Finally, the children’s pageant and the town’s Yuletide Jubilee were going off without a hitch. It was Sunday night, and the last night of the pageant. Sylvie sat next to Cleetus, her hand tucked in his. Tonight, they’d come as themselves to enjoy the program, not wanting to steal any attention from the young performers.
Applause filled the auditorium after the last note of the final song rang out. The packed house at the civic center jumped to their feet, calling for a curtain call and bow.
“Wasn’t it wonderful?” Sylvie asked, as Cleetus helped her on with her coat.
“Sure was. Kind of funny when the little guy forgot that famous Dickens’ line, God bless us, everyone, and said God bless the bus.” Cleetus laughed again at the memory.
They made their way out to the sidewalk among the happy townspeople, children, and parents. Across the street, the Christmas tree lit up the town square, and the lights of the kissing bough shone brightly in the gazebo. As she and Cleetus walked hand-in-hand toward his truck in the parking lot, her eyes were drawn once more to the gazebo. Her free hand caressed the wrapped package in her coat pocket. She was going to give it to Cleetus tonight, and ask him to hang it on her tree. Maybe it would tell him how much she’d come to love him.
Movement in the gazebo caught her eye. A young couple stood beneath the bough, kissing.
“Look, Cleetus. Someone’s keeping the tradition.” She pointed toward the couple.
“Sure are. That will be another wedding next year,” he said, grinning down at her, as they stopped by the passenger side of his truck.
Maybe she could give him her present now, then he’d kiss her under the bough?
Before she could follow her instincts, a shadow passed behind him.
“Well, look who we found here,” a deep, raspy voice full of hate said. She looked up to see her father, mother, and two brothers standing in the swirling snow.
Sylvie’s heart skipped a beat and she took a step back, stumbling. Cleetus caught her before she could fall to the ground, a worried frown on his face.
“What’s a matter, little sister? Forget how to walk?” her brother Karl taunted.
“It was you I saw the other night,” Sylvie said, gripping Cleetus’ hand tight.
“Yeah, we’ve been in town all week long, watching you parade around in that stupid elf suit,” her other brother Kurt said with a sneer.
“This is your family?” Cleetus asked, softly, glancing at the three burly men and her frail mother, standing just behind her father and brothers.
Sylvie, still in shock that they’d actually come to Westen, simply nodded.
“Don’t know why you look surprised to see us, girl,” her father said. “I told you, you had an obligation to this family. Even sent you a reminder with the wedding veil. It’s time you came home. Your fiancé is waiting.”
Cleetus sucked in air beside her at the word fiancé. She looked up to see shock and hurt in his face. He believed she’d agreed to marry someone. That she’d lied to him.
She wanted to tell him this was not what it appeared. That she wasn’t engaged to anyone. That she wasn’t someone who would lead him on and then leave him, hurt him. Laying her hand on his arm, she started to speak. The words died on her lips when her father stepped closer to her mother, his hand in his pocket, warning her he’d come armed.
His silent threat getting her attention. She’d come with him willingly, or he’d hurt her mama.
Her other hand still in her pocket, clenching the ornament, she made a plan.
“I’ll go with you, but first you have to let me say goodbye.”
A slow, satisfied grin split her father’s lips, making him look like the snake he was. “Why sure, little girl. You go tell this lawman that blood is blood.” He grabbed her by the arm and pulled her close, his fetid breath full of old whiskey turning her stomach. She winced as he twisted her arm and snarled at her. “Just don’t keep me waiting.”
“Let her go!” Suddenly, Cleetus took a step towards her father, his face like stone and anger in his eyes. She’d never seen him like this.
Her father dropped his hold on her arm and stepped back. Her brothers shoved their hands in a pocket of their jackets. She had to stop them from hurting Cleetus. Even though he was a deputy, they would shoot him dead.
“Cleetus,” she said, turning to stand between him and her family. “Do you trust me?”
He didn’t take his eyes off her family. “I don’t know what’s going on, Sylvie, but he has no right to hurt you.”
