Soon the kids were gathering around the huge Christmas tree, because Santa had arrived with presents for each and every one of them.
Kyle had a huge smile of excitement on his face, and Zach watched him closely. He got along well with the other kids—which was a good thing. Many of the other mentally impaired kids from the school sometimes remained isolated, and had difficulties interacting with others. But Kyle seemed to be unusually outgoing.
Unless he tried to pull a stunt like he had the other day, when he’d jumped on top of Zach. Zach smiled wryly, as Kyle began opening his gift. That would be something Zach would have to keep an eye out for—Kyle was big, and kind of muscular, while a lot of these other kids were much smaller, and more vulnerable. Some of these kids could easily be hurt.
“Oh, wow!” Beth bent over to take a look at the digitalized keyboard, Zach was helping Kyle unwrap in its box. “Isn’t that nice? Someone must’ve known about Kyle’s interest in music!”
Zach smiled, sheepishly.
“You?” Beth gave him a huge smile, and Zach’s heart began hammering hard against his chest.
Again. It’d been beating at an irregular pace the entire afternoon.
“Most of us who work at the school donate the gifts for the exchange. The keyboard’s got a built-in radio too.” He gave her a wry grin. “I figured I might as well give him a gift that was useful, in case he never learned how to play it.”
Her laughter sounded like music in his ears.
The party was beginning to wind down, when Luke and Kelly finally approached them to say their goodbyes.
“You guys need to come over for dinner sometime, and see our place—it’s pretty cool,” Kelly said. “We live right on Dragonfly Pointe.”
“We’d love to.” Beth grimaced. “But are you sure you can handle us?”
Beth was watching him and Kyle, and a beautiful smile lit up her face. Zach was trying, with difficulty, to concentrate of what he was doing. Zach had managed to find a plug in for the adapter of the keyboard nearby, and Kyle was busy running his fingers over the keys. Zach sucked in a deep breath, and began playing a simple tune for Kyle.
Kelly answered Beth with reassurance. “Of course, we can!”
“We’re family,” Luke said to Beth. “If you can’t turn to people like us for help with Kyle—who can you turn to?”
Kyle was smiling widely at Zach as he continued to play Jingle Bells.
But Zach was listening intently to the conversation Beth was having with Luke and Kelly.
“I was going to have the tree delivered tomorrow. Your dad told me about the tree farm nearby. Kyle and I are going to drive out there, when we’re finished here today.”
Since Kyle wanted to try to play the tune himself, Zach handed over the keyboard, before standing up and joining in the conversation. “Well—I’ve got a truck. I could load up the tree for you today, so you could begin decorating it tonight—if you’d like?” Zach couldn’t believe the words were coming out of his mouth.
Luke looked a little surprised himself.
Kelly smiled broadly, giving Zach that speculative look again. “And Zach could drive you out to the farm. The roads leading out there aren’t very well marked,” she said.
Beth looked hesitant, turning to Zach. “Are you sure you don’t mind? You’ve already devoted the entire afternoon to Kyle, as it is.”
“Nah,” Zach answered, giving her a wry smile.
“Well, come on, Kyle,” Beth said, reaching down and lifting Kyle to his feet. “Zach won’t let anyone walk off with that keyboard,” she added, when Kyle tried to pick it up and take it with him. Beth grinned at Zach. “Let’s go meet a couple more of the teachers, and say thank you to the Loughlins, for everything they’ve done for us.”
Beth clasped Kyle’s hand and they began strolling through the room.
A few moments later, Zach glanced furtively at Beth and Kyle, making sure that they were far enough away, before turning to Luke. “Alright,” he muttered, grimacing. “You’d better tell me quick. How do you get out to that Christmas tree farm?”
Luke barked out a laugh, and Kelly began to giggle.
* * * * *
“She’s a lot older than him.” Luke glanced at Kelly, where she sat behind the wheel of the truck as they made their way home from the Dragonfly Pointe Inn. Their house was only a skip and a jump away, but with the snow coming down hard, Kelly hadn’t wanted Luke to risk the chance of slipping while he was wearing his prosthetic. He hadn’t had much practice walking with his artificial limb in these kinds of conditions yet.
