A Bride For Christmas

by Marion Lennox

  ‘Don’t you come down on his side. Kylie and Shirley were great to us.’

  They had been. All of those dreary months when Jenny had needed to be in the hospital-for three awful weeks Henry had not been expected to live-Kylie and Shirley and a host of other locals had run this little farm, had ferried Lorna and Jack wherever they’d wanted to go, had filled the freezer with enough casseroles to feed an army for years, had even taken over the organisation of local weddings. The town had been wonderful, and Jenny wasn’t about to turn her back on them now.

  ‘I know they’re fabulous,’ Lorna told her. ‘And of course I promised we’d do Kylie’s wedding. But they won’t hold us to more than that. I was just so upset. With Ben dead, and we thought we’d lose Henry…’

  ‘You would have promised the world,’ Jenny said. ‘Shirley knows that. She tried it on with Guy this afternoon-and why wouldn’t you? But I will do Kylie’s wedding for cost, and Guy can’t stop me. I’ll just organise it from here.’

  ‘And the rest?’

  ‘He can have the society weddings. I don’t want them.’

  ‘They’re the only ones that make us money.’

  ‘We’ll survive. He paid heaps for the business-more than its worth. But I don’t want Guy Carver as my boss.’

  ‘There’d be worse bosses,’ Jack said, and Jenny sighed.

  ‘Just because the man has a Ferrari…’

  ‘What’s he driving Henry for?’

  ‘To wheedle his way into getting me to work for him,’ she snapped. ‘The man’s a born wheedler. I can see it.’

  ‘He doesn’t look like a wheedler to me,’ Lorna said. She’d been laying plates on the table, but now she stilled her wheelchair and turned to face her daughter-in-law. ‘Jenny, it’s been two years. We know you loved Ben, but maybe it’s time you moved on?’

  ‘What are you talking about?’

  ‘He looks quite a catch,’ Jack said, crossing to the door to look-hopefully-out. With a bit of luck there’d be time for a ride for him before dinner was on the table. ‘A Lamborghini at home, eh?’

  ‘You think I should jump him because he owns a Lamborghini?’ Jenny asked incredulously, and Jack had the grace to look a bit shamefaced.

  ‘I just meant…’

  ‘He just meant don’t look a gift horse in the mouth,’ Lorna said decisively. ‘I’m asking the man to tea.’

  ‘You can’t.’

  ‘Watch me,’ Lorna said, plonking a fifth plate on the table. ‘I just know the nice man will stay.’

  The night was interminable. Jenny couldn’t believe he’d accepted Lorna’s invitation. She couldn’t believe he was sitting at her dining table with every appearance of complacency.

  This was a man international jet-setters regarded as ultra-cool-the epitome of good taste. If they saw him now…

  For a start he’d walked in the front door without even appearing to notice Lorna and Jack’s decorations. The Christmas after Ben had been killed, when Henry’s life had hung by a precarious thread, Lorna had decreed Christmas was off. ‘It doesn’t mean anything,’ she’d declared. ‘I’m tossing all my decorations.’

  Twelve months later she’d rather shamefacedly hauled out her non-tossed decorations. Jack and Jenny had been desultorily watching television, with Henry on the sofa nearby. They’d been miserable, but they’d fallen on the decorations like long-lost friends. That night had been the first night when ghosts and fear and sadness hadn’t hung over the house, and this year Henry had demanded his grandparents start sorting the decorations on the first day of November.

  So there was a reason why the decorations were just ever so slightly over the top, Jenny conceded. She’d hauled Henry’s chair close beside her. He was leaning on her, still lit up after his ride in Guy’s wonderful car. He was tired now, but Jenny thought there’d be trouble if she tried to send him to bed. Lorna and Jack were chatting to Guy as if they were entertaining an old friend, and Henry was soaking in every word.

  He had a new superhero.

  As for Jenny…Jenny was trying to block out the flashing lights from the real-sized sled in the front yard. The house and the yard were chock-full of Christmas kitsch. She loved every last fluffy pink angel, she decided defensively, trying not to wonder what he was thinking of her. If Guy didn’t like them, then he could leave.

  Guy Carver would be a minimalist, Jenny thought, watching Lorna ladle gravy over his roast beef and Jack handing him the vast casserole of cauliflower cheese. He’d like one svelte silhouette of a nativity scene in a cool grey window.

