Yuletide Bride (4 page)

Chapter Six

“I
had a great time tonight, James,” Mary said at her door. James walked her up the drive and she’d stopped him there. “Thank you for taking me. You have a lovely family.”

“They like you, too. I’m glad you had a great time.”

“I did.”

James leaned forward and pressed his lips to Mary’s. Mary closed her eyes and opened her mouth; the kiss deepened and James groaned. “Can I come in?”

“I want you to, James, believe me, I do.”

“But?”

“But it’s not right.”

James looked down at his shoes and controlled his breathing. “Do you want a husband?” he asked softly, and then he looked up into her eyes. Mary’s were barely open, hooded. Her breath caught and he could feel her tremble.

“Wh-what?”

“Do you want a husband?”

“Well, I…”

“Because if you do, then I would love to be that particular guy for you.”

Mary’s lip trembled and she stood there, her hands held by his and watched him as he spoke.

“I’ve always wondered why I wasn’t married yet, why I wasn’t completely happy with my life, and then I go to my grandparent’s retirement home and there you are, putting your makeup on in your car.”

Mary gasped and then laughed. “You saw that?”

“I saw,” James said. A few tears escaped Mary’s eyes and James caught them on his finger. “You were adorable. Sexy. You looked at me and I winked at you. You turned around. It was so cute, and at the time I didn’t think much of it, other than I probably would never see you again. Because that was how my life was, Mary, before you. Before you, I was busy all the time with work, always seeing unhappy couples, always seeing dreams end way too early. But since I met you, I’ve seen beauty…love…fate.”

Mary looked up at the word fate and grimaced.

“So, how ’bout it?”

“How ’bout it?”

“You, me—all of that?”

Mary laughed. “You’re serious?”

“Definitely.”

“But, it’s too soon,” she protested

“Not nearly soon enough for me,” James replied, feeling confident with his choice. He looked at Mary. He could tell that she wanted to say yes and that was more than enough for him.

“I…”

Give me your answer by Friday. I have a few things that can’t wait—workwise—so I won’t be able to see you the next few nights. But, I’ll try to call. You can tell me Friday before the last committee meeting.”

Mary smiled and nodded. James pulled her to him once more and grasped her tightly. “I love you, Mary.”

Mary closed her eyes and smiled, but no words came out.

The next day was hectic. Mary had her interview with the mayor and his wife later that afternoon, a slew of paperwork to prepare and the rest of the article to finish. She also needed to finish her speech for the committee meeting and then meet James afterwards. And she couldn’t stop thinking about James’s proposal. She’d ever wanted to say yes so badly in her life, but she also worried that he would bully her into changing her mind about the article. She didn’t want that, either. So, she gathered up her notes and headed to the Jameson’s for her meeting and last interview.

“So, Mrs. Jameson, why did you put your name in the jar?” Mary asked as she watched the woman smile and look over to her husband. Mary always thought the relationship between the two was more friends than lovers, but seeing them both in the room tonight was clearly an eye-opener.

“Well, I’d always put my name in, you see. I was always a big dreamer, and If I say so myself, very romantic.”

Roy laughed and grabbed his wife’s hand. Roy Jameson had been the mayor of Noel for more than eighteen years. He was the longest running mayor there since the late nineties when Mayor Ronald Perrish resigned. “She’s not lying, either. My Layla has always been romantic.”

Mary smiled, maybe because of her romance with James, but she felt the love in the air as well. She thought of James and smiled dreamily.

“You look like a woman in love,” Layla said to her.

Mary started then focused on her paper once more.

“I thought we were talking about how romantic you were, Mrs. Jameson?”

“There is nothing more romantic than a love story, Miss Simms. And I do love one. I have read romance my entire adult life and when I met my own personal hero, I didn’t want to let him go. I never intended on letting him go,” she said, meaningfully.

Mary looked up.

“Can I ask you something?”

“You just did,” Layla smiled.

