A Mistletoe Vow

Celeste rolled her eyes. “Right. I’m sure he’s pining away.”

It was true that she and Sparkle were old friends. The reindeer was warm and affectionate, far more than most of their small herd.

“You ought to go down to the barn to say hello while you’re here,” Faith suggested.

“Can I go meet Sparkle?” Olivia asked, her eyes huge as she followed the conversation. “I would love to.”

She had told the girl she would take her to meet the inspiration for the books she loved so much. “He enjoys company. I’m sure he would love to meet you.”

“Can we go now?” the girl pressed.

She looked at the table laden with delicious dishes she had done nothing to help prepare. Yes, she could claim a good excuse—being busy directing the show and all—but Uncle Claude and Aunt Mary had always been clear. If you didn’t help cook a meal, you were obligated to help clean it up.

“I need to help clear these dishes first,” she said.

“Oh, don’t worry about this,” Faith said.

“Right. We can take care of things,” Hope insisted.

“Yes, dear,” Aunt Mary added. “We’ve got this completely covered. It won’t take a moment to clean this up. Meantime, why don’t you take our guests down to the barn to meet Sparkle?”

Who were these women and what had they done with her family members? She frowned, fighting the urge to roll her eyes at all of them for their transparent attempts to push her together with Flynn. For heaven’s sake, what did they think would possibly happen between the two of them with his daughter along?

“I don’t know,” Flynn said, checking his watch. “It’s getting late.”

“It’s not even eight o’clock yet!” Olivia protested. “Since I don’t have to get up for school, I haven’t been going to bed until nine thirty.”

“I suppose that’s true.”

“So we can go?”

He hesitated, then shrugged. “If Celeste doesn’t mind taking us. But we can’t stay long. She’s already had a long day.”

“Oh, yay!” Olivia jumped up instantly from the table and headed for her coat.

“Does anyone else want to go down to the barn with us?” Celeste asked.

She didn’t miss the way Barrett practically jumped out of his chair with eagerness but subsided again with a dejected look when his mother shook her head firmly.

Oh, she hoped Flynn hadn’t noticed her crazy, delusional, interfering sisters.

He rose. “We’ll probably need to head out after we stop at the barn. It’s late and I have to get this young lady home to bed, whatever she says.”

“Understandable,” Aunt Mary said with a warm, affectionate smile for both of them.

With a sweet, surprising charm, he leaned in and kissed her aunt’s plump cheek. “Thank you for the delicious meal. We both truly enjoyed it.”

She heard a definite ring of truth to his words, even as he looked a little surprised by them. She had the feeling he hadn’t expected to enjoy the meal—which again made her wonder why he had agreed to come.

“You are most welcome,” Aunt Mary said. “I hope both of you will come again before you return to California. Your grandmother was a dear, dear friend, and I miss her terribly. Having you and your daughter here helps ease that ache a little.”

He looked touched. “I miss her, too. I only wish I could have visited her more the past few years.”

Mary patted his hand. “She told me you called her every Sunday night without fail, and sometimes during the week, too. She was very proud of that fact, especially as so many young people these days get so busy with their lives that they forget that their parents and grandparents might be a touch lonely without them.”

“A phone call was nothing. I can’t tell you how much I appreciate all of her friends here in Pine Gulch who helped keep her busy and involved.”

Celeste liked to consider herself one of that number. Charlotte had volunteered at the library almost up to the end of her life, never letting her physical ailments or the frailties of age prevent her from smiling and trying to lift someone else.

“She was always so proud of you,” Mary went on. “Especially because of what you came from.”

He gave a snort at that. “What I came from? Beverly Hills? Yeah. I overcame so much in life. I don’t know why nobody has come out with a made-for-television movie about my sad life.”

Mary made a face. “Charlotte was proud of many things about you, but perhaps most of all that despite every advantage you had, you always stayed grounded and didn’t let your head get turned by your mother’s fame or fortune. Now that I’ve met you, I understand what she meant. You’re a good boy, Flynn Delaney.”

She smiled and patted his hand again. Flynn looked a bit taken aback at anyone calling him a boy, but he only had time to give Aunt Mary a bemused sort of look before Olivia cut off anything he might have said in response.

“Are you ready, Daddy? I can’t wait to see Sparkle. I can’t wait.”

“Yes. I’m ready. We can grab our coats on the way out. Thank you all again.”

“You’re so welcome,” Faith and Hope said at the same time, almost as if they had rehearsed it. Chase and Rafe both nodded in the odd way men had of speaking volumes with just a simple head movement.

