by Emma Miller
“But I can’t accept this. And he says it’s repayment for a debt? No one owes me anything.”
“Well, Secret Santa must think he does because that’s a beautiful ring, and it’s paid for.” He looked behind the counter. “Hold on a minute. Yes, here are the appraisal papers for it. You’ll want that for insurance.”
David flipped through the papers, saw the value of the ring and gasped. “Definitely no one owes me that much!”
“You’ll have to take that up with Secret Santa,” Mr. Grier said, “assuming you figure out who he is.” He smiled. “I’m guessing you won’t.” Then he looked at the ring. “And I’m guessing you might be getting yourself a fiancée for Christmas. I really like Laura, you know.”
“I really like her, too.” David lifted the ring out of the box and held it up to the light. It was amazing.
“The three diamonds are princess cut,” Mr. Grier explained, “and they represent the past, present and future of your love.”
“And it’s paid for,” David said, finding it hard to believe.
“Paid for and yours.”
He folded the appraisal papers and slid them into his back pocket. Then he put the ring box in his front right pocket. Maybe this was a sign—a sign that everything would work out. Somehow he’d find a way to make a living in Claremont...and keep Laura here, too. As his wife, if she said yes. “Thank you, Mr. Grier,” he said, leaving the jewelry store in a state of disbelief. He, David Presley, had an engagement ring in his pocket...and a woman he wanted to give it to.
“Don’t thank me,” Mr. Grier called, “thank Santa.”
Chapter Eighteen
David had started back to the bookstore but then remembered he was supposed to get coffee and backtracked across the square. Funny how a diamond ring in his pocket made him forget pretty much everything else. He opened the door to The Grind and was met by the warmth of the fireplace filling the room along with the crisp scent of coffee coupled with the sweet scent of fresh baked cookies.
“Merry Christmas Eve Eve,” Rhonda said as he entered. Several people from town sat on the sofas and at the tables spaced sporadically around the coffeehouse and most all of them waved a hand or fingertips to David.
“Merry Christmas Eve Eve to you, too,” he said, feeling as chipper as she looked in her green-and-red sequined Christmas cap and matching Christmas ornament earrings.
“There’s a table open by the fireplace,” she said, “or do you want something to go?”
“Two mocha lattes to go,” he said.
She smiled knowingly as she jotted down the order. “For you and Laura?”
“Yes,” he said, already liking the ring of that. David and Laura. It sounded really good. Felt even better.
“Want cookies, too? We made iced sugar cookies today.”
“Why not? Give me four.”
“All righty. They’re shaped like Christmas trees, wreaths, stockings and snowmen. You have a preference for which ones you get?”
“One of each,” he said, looking forward to watching Laura enjoy the treat. In college, he never saw her eat sweets; however, her pregnancy had her craving a bit of sugar almost every day. David was happy to oblige, just to see her smile. He really liked seeing her smile.
Rhonda moved behind the pastry counter and started getting David’s cookies while the barista prepared the lattes. The band More Than This played Christmas music beside a decorated tree on one side of the shop, and David enjoyed the songs so much that he nearly didn’t hear Rhonda’s comment.
“So, was that Laura’s brother looking for her earlier?” she asked. “I sent him over to the bookstore to find her.”
David turned away from the band to look at the waitress. “Laura’s brother?” He shook his head. “Laura’s an only child. Someone was looking for her?”
She checked the white sack to see the cookies she’d already placed inside and then reached for a snowman one to add to the bag. “Yeah, not long ago. I know I’ve never seen him before. I’d have remembered. He kind of favored her, so I thought he might be her brother. You know, blond, nice features,” she said, and she blushed. “Tall. I was actually going to ask if her brother was moving here, maybe.” She slid a stocking cookie in the bag and then folded the top down. “And, you know, whether he was single?”
Obviously Rhonda had taken a quick interest in whoever this guy was, a tall, nice-looking blond dude who wasn’t from around here and was looking for Laura. His old roommate’s image came to mind.
