. I’m just glad I was here.”

  “I’m sure this isn’t the restful visit home you had planned.”

  He chuckled. “At least I have been here among family and friends who are most dear to me.” He meant what he said, and if he had known the extent of the Rudmans’ troubles, he would have found a way to come home sooner.

  He watched Gracie wipe her father’s face and tuck his quilt around his lap. David marveled at the strength she had shown, not just today but ever since he had returned home. He had always admired her energy, but before it had been demonstrated in her zest for her own life, creativity, and dreams.

  Some of her spark might be gone, or buried, but her determination was still strong. She would have been a good wife for me…and she still would be a good wife. But I’m past that point in my life. I don’t have to marry right away. I can take my time and save money for a home.

  He watched the loose curls of her hair bounce with each move and admired the tilt of her pert nose. Would she wait? He shook his head, and his cheeks flamed from the ridiculous thoughts he’d been having. She still sees me as a brother, and that isn’t likely to change.

  Chapter 4

  Christmas Eve came to the valley on Thursday under the grip of an extended cold spell. A light snow dusted the ground, masking some of the scars from the dam construction. The creek appeared to have frozen solid and some of the youth were excited about a hastily planned skating party for that afternoon.

  The morning was very still throughout the house. Grace’s mother had not stirred, and like the last two days, Grace didn’t expect to see much of her. She had been staying close to her upstairs bedroom.

  Grace prepared her father for the day and settled him into his chair near the parlor window. On impulse, she turned the radio on for him, and livestock prices were the topic of the moment.

  She anticipated spending her morning in the kitchen working on a new batch of bread. She missed the sunlight the two boarded-up windows had given the room. The dirt from the explosion had been cleared away, but the damage was still very obvious.

  She was startled when someone came clattering down the staircase.

  “John! I didn’t even know you were home!”

  “I slipped in late last night. I needed to come by for a few things and I figured I’d spend the night.”

  “Well…we’ve missed seeing you. Where have you been staying?”

  “I have a friend or two down in Cadiz way. I see you’ve kept pretty busy though,” he remarked as he circled the room. “If this house keeps falling apart, we won’t have to worry about moving it.” He laughed at his joke.

  Grace didn’t enjoy his humor and her anger rose. His careless attitude sickened her. “Mother and I could have used your help. Luckily David was here and he rounded up some men to haul trash and board up the windows.”

  “Ah, David, the lost son returned. I’m sure Mother certainly enjoys having him around.” John’s eyes narrowed with the thought. “Though lacking in Guy’s flair for pomp and circumstance, he still could do no wrong. I, on the other hand, worry my parents sick about everything—my education, my job, my choice of a wife…”

  “Nonsense. Why are you so bitter?” Grace couldn’t understand his attitude. “We miss you and want to get to know Melissa. Can you bring her over tomorrow?”

  “I doubt it.” He gathered his coat and a small bag from a corner chair. “Gotta go. See ya later, sis.” He was out the door before Grace got in another word.

  Midway through the morning as Grace was placing her raised dough in the oven, Mrs. Rudman entered the kitchen for the first time after almost two days of solitude. She wandered around the room, running her hand along the marred countertop and surveying the other changes to her large kitchen.

  Grace watched her slow, deliberate movements. Though her hair was sprinkled with silver, she still had a look of youth and refinement about her. Grace had always admired her mother and hated the lines that worry and grief had etched into her face.

  “Well, Grace dear.” Her mother finally turned to her with a sweet smile. “I have lived in this same house since the day of my marriage to your father. I shared it with his parents for nearly ten years, and I raised my children here. The property around here has sold and our farm will flood whether or not we sign it over to the conservancy. It will be sad to see the place go, but the conservancy has made a very fair offer.” She sat down in a wooden chair that had lost an arm in the blast.

  Grace continued to watch her mother in silence, but she noticed a definite peace about her that had not been present for many months.

  “The Lord and I have had a long talk. He has made me see that I can’t go back to the past, the present is constantly changing, and the future is His alone to determine. Nothing I can do can change these facts.” She held out her hands to Grace. “My sweet daughter, I think so often of your brother Guy, and finally, I can be happy for him. He is with his Savior.” She drew a work-roughened hand along Grace’s cheek. “I highly recommend the comfort it brings when you place your trust in the Lord.”

  Grace hugged her mother and felt she understood the transformation of her attitude. Her mother had grasped onto the faith that Grace had acknowledged but not yet placed her whole trust in.

  “ ‘Lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal.’ “Mrs. Rudman quoted. “We will take what we can with us to remember this old place by, but it will forever remain in our hearts.”

  She patted Grace’s cheek as unbidden tears came to the young woman’s eyes.

