A Thunder Canyon Christmas (16 page)

Her mouth was cold against his but she sighed and wrapped her mittened hands around his waist, leaning into him.

The kiss was slow and lovely. Perfect for the evening and the moment.

“You should know something,” he murmured against her mouth. “I told my dad just now that I might not be taking over Cates Construction after all.”

She eased away from him, her expression perplexed. “Why? I thought you loved being a builder. Are you thinking of going back to law school?”

“No. I do love the work. But I figured I can do the
same thing anywhere. Billings. Bozeman. Even San Diego if that's where you decide you want to go.”

He brushed his mouth over hers. His heart seemed to pound loudly in his ears. This was a risk he had never taken with a woman before—never
wanted
to take. With her, it was right. He knew it deep in his bones.

“I love you, Elise,” he murmured.

She drew away from him sharply and nearly stumbled backward on the ice. Her hands flailed a little before she caught her balance. “You…what?”

He saw shock and disbelief and something else, a tiny spark of something bright and joyful that filled him with hope.

“I love you,” he repeated firmly. “If you're not happy in Thunder Canyon because of the memories or your dad or what's happened with your family or whatever, I won't try to convince you to stay. I would never do that to you.”

He moved forward to take her hands in his again while the fat flakes landed in her lashes, on her cheeks, in her hair. He pulled her across the ice into his arms again and kissed the corner of her mouth.

“You don't have to stay in Thunder Canyon, Elise. But I'm not about to let you go somewhere else without me.”

She closed her eyes for a long moment. When she opened them, that tiny sliver of hope he had seen had been replaced by sadness.

“You can't love me, Matt.”

“Why not?”

She didn't answer, only pulled her hands away from him and headed across the ice, her movements no longer full of grace and beauty but abrupt, forceful, each stroke digging into the ice.

He followed after her as she sat down on the log to remove the ice skates. “Don't tell me how I feel, Elise. I've never been in love before but I know exactly what this is. I'm crazy about you.”

“How can you be?” she asked, her voice bitter. “I'm such a mess and you seem to have borne the brunt of it these last few weeks.”

He heard the despair in her voice, that sadness that had seemed such a part of her since she had come back.

But he had also seen that moment of joy in her eyes. He had tasted the heat of her kiss and sensed the suppressed emotions behind it.

She cared about him. They had something special here and he wasn't about to let her throw it away because of some misguided idea that she didn't belong here.

If he ever thought he might have had the skills to be persuasive in a courtroom, now would probably be a really good time to prove it.

He sat beside her on the fallen log, remembering when he and some buddies had dragged it over to the edge of the lake a few years back.

“You asked me how I can love you,” he said quietly. “A better question would be, how can I not? Yes, you've had a rough few weeks. But no matter what you think, all I've seen is a woman facing a hard situation with strength and courage.”

She flashed him a look, then returned to unlacing her skate. He hoped she was listening. All he could do was try.

“Despite your own turmoil,” he went on, “you've reached out to everyone else in town. Just look at what you did for Haley last week and how hard you worked to make Christmas great for some needy kids at ROOTS, despite your own ambivalence about the holidays?”

“Haley's my friend. I did it to help her.”

“I saw you with all those kids, Elise. You can tell yourself you were only helping Haley but I saw how excited you were to give them all their gift bags—the bags you spent hours preparing. And the Castros. You were so great with them at dinner, patiently answering all their questions about your childhood even though I saw how difficult it was for you to be there.”

“You helped me get through that. I'm not sure I could have done it on my own.”

“You could have,” he assured her. “But don't you think it's significant that you asked me to come with you? That you turned to me for help when you needed it?”

He reached for her hand and brought it to his mouth. “I love you, Elise. No matter how much you've been fighting it, I know you have feelings for me, too. I want a future with you, no matter where and what shape that future might take.”

E
lise listened to his words, low and fervent amid the snowflakes fluttering down, and that tiny, fragile joy curled through her again.

This couldn't be real. She couldn't really be sitting on the banks of Silver Stallion Lake with Matt Cates declaring his love for her. Things like this didn't happen to girls next door like her. Any moment now, she was going to wake up and discover this was only some surreal dream brought on by too much eggnog.

But now, if it were a dream, she wouldn't feel the wet snow in her hair, the cold of the ice seeping through her boots.

“I love you, Elise,” Matt murmured one more time. “You trusted me out on that ice not to let you fall, just
as I trusted you. Don't you think we can trust each other about this?”

She stared at him as the snow fell heavier, until his features were hazy, indistinct.

She didn't need to see him. She knew every line, every angle of his face.

She loved him.

The precious truth of it slid through her, filling and healing every battered aching corner of her heart.

She loved him—and she suddenly knew that if she threw this chance away, she would be the craziest woman who had ever come out of Thunder Canyon.

She gave a tiny, bubbling little laugh, unable to contain so much happiness inside.

“You're right. You're so very right.”

“Elise—”

“I love you, Matt. I have loved you most of my life, if you want the truth. Those days when we were in school and you were always watching out for me, keeping me safe—you were my hero, Matt. Everything I ever dreamed about.”