“Bye, Olivia. We’ll see you at the next practice,” Louisa said cheerfully.

They put on their coats quickly and headed out into the December evening.

The snow had increased in intensity, still light but more steady now. The air was still, though, with no wind to hurl flakes against them.

The night seemed magical somehow, hushed and beautiful with the full moon trying to push through the cloud cover.

Celeste was fiercely aware of him as they made their way to the barn. He was so very...male, from the jut of his jaw to his wide shoulders to the large footsteps his boots made in the snow beside her much smaller ones. He made her feel small and feminine in comparison.

To her relief, she didn’t have to make conversation. Olivia kept up a steady stream of conversation about the ranch. She couldn’t help noticing the girl had talked more that day than she had in all their previous encounters combined. Either she was more comfortable with Celeste now, or she was beginning to return to the girl she had been before the shooting.

If she wasn’t mistaken, the girl had hardly limped that afternoon or evening. That had to be a good sign, she supposed.

“Here we are,” she said when they reached the barn. The smell of hay and animals and old wood greeted them, not at all unappealing in its way.

She flipped on the lights and heard Mistletoe’s distinctive whinny of greeting. She took time as they passed the old horse to give Misty a few strokes and an apple she pulled from her pocket before she led them to Sparkle’s stall next door.

“Olivia, this is Sparkle. Sparkle, meet my good friend Olivia.”

After a moment of coyness, the reindeer headed to the railing of the stall.

“I’ve never seen a real reindeer before. He’s small!”

“Reindeer are generally much smaller than people think they should be.” She petted him, much the way she had Mistletoe. He lipped at her, trying to find a treat.

“Would you like to feed him an apple?”

“Can I?”

She glanced down at the girl and decided not to miss this opportunity. “I don’t know. You’ll have to use your left arm. He prefers it when people feed him from that side.”

That was an out-and-out lie. Sparkle would eat with great delight any apple that came his way, but she decided Olivia didn’t need to know that.

Flynn made a low sound of amusement beside her that seemed to ripple down her spine. She barely managed to hold back her instinctive shiver as she handed the apple to Olivia.

The girl narrowed her gaze at Celeste, obviously trying to figure out if this was some kind of a trick. In the end, the appeal and novelty of feeding a reindeer outweighed her suspicions.

She took the apple with her injured left hand and, with effort, held it out to the reindeer, who nibbled it out of her hand. Olivia giggled. “Can I pet him?”

“Sure. He won’t hurt you.”

She rubbed his head for a moment. “What about his antlers?”

“Go ahead. Just be gentle.”

She reached out and tentatively touched an antler. “It’s hard and soft at the same time. Weird!”

Sparkle visited with her for a moment, and it was plain he was happy to find a new friend. Any malaise the reindeer might have been feeling was nowhere in evidence. Maybe he really had been pining for her, but she doubted it. Maybe, like the rest of them, he just needed a little break from the hectic pace of the holiday season.

“What’s special about this particular reindeer?” Flynn asked.

She considered how to answer. “Well, he was the first reindeer Uncle Claude ever obtained, so he’s been here the longest. And he’s always been so much more affectionate than the others—not that they’re mean or anything, just...standoffish. Not Sparkle. He’s always been as friendly as can be. It rubs off on everyone.”

They watched the reindeer a few moments longer. When she heard a little sound from the stall at the end of the barn, she suddenly remembered what other treasure the barn contained. Clearly, she didn’t spend enough time here.

“I nearly forgot,” she said. “There’s something else here you might like to see.”

“What?” Olivia asked eagerly. The girl loved animals; that much was obvious. Perhaps she and Flynn ought to look into getting a dog when they returned to California.

She didn’t want to think about that now, not when the night seemed hushed and sweet here in the quiet barn.

“Come and see,” she answered. She led the way and pulled open the stall gate. Olivia peered in a little warily but her nervousness gave way to excitement.

“Puppies! Dad, look!”

“I see them, honey.”

The half dozen black-and-white pudgy things belonged to Georgie, one of the ranch border collies.

“Can I pet them?”

“Sure. I’ll warn you, they’re probably not super clean. You’re going to want to wash your hands when you’re done.”

“I will. I promise.”

She knelt down and was immediately bombarded with wriggling puppies.

Celeste felt her throat tighten as she watched this girl who had been through so much find simple joy in the moment. Flynn had almost lost her. It seemed a miracle that they were here in this barn on a snowy night watching her giggle as a puppy licked her hand.

“She did all right today at the rehearsal,” she said in a low voice to Flynn as they watched together. “I know you were concerned about the noise and confusion, but she handled it well. Wouldn’t you agree?”

