Chapter 10
Miranda’s mind swam with ideas as she and Randall headed down the snow-packed road toward the church, arm in arm. “A restaurant!” Her breath formed icy crystals in the air. “I think we could do it. We could really do it.”
“Of course we could.” Randall turned to her with a broad grin, clutching her arm tighter. “I’m beginning to think that between the two of us, we could do anything.”
She giggled at the thought and continued walking.
The world around them was bright and fresh with moonbeams and the promise of the future.
The closer they came to the church, the more people they met clomping through the snow.
Miranda hadn’t been in the mood to make friends with her new neighbors since arriving in Mistletoe, but with Randall by her side and the Christmas moonlight shining down on them, she found that she wanted to know everyone.
“Miss Clarke.” Everleigh Walsh, the reporter who’d tried once to strike up a conversation with her at the general store, met her as they entered the church. “I’d almost forgotten about you. Did you weather the storm all right?”
“Yes, absolutely.” Miranda turned to beam up at Randall. “It actually turned out to be quite a pleasant experience.” She hugged Randall’s arm and faced Everleigh again. “I don’t think you’ve met my fiancé, Randall Sinclair.”
“No, I haven’t.” Everleigh extended her hand to Randall, who shook it in the most gentlemanly manner. “Everleigh Walsh.”
“It’s a pleasure, Miss Walsh.” He peeked at Miranda, then went on with. “I look forward to getting to know you better, and to serving you and your friends at the new restaurant Miranda and I will be opening.”
Everleigh’s eyes widened. “A restaurant?”
“Yes, we’re converting the Holey Bucket into a fine dining spot.
” Miranda could hardly keep her giggles to herself.
It was far easier to pretend that this had been the plan all along, that nothing untoward had happened in the last week, and that life was as normal as normal could be.
She wondered how many of her other friends and neighbors spent their lives pretending things for the sake of appearance.
“I’ll have to do a story about that, once you’re ready,” Everleigh said. She caught sight of something deeper in the church and turned to go with a quick, “If you will excuse me.”
Miranda let her giggles out at last. Randall joined her, shifting to hold her hand. “Well, that was easy.”
“Of course it was easy.” She started walking further into the happy, chattering crowd of Mistletoe townsfolk. “It’s the advantage of people not knowing you well.”
“And not being able to see through walls,” he added in a teasing whisper.
The two of them laughed together. That drew the attention of the young woman standing nearby.
Miranda had met Dr. Shannon Callahan briefly when she’d arrived in town.
It was encouraging to see the surprising, female doctor all smiles now.
Those smiles also alerted Miranda to the fact that the party they’d just stepped into wasn’t just a Christmas party, it was a celebration of Dr. Callahan.
Miranda put two-and-two together, the healthy faces, the relief, the celebratory spirit.
“Has the measles epidemic ended?” she asked Shannon.
“Thankfully, yes,” Shannon replied. She blinked. “The last of the quarantined patients went home a few days ago. Didn’t you know?”
Miranda exchanged a sheepish look with Randall. “We were snowed in at the saloon.”
Shannon blinked from Miranda to Randall. “You…oh!”
“Dr. Callahan, may I introduce my fiancé, Randall Sinclair?” Miranda said before anything else could be.
“Oh.” Shannon’s surprise resolved into happy understanding. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Sinclair.”
“And you as well, Dr. Callahan.” He paused before saying. “A woman doctor. How unusual.”
Shannon gave him a look as though he didn’t know the half of it. “If you’ll excuse me, it looks like I’m wanted.” She waved and then hurried off.
“I think I like this little town of yours.” Randall slipped an arm around Miranda’s back, tugging her closer. They still hadn’t had a chance to take off their coats, but it hardly mattered.
“I think I like it too,” she replied. “And something tells me they aren’t the sort to go prying into every little detail of each other’s lives.”
“Well, there’s always someone,” Randall cautioned her. He stood straighter, searching through the crowd. “Which reminds me. Which one is the town reverend? I want to see if he has time to marry us tomorrow.”
“Tomorrow?” Miranda exclaimed, a buzz of excitement filling her to her toes.
Randall chuckled. “Do you really want to wait to share a bed with me and enjoy my cooking in the morning?”
Miranda blinked, then tumbled into laughter. “No, no I don’t. I would miss your cooking far too much.”
Randall tipped to kiss her cheek. “If we weren’t in a church, I’d show you which of those two things you should give priority.”
Miranda gasped in fake shock, then hugged him sideways. “We’ll need to spend just a bit more time in the church before I can submit to your need to convince me.”
His answering chuckle made her want to skip the party and head back to the saloon. She had a feeling it would be a very warm winter, no matter what the weather was like.
“So you don’t think your father will mind?” she asked, strolling on with him toward a table of refreshments. “That you’ve gone and married a saloon owner and set down roots in the middle of Montana?”
“Of course he’ll mind.” Randall shrugged. “But he can go on minding all he wants. It won’t change how I feel about settling down, and it won’t change how I feel about you.”
“And how do you feel about me?” She stopped and glanced up at him with a coquettish sparkle in her eye.
Randall turned to her, taking her in his arms in spite of the crowd around them.
“I love you, Randi. I don’t need months and years to know it.
I think I started falling in love with you the moment you didn’t kick me out of your saloon.
And I will continue to love you for the rest of my life and beyond. ”
“What a fortunate thing.” She smiled, never happier. “Because I love you too.”