  Jenny could count five nativity scenes from where she was sitting.

  ‘The decorations are wonderful, Mrs Westmere,’ Guy told Lorna, and Jenny cast him a look of deep suspicion as Lorna practically purred.

  ‘Jenny thinks maybe the front yard is a bit over the top.’

  ‘How could you, Jenny?’ Guy said, and cast reproachful eyes at her.

  She choked.

  ‘Are you staying until Christmas?’ Jack asked, and Guy said he wasn’t sure.

  ‘Why I’m asking,’ said Jack, obviously searching for courage, ‘is that every year Santa comes to Sandpiper Bay.’

  ‘If you’re asking me to wear a Santa suit…’ Guy said, suddenly sounding fearful, and Jenny looked at Guy’s Mediterranean good looks and thought, Yeah, right. Santa-I don’t think so. ‘Then, no.’

  ‘No, no,’ Jack assured him. ‘We have a very fine Santa. Bill went to a training course in Sydney and everything. But the thing is that every Christmas morning Santa drives through the town tossing lollies-’

  ‘From the fire truck,’ Henry interrupted, which just about astounded Jenny all by itself. Normally when visitors came Henry was seen but not heard. Henry had been a happy, cheerful four-year-old when his father’s car had collided head-on with a kid spaced out of his brain on cocaine. Now Henry’s world was limited to hospital visits, physiotherapy clinics and his grandparents’ farm. For Henry to go with Guy tonight had been astonishing, and the fact that he was chirping away like a butcher’s magpie now was even more so.

  ‘See, there’s the problem,’ Jack explained, growing earnest. ‘The problem with Christmas in Australia is that it’s at the height of summer. In summer there’s fires. Last year the fire truck got called away. One minute Santa was up top, handing out lollies, the next he was standing in the middle of Main Street with a half-empty Santa sack while the fire truck screamed off into the distance to someone’s burning haystack.’

  ‘Goodness,’ Guy said faintly; Goodness, Jenny thought, suddenly realising where this was going.

  ‘Now, if you were here, young man, in your Ferrari…’

  ‘Santa could use your Ferrari,’ Henry said, suddenly wide-eyed. ‘Cool. Course it’s not the real Santa,’ he explained, while Guy looked as if he was trying to figure how he could escape. ‘He’s a Santa’s helper. Mum told me that last year. I sat in the back of our car and the fire engine came right up and Santa gave me three lollies.’

  ‘That was before it was called away,’ Jenny said, trying not to get teary. Too late-she was teary. Dratted tears. She blinked them away, but not before Guy had seen. She knew he’d seen. He had hawk-like eyes that could see everything.

  ‘Mr Carver’s going home before Christmas,’ she told Henry, feeling desperate. ‘Aren’t you, Mr Carver?’

  ‘I’m not sure,’ Guy told her. ‘And the name is Guy.’

  ‘You’re not seriously thinking of doing the Anna/Barret party?’

  ‘I’d need help.’

  ‘A party?’ Lorna intercepted, bright-eyed. ‘What sort of party?’

  ‘Anna and Barret’s wedding.’

  ‘Anna and Barret…’ Lorna paused, confused, and then confusion gave way to awe. ‘You don’t mean Anna and Barret?’

  ‘I mean Anna and Barret.’

  ‘They’re getting married? Here?’

  ‘If we can cater. If your daughter-in-law will come back as a member of my staff.’

  ‘Jenny
,’ Lorna said, eyes shining. ‘How wonderful.’

  ‘It’s not,’ Jenny said. ‘He won’t do Kylie’s wedding.’

  ‘We can do Kylie’s wedding,’ Guy said.

  She eyed him with disbelief. ‘As a Carver Wedding?’

  ‘I don’t think-’

  ‘Ha!’

  ‘She wouldn’t like my style of wedding.’

  ‘Anna wants pink tulle. Surely you give the clients what they want?’

  ‘If it fits into my-’

  ‘That is such an arrogant-’

  ‘Will you two stop it?’ Lorna said, stuttering in an attempt to get this sorted. ‘Jenny, you need to help him.’

  ‘I don’t.’

  ‘As a matter of interest,’ Guy said calmly, ‘could you help me if you wanted to?’

  ‘Do what?’ she said, trying to disguise a child-like glower. But he saw it and his lips twitched. No wonder the glossies described him in glowing terms, Jenny thought. Until now she’d wondered how the head of what was essentially a catering company had become someone that the gossip columnists described as hot property. Now she knew. Guy would just have to look at you with those eyes, that held laughter…

  The man was seriously sexy.

