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Santa’s chair.
Born and raised in Celebration, Texas, Lily had seen the big man sit there many Christmases. As soon as the holiday market opened for business, there would be a line out the door for kids to have a chance to see Santa Claus and tell him what they wanted for Christmas this year.
Even though she was thirty years old and it had been a long time since she’d sat on Santa’s lap, Lily still got excited at the festive spectacle that was the holiday market.
This year was even more special since she was sharing it with Cullen and the children. They sort of felt like…a family.
The thought warmed Lily from the inside out.
As Lily, Cullen and the kids—even George—walked into the room the night before the market officially opened—for a special VIP vendor and sponsor party—it was even more exciting to get a behind-the-scenes glimpse of the place. To Lily, attending this party tonight was like being allowed on the set of the remake of a favorite movie.
“What was the number of the booth again?” Cullen asked, glancing around.
He had been wonderful when Lily broached the subject of the kids participating in the market. But in her heart she’d known that he would be good about it. He would do anything for those kids and he trusted her to do right by them.
Even though she’d been burned before by circumstances, she had decided to trust her friends. What was the chance of lightning striking twice?
It was a good lesson that she could apply to herself, too. She had been burned once in love. She wasn’t going to let that keep her from finding the true love that she was sure was out there for her.
She stole a glance at Cullen. He flashed her a sexy grin, and her pulse quickened. He’d gotten off work early—well, early for him; it was nearly seven o’clock now—to come to the party with her and the kids. The commonsense, rational side of her figured he might be here so he could have a look at the setup and assess whether he felt comfortable letting the kids spend the week here.
But the hopeless romantic in her just couldn’t give up hope that he was here for another reason: because he wanted to be. Because he wanted to spend time with the kids…and her. That maybe, just maybe, this would be the night that he made good on that promise to kiss her again.
But not in front of the kids, of course. She knew that he understood that, and she admired him for it. He had the makings of such a good father, and he could be one to these kids if he’d just give himself a little credit.
He’d helped them take their minds off their own tragedy and look outside themselves. The girls had told him about Stollenfest and how in Dresden they sold the Christmas bread to raise money for those less fortunate. The kids had decided they wanted to do that with the money they raised at the holiday market. He’d promised them he would match every dollar they raised. He even helped them pick out a charity: Grace Children’s Home.
Lily’s heart nearly burst when, as they were baking that morning, Megan shared the agreement that Cullen had struck with them.
She’d sounded so grown-up. “Because, you know, Lily, there are kids out there who are less fortunate than we are. We have you and Uncle Cullen, but some kids have nobody. We want to help them.”
Lily was so touched she had to blink back tears.
After all the loss and turmoil they’d been through, they could still count their blessings. She realized that Cullen might have had a little something to do with that.
Actually he’d had everything to do with it. She could see that as plain as day. The one thing she was having trouble seeing was the bad boy that her girlfriends had described.
Sure, he was a complex, complicated man, and he’d obviously known more than his share of women, but he hadn’t brought any of them around since she’d been caring for the kids. In fact, if she hadn’t seen the text from Giselle, she might be inclined to believe that he’d gotten a bum rap with this bad reputation. Because all she knew was that he had such a big heart when it came to these children.
Whether he believed it or not, he would make a great father to these kids. Somehow she just had to make him recognize that side of himself.
As they approached the Celebrations Inc. booth, George stumbled and dropped the armload of loaves he was carrying. With a scowl, he bent down to pick them up, but an older lady who had been walking toward them stopped to help.