“He, um, had the greenest eyes I’ve ever seen,” she said. “Maybe that’ll help you figure out who it is? You know anybody like that?”
I think the first thing that caught my attention was his eyes. And it’s still so hard for me to look at his eyes and not just melt. Laura’s confession from college, on a night when she’d been hurt by Jared’s flirting with one of her friends, had clued David in on the effect of his buddy’s unique eyes on women.
Obviously, Rhonda wasn’t immune.
“You know who he is?” she asked, and David realized she’d been scrutinizing his response to every tidbit of information she revealed.
“I think I do.” And he wondered why Jared had come here, to Claremont. “Was anyone with him?” Like, say, his wife?
“No,” she said. “He was by himself. And he said he needed to find Laura as soon as possible because he’d made a terrible mistake and he wanted to fix it. I figured it was one of those sibling arguments, you know, like me and my brother have. Figured he came here to apologize in person. He seemed like the kind of guy that would do that,” she said dreamily.
Great. Yet another one taken with Jared. And Jared, apparently, was currently with Laura.
“So...is he single?” Rhonda asked, sliding the sack of cookies across the glass counter toward the two white cups holding their lattes.
“No, he isn’t,” David said.
“Right,” she answered disappointedly, while David took his coffees and cookies then headed toward the door...wondering if he’d just told a lie. Was Jared single now? Did the “mistake” he was talking about include leaving Laura, the mother of his twins, and marrying someone else? Would he have left Anita already and decided he had made a mistake, that he still loved Laura? That he should’ve married Laura?
The brisk December cold hit him even harder, an abrupt change from the warmth of the coffeehouse. Or maybe it merely felt colder because of the cold reality that the father of Laura’s babies had come to town. The guy Laura had loved first.
He looked toward the bookstore and saw the door open. David took a step back to stand beneath the coffeehouse’s awning and prayed that the two wouldn’t look his way. He didn’t want to talk to Jared, but he wanted to see—no, he didn’t want to, but he needed to see—him interact with Laura. Did she still want him?
Sure enough, Jared stepped outside with Laura standing within the open door. David watched as his old friend reached out and ran the backs of his fingers along her cheek. He saw Laura turn her head into Jared’s touch.
David couldn’t watch anymore. Jared was here, and he obviously wanted her back. And from all appearances, Laura wanted him, too. Well, of course she did. This was the guy she’d loved throughout college, and this was the father of her babies. They should be together. David felt a sharp stab of pity for Anita, the woman Jared had apparently married on a whim and then dumped to be with the woman...he never should have left.
The woman David loved.
“Hey, Mr. David, did your friend find you?” Kaden asked, running down the sidewalk toward David.
“My friend?” David asked.
Kaden nodded exuberantly while Mandy, carrying Mia, tried to catch up with her son.
“Kaden, you need to slow down,” she said breathlessly, and then to David, “your old roommate from college cam
e into the bookstore while we were there. He asked where you were.”
“Did he?” David glanced past Mandy to see Jared walking away from the bookstore, and from David’s vantage, he appeared to be smiling. If he’d actually been interested in seeing David, he’d have stuck around until he returned, wouldn’t he? But he hadn’t. And David knew that was because he hadn’t really been searching for his old roommate. He’d been looking for the girl he’d loved, the mother of his babies.
“Yeah,” Kaden said, unaware of the tumult this conversation was inflicting on David, “but then he said he really wanted to just talk to Miss Laura, and then they started talking about her babies and stuff.”
Mandy ran a hand across Kaden’s curls. “That’s enough, Kaden. We didn’t mean to eavesdrop,” she explained. “And we left so they could talk without an audience.” She tilted her head toward Kaden.
David wondered what Jared had said that the boy had overheard.
“We aren’t a audience,” Kaden said with shrug. “Mr. David, is that guy her boyfriend?”
