Soldier's Christmas Comeback (Home for Christmas #2)

1. Eden

1

EDEN

E den Wilder searched the winter wonderland around her, trying to figure out why something about it felt off today.

But other than the blanket of soft snow and the incredible Christmas decorations that adorned the town now, nothing had changed. The cute little shops, tall trees, and smiles on the faces of the people they passed were just the same as they had been since the day she and her eight-year-old son had arrived in Trinity Falls.

Her daily routine was rolling along just as it should. Eden and Jack were right on schedule for their usual walk to school, and she had a neat stack of graded spelling quizzes in her satchel for her fifth-grade students, plus a really fun lesson plan for the day ahead.

She and Jack had even gotten out of the house early enough today that she had stopped to splurge on a hazelnut coffee from the bakery. The paper cup was currently warming her hand right through her glove and it smelled heavenly, the fragrant steam swirling out of the little hole in the lid and tempting her to stop and take a sip right now.

Still, something was tickling at the edges of her mind. It was the kind of feeling that always made her think of her grandmother.

The east wind is blowing , the old woman would have murmured, her eyes narrowed thoughtfully as she gazed out the kitchen window, stirring a bowl with the beginnings of something sweet and delicious—almond rusk or strawberry cake. Something unexpected is coming our way, little lamb. The east wind means change.

Eden’s mom always rolled her eyes at that kind of talk. But Eden sometimes felt a tiny shiver of that same intuition, telling her to keep her wits about her, just in case. She knew it was nonsense, but it never hurt anyone to keep a lookout for the unexpected.

“Volleyball is almost over,” Jack said suddenly, dashing back to her, though he had been running ahead for the last half block.

It took her a second to realize that he was talking about the volleyball unit they were currently doing in his third-grade gym class.

“Are you sad about it?” she asked.

She knew Jack wasn’t very good at volleyball. But he surprised her sometimes lately by liking things she didn’t expect—even things he wasn’t good at—so she tried not to make assumptions that might influence his feelings. As far as she was concerned, a bit of enthusiasm and a lack of ego were good qualities for a little boy. She was happy to see him coming out of his shell .

“Nah,” he said. “But I like kickball. Do you think kickball will be next?”

“Maybe,” she allowed, shrugging. “A lot of schools do basketball in the wintertime. Maybe it will be basketball.”

“Maybe,” Jack said, not sounding especially excited. “I’m going to get Benny.”

He exploded forward again, darting up the path to the town doctor’s house and knocking on the front door before Eden caught up.

Jack wasn’t gifted when it came to sports, but he had always been quick on his feet. He had Eden’s bright blue eyes, but he had his father’s dark hair and he thankfully seemed on the way to having his father’s height as well. Right now, Jack was just a little tall for third grade, and lanky. But his big feet reminded her of the large paws on the puppy they’d had when she was a kid. Her dad had been fond of telling everyone, That’s going to be one big pup once he grows into those paws.

Maybe Jack wouldn’t be quite as tall as his dad, but at the very least, Eden was guaranteed to spend a fortune on sneakers keeping up with his growth spurts. And at only three inches over five feet tall herself, she figured she’d be lucky if he was out of the elementary school before he was towering over her.

He ran back to her again, fleet as a deer, with Benny Webb and Benny’s best friend Mara Cabrera following, all three of them smiling at her.

“Good morning, Miss Wilder,” Benny and Mara said at once.

“Good morning, kids,” she said with a smile before they all shot off ahead of her, backpacks swinging on their shoulders, giggling up a storm already.

Benny and Mara were a year ahead of Jack in school, but the three of them liked walking to school together. And Benny’s mom, Daisy, was grateful not to have to make the walk every day with his little sister, Hope, who was just a toddler.

For her part, Eden was happy for the chance to help out and give Jack some built-in friends at the same time. Even if they weren’t in the same class, she knew he liked arriving at the school and not even having to look around for someone to play with. Maybe it even made him feel cool to hang out with some fourth graders, though he hadn’t said so.

Eden loved standing on the edge of the playground for a little while each morning, watching him have fun with his new friends before she headed up to her classroom.

This was the life she had built for them. It hadn’t been easy, but every sacrifice had been worth the knowledge that she was standing on her own two feet and making it happen for Jack.

They were only about two blocks from the school when she heard the sound of heavy footsteps behind them, coming fast.