They were standing close enough together that she could feel his sigh. “I suppose.”

“Does that mean you’ll bring her to the next rehearsal, then?”

He gave a small sound that was almost a laugh. “Anybody ever tell you that you’re relentless?”

“A few times, maybe,” she said ruefully. More than a few was closer to the truth.

Needing a little distance, she eased down onto the bench next to the stall. To her surprise, he followed and sat beside her.

“Fine,” he answered. “You win. I’ll bring her to the next one. That doesn’t mean I have to like it.”

She glanced at his daughter playing with the puppies a dozen feet away, then turned back to Flynn. “Why do you have a problem with her performing?” she asked, her voice low. “Especially when it seems to be something she enjoys?”

“I don’t want her to enjoy it,” he answered in an equally low tone. “If I had my way, I would have her stay far away from any kind of stage or screen.”

She frowned at the intensity of his words. “Because of your mother or because of Elise?”

“Either. Both. Take your pick.” He watched as a puppy started nibbling on Olivia’s ponytail, which only made her giggle again as she tried to extricate it from the little mouth.

After a moment he spoke with fierce resolve. “I want my daughter to find happiness in life based on her own decisions and accomplishments, not because of how many pictures of her holding a latte from Starbucks showed up in the tabloids this week. There’s an artificiality to that world that crumbles to nothing in a heartbeat. Take it from someone who grew up on the edge of that spotlight.”

She thought of what Aunt Mary had said about his grandmother’s pride in him for staying grounded. Unlike his mother or his wife, he hadn’t sought that spotlight. He had gone into a career outside Hollywood and had built a successful business on his own merits. She had to admire that.

“That must have been tough for you,” she said.

He shrugged. “How can I complain, really? It sounds stupid, even to me. I grew up with the sort of privileges most people only dream about. A-list celebrities hanging out in my swimming pool, a BMW in the driveway on my sixteenth birthday, vacations in Cannes and Park City and Venice.”

By worldly standards, her family had been very poor. Her parents had given everything they had to helping others, to the point that she remembered a period in their lives when she and her sisters each had had only two or three outfits that they swapped back and forth.

She hadn’t necessarily enjoyed moving from country to country, never feeling as if she had a stable home. In truth, she still carried lingering resentment about it, but she had always known she was deeply loved.

She had a feeling that for all his outward privilege, Flynn had missed out on that assurance, at least from his parents. She was grateful he had known the unwavering love and devotion of his grandmother.

“We don’t get to choose the circumstances of our birth families, do we?” she said softly. “The only thing we have control of is the life we make for ourselves out of those circumstances.”

His gaze met hers and the intensity of his expression left her suddenly breathless. Something shimmered between them, something bright and fierce. She couldn’t seem to look away, and she again had the oddest feeling he wanted to kiss her.

Now? Here? With his daughter just a few feet away? She must have been imagining things. Still, the idea of him leaning forward slightly, of his mouth sliding across hers, made nerves jump in her stomach and her knees feel suddenly weak.

She felt as if she stood on the brink of something, arms stretched wide, trying to find the courage to jump into the empty space beyond.

She could lose her heart so easily to this man.

The thought whispered into her mind and she swallowed hard. With the slightest of nudges, she would leap into that empty space and doubtless crash hard back to earth.

Careful, she warned herself, and looked away from him, pretending to focus on his daughter and the cute, wriggling puppies.

After a long pause, he finally spoke. “Despite everything you and your sisters have been through, you’ve made a good life for yourself here in Pine Gulch.”

“I’d like to think so.” Okay, maybe she was a little lonely. Maybe there were nights she lay in bed and stared at the ceiling, wondering if she was destined to spend the rest of her nights alone.

“I guess you know a little about being in the spotlight now, don’t you?” Flynn said.

She forced a little laugh. “Not really. My particular spotlight is more like a flashlight beam. A very tiny, focused flashlight. That’s the nice thing about being only a name on a book cover.”

“That will change when the Sparkle movie hits the big screen,” he predicted.

Oh, she didn’t want to think about that. Just the idea made her feel clammy and slightly queasy. “I hope not,” she said fervently. “I like being under the radar.”

He frowned. “Why agree to let someone make the movie, then? You had to know that’s only going to increase your celebrity status. You won’t be able to stay under the radar for long.”

In her heart, she knew he was right. What had she gotten herself into?

She hadn’t had a choice, she reminded herself. Not really.

“I love my family,” she said. “They’re everything to me.”

“It only took me a few minutes at dinner tonight to figure that out. You have a great family. But what does that have to do with signing a movie deal you don’t appear to want?”

