Holly Lane (32 page)

Then Sophie and Mrs. Kinman came back in—he’d seen them depart a few minutes ago, and now he realized why. Mrs. Kinman probably thought she’d kept Sophie away long enough for the argument to end, but Sophie’s sweet little face instantly puckered in distress.

Damn it, Jeff, why’d you have to come here tonight?
He couldn’t help feeling it was almost as if Jeff was trying to rub his happiness in Sue Ann’s face. And yeah, Adam was still hurt by her rejection earlier—but mostly, he just wanted her to be happy. He thought she could be happy with
him
, but if she didn’t see it that way, he still wished her every joy—and she sure wasn’t getting that right now.

He couldn’t make out most of their words—the carolers continued working pretty hard to overpower the bickering—but then Jeff raised his voice above the music to say, “You’re really being a bitch, Sue Ann!”

And that was it.

Adam’s blood began to boil.

Especially when he took a few steps closer and saw that Sue Ann looked ready to cry.

He’d tried to stand back, tried to mind his own business here—but he couldn’t take it anymore. His jaw clenched and his muscles tensed, his hands curling into fists.

He never considered his actions; he simply followed his instincts. He strode right up in between the two of them, his tone low and menacing as he faced Jeff to say,
“Listen, you need to back off and quit talking to Sue Ann like that.”
He knew he was pretty much ending what little remained of his longstanding friendship with Jeff, but that didn’t matter.

In response, his old friend drew back, clearly stunned. “What business is it of yours?”

And Adam didn’t fight the urge to raise his voice. “For one thing, you’re clearly upsetting your daughter! And for another, I love this woman!”

As a collective gasp blanketed the room, Adam realized what he’d just done, said.

Whoa. Okay, so it was out. There was no taking it back now. So, not having much choice, he went on, speaking loud enough for the whole room to hear since they’d already tuned in anyway. Even the singing had gone silent. “That’s right,” he said, “I’m in love with Sue Ann! She’s sweet and funny and gorgeous, she’s a great mom, and she deserves better than to be treated like this!”

Then he turned to her, lowering his voice as much as possible now that he’d drawn so much attention back to them. “I didn’t meant to say it, to just blurt it out like that—I’m sorry. And I’ll leave you alone now—I just couldn’t stand by and let him talk to you like that.”

“Adam,” she breathed. She’d lowered her gaze at some point, obviously embarrassed, but now she peered up at him from beneath long, pretty lashes, looking bashfully beautiful. “I . . . I’m just . . .” She stopped, shook her head, then continued in that same hushed tone. “I’m just terrified. Terrified that one day you and I will be standing here behaving like . . . like this.” She motioned back and forth between her and Jeff.

“That’ll never happen. Ever,” he promised her. He had no idea what Jeff was doing now, how he was reacting to this, and he didn’t care. He only cared about the woman whose hands he now took in his. “I can’t make you many guarantees, Sue Ann—life is too uncertain for that—but that’s one thing I can promise you without a doubt.” Because no matter what, he’d never treat a woman he’d
ever
cared about that way.

Standing before him, Sue Ann said nothing—but she bit her lower lip, looking to him as if maybe, somehow, he might be starting to sway her, to make her see the light. So he went on. “I want to make you happy, Sue Ann, you and Sophie both. And I promise I’ll do my best to never let you down again, to never hurt you again, no matter what. All I need, sugar plum, is for you to trust me, to believe in me. That’s the only part missing.” He stopped, let out a breath, and realized exactly how true his words were, how close he and Sue Ann were to having what he knew they both wanted. “Just give me a chance to love you, honey, the way you deserve to be loved.”

Sue Ann peered into Adam’s eyes, trying to weigh it all—everything that had happened to her in the past six months. It was funny how life changed sometimes without your permission; you thought you had it all figured out and then—kapow!—everything disintegrated around you. It was funny how one unexpected event led to another, how one
person
led to another.

How had she ended up falling for this man? And so very soon, too. Was it all chance, or—as she’d always believed—did things happen for a reason? She wasn’t sure about any of that anymore—it was easier to believe in things like fate when everything in your life was good, and solid, when you had control over it all.

