Chapter Fifteen #2
Jaelyn went to grab her, but remembered her arm at the last minute, so I lifted the tiny bundle instead, allowing her to grab her with one arm.
Thanks, she mouthed, and I nodded. “I’ve missed you, but I’ll be seeing you more and more and more now that I’ll be working here.
Do you think that’s okay?” she asked, poking Hope’s belly with her splinted fingers.
“Yay! We can have a sweepover!” Hope said, clapping as both Becca and Jaelyn laughed.
Working here? Oh, she probably meant when she came out to help with the kids' programs. Suddenly, I was nervous that I wasn’t the only one keeping secrets.
“No sweepovers until Auntie Jae-Jae's arm is better,” Becca said. “Why don’t you show Major the tree farm, Jaelyn. He needs the full experience.” Becca set her daughter on her feet and pointed at the jar of marmalade I’d left on the table. “Stop back when you’re done, and I’ll have it waiting.”
“That would be great. I’ll square up with you then.”
Dubiously, Jaelyn glanced at Becca, who just stood there smiling as though she didn’t hold all my secrets in her hand, so rather than let the awkwardness linger, I grasped Jaelyn’s elbow and walked with her to the door, holding it for her and closing it behind us.
The fresh air was crisp but pleasant after the heat of the store.
I inhaled deeply, and the scent of evergreens tickled my nose.
“It smells like Christmas out here.”
“Year-round,” she agreed as she pointed down a pathway that was well-groomed and free of obstructions.
Since we were coming out to the farm, I had already flipped my knee mode into uneven terrain, so I wouldn’t pitch forward or back if the ground got rocky.
I couldn’t leave it that way once we left, since the dang thing wasn’t holding a charge well.
Usually, I only had to charge it once every four or five days, but lately, I had to charge it every day, and sometimes during a break if I had it in surgical mode too long.
I was hoping it was the charger not getting a solid connection, so I ordered a new one.
However, if that didn’t resolve the issue, I’d have to find a new prosthetist sooner rather than later.
We walked in silence for several minutes, which left me uncomfortable in ways I usually wasn’t.
As a doctor, I spent a great deal of time with patients who took considerable time to express their feelings.
I was trained to wait them out and then discuss their fears with them.
Maybe the problem was that the roles were reversed, and I was the patient today.
“Jaelyn, listen, about back there.”
She held up her hand to stop me. “Don’t explain. Not here. Let’s enjoy the beautiful day, the sunshine, and the scent of evergreens in the air. This is where I go when I need to escape from the heavy stuff. We need to talk, but I’d rather do it with a glass of wine and a pizza, wouldn’t you?”
“Yeah, I sure would,” I agreed, slipping my hand into hers. I waited for her to shake it off, but she didn’t. Instead, she squeezed it as though she wanted me to know she cared about me and my feelings.
“Also, know that I understand we don’t have to talk if you aren’t comfortable doing that. You don’t owe me anything, and if I came off that way last night, it wasn’t intentional.”
“You didn’t,” I promised, bringing her hand to my lips to kiss. “But as a doctor, I’m supposed to be the strong one, which makes being vulnerable, when necessary, that much harder. I want to talk, but it can wait. It would be a shame to miss out on all this beauty.”
“Cameron has turned the farm around since he first bought the place. He always jokes that it spiraled on him, but he’s never been one who wanted any accolade for what he’s done for Bells Pass.”
“He’s Heather’s brother, right? I still struggle to keep everyone straight.”
“Yes. Their parents were killed in a car accident several years ago, so they’re all that’s left of their family. Well, that’s not true, I guess. They have their own families now.”
“How awful,” I said, my heart going out to the man I’d just met.
“Not really,” she said, her nose up in a curl. “They weren’t good people. Her mother was emotionally abusive to Heather, from what I know about the situation. She had a tough go of it when they died. The guilt of feeling such relief that her tormentor was dead almost ate her alive.”
“Okay, that’s awful. I don’t understand how a mother can treat their children that way.”
“Ha,” she said with a shake of her head. “I have nothing to say about it. Mine walked out on me and my father when I was barely old enough to hold my head up.”