“Did he say he was?” David asked.
“Kinda.”
David’s skin bristled. “How do you mean?”
“’Cause he said he missed her and he hugged her and stuff, like if he was her boyfriend. Adam at my school has a girlfriend, but he doesn’t hug her or anything. They just play on the monkey bars and the seesaw instead of Adam playing tag with us boys.” Kaden shook his head. “I don’t want a girlfriend, ’cause I like to play tag.”
David weeded through the information and zeroed in on what was important in his world. “He said he missed her.”
Mandy nervously cleared her throat. “He mentioned that he’d missed Laura and that he had been thinking about her,” she said. “But then we left.”
“But remember? Miss Laura said she’d been thinking about him, too,” Kaden added, unknowingly twisting the knife.
“Yes, I remember,” Mandy admitted, her cheeks turning even more red. “And then we left.” She gave David what she probably thought was a reassuring smile.
He didn’t feel reassured. “Well, y’all have a good day.” Turning away from the uncomfortable conversation, he reentered the coffeehouse and took a seat. More Than This started playing “Blue Christmas.” David couldn’t think of a more fitting song.
* * *
Laura couldn’t believe how much had changed in the span of a few hours. Jared’s offer was so heartfelt, so meaningful, so...unexpected. He wasn’t the same guy that she’d known in the spring. This wasn’t a man who would tell her to end a pregnancy. No, this guy already loved her babies because they were his, too. This guy had offered her a Nashville apartment to live in until she found a job. And he said he’d help her pay for everything, from now on, for the girls, even though Laura hadn’t asked.
And all because he’d finally found faith...with Anita. His story had made Laura cry because now she understood. She’d found her faith again, too, because of David. But she’d been so touched listening to Jared describe how his eyes had been opened and how Anita had encouraged him to do what was right, especially since she was now pregnant, too. Jared and his new wife didn’t want his twins not knowing the sibling they would have next summer.
Laura had promised to think about Jared’s offer and consider it. Either way he would help her support the girls, whether she moved back to Nashville or stayed here. His offer would help her stay here...if that’s what David wanted.
She prayed it was, that he would still want her in Claremont and with him even if the bookstore wasn’t a factor. Because she knew she loved him. The thought of leaving him in two days had made her sick this morning, but now Jared had promised to help her out until she found a job. And she would find a job, eventually. No, it wouldn’t be at the bookstore, but surely she could find something here to hold her over until she was able to get a position teaching at the school.
She simply needed David to tell her he wanted her to stay. And she suspected he’d been about to say that very thing this morning before they were interrupted by Zeb. Maybe he was even going to say more. The three words that she wanted to hear so desperately.
The bookstore door opened, and she turned to see David entering carrying two coffee cups and a small white bag. She smiled. “You just can’t get coffee without cookies, can you?”
He didn’t give her the smile she expected, but instead walked past her to place the items on the counter. “I guess not.”
Laura started to tell him about Jared’s visit and his offer, but there was something she wanted to cover first, something she hadn’t stopped thinking about since he left. “You said you’d tell me what you were going to say this morning,” she reminded, grabbing her mocha latte and taking a delicious sip. “So...tell.” And then she’d tell him her news, too, that Jared would be helping financially.
David picked up his coffee, took a long sip and then swallowed.
Laura’s skin tingled, she was so anxious. “So...what were you going to tell me? You said, ‘Laura, I don’t want you to...’ and then Zeb walked in. You don’t want me to—what?” She knew what he was going to say, that he didn’t want her to leave. That he felt as strongly toward her as she felt toward him, and he wanted her to stay in Claremont and the two of them to work through everything together. Now and forever. She took another sip of her latte, let the rich mocha tease her tongue while she waited to hear him tell her how he felt.
“I don’t want you to,” he began again, then visibly swallowed and added, “stay in Claremont.”
