Chapter 20 #2
Tonight, standing beside Natalie while she laughed at Sadie’s insult and smoothed one hand over her red skirt, Mark felt something else entirely.
He wanted to be the man who stood beside Natalie when children said ridiculous things. The man who saved her the last cinnamon roll. The man who came into Winter Wishes after work because a shelf needed to be fixed. The man who brought her home to his family and watched her belong there.
That was too much to think about under community hall lights with half the town watching.
Unfortunately, half the town was watching.
Betty Parker passed with a coffee pot even though this was not her diner and gave him one look that managed to say a man should not leave a woman in a red dress standing beside the dance floor too long.
Mrs. Barlow stood nearby with both hands wrapped around a cup of cider, her eyes bright.
Aunt Eleanor had arrived separately and was speaking with Pastor Abernathy near the donation table, but her gaze found Natalie often enough to suggest she was monitoring the situation.
Natalie leaned closer. “Everyone expects us to dance.”
Mark looked down at her. “Yes.”
“We don’t have to, but if we don’t, Mrs. Barlow may need medical attention from the disappointment.”
“That would be unfortunate.” Mark held out his hand before he could talk himself out of it. “Will you dance with me?”
Natalie looked at his hand then at his face. “Yes.”
He led her onto the dance floor as the band began a warm, mid-tempo version of a Christmas hymn.
Mark set one hand at her waist, careful and respectful, while taking her other hand in his.
He knew how to dance. His mother had made certain all five of her children learned enough not to embarrass her at weddings, church events, and fundraisers.
But knowing how and doing it with Natalie were not the same thing.
She was close enough that he could smell her perfume beneath the cedar and candle scent that always clung to her. Her hand rested on his shoulder, light but trusting. The velvet of her dress brushed his wrist when they turned, and Mark forgot the next step.
His boot came dangerously close to hers.
Natalie’s eyebrows lifted. “You nearly stepped on me.”
“Nearly is an important distinction.”
“It is when discussing property lines, not dance injuries.”
“I’m fairly certain I warned you about stepping on toes.”
“Did you?” She grinned.
He tried to guide her into the next turn, overcorrected, and almost sent them into Caleb and Violet. Caleb moved Violet smoothly out of the way, grinning as if he had expected nothing less from Mark.
Natalie pressed her lips together, clearly trying not to laugh. “Would you like help?”
“I’m doing fine.”
“You certainly are doing something.”
“I have danced before.”
“I believe you.”
“You don’t believe me.”
Her eyes sparkled. “I believe you have been present on dance floors before.”
Mark shook his head, but he was smiling even though his ears were probably red. “You’re enjoying this.”
“I am.” Natalie’s hand tightened slightly in his. “But I could take the lead.”
He stared at her. “That is not how this usually works.”
“I own a Christmas shop. I understand flow, foot placement, and seasonal emergencies.”
“That does not qualify you to lead.”
“No, but your current performance may qualify me by necessity.” She leaned closer, her voice low and teasing. “Trust me.”
For a moment, he stared at her. He had spent two years trusting his own caution, his own guardedness, his own belief that if he kept his life narrow enough, nothing could break too badly.
Natalie was asking him to loosen his grip in the middle of a crowded dance floor with every gossip in town waiting to enjoy the results.
He let out a slow breath. “All right.”
Natalie’s smile changed, brightening with surprise and delight. “Really?”
“Don’t make me regret it.”
“I wouldn’t dream of it.” She shifted her hand slightly, adjusted the pressure between them, and guided him into the next step with gentle confidence. “There. Just follow my lead.”
“I am not good at following.”
Her mouth hung open, her eyes sparkling. “I’m shocked.”
He did his best to give her a deadpan expression, but his lips refused to stop curling upward. “You’re not supposed to mock a man who’s trusting you.”
“I am encouraging you.”
“This is encouragement?”
“Seasonal encouragement.” Natalie guided him through a turn, and to his amazement, it worked. “See? You didn’t step on me.”
“Yet.”
“Such confidence.”
He laughed, and then she laughed, and his chest felt so light and free. It felt like a gate swinging open.
Natalie led him through another turn, and Mark let her.
He stopped counting steps. He stopped worrying about toes, expectations, Mrs. Barlow, the arrangement, and whether every eye in the room could see straight through him.