  “Your father and I will move in with Aunt Maggie in Bowerston. She is no young thing and could use the company,” Mrs. Rudman continued with a voice full of new purpose. “In fact, she offered the idea to your father back in the summer.”

  “John and Melissa will marry by March and live in Cadiz.” She rose from her chair and hooked her arm around her daughter’s waist. “As for you, my dear, dressmaking is a fine vocation, but I do wish you would marry, too.”

  Grace swallowed hard. You sound as if I can just snap my fingers and make it happen.

  “It’s sad that things didn’t work out with you and David last year, but with him home…”

  “Mother!” Grace choked. “I hardly think that’s an issue anymore. With Guy gone, David is even more like a brot
her to me.”

  “Exactly!” Mrs. Rudman smiled and dismissed the topic with a flick of her wrist. “That bread is already starting to smell wonderful. You are a good cook, dear, but why don’t you take the afternoon and enjoy yourself with the kids at the skating party? You haven’t had any time for socializing since you’ve been home.”

  “I…I don’t need to play when there is so much to get ready for Christmas.”

  “Your skates are in the attic,” Mrs. Rudman stated and gave Grace a playful shove toward the stairs.

  The ground was cold beneath Grace as she sat on the bank of the stream to lace her skates. She pulled the laces tight and the one in her right hand snapped. It was old and frayed.

  “Having trouble?” David’s voice boomed from over her head.

  A chill tickled her spine, and she hoped it was due to the slight breeze blowing across the frozen landscape.

  “I’ve got it. Thanks,” Grace smiled up at him. David looked tall and strong from her vantage point. Even under a blue stocking cap, his face was handsome and friendly. She quickly lowered her gaze and knotted her broken lace.

  “Can I give you a hand up?”

  “It’s not necessary—thanks,” she blurted, uncomfortable with the emotions churning inside her. She felt like a schoolgirl with a crush, a woman starving for affection, and a stranger come home, all in one. She couldn’t comprehend the power he had over her, and it had been like this ever since the day he stepped down from the train.

  When Guy was alive she had thought of David as merely Guy’s shadow. She had always been fond of David, of course, but she had thought of him almost as an extension of her beloved brother, not really important in himself. Suddenly, he had emerged from Guy’s shadow, taking her by surprise. She wondered now if all along he hadn’t been more important to her than she had ever realized.

  “Well…okay.” His shoulders dropped as Grace watched him move onto the ice-covered creek and into a group of young townsfolk.

  She eased to her feet and struggled for a footing on the bank. She wobbled, nearly fell, then balanced herself against a sapling.

  She brushed dirt, snow, and dry grass from her pleated plaid skirt and navy stockings and straightened her coat that sported large, hand-carved buttons. The buttons were a luxury that Grace’s mother had griped about, but Grace enjoyed the way they made a sensible, sturdy coat feel special.

  Finally, she took a tentative step onto the ice and waited for her ankles to adjust to the skates. Her body teetered like an intoxicated idiot before she got the hang of it.

  A shoulder bumped into her, upsetting her precarious balance and seating her hard on the ice.

  “Oops,” Thomas Cord chuckled. “Reality hurts,” he sneered. “You Rudmans think you can hold out and make the conservancy pay you a bundle for an ugly strip of used-up farmland? My dad got top dollar for the best farmland in this valley.” He towered over her with his gangly teenage frame. “The conservancy doesn’t care if your place floods—now that they own everything around it.” He glided away, obviously pleased with his performance.

  Grace saw David making strides toward her, and she shot him a warning glare. She gingerly got to her feet and worked at establishing her balance once again.

  David hung at a short distance from her with a young girl at each elbow trying to gain his attention.

  Grace slowly glided upstream away from the majority of skaters. She knew that some people in the valley looked down on her family for holding out on the conservancy. Many thought that the Rudmans were greedy for money, but there were still those who cared enough to understand the family’s plight and sympathize.

  Soon Grace was joined by the pastor’s daughter, Lydia, and her friends. The lighthearted chatter of the girls made a nice diversion for Grace’s train of thought.

  Often, though, her attention was pulled to David. She found interest in his skating partners. No doubt, David was used to having several young women on his arm in the city. A handsome young man with a good job was quite an attraction, and it didn’t hurt that he had a friendly, clean-cut personality to go with it.

  Grace shook her head free from the web of thoughts. The gal who reels him in will sure be lucky. That is…if she’s smart enough to say “yes.”

  David longed to go to Grace, to defend her and ease her discomfort. Her stubborn show of independence frustrated him. Pain pierced his heart when she made it clear that she didn’t need his assistance.

