The Christmas Wish (2 page)

The bell over the bakeshop door rang.

Angel gets its wings
. From Thanksgiving to Christmas, each time Brinn heard a bell, she couldn’t stop the phrase from flying through her mind. Why try? It was a lovely thought from the movie
It’s a Wonderful Life
, which she and Nonna had spent hours upon hours watching when Brinn and Deborah were little while Ma and Pop were overworked and tired during the holiday rush.

A coltish-looking girl with bright blue eyes and auburn hair flooding from beneath her hat stood just inside the front door. She stomped snow from her boots.

“Why, Ash McGrath, don’t you look all grown-up.” Brinn stepped from behind the counter and hugged Ash. One more semester of high school and Ash would be off to college.

“Hi, Miss Bartoli.” A shy smile curved over Ash’s face and she plucked the wool cap from her head. “I came by to pick up an almond cake and some danishes for the morning.”

“Your mama called and I’ve got them ready for you.” Brinn scurried behind the counter and pulled out the two pretty pink boxes with white ribbon with the Bea & Barbara sticker on the top. “Your aunt Tulsa coming home soon?”

“Yes, ma’am. She and Cade and Conner get in tonight.”

“How’s the little guy?”

Ash’s eyes brightened with talk of her cousin. “Adorable.”

Brinn grabbed a white paper sack and put in three Mrs. Claus cookies and two Santas plus an angel.

“Here, Ash, a little something for you and the family when they get in tonight.”

“Thank you, Miss Bartoli.”

The bell above the door tinkled.

The customer who walked through the door was Dylan Conroy, a good-looking boy with black hair and a sharp-cut jaw. His eyes locked onto Ash and a soft smile gentled over his lips. “Let me help you with that.”

“Dylan, did you just get back from school?” Brinn asked.

“Yes, ma’am.” He liberated the two boxes from Ash. His gentle smile to the girl indicated that their high school love affair hadn’t diminished since he’d left for Colorado University on his football scholarship.

“Miss Bartoli, Mom wanted me to tell you that the statue you ordered for Christmas will be ready end of next week.”

“It’s a surprise for Ma. Tell your mother I’ll be by whenever it’s ready.”

“Got it. I think Mom knows it’s a surprise, but I’ll remind her so she doesn’t accidentally mention it to your mom.” Ash held up the bag. “Thank you for the cookies! I love these. Mom gets me an angel every year.”

Dylan slid his empty hand around Ash’s waist. A flutter went through Brinn’s heart. The young couple turned to each other and smiled, then left through the front door. Their love was so easy, so effortless. The heavy metal back door thumped and cold air blasted the back of Brinn’s neck.

“Snow is coming down out there,” Alison called from the kitchen.

Brinn walked through the swinging doors.

Alison stomped her boots and slipped her coat from her body. “I think it’s snowed seven inches in two hours.”

“With two more inches to go.”

Alison removed her hat and her cotton-candy pink hair fell from her cap.

“What happened to the blue?”

“Well.” Alison ran her fingers through her short bob. “I’m thinking pink and then maybe bright red the week before Christmas. That or green.”

“I’d go with the red. Would look good next to a Christmas tree.”

The bell over the door in the front of the bakery jingled.
Angel gets its wings
. Brinn moved toward the front of the bakery.

“I got it.” Alison slipped on the pink apron that had Bea & Barbara’s Bakery embroidered in white thread on the front. “You get yourself home. Five a.m. comes early and tomorrow is a big day.” She flashed Brinn a bright smile. “Building the gingerbread Christmas castle at the Grande.”

A butterfly bounced around Brinn’s belly. Tomorrow was a very big day. Please let everything with the Grande Christmas castle go well.

“Thanks.” Brinn pulled on her heavy shearling coat and grabbed the pink box with the chocolate torte for Mrs. Emerson. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

She walked out into the swirling snow.

*

Not only was it snowing, but it was cold. The thermometer in Brinn’s truck read twelve degrees when she pulled onto Maple Street and turned into the Emersons’ drive. Every window in the two-story white house held a candle with an electric flame. Wreaths of evergreen and bright red cranberries hung in the center of each of the giant double doors. Garland was draped along the railings of the front wraparound porch. Even the three giant evergreen trees on the front lawn were spiraled in lights that dropped like icicles toward the ground.

