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“I’m so glad you’re here. I had nightmares that a blizzard of epic proportions would descend on the valley, and the authorities would close the mountain pass, and you wouldn’t be able to get to Eternity Springs.”
“I wouldn’t have let a blizzard stop me.” As she stepped back, he stared down into her face and shook his head. “Mason better know just what a treasure he’s getting.”
“I’m the one who is getting the treasure, Dad. Mason treats me like a queen.”
From the corner of his eye, Jared saw movement in the doorway. He turned his head and absorbed the blow. Emma.
Now there was a queen. She looked gorgeous. Regal. Sophisticated. Unreachable. She, too, wore a black dress and pearls, and he couldn’t help but wonder if they were the pearls he’d given her years ago or a new string. Had she replaced his pearls like she’d replaced him?
“Mom!” Repeating her earlier welcome gesture, Molly took three steps toward her mother, then abruptly stopped. “Oh, look. I don’t believe this. We’re wearing the same dress.”
Emma’s gaze breezed over their daughter, then she smiled. “So, am I dressing too young for my age, or are you dressing too old?”
Jared gave no conscious thought to the words that emerged from his mouth. “The dress is perfect for you both.”
Emma’s gaze met his. Her smile went brittle. “Hello, Jared.”
His reply was just as stiff. “Hello, Emma.”
Molly made a little snort of disgust, then hugged her mother. “I was just telling Dad that I’ve been having nightmares about a blizzard that kept everyone from reaching Eternity Springs.”
Jared could understand why blizzards had been on his daughter’s mind. After all, it felt as if the snowstorm of the century had just swept into the room with his wife.
Molly continued, “But you’re here, and Dad’s here, and Mason arrived with his parents earlier today, so I have the people I need the most. I’m going to quit worrying about blizzards.”
Molly could quit worrying about blizzards, but Jared was afraid he might lose a toe or two to frostbite.
Emma looked around the room, then her gaze settled on the table set for three. “Mason isn’t joining us?”
“No. I wanted tonight to be just the three of us.” She took a bracing breath, then said, “I think it’s time for some candid conversation, don’t you?”
Again, Jared’s and Emma’s gazes met. She looked just about as happy at the idea as he felt. Jared spied the bar in the corner of the room and decided that a scotch was definitely in order. “Can I get either of you something to drink?”
“No, thanks,” Molly said. “I’ll have wine with dinner.”
“I’ll have a scotch, please,” Emma said.
She’d surprised him yet again. When had she started drinking scotch? “Ice?”
“No, thank you.”
Okay, then.He fixed the drinks, pouring himself a double, as Molly continued: “I’ve put quite a bit of thought into how I’d like this dinner of ours to progress. But first, I want to thank you both for agreeing to spend Christmas with me here before the wedding. I know you would rather be just about anywhere else, with anybody else, but you are doing this for me. I recognize it and appreciate it more than I can say.”
Jared handed Emma her drink. Their fingers brushed, and they both jerked, sending the liquor sloshing up the sides of the crystal lowball glass. They didn’t speak. He felt like he had a mountain sitting on his chest.
Emma said, “Molly, I’m sure your father and I want your wedding to be all you’ve dreamed of. So, if spending Christmas together helps accomplish that, then everything’s fine.”
Molly’s sad eyes and shaky little smile spoke volumes. Jared felt the sting of guilt he’d grown accustomed to experiencing whenever he thought about the effect of his and Emma’s estrangement on their only child.
“Good,” his daughter said in response to her mother’s comment. “I’ve been hoping you feel that way because, with that in mind, I have a special request. Consider it my Christmas gift or my wedding gift. I don’t really care which. I want you to know that I want this more than anything else you could give me.”
Jared’s stomach sank. Surely, she wouldn’t ask for some sort of reconciliation as a gift. She had to know that wouldn’t be reasonable. If she were three or thirteen, he could see that she might ask for the impossible, but at twenty-three? She should know better.
Although . . . Jared stole another glance at Emma.Wasit impossible? Was there any chance that Emma would seize upon the excuse and say, “Let’s give it a try”? What would he do if she did?
Her body language gave no clue as to what she was thinking. His heartbeat accelerated. He licked his suddenly dry lips. With her voice calm and quiet, Emma asked, “What is it that you want, Molly?”
Molly laced her fingers, straightened her spine, and met her mother’s gaze, then her father’s. Once she had their total attention, she said, “Mom. Dad. As a gift to me, I’d like you two to get a divorce.”
