Christmas from the Heart

by Sheila Roberts

  “You can bet it won’t be Paris.”

  No, it wouldn’t. She’d be lucky if she could talk Morris out of his idea to go camping. “I don’t need to go to Paris. I don’t need to go anywhere. I’m happy right here in Pine River.”

  “I know. I’d just like to see you happier.”

  This was getting old. “I couldn’t get any happier, so you can stop worrying,” Livi said firmly, closing the subject.

  It was true. She was finally getting married and her biological clock could stop ticking like a time bomb. She was going to have a great life helping people and raising a family. She and Morris were already looking at houses and they had their eye on a cute little Craftsman with a double car garage and a small backyard with an apple tree in it. They’d be married and moved in in time to harvest the apples. And maybe by the next fall they’d have a baby. They were going to start working on having a family right away. The man, the house, the kid—her future was picture-perfect.

  And her life was great. So there.

  * * *

  March blew in, along with Livi’s birthday. Morris was taking her out for dinner, this time just the two of them.

  “Where’s he taking you?” Bettina asked as they put their computers to sleep for the day. “Oh, wait. Don’t tell me. Family Tree.”

  “There’s nothing wrong with Family Tree,” Livi was quick to say, although she’d love to have gone somewhere a little more special. But oh well. This would be special because it would always be their place, the place where they got engaged.

  Livi went home and showered and lotioned and perfumed up and put on a simple black dress, which she accented with a green scarf and black stilettos. She checked out her reflection when she was done. Yes, she looked good. Happy. Fulfilled.

  The doorbell rang and she slipped off the shoes and hurried downstairs to let Morris in. She was hopping into a shoe when she opened the door and saw Guy Hightower standing on her front porch.

  “Don’t shut the door,” he said, holding out a hand to keep it open.

  As if she could. She couldn’t move. She stared at him, one shoe on, one in her hand, sure he was a hallucination.

  He waved a hand in front of her face. “Livi?”

  That snapped her out of it. “You’ve got a lot of nerve coming back here,” she said as she leaned against the doorway and slipped on her other shoe.

  “It took all the nerve I had. Nice shoes, by the way. They show off your legs.”

  “Never mind my shoes. Where have you been? You’re no longer at Hightower.”

  “You were looking for me?”

  “For a donation,” she snapped. He frowned and she continued, “I figured under the circumstances perhaps Hightower would like to reconsider its position on charitable donations to our organization.” There. That sounded better. Nice and professional.

  “That’s the only reason?”

  “What other reason should I have?”

  “Missing me? Wanting to talk things out?”

  “There was nothing to talk out,” she said stiffly.

  “Really?”

  “Really.”

  “Then I guess it didn’t matter that you couldn’t find me at Hightower. Want to know why I left?”

  “Not particularly,” she lied. “Why did you leave?”

  “Because I realized it wasn’t a fit for me anymore.”

  “What are you doing now then?” she asked, the anger sliding out of her.

  “Trying to figure out where I go from here. I’ve got enough investments to live on for a while. I can take my time sorting things out.”

  Sorting things out. What did that mean? And why was she so interested? She shouldn’t be interested. She’d moved on. She was getting married.

  “What are you sorting out?” she asked.

  “Who I am, for starters. Who I want to be. I’m thinking of turning my hand to fund-raising. God knows I’ve got the connections.”

  “Fund-raising,” she repeated, trying to frame the picture of this new Guy Hightower in her mind. She didn’t know what to say, didn’t know what to think even. All she knew was that her heart was racing.

  “You look good, Livi,” he said softly.

  The race got swifter. He looked good, too. He was wearing an expensive overcoat over equally expensive slacks. She looked behind him for his expensive car.

  “I don’t have it anymore,” he said, reading her mind.

  “What happened to it?”

  “I sold it.”

  “You sold it?”

  He nodded to the humble-looking model sitting out by the parking strip. “That’s my new ride. Gets good gas mileage.”

  “Not very impressive.”

  “I’m not out to impress. Anyway, I thought the money I got for it could be put to good use somewhere.” He held out a manila envelope. “I have something for you. Take it,” he urged when she stood there staring at it.

  She took it and switched to staring at him.

  “Open it.”

  She did and saw what looked like several checks inside.

  “One’s from my mom,” he said. “I meant to mail it but that seemed cowardly. If a man’s going to eat humble pie, he should have a witness. I hope this will help Christmas from the Heart.”

  She pulled out a check and gasped. Then she stared at him again.

  “Just trying my hand at this to see how good I am.”

  She pulled out another check. He was good. “Why are you doing this?”

  “Because I need to. I got pretty pissed when you lit into me.”

  “I shouldn’t have.” He’d been a man trying to make up for a bad decision. She hadn’t let him, not once she learned who he was.

  She’d been so focused on noble deeds that she’d failed to see how ignoble her grudge against him had been. Remorse set in. Why couldn’t she have handled things differently? Why couldn’t they?