The music moved around them, warm and bright.
Natalie’s hand was steady in his. Her red dress swayed with every step, brushing against his legs.
Her smile grew wider each time he surrendered another inch of control.
He could not remember the last time he had enjoyed himself this much. Maybe he never had.
That realization should have embarrassed him, but Natalie spun beneath his raised hand and came back laughing, her cheeks flushed, her eyes shining, and Mark forgot to care.
“You’re better when you stop fighting me,” she said.
“Most people would say that about everything.”
“Most people would be right.”
He tried to look stern. “That was not an invitation to start a list.”
“I’ll make one later and write it down.”
“I look forward to never reading that list.”
She laughed again.
There it was.
Not a dramatic revelation. Not a lightning strike. Not some sudden, foolish impulse born from music and a red dress. It was every moment before this gathering together until he could no longer deny the shape of them.
Natalie in the square with a clipboard, making bows look welcoming.
Natalie behind the counter, glaring at mistletoe like it had offended her personally.
Natalie at the church workshop, noticing children no one else had time to notice.
Natalie at his family table, aching because she wanted to belong and still brave enough to stay.
Natalie at Parker’s Diner, telling him she wished the truth were different.
Natalie now, leading him across a dance floor because he had admitted, without words, that he trusted her.
Mark was in love with her.
His next step faltered.
Natalie noticed immediately. “Did I lose you?”
“No.” He looked down at her, and the whole room seemed to draw back, leaving only her hand in his and her face lifted toward him. “No, you definitely didn’t.”
Her smile faded a little. “Mark?”
He wanted to tell her even though those simple words were terrifying, but the band shifted into the final refrain, and everyone around them began clapping in time.
Sadie darted past on Jacob’s boots. Violet laughed when Caleb dipped her a little too dramatically.
Rachel wiped at her eyes while pretending she was only smiling.
Betty Parker stood near the refreshment table with her arms folded and an expression that said she had known something before Mark had known it himself.
Natalie was still waiting.
Mark tightened his hand around hers, not enough to trap her, only enough to ask her to stay in the moment with him. “I was wrong.”
“About what?”
“Dancing.”
Her mouth curved. “Oh?”
“It’s not terrible.”
“High praise.”
“With you,” he added. He could give her that much even if the rest stayed lodged behind his ribs. “It’s not terrible with you.”
Natalie’s eyes warmed, and the look she gave him made him wish they were anywhere but in the middle of a crowded community hall.
The song ended, and applause rose around them. Mark did not move away. Neither did Natalie. Her hand remained in his, her other still resting lightly on his shoulder, and for one dangerous second, he thought she might know.
Then Mrs. Barlow clapped from the edge of the dance floor. “Oh, that was lovely!”
Natalie startled and laughed, stepping back just enough to break the spell. “We survived.”
Mark looked at her flushed cheeks, the red velvet dress, the hand still loosely holding his, and the joy on her face that had no need to be packaged for anyone else. “We did.”
“Your toes?”
“Unharmed, and yours were miraculously spared.”
“That means I led well.”
“Or it means I followed adequately.”
Natalie tilted her head. “Is that an admission?”
“It is as close as you’re getting tonight.”
Her smile softened again, and his heart, already too far gone, gave itself away completely.
They walked off the dance floor together, and the room welcomed them back with noise and warmth and too many knowing looks. Jacob lifted his cider in silent approval. Caleb gave him a small nod that Mark chose to ignore. Violet caught Natalie’s hand and whispered something that made Natalie blush.
Mark accepted coffee from Betty Parker. Refusing would have been unwise, but he barely tasted it.
His attention stayed on Natalie as she laughed with Violet and Rachel, as Aunt Eleanor came over to adjust a curl near Natalie’s cheek, as Sadie declared that Miss Natalie’s dress was still the prettiest.
The temporary arrangement had carried them here, but watching Natalie shine beneath the community hall lights, Mark knew temporary was no longer the truth.
Maybe it had never been.
He had fallen in love with her somewhere between the first bow and the last dance step, and now that he knew it, he could not unknow it.
The terrifying part was not wanting Natalie.
The terrifying part was standing beside her in a room full of people and realizing he wanted a lifetime.