Chapter 33 #2
Rachel, fortunately, wasn’t the type to intrude, and Luke had warned Kylie, who hadn’t liked the idea of not helping, but who was willing to wait and do cleanup.
Deanna Luview may have been a dictator during the cooking stage, but she gladly handed off the aftermath to everyone else.
His parents walked from the lodge’s big commercial kitchen out to the large table, the two deftly handling the ham, mashed potatoes, baked yams, green beans, salad, and grilled focaccia. Luke’s stomach felt full before he took a single bite, just from looking at the food.
“Kylie made special Christmas fairy cupcakes, too!” Harriet crowed.
Kell shoved a poker into the fire he’d built in the giant stone fireplace, moving around the hanging stockings.
He wore a green wool sweater that matched Rachel’s perfectly.
Everyone dressed in shades of green and red, leaning heavily on green.
In a town like Love You, Maine, any chance to wear something other than red, pink, or white was warmly welcomed.
“Say grace?” His mom asked his dad as they sat down, his somber nod enough. Everyone reached for each other’s hand and Kylie shot him a nervous, inquiring look. He just smiled back.
His dad cleared his throat and said, “This food is good, my kids are not, thank you Lord for what we’ve got.”
“DEAN!” his mom shouted, throwing her napkin at him.
“You said to say grace! I did!”
“Not like that!”
Kell reached across the table for the bread, half standing to grab the edge of the basket.
“Kell! Manners!”
Kell winked at her. “But Dad says we’re bad. Don’t have to have good manners if we’re bad.”
“Don’t listen to your father!”
“Hey!” His dad smacked his mom on the butt. “Don’t undermine my authority.”
Luke, Colleen, and Kell burst into uncontrollable laughter.
“Authority,” Colleen said, wiping a tear from the corner of her eye.
Luke saw Kylie and Rachel share shrugs.
“Let’s eat!” Harriet declared, proving that children have infinitely more common sense than adults.
Sometimes.
For fifteen blissful minutes, Luke’s family ate in silence, other than compliments to the chef, which his mom accepted happily.
Although his hands were too busy to put one on Kylie’s knee, they still sat close enough that he could smell her perfume, a light, lemony cologne overlaid on her own vanilla and sugar scent.
It was almost like touching her.
Kylie often smelled like freshly baked goodness.
Earlier in the week, his mom had made the tactful decision to have the family exchange Christmas gifts before Kylie came over, so she didn’t feel like she had to bring something for people she didn’t really know yet.
Yesterday, Kylie had given Harriet her present, the fairy cape she’d had made at Labreque’s, his little girl wearing it now.
In fact, she’d slept in it.
Luke had a special gift for Kylie in his back pocket, in a tiny box. No, it wasn’t an engagement ring.
It was better.
You always knew when dinner was over, because Dad pushed his chair back, let out an enormous groan, and said, “Deanna, I don’t know how you do it. Thirty-nine years of holiday meals and each one is better than the last.”
“You said that last year, Dean.”
“Meant it then, too.”
Colleen gave Kylie a peculiar look that set Luke’s senses on edge, but he didn’t know why.
“And Dad’ll say it next year, too,” his sister called out. She winked at Kylie. “You’ll hear it again if–when, I mean when–you’re here.”
If? IF? He wanted to throttle her. What was going on?
Kylie went pale and blushed at the same time, which Luke didn’t know was possible. She just smiled at Colleen, but drank quite a bit of her glass of wine after.
Kell, Luke, and Colleen stood, Kell saying to their father, “Come on. Our turn to work.”
Lumbering up, his tall, teddy bear of a father made a pouty face. “But I don’t wanna.”
His mom poured herself a nice, full glass of pinot grigio. “That’s what I said when I got up at six a.m. to start cooking this morning!”
And with that, the Luview kids and their dad began clearing the table.
Rachel and Kylie both stood to help, but Mom waved them back into their seats.
“Let them do it. This’ll give me a chance to chat with you two.
” She winked at Rachel, then grinned at Kylie.
“Two city girls finding their way home.” Deanna reached for Kylie’s hand as Luke hovered, torn between being useful and watching the conversation.
Kell’s nudge did the trick. Kitchen it was.
“She’s great,” Dad said as he scraped dishes and began stacking them on one side of the industrial kitchen sink.
Dinner for eight looked like a dollhouse set of dishes in this commercial kitchen attached to the lodge.
A flash of a future where they rented the place out for weddings hit Luke between the eyes.
Weddings.
Kylie. Wedding. Bride.
Love swelled in his chest at the thought.
“Earth to Luke! You look lovestruck,” Dad said with a hearty laugh. “Get to work with that sprayer and let’s get this over with.”
