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Ashley turned to look and saw that the little girl was digging through her toiletry bag. Chloe’s face reflected wonder as she twirled a bottle of glittery purple polish in her fingers and held it up to the light.

  “Let me see,” Becca said, rushing over to her.

  They were too adorable. Ashley couldn’t stand not painting their nails after that and hoped their moms wouldn’t care. It was not easy to get Becca to hold still while her hot pink nails dried, but Chloe was as still as statue. While the girls’ nails were drying, Ashley painted her own nails in a pale color slightly pinker than ivory. It was sheer and made her nails look much more elegant for the evening ahead.

  She’d enjoyed hanging out with the girls, listening to their sweet voices and the sound of rain falling outside, but she wondered where Daniel was.

  “Becca, where is your brother?” she asked as she put a top coat on her last nail.

  “He’s with Shawn, working on Daddy’s car,” Becca told her. “You know, the little one in Shawn’s room.”

  “I didn’t know Shawn was home.”

  “Yeah,” Becca said, studying her thumbnail closely and trying to smooth out a smudge she’d made in it. “He got here the same time Mark did.”

  Ashley’s head jerked up, her hands frozen in midair. “Mark is here?”

  “Uh huh. Ashley, can you fix this?” she asked holding out her nail.

  Now in a hurry to get downstairs, Ashley had to force herself to be patient and fix Becca’s polish, knowing it would likely get messed up again. She got the girls to leave as soon as she could however by telling them to go show their grandma how pretty their nails were. They ran off excitedly, Chloe still holding her fingers extended safely away from her body.

  Ashley cleaned up the polish mess and went downstairs with a rapidly beating heart. He wasn’t in the living room, so she knew the next most likely place to look for him was in the kitchen.

  Sure enough, he was sitting at the counter, munching on a sugar cookie that used to be a star. He looked up when she came in and smiled tentatively. Ashley felt a smile growing on her face, a response she didn’t seem able to control around him. “Did you get off work early?”

  “Yeah, I managed to wrap things up ahead of schedule. I wanted to make sure that we had plenty of time at the Garrett’s house and still be able to get back and get ready for the dance.”

  “Their furnace is broken, huh?” she asked, sitting on the stool next to his at the counter.

  He turned sideways on his stool to see her better and replied, “No, it’s working, it’s just not heating the house very well. Your dad thinks they may just need a new filter, but he won’t be sure till we get out there. I’d hate for them to have problems with it during this storm that’s coming.”

  “I think it’s here,” Ashley said.

  “It’s getting pretty miserable out there, huh? The air is so cold that I can’t believe it’s not snowing. It must be hovering just above freezing.”

  “I hope you guys don’t have trouble with the roads.”

  “I think we’ll be fine. I’m more worried about the roads when we go to the dance. I hope the roads don’t freeze over before we come home.”

  Ashley agreed and they sat silently for a moment, watching her mom whip up a batch of frosting. She glanced sideways at Mark. A warm feeling grew in her chest as she came to the realization that he truly was a man of character. He didn’t seem to think twice about getting off work early, to go out in the cold rain to help a struggling family. She’d always accepted that her dad did things like that, and encouraged his children to do so also, but she was touched that Mark was so willing to be of service. She’d never been more attracted to him than she was in that moment.

  Mark took another bite of his cookie and turned to look at her. He grew very still as he saw her face, not even chewing any longer. He was searching her face, obviously seeing more in her expression than she wanted him to. She looked hastily down, obscuring her eyes with her lashes and waited breathlessly to see if he would say something. When he didn’t, she tried to think of some way to get the conversation going again.

  “So when are you and Shawn planning to leave?”

  Mark was quiet for a second before saying, “We’re, uh, waiting for your dad to get here.”

  “Well it looks like we’re about to decorate cookies. Want to help until you have to go?”

  The smile that spread over his face had her stomach doing flips. “If it means I’ll get to eat some more, I’d be happy to.”