“I know, but I have to go before someone gets hurt.” Worse than I’m already hurting you. She tugged on his arm; it was like trying to move a mountain. “Come with me.”
When he didn’t budge, she took his hand in hers. “Please?” she begged.
That got his attention. He looked down into her eyes and she blinked at the tears that suddenly burned hers. “Please?”
He nodded and let her lead him away from her family towards the gazebo.
* * * * *
Cleetus, felt like he’d been chop-blocked by two offensive linemen. His heart aching and his mind trying to piece together what was going on, he walked with Sylvie to the gazebo. She didn’t stop until they stood beneath the kissing bough.
“I have something for you,” she said, pulling a small package wrapped in Christmas paper out of her pocket.
He took it from her, but didn’t open it. He didn’t want a present. He wanted her. And he wanted answers. “What’s going on, Sylvie? Why is your family making you leave? Who is this fiancé? Why didn’t you tell me?”
She placed her fingertips on his lips, stopping his avalanche of questions. “Open my gift, please. I don’t have much time.”
He ripped open the paper to find a glass Santa ornament, wearing a policeman’s hat and badge.
“I was going to ask you to hang it on my tree, since you’ve been my hero-Santa. Now you’ll just have to remember how much you mean to me when you look at it.”
Her words sounded so final.
“Sylvie, I don’t understand,” he said, confused. If he meant so much to her, why was she leaving?
“My family’s here because my father arranged a marriage for me with the man who owns the land next to his. He didn’t ask me if I wanted to marry this man, who is nearly twenty years older than me. In fact, he arranged it and ordered me to obey him. My father is greedy and has always wanted part of Mr. Klingerman’s land that butted up against our small farm.”
Cleetus shook his head. “That’s old-fashioned. Not even the Amish hereabouts have arranged marriages. You don’t have to do this.”
“You’re right. It’s why I left home and came to Westen. I wanted my independence. To live my life, not what they were trying to force me into. But I do have to go with them now.” She looked up at him, a pleading for him to understand in her eyes.
“Why?”
“Because, my father and brothers are armed. They’re desperate for the land Mr. Klingerman promised them if I married him. If I don’t go with them, they’ll hurt my mother.”
“So, you’re just going to give in to them. Marry someone you don’t love?”
“I’m not going to marry Mr. Klingerman. I just have to figure out how to save my mama. That’s why I have to leave.” She laid her soft hand on his cheek. “Do you remember the legend of the kissing bough? That if you kiss your true love beneath it before Christmas Day you’ll marry them in the next year?”
“Of course. I’ve known it all my life.”
Slowly, she smiled at him. “Then kiss me, Cleetus.”
“Kiss me.” She glanced behind her. He followed her gaze. Her brothers were marching their way. “Now, Cleetus.”
Desperate to hold her close, he lowered his mouth to hers. The softness of her mouth and the spicy scent of the perfume she wore mixed to spark the heat between them. Intense. Like an electrical current.
“Woohoo!” the taller brother said, as the pair stepped inside the gazebo with them, making Sylvie jump
back from their kiss. “Little sister’s in l-o-v-e. Too bad you’re gonna marry someone else.”
“Yeah, too bad,” the shorter brother chimed in. “Kissing one man, marrying another. Kind of makes you a slut.”
Cleetus’ anger shot up. All his life, his parents had warned him to control his temper. Even in elementary school, when he was bigger than everyone in his class, and the class above him. They’d helped him realize even a simple slap could injure someone. Now, he wanted to tear them apart. Fists clenched, he took a step forward, but Sylvie put her hand on his chest, blocking his path.
“Don’t,” she whispered.
“They insulted you,” he said, trying to move her out of the way.
“What’s the matter?” big brother said. “You gonna let our little sister tell you what to do?”
“Yeah, what are you, a coward?” little brother taunted, moving in behind Sylvie.
Locking her arm, she prevented Cleetus from going around her. “They’re baiting you. They want a fight and they fight dirty.”
