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  When she opened the box, there was a note resting on the tissue paper. She picked it up with trembling fingers and held it towards the lamp to read it.

  Ashley,

  I wish that I could be with you for Christmas, but since I can’t, this will keep you warm while I am away. As you read this, know that I am thinking about you and missing you.

  I’ll see you soon,

  Mark

  She unfolded the tissue paper and found a blue fleece blanket with beautiful white snowflakes swirled all over it. She ran it across her cheek, enjoying how soft it was, and caught a faint hint of Mark’s cologne. It must have been in his room for a few days before he’d wrapped it. She unfolded it and spread it out over her. It was large and heavy in a comforting way.

  When she saw him again, she would ask him about Kari and somehow get him to tell her how he felt. She was terrible at trying to figure it out by herself. She turned out the lamp and her last thought before she went to sleep was of Mark.

  Not surprisingly, it was the kids that woke Ashley up the next morning. They came shrieking down the stairs and pounced on the toys around the Christmas tree. Their parents dragged behind them. Jessica and Kayla took pictures and videos, exclaiming with the kids over their presents, but Keith and Justin crashed on the couch. They attempted to look enthusiastic but only managed to look groggy.

  Stockings were dumped out and sorted through and the presents were passed around. The highlight was the model of Justin’s old Funk Wagon that Daniel and Shawn had made for him. It was touching to see the pride on Daniel’s face when he pointed out all the little details to his dad, who was so excited and impressed by it that Ashley suspected he had a difficult time trying not to cry.

  As clean up began, Ashley realized that her throat wasn’t hurting so bad. In fact, she had almost forgotten about it for a little while. She felt good enough to get down on the floor and help gather up the torn wrapping paper and sort out the gifts that were strewn everywhere. She soon got tired and had to rest, but she realized that it was because she hadn’t eaten for so long.

  She headed to the kitchen where people were drifting in and out, snacking on left over goodies from the night before. It had always been a tradition in their family not to make breakfast on Christmas morning so that her mom could enjoy herself, but they had gotten to where they looked forward to their breakfast of left overs. Ashley found that peanut butter fudge didn’t bother her throat at all.

  She watched while her mom put a gigantic turkey in the oven and realized that she was looking forward to Christmas dinner. She was feeling better all the time. Good enough, in fact, to eat some of the cheese ball that someone had left on the counter next to her.

  “Feeling better?” her mom asked.

  “I am. Still not great, but better.”

  “Well, thank heavens for that. I think Justin’s coming down with it though. He’s not feeling well.”

  “Oh no. He’s not going to feel like eating Christmas dinner. Well, at least he could eat last night,” Ashley remarked bitterly.

  “There are plenty of left overs, so I’m sure you’ll be all right. Why don’t you go rest in the living room and look at that new cookbook I got you? Maybe you’ll feel up to helping with dinner in a little while.”

  “I hope so.” Ashley grabbed what was left of the cheese ball and some crackers to take with her.

  The morning dissolved into afternoon in a pleasant way. The kids played with their toys and the adults tried out their new gadgets or took naps. Ashley had slept enough so she went and took a very hot shower, letting the steam ease away the last of her sore throat. She fixed her hair in a double French braid so she didn’t have to dry it, and put on a button up black and gray plaid top that Justin and Kayla had given her. She wore it over a lacey white camisole that gave it a feminine touch.

  When it was time to make dinner, the kitchen got chaotic with everything that needed to get done. Everyone lent a hand, but since nobody wanted her spreading her sick germs on the food, Ashley was put in charge of washing dishes. It amazed her how many dishes got dirty from preparing dinner.

  Ashley was elbow deep in the pot that the potatoes had been boiled in when the doorbell rang. It wasn’t unusual for a neighbor to drop by on Christmas day so she didn’t pay much attention to it. A minute later however, she felt someone’s arms come around her. Suddenly Mark’s cheek was pressed to hers. She squeaked a surprised, “Mark!” and spun around in his arms.

  Quick as flash, he kissed her. Her head was spinning as she tried to grasp what was going on. “Oh, no. Don’t kiss me. I’ve been sick.”

  “I don’t care,” he told her and kissed her again. Ashley pulled away as she realized that everyone had stopped what they were doing to watch with beaming faces. She leaned towards him with a serious expression and murmured, “We need to talk.”

  Mark’s expression changed to match hers as he said, “I know. Where can we go?”

  “How about my dad’s office?” Mark nodded and as she led the way, she asked, “What are you doing here? I thought you weren’t coming home for a few more days.”

  “I wasn’t, but I knew something was wrong between us, and I couldn’t stand it any longer. I caught the first flight I could find this morning.”

  Mark followed her into her dad’s office and she closed the door behind them. The room was neat and precisely organized with several bookshelves, a filing cabinet, and a desk, but there was no seating beyond her dad’s desk chair. Ashley perched on the edge of the desk and stared down at her feet for a moment, trying to gather her thoughts. Mark was silent as he studied her and waited. She took hold of her courage and looked up at last to say, “I need to know about Kari.”

  “Kari?” Mark asked, bewildered. “What about her?”