  “I could have allocated something for Christmas from the Heart. I went with the more high-profile nonprofits. It was all about Hightower’s image. I’ve learned a lot about image since then, Livi.”

  “I wish we’d had this conversation earlier.” If they had, what would her life look like now? It didn’t matter. It was too late.

  “I guess I had some lessons to learn. And, honestly, I couldn’t come back without proof that I’m on a different path. I hope this proves it.”

  “Everything you did while you were here proved it.” She’d been too humiliated to admit that.

  “I’m trying to start a new life, Livi. I’m hoping maybe you’d be open to being part of it.”

  Too late. She was finding it difficult to get the words out.

  “Even Scrooge got a second chance.”

  She held up her left hand. There was the ring and that said it all.

  His smile fell. “Bentley?”

  “Yes.” Why did she want to cry when her life was so good?

  “When?”

  “This fall.” It was hard to get her voice above a whisper.

  “I guess what we’d started was...”

  “A fantasy,” she supplied.

  And here came reality. Morris parked his truck and jumped out. Guy turned, and at the sight of him Morris’s easy smile hardened into tightly pressed lips.

  “I guess I’m too late,” Guy said. “Are you happy?”

  Livi felt tears stinging her eyes. She pressed a hand to her lips. Of course she was happy. She nodded. Why had she been so quick to rush on with her life?

  Morris had reached the porch. “What are you doing here?” he demanded, glaring at Guy.

  “Dropping off some donations for Christmas from the Heart. I hear congratulations are in order.” Guy held out his hand.

  Morris looked at him suspiciously but took it, and they shook.

 
“I’m glad for you, Livi. I didn’t deserve you.”

  “Damn right you didn’t,” growled Morris.

  “But I want you to know I’m working hard to become the kind of man you thought I was when you first met me. Wish I’d told you sooner.”

  Sooner was in the rearview mirror. She was moving on and Guy Hightower wasn’t a central figure in that move.

  Morris stepped to her side and put an arm around her. “How long you in town for?”

  Guy looked at Livi. What was she seeing in his eyes? Longing? Disappointment? Maybe both. It just wasn’t meant to be for them.

  “Not long, I guess,” he said.

  “Where are you staying?” she asked, and felt Morris stiffen.

  Guy gave a half smile. “The River’s Bend. They had a vacancy. Can you believe it?”

  Morris grunted. Livi stayed silent. There was nothing to say to that now. Nothing to say at all.

  Guy backed down the steps. “Anyway, I hope those contributions help.”

  “Thank you,” she said, and watched him walk away.

  “Let’s go,” Morris said.

  He was quiet all the way to the restaurant, and still quiet after he’d slid in next to her in their corner booth.

  “Can I start you two lovebirds with drinks?” asked Coral.

  Morris frowned at the little vase with the green carnation sitting on the table, announcing the fast approach of St. Patrick’s Day. “Champagne.”

  Neither of them looked like two happy people out for a night of celebration. Coral raised her eyebrows at Livi. What’s going on?

  Livi shook her head.

  “You didn’t have to order champagne,” Livi said as Coral left them.

  “It’s your birthday. I wanted it to be special,” Morris said. He let out a sigh that made his big chest heave.

  “Morris,” she began, anxious to reassure him. To reassure herself.

  “This isn’t gonna work, is it?”

  “Of course it is,” she said. It was halfhearted. She heard it in her voice.

  So did he. He shook his head. “We were the same back in high school, but we’re not now. We haven’t been for years, have we?”

  “Morris, don’t.”

  He went on. “I don’t want to travel and I could care less about TV shows with people looking for a house on a beach somewhere on the other side of the world. I like it right here. I like my job and I like going out for pizza or watching a game or a movie on TV. That’s enough for me. Is it for you?”

  Of course it is. Say it. Livi sat mutely, staring at him.

  “Give me your hand.”

  She held out her right hand. His somber expression was rattling her, almost as much as Guy’s sudden appearance.

  “No, your other hand.”

  No, this wasn’t right. She couldn’t hurt Morris this way. “Morris, I’m happy in Pine River.”

  “You could be happier.” He reached over and took her left hand. She watched with both horror and relief as he wiggled the ring off her finger.

  “Oh, Morris,” she said sadly as he dropped it on the tablecloth.

  “If we’d really been right for each other we’d have been married years ago. I love you, Liv, and I want you to be happy.”

  But she didn’t feel happy. She felt awful. “Morris,” she pleaded as he slid out of the booth.

  He didn’t say anything and the next thing she knew she was sitting alone, surrounded by couples.

  Coral arrived with the champagne. “Where’s Morris?”

  “Gone.”

  * * *

  There was no sense staying in Pine River. That story was finished. Guy went back to the motel for his things. He wouldn’t have Livi Berg, but he’d have the gift she gave him, the desire to be a better man.

  It didn’t take long to pay his bill and grab his overnight bag. He was walking to his car when Morris Bentley pulled into the parking lot in his truck.

  He parked it next to Guy’s car and got out. “Going somewhere, Hightower?”