She turned her head and nodded at the bigger brother’s pocket. From the way he was holding his hand in it, Cleetus knew he was armed.
“Please don’t let them hurt you.” Sylvie said, pain and fear in her voice. Pain and fear for him. “Not over this. I can handle them.”
Ignoring her brothers, he stared down into her green eyes, full of unshed tears and pleading for him to listen to her. “I’m coming after you.”
“You just do that.” Big brother grabbed her by the arm. “Haven’t killed a bear in years.”
Both brothers laughed, each holding Sylvie by an arm and literally dragging her from the gazebo and through the crowd. Cleetus narrowed his eyes and followed them until they reached an older-model SUV. Just before the one brother opened the door and the other shoved her inside, she turned her head to look at him. Pain, fear, and tears on her face.
Dammit, he wasn’t letting her go. He hurried to his truck, set the ornament on the passenger side, and pulled out his phone. He hit Gage’s number as he pulled out to follow the SUV with Sylvie in it down Main Street.
“Hey, Cleetus,” his boss said when he answered. “What’s up?”
“I need your help. Someone’s taking Sylvie.”
CLOSE TO SANTA’S HEART
CHAPTER TEN
Squeezed in between her youngest brother and mother in the back of the second-hand SUV, tears rolled unchecked down Sylvie’s face, as her father drove down Main Street towards the state highway. With every passing inch, her heart broke a little more. For the first time in her life she’d found someone who loved her. Simply loved her. Oh, he hadn’t said it yet, but she knew in her heart that Cleetus loved her. And her family was forcing her to hurt him.
“It’s okay, little girl,” her mother quietly said beside her, patting the hand she held. “Everything will work out just fine. This was what you were born for.”
Sylvie wiped at the tears with her free hand. “I don’t care what Daddy says. I’m not marrying Mr. Klingman. I don’t love him.”
“Now, you know you’re going to give in and do what’s right for the family. You might as well put that big ox of a man out of your mind. No use getting your mulish side all worked up.”
As her father turned onto the highway, Sylvie studied her mother, who was staring out the window into the dark night. Something in her mother’s words struck her as odd.
“Mama, I mean it. I’m not marrying that man just so Daddy can get his hands on the land. I only came with them to prevent them from hurting you.”
Her mother turned and smiled softly, almost sympathetically, at her. “I know, dear. It’s your biggest weakness. Wanting to help people you think are in trouble.”
A sense of dread slithered over Sylvie. What was her mother saying? That she wasn’t in danger? That she was part of the plan to trick her into leaving her new life and Cleetus?
Before she could question her, they went around a bend in the road and came to a stop.
“What the hell?” Daddy said in the front seat.
“Looks like the Highway Patrol is checking all the cars or something,” Kurt said beside him.
“What do you think they’re looking for?” Kurt asked.
Hope surged through Sylvie. They were looking for her. Cleetus had called for help.
“Obviously, they want our girl back,” her mother said, her hard tone suggesting that all three men were stupid. “Turn this car around, Buck, and let’s go the side roads.”
For the first time in her life, Sylvie realized her mother wasn’t the helpless victim she’d always portrayed. She was actually in charge. Her father didn’t question, just turned the SUV in a Y-turn and headed back around the bend.
The road was blocked behind them by two sheriff’s cruisers, and Cleetus’ pickup truck.
Her father hit the brakes hard. The SUV hit an icy patch. Screams and curses filled the inside of the vehicle, as it slid sideways off the berm. Sylvie bounced between her brother and mother. Finally, the car landed halfway on its side in the roadside ditch.
The rear passenger door was jerked open.
“Sylvie!” Cleetus said, hauling Kurt out by his coat, tossing him to the side, then reaching in for her. “Are you okay?”
“Yes, yes, I’m okay,” she said, snapping open her seatbelt and hurling herself into his arms.
