by Linda West
"Now this is the beautiful natural girl I remember from the carriage house days." He touched my hair.
"Much better."
I smiled and blushed at the state of my hair piled on my head in a messy bun.
"Oh, and darling, by the way, I took care of Sissy, so I think you're even."
I raised my brows, and he smiled mischievously.
"I informed her that she was getting cut off from her inheritance if she didn't learn to deserve it."
I let my breath out in a gust and rolled my eyes. "Why can't I see Sissy learning to be a better person lounging in her Malibu mansion?"
He patted me on the back. "Oh, no dear. She's in the fields with the farmworkers overseeing the California transition to hemp."
He motioned Jeeves over. Jeeves beamed at me and showed me his phone. There was a picture of Sissy in dirty overalls, sweating and looking miserable in the hot fields. I looked at them both, and we all started laughing.
This was turning into a great Christmas after all.
Dad played host, and everyone got comfortable in the living room, while I dealt with Devlin. He was standing at the door, waiting on his horse. I looked up at him.
"What are you doing?" I said.
"What I should have done a year ago."
I shook my head and looked over my shoulder. "Please, I don't want to talk about this again."
"I've been thinking–all year, actually."
My eyes met his, and I felt myself starting to spiral into his siren's web. I looked away.
"How exactly does one go about repaying the woman that helped mend the bridge between an estranged son and father? And for saving people's jobs, the environment, and helping our business not only recover, but go on to have record sales?"
I hunched my shoulders. "I'm happy I could help. You didn't have to come all the way over here …on a horse."
"You're right." He slid off in one athletic move. "And we trailered the horse, actually." Devlin smiled. He tied the reins.
"I came here to give you a Christmas gift."
"A Christmas gift," I repeated numbly. Boy, I was really killing it with the witty conversation. "I told you I don't want anything. Nothing has changed. "
He put up a finger to my lips tenderly. "Actually, I believe there was one thing you told me that you did want."
"That you are still incapable of giving me." I threw my hands up in the air. "Don't lie to yourself or me."
Now my father was frantically calling us into the living room. I gritted my teeth. We joined the group gathered on the sectional couch, staring at the TV. Not much I could say now that half of Kissing Bridge was in my living room.
"I don't know what you're trying to pull bringing everyone here," I whispered as we joined them and sat down on the couch next to Carol. She patted my hand, and I smiled at her weakly.
My dad was excited. "Everyone quiet! They're coming back from the commercial."
I chanced a glance at Devlin. He was sitting way too close to me. I could smell his pine cologne and just being near him made me feel weak all over.
"Okay, okay, here we go!" Dad whistled.
The TV switched back to the news, and two reporters were dressed as Santa and Mrs. Clause.
"Now to our big story. We have to report one of the most amazing Christmas gifts maybe ever given."
"Wouldn't you say that, Russell?"
The man on TV nodded. "I would, Joanne. I have to say that I don't think any gift is comparable, and what we are talking about, folks, is this…"
The cameras switched out of the studio to an on-location reporter.
The caption said Live From The Amazon Rainforest.
My eyes widened, and Carol reached over beside me and squeezed my hand. The TV showed a drone flying over the glorious trees of the rainforest while the reporters highlighted its diversity and the number of tribes still living there.
Finally, somebody else cares, I thought. I leaned in, excited. Now the on-location reporter dressed as an elf was back with a crowd of local Brazilian people waving and holding signs that read:
"THANK YOU, ALLIE ARCHER!"
I caught my breath and looked around at everyone in the living room. They were all smiling at me.
I stared at the TV, stunned. "Why – why – are they thanking me?"
I choked back my emotions.
The reporter continued. "The largest private acquisition of the Amazon rainforest ever has been bought as a private park to protect it forever for the people of Brazil and the world. Welcome to the first and only of its kind. Allie Archer Park."
The people waved and blew kisses and shouted, “Merry Christmas!"
The reporters signed off with, "Merry Christmas, Allie Archer, and to everyone around the world!"
I brought my hands to my face, and tears burst from my eyes like a fire hydrant that had been run over. What was happening? Was this real or some kind of joke?
I sobbed uncontrollable tears that racked my body and made me hyperventilate. Carol nudged Devlin, and he cleared his throat.
He dropped to his knees in front of me, and put his hands on my face and made me look at him. I sniffled back my ugly cry and fell into his loving gaze.
"I love you, Allie. I didn't think I'd ever say that and mean it to anyone. But I know now I don't want to live without you."
He opened up a box, and there was an engagement ring inside.
I gasped, and through my blurry tears, I could see it was a massive diamond ring with two blue sapphires on each side.
It was stunning and bigger than Sofia's.
I looked around the room and saw the kind faces smiling at us. Mr. Somerset nodded and tilted his head at his son.
I looked back into Devlin's eyes, and him down at my feet. How many times I had wished for this moment? Of course, in the past, I wanted to kill his ego and break his arrogance. Now I just wanted to kiss him.
I threw my arms around him. "Yes. Yes. I'll marry you."
