PERFECT (17 page)

“No. It would take
weeks to get them here.” She clung to him, not wanting to break their
connection. “Tom. I want Tom and Allison to be with us. And I want to shed some
pillows. Go get Knittle before he leaves.”

Dylan’s mouth
eagerly covered hers.

“Hey, look. Santa
is kissing Mrs. Claus,” a boy shouted as his parents led him from the hall.

“Santa is going to
do more than kiss Mrs. Claus tonight,” Dylan mumbled against her lips.

“Wait until Santa
sees what Mrs. Claus has in store for him.” Joy swelled in Darcy’s heart and
she kissed her love again.

Chaos filled with
abundant delicious food and drink, spicy scents and tons of belly laughs and
general good cheer—that was the only way Dylan could describe Christmas day at
the Kincaids’.

Gray and Lilac
moved back into Bob’s house, giving Darcy and him privacy at his own home. When
they weren’t wrapping Christmas presents and doing other holiday preparations
like gathering the food for the huge feast Darcy had planned to cook with his
Mom, he was unwrapping her.

During the day,
however, all of the Kincaids, and their relatives by marriage, were together,
enjoying and practicing their patience of each other.

In retrospect,
Dylan had always followed his father’s advice. He hadn’t gone the route most
young people did nowadays. He’d decided to stay on Black Moose Mountain and
continue the business his father started many years ago, because he loved
working outdoors, loved the farm, and he worked at his art which his new bride
also seemed to love. Now, with Darcy in his life, he was a completely happy man.
Well, almost. He still harbored fears for his brother’s safety.

“Dylan and Darcy,
it’s time,” his mother called over the chatter coming from the dining room.

Apparently noting
his distress on the scheduled Skype call, Darcy took the dish towel from his
hands and cupped his face. “Bob is okay. I just know it.”

“I wish I did, but
my gut is twisted into a sailor’s knot the size of a grapefruit.” He bit his
lip. “What if—”

Darcy stopped him
by pinching his cheeks together. “Don’t go looking for worry. It finds you on
its own. Whatever life throws at us, we’ll handle together. All of us.
Understand?”

Her stern look
made him smile. “Yes, Mrs. Kincaid.”

“Good.” She pecked
his lips and moved back before he had a chance to gather her into his arms and
show her how much he appreciated her and loved her.

She slipped her
hand in his. “Let’s go.”

Buzzy hopped down
the hallway in front of them and then at the sound of a cheer from the crowd in
the dining room, scurried into the living room and under the tree.

Dylan’s heart
leapt at the sound of Elizabeth and Bob both shouting, “Merry Christmas.”

He smiled down at
Darcy and urged her into the room where all the Kincaids and relatives by
marriage were crying and laughing and hugging.

“Dylan, look.
Bob’s okay.”

His mother’s tears
brought moisture to his own eyes. It struck him at that moment how much his
parents had to have been worried about their oldest son over the past month and
how they had forged forward with the duties of life, hiding their worries for
the sake of the girls and him. “I see.”

He moved into
camera shot and smiled at the screen. “Merry Christmas, big brother.”

“Hey, squirt. You
didn’t forget to spike Mom’s eggnog, did you?”

“No. I took care
of everything.”

Jillian pushed up
on her chair and hogged the camera. “Uncle Dylan married Aunt Darcy.”

“What’s this?” Bob
and Elizabeth both shouted.

“Yup. He found him
a good one and took my advice and didn’t let her off the mountain.” Gray leaned
into camera view. “Dylan, introduce Darcy to your brother and Elizabeth.”

Dylan looked
around and found his bride standing behind him. He took her by the shoulders
and shuffled her in front of him. “Darcy, meet Bob and Elizabeth.”

“Nice to meet
you,” Elizabeth said.

“Congratulations
you two,” Bob added. “When we get home next month, we’ll want to hear all about
how you two met.”

“You’re coming
home,” everyone shouted in their own way. The girls jumped up and down on their
chairs. Dylan grabbed Jillian and Darcy snagged Katy to keep them from falling.

“Yes. We got our
orders last night.” Bob pecked Elizabeth’s cheek.

“I can’t wait to
hold my babies,” Elizabeth said, smiling for her girls.

“And I can’t wait
to hold mine,” said Cybil, who dabbed a hanky at her eye.

“We’ll have to
take Darcy shopping, Mom, Lilac and girls. We’ll make it a Kincaid girls’ day
out.”

“Listen, before we
get into planning the whole day, we only have ten more minutes. Others are
waiting to talk to their families too,” Bob interrupted. “First, we want to
hear what Santa brought the girls. Then we’ll take a minute for the parents.
Dylan, don’t go far. I want to talk to you.”

Dylan nodded and
stepped to the side with Darcy, letting Jillian and Katy have their time with
their parents. The girls were so bubbly, he was sure his brother and Elizabeth
felt their enthusiasm across the long distance.

Each set of
parents took their turn, sharing their happiness for the couple’s safety and
stating how very proud they were of them.

Then Bob asked to
speak to Dylan alone.

Dylan slid onto
the hardback chair while Gray urged everyone except for Darcy from the room.
Darcy stayed near the archway, in case he needed her.

Why his brother
wanted a private word with him had him dumbfounded. He prayed it wasn’t bad
news that Bob would only entrust to him. His big brother looked thinner. He
slid his moist palms along his jean-clad thighs. “What’s up, Bob?”

“Elizabeth got an
email from mom yesterday. Somehow it got through to us. I guess the forces
worked hard to push holiday messages through. Mom wrote telling us everything
you’ve done to make the holiday wonderful not only for Jillian and Katy but the
whole town.” Bob wrapped his arm around Elizabeth. “We can see how happy the
girls are. We made the right choice leaving them with you,” Bob’s voice cracked
and a ball emotion welled up inside Dylan. He looked to Darcy, who appeared to
be on the verge of tears too.

“We don’t know how
we’re ever going to repay you.”

“You don’t have
to. I love the girls like they’re my own. And because I wanted to make
Christmas special for them, I got some help.” He put his hand out to Darcy who
crossed the room and slipped onto his lap. “And learned what made makes the
holidays perfect.”

The
End

Award-winning author Autumn Jordon is a quiet nut who has earned the
title of 'trouble' by her family and friends. Even her pets look at her with
a cautious eye. Life is never dull in her valley surrounded by the
beautiful Blue Mountains of northeast PA.

No matter what she is doing, Autumn is always busy dreaming up ways to
make the very believable characters of her romance novels get into trouble and
to also fall in love.

Visit her at
www.autumnjordon.com