  He watched her now as a group formed around her. She smiled easily at the youths and talked freely with them. She tried to figure eight with Lydia and laughed about their crooked lines. Then she clapped and cheered for a child who demonstrated a simple spin. When she glanced at him, though, her face lost its animation, as though she had immediately erected a wall around her emotions. He longed to break through her guarded borders and see her at ease like that with him.

  In the past he had seen her as a carefree tomboy, following her brothers and him into the woods on childhood adventures. He had been present as she had talked freely of her dreams and desires with her brother Guy, but always it had been Guy’s attention she craved and David was ignored.

  David turned his attention to one of the young women at his side. She had an annoying giggle that hurt his ears while the other exaggerated her wobbly footing on the narrow blades and blotched his arm with long, sharp fingernails.

  He quickly tired of their prattle and found himself watching Grace more as as she skated with the pastor’s daughter, warmed her hands by the bonfire on the bank, and wandered upstream alone.

  David grew edgy when Grace went beyond a low hanging tree and followed the curve of the stream out of his view. He could no longer manage polite conversation with his companions and soon broke away from the group.

  He skirted the clusters of skaters and kept close to the shore as he wound his way upstream. He was putting a good distance between himself and the other skaters when he heard a splash ahead of him. David sped along the frozen creek, sending snow flying out behind him.

  Chapter 5

  Grace enjoyed the solitude of the upper stream. The arching trees provided a canopied effect with their snow-frosted branches. She could hear the song of an unseen cardinal while the voices of the skaters grew dimmer. She knew some were headed downstream toward the new pond at the gatehouse, while she entertained the thought of continuing her course all the way home.

  Here the stream had widened and she moved toward the shore, unsure that the ice in the middle would be solid. The cardinal seemed to be following her as its song came to her loud and clear. She looked up to spot him on an overhanging branch.

  The ice cracked beneath her blades and Grace tilted. Snow covered the ice and she couldn’t determine the direction of the crack. She inched forward and closer to the shore.

  The ice gave way underneath her. She gasped and dropped over two feet to the rocky creek bed. Her left ankle buckled and the frigid water instantly soaked her nearly to her waist.

  She wanted to cry, to scream, but she felt stiff as if frozen in place. The water flowed freely under the icy crust.

  She heard a strange scraping noise behind her, then David yelled, “Gracie, are you all right?”

  She turned to him with relief. “David! Thank the Lord you’ve come.”

  David approached her from the shore side and inched toward the break in the ice. He reached out to grasp her under the arms and pull her up. Her feet came out of the water flailing for a solid footing. Her wet skates slipped on the ice, and David gripped her tighter, popping a loose button on her coat.

  “My button!” Grace wailed.

  “Sorry,” David said as he set her on her feet. Then he quickly swept her up into his arms and tight against his chest, nearly knocking the air from her lungs. Grace desperately searched for a place to rest her arms and finally settled them on his rock-hard shoulders. She was strangely thrilled by the strength evoked from his sheltering arms.

  He started a swift pace do
wnstream, and suddenly Grace started kicking and wiggling.

  “Stop! My button,” she cried. “Go back, David. We have to get my button.”

  “You’re about to freeze! What do you want with a button?”

  “But I don’t have an extra, and they’re very unique…and expensive. Go back, please,” she begged.

  David stopped and stared down into her eyes. “Gracie—” His breath caught suddenly as their gazes locked.

  She looked away and thrashed her feet again. “Put me down, David. This isn’t proper.”

  “Why ever not?” his voice rose abruptly. “I’m just a brother helping his kid sister who happens to be nuts about a stupid button and on the verge of becoming an icicle.” He punched his words at her, echoing those she had spoken to him when she had rejected his proposal.

  “Now why are you mad at me?” Grace nearly shouted with indignation. “I’m not the one who lost the button.” She found that anger clouded the troubling emotions that his embrace and gaze had stirred in her and put distance between them.

  All of a sudden he dropped her to her feet and pushed away from her. He shook his head without another word and backtracked toward the break in the ice.

  Grace shivered as his warmth left her. Her skirt still dripped and her legs felt numb. Anger had gotten her nowhere and she felt more confused than ever. Those many months ago, she had said she did not want him, but now she desperately wanted to be back in his arms and know he cared.

  She brushed clumps of damp snow from her crocheted mittens. The blood in her left ankle began to pound and her legs started to shake with cold. Grace no longer had the will to stand. She sank to the ice with her legs folded beneath her.

  It had started to snow. Big, fluffy flakes floated down from the sky, instantly changing the scene. They covered everything they touched with a veil of white.

  “Here’s the button. Can we go…oh Gracie, you’re going to be sick with cold.” David knelt before her and held the button out in his palm. “Truce?”