  Ashley gave a choke of laughter and said, “Well, let’s help get everything ready.” They called to Daniel to come help and he happily abandoned Shawn. For the next little while, they were busy stirring food coloring into bowls of white frosting and setting out sprinkles while the kids got settled at the table and picked out which cookies they wanted to decorate.

  Mark got frustrated trying to make red frosting because it only turned pink. Finally, he emptied the tube of food coloring into the frosting. When this didn’t do much to change the color, he said, “Well, I guess all the Santa cookies will have to have pink suits instead of red.”

  Ashley leaned close to whisper in his ear, “Don’t worry, the kids will cover them with sprinkles until they’re unrecognizable anyway.”

  “I guess it doesn’t matter as long as they taste good, huh?” Mark replied softly, his breath dancing warm and sweet over her with the scent of gingerbread.

  Just as they were getting started, Jessica came in and helped. She did her best to keep the kids from eating too much frosting, but it was a losing battle. In a frenzy of decorating, the kids got hyper and were soon giggling as much as they were licking their fingers. Ashley envied her mom who was calmly piping frosting on the gingerbread men over on the counter, away from all the chaos.

  At least Mark seemed to be enjoying himself. He critiqued and assisted the kids’ efforts, encouraging them to use as many sprinkles as possible. He even selflessly volunteered to dispose of any cookies that got broken.

  It didn’t take too long before Ashley and Jessica had had enough. It took a little effort to convince the kids that they’d decorated enough of the cookies by explaining that some people liked them better without any frosting on them. From their expressions, she knew that they thought this was strange, bordering on weird, but they agreed to go find something else to do.

  Mark offered to keep an eye on the kids in the living room so that they could clean up. Ashley told him, “That’s so sweet of you.” Her tone was teasing and her eyes mocked him for finding a way out of cleaning.

  “Hey, no problem.” He stood up to leave, passing close to her as he walked around the table. He paused for a second, only a foot away and said, “By the way, you have frosting on your nose.”

  “I do?” she asked, running her fingers down her nose to check. “Where?”

  “Right there,” he said, touching the tip of her nose with a frosting covered fingertip.

  “Hey,” she called after him, but he just chuckled as he walked over to the sink to wash his hands with the three kids.

  As Ashley and Jessica began to clean up the cookie mess, Ashley’s mom came over and looked at the finished cookies. “Well, I would like to have a few pretty ones, so I’m glad you guys didn’t let the kids decorate all of them. Let’s not put this all away yet.”

  “You want me to help you?” Jessica asked.

  “No. You’re doing too much already.”

  “Nora, it isn’t exactly tiring to sit in a chair and spread frosting on a few cookies. It might even be fun now that the kids are gone.”

  “Well, I don’t want anything to do with it,” Ashley told them. “Call me when you guys are ready to clean up.”

  As she spoke, Ashley picked up a bell shaped cookie, spread a thin layer of yellow frosting over it, and headed for the living room.

  She took a bite of her cookie and almost choked on it when she heard an eruption of screaming from the direction of the stairs. She went running and stop
ped amazed when she saw that the kids were all fine - even if they were all yelling at the top of their lungs. Shawn had come downstairs and when he saw how bewildered she was, he explained that Mark had agreed to a wrestling match. The kids were practicing their war cries while he took off his shoes.

  “Ok now, only one at a time,” Mark said firmly as he knelt down on the floor in front of the Christmas tree. They completely ignored him however. He was attacked by two enthusiastic kids. Chloe didn’t know Mark, but the other two were having so much fun that she didn’t hesitate for long. It took her a few seconds to find an opening in the flying legs and elbows, but she finally saw one and jumped onto Mark’s back. She clung to his neck tightly, severely restricting his movements.

  Ashley and Shawn laughed and called advice and encouragement to them, but luckily for Mark, Keith came in and rescued him.

  “All right, kids, that’s enough. Let him breathe.”

  Reluctantly they detangled themselves from Mark and asked him when they could do it again. Mark stood up, disheveled and half choked to death, and promised they could have a rematch another day. Ashley watched Keith’s face as he stood talking to Mark, and it seemed that her big brother’s attitude towards him was more relaxed than it had been the night before.