“I told you I’d come after you,” he whispered, crushing her against his chest. The steady beat of his heart and the warmth of his body eased the fear that had been coursing through her veins since she walked away from him.
“You can’t do this,” her father yelled behind her.
Shifting in Cleetus’ arms, she watched as the Sheriff and several deputies hauled her family members out of the car, disarming her father and brothers, and handcuffing them. Bobby gingerly helped her mother out of the backseat.
“Yes, we can,” Gage said. “You’re all under arrest for the kidnapping of Sylvie Gillis.”
“Ain’t no kidnapping,” her father said.
“Yeah, she’s our sister,” Kurt yelled. “Tell them, Sylvie.”
“Kidnapping?” she whispered up at Cleetus.
“They forced you to go with them against your will, didn’t they? Used your mother’s safety as coercion?”
Her mother. Anger sparked inside her. She was done being a victim of this quartet.
“Sylvie?” Gage asked, beside her father. “Did they take you against your will?”
“Yes,” she said, stepping forward, Cleetus holding her hand. “All four of them.”
“All four?” Bobby said, looking at her mother then back at Sylvie.
“Yes, all four. My mother was part of the plot to kidnap me and force me to marry someone who promised them land for me. They were selling me off.”
“You little bitch!” Her mother lurched for her, only to have Bobby jerk her back and push her face forward onto the side of the SUV.
“You’re sure, Sylvie?” Cleetus asked beside her.
She sadly watched Wes and the other deputies put her family in the back of the cruisers. “Yes. I was blinded to her, because she always played the victim. But she was behind this whole thing. Apparently I was nothing more than something to be sold off to them.”
“We’ll need you to come to the office and give us a statement,” Gage said, as he and Bobby came to stand beside them. “But I think it can wait until tomorrow. You two look like you’ve been through the wringer.”
“I can do that,” she said, leaning into Cleetus’ body as he wrapped his arms around her.
“Ready to go?” he asked.
“Yes. Please take me home.”
When she climbed into the passenger seat, she found the Santa ornament she’d given him. She held it in her hand all the way to her house.
“Will you hang it on the tree?” she asked.
“If I come in tonight, I don’t think I can leave you,” he said, his voice a husky whisper.
She laid he
r free hand on top of his. “I don’t want you to. Ever.”
They walked inside hand-in-hand, shrugged off their outdoor gear, and fed her cat. Sylvie smiled as he hung the Santa ornament high on her tree. She gasped when he scooped her up and carried her to the bedroom.
With great care, he let her slide down to stand in front of him. He cupped her face in his big, warm hands. “When they shoved you in that SUV, I just wanted to rip them apart.”
“I never should’ve walked away with them, Cleetus,” she said, laying her hands on top of his. “I wanted to stay with you. I truly did. But I thought my mama needed me. Only she…” She couldn’t say the words over the lump of hurt and betrayal lodged in her throat.
“Sylvie, I’ll never hurt you. I’ll always want you to be happy. I promise. You’ve stolen my heart.”
Happiness surged through her. “I love you, too. I promise never to hurt you, and I’ll cherish your heart forever.”
He claimed her lips with his. For the rest of the night, he fulfilled the kiss beneath the kissing bough, showing her with his hands, mouth, and body just how much she meant to him.
Sylvie lay in his arms in the early-morning light, amazed that a little elf like her could be the center of Santa’s heart.
ABOUT SUZANNE FERRELL
USA Today bestselling author, Suzanne Ferrell discovered romance novels in her aunt’s hidden stash one summer as a teenager. From that moment on she knew two things: she loved romance stories and someday she'd be writing her own. Her love for romances has only grown over the years. It took her a number of years and a secondary career as a nurse to finally start writing her own stories. Suzanne's sexy stories, whether they are her on the edge of your seat romantic suspense or the heartwarming small town stories, will keep you thinking about her characters long after their Happy Ever After is achieved.
You can Find Suz at:
Website: http://suzanneferrell.com/
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Under The Kissing Bough: 15 Romantic Holiday Novellas Page 16