“Not that much, Luke,” Kelly said, peering through the windshield. “He’s definitely attracted to her. And besides, when was the last time you saw him with a woman?”
Luke watched through the window as Kelly slowed down, after the truck began sliding across some patchy ice. He frowned. “They’d better get some salt on these roads, soon.” He became thoughtful. “Let’s see—the last time I saw Zach with a female?” Luke became somewhat grim. “Probably back in Madison, before we went off on that final mission.”
Kelly nodded. “He just seems so lonely.” She carefully turned the truck into the driveway and began following the incline toward the garage.
Absentmindedly, Zach pressed the button for the remote of the garage door opener, hooked over the visor above. “He’s always been a magnet for women, you know—even now—although he doesn’t really see it.”
Kelly slowly pulled the truck into the garage. When she shut down the engine, she turned in her seat and looked hard at him. “You know, he doesn’t let anyone see those scars. He’s so self-conscious—if it keeps on going on—I doubt if he’ll ever let any woman get close to him again.”
Luke grimaced. “Yeah—even though I had the scars, with me, it was all about the missing leg.”
She nodded her obvious agreement. “But you eventually accepted it. You’ve had an equal amount of time to adjust—it seems to me that it’s time for Zach to move forward, and accept himself for what he has now. After all, you finally did, Luke.”
“But that was different, babe,” Luke said, softly, staring into Kelly’s beautiful blue eyes. “I had you.”
“That’s it, exactly, Luke” she said quietly, reaching over and squeezing his hand. “And Beth wouldn’t care about Zach’s scars. She’s the kind of woman who’d fall in love with a guy for what he was on the inside.” Her smile was oh, so, lovely and tender when she gazed into his eyes. “And nothing else would matter.”
CHAPTER SIX
God, he was so good-looking, was the first thing she’d thought, when she’d first laid eyes on him again. The second thing she’d thought about was how good he smelled. And inwardly, she’d smiled. There was something really strange about the fact that she loved his scent—was it his soap or cologne? What would he think if he knew she’d been dreaming about him, every single night, since the day they’d met?
Beth frowned. It was kind of warm in the room. But for some strange reason, Zach seemed to be overly dressed and bundled up, wearing a gray fleece pullover, with a high, zipped collar covering his neck.
They stuck around the inn for another thirty minutes after Kelly and Luke took off.
Beth had some difficulty separating Kyle from the keyboard, when it was time to depart. It was strange, maybe she was just imagining it? But Kyle seemed to be making lots of sense with his choice of keys when he was playing—his fiddling around almost sounded like actual music.
“You can play with it again, as soon as we get home, Kyle,” Beth said. Kyle had struggled a bit with Zach, when he’d attempted to slide the keyboard back into its box.
Looking slightly uncertain, Kyle stood up on his feet.
“How about we go and pick out a Christmas tree?” Beth asked.
Kyle began jumping up and down—ready to be on the move again.
Once Beth had managed to bundle him up into his winter coat, Kyle was giggling uncontrollably, by the time they were trudging, th
rough the snow, into the parking lot.
Zach hesitated. “So, where are you guys living?”
“On Stone Lake,” Beth answered.
“We’ll be going north to the farm,” Zach said, glancing at the sky. “Looks like the weather’s eased up a little, for now. “Why don’t you follow me through town? We can park your SUV in the parking lot of the grocery store, since it’s at the junction of the road leading out to Stone Lake. Let’s just take my truck to the farm—okay? It’s probably got better traction over the snow and ice.”
Beth nodded agreeably. “Sounds good—I brought along some extra gloves, hats and scarves.”
Beth’s heart skipped a beat, when Zach grinned before answering, “Bring them along. I’m not sure what I’ve got in my truck.”
Soon, after warming up the SUV, Beth was following Zach’s truck carefully along the snow-covered road, as they drove through town, and then finally into the parking lot of the grocery store.
She parked the SUV, and slid open the back door. “No—we don’t need to bring the keyboard along where we’re going,” Beth said firmly, when Kyle tried to pick it up.