“On your right,” a deep, masculine voice rasped, practically in her ear.

She startled, moving very slightly to the side without meaning to, and something jolted her right arm hard enough to send her coffee and her satchel flying.

What a jerk, she thought to herself, grateful that the kids were too far ahead to be hit with any coffee, but not too bothered herself. It was only a drink after all. But when she saw that her lesson planner had sailed out of the bag and landed on the ground, pages open and coffee droplets all over it, she let out a frustrated sigh.

“I’m sorry, ma’am,” the deep voice said. “Here, let me get that.”

She turned, too surprised to answer, and looked up, and up and up, into the eyes of the most handsome man she had ever seen. He was tall with broad shoulders, and the dark hair of a cartoon prince. His soulful brown eyes were fixed on her planner.

Before she could form any kind of response, he peeled off his sweatshirt, revealing a tight, thermal t-shirt that removed any doubt she might have had about his physical fitness.

He used his sweatshirt to quickly clean off the planner, then gathered the rest of her things while Eden watched him in complete awe.

Where she came from, guys who were running and yelled out on your right wouldn’t stop and help out, even if they knocked you over.

“Who’s that?” Jack asked suddenly. “Are you okay?”

She looked up to see that all three kids had stopped and turned around at the commotion.

“I’m fine,” she told Jack right away.

“Axel Williams,” the man said, holding out the satchel to her. “I’m really sorry about that. I was kind of in my own world there. I’ll be more careful from now on.”

She couldn’t help noticing his eyes again as she took it. They were brown, but she could see flecks of gold in them too. Mostly though, they were filled with…something. Sadness, maybe, or longing?

And when he fixed them on her, Eden’s heart beat a little faster.

“Don’t worry about it,” she told him, tearing her eyes from his and holding her other hand out for the remains of her coffee cup. “You just surprised me.”

“I’ve got this,” he told her, indicating the ruined cup.

He looked like he was going to say more, but then he just took off again, back in the direction he’d come from. Again, she was kind of impressed that he wasn’t even leaving her to deal with the piece of wet, sticky trash that used to be her special coffee.

“Why was your stuff on the ground, Miss Wilder?” Mara asked politely.

“Oh, I stepped to the side a little just as he was coming up from behind and we bumped each other,” Eden told her, surprised to find herself smiling about it. “I’m okay though, and my stuff will be fine. Accidents happen.”

But her stuff would probably be sticky now. At least the guy had made things right as best he could. It had been almost endearing the way he immediately did all he could to help. She’d just been run into, lost her coffee, and dirtied her lesson planner, but somehow she was smiling.

Even the jerks are nice in this town…

Benny and Mara seemed to take her account at face value, and they walked on, but Jack hung back.

“Sorry about your coffee,” he said softly, grabbing her hand and squeezing it. He knew she didn’t splurge on store-bought coffee every day.

“Thank you,” she murmured, squeezing his hand back. “I’m okay.”

He smiled up at her and when she smiled back he must have been convinced it was true, because he dashed off to catch up with his friends.

Jack was so attuned to her. They were probably closer than a lot of kids and parents, since it was just the two of them. Sometimes, it made Eden feel vaguely guilty when he worried about her, like maybe she hadn’t done a good enough job hiding her own worry from him when Gary left.

But mostly she felt proud that he had the ability to feel real compassion for other people. All she wanted was for Jack to grow up to be a good man, and in moments like this one, it felt like he was well on his way.

She took in a deep breath of fresh, frosty air, and looked around as she continued on her way. She couldn’t help admiring the pretty old houses with their wide front porches. It was early for decorations, but many of the houses already had lights hanging from the eaves, and reindeer in the front yards.

Maybe we’ll find some decorations for our place…

The small house they were renting was absolutely charming. It had a nice little front porch of its own and a postage-stamp front yard just big enough for a decoration or two. She still couldn’t believe the place was affordable on her salary.

Eden got lost in the scenery and listening to the kids talk about holiday plans. And before she knew it, they were approaching the playground of the elementary school.

Jack turned back and gave her a wave and a big smile that warmed her heart before he chased after the other two toward the swings.

One day, he would forget to turn around, and that was just fine. It was all part of growing up. But for now, she was going to soak in every smile and wave.