  ‘Do you have the resources to run a wedding for three hundred on Christmas Day?’ he asked, and she had to make a sharp attempt to haul her hormones into line. ‘Are we arguing about something that’s an impossibility?’

  ‘It’s not impossible,’ she said, and then thought maybe she shouldn’t have admitted it.

  ‘Why is it not impossible?’

  ‘Anna says she wants pink tulle?’

  ‘So?’ The laughter was gone now, and she could see why he was also described as one of the world’s best businessmen. She could see the intelligence…the focus.

  ‘So we could give her a country wedding. Kylie-style. It would be so unexpected that she’d love it.’

  ‘We could put on a country dance,’ Jack contributed. ‘It’s great weather this time of year. Haul some hay bales out into the paddock for seats, some more for a bar, and shove a keg on the back of the truck.’

  ‘Keg?’ Guy asked faintly.

  ‘Fosters,’ Jack told him. ‘Gotta be Fosters.’

  ‘He means beer,’ Jenny told him, putting him out of his misery. ‘I don’t think this crowd would be happy with only beer.’

  ‘Drink’s the least of my problems.’

  ‘So what’s your problem?’

  ‘Finding clothes for the wedding party in ten days. Sourcing food. Finding staff to wait on tables and clear up afterwards.’

  ‘Piece of cake,’ Jenny said, and then thought that was stupid. What was she letting herself in for?

  ‘How is it a piece of cake?’

  ‘Make Kylie’s wedding the first Australian Carver Wedding and I’ll tell you.’

  ‘Kylie doesn’t want a Carver Wedding.’

  ‘You’re making huge assumptions here,’ she flashed, and Henry stirred and looked up at his mother in surprise. Lorna shifted her wheelchair sideways so she could take his weight, and he moved his allegiance to his grandmother. As if he wasn’t quite sure who his mother was any more. ‘What’s the difference between Anna and Kylie?’ she demanded. ‘Career choice and money. Nothing more. Kylie’s got herself pregnant, but Anna ended up in drug rehab. Two kids getting married. Kylie does want a Carver Wedding, and she asked first.’

  ‘You’d seriously make me-’

  ‘No one’s making you do anything,’ she told him. ‘Including staying at our dinner table.’

  ‘You’re telling me to leave?’

  ‘I don’t like what money does to people.’

  ‘The man hasn’t finished his dinner yet,’ Jack protested. ‘Have a heart.’

  ‘It’s a bit rude to invite him to eat and put him out,’ Lorna added, looking curiously at Jenny.

  ‘Jenny’s just itching for a fight,’ Jack told Lorna, speaking across the table as if no one else was there. ‘Dunno what’s got into her, really.’

  ‘It’s hormones,’ Lorna decided. ‘You have a nice cup of tea, Jen.’

  ‘Lorna…’

  ‘She could do the wedding if she wanted to,’ Lorna said, turning to Guy. ‘She’s the cleverest lass. I used to run the salon, making dresses for locals and organising caterers for out-of-towners. Only then the out-of-towners grew to so many that I had to employ Jenny. It was the best thing I ever did. Her mum didn’t have any money, and her dad lit out early, so there wasn’t enough to send Jenny to anywhere like university. She took on an apprenticeship with me. She’s transformed the business. She’s just…’

  ‘Lorna!’ Jenny said, almost yelling. ‘Will you cut it out? Mr Carver doesn’t want to know about me.’

  ‘Yes, I do,’ he said mildly. ‘I need to persuade you to use some of your skills on my behalf. Where could you get caterers on Christmas Day?’

  ‘I don’t-’

  ‘You tell him, lass,’ Jack said. ‘Don’t hide your light under a bushel.’

  She stared wildly round, but they were all watching her expectantly. Even Henry.

  ‘This town is full of retirees,’ she said at last, trying desperately to get her voice under control. ‘Most of them have a very quiet Christmas. If we had all the food planned the day before-if we settled on country fare that all the women round here can cook-if Anna settled for a late wedding and if we told the locals that they could come to the dance afterwards-there’d be queues to work for us.’

  ‘Locals come to the ceremony?’ he said, incredulous.