  “Are you seeing her too?”

  “No! What kind of a guy do you think I am?”

  She could tell from his voice that he was offended and she cringed at the effect of her question. But no matter what, she had to know for her own piece of mind. “I’m sorry, but you don’t understand. There were so many signs, and it’s happened to me before.”

  Mark asked in a more gentle tone, “What’s happened to you before?”

  “There was this guy I dated over the summer that led me on. He…” Ashley paused, struggling with the difficulty of what she was trying to say. “I trusted him until I found out publicly and with no warning that he was seeing another girl while he was dating me.” She didn’t give any details, but the raw pain in her voice told her story well enough.

  “Did you love him?” Mark asked, his voice deep and rough.

  Ashley’s eyes flew to his in alarm. “No, not at all. Though I didn’t realize that at the time of course. It was only an infatuation. What he did to me was so unexpected and humiliating that I guess it left a scar. The experience made it hard for me to trust my instincts about whether or not a guy is sincere.”

  “But Ashley, this guy sounds like a real creep. You think I’m like him?”

  Ashley’s eyes filled with tears, “No, I don’t, not really. But there were so many signs that you were interested in Kari that I couldn’t ignore them.”

  “Like what?”

  “Well, that night we went to look at Christmas lights, Kari was flirting like crazy with you and you didn’t seem to mind.”

  Mark came towards her then and put his hands on her shoulders. “I guess I wasn’t paying attention to anything but you. I knew something was bothering you, but I didn’t have a clue what it was. I thought maybe you needed some space. I don’t even remember much about Kari that night.”

  “Then why were you gone forever when you took her back to her car?”

  Mark didn’t answer immediately but straightened up, a puzzled expression drawing his eyebrows together as he thought about it. She saw the moment that his memory clicked and he looked back at her with a direct and honest gaze. “I drove by the city offices on my way home and saw that some lights were on. It was unusua
l for people to be working that late, so I stopped by to see what was going on. The transportation department was making plans for the bad weather that was moving in, so it was nothing that I needed to worry about, but while I was there I decided to get a few things done. I wanted to be able to leave earlier the next day. Besides, how did you know when I got home?”

  “I heard your car pull in and Shawn had told me where you’d gone.”

  “I see.”

  “You have to admit that Kari is really possessive of you and you danced with her a lot…”

  “Only because I didn’t want to be rude to her. You danced just as often with that Andy guy. Does that mean you like him?”

  “No, it means that I had to dance with someone when Kari got a hold of you. And then the night you left, when we went to go get the pizza, you were texting her while we were together and you got rid of me to meet her at your house. I came over earlier than you told me to and she hadn’t left yet.”

  “She was texting me because she left her sweater at my house and she wanted to come get it before I left.”

  “But why did you get rid of me? And why were there candles lit everywhere?”

  Mark pulled her up to stand next to him and took her face between his hands so that she was forced to look straight at him. He shook his head at her, a faint smile on his lips, “Ashley, what am I going to do with you? I got rid of you, as you say, so I could wrap your gift and get all the candles lit that I’d borrowed from Kayla. I was hoping to have a romantic moment with you before I left. Kari was just an annoying inconvenience in my plans and I got rid of her almost as soon as she got there. I guess I’m pretty much an idiot for not figuring out what had upset you, but it didn’t even register that you might be jealous of her. Probably because there was absolutely no reason for you to be.”

  “She’s so gorgeous and confident that it was hard to believe that you’d prefer me to her.”

  “Oh my gosh, Ashley! Seriously? I guess my mom was right.”

  “About what?”

  “She thought I was handling this all wrong. I was worried that if I let you know how I felt too soon, it would scare you off. So, I’ve been doing my best not to rush things. I’m so crazy about you though, that sometimes I got carried away.” Mark laughed briefly, though it sounded more self-conscious than humorous. “I guess I’ve kind of been sending mixed signals, huh?”

  Ashley nodded at him, relieved that he understood what had caused her uncertainty.

  “My mom could tell that things weren’t going well with you and made me tell her everything that had happened. She told me that I needed to stop being so cautious and tell you exactly how I felt. So, here I am, and here it goes. Ashley, that first day I met you, at Thanksgiving, I was so attracted to you that I took the job they offered me here, even though I got another one closer to home. In the few weeks before you came home from college, I was so anxious to see you again that I could barely stand it. I knew that you were someone special, but once you were finally here, I was still blown away by how incredible you are.”

  Ashley’s heart was beating so hard in her chest that it was painful. “I am?”

  He pulled her firmly into his arms, laughing and saying, “You sound like you don’t believe me. Ashley, you’re so beautiful and such a sweetheart. I love how intelligent and funny you are, and how for the first time, I’ve found a girl that I feel comfortable talking to.” Mark paused, looking a little embarrassed, “Well, except for telling you how I felt about you. I didn’t manage that very well, did I?”

  Ashley’s eyes were watering, this time with joy. “You have now, but I wish you’d told me before. It would have made everything so much easier.”

  “Hey, I did ask you to be my girlfriend, remember?”