Zach barked out a laugh, from where he stood waiting outside nearby, leaning back against his truck.
Even though Kyle was still revved up when he was loaded into the back seat of Zach’s truck, they somehow managed to be quickly on their way.
Although Zach and Beth remained mostly silent, it was a magical twenty-five-minute drive—the trees were coated with ice and there was a family of deer wandering beside the road when they pulled into the entrance of the farm. The three of them bundled up tightly in their coats, and were each wearing hats, scarves and gloves, before making their trek through the trees. Kyle laughed and giggled the entire time—he sure was loving his new life in Crystal Rock.
After twenty minutes of studying the trees, Beth finally made her choice. She turned to Zach, who had somehow ended up holding Kyle’s hand while Beth had been wandering ahead of them along the path.
She pointed at a lovely eight-foot Blue Spruce. “This one here,” she said excitedly. Its needles were sharp, but it’d definitely discourage Kyle from fiddling with the ornaments once the tree was decorated.
“Ohh-kay.” Zach grinned. “If you don’t mind me saying so, it doesn’t look much different from the other one, you looked at first.” Letting go of Kyle’s hand, he dropped down to his knees near the tree, and began sawing at the base of the trunk.
Beth grimaced as she studied the tree. “No, it doesn’t, does it?”
Zach’s eyes met hers and they began to laugh.
In a matter of minutes, the tree was felled, and she and Zach were discussing the easiest way to haul it along the path. Zach wrapped Kyle’s hand around the tip of the tree before grabbing a hold of the base of the trunk, alongside Beth.
They’d pulled off their gloves, to get a better grip on the trunk. When Zach’s hand brushed accidentally over hers, Beth stilled, as her eyes met Zach’s.
Was that desire she saw in his eyes? All Beth knew, that whatever it was, it was filling her with a longing that she’d never ever experienced before.
Zach cleared his throat. “Ready?” he asked.
“Ready,” she answered, somewhat dizzily, snapping out of her trance.
Beth gave Zach a side glance as they slid the tree along the snow coated trail. Soon the enchanting afternoon would be over, she thought regrettably. She’d never laughed as much with a man in her entire life!
Other people seemed to think of Kyle as a burden, whereas she chose to think of him as a blessing. He was as he was—and what-ifs weren’t gonna change him or the situation. It was wondrous sometimes, looking at life through Kyle’s eyes—like the first time he’d ridden on a merry-go-round, or had gazed into the sky to see fireworks. So many people took the simple joys in life for granted.
And the most astonishing thing of all? Zach seemed to understand—and to feel exactly like she did!
She and Zach and Kyle finally reached the path, leading back to the greenhouse. After they left the tree to be wrapped, and loaded into Zach’s truck, Kyle grabbed Zach’s hand, and tried to pull him inside
Zach grinned at Beth. “Want to take a look at the Christmas decorations in the shop?”
She hesitated. “Are you sure you don’t mind?”
“Nah,” Zach answered. “C’mon. It looks like they’ve got a lot of cool stuff for sale.”
Apparently, the weather hadn’t interrupted everyone’s preparations for the holidays, because a couple of other trucks had pulled into the parking lot, as the three of them wandered around the greenhouse and studied the decorated wreaths and ornaments for sale.
Beth turned to Zach when she noticed some outdoor ornaments fashioned from bird seed. “Kyle’s fascinated with watching the birds and squirrels through the windows in the family room. I think I’ll get a few of these, to use when the weather’s bad. I can hang them outside of the window, without having to make a trip through the snow to fill the feeder.”
When she and Zach reached up at the same time, to grab a handful of prepackaged ornaments, Beth found herself nearly wrapped within his arms. And there it was again, Beth thought, when she searched Zach’s eyes.
She held her breath. Was he going to kiss her?
Zach broke the spell when he abruptly pulled away. “Sorry.” Kyle was beginning to wander down the next aisle, and Zach scrambled to catch up with him.
Why was she suddenly feeling so disappointed? She barely knew the guy, Beth admitted to herself, halfheartedly. After counting out a half a dozen ornaments, she took in a shaky breath, before strolling over to where Kyle and Zach stood waiting near the checkout counter.