  She realized she must have been lost in her own thoughts when she became aware that Mark, Keith, and Shawn were all looking at her, waiting for an answer. “Um, what?” she asked.

  Mark laughed and said, “I asked if you wanted to eat dinner here or if you wanted to go out to eat before the dance.”

  Ashley considered it for a moment and said, “Well, I think I’ll eat here. That way, if you guys are running late, we don’t miss too much of the dance.”

  “Sounds good. We can go through a drive through or something, Shawn.”

  As he said this, Ashley’s dad got home from work. He didn’t bother to take off his coat as he came in the living room. “Are you guys ready to go?” he asked Mark and Shawn.

  “Let me put my shoes back on,” Mark said, turning to find them.

  Shawn got up and pulled on his coat. Ashley saw Mark’s black wool coat lying across the arm of the couch. When he had his shoes on, she handed it to him. He thanked her quietly and put it on.

  “I’ll see you later, she told him. “Good luck with the Garrett’s furnace.”

  “I don’t know how much help I’ll be, but I’m sure your dad will get it working better.”

  “As long as we don’t have to replace any parts, we’ll be in good shape,” her dad said. “We’d better get going though, in case we have to come back into town for something.”

  “We’re ready,” Shawn said, “if Mark can tear himself away from Ashley.” He opened the door as he spoke and they all stood staring at the falling rain and the darkening sky. “This ought to be fun,” Shawn grumbled before running out to the truck.

  Mark and her dad both grimaced, but they didn’t hesitate to go out in rain.

  Ashley and Keith stood watching on the porch until the truck, with its headlights and windshield wipers on, disappeared down the hill. Then, before going inside, Ashley turned to her brother and asked, “So you’re not going to give me a hard time anymore – about Mark?”

  “Whatever gave you that idea?” he replied with a teasing smile as he sauntered back inside. “You need to give that guy a break though. He’s obviously trying to figure you out.”

  “Well, that makes two of us then.”

  Later that night, Ashley was just putting the finishing touches on her makeup when she got a call from Mark. “Hey. What’s up?” she asked.

  “We’re almost home, but Shawn and I are going to have to shower and change before we can leave. Fixing that furnace turned out to be way more involved and much messier than we’d hoped.”

  “No problem. I’m not quite ready yet anyway, and I don’t mind waiting.”

  “You won’t have to wait long. Your Dad’s going to drop me off at my house, so I won’t see you till I come to pick you up.”

  The way he said that, it almost sounded like a date. She wished it was. “All right. I’ll see you then.”

  They hung up and she put her phone back down on her dresser. She stood in front of her mirror and got started on her hair. She pulled it up into a twisted half ponytail and coaxed her hair into loose curls, which she pinned into a loose bun that was off center to the right. She was just putting in the last pin when she heard Shawn sprinting up the stairs and down the hall to his room. She hoped he wouldn’t take too long.

  As a final touch to her hair, she strategically tucked a few hairpins with red flowers around the bun near her ear so that they framed her face. Satisfied, she turned to get dressed.

  She battled her way into a pair of control top pantyhose because the dress she’d chosen wasn’t very forgiving, though it was beautiful. It was a black chiffon dress that had a pretty round neckline and a closely tailored bodice. It had short sleeves and a slightly gathered skirt that went to her knees where it was embellished with a small, double layered ruffle. She could just manage to zip it up by herself by craning her arms over her shoulders. When she’d managed that, she knotted the sash that tied in the front on the left side.

  Everything was going well until she went to put on her red heels. One of them was missing. She was sure she’d put them both on her bed, ready to grab. She looked under everything that was strewn across her bed, looked under the bed itself, and was starting to panic when she stepped on her robe, which had fallen off the bed, and almost fell rolling her ankle. She caught her balance however, and after rotating her foot a few times to check her ankle, she picked up her robe. Sure enough, she’d stepped on the shoe, which was covered by the robe.