  ‘Not the ceremony. The idea would be that there’d be a huge party afterwards, with workers welcome. Think of the publicity for Anna and Barret. If you got onto that nice PR person I talked to this afternoon…’

  Guy stared at her, poleaxed. ‘It might…’

  ‘It might well work,’ she said. ‘She’s not squeaky clean, our Anna, and this would be great publicity.’

  ‘You know about Anna’s past?’

  ‘The world knows about Anna’s past. This wedding will be great for her.’

  ‘It would,’ he agreed, and suddenly Jenny’s eyes narrowed.

  ‘That’s why you’re thinking of doing it,’ she said softly, on a note of discovery, thinking it through as she spoke. ‘I couldn’t understand…’ But suddenly she did, seeing clearly where her impetuous nature had landed Guy. ‘The Carver empire doesn’t need this wedding, but Anna needs the Carver emporium.’ She bit her lip. ‘I should have thought about that when I was contacted. Oh, heck. I was angry with you, and I didn’t think.’

  To say Guy was bewildered was an understatement. That Jenny was sensitive enough to see connotations that he’d only figured because he moved in those circles…

  His estimation of the woman in front of him was changing by the minute. Gorgeous, smart, funny…

  He didn’t do gorgeous, smart and funny. He didn’t do complications.

  He rose, so sharply that he had to make a grab to catch his chair before it toppled. ‘I need to go.’

  ‘You haven’t had coffee,’ Lorna said mildly, but he didn’t hear. He was watching Jenny.

  ‘You agree to staying on my payroll until Christmas?’

  ‘Can Kylie have a Carver Wedding?’

  ‘Yes,’ he said, against the ropes and knowing it.

  She hesitated, but then gave a rueful smile. ‘Okay, then. I’ve never worked for a boss before.’

  ‘What about me?’ Lorna said, indignant, and Jenny grinned.

  ‘That’s different. I walked into your shop for the interview and Ben was there. I was family from that minute on.’

  ‘You were, too,’ Lorna said, and reached over and squeezed her hand.

  Family.

  Something knotted in Guy’s gut that he didn’t want to know about. He backed to the door.

  ‘Where are you staying, young man?’ Jack asked.

  ‘My secretary booked a place for me. Braeside?’

  ‘You been there yet?’ />
  ‘No. I-’

  ‘You’ll never find it,’ Jack said with grim satisfaction. ‘It’s up back of town, by the river. Tourists get lost there all the time.’ It seemed a source of satisfaction. Jack was looking at him with what seemed to be enjoyment.

  ‘I have directions.’

  ‘I’ve seen the directions they use. You’ll be driving through the mountains ’til dawn. Jenny’ll have to take you.’

  Jenny stilled. Then she nodded, as if she agreed. ‘You will get lost. I’ll drive there, and you can follow me.’

  ‘What fun is that?’ Jack demanded. ‘You haven’t had a drive in his Ferrari. I’ve got a better idea. You drive him home in his Ferrari and then bring it back here. Then pick him up on the way to work tomorrow morning.’

  ‘I can’t drive a Ferrari,’ Jenny said, astonished.

  ‘Course you can,’ Jack said roundly. ‘If you can make your ancient bucket of bolts work, you can make anything work. Her wagon’s held together with string,’ he told Guy. ‘She ought to buy another, but she’s putting every cent she owns into a fund for Henry’s schooling.’ His face clouded a little. ‘There’s been a few costs over the last couple of years we hadn’t counted on.’

  Of course, Guy thought, his eyes moving to Henry’s face. The little boy’s face was perfect on one side, but on the other were scars-lots of scars.

  ‘I can’t drive a Ferrari,’ Jenny said again, and he forced himself to think logically. Which was hard when his emotions were stirring in all sorts of directions.

  ‘Yes, you can,’ he said, and managed a smile that he hoped was casual.

  ‘There you go, then,’ Lorna said, triumphant. ‘Jack and me will put Henry to bed. Henry, your mother is going to have a drive in the lovely car. Isn’t that great?’

  ‘Ace,’ said Henry.

  CHAPTER THREE

  IT FELT weird, Jenny thought as they walked across the yard towards his car. It was almost dark. She should be reading her son his bedtime story.

  She shouldn’t be climbing into a Ferrari.

  ‘You drive,’ Guy said, and tossed her the keys.

  ‘This is a bad idea,’ she muttered. ‘This is a borrowed car. Surely your friend wouldn’t agree to me using it?’