He beamed and slipped the ring on my finger, and we looked down at it together. No fake ring. No fat knuckle. Just us and everyone we loved on Christmas morning to witness the beginning of our real union.
"No regrets." He smiled.
"No regrets," I said.
He whisked me up in the air like a feather and held me there for a moment before dropping me into his arms and kissing me until I couldn't breathe.
"She said, yes!" he shouted, raising his arms over his head.
The crowd in the living room stood and applauded wildly. Carol wiped her eyes and Jeeves and Pierre patted each other on the back.
I looked at my dear father and all these people I loved that were my new family. Right then and there I suddenly understood every single mushy Christmas movie I had ever seen.
All the syrupy stuff and impossible things suddenly coming together on Christmas had been another fairytale, like true love, that I wouldn't let myself believe.
But now I know miracles really can happen at Christmas.
Against all odds, a miracle happened to me. Maybe, this Christmas, one could happen for you too.
Merry Christmas, everyone!
Dear friends, I hope you enjoyed my book! Many of the characters featured in this book began their stories in the Love on Kissing Bridge Series.
I would be so happy to give you my best selling first book in my sweet and funny holiday romance series for FREE as a gift. It is called, Christmas Kisses and Cookies, and it is the first introduction to the Landers ladies and Kissing Bridge.
FREE JUST WRITE ME:)) [email protected]
Excerpt at the end of this book!
The
Magical Christmas
DoOver
By
Linda West
"Once in a blue moon you get a chance to change your life, and this was that blue moon.”
CHAPTER 1
It was a cold December eve, some say the coldest in decades, and a blizzard warning was in effect. Being the Friday before Chr
istmas, most of the workers at Kennedy and Crane had already left for the Christmas holiday.
Samantha looked at the clock and groaned inwardly. It was after eight o’clock, and she wanted to go home like everyone else, but her boss, Macy Kennedy was in an extra foul mood even for her.
“Shouldn’t you be getting home to put on that awesome Chanel dress you bought for the big night Macy?” Samantha chirped brightly trying to lighten her up.
Macy spun around and glared at her with daggers in her eyes.
“No, I shouldn’t be getting home to try on my Chanel dress.” She mocked Samantha’s syrupy tone.
Her dark brows were knit together and her brown eyes looked black with the size of her pupils. She ran her hands through her short, dark hair and then stared back at Samantha with disbelief.
“I got a text from Todd an hour ago. He’s gone off to LA with some friends for Christmas!”
Samantha’s mouth opened.
“What? Why? Didn’t he –” She stopped herself. “I’m sure he has a good reason, Macy.”
Macy snorted.
“Yeah, good reasons usually don’t come in a text. I’m losing him, Sam.”
Macy plopped down in her chair and stared out the large picture window at the oncoming storm. She tapped her long, manicured nails on her desk like a woodpecker. “Says he’ll call me when he gets back…in a month.”
Samantha’s mouth fell open. Poor Macy. It looked like she was getting the ultimate big let down, broken up with at Christmas. No engagement celebration after all.
“Here’s a piece of mail you didn’t get.” Sam said quickly, as she placed it on Macy’s sleek metal desk. Mail usually distracted Macy.
“Send it back.” Macy said dully without turning.
Samantha continued hopefully. “It’s not the annual Christmas invite from your mother Macy, that one is always in a red envelope. I always send that back. This is something different.”
Samantha looked at the pretty Tiffany blue colored envelope. “It’s addressed to you personally, not the company.”
Macy cocked her head to one side intrigued.
Sam rushed on eager to bring some sort of happiness to her boss. “Maybe it’s a love letter from Todd with two tickets to Paris for when he gets back?”
Macy let out a big huff and gazed out the window at the sheets of snow beginning to fall.
They both knew that wasn’t the case. Todd’s last minute text was just a breakup in disguise.
But if not Todd, then who? Macy really didn’t have any close friends that would send her a Christmas card. Anyone that did know her knew she abhorred Christmas. Too much money being spent in the name of sentimentality and tricky marketers as her father always said.
Macy waved her hand without looking back at Samantha as if she were a servant.
“Read it.”
Samantha scanned the letter, then suddenly, caught her breath and brought her hand to her heart.
“Macy.”
Something in Samantha’s tone made Macy spin her chair around.
“What?”
“It’s from a friend of your mothers, a Ms. Carol Landers.”
“What? You have got to be kidding me?” Macy threw her hands up in the air. “Now my mother is having her friends write me to beg me to come visit her? How utterly selfish!”
She shook her head. “What is it with her? She ruins my life and then she stalks me. Can’t she see no matter how many times she begs me to come home for Christmas, I’m not going to Kissing Bridge!”
Samantha swallowed uncomfortably and croaked out, “I’m so sorry, Macy. But this letter says that your mother passed away yesterday, and you’re the only relative left to claim her body.”
She looked up sadly and met Macy’s stunned eyes.
“You have to go home to Kissing Bridge.”
Chapter 2
Macy felt an odd sense of nothingness. Instead of sorrow there was a vague grayness that didn’t nearly match the depth of feeling called for. Maybe it was regret. Her mother, dead. She hadn’t even known she was sick. Then again, she hadn’t seen or spoken to her since she was a child. Her mother’s big, kind brown eyes flashed across her memory, and she swallowed hard.
