25. Quinn
25
QUINN
Q uinn sat on Anne-Marie’s sofa the next afternoon, reading a copy of ’ Twas the Night Before Christmas to Zandy. The fireplace was crackling, Zandy’s small, warm frame was snuggled up to her, and the whole house smelled incredible.
Anne-Marie had stew going on the stove and cookies in the oven. The sound of her lightly scolding Beau for stealing dough as he made trips carrying in kindling broke the friendly quiet of the house here and there.
It was cozy and peaceful—exactly the kind of Christmas Eve Quinn loved.
Maybe it was only that she had been so focused on work and then on her pretend relationship with Beau that Quinn felt like the big holiday had practically snuck up on her this year.
She stole a glance at the windows and figured she definitely wasn’t going to be seeing her parents tonight. The snow had let up, but there was still so much on the ground that it would be impossible for the road crews to clear it all in time. She’d probably see them tomorrow, but she still felt bad about missing them tonight. Ever since she was little, they’d had a tradition of singing carols and opening a single gift on Christmas Eve.
“That’s candy,” Zandy said suddenly, pointing at the page.
“Yes,” Quinn agreed, as they both studied the pretty picture of the children sleeping in the book. “That’s what visions of sugar plums danced through their heads means—they’re dreaming about candy and treats.”
“That’s nice,” Zandy said, relaxing against Quinn’s arm again.
Quinn read on quietly, pointing out special details in the pictures to Zandy. But by the time the smiling saint came down the chimney, the little one had fallen fast asleep on her shoulder.
Quinn smiled down at her and couldn’t resist dropping a light kiss on that little silky-haired head.
“You’re an angel,” she whispered. “A Christmas angel.”
When she looked up, Beau stood in front of her, a wild look in his eyes.
“Beau,” she said automatically.
But he turned, stalked to the front door, and disappeared outside. She could hear his boots stomping down the porch steps and then nothing.
Quinn frowned, wondering what she had done wrong. She was pretty sure that Beau didn’t mind her reading to Zandy. Was he unhappy that she wasn’t helping his mom out in the kitchen?
“Oh, isn’t that the sweetest sight?” Anne-Marie said softly from the doorway.
“Did you need help with anything?” Quinn asked. “I can probably slip out from under her without waking her.”
“Oh goodness no,” Anne-Marie said. “You’re doing the most important work here. Don’t you worry about a thing.”
“Thank you,” Quinn said, feeling a little better, but still confused by Beau’s actions. Everything seemed to be just right between them at last. She had never seen him looking so off-balance.
“As a matter of fact,” Anne-Marie went on. “I was thinking about putting on a movie now that my cookies are out of the oven. What do you think?”
“That sounds great,” Quinn told her.
Anne-Marie sat on the loveseat and grabbed the remote. A moment later, the theme to While You Were Sleeping came up and Quinn had to smile.
“My mom and I love this one,” she said.
“Beau’s dad used to tease me for watching it every year,” Anne-Marie confessed. “But I noticed he always sat down to watch it with me, and he always laughed at the funny parts.”
“I can definitely picture that,” Quinn said, smiling at the idea of Clyde Wilson secretly loving the classic Christmas romcom.
The next two hours flew past as she and Anne-Marie enjoyed their movie. It was only when the credits rolled that Quinn realized Beau had been gone a long time.
“Do you know where Beau was headed?” she asked Anne-Marie.
“He had a few errands to run,” Anne-Marie said, looking like she was trying to hide her smile.
“Okay,” Quinn said, wondering what she was missing. “He seemed kind of angry when he left.”
“I think someone is just frustrated that they didn’t have a wedding yesterday,” Anne-Marie said. “That’s all.”
Quinn felt her cheeks heat and looked down at Zandy in her lap.
“Do you think it’s right for me to marry her dad, when her mom is coming home next year?” she heard herself ask.
“Have you asked Beau that question?” Anne-Marie asked, sounding a little amused.
“I… no, I haven’t,” Quinn admitted.
“Her mom is seeing someone,” Anne-Marie said. “He’s a nice man, and I think it’s pretty serious. She and Beau had fun together, but they were too young for such a big commitment at the time. They have a solid friendship now, but romance definitely isn’t in the cards for them again.”
“Why not?” Quinn asked.
“Well,” Anne-Marie said thoughtfully. “They’re just very different people.”
“Oh.” Quinn figured no one could be more different from Beau than she was.
“I know, I know,” Anne-Marie said. “You think that you’re different from him, but it’s not really important that you’re quiet and he’s boisterous because what’s in here is the same.”
Quinn looked up to see Anne-Marie tapping her chest.
“Family, community, loyalty,” Anne-Marie went on. “Those things mean everything to both of you. Irene is a lovely person, but settling down in Trinity Falls was never the right decision for her. She’s going to be a famous chef one day, I think, and we’ll all go visit her in the city. But living a simple life on this farm would break her spirit. Does that make sense?”