But control, she’d learned, was mostly just an illusion. And now . . . now she was realizing that the only thing she could truly control was her happiness in this very moment. She could go on denying her desire, telling herself she needed to focus on Sophie, or on her career, or on a million other things. She could go on being miserable, wasting more days that way. Or . . . she could choose to be happy.

She could choose to have faith. In Adam. To take a
leap
of faith, just as she’d been contemplating with Sophie and that kitten.

She could choose to take a risk and believe in him. Really believe in him. From this moment forward. The way she’d started to on that sleigh ride.

She didn’t want to be naïve; she didn’t want to be vulnerable. For so long now, protecting her heart had felt like the only sane move she could make, the driving force in her life. But this sudden moment of clarity was forcing her to realize that the brave thing to do was to
take
that leap, give him her faith, stop hiding behind her fears. And she wanted to be brave, wanted to be a brave, in-control woman.

And—Lord, maybe it was just hitting her, really, truly hitting her—the man had brought a reindeer to her house! To make her daughter happy! Sophie’s happiness had been Sue Ann’s number-one priority since the divorce, and Adam had seen that and made it happen! And for her: a special ornament, a sleigh ride, tiny marshmallows. None of them huge things, and yet, in her mind . . . they were. Huge. Enormous. Maybe she’d been trying not to see that up to now, trying not to feel it.

Sometimes being in control meant . . . following your heart, allowing yourself to do something courageous, and . . . giving someone your trust.
You’re strong, you’re capable, and everything’s going to be fine.

“I believe in you, Adam,” she whispered. “I believe in . . . us.”

He blinked, looking utterly stunned. “Really?”

She just nodded, smiled. And felt incredibly free inside as she watched the joy rushing through him.

Only then he was suddenly pulling her by the hand, dragging her across the floor, right out the door and into the still gently falling snow.

“What are you doing?” she asked, laughing.

“Avoiding a public display of affection. They’ve seen enough in there,” he told her—right before he kissed her.

Oh God, she hadn’t realized how much she’d missed this—kissing him, feeling the warmth of his body next to hers. She kissed him back for all she was worth and knew to the marrow of her bones that she wouldn’t regret this. He’d made a few mistakes, but in every other way, he was the most amazing man she could ever hope to know. His hands threaded through her hair as his tongue pressed into her mouth and Sue Ann let herself become completely engulfed in him in every way.

That’s when Adam’s body went suddenly rigid—and they both looked up to see that, despite trying to find a little privacy, they actually stood in front of the town hall’s large plate-glass window and that the entire population of Destiny was watching anyway.

But the fact that Adam had at least
tried
to be discreet—when Jeff, conversely, had shouted their troubles all over town—was one more thing that told her, in her heart, he would treat her and Sophie right. Overcome by it all, she simply laughed at realizing the whole party was gaping at them—until Adam pulled her away from the window to kiss her some more, snow gathering in their hair and on their shoulders.

She’d just sunk into those heavenly kisses of his once again when she—dear Lord—felt something moving in his coat and pulled back to say, “What the hell is this?”

“There’s a cat in my pocket,” he murmured, still trying to kiss her.

“A cat in your pocket?” she asked. “Is that some weird euphemism for . . . ?”

“No,” he said, laughing, “there’s really a cat in my pocket. I just sort of forgot about him in all the excitement.” He finally stopped kissing her then to reach in and draw out—oh my—it was Dickens!

“I wanted to give him to Sophie,” he said. “And that might have been a bad call, but I just thought, after seeing how much she loved the reindeer this morning, that having a pet might really help her right now. If you still don’t want a cat, I’ll give him back to Amy. Or I’ll take him myself or something.”

Sue Ann peered down at the gray kitty in Adam’s hand, who meowed sweetly up at her now, and—oh hell, how could she say no? “Yes, I want the cat,” she told him, reaching to pet Dickens while Adam held him, her hands finally closing over his around the kitten.

Then she smiled up into his gorgeous eyes, incredibly blue even in the dim light of streetlamps struggling to shine through the snow, and said, “It looks like I’m getting
lots
of things this Christmas I didn’t know I wanted.”