“You see, I don’t want to offend you at all, Mrs. Jameson, but I have to ask. You two are my very last interview, you see? I need to know how long you’ve known that the “Magic of Christmas Festival” is a sham?”

The mayor actually gasped and Layla looked over at him and then back at Mary calmly. “For years.”

It was the first honest answer Mary had gotten out of any of the couples. The mayor looked fit to be tied. “How long have you known, Miss. Simms?”

“I, uh…”

“Stuttering doesn’t become you, dear. Besides, I had a feeling one day someone would figure it out. Now, it’s what you do with the information that concerns me.”

“Well, I…”

“Please, Miss Simms, are you shocked that I could be so forthright about it? I already had an inclination that you knew. You see, I talked to Christine.”

Mary looked up and felt the light bulb go on. “Christine said something?”

“Well, you do know so much already, why not let you in on something. We have a planning committee every year. Only one half of the couple comes to the meeting, seeing as the other half has no idea.”

“I knew it!” Mary said excitedly, smiling. “But why claim it’s magic?”
            “Why not? You have no idea what this time-honored festival means to our town, and besides, it is great revenue for the businesses and the districts. Also, it brings new faces to Noel.”

“So, this is all about money?”

“No, you misunderstand me, Miss Simms. This festival, as you know has been around for some time now. If we go around telling everyone the secrets of the festival, then it wouldn’t exactly be a magical time of year, now would it?”

“So, how does it all work?”

“Well, we watch people, you see? As a committee, we nominate people that we notice in town that are perfect for one another.”

“So, in other words, you play God?”

“Oh, no…not God. With God you have free will. We are more like a human-cupid match-making kind of festival. And we are quite good at it, as you’ve noticed.”

“No kidding,” Mary said, amazed that the information she needed for her story came to her tenfold.

“So, what’s the catch? Do you let one of the people in the couple in on it from the

Get-go?”

“It’s not always like that,” Layla answered. “Sometimes we wait until after the ceremony, and other times, we help… we guide them along a bit.”

“Really?”

“Oh yes… it’s quite complicated,” the mayor added ruefully. “Some people are quite stubborn. We have contracts, too.”

“Contracts?”

“Yes, in order for us to make this a real ‘miracle’ we have to guarantee its success.”

“What’s in the contract?”

“You can never get a divorce.”

“Never?”

“Never,” the mayor confirmed. “We have a great set of lawyers behind us on the contracts. They make sure that everything is perfectly legal and binding.”

“So, the people that get married actually agree to that?” Mary asked, amazed.

“Yes, it’s part of the charm. Of course, you could say no, but why would you? The whole ‘love-match’ is perfect. We take a long while in our decisions, and actually several of our couples for the next few years have already been selected.”

“You have got to be kidding me.”

“Nope,” Layla said proudly.

“Then why go through the whole farce of the jar?”

“Well, the jar is tricky. We still collect names and then we have a separate jar with the names of the couple only.”  Roy looked at his wife and grinned. They really did look happy.

“So, you have over 4,000 names collected and the papers all say the same name?” Mary asked, and saw Roy nod.

“Yep.”

“Weird.”

“I know,” Roy said. “When I found out I was shocked, but any way you slice it, it’s a good deal. I didn’t have to go through all the pain of trying to find out if Layla was perfect for me. Arranged marriages were, a lot of times, very successful.”

“It’s all very romantic, isn’t it?” Layla asked Mary. Mary only nodded. The information from tonight’s session would put a lot of people over the top. In an odd way, Mary felt pissed that nobody ever selected her to marry anyone.

“You’re wondering why you haven’t been picked yet, aren’t you?” Layla asked.

Mary blushed.

“It’s not that we don’t want happiness for you, Mary. We do. It’s just that, well… we haven’t found your perfect someone yet.”

“Have you put your name in the jar this year, Mary?”

“Why does it matter?”

“Well, it doesn’t hurt to have a bit of faith every once in a while,” Roy said, handing her a pen and a small sheaf of paper. Mary took it and scrawled her name on it and placed it in her pocket. She looked at the mayor and his wife and nodded, thanking them for their time, knowing that in her heart James was her perfect someone.