It was my turn to squeeze her hand. “Sorry, here I am ruining that happy place of yours. I’ll stop sticking my foot in my mouth.”
“It’s fine,” she promised. “Since I never knew her, it’s not as though some great injustice was served to me. My dad was a wonderful father, and we lived with my Yaya Riba, who was my mother as far as I was concerned.”
“She’s the Spanish rice yaya?”
“Yep. Wait, I could make some for dinner tonight. I know I said pizza, but—”
“Spanish rice is always the answer!” I exclaimed, which made her break into laughter.
“As long as I can use your kitchen,” she clarified. “The one in the cottage isn’t big enough.”
“Mi casa es su casa,” I promised, hugging her hand to my chest for a moment. “Do you know where we’re going? I feel like we’ve been walking for a long time. Should we turn around?”
“Right before we get to the good part?” she gasped.
“We’re right where we’re supposed to be.
Hidden at the back of the property is a very special tree.
It’s been waiting in the wings, should something ever happen to the tree at the park.
With each year that passes, though, I think that ship has sailed.
I’m not sure even Magic Cameron could figure out a way to move a tree this size to the park without it, or someone along the route dying. ”
“It’s that big?” The question was dubious since I’d seen the one at the park.
“Not as big as the real OG yet, but darn close. See for yourself.”
We broke through the trees that lined the path, and there in the clearing was an evergreen tree that gave the one in the park a run for its money. “It’s gorgeous,” I said, walking toward the blue spruce. “This has been growing here longer than Cameron has been alive.”
“Only by a hundred years or so,” she teased. “When he bought the property, he decided to protect it and nurture it just in case it was ever needed.”
“Are those lights?” I asked, gazing up at a netting that hung on the tree.
“Solar lights,” she answered with a nod.
“He and Stephan put them up the year he decided to propose to Becca on Christmas Eve. He left them there, so now he brings his sleigh rides out here and uses the clearing to turn around. That way, everyone can see the tree. On Christmas Eve, after the event in the park, we all come out here on the sleigh and celebrate with him for his birthday.”
“His birthday is Christmas Eve?”
“Yep. He shuts the farm down and sends everyone to the park for the night to spend it with their families.”
“I have a question. Do they have an honorary turner off-er on Christmas Eve?” I asked jokingly, and she glanced at me as though I had two heads.
“We don’t turn the lights off on Christmas Eve. Do we look like monsters?”
Laughter escaped, and I hugged her for a moment, just wanting to feel her warmth against me and be grateful that she hadn’t been upset with me for withholding information from her.
“No, you absolutely do not look like a monster. With the glow of the sunlight streaming down, you’re my very own Spanish goddess. ”
She rolled her eyes and was about ready to say something, probably something snarky, when I covered her lips with mine.
I kept it light, tentative, gentle, waiting to see if she wanted it as much as I did.
Her lips were cool but heated quickly, and then her arms came up around my shoulders, breaking the moment of stillness and bathing us in the newness of our exploration filled with promise.
Every brush of our skin was an invitation, a question, until we answered it with a deeper yearning in silent communication.
The tentative exploration became a fervent dance of lips and tongues as the flames of passion ignited in the cold November day.
My lungs burning, I eased back on the kiss until our lips fell apart, and we could inhale a breath of the crisp air.
“Wow,” she whispered.
“I couldn’t have said it better myself,” I agreed as I smoothed a finger across her cheek.
“That was unexpected.”
“It’s a beautiful day, you’re a beautiful woman, and I thought it might be more welcome today by this tree than next Friday night next to the one you’ll have lit up.”
That made her smile, so I ducked my head for another short kiss before I pulled her against my chest. I didn’t want to see the look in her eye telling me that it was our first and last kiss.
Instead, she tipped her head up to meet my gaze.
What I read in hers wasn’t disdain or pity.
What I read in hers was acceptance and desire.
It was the look I’d searched for over the last nine years of my life and never thought I’d find.
When I lowered my lips to hers again in the sunshine of a new season, for just a moment, all the complications drained away and left us with nothing between us but hope.