He made a low sound of disbelief and for some reason, that made her laugh again. She was so happy, she wanted to shout it to the trees, to spin around and around on the ice like she was a fearless, clumsy six-year-old again.

She took off her mittens then reached for his hands and slid his glove off so she could raise his warm hand to her cold cheek.

She held his hand there against her skin. “I had no
idea back then how you would ride to my rescue again, Matt. You saved me.”

“No, I didn't. You would have come through.”

“Maybe. But I feel like I was falling through that ice, floundering in the cold, and you reached a hand in and yanked me back to light and warmth again. Thank you for that and for…giving me back myself.”

She smiled tremulously. “I love you.”

He stared at her and she saw heat and wonder and she thought she might even see the sheen of tears there. “Are you sure you don't have dreams of being an attorney? That's quite a closing argument.”

“No, thank you.” She smiled.

He kissed her there amid the falling snow and she tasted a sweet tenderness and the promise of a beautiful future.

Her father would have approved, she thought. He would have been delighted she found someone who could make her so very happy, who could pick her up when she stumbled, brush her off, and give her a chance to soar across life like she skated across Silver Stallion Lake.

They kissed softly for a long time, love wrapping them tightly together against the elements.

Finally, he drew away from her. “We're going to freeze to death if we stay here much longer. Do you think you're ready to go back?”

She slid her hand into his, loving his heat and the solid strength of him. “No,” she answered. “But I think I'm ready to go forward.”

He smiled and kissed the tip of her nose then led the way through the storm.

 

The snow was falling in earnest by the time they made it back to the lodge. A good four inches had fallen, Elise realized. Not enough to make driving impossible for Montanans used to inclement weather, but certainly enough to make it challenging.

She saw that several vehicles that had been parked out front earlier were gone. Probably families with young children, returning to their own homes for their own holiday traditions—hanging stockings, telling stories, setting out cookies for Santa.

It was Christmas. Anticipation nudged her like an old, familiar friend. Christmas, a time of hope and renewal, of miracles and second chances.

“Come home with me and spend Christmas Eve, Elise,” Matt said just before they pushed open that beautiful door to Connor and Tori's home. “Will you?”

Through the windows, she could see her family inside. Both of her families. Her mother was chatting with the Castros and they all looked so happy together.

They wanted her to be happy with them, she realized. No one had been pushing her to the outside. She was the one who had refused all their efforts, the outstretched hands waiting to pull her toward them.

They would be sorry if she wasn't with them on Christmas Eve but there would be other years. This year, she wanted to be with Matt and she knew her entire crazy, complicated family would understand.

She smiled at him. “I just need to tell my mother so she doesn't worry,” Elise said. She pushed open the door
but before she could go inside, a huge rumbling roared above the sounds of the party coming from inside.

“What on earth?” she gasped, grabbing his shoulder.

“Avalanche,” he said grimly. “Look.”

Perhaps a quarter mile away down the road, she watched a vast, unrelenting sweep of snow tear away and pour down the mountain, breaking trees and moving boulders in its destructive path.

When it stopped, the only road back to town was completely covered with several feet of snow and debris.

Elise was still processing the shock of the slide as the other guests rushed out onto the wide porch.

“What the hell was that?” Connor McFarlane, still in his wedding suit, looked around. “It sounded like a hurricane.”

“A slide blocked the road,” Matt said. “I saw the cornice earlier and it looked unstable. I was going to warn you but got…distracted. I'm guessing all this heavy wet snow must have shifted the base enough to send the whole thing tumbling down.”

“Did you see what happened? Is anybody down there?” Bo Clifton pushed his way through the crowd. “Do I need to call out search and rescue?”

“I don't think so. I didn't see anyone,” Matt said. “A car had just driven through but they were a half mile down the road already when the snow came down.”

“We'd better go check it out,” Matt's brother Marshall said.

Several men hurried to find coats.

“By the looks of it, it's going to take several hours to dig out the road,” Matt warned Connor.

“You mean we're stuck here?” someone said. “But it's Christmas Eve!”

“Oh, dear.” Helen and Betty Castro exchanged distressed looks.

“I'm sorry about this.” Connor immediately stepped in to take charge, as he was so good at doing. “We have plenty of food and blankets. It will be fun. We'll have a good, old-fashioned Christmas Eve.”

He was being remarkably decent about sharing his wedding night with half the town, Elise thought. His words and his calm manner seemed to galvanize those remaining at the lodge into action. Immediately, people went in search of blankets and pillows and the party took on an even more festive air.

Elise was helping Haley organize an impromptu holiday classic film festival in the lodge's elaborate media room for some of the disgruntled teens when she suddenly became aware of Erin standing in the doorway, watching her with a wary expression.

“Do you guys need any help in here?”

She studied the other woman and was ashamed of herself for her small-minded jealousy of the last few weeks. None of this was Erin's fault and she had tried several times to forge a friendship. Elise had been the one pushing her away.

“Actually, I think Haley's got everything under control. I was just about to go to the kitchen and see if I can make popcorn. Want to join me?”

Erin looked surprised at the invitation but gratified.
Together, they unearthed several bags of microwave popcorn in the elaborate kitchen and stuck one in each of the pair of gleaming appliances.