  “If I remember right, you didn’t really ask me. You didn’t mention it again so I thought you were joking.”

  “It wasn’t a joke, just an awkward attempt to establish a relationship with you. I was glad you didn’t freak out about it at least, like you did every time someone mentioned the word ‘marriage.’”

  “You freaked out too.”

  “I did not. But I knew it wasn’t helping my plans not to rush you when your family kept teasing us about it.”

  “So it didn’t scare you off at all?”

  “Ashley, I’m 26 years old. I want to get married. Do you honestly think that it bothers me when the family of the girl I’ve fallen in love with are not only cool with the idea, but are encouraging us?”

  Ashley stared at Mark with big eyes. She wondered if her heart had permanently stopped beating. “Did you just say you love me?”

  Mark’s dimples grew beside his smile, causing her heart to pick up its erratic rhythm again. “I thought that’s what I’d been saying since we came in here.”

  “Well, I was hoping, but you hadn’t actually said the words.”

  Mark’s eyes were intense with emotion as he looked tenderly down at her. “I love you, Ashley. Completely, totally, and permanently.”

  “That’s a relief, because I love you too. That’s why I’ve been so miserable,” she said, her last words muffled as she pressed her face into his chest and cried, sniffling and hiccupping into his shirt. All of her fears and hurt melted, flowing away with her tears. She felt his large hand stroking the back of her head and his strong arm holding her close.

  “I seem to be making you cry a lot,” he whispered, remorse making his voice thick.

  Ashley looked up at him, smiling as she tried to dry her cheeks with her fingers. “I’m ok now. It’s just that I was so miserable before and I’m so happy now.”

  “Good,” Mark said, catching a tear on his finger before it dripped off her chin. “Just be sure to look happy for your family so they don’t think I’ve been a jerk when they see you with a red, tearstained face.”

  “Oh, great. I must look terrible.”

  “I doubt that you could ever look anything but beautiful. You looked a little pale when I got here anyway, so it’s nice to see some color in your cheeks.”

  “Well, I’d better go wash my face or something before we go back to eat dinner.” Ashley tried to pull away from him, but Mark didn’t let her go.

  “Hold on. I’m not done with you yet.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “I mean, I want to kiss you first. And I plan to do a thorough job of it.”

  “But you’ll catch this cold I’ve had.”

  “I told you before that I don’t care. If you think that I could worry about you for two days, spend most of Christmas traveling to see you, hold you in my arms again at last, and hear you say you love me, but not kiss you… well, you’re crazy.”

  Ashley surrendered, and Mark’s kiss did as much to convince her of his love as his words had. She kissed him back, secure in her new confidence. Mark loved her, a miracle she’d been afraid to hope for.

  “There,” Mark said a few moments later. “Maybe that will hold me until after dinner.”

  Ashley chuckled, “You just want to go eat.”

  “It does smell amazing around here,” Mark admitted.

  “Well, come on. They’re probably waiting for us.”

  She saw that she was right as they went back into the kitchen. Instead of hurrying around in busy preparation, her family was standing around talking. They all fell silent however as they came in. Anyway, all of them but Shawn.

  “It’s about time,” Shawn teased. “What took you so long?”

  Ashley blushed but Mark grinned and answered, “What do you think?”

  “It isn’t hard to guess,” Kayla observed. “You’re both glowing and smiling like crazy people.”

  Becca tugged on her mom’s hand and whispered loudly, “Is he finally going to marry her?”

  Kayla eyes popped and she tried to shush her, but Mark relieved the sudden tension in the room by saying, “Well, Becca, how about if I let her get used to being my girlfriend before I ask her to be my wife? But when I do, you’ll be the first to
know. Deal?”

  “Deal,” she agreed with a cheerful nod of her head.

  Ashley saw that her mom was glowing with pleasure too and nearly laughed. Her mom looked around, satisfied that everything was as it should be and said, “Well, let’s go eat before everything gets cold.”

  Nobody argued with her and they all moved to the dining room. As they went, Ashley gasped and pulled Mark to a stop with her. “I haven’t given you your gift yet.”

  He smiled with love in his eyes and said in a voice husky with emotion, “I wouldn’t say that.” Then he put his arm around her waist and pulled her towards the table. “Now come on. I came a long way for this meal.”

  She grinned at him. “I thought you came to see me.”

  Mark’s dimples flashed. “Well, yes, but I admit that I was hoping to make up with you before dinner.”

  “What am I going to do with you?” she asked as she sat in the seat he pulled out for her.

  He sat beside her and leaned close to murmur in her ear. “Well, you have the rest of our lives to figure that out.”

  “That should be fun,” she told him, her eyes sparkling with joy and amusement.”

  “I intend to make sure it is.”

  As the food was passed around after the blessing, Ashley reflected that despite its miserable beginning, this had turned out to be a magical Christmas after all. She looked at Mark and her heart told her that there were many more to come, each more magical than the last.

  The characters and events portrayed in this book are fictitious.

  Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.

  Copyright © 2011 by Michelle Pennington

  First eBook edition October 2011

  All Rights Reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission of the author.