She wasn’t officially on playground duty, but Eden did a quick survey of the area anyway. Plenty of children got to school early, and they all seemed so happy to be running around the open field, or playing on the swings and jungle gyms together.

The wind picked up a bit and she shivered and pulled her thin coat tighter around herself. With the chill already in the air, and even colder weather on the way, finding a new coat was high up on her list, but she was so busy writing lesson plans and doing things with Jack over the weekends that it was hard to find the time. For now, she layered sweaters underneath.

I sure wish I had that nice hot coffee now.

Thoughts of her coffee instantly put the image of the dark-haired man in her mind. She had been too shaken by how handsome he was to remember his name, or if he’d even told her what it was.

He couldn’t have really been that handsome , she decided. I was just caught off guard. That’s all.

But she saw him again in her mind’s eye, bent over her planner, his wide shoulders forming an inverted triangle with his lean waist. The thick muscles in his arms bulged under his thermal as he wiped down her things with his sweatshirt. And when he stood, those sad brown eyes locked with hers for a moment, and she felt… what?

She shook her head at her own silliness and told herself that she hadn’t felt anything at all. And that was for the best. Men didn’t want to get involved with single mothers—especially men who looked like that.

Eden had promised herself she wouldn’t get caught up in dating. She had no time for it, and no desire to put the stability she had built for Jack in any kind of jeopardy. Things were just right exactly as they were. Both of them were happy and safe, and she couldn’t ask for anything better than that.

She watched the children for a while more, smiling when Jack and the others joined a larger group for a game of tag. Jack was fast enough that he did well in the game, even though a lot of the kids were older.

When the sunlight hit the monkey bars, she knew it was time to head in and start her workday. She took one last breath of cold, fresh air, and walked around to the main entrance.

She was planning to have her class start working on their special short story project today, and she wanted to have some instructions pre-written on the board before they came in to save some class time.

She ducked into the front office to check her mail cubby, and Mrs. Jefferson, one of the secretaries, hopped up from her desk.

“Oh, Miss Wilder,” she said in her quavery voice, holding out a paper cup of coffee that looked an awful lot like the one she had lost earlier. “This was dropped off for you.”

“Who brought it?” she asked, though she was pretty sure she already knew the answer.

“Axel Williams,” the secretary said with a knowing smile before adding in a whisper, “Such a handsome young man.”

“No,” Eden said right away. “No, it’s not like that. He bumped into me while he was jogging this morning, and knocked my coffee out of my hand.”

“Well, it was thoughtful of him to bring you another one,” Mrs. Jefferson said, shrugging her thin shoulders and looking a little disappointed.

“Thank you,” Eden told her, raising the coffee in an awkward salute as she headed out.

“You have a good day, sweetheart,” Mrs. Jefferson called after her.

Eden was halfway up to her classroom when the scent of the coffee reached her nose.

“ No way, ” she whispered to herself.

But she stopped on the landing in the stairwell and took a careful sip.

The heavenly flavor of hazelnut coffee with cream and sugar made her eyes close with pleasure as the warmth of her favorite morning beverage spread through her chest.

Axel Williams hadn’t just apologized and helped with her things. He hadn’t even just brought her another coffee.

He had replaced her lost coffee exactly.

That’s why he took the cup, she realized. He wasn’t just going to throw it out for me. He used it to figure out what I was drinking.

It was a level of consideration that felt more than thoughtful.

How did he even know where I worked?

But that was a silly question. He had literally cleaned her lesson planner off with his shirt.

She wondered if maybe she should feel a little creeped out by the whole thing. In the city, men usually didn’t pay that much attention to a woman unless they wanted something.

A pang of guilt went through her as she thought of her own son. Jack was as thoughtful as they came. She certainly hoped his sweetness and empathy wouldn’t make women suspicious of him one day.

Besides, they were in a nice, quiet, small town now, where people were good to each other.

She pictured Axel Williams’s kind eyes again, and felt a warmth in her chest that was sweeter than the coffee.

“Nope,” she murmured sternly to herself as she continued up the stairs. “Don’t even think about getting a crush on that man. You promised.”

But she was definitely going to finish the coffee. That wasn’t breaking any promises. And it didn’t really matter what she thought about him anyway.

Because one thing was for certain, wherever he was, Axel Williams definitely wasn’t thinking about her right now.