She picked up the letter Samantha had put down in front of her and read it.
“Dear Macy, I'm so sorry to tell you that your mother has passed away. Nobody seems to have any contact number for you, and I pray that this letter finds its way to you by the grace of God. Please come home to Kissing Bridge to collect her remains because we don't know what to do with her body.
Sincerely and with great sorrow,
Carol Landers.”
Macy didn’t move for a moment, and it seemed as if time stopped.
Even in death her mother was managing to ruin her life. She closed her eyes to shut out the truth, and squash down all of her feelings, like a fly that needed to be swatted.
Feelings were weakness her father had always taught her. Feelings hindered your life, not helped. Stick to the bottom line, work hard and it would pay off. That was his motto. Where it had become hers she didn’t know. She felt a panic attack coming on again.
Just then, the maid opened the door and walked into Macy’s office, not realizing people were still in the building. Happy holiday music followed in her wake through the crack in the door and her jaunty red bell earrings jingled as she walked.
“Oh!” She stopped dead at seeing the big boss and her personal assistant still at the office. “Sorry! I thought y’all were gone like everyone else in the building.”
Macy spun her chair around, her brown eyes flashing in anger. She glowered at the poor woman and looked her up and down, trying to find the source of the tinkling, festive sound.
Macy pinched her dark brows together and rose from her chair, pointing at the offenders hanging from the maid’s ears.
“There!”
She turned her anger on Samantha. “Don’t we have a company employee dress code?”
Samantha looked the maid’s outfit over. She was in the company mandated black uniform with her name, NAOMI, scrawled under the Kennedy and Crane logo.
Samantha straightened. “Of course, Macy. She’s wearing black that’s the holiday dress code. I sent out memos to the entire staff. I don’t see the problem.”
Macy pointed at Naomi. “Those – those holiday earrings look ridiculous. It’s an embarrassment to the company.”
Samantha’s eyes widened. “I’ll make sure I add it to the original memo and send it off after Christmas, Macy.”
The maid looked at Samantha with fear in her large, almond-brown eyes, and she fidgeted, not sure what to do next.
Samantha waved her in further. “It’s fine, Naomi. Please come in. Do what you need to do. We don’t want to stop you from getting your work done just because we’re working overtime.”
Macy started pacing across the room like a panther. She was dressed in all black and thin as a rail and looked like she was ready to explode.
She turned her attention to Naomi, who was busy dusting and trying to finish up as quickly as possible so she could make her way safely out of the office and Macy’s weird Christmas ire.
“Naomi.”
Macy read the nametag and addressed the maid as if seeing her for the first time.
Naomi King stopped and lifted her beautiful eyes to look Macy in the face. She had been working for the office-cleaning agency for five years now, and she’d run into the strict and serious Macy before, but never had been regarded, let alone talked to, by her.
“What are you doing for Christmas? Kids, gifts, all that I guess?” Macy prodded. “Figgy pudding maybe?”
Naomi cocked her head to the side. She didn’t need the big boss lady asking questions or giving her the super-stare down right now.
“Got one kid. He’s in jail, so I guess I’ll go by for a visit. Bring him some cigarettes.”
Macy stopped pacing and looked at her.
She was sorry she asked.
A new weather alert suddenly erupted from Samantha’s Apple watch and startled her. She pushed at the side controls trying to shut off the irritating warning buzzer reminding them the blizzard was almost upon them.
“So Macy, shall I try and book a flight for you?” Samantha asked. She was bewildered by Macy’s lack of reaction to the death of her mother.
“Kissing Bridge, Vermont right?”
Macy nodded. “If I have no other choice.”
Naomi spoke up. “There’s no way you’re getting an airplane out of here. It’s been all over the news that all the flights have been canceled for the next three days due to this darn blizzard-of-a-century coming in.”
Samantha parried. “Okay, a rental car then.”
Macy shook her head. “Like no one else had thought of that alternative on the Friday before Christmas.”
Samantha countered. “Right, of course. A car then. I’d lend you mine if I had one, Macy, but who has a car in Manhattan?”
Naomi piped in. “I do.”
They both looked at her.
“How much?” Macy said dully.
Naomi cleared her throat. “Well, it’s actually my boyfriend’s pickup truck, so I’ll have to call him.”
Samantha shut off her watch and sighed. She had already gotten three warnings on her phone about the oncoming blizzard. She was eager to get home like everyone else, but it rarely mattered what Samantha wanted.
Samantha Henderson just did what others requested.
She had survived her entire life that way, and the last ten years of being the Boss-from-Hades’ right hand lady.
Everyone else who had ever had the misfortune of working for Macy Kennedy was fired within months, sometimes weeks. One poor girl never made it through the first day. But if nothing else, Samantha was a survivor.
The law office had moved uptown, Macy had been made partner, and Samantha followed and kept her head down. Partially to avoid the caustic moods of her temperamental boss, but also to shield her facial deformity from curious eyes.
