The snow was falling hard by the time Carrie reached Hassie’s house; she barely noticed.
Vaughn answered the door and surprised her by closing it after him as he stepped onto the porch. “Merry Christmas,” he said, his eyes never leaving hers.
As much as possible, she avoided looking at him.
“We need to talk, Carrie.”
“Here? Now?” She faked a short laugh. “I don’t think so, Vaughn.”
“Later, then?”
She nodded.
He sighed with unmistakable relief. “Thank you.”
She didn’t want to feel anything. She longed to ignore him, make a token visit and then be on her way. But it was too late for that. Her emotions were painfully confused; she wanted to kiss him and at the same time, she wanted to scream and rage and throw his betrayal in his face.
He pressed his hand to her cheek. “I’m glad you’re here.”
She’d intended to slap his hand away, but instead, her fingers curled around his, and she closed her eyes and leaned toward him. Then she was angry with herself for being weak and jerked back.
“Come in out of the cold,” Hassie called just as Vaughn opened the door and Carrie stepped inside. She took off her coat and tossed it onto the stair railing.
“Have you met my dad?” Vaughn asked, taking Carrie by the elbow and escorting her into the living room. He made the introductions.
“Pleased to meet you,” she said, hoping none of the stiffness she felt came through in her voice.
Hassie was on her way to the kitchen. “You’re just in time for pie.”
“I’ll help dish up,” Barbara said, following Hassie.
“Me, too,” Carrie offered, eager to escape Vaughn.
Barbara Kyle shook her head. “Well take care of it.”
The two older women disappeared, which meant that Carrie was left alone with Vaughn and his father. She would’ve preferred the women’s company and felt awkward alone with the two men. Vaughn was obviously eager to talk to her, and she was just as eager to avoid any conversation with him. Yes, there were things she needed to say; she wasn’t ready, though—not nearly ready. She glanced in his direction and he mouthed something, but she looked away.
“Hassie and Barb are trying to keep you and Vaughn together,” Rick confided to her frankly. Vaughn scowled fiercely. “So you may as well play along,” he advised. “Here, sit down, Carrie, and make yourself comfortable.”
She sat on the sofa and Vaughn joined her, sitting so close that their thighs brushed. In an effort to ignore him, she stared out the picture window.
“Isn’t it a lovely day?” she asked, making conversation with his father. “The snow—” A flash of color outside caught her attention. It was her younger brothers. Gasping, she leaped to her feet.
“What?” Vaughn asked, getting up, too.
“It’s Chuck and Ken,” she said, and pointed at the window. Sure enough, they were outside—in an old-fashioned sleigh pulled by two draft horses.
“That’s my great-great-grandfather’s sleigh,” Carrie explained. “He used it to deliver the mail. Dad and Mr. McKenna have been fixing it up. It’s been in the barn for the last hundred years.”
“That sleigh looks like something straight out of a Christmas movie,” Vaughn’s father remarked, standing by the window. “Whose horses are they?”
“I think they belong to a friend of Pete’s,” Carrie said.
Despite her mood, she giggled. Her brothers must have planned this all along. How they’d managed to keep it a secret she could only guess.
The doorbell chimed, and when Hassie answered it, she found Chuck grinning down at her.
“Anyone here interested in a sleigh ride?” he asked, looking around Hassie to where Carrie and Vaughn stood. “There’s room for five.”
“I’m game,” Rick said. “Come on, Barb.”
“Hassie?” Vaughn turned to their hostess.
She seemed about to refuse, then smiled broadly and said, “Don’t mind if I do.”
Vaughn helped Hassie on with her coat and made sure her boots were tightly laced before they ventured outside. Carrie tried not to be affected by the tenderness he displayed toward Hassie, especially when he bent down on one knee to lace her boots. There was nothing condescending in his action, only affection and concern. Meanwhile, Rick held Carrie’s coat for her and then Barbara’s. By the time they left the house, the old sleigh, pulled by twin chestnut geldings, had attracted quite a bit of attention from the neighborhood.The horses were festively decked out in harnesses decorated with jangling bells.
Barbara, Rick and Hassie sat in the backseat, which fortunately was nicely padded. Once they were settled, Ken handed them a blanket to place over their laps. Carrie and Vaughn took the front seat, which was narrower and made of wood, forcing them close together.
Chuck and Ken walked in front of the horses, leading them down the unfamiliar street.
“Where are you taking us?” Carrie shouted as her brothers climbed onto the sleigh.
“The park,” Ken called back.
“Shouldn’t we be singing Christmas songs?” Barbara asked.
“Go right ahead,” Rick answered, and taking him at his word, Vaughn’s mother started with “Jingle Bells.” What could be more fitting? Even if it was a “two-horse open sleigh.”
Moments later Hassie’s rough voice joined Barbara’s soft soprano.