Quinn nodded, wishing she could tell Anne-Marie everything—that working the farm was going to break her son’s heart too, that they had lied and there probably wouldn’t be a wedding for a long time now, if at all. But that was Beau’s story to tell, when he was ready, because Anne-Marie was his mom.
There was one thing she could say though.
“Anne-Marie,” she said softly. “I wanted to thank you.”
“Oh, honey, what for?” Anne-Marie said, smiling and looking a little surprised.
“You and Clyde hired me on, even though I was young, and didn’t have much practical experience yet,” Quinn said. “You and the crew taught me everything, and the two of you trusted me with the farm.”
“Of course we did, Quinn,” Anne-Marie said. “Clyde always said you were the very best. He had so much respect for you going to school to learn how to make the business side more effective, even though you have such a natural feel for the land and the trees. Honestly, I thought at first that Beau might be courting you because he didn’t want you leaving him to run it on his own. Obviously, I know now that he has real feelings for you.”
Anne-Marie laughed, and Quinn smiled, shaken by how close Beau’s mom had come to knowing the truth instinctively, just like her dad had known.
“It’s meant to be, honey,” Anne-Marie said, reaching over to squeeze Quinn’s hand. “You can’t fight your fate, so don’t go worrying about Zandy’s mama. She’s going to have two mamas now, lucky girl.”
Suddenly, the front door blasted open again.
“Mom,” Beau said, his voice rough. “Can I talk to you?”
“Oh, um, sure,” Anne-Marie said.
“Kitchen,” Beau said firmly, his long strides taking him out of the living room in record time.
“Goodness,” Anne-Marie said to Quinn with a funny smile before following after him.
Quinn bit her lip, suddenly grateful to have Zandy in her lap. Feeling the four-year-old’s regular breathing was keeping her calm and focused. Whatever was going on with Beau, Quinn’s job right now was to stay calm for Zandy.
“ We have to run out for a minute ,” Anne-Marie called out from the kitchen. “ Everything’s fine .”
A moment later, Quinn heard the back door close, and she and Zandy were alone in the house.
Completely confused and more than a little worried, Quinn turned her attention back to the book on the sofa beside her. She paged through it slowly, forcing herself to look at the pictures of the family in the old farmhouse during the holidays.
This is all I want. Maybe one day it will happen.
But with Beau so upset and even Anne-Marie running off… well, it seemed unlikely that it was going to happen anytime soon.
A few minutes later, she heard the back door again.
“Hey,” Beau said, stepping in through the kitchen door, with his mom following. “Do you want to go for a walk with me? Mom’s going to sit with Zandy for a bit.”
Quinn automatically glanced up at Anne-Marie. Unshed tears glistened in her eyes and Quinn felt her heart ache. She had a pretty good idea what Beau must have been talking to her about. And she wasn’t surprised that his mom was upset to learn the truth.
“Of course,” she told him.
She slipped off the sofa, trying to ease Zandy down without waking her, and then hurried to the front door and pulled on boots and her coat.
“Grandma,” Zandy said in a sleepy voice over on the couch. “Where’s everybody going?”
“Let’s get you out of those pajamas, okay?” Anne-Marie replied softly.
“Come on, Quinn,” Beau said, opening the door for them.
Quinn took a deep breath and stepped outside. The cold wind felt good on her heated cheeks, and she drank in the fresh air and the view of the trees under the setting sun, trying to center herself so that she could handle whatever was about to come with as much grace as possible.
“Come on,” Beau said, taking her hand.
She looked down at their joined hands, wondering why he had seemed so upset earlier and why he was holding her hand if he was mad about something.
They walked quietly down a freshly dug path in the deep drifts of snow as the light faded into dusk. As soon as they got past the big barn, Quinn gasped.
All the trees in one of the juvenile Balsam fields were covered in twinkling lights, as if a few dozen baby Christmas trees had magically appeared on the hillside.
“Oh, Beau,” Quinn breathed. “It’s beautiful.”
When she turned back to face him, he was kneeling on the snowy path, holding up something tiny, sparkling, and familiar.
“I’m sorry, but I can’t wait any longer for this,” he said softly. “We can wait to get married until the courthouse is open again after the holidays. We can wait even longer than that if you want to date for a while and plan a big wedding. But I just have to ask you now. Seeing Zandy’s drawing last night brought it all home for me. And then spending the day together today, like a family… Well, I just don’t want to wait another minute to ask you to be my wife, for real.”
“Beau,” she said, overcome.
“What do you think?” he asked, his blue eyes flashing with emotion.
“If we could, I would get married right now ,” she told him, placing her hand in his, so that he could slip the ring back on her finger.
