Chapter 1 #2
“Assuredly, but by then I would have taught you a few lessons, in and out of bed. I doubt you would have been so defiant with your sweet little bottom on fire. Maybe you would have crawled onto my lap and sobbed out your apologies for playing me for a fool. At least Timberline would have been gone by the time you were found. That alone would have been worth it.”
“Maybe not. Maybe I would have come to hate you,” she hissed.
“And maybe you would have come to truly love me and I would have realized you were more trouble than you were worth,” he suggested, watching the shock wash across her face. “In any case, we’ll never know, will we?”
“No, we’ll never know,” she admitted, surprised to feel a touch of sadness, a smattering of remorse. Would she have come to love him? There was something between them back then.
Jackson had been handsome, charming and he treated her with the utmost kindness, catering to her every whim.
Clearly, he’d adored her, treating her ever so gently when she was in his presence.
In his eyes, she was a rare and fragile creature, too beautiful to sully with his touch.
She’d been certain that his desire was to possess her as one would a pretty Christmas ornament, yet he held his desires in check.
For a moment, she recalled the frustration she felt each time he kissed her cheek instead of taking her in his arms and claiming her.
It did not end well, for Brad Timberline felt no such restraint and while she’d been certain Brad loved her; it was not enough to keep him from risking his life or losing it.
Left with a child and no husband to protect and support her, she often wondered if she’d done the right thing by running away with him.
However, the damage was already done. She loved her son Wyatt, but the loneliness and shame was her undoing and soon bitterness was her closest friend.
Last night, seeing her son with his bride, Patty, was the first time Crystalia had felt any hope for the future in many years.
One day they would have children, and she would be given another chance to make it right, another chance to find some form of happiness.
Jackson watched the emotions play across her face. God, he’d been so stupid, so ridiculously chivalrous back then. Captivated by her beauty, he never looked beneath it to find the woman, for despite being centuries younger than he, she was his for the taking if he’d only seen it at the time.
Santa had disapproved, encouraging him to set his sights on a more mature female elf, perhaps one who’d been married before and was now a widow. It had caused a rift between the two men who’d been best friends for more years than either cared to calculate.
When his Chrissy finally ran away with the human, Jackson lost all sense of reason for a number of decades.
In a fit of rage, he turned the beautiful courtyard he’d created for her, the one place he was publicly able to court his love, into a frozen wasteland, unsuitable for any lovers tryst. Ever after it was deserted lest a pair of young lovers wanted to freeze to death.
Only Crystalia was permitted to enter without fear or injury, but for years it remained empty until last night.
He knew it immediately, sensed she was there and slipped into Christmas Village unnoticed amid all the celebrating. From a short distance he watched her, felt the love as she embraced the young elf that would marry her son.
Even though he’d visited her many times, it was the first true emotion he’d seen from her normally frozen features.
Perhaps there was yet hope, he decided. If she could love this pink haired female, then was it possible she could love others?
She was so very vibrant last night. He could not look away.
She could burn him, badly. Chrissy, his ‘hot star’ was capable of crushing his heart once again, but he would not make the same mistakes a second time.
Slipping away from the festivities he’d returned to his frozen castle and began to make plans.
Now she wiggled her shoulders free and went to refill her coffee cup.
“So why are you still here? I’ve told you I won’t give them back. What else could you possibly be hanging around for?”
“I want you to come with me,” he stated. “I have something I want to show you.”
She laughed.
“After you just told me what you should have done, you think I would take that risk?”
“I am a gentleman. You’ll be safe with me,” he assured her with a grin.
“All right, I’ll accept that,” she replied with a nod. The male was not a liar.
“I’ve made some changes to my home and I want your opinion,” he explained. “You understand style and color much better than I.”
“Why the changes? You only have to please yourself. It’s not as though you get many visitors,” she pointed out, her curiosity rising.
“You never know. Lately I’ve considered that it’s time I married. I may want to entertain my wife’s family on occasion and…”
“Married!” she gasped.
“Yes, it’s something I’ve thought a lot about.”
“Married to whom?”
“Believe it or not, you’re not the only bright star in the sky, Crystalia Wonderland. Why shouldn’t I marry if I’ve discovered I have deep feelings for another?”
“Do you have deep feelings?” she asked with a laugh. “As far as I can see you’re filled with resentment and sarcasm. Is there a touch of romance hiding away somewhere? Of course it would have to be very deep in your soul for you to keep it so well hidden.”
“About as deep as your sense of kindness and charity,” he shot back. “Will you come or not? I’m asking as one outcast to another.”
Crystalia was quiet for a few moments. He did have a point. They were basically on the outermost edge of normal society. Finally she decided.
“Yes, Jackson. I will go with you. Just give me time to change. I’m interested what sort of alterations you think will entice a bride to reside in a frozen castle,” she said with a slight shiver. “I’ll be ready in a few minutes. Wait for me down stairs.”
“You’d be surprised to find out just how much heat is available inside my home,” he replied quietly as he headed downstairs.