  So, by the time she put on her shoes, perfume, and lip-gloss, she had taken much longer to get ready than she’d thought. She put a few essentials in a pretty red clutch and was leaving to go downstairs when she remembered her jewelry. She ran back and put on a pair of black teardrop earrings, and a several tiny black bangle bracelets.

  Just then, the doorbell rang, so she quickly turned to take one final look in the mirror. Deciding that she looked as good as she was going to, she grabbed her clutch again, and hurried downstairs.

  She carefully going down the steps in her heels when she heard her mom opening the front door and welcoming Mark inside. As she reached the bottom step, they were coming into the living room, which was crowded with members of her family. Her heart almost stopped at the sight of Mark.

  He was wearing his dark grey suit again, which showed off his tall, athletic build and broad shoulders. His hair was still damp and was combed into the carefully messy style he always wore. Something about him made her feel shy all at once. Perhaps it was the way the golden glow from the lamps lit his face, warm with emotion as he looked at her.

  Maybe it was that almost every member of her family was there to witness their every move.

  Ashley wasn’t quite sure what to do with herself, and Mark seemed perfectly happy just to stand looking at her. It was a relief, therefore, when she felt a little hand curling into her own, giving her a good excuse to do something besides stand still and feel awkward. She looked down at Chloe who was staring up at her with big eyes.

  “You look like a princess,” Chloe told her in hushed voice. She reached out and softly ran her small hand down Ashley’s skirt.

  Mark came towards them and crouched down to be eye-level with Chloe. “She is beautiful, isn’t she?” he asked the little girl. She nodded her blond head emphatically and he continued, “Aren’t I a lucky guy to be going to a dance with her?”

  Chloe nodded again and offered, “You look pretty too.”

  Ashley couldn’t help but chuckle, but Mark only smiled and said, gently, “Thank you.” He stood again and said to Ashley, “We’d better get going. It’s snowing outside now, and if it gets any colder, all the water on the road is going to start freezing. If it does, we’ll need to leave early.”

  “It’s
really snowing?” Jessica asked above the squeals from the kids.

  Everyone went to the windows to look and see for themselves. Just beyond the colored glow of the Christmas lights on the porch, the huge flakes of snow looked like they’d been dusted with rainbow glitter. They fell heavily on the sodden ground and melted.

  After watching for a moment, Ashley told him, “I’m ready to go.”

  “Where’s Shawn? Is he ready?”

  Ashley shrugged, having only that moment realized that Shawn wasn’t around.

  Her dad call up to Shawn to hurry and a few seconds later, Shawn came rushing down the stairs, still pulling on his suit coat. “Ok, let’s go,” he said briefly as he headed to the front door.

  Ashley and Mark followed, pausing at the door to put their coats on. Everybody followed them outside, excited to be out in the falling snow.

  “Too bad it’s not sticking yet. With flakes this big, it would pile up pretty fast,” Shawn said, holding his hand out to catch one as they walked to Mark’s car.

  “It will when the wet ground freezes.” Mark told him grimly.

  “Oh, relax,” Shawn told him. “It probably won’t get that bad, and if it does we’ll make it home eventually.”

  “Well Ashley isn’t exactly dressed for a trek in a snowstorm, so let’s try to get home without any problems, ok?”

  “That’s fine with me, though it would be kind of funny to see how she managed ice in those heels.”

  “Gee thanks,” Ashley said, rolling her eyes as she got in the car while Mark held the door for her.

  As they backed out of the driveway, Ashley watched as the rest of her family stayed on the porch waving to them and watching the snow. She was still not accustomed to being home around her family again, so seeing them all gathered there was a beautiful sight. But then, everything about the evening seemed beautiful at that moment.

  Chapter 12

  If You Really Hold Me Tight

  The drive to the church seemed very short because her anticipation was running high. Apparently, the excitement over the dance was pretty general, because the parking lot was full despite the ominous weather. Snow was starting to stick to some of the cars, but it certainly didn’t look very threatening so Ashley didn’t give it another thought as they went inside.