Before long, they were back on the road, with the radio switched onto a channel exclusively featuring Christmas music.
When they pulled into the parking lot of the grocery store, Kyle was asleep in the backseat of Zach’s truck. Lifting his finger to his mouth, Zach motioned at the SUV with a nod of his head. In silent understanding, Beth grinned, leaving Kyle with Zach in the truck.
Twenty minutes later, she was pulling the SUV into the driveway of her lakefront property, with Zach following closely behind her.
When Zach stepped out from the truck, Kyle finally began to stir. Reaching into the backseat, Zach hoisted Kyle into his arms.
Beth laughed, watching Zach wobble from side to side, as he trudged through the snow and nearly dropped Kyle. “He can walk, Zach. Didn’t you say you have a messed up leg? Besides—it’s way too early to let him sleep—he’d be waking me up in the middle of the night.”
Zach grunted and grinned—letting Kyle’s feet drop to the ground.
Kyle must’ve remembered the keyboard, because he was suddenly wide awake. He went running over to the SUV, and slid open the back door to grab the box.
Zach shook his head and smiled, watching Kyle. “I think that I’d better just bring in the tree,” he muttered.
“And we’ll get out of your way.” She pointed to the door that led directly into the family room. “You can bring it into the house through there. I’ll need to unlock the door from the inside—I’ve got keyed in deadbolts on every single door, because of Kyle.”
Zach grimaced. “Good idea.”
She gave him a rueful smile. “Yeah. But I really wish I hadn’t learned the hard way, that I needed them.”
Zach laughed. “I’ve got a feeling that there’s a story or two behind that observation,” he said dryly.
“That’s for sure,” she said, and laughed, walking towards Kyle, where he stood waiting for her to unlock the front door. “I’ll get that porch door opened for you.”
Making his way to the rear of the truck, Zach pulled down the hatch.
* * * * *
What a place, Zach thought, dragging the spruce inside through the wide opened doors from the deck. Even at dusk, the view across the lake of the vibrant setting sun was absolutely amazing.
Beth helped him place t
he tree into the stand she’d already set up near the fireplace. Once they were finished, she stood back to make sure it stood straight, obviously admiring the tree.
Her question came out of the blue. “Know anyone who’d be interested in renting this place, when I move out in a couple of months?”
“Me,” he answered without thinking.
“Really? Cal is still working on my house. But it should be move-in ready in a couple of months.” She pointed through the window at the huge Victorian home next door, and grimaced. “The house needed a lot more work than Cal realized.”
“Just you and Kyle are gonna live there?” Zach grinned. “That place is huge.”
“Yeah, once I actually saw it, I kind of worried about what I was getting myself into. It used to be an inn, I guess. It was more of an investment property.” She gave him, what appeared to be, an impish grin. “It’s always been my dream to refurbish and live in an old Victorian home.”
“Yeah?” He hesitated, wondering about how much to say about himself, and his reasons for moving to Crystal Rock. With all the physical activity this afternoon, he was beginning to feel lots of discomfort from the fleece he’d been wearing around his neck all day. He’d say nothing, he decided, suddenly feeling somewhat disheartened. “I decided to stick around Crystal Rock and make it my home after visiting Luke. It’s time to get my stuff out of storage, though. I need to move out from Luke and Kelly’s guesthouse.”
“Well—if you’re really serious about moving in here, you can talk to Cal. I have no idea about what to charge, for rent, for a place like this. I’d just like to rent it out as soon as possible, because I’m still waiting for my house in Bloomington to sell. Of course, you’d have your privacy—we’re far enough away that Kyle wouldn’t be able to bug you. Besides, you’ll probably see too much of him at school and in the work program, anyway.”
Understandably impatient for his mom to begin decorating the tree, Kyle rushed over to Beth, and grabbed her hand. When he began fiddling with the jeweled Christmas tree pin attached to her collar, Beth gave Kyle a tender smile, before glancing over and smiling at him.
Two Hearts Unspoken (Two Hearts Wounded Warrior Book 2) Page 4