The coffee lodged in her throat and she forced herself to swallow it down. “Wh-what? You want me to leave?”
“The bookstore is closing. I tried to help you out, but I won’t be able to anymore,” he said, his words clipped and firm, without even a hint of compassion. “Your life is in Nashville. Mine is here.” He took another sip of his coffee. “We’re still friends, though,” he added. “If you ever need me, and if I can help, I’ll be here.”
“Of course you will,” she said, shaken by this change of events, “because that’s what friends do, help you out when you need it...and then send you on your way.” She waited for him to refute the statement, to tell her that wasn’t what he was doing at all, but he nodded once, placed his coffee cup on the counter and then left her sitting alone.
Chapter Nineteen
David hadn’t been able to find a way to back out of his commitment to be best man at this wedding. For the past two days, he’d only spoken to Laura when absolutely necessary, not wanting to make things even more awkward than they already were by trying to talk her out of leaving.
He’d told her to go, and after her parents said “I do,” she’d do just that. Leave...and go back to Jared.
David had been shocked that she still hadn’t even told him about Jared’s visit, but then again, what good would telling him do? It wouldn’t change the fact that Jared had shown up and now she was returning to Nashville, where she could be with the father of her babies.
David should be happy things worked out the way Laura wanted.
He should be.
Marjorie wore a fitted cream dress and carried a bouquet of poinsettias. Thomas and David wore suits, as did Brother Henry. The only people present who weren’t in the wedding party were Brother Henry’s wife, Mary, who sat in the second row and dripped tears through the ceremony as though it were her own daughter getting married for the first time, and David’s parents, thrilled to spend part of their holiday attending a vow renewal. None of them realized the pain he endured, attending a wedding with Laura present and knowing that the wedding he most wanted, the one between the two of them, would never happen.
“I just love this,” Mary whispered repeatedly.
Several times, Marjorie, never taking her eyes from her husband, agreed, “I do, too.”
Bu
t all of the others faded into the background for David. The only person he saw wore a pretty red dress and a smile that seemed forced. Laura had her hair pulled up and held in place with some decorative barrettes, a curled blond tendril hanging down on each side of her face. David wondered if she’d have worn her hair that way for their wedding day. Or if she’d wear it that way when she wed Jared.
He stuck his hand in his pocket, felt the ring Thomas had purchased for Marjorie and thought of the ring David had, courtesy of Secret Santa, in the opposite pocket. He hadn’t wanted to leave it in his apartment. He hadn’t wanted to leave it anywhere period. He’d wanted to put it on Laura’s finger. And now that she was leaving, he should probably give it back.
But he had no idea who’d given it to him. The town was so protective of Secret Santa that David didn’t have a clue to the guy’s identity. How could he return the ring?
Laura gazed at her parents as they completed their vows, but as soon as they finished, she looked at David, her eyes filled with unanswered questions.
David couldn’t look at her, so he focused on Thomas and Marjorie, finishing the ceremony with a kiss. Their show of affection went on a little too long for comfort, and Mary’s tears turned to giggles. Brother Henry also chuckled, and Laura returned her attention to her parents.
“Sorry, but this is just so wonderful!” Marjorie gushed.
“I totally agree, Mom,” Laura said. “It is wonderful. I’m so—” she brushed away a tear “—happy for both of you.” Glancing at David, she frowned a little, then took a step toward her mom to hug her, and stopped. “Oh! Oh, my!” She grabbed at her stomach and winced.
“Laura, what is it?” Marjorie asked, while David rushed to her side.
“Laura? Is it the babies?” he asked.
Still wincing, she nodded, and David realized she was holding her breath. He forgot about the fact that they were barely speaking, forgot about the fact that his heart had been broken and solely concentrated on helping the woman he loved—whether she loved him back or not. “Breathe, honey. Hold on to me.” He took her hands and she squeezed them nearly hard enough to break bone. Then she eased up, released her breath and said, “Not—not false labor.”
