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Eve shrugged and waved at Kane as he drove closer. “I have no idea.”
They all laughed. But a few minutes later, as Santa was giving out gifts, Sophie realized something. “Eve, how did you know about the parade? Aren’t you supposed to be on a cruise with your parents?”
Eve shared a long look with Clara. “Jacob called Kane yesterday and told us what was happening.”
“You mean with the parade?”
Eve tilted her head, took Sophie’s hand, and squeezed. “No. With Ben.”
Sophie clenched and unclenched her hands while she paced from the galley kitchen to her couch in her apartment. Clara and Eve sat at her tiny kitchen table, as if knowing to stay out of her way.
Santa was still handing gifts out by the Christmas tree, and she heard the band entertaining everyone else through her windows. Those diversions had given Sophie a chance to stomp away so she could deal with her overflowing emotions. Except she had no idea where to begin.
“Are you both telling me that Ben went after a dangerous Black Jack, in a snowstorm, and didn’t tell me? And”—she held up her hand so Eve wouldn’t interrupt—“he asked everyone in town, including Lotto, to participate in the parade to keep me distracted?”
“You volunteered for the parade,” Clara said softly.
Sophie threw up her hands. “Before I knew Ben was going to turn into a rogue sheriff.”
“I know you’re upset,” Eve said gently. “But Ben didn’t want you to worry. Besides, once he identified the man who’d set the church on fire, he called in the State Police, the FBI, and a few of the men in town to help him. He wasn’t alone.”
Sophie leaned her hip against the counter and closed her eyes. “Do you know what happened? Why have they been gone for so long?”
Clara sighed, and Sophie opened her eyes.
“The storm hit,” Eve said. “The Black Jack jumped off a ridge up on Mosby’s Gap and died, and Damian was shot but he’ll be okay. It just took a long time to get everyone off the mountain and checked out by the EMTs in Milltown. But I promise you, Ben is fine.”
She shook her head. Milltown was on the other side of the mountain because Kingsmill didn’t even have a first aid clinic. “I hear what you’re saying, but I feel …” she swallowed hard and blinked away tears. “I don’t know what I feel.”
Clara came over and touched her arm. “Take a few minutes. Grab a glass of water. You’ve had no sleep for the last two days. When you’re ready, meet us up on the hill behind Mosby House. No later than midnight. And together we’ll make Christmas wishes on Caleb’s star.”
She tried to snort delicately, but she sounded like a bullhorn. “I don’t know how to make Christmas wishes because I’ve never actually had a Christmas.”
“You had one tonight,” Eve said as she buttoned her coat. “Don’t let your anger take that away from you.”
Before she could respond, both women left and she found herself alone. Not sure what to do with her excess energy, she took off her coat and boots. Then she unbraided her hair and brushed out the curls. After stripping off her itchy wool socks, she headed into her bedroom. Except she stopped in the doorway and dropped her socks onto the floor. Someone had decorated her room with tons of Christmas lights, and a small Christmas tree decorated with lights stood in the corner. A champagne stand near the bed held a chilled bottle, and two flutes were on the bedside table. Low Christmas music came from somewhere, and the wind outside the window blew snow around. Her bedroom looked like a Christmas dream.
She pressed a hand against her stomach and tears pricked her eyes. “Who did this?”
“Eve and Clara helped me,” a deep male voice said from behind.
She spun around to see Ben taking off the Santa hat and tossing it onto the floor. He wore the entire costume, and when he undid the belt, a pillow fell onto the ground. He threw his jacket and white T-shirt on top.
She couldn’t look away from his perfect upper body. Cut abs. Huge arm muscles. And a light dusting of hair from his chest down to waistline and below. “Wait. I thought Harry was Santa?”
She backed away, confused and disoriented. Was anything as she thought it was?
“I was a last-minute fill-in for Santa.” His voice was filled with laughter, and he came closer. Now he only wore the pants, but because they were too big they rode low on his hips. She ached to trace the muscles of his lower stomach, but she fisted her hands instead.
“I wanted to surprise you. My plan was to give you your Santa gift in front of the Christmas tree in town…” he waved a hand toward the room decorated like a Christmas catalog. “And then bring you up here to celebrate.”
She licked her lips and took another step back. And another. Until the back of her legs hit the edge of the bed. “Celebrate what?” She wrinkled her nose. “We’re not celebrating anything. I’m mad at you. You lied to me about where you were and then you made the town participate in my parade to keep me distracted. That means I don’t really belong.” She ended with a huge huff that blew stray bangs off her forehead. “I’m mad about that.”
He took her arms and forced her to meet his gaze. “Sweetheart, you do belong. The town helped you because they love you. Not because I asked them to.”
She pressed her fists against his chest only to feel his warm muscles clench beneath her hands. “But you did ask them.”
“I did.” He kissed her forehead. Then her nose. “Except they’d already planned on participating. My phone calls didn’t change that. I left to go after Pepper because I already knew the people of this town would protect you and stand by you. If I didn’t believe you belonged to this town, and this town belonged to you, I never would’ve left you alone here.”