Carrie began to sing, too, and soon Vaughn’s rich baritone blended with the women’s voices. He and Carrie looked at each other. Perhaps it was the magic of the season or the fact that they were in a sleigh singing while they dashed through the snow, their song accompanied by the muffled clopping of hooves and the jingling of harness bells. Whatever the reason, Carrie realized her anger had completely dissipated. Vaughn seemed to genuinely regret what he’d done. He wasn’t involved in a plot to destroy Buffalo Valley. To his credit, as soon as he’d recognized the threat Value-X represented to the town, he’d resigned from the company. It couldn’t have been easy to walk away from a high-paying job like that.
Vaughn noticed the transformation in her immediately. He stopped singing and leaned close enough to ask, “Am I forgiven?”
Carrie nodded.
His eyes brightened and he slid an arm around her shoulders. Carrie was convinced that if their circumstances had been different, he would’ve kissed her.
When they reached the middle of the park, they found Carrie’s entire family waiting there, applauding their arrival.
Effortlessly they segued from one Christmas carol to another. Everyone seemed to have a favorite. Amid the singing and the laughter, Carrie’s mother served hot chocolate from large thermoses.
Vaughn and Carrie left their places in order to give others an opportunity to try out the sleigh. After several trips around the park, Chuck and Ken drove Hassie and Vaughn’s parents back to Hassie’s. Carrie and Vaughn remained with her family.
With pride, Carrie took Vaughn around and introduced him to everyone he had yet to meet.
“What were Chuck and Ken talking about earlier?” Tom asked, standing next to his wife, Becky.
Vaughn glanced at Carrie. “We discussed a few ideas, nothing more.”
“That’s not what I understood,” Tom said. “Chuck said you’d made an appointment to talk to Heath Quantrill.”
“You’ve got an appointment to see Heath?” Carrie asked. “About what?” She’d suspected earlier that something was up involving her two younger brothers. Sunday night they’d sat with their father at the kitchen table, talking excitedly in low voices. Carrie couldn’t figure out what they were doing, and when she asked, their replies had been vague.
Rather than answer her directly, Vaughn looked away.
“More secrets?” she asked him under her breath.
“Vaughn’s thinki
ng about opening up a feed store in town,” Tom supplied.
“Is this true?” she asked. If so, it was the best kind of secret.
“Nothing’s certain yet,” he told her, and she could see that he wasn’t pleased with her older brother for sharing the news. “Everything’s just in the planning stages. The early planning stages.”
“You’d actually consider moving to Buffalo Valley?”
Vaughn nodded and smiled down on her, but then his gaze clouded. “I still need to talk to you.”
“Of course.”
“Privately,” he insisted.
The park was crowded with her family. Carrie knew that the instant they broke away, one of her brothers or nieces and nephews would seek her out. “We can try,” she promised.
“It’s important.”
Her heart was in her eyes, but Carrie didn’t care if he saw that or not. “I’m so excited you might move here.”
“I’m excited, too.”
He didn’t sound it. If anything, he seemed anxious. “What is it?” she asked. She wanted to hear what he needed to say, and she wanted to hear it now, even if they couldn’t escape her family.
“Someone from Value-X is coming to Buffalo Valley,” he murmured.
“You mean the representative Lindsay mentioned?” Carrie was well aware that the company intended to wage a public-relations campaign to win over the community; that was part of their strategy. She suspected the corporate heads at Value-X had only the slightest idea how unwelcome the retailer was in Buffalo Valley. Whatever they were planning simply wouldn’t work.
“Yes. Her name’s Natalie Nichols and—”
“It doesn’t matter,” she told him.
“Yes, it does,” he countered.
Carrie lowered her voice, wanting him to know he could trust her. “I didn’t tell anyone—no one knows.”
“Hassie does. I told her myself.”
She didn’t understand what had prompted that confession, but wasn’t sure it had been the wisest thing.
“She deserves honesty, the same way you do.” Vaughn’s brow creased with concern. “I would’ve come to meet her, with or without Value-X.”
“I know.”
“It isn’t going to be pretty, Carrie, when Natalie Nichols arrives. Value-X has proved that it’s capable of bulldozing its way into a town. They’ve done it before.”
“Not here, not in Buffalo Valley. We won’t let it happen.” When he shook his head, she whispered, “It’s going to be all right, Vaughn.” Because her fears about him had been laid to rest, she leaned forward and kissed him.
Vaughn wrapped his arms around her and held her close.
“Hey, what’s this?” Pete shouted.
Carrie laughed. “Leave us be,” she replied. “Go on! Shoo!” She wasn’t about to let her brothers ruin the most romantic moment of her life.
“Never,” Tom hollered.
“There’s something else,” Vaughn said, ignoring her brothers.
“I have a feeling it’s going to have to wait,” she said, and ducked just in time to miss a flying snowball. Vaughn, however, wasn’t quick enough. Snow exploded across his shoulder and he whirled around to face four large Hendrickson males.
“You shouldn’t have done that,” he said mildly.
“You gonna make me sorry?”
“Oh, yeah.” Vaughn’s chuckle was full of threat. “Prepare to die, Hendrickson.”
* * *
Three hours later a cold and exhausted Vaughn made his way back to Hassie’s. The snowball fight had eventually involved everyone in Carrie’s large family, from two-year-old Eli to his grandfather. They’d stopped only long enough to build snow forts before the battle had resumed with peals of laughter and more hilarity than Vaughn could remember in years.