They talked casually for a few moments, until Erin suddenly blurted out, “I don't want your life, you know.”

Elise stared at the other woman. “I'm sorry. What?”

Erin pushed a strand of blond hair out of her face. “I know you've been struggling to deal with what happened twenty-six years ago. I just wanted to let you know I'm sorry you've been hurt by everything. I never expected…well, what happened. I'm sure you probably would have preferred if I'd never come to Thunder Canyon looking for answers.”

Elise traced the events of the last month. She thought of how her life would have been different if she had never come back to Thunder Canyon. She probably never would have reconnected with this place and the people who had been so important to her once.

Through the kitchen doorway, she heard Jack Castro's gruff laugh and she thought of how kind and loving Erin's parents were and of the two brothers she had scarcely met.

And Matt.

If Erin hadn't come to Thunder Canyon to dig into the secrets of her past and discovered that fateful mistake, Elise would never have reconnected with Matt. She never would have discovered that sometimes silly girlish dreams could come true.

That secret joy shivered through her again, the love she would no longer deny, and on impulse she hugged
Erin. The other woman froze for just a moment before Erin returned her embrace.

“I've always wanted a sister,” Elise said. “In a weird sort of way, it almost feels like we were twins separated at birth.”

Erin laughed. “Oh, please! Not twins. Isn't our past twisted and tangled enough?”

She laughed. “Good point.”

Before she could say anything else, a thin, nervous voice interrupted them.

“Excuse me, have you seen Bo?”

She turned and found Holly Pritchett Clifton, her cousin's lovely new wife.

“I think he's down assessing the avalanche with some of the other men to figure out how to dig out the road,” she answered. “Is everything okay?'

“Um, not really.” She gave a nervous-sounding laugh. “We're stranded here with no way into town on Christmas Eve in the middle of a blizzard.”

“I know,” Erin said. “Things couldn't get much crazier, right?”

Holly gave that nervous laugh. “Want to bet? I think my water just broke.”

 

“What is taking so long?” Erica Rodriguez Traub exclaimed. “I swear, I wasn't this nervous when my own baby was born.”

The entire temporary population of McFarlane Lodge seemed to be on edge, gathered in the great room while upstairs in a hastily arranged delivery room, Holly was
attended by Drs. Marshall Cates and Dillon Traub—and, of course, Bo.

As the hours ticked away, everyone stranded at McFarlane Lodge hovered in a state of excitement, even the teens who emerged from the media room every once in a while to check the status of the delivery.

And then, finally, at ten minutes to midnight, a thin, high cry wailed through the house. Everyone in the great room raised up a huge cheer.

A few moments later, Marshall emerged onto the landing. He looked disheveled and tired but Elise saw the quiet satisfaction in his eyes.

“It's a boy. Mother and baby—and mayor—are all doing fine.”

“Good thing we've got plenty of champagne,” Grant said, breaking out another magnum.

Elise declined to drink as she kept a careful eye out the window. Down below through the snowy darkness, she could see lights moving at the avalanche site.

Once it had been determined that the threat of more snowslides had passed, Matt had hiked down the mountain through the storm for one of the Cates Construction backhoes to begin digging out the avalanche.

Elise hated thinking about him out there in the cold, but she wasn't at all surprised. That was the man she loved, strong and dependable, always willing to help out those in need.

She was still watching sometime later when she spied those lights approaching the house and a few moments later, a bundled figure walked up the porch. Soon after,
Matt walked inside and started stomping off snow in the entryway.

Her heart a sweet, heavy ache in her chest, Elise hurried to him and threw her arms around his neck, not caring at all who might be watching. She kissed him with fierce emotion and he responded with gratifying enthusiasm.

“What was that about?” he murmured after a few moments. “Not that I'm complaining.”

“It's after midnight. Merry Christmas, Matt.”

She helped him out of his wet gear and found hot cocoa for him. She would have thought he would want to stay right next to the fire, but he grabbed her hand and a blanket and headed out to the protected covered porch, where the gas fireplace still sent out its warmth.

He sank onto a cushioned lounger out there and pulled her onto his lap, wrapping them both in a heavy blanket until they were snug and cozy.

He kissed her deeply then, his mouth firm and demanding, and she clutched him tightly, shaken by the emotions churning through her. She longed for a little more privacy so they could make love but she knew she could be content to be with him like this, hearts and bodies entwined beneath the blanket.

The storm was lifting. Outside their safe shelter, Elise could see tiny scattered stars glimmering through the clouds.

She sighed, resting her cheek against his broad, muscled chest, his heartbeat in her ear.

“I don't want to leave,” she murmured.

He gave a rough-sounding laugh. “I don't think we
can sleep out here. Even with the gas fireplace and the blankets and your considerable body heat, I'm afraid we'll freeze.”

She tilted her head to study his features. “I don't mean right here, tonight, though this is pretty wonderful. I meant…I don't want to leave Thunder Canyon.”

His arms tightened around her and he shifted so he could meet her gaze, his brown eyes intent and hopeful. “Are you sure? You don't like it here.”