“Kylie’s wonderful. Why wouldn’t Luke be lovesick?”
“I said lovestruck, not lovesick.”
“Same thing as far as Luke and Kylie are concerned.”
That got Kell a quick squirt in the stomach. He howled in protest just as Colleen came in and dodged the spray. She quickly began putting away leftover sweet potatoes, shaking her head but laughing.
Luke sidled up to her. “What’s going on with you and Kylie?” he whispered.
She stiffened. “What do you mean?”
As Kell and Dad began dueling with separate sprayers, Colleen and Luke played a word tango he didn’t like one bit.
“I saw you giving her a funny look.”
She snorted. “So now I can’t look at her?”
“I thought you liked her.”
“I did! I do.” Her eyes narrowed. “Why are you so paranoid?”
“I’m a cop. It’s in my blood.”
“Not about people you love.” Eyes dropping, Colleen sighed. “And you do. You love her.”
He patted the box in his back pocket, pulling it out to show her. “Yes.”
“Oh my! You’re proposing?”
At her words, Dad dropped a big china platter. It shattered, silencing the room in an instant. Luke hurriedly shoved the box back in his pocket.
Kell called out, “I get to go first, bro.”
Luke wondered how this all sounded to the three women at the dining table.
Then he heard Harriet shout, “I want Daddy to propose! Gamma, what does propose mean?”
A defensive shield formed around his skin, the kind he used throughout his days at work, separating himself from the world so he could do his job right.
Propose.
Propose?
He wasn’t ready. Neither was she.
But it was coming.
Soon enough. He knew it deep in his bones.
And deeper in his heart.
His mom’s head poked in, eyes going from brightly curious to deeply disappointed when she looked down and saw the shattered dish. “My grandmother’s serving platter!”
“I’m so sorry, Deanna,” Dean said, contrite. “It slipped.”
“It slipped just when I heard the word propose. Who’s proposing?” she asked eagerly, eyes jumping from Kell to Luke.
“Don’t look at me,” Colleen muttered. “I haven’t had a date in so long, my leg hair could be donated to Locks of Love.”
“No one. Yet,” Kell said in a prickly tone. “But Luke has a box in his back pocket.”
Deanna’s eyes dropped to his butt. “What’s in there?”
Kell and his dad started snickering.
He pulled out the present. “It’s a charm necklace.
Moore made a silver charm for me.” Luke didn't mention he'd spent a useless afternoon in Portland trying to find the right present, and had realized–head smack and all–while in his fifth store, that he could have asked Moore for the custom design.
His friend had pulled in some favors with a silversmith.
Cost him a pretty penny, but it was worth it.
“Awwwwww,” his mom said, touching his shoulder. “Kylie has something special for you, too.”
“She does?”
“Just told us. I can’t wait for you two to exchange presents.” She yawned.
“How about now?” Kell said, thumbing toward the door just as Kylie appeared at the threshold.
“Everything okay in here?” she asked, avoiding eye contact with Luke.
Ah. She’d definitely heard the proposal comments.
Taking her hand, he led her out of the kitchen, grabbing their coats as his mom called out, “Careful! Snow’s thick! Might want to make it an early night or,” she said with a wink, “have Kylie spend the night.”
Luke was definitely ignoring that comment.
“What are you doing?” Kylie hissed as they lurched toward the door.
“I want to give you your present in private.”
“Oh!” She pulled back, fished around in her tote bag, and pulled out a flat box about the size of a book. “Yours is here. Perfect.”
Cool air and thick, fat flakes greeted them as they went outside, the moonglow lending the night some Christmas magic.
Both looked up at the stars as Luke walked her toward the lake.
“Where are we going?”
“Somewhere special.”
The path to the pier was one he knew well now, drawn to it nearly every day, the water a kind of elixir stronger than even the hot springs in Luview. While he knew about Cupid’s power, Lake Wannacanhopa was his potion.
His super power.
As their boots pounded the dock, the pier bound by ice, he pulled her close, wrapping his arms around her, offering her a deep, lovely kiss she gave right back.
Then, determined to make the night perfect, he put some space between them and pulled out the wrapped box.
Kylie gasped.
“It’s not–it’s not a ring. I haven’t gone that far. But it’s very special.”
Pulling off her gloves, she quickly unwrapped the package and gave a sound of delight.
“Oh, Luke.”
“You like it?”
“It's so perfect. Thank you.”
Moore had commissioned the charm exactly as Luke had described. It was a little pier.
Just like the one they were standing on.
The chain was long enough to go over her head; he knew she didn’t like tight choker necklaces. She fingered the charm for a moment, then practicality seeped in.
It was too cold not to wear gloves.
“Here,” she said, offering her gift to him.