Sweet Christmas Kisses (170 page)
Read Sweet Christmas Kisses Online
Authors: Donna Fasano,Ginny Baird,Helen Scott Taylor,Beate Boeker,Melinda Curtis,Denise Devine,Raine English,Aileen Fish,Patricia Forsythe,Grace Greene,Mona Risk,Roxanne Rustand,Magdalena Scott,Kristin Wallace
Stop it, you lying cheat
, she said with her own eyes.
I’m still furious with you.
“You seem to have made peace with the ex,” Nicky said. “Should I pulverize the brother who made the ex run instead?”
“You are not going to pulverize anyone. Michael thought he was helping everyone avoid a bad ending in the long run,” she said and then wondered why she was now defending him. Had she lost her mind? Michael had ruined her future with his helpful advice.
“I know,” Nicky said, tapping his knuckles against her chin. “I wasn’t sure you realized it, though.”
“You think he was right to interfere?” she asked, forgetting she’d just taken Michael’s side. “Doug left me at the altar because of what Michael did.”
“So Michael
forced
his brother to run off with your maid of honor?”
The acid-tinged question had come from her sister, who was leaning over their mom and dad in order to be heard.
“Huh?” Noelle asked, blinking in astonishment.
An echoing “Huh?” issued from her left. Millie poked her head around Nicky’s shoulder.
“Are we really going to have this conversation here?” Noelle asked the row in general. “With the entire town surrounding us?”
“You’ve been avoiding me,” Holly said with a shrug. “Where else am I going to get you to talk?”
“That’s true,” Millie, the good angel on the left, said. “I’ve called you a dozen times today. I can recite your voicemail message by heart.”
“Doug is such a coward,” Holly said, getting back to her point. “Always blaming his actions on someone else. He’s been that way since we were kids, and Michael was the one left to clean up the mess. If he told his brother not to marry you, it was probably for a good reason.”
Noelle’s mouth fell open. “I’m sorry. When did the aliens come and replace my sister with a pod person? Are you taking up forMichael Campbell now?”
Holly glanced away. “Maybe,” she mumbled under her breath.
“I didn’t hear you,” Noelle said.
Millie leaned in even more, until she was nearly sitting on Nicky’s lap. “Neither did I.”
“Okay fine.” Holly huffed. “I am sort of, kind of, maybe a little tiny bit, taking up for him.”
Nicky’s shoulders shook as he chuckled softly. “Don’t go overboard, Hol.”
Meanwhile her parents’ heads were rotating back and forth like they were watching a tennis match, their expressions ranging from exasperation to bemusement and then to sheer horror at the drama carrying on around them.
“Careful, baby brother.” Holly sent their brother a warning glare. “You may be a war hero to everyone else, but I still remember you wet the bed until you were eight.”
“Holly, really,” Rose Robinson said, exasperation returning.
“Yeah, low blow, sis,” Nicky said with exaggerated dismay. “Maybe I should tell your husband you used to practice French kissing on your boy-band posters.”
“Really?” Drew said, getting in to the conversation.
“She cut a hole where the lips were and—”
Holly tried to lunge across both parents.
Nicholas Robinson pushed her back. “Settle down, kids.”
“Hello?” Noelle gave a strangled shriek. “Can we get back to my problem, since you insist on airing in church?” She glared at her sister. “Holly, you’ve spent the last few weeks telling me to stay away from Michael, going on and on how about awful he is!”
“That was before he turned into your personal knight in shining armor,” Holly said.
Noelle let out an inelegant snort. “A guilt-ridden knight in shining armor.”
“Guilt didn’t bring him into the store the other day to kiss you senseless,” Millie pointed out. “That was a declaration.”
“You too Millie?” Noelle said
“Oh, stop,” Holly said. “We’re all on your side. You know we are. I’m just saying, blaming Michael for the entire tragedy may be unfair.”
“All right, seriously,” Noelle said. “Where is my real sister, and what have you done with her?”
“I’m kind of wondering the same thing,” Millie said, staring in fascination.
The real Holly rolled her eyes. “I’m allowed to change my mind on occasion,” she said. “Anyway, there’s still a chance Michael is nothing but a jerk who couldn’t stand for anyone to be happy after going through a nasty divorce.”
“That’s not true,” Noelle said, once again finding herself in the position of defending Michael’s actions.
“I didn’t think so,” Holly said with way too much smugness in her voice.
Drew coughed into his hand, managing to get out the words, “Not guilty,” at the same time.
“I vote for no on that, too,” Millie chimed in.
Noelle glanced her parents, and after a slight hesitation, they nodded in agreement. She sighed and sat back in the pew, letting her eyes close. Miraculously, her family went quiet as well.