He’d sincerely meant to tell Carrie about his relationship with Natalie, but the opportunity never arose again. It became easy to let it ride once they were caught up in the family fun. Come morning, he was driving back to town to meet with Heath; he’d stop by the pharmacy and tell her then.
It was dark when he returned to Hassie’s, and his parents were ready to head home to Grand Forks. When they got there, he discovered that Natalie had left five messages on his parents’ machine. He was stunned to learn that she’d already arived in North Dakota.
The first message, from the Seattle airport, had been soft and coaxing, claiming she needed to speak to him at his earliest convenience. By the final one, her tone had become hard and demanding. The last part of the message, telling him she’d call early the next morning, had sounded more than a little annoyed.
“Trouble?” his father asked, standing next to the phone as the message finished playing.
Vaughn shook his head. “Nothing I can’t handle.”
“Good.”
“This has been the most wonderful Christmas,” his mother said as she turned off the lights. They all went to bed, wishing each other good-night and a final Merry Christmas.
The following morning Vaughn woke early. He showered, shaved and dressed for his meeting with Heath. Sooner or later, he’d have to talk to Natalie, but he wanted as much information as he could gather before the inevitable confrontation. He gulped down a cup of coffee, eager to be on his way, to begin this new phase of his life. His mother hugged him before he left. “What do you want me to say if Natalie shows up?”
“No need to tell her anything,” he advised. He’d deal with her when he had to, but not before. The letter she’d mentioned would be in the community post office soon and with that, the campaign would officially start. Vaughn was prepared to do whatever was necessary to keep the retailer out of Buffalo Valley. He had a stake in the town’s future now.
He parked near the bank, then hurried inside; to his surprise, Heath’s glass-enclosed office looked empty.
“I have an appointment with Mr. Quantrill,” Vaughn told the receptionist.
“You’re Mr. Kyle?”
Vaughn nodded.
“Mr. Quantrill left a message. He had some last-minute business to attend to and said I should reschedule the appointment. He sent his apologies and asked me to tell you that the Kohn property has sold.”
It wasn’t until he was standing outside that Vaughn understood the significance of the message. The Kohn property was the land Value-X wanted. So the battle lines had been drawn. No wonder Quantrill was out of the office. There was no longer any reason for Vaughn to meet with him; Quantrill and the community had far more important issues to worry about.
Vaughn walked over to the pharmacy, his steps slow. No doubt Hassie and everyone else in town had heard the news. He knew how discouraged they’d be.
When he entered the pharmacy, Carrie was behind the prescription counter. As the bells over the door cheerfully announced his arrival, she glanced up, and from her disheartened expression, it was clear she’d heard. Her eyes seemed dull and lifeless. For a long moment she stared at him, almost as though he was a stranger.
“I guess you know?” he asked, stepping toward her.
“Oh, yes,” she said with such sadness it nearly broke his heart.
“I’ll help, Carrie,” he told her. “We can beat Value-X if we stand together.” He tried to sound positive, but truth was, he didn’t know if they could.
“That’s not the news I’m talking about,” she said, moving out from behind the counter. “I wonder if you’ve ever heard the old saying, Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me.”
Vaughn frowned, not understanding. “What are you talking about?”
“You mentioned the name Natalie Nichols yesterday.”
“Yes, she works for Value-X. She—”
“I met her this morning.”
“Natalie’s here?” Foolishly he’d assumed she’d spent the night in Grand Forks.
“
She stayed at the 3 of a Kind last night. She’s been trying to reach you—and here you are, right under her nose.”
“I don’t know what she told you, but—”
“She told me she was your fiancée.”
It was all starting to make sense to Vaughn, a sick kind of sense. Natalie’s declaration certainly explained that “shame me twice” stuff. “She spoke to your mother this morning,” Carrie went on. “Your mother said if you weren’t over at the bank to check here with Hassie. Only it was me she found.”
“I can explain,” he began.
“I’m sure you can, but frankly I’m not interested in listening.” With that, she returned to the pharmaceutical counter and resumed her work as if he was no longer there.
Vaughn waited uncertainly for a moment, but she didn’t look anywhere except at her task, at the pills she was counting out.
It was too late for explanations. Too late to regain her trust. Too late for him.
Ten
Vaughn didn’t think anything could happen to make this day any worse, but he was wrong.
As soon as he pulled into the driveway at his parents’ home, he saw the unfamiliar car. Even before he’d climbed out of his own vehicle, he knew who’d come to visit.
Natalie.
Sure enough, the instant he walked into the house, his father cast him a sympathetic glance.
“You’re back,” his mother said, her voice strained and unnaturally high.
“Hello, Vaughn,” Natalie said from the living room. She held a cup of coffee balanced on her knee. She looked out of place—and decidedly irritated.
He nodded in her direction.
“I think we’ll leave the two of you to talk,” his mother announced, and exited the room with the speed of someone who’s relieved to escape. His father was directly behind her.
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