“That’s okay, I am perfectly happy to choose my own mate. I’ll put this in your fake jar on the way out,” Mary said, knowing full well that she wouldn’t. It was funny, really. She’d hoped that it was magic, meeting the love of your life from just writing your name on the small piece of paper. A little bit of magic inside of her died that night as she walked out the door.

Several hours later, Mary was still up, reeling from what the Jamesons told her. She’d learned all about the festival, the truth about the couples and the reason why everything went the way it did over the years. She’d learned how the festival used to be run and how it had changed.  She wasn’t surprised to learn Ava Rochester was the kingpin in the whole operation. After she’d left the mayor and his  wife, Mary stopped  at the retirement home to see Ava Rochester.

“So, you found out about everything?” was the first thing that Ava Rochester said when Mary arrived.

Mary wasn’t shocked that Ava knew. Mainly she felt relieved. The Jamesons must have phoned her right away.

“Are you surprised, Mrs. Rochester?”

“No, not really. My grandson seems to think you came from the Almighty Himself. You’re one smart cookie, Mary.”

Mary actually blushed. It felt good to get a compliment that high from James’s grandmother. “Thank you.”

“No, darling, thank you.  I’ve never seen James so happy.”

“I haven’t been, either.”

“Do you understand why you can’t tell anyone about this?”

“I should have known that you would try to stop me, Mrs. Rochester.”

“Ava.”

“Ava, I should have known. James has tried to stop me from the beginning, and I get it now. He said that he didn’t think you would be able to take it.”

“No, my dear, I can take it. I just don’t think it’s fair to all of the couples out there. You see, my John has no idea. I love him so much, Mary. I am sure now that you can see how much, seeing as you are in love yourself.”

Mary didn’t even make an effort to deny it. It clearly showed in her eyes. “Yes.”

Ava smiled. “I’m glad to know for sure. James is a good man.”

“Yes, yes he is.”

“Well, things kept going wrong. I told you about my father and how he made me change schools. It was a nightmare. I was so in love with John and then we had to leave. John thought the whole thing was hopeless. He went into the military and I didn’t know what to do. I remembered the festival from when I was a kid, so I wrote the town’s librarian—Lillian Andrews at the time. She’s dead now, God rest her soul. Shortly after that, I convinced Lillian to change it up a bit, to make it more interesting. She did. I
could
tell John. I just…well there isn’t much magic left in the world. And my John is such a romantic. I fear if I tell him the truth about what I did he wouldn’t understand. Maybe he’d want a divorce. Maybe he’d think I tricked him into marriage.”

Mary looked at Ava and felt sorry for her. She saw a few tears escape and sighed. “But you have to know he loves you. You see the way he looks at you.”

“Yes, I do, but I’m afraid that will all change if he knows.”

“So, how do you get away with the secret meetings?”

“Wow, the Jamesons didn’t leave anything out, did they?”

“No, I’m afraid they didn’t,” Mary said, hoping that she wouldn’t kill this woman’s good feelings for her and her grandson.

“Well, the meetings aren’t all that often, and Layla usually just comes to me. I make the excuse of girl talk and we talk. It’s always around Christmas.”

“Have you talked yet this year?”

“Yes, darling, we have. The couple has been chosen,” Ava said, looking down. There was something about her expression that made Mary worry.

“Who is it?”

“I can’t tell you that.”

But you do know?”

“I know who the male is. That’s all I can say.”

“You only know half of the couple?”
That seemed odd
.

“Well, I know both of the people, but I let fate decide on the other half.”

“What does that mean? I thought the voting was rigged.”

“I believe in threes, Mary, not pieces of paper.”

Mary looked up and knew Dr. Turner had met with Ava Rochester that one day long ago. “Threes?”

“There are always signs, mind you, but I’ve noticed they travel in threes. Once the third one happens, fate takes over.”

“Fate?”