Epilogue

“God bless us everyone.”

Charles Dickens,
A Christmas Carol

S
ue Ann and Adam relaxed on the couch at her place on a quiet Saturday afternoon, watching Sophie and the boys. The kids sat on the floor near the fireplace playing with Dickens, who was growing rapidly. Sophie had done an admirable job of taking care of her new kitten, and it turned out Adam had been right—having a pet gave her something she really cared about to focus on. And yes, the little kitty was a troublemaker for sure—even if Adam was always defending him—but the truth was, Sue Ann enjoyed having him around even when Sophie was with Jeff and the caretaking duties fell solely on her.

And as Sophie began to seem happier and more acceptant of the changes in her life, Sue Ann was making every effort to be a little less overprotective of her daughter. Of course, it helped that Jeff had begun making more effort to respect Sue Ann and Sophie’s space since the blow-up at Christmas, and also that Sophie enjoyed having Adam and the twins around so much.

“I’m thinking we need to tackle the kitchen tomorrow,” Adam told Sue Ann, drawing her attention from the children and the cat.

In addition to getting adjusted to her new job, Sue Ann had also succeeded in getting her real estate license, just last week, and now Adam was helping her fix up the house so she could put it on the market and act as her own first client. They’d been putting off painting the kitchen because it was a big room with lots of nooks and crannies, so her first response was to sneer, before she said, “You’re right.”

“All the kids’ll be gone—it’ll be a good time for it.”

And the truth was, she knew she’d enjoy the project once they got started. In fact, as soon as she and Sophie were moved and settled, she planned to embark on her plans for a little home remodeling side business—so long as she could find the time.

It had continued to be an unusually snowy winter, in which Adam and Sophie, often with the help of Jacob and Joey, had built many snow cats in the front yard. Sue Ann’s gaze drifted to the mantel, to a framed photo of Sophie and that first snow cat, accompanied by a larger one of Sophie and Dancer, as well as a picture of Adam and Sue Ann holding hands in the snow—it had been taken outside at the Destiny Christmas party after all the excitement died down.

“And speaking of the kids being gone,” she said, “isn’t it about time we start delivering them?” The boys were due at Sheila’s, and Sophie at Jeff’s.

“Yep,” Adam replied. “I hate to tear all that attention away from Dickens, but it’s getting late.”

“Well, I can think of one good thing about it,” Sue Ann said softly, running her fingertip gently across the palm of his hand.

When he met her gaze with those sexy blue eyes, it made her bite her lower lip as she began to tingle below. “Are you getting fresh with me, sugar plum?”

“Indeed I am,” she whispered.

At which point he turned to the children. “All right, kids, time to go.” He clapped his hands together to hurry them along. “Chop, chop. Get movin’.”

Sue Ann only laughed, watching as Adam herded the children into coats—and then she glanced out the big bay window at the last mounds of snow, now melting in her yard to reveal the ground underneath for the first time in months. The calendar page had turned to March and the weatherman was predicting sun and spring temperatures over the coming days, so she suspected the snow might finally be finished for the year.

And even though most folks in Destiny had seen enough snow this winter to last them a lifetime, Sue Ann thought she might actually miss it. Snow had first pushed her and Adam together, after all, and it had reunited them on more than one occasion. But on the other hand, she was looking forward to spending time with him in all the coming seasons, too—and she knew they’d be together long after the spring thaw.

“What are you guys gonna do without all us kids tonight?” Joey asked as they began filing out the door. Indeed, with three between them, there were usually at least one or two of them around. “Won’t you be bored?”

Adam met Sue Ann’s eyes over the children’s heads, his gaze sparkling seductively on her, then said, “Oh, don’t worry about us. I’m sure we’ll find
some
way to spend our time.” Then he mouthed the words:
Me and you.
Later.
Reindeer games.

One more thing, Sue Ann decided with a private smile at her man, that she planned to enjoy all year round.

And though she truly was ready to leave her home for a new one, to go along with her fresh start in life and in love, she knew she’d always cherish certain memories she’d made at the house on Holly Lane, including the ones that had helped bring her and Adam together.