Then Nicky nudged her. “So do I,” he said softly but in all seriousness.
Because they were in the middle of a packed church, and because it was only a few hours until the official celebration of the Savior’s birth, Noelle couldn’t tell her family where to go.
She also refused to look in Michael’s direction again. Instead she tried to focus her mind on the service. Good thing Seth had emerged from the back to start. The choir filed out as well, with Meredith in the lead. Everyone rose to sing hymns, and then Meredith brought the entire congregation to tears with a soaring rendition of “O Holy Night.”
Pastor Seth approached the pulpit.
“Today we celebrate the birth of our Lord,” he said. “We rejoice in the coming of the Christ child. Our culture likes the image of the infant sleeping on a bed of hay. A baby visited by lowly shepherds and Wise Men bearing gifts, but the Christmas narrative is not the end of the story. It isn’t even the beginning. It is the ultimate chess move, the one leading to checkmate at Christ’s death.
“The Christmas story is ultimately about sacrifice. The helpless Babe meant to save us all from our sins. An act that would offer eternal forgiveness. For God so loved the world. For God so loved you. And if He could give His Son, what more will He give you today? You are His child and like a Father, He wants only good things. Prepare for the good. Open your heart, and the blessings will overflow.”
Noelle’s heart lifted as Seth spoke, loosening her anger and sorrow. Peace flooded through her.
Someone nudged her shoulder. Noelle glanced around, and a little stuffed reindeer appeared in her vision. Turning more fully, she realized June Hammond from Good Sport held the toy. Noelle was too stunned to move, so Nicky ended up taking the reindeer.
He handed it to her, and Noelle stared down at the cloth antlers and red nose. A note was attached to its collar.
“Open it,” Nicky said softly.
“Yeah, open it,” Holly sorta-kinda whispered from down the row.
Noelle removed the paper and unfolded it.
Please forgive me. I love you.
P.S. I'm not sorry I hurt you, but I'm not sorry you didn’t marry Doug.
The rest of the service passed in a blur. Noelle couldn’t have recited one word that was said. The moment Seth pronounced the benediction and the organ started playing, Noelle jumped up. She whipped around, but the seat where Michael had been was empty.
He’d left already. Had he sent her a silly toy with a heartfelt plea, only to disappear?
“Go after him,” Nicky said, nudging her.
“What?”
He took her by the shoulders. “Noelle, in the past few years I’ve learned that life is fragile and precious. We could all be gone in an instant. If you’ve found someone to love you, don’t waste time. Forgive him and move on. Be happy the way you deserve.”
She cast her gaze around the pew, and every single head nodded.
With a little giggle, Noelle kissed her brother’s cheek. ”We need to find a girl for you.”
Then she ran up the aisle. She spotted Julia and Seth near the doors.
Julia grinned. “About time you came to your senses.”
“Did you see which way Michael went?” Noelle asked.
“Oh, you won’t miss him.” Julia winked and shared a blissful smile with her husband. “I feel like a proud momma.”
Noelle barely heard her. She raced down the steps and then came to an abrupt halt. A red sleigh stood parked by the curb. Santa was in the driver’s seat.
“Need a ride, little girl?”
A deep tension loosened within her. A coil that had been in place ever since she’d read a note in the bride’s room. “What are you doing?”
“Bringing you a Christmas present.”
She stepped closer to the sleigh. “I’m still angry with you.”
“I’m hoping you’ll let me make it up to you for the next fifty years or so.”
He held out a hand, and, after a moment’s hesitation, she took it and vaulted into the sleigh.
“There’s one thing I need to know,” she said. “When did I become more than a guilty conscience?”
Michael gazed into her eyes. “Probably about the third time you wrapped the bandage around my chest. I wanted to stay in that shed forever.”
“I think it was when you appeared on the other side of the store window the morning after my dad’s heart attack. My personal angel sent to save me.”
“You saved me too, you know. I didn’t know how empty my life had become until now. I love you, and I’ve never been more grateful to my idiot brother.”
“I love you, too.”
“Do you think you’ll mind having the last name Campbell after all?” he asked, lowering his head until her lips were inches from his.
Noelle closed the remaining distance. “Ask me in another fifty years or so.
The End
Kristin Wallace writes inspirational and sweet romance filled with “love, laughter and a leap of faith”. She is the author of the Covington Falls Chronicles, romances set in a quirky Southern town with a character all its own. Missed any books in the series? Catch up on all the previous romances: Marry Me - Julia & Seth’s story; Acting Up - Addison & Ethan’s story; Imagine That - Emily & Nate’s story. Read more & sign up for Kristin’s newsletter for the latest updates.
http://KristinWallaceAuthor.com
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