Once the ring was back where it belonged, he kissed her hand and stood.
“Really?” he asked her.
“Cross my heart,” she said.
She expected him to kiss her, but instead he let go of her hand.
“Hold that thought,” he said, dashing off.
Quinn watched after him, completely amazed.
A moment later he reappeared, but he wasn’t alone.
His mom was there with Zandy, and both of them were smiling broadly. Zandy was wearing her Flower Girl outfit under her coat.
Quinn’s own parents followed behind them, her mom smiled at her and her dad winked.
“Oh my goodness,” Quinn said, genuinely stunned to see first her parents, and then her cousin, as Bree and her husband, Travis, brought up the rear.
“Congratulations,” Bree said, smiling warmly.
“How… how did you do this?” she asked Beau. “There’s so much snow.”
“When I saw you with Zandy earlier, I knew I didn’t want to wait,” he said, his voice gruff. “Most of the big roads are plowed now. So, I just put the plow on my truck to get out of here, and I went out to get your family so we could do this right away.”
“You already have your license,” Travis said with a smile. “So, I can marry you any place you want—it doesn’t have to be the courthouse.”
“What do you say?” Beau asked, his warm smile telling her that he already knew her obvious answer. “Want to get married right now?”
“What if I had said no?” she asked him, unable to believe this was really happening.
“Then we all would have had a nice family Christmas together,” Anne-Marie said firmly.
“And we still can,” Beau told her. “We’re not doing this unless you want it too, Quinn.”
“I don’t know why I even asked you that,” she said, smiling and shaking her head at her own silliness. “I could never have said no. This is all I ever wanted.”
At that, everyone jumped into action. Their moms started organizing everyone, and Quinn found herself swept off by her dad.
“I don’t think we need to walk in formally, Dad,” she said. “I mean, we’re all right here.”
“Some traditions are fun,” Dad said, winking at her. “And I’ve pictured this part of your wedding day many times. Though I never thought I’d be allowed to wear comfortable shoes and a warm coat. I appreciate it, sweetheart.”
Quinn laughed.
“You’ll be glad to know that your young man asked for my blessing this time,” he went on with a pleased look on his face. “I knew he was the old-fashioned type.”
“That’s great, Dad,” Quinn said. “Thank you for giving him your blessing.”
“So, are you still going to buy the shop for him and each have your own thing?” Dad asked.
“I don’t think so. He told me last night that he didn’t need it anymore,” Quinn said softly. “He said he’d called it off already with Max. But I knew that would break his heart, so I called Max this morning, hoping to tell him the deal was still on. But I guess I was too late. He said he already had another buyer.”
“Isn’t that something?” Dad said, shaking his head. “Well, I’m sure things will fall into place somehow.”
“Hopefully, it’s someone who wants to keep it as a shop, and maybe they’ll hire Beau,” Quinn said. “He’s really good.”
The opening notes of Canon in D, played on a cell phone, drifted across the snowy hillside.
“I think that’s our cue,” Dad said.
He offered her his arm and she took it, wondering how she had ever gotten so lucky. She and Beau had families that loved and supported them, and had their backs even when they did wild things like get married outside on Christmas Eve with no notice and a few feet of snow on the ground.
When they reached the others, Beau’s eyes caught on hers, and she could see the emotion there.
“You’re beautiful,” he breathed as her father handed her off to him.
And even though she knew her hair was tangled from the wind, her cheeks were pink, and she was wearing her old snow boots and a thick winter coat, she believed him. She could feel the truth of his words in her heart.
And besides, she understood completely, because no man could be more handsome to her than Beau, even if he was flushed and a little sweaty, with fragrant pine needles clinging to his coat from all his efforts to make this happen.
“ Pow,” Zandy yelled suddenly, then carefully placed her grandmother’s potted poinsettia on the ground in front of them.
“Thank you, Zandy,” Quinn whispered. “Great job.”
“I’m Flower Girl,” Zandy whispered back.
“Of course,” Quinn said quickly. “Thank you, Flower Girl.”
Zandy reached up and grabbed their hands in hers and nothing could have felt more right than to say their vows with the little girl they both adored right there between them. After all, it was her Christmas wish that had made their dreams come true today.
The beautiful words of the ceremony were so familiar, yet it was as if they were new to Quinn now that they were her promises to make and receive.
At last, Travis pronounced them husband and wife and Beau pulled her close and gave her a gentle kiss that made her feel like she might melt right out of her coat.
“Now me,” Zandy said.
Beau laughed and swept her up in his arms, and they each gave her a noisy kiss on the cheek.
Zandy’s giggles got everyone else laughing too, and as they all trooped back to the big house for stew and cookies. There was a sense of real camaraderie amongst this wonderful group of people who were all family now.
In all her life, Quinn had never felt anything more right.