  “Yeah. I’m leaving. What are you doing here?”

  “Making sure you don’t leave. She’s at the restaurant.”

  Guy stared at him, not sure he was understanding.

  “It’s you she wants.”

  What man in his right mind would give up Olivia Berg?

  Bentley scowled. “Go on. What are you waiting for?”

  Nothing! Guy opened his car, threw in his overnight bag.

  “Hightower.”

  He stopped, halfway in.

  “If you ever make her cry I’ll beat the shit out of you.”

  “Deal,” Guy said. He got in, shut the door and peeled out.

  * * *

  Livi poured herself another glass of champagne. The first one had been for shock treatment. The second glass was for... She wasn’t sure. Consolation. Not every woman could manage to lose two men in one night.

  Morris she hadn’t really lost. He’d always be her friend. But Guy, the new and improved Guy—he’d been on her porch and then he’d been gone. She shouldn’t have let him go. He really was the man for her, the right man. She thought back to the simple pleasures they’d enjoyed—playing cards, walking in the snow, watching a movie. None of those things were glamorous, certainly not on a par with traveling the world. But that hadn’t mattered. Morris had it right all along. It didn’t matter where you were or where you went. It only mattered who you were with. And she knew who she needed to be with.

  She had to find him, but now she was stranded at the restaurant without a car. She fumbled in her purse for her cell phone. She’d call her dad, get him to run her over to the motel.

  What if Guy had decided to leave? Panicked, she dug faster. Where was her phone?

  “Looking for something?” asked a deep voice.

  She looked up and there was Guy. She could feel happiness rising in her, filling her chest, tears prickling her eyes. “Only you.”

  From the Heart

  19

  The second marriage proposal Livi received was very different from the first. There were no friends around to witness because the proposal took place in a limousine, an extravagance her sweetheart said he was not going to make a habit of in the future, because, “I’ll have important investments to make, such as certain worthy nonprofits.”

  The big moment had come after dinner at the Space Needle on May 5—the one-year anniversary of that fateful day when she’d first heard the name Guy Hightower. There were no predictions of what a good life she and Guy would have together. There was no need. She already knew.

  The ring was a princess cut one-carat diamond with a rose gold band. “Do you like it?” Guy had asked.

  “I love it. And I love you!”

  * * *

  The wedding still took place the weekend after Labor Day, as planned. The bride was beautiful as she stood under the arbor in the garden at Primrose Haus in Icicle Falls. And it was the best moment of Guy’s life when the minister finally said the long awaited, “You may kiss your bride.” And kiss her he did, to hoots and applause from the men and a chorus of sighs from every female present.

  The reception was a catered affair with salmon and prawns, prime rib and Caesar salad—something the groom had insisted on paying for. The cake was an edifice, a miniature Eiffel Tower to signify the bride and groom’s honeymoon destination.

  “You two are going to be so happy,” Livi’s sister-in-law predicted, then said to Livi, “Now, hurry up and get pregnant so little David has a cousin to play with.”

  “We’ll have fun working on that,” Guy said, making his bride blush.

  “Good luck,” Morris Bentley said to them. He kissed Livi on the cheek and shook hands with Guy, giving his blessing—something that was easier to do now that he’d met a woman online. She was into monster truck
racing and camping and action movies.

  “A much better match for him than I ever was,” Livi had said, although Morris wasn’t quite ready to admit that yet.

  Her father had welcomed Guy to the family and his mother was delighted to finally have an ideal daughter. And the stepsisters... Sent their regrets and place settings of Livi and Guy’s china. Mom had brought a special gift for the couple: the Limoges chocolate pot. Which, had, of course, put Livi in tears and endeared her to his mother forever.

  “I hope it works out,” Guy’s brother Mike said to him later as the couple made the rounds, visiting with their guests.

  “It will,” Guy said. “And thanks for the contribution.”

  Mike shook his head. “A goofy wedding present if you ask me. But then I think you’ve gone nuts. Leaving us, selling the Maserati and your digs in Seattle, moving to that Podunk town—dude, where is your head these days?”

  “In a good place,” Guy assured him.

  “You’ve lost your edge.”

  “No, I’m just focusing in a new direction.”

  “You’re gonna end up broke,” Mike warned.

  He looked to where his bride stood, visiting with Tillie and her daughters. “Never,” he said. He was now a very rich man.

  * * *

  Recipes

  How to Make Your Christmas Special—Tips From Christmas from the Heart

  Buy or make a tree ornament every year to commemorate something happening in your life—a trip, an anniversary, new baby, or new friend.

  Get together with someone you care about and create something special to enjoy over the holidays, such as hand-crafted greeting cards, candy corn or fudge.

  Make decorating for the holidays a team event. It’s much more fun to dress up the house together!

  Take an older relation out for lunch or a holiday latte and let that person reminisce about Christmases past.

  Be sure to hang some mistletoe!

  Go see Santa, no matter how old you are.

  Take cookies to your neighbor.