AllFreeNovel
Share Us
ChapterOne
Present
Crows’feet.Laugh lines.Salt-and-pepperstrands.
Such silly names meant to soften the blow of getting older.
All they did was make Maureen McCormick shake her head.Or sigh.It depended on the day.
Today, she sighed.
Maureen took one last look in the mirror and tried to stifle her groan.Maybe a facial or one of those peels that the younger girls were always going on about might have helped.But it was too late for that now.The reflection in the mirror was going to have to do.
Lines, wrinkles, spots, and all.
Never in all her fifty-six years had Maureen given much thought to aging.She’d never been one to spend hundreds of dollars on fancy creams, or worry about dyeing the gray away.She’d always considered herself a fairly attractive woman, even as time began to take its toll.
But this was different.
Very different.
She hadn’t seen Adam since she was a girl.
Yes.It wasverydifferent.
She reached for the makeup bag Jade, her daughter-in-law, had helped her pack just for the occasion.At Maureen’s request, Jade, who had a lot more experience with this type of thing, had helped her pick out a few flattering shades of eyeshadow and even a new lipstick.
Maureen pulled out the tube of lipstick and leaned in close to the mirror.If there ever was going to be a time to try it out, it might as well be now.After all, what else did she have to lose?Her sons—most of them, anyway—thought she was crazy, traveling across the continent to a remote mountain inn in the North Carolina Mountains, only a few days before Christmas to meet a man who was a virtual stranger.
And maybe she was.
She laughed at herself as she pressed the tube to her lip.Right as her hotel room plunged into darkness.
Her breath caught in her throat and panic gripped her.
“Calm down, Maureen.”Her voice was loud in the dark, empty room.“It’s just a power outage.”She laughed at herself and shook her head.She’d lived through many power outages over the years.Especially as a girl when she spent her summers in the mountainous town of Cedar Springs.Besides, she was a grown woman.There was nothing to be scared of.
Still.Itwasdark.
She’d arrived at the inn earlier in the afternoon, and even before the sun went down, it was dark and gloomy outside as the storm that had been threatening started to make good on its threats.It wasn’t yet dinnertime, but with the thick storm clouds blocking out what little sunlight there might be left, her room was shockingly dark.And when, after a few minutes, the power didn’t return, Maureen fumbled for her purse and made her way out of the room and down to the main lobby of the inn.
She made the right choice.Candles were lit among the pine boughs that seemed to be draped on every free surface for the Christmas season.And paired with the welcoming glow from the huge fireplace, it was easy to forget that there was a power outage at all since the scene was so festive.
“Not to worry, Mrs.McCormick.”Lucy Gibbons, the innkeeper who’d greeted her earlier, appeared beside her.She set a light hand on Maureen’s shoulder.“It’s not unusual for the power to go out in such a heavy storm, but we do have backup generators and they should be up and going any minute now.”
“Oh, I’m not worried.”Maureen smiled warmly and let her gaze drift around the room.“It’s absolutely beautiful in here.”
The woman beamed with pride.“Christmas is my favorite holiday and there’s nothing quite as romantic as the festive season in the mountains, is there?”She winked, and Maureen blushed despite the fact that Lucy couldn’t have known why she was in North Carolina at the Merry Falls Inn less than a week before Christmas, or who she was meeting.“And now, with the snow coming down so heavily, it looks as if we’ll be snowed in.”
“Snowed in?”Maureen’s head snapped around to face her.“The road is closed?”
Lucy nodded.“I just got word.The mountains are so unpredictable and although it doesn’t happen terribly often, it does happen that sometimes the plows just can’t keep up and—”
“But if the road is closed…”Would Adam be able to get through?She didn’t finish the thought aloud.
“Not to worry, Mrs.McCormick.They’ll have them cleared before Christmas.”
Christmas?She hadn’t even thought of that.Her boys would kill her if she wasn’t back in time for the holidays.They really wouldn’t be happy if she was trapped.