Brinn hopped out of her truck and grabbed the box, then hurried up the steps. Wind whooshed past her and she pressed her hand to her hat. She rang the doorbell and a chime sounded deep in the house. The Emersons had lived in this house for generation after generation, going on close to two hundred years. Carol Emerson, who’d graduated high school with Ma, opened the door.

“Brinn! Get in here out of the cold.”

Brinn stomped her boots, trying to relieve them of snow before she entered Mrs. Emerson’s home.

“You look about half frozen to death.” Carol pulled her inside. To the left of the front door, a fire crackled in the hearth and a two-story evergreen took up a big part of the formal living room.

“Thank you for this.” Carol lifted the box from Brinn’s hand. “You really saved me. Between the wrapping and the church social, I just couldn’t get a dessert baked for tonight. Now you stand right here, I’ve got something for your mama.”

“Mrs. Emerson, please, it’s no problem—” But before Brinn could get the words from her mouth, Carol had already scurried down the hall toward the back of the house.

Brinn stood in the foyer and took in the Christmas scene. Dozens of Christmas presents wrapped in red and green foil with big beautiful golden bows were already under the Emerson tree. The stockings were hung above the fireplace. There were four Emerson brothers: Chuck, Tyler, Breck, and Kent.

The second to oldest, Tyler, had been the same year as Brinn all the way through school. She’d harbored a crush on Tyler Emerson from second grade through the awkwardness of middle school and all four years of high school. Brinn wasn’t Tyler’s type. He was blond-haired and athletic. A track and football star, he’d been quickly taken by a cheerleader, Charlize Dutton, whom he’d eventually married. They’d moved to Denver so that Tyler could work as an architect and Charlize could work at being Tyler’s wife.

Tyler Emerson.

A long stream of air came from between Brinn’s lips. Golden hair, bright blue eyes, strong chin, and delicious muscles. Brinn unsnapped the top two buttons of her coat. Was it hot in here? Just the thought of him made her heart pitter-patter faster in her chest.

A tiny bell jingled on the stairs. Brinn looked up. A little girl with white-blond curls and wearing a red velvet dress stood on the fourth stair with a tiny jingle bell in her hand.

“Angel gets its wings!” She shook the bell again. A brilliant smile broke across her face and Brinn returned her happy look.

“That’s right. From Thanksgiving to Christmas every time a bell rings, an angel gets its wings.”

“There you are!” A gruff but happy voice called from the top of the stairs. Brinn’s heart fluttered in her chest. Something about that voice…

Her gaze traveled up the staircase and landed on Tyler Emerson’s Rocky Mountain sky-blue eyes.

Air whooshed from her lungs. He wore a long-sleeved dark green Henley T-shirt that clung to the muscles of his arms and chest, and his face was decorated with that horribly gorgeous smile. Breathe. Breathe. Breathe. She forced air in and out of her lungs. Tyler walked down the stairs toward the two of them. Brinn’s heart quickened with each step. He lifted the girl into his arms and his gaze landed on Brinn.

A heat flushed up her neck and her cheeks felt as though a fire had lit in each one.

“Hi, Brinn.” He held the beautiful child in his arms, both too stunningly good-looking for Brinn to form words.

Words.
A deep breath.
Make words.
“Tyler.” Her voice was raspy and breathy and barely above a whisper. She fought her inclination to look away from him and stare at her toes. Tyler Emerson was as gorgeous as she remembered. Her fingers pulled at her wild curls and she wished she’d kept her hat on her head and that she didn’t smell like baked goods and icing.

“Brinn.” Tyler nodded to the cherub in his arms. “This is Charlotte.”

“Your hair is pretty.” Charlotte reached out for Brinn’s wild curls.

“Charlotte, this is Brinn,” Tyler continued. His eyes glanced over Brinn, and she trembled as though he’d caressed her.

“Hi, Charlotte.”

Charlotte shook the jingle bell she held in her hand, “Angel, angel!”

“Gets her wings.” Brinn finished Charlotte’s sentence.

“How’ve you been?” Tyler’s voice was deeper than what she remembered, but then again the last time she’d seen Tyler Emerson, he’d been little more than a boy and she little more than a girl.

“Good.” Brinn clasped her palms together.
Get a grip, you’re not fourteen anymore.
Tyler Emerson with his all-American good looks and sandpaper rough voice caused her to feel as awkward as she had when she’d been an adolescent. His effect on her hadn’t changed. All through school when Tyler looked at her, when Tyler spoke to her, she could barely meet his gaze or utter a word. Just the stunning beauty of that face, the intensity of that gaze. Brinn nearly melted into a puddle with Tyler’s attention directed at her.