For someone who loved the magic and power in words, sometimes in conversation she felt as if she never could manage to find the right ones.

“Things haven’t been...easy around here the past few years, even before my brother-in-law’s accident. My uncle was a wonderful man but not the best businessman around, and the ranch hasn’t exactly been thriving financially.”

“I’m sorry to hear that.”

“The, um, increased interest in The Christmas Ranch after the first Sparkle book came out last season helped a great deal but didn’t completely solve the cash flow woes.” She felt her face heat a little, as it always did when she talked about the astonishing success of the book. “With the deal Hope and I will be signing for the movie rights, we can pay off the rest of the ranch’s debts and push the operation firmly into the black, which will lift considerable pressure from Faith. How could I turn down something that will benefit my family so much?”

He studied her for a moment, that funny intensity in his expression again. “So it’s not necessarily what you really want, but you’re willing to go through with it anyway for your family.”

“Something like that,” she muttered.

“If having a movie made out of your book doesn’t sit well with you, couldn’t you have found an alternative revenue stream?”

She shrugged. “Hope and I talked at length about this. Our agent and publisher were clear. Someone was going to make a Sparkle movie—which, believe me, is an amazing position to find ourselves in. The terms of this particular deal were very favorable for Hope and for me, and we were both impressed by the other projects this particular production company has engineered. The moment seemed right.”

“I’m glad they’re making a Sparkle movie,” Olivia said suddenly. Celeste had been so busy explaining herself, she hadn’t realized the girl had left the puppies on the floor of the stall and rejoined them. “I can’t wait to see it.”

Flynn smiled at his daughter with that sweet tenderness that tugged at her heart. “We’ll probably be back in California, and you can tell everyone else at the movie theater that you actually had the chance to meet the real Sparkle and the women who created the fictional version.”

“I guess.” Olivia didn’t look as excited about that prospect as Celeste might have expected. In fact, she appeared downright glum.

Why? she wondered. Was the girl enjoying her time in Pine Gulch so much that she didn’t like thinking about their eventual return to California?

“Maybe we could come back and see the movie here,” Olivia suggested.

“Maybe.”

Celeste felt a sharp little kick to her heart at the noncommittal word. They wouldn’t be back. She was suddenly certain of it. After Flynn sold his grandmother’s house, he would have no more ties here in Pine Gulch. She likely would never see him or his daughter again.

This was why she needed to be careful to guard her heart better. She already hurt just thinking about them leaving. How much worse would it be if she let herself take that leap and fell in love with him?

He stood up and wiped the straw from the back of Olivia’s coat where she had been sitting on the floor of the stall.

“We should probably take off,” he said. “You need to tell Celeste thank-you for bringing you out here to meet Sparkle and to play with the puppies.”

“Do we have to go?” she complained.

“Yes. It’s late and Celeste probably has to work at the library tomorrow.”

She nodded and was suddenly overwhelmed by a wave of fatigue. The day had been long and exhausting, and right now she wanted nothing more than to be in her comfy clothes, cuddled up with her animals and watching something brainless on TV.

“Okay,” Olivia said in a dejected voice. “Thank you for bringing me down here to meet Sparkle and play with the puppies.”

“You are very welcome,” Celeste said. “Anytime you want to come back, we would love to have you. Sparkle would, too.”

Olivia seemed heartened by that as she headed for the reindeer’s stall one last time.

“Bye, Sparkle. Bye!”

The reindeer nodded his head two or three times as if he was bowing, which made the girl giggle.

Celeste led the way out of the barn. Another inch of snow had fallen during the short time they had been inside, and they walked in silence to where his SUV was parked in front of the house.

She wrapped her coat around her while Flynn helped his daughter into the backseat. Once she was settled, he closed the door and turned to her.

“Please tell your family thank you for inviting me to dinner. I enjoyed it very much.”

“I will. Good night.”

With a wave, he hopped into his SUV and backed out of the driveway.

She watched them for just a moment, snow settling on her hair and her cheeks while she tried to ignore that little ache in her heart.

She could do this. She was tougher than she sometimes gave herself credit for being. Yes, she might already care about Olivia and be right on the brink of falling hard for her father. That didn’t mean she had to lean forward and leave solid ground.

She would simply have to keep herself centered, focused on her family and her friends, her work and her writing and the holidays. She would do her best to keep him at arm’s length. It was the only smart choice if she wanted to emerge unscathed after this holiday season.

Soon they would be gone and her life would return to the comfortable routine she had created for herself.

As she walked into the house, she tried not to think about how unappealing she suddenly found that idea.

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