He smiled. “I heard you moved back.”

Charlotte shifted in his arms. “Down, Daddy, please.”

Tyler bent over and settled Charlotte’s feet onto the floor. She took off toward the back of the house where her grandmother had disappeared. Tyler’s gaze again caught Brinn’s face. Damn those brilliant blue eyes.

“Last March. I’m taking over the bakery. Eventually. I mean, if I can ever get Ma to stop coming in. Which isn’t likely. She still runs the place, and well…” Babbling. She was babbling. Control over her mouth, her words, was gone. She clamped her lips together, then curved them into a smile.

“How long are you home for?” Brinn asked, trying to act like a normal human being who understood the fundamentals of communication.

His eyes darted from Brinn toward the fireplace and the Christmas tree. “Not sure yet.” Tyler stuffed both his hands in his pockets and looked back toward Brinn. “There’s a project the firm wants to bid on up here. So they sent me. Hometown boy, thought I might have a good shot with the client. I’m working in Powder Springs, at least until the first of the year.”

“That’s great!” Her voice was too loud and her enthusiasm surprised even her, although Tyler again simply maintained his smile. “I mean, your mom must be thrilled. A nice long holiday with you and Charlotte.”

“Yeah, a nice long holiday.” His words seemed to drift away into unspoken thoughts. “I wanted to make it a big family Christmas since Charlotte’s mother didn’t want to”—Tyler caught himself and halted his words—“since Charlize couldn’t make it back from New York. I wanted to make sure Charlotte had time with her cousins and grandparents.”

Brinn nodded. She glanced toward the back of the house. How could any woman ever leave such a perfect-looking child? And what could possibly keep Charlize in New York and away from her daughter on Christmas?

“Brinn!” Carol called from the end of the hall.

Brinn hadn’t realized how close she’d been standing to Tyler, hadn’t felt the heat that now warmed her body. He took a step back at the entrance of his mother.

“This is for Barbara, in case she can’t make it to the tea. I know how busy the bakery is this time of year.” Carol handed Brinn a little rectangular package wrapped in gold foil.

“Thank you, Mrs. Emerson.”

“You’ll be at the Grande tomorrow?”

Brinn nodded. “For the next week.”

“Chef Hans is very excited about your design. I thought I might bring Charlotte over to watch you build the Christmas castle.”

“I’d love that.” Brinn glanced down at the darling girl who now stood between her grandmother and her dad, her arm snaked around her grandmother’s leg. Brinn smiled and then looked back at Tyler. His warm smile had slipped from his face and a somber look that seemed so ill-fitted to his features now held his face. A gloomy expression didn’t fit Tyler. He was a man who looked like he was meant to smile. Brinn grinned at Tyler and the corner of his mouth quirked upward. Charlotte reached up her tiny hand and clasped her father’s.

“I want to see the Christmas castle!”

Tyler bent down and brushed his face into his daughter’s blond curls and scooped her up into his arms. “Brinn is building a Christmas castle. Should we go and watch?”

“Daddy, I want to see the princess.”

“You’re my princess.” Tyler landed a giant kiss on his daughter’s round cheek. With his daughter close to him, his effortless smile reclaimed his face. Tyler glanced at Brinn and again heat climbed across her face.

“Well, I should go. Enjoy the chocolate torte, and thank you for the present for Ma.” Her eyes lingered on Tyler for the briefest of moments before he opened the front door.

“We’ll see you soon.”

Heat shot through her body. Please, goodness, let Tyler’s words be true.

The pink comb left trails through Charlotte’s wet hair. Tyler’s heart swelled. He loved these moments with his Charlotte. Fresh from the bath, she smelled like sunshine even in the heart of winter. While he combed her hair, Charlotte made silly faces in the mirror. She wiggled her eyebrows and opened her mouth wide. She tilted her head from side to side. She was a complete and utter ham.

“Daddy, the woman with the curly hair?”

“Brinn,” Tyler said, then corrected himself. “Miss Bartoli.”

“She knows about the angels and their wings.”

Tyler’s brows creased. At first he couldn’t gather the reference, which happened a lot when he tried to follow Charlotte’s thoughts. At five she still hopped between reality and the world of her imagination at a lightning pace.