Under the Mistletoe, page 17
part #1 of Home to Heritage || Book Five Series
She stepped closer and brushed a piece of hair from Astryn’s face. “Do you love him?”
“Orin is an amazing king.” Astryn ducked her head for fear this woman would read her heart. “I feel privileged that I will soon be his wife.”
“But you love him.”
Astryn’s eyes darted to the woman’s, but instead of judgment, she found a knowing smile. And the way her eyes stared into Astryn’s soul for a moment was so reminiscent of Rand that Astryn’s heart nearly broke. She glanced down the path. Her father was approaching about thirty yards off, his Cambrian-red robes billowing out slowly with his steps, making a striking contrast to the green foliage. Astryn ducked her head so her father wouldn’t see her speaking. “What is the message? You said you had one.”
“Remember the power is a gift and it belongs to Origin. Don’t forget that when you are forced to make the same choice between life and love.”
Her head jerked up, but the woman was gone. Where she had stood a moment before, now a swirl of wind picked up and spun a few rose petals, then dissipated. Had that all really happened? Surely she’d imagined the whole thing.
“There you are, my dear.” Her father stopped in front of her and held out his hand, each finger adorned with a heavy gold ring representing an alliance. Only, the Anathian ring was missing, because she was now the symbol of the alliance. “You are needed. Your betrothed has decided he needs to return to Anathia, and you need to see him off.”
Astryn took his callused hand in hers, then rose and slipped her arm into her father’s. “But the wedding is—”
“Over a week away. But there have been raiding parties near the border, and he wants to see that his people are cared for and prepared for another extended absence. For after you wed, you two will travel, visiting allies. Fear not, he will return within the week with Prince Rand.”
Hearing his name again sent an awareness through her, but she shoved it away. “Did you know Orin’s parents well?”
“I did. Why do you ask?”
“I wondered how they died.”
“Quite tragically, actually. They were on a walk in the woods, and he was gored by a boar.”
“And her?”
“That was the strangest part. She had no wounds but was found dead, lying over his body.”
A small gasp escaped her, and her father patted her hand. “Let’s speak of happier things.”
“What did she look like?” Her heartbeat pounded in her ears.
“Their mother?” Her father ran a hand over his graying hair. “She was from the north—Kenthorian, I believe—so she was quite tall for a woman and had striking eyes. One green, one blue.”
As if on cue, a rabbit stopped in the path ten feet ahead. It couldn’t be the same one, could it? It sniffed the ground a moment, then looked up at Astryn. One blue eye and one green. It only paused a second before it hopped back into the underbrush. Her father didn’t even notice as he prattled on about how the alliances could be strengthened. But all she could hear was the warning words.
The power is a gift, and it belongs to Origin. Don’t forget that when you are forced to make the same choice between life and love.
When. The message wasn’t a maybe. She would be forced to choose one day. But Astryn knew herself. She would always choose her kingdom.
ten
It had been a week since Devin had seen Logan. A week, and she was going crazy. She’d give about anything to just talk to him.
Devin scanned the three rows of long tables she’d set up in the community center with a miniature gingerbread house at each seat. The kids would start arriving at ten a.m. sharp, which left just over an hour to finish getting everything ready.
Thank goodness Janie had baked all the pieces, but Devin had only constructed half the number of houses they needed, plus they needed to make more meringue and lay out the candy.
She should have asked for more help like Nate had suggested, but a stressed-out Devin had returned to lone-wolf Devin. Because as much as she wanted to bring fire tenders into her life, she had been raised to believe differently.
Her phone chimed with an incoming text, and she snatched it up. Logan?
Mrs. Sanchez
The kids won’t make it to the event today. Sorry for last-minute notice.
Well, those were two houses she didn’t need to assemble before the event. She started to set her phone aside when the red dot by the text messages grabbed her attention. Had she missed two texts? She navigated to them, but neither was from Logan. More people in the program canceling.
She grabbed another piece of foil-covered cardboard from the pile and stuffed down the building pressure in her chest that was threatening to spill over. It was fine. She laid out the gingerbread pieces, squirted a thick bead of the white meringue frosting along the wall, and fit the pieces together. She held it a moment before moving on to the next wall.
Maybe she should call someone.
After all, people kept saying they weren’t just willing but also wanted to help. Maybe she needed to lean into that more. Logan had jumped in to help her even when he had a chapter due. But where was he now?
Even the new chapters that had appeared this week weren’t any clue. Rand was at his castle in Anathia, and Astryn was in Cambria planning for the wedding to Orin. Their romance was barely a blip. Every day closer to the wedding left Devin wanting to throw her phone against the wall.
She supposed the fact that new chapters kept showing up meant he was at least alive and unharmed. But the fact that he hadn’t returned even one text or call always landed back in the reality that they weren’t on the same page. Either that or he might be more like her parents than she realized. When work called, she was moved to the back burner.
She’d shifted from frustration to concern to anger and back so many times over the past week that she was beginning to feel a little unstable. And with all the cancellations today, what that could mean for her job didn’t help.
The door swung open, and in walked Greyson with his blond hair flopping in his eyes and his arms full of grocery bags from JJ’s. “Hey, Devin, Nate said to bring these over. Looks like a lot of candy.”
“Perfect.” She cleared her throat and motioned to an empty table. “Can you set it over there?”
He placed the bags where she indicated, then scanned the rows of mini houses. “Wow, that’s a lot of tiny houses.”
“Do you think they’re too small?” Devin eyed them again. They were only about four by five inches in the floor plan. “I figured this way each kid would have their own to decorate however they wanted.”
“I think they’ll love them.” He picked up one of the miniature houses and inspected it from every angle. “How many more do you have to put together?”
“Twenty—no, make that twelve.” Devin massaged her temple. It still didn’t feel like enough time.
“Do you have another bag of frosting?” Greyson pulled off his coat and gloves and tossed them on an empty table.
“I can’t ask you to—”
“I’m pretty sure you didn’t ask.” He pulled out a chair opposite her and grabbed a piece of foiled cardboard. “Show me what to do.”
Devin made up another bag of meringue, then did a quick demonstration of how to assemble a house, and in no time, the work was going twice as fast.
The door opened, and a cold breeze followed Jess and Piper in.
“We’re here.” Jess unbuttoned her coat. “What needs”—her cousin swallowed as her eyes landed on Greyson—“done?”
Poor Jess, she had it bad, and Greyson seemed oblivious to it all.
“But you both had more finals to grade.” Devin wiped extra meringue from her finger.
“We do, but we have three hours to help you.” Piper nudged Jess and took off her coat.
Jess was already helping so much with running the Santa store. Who was she kidding? All of these people had things to do, and yet they put their priorities on hold to help her. There it was again. People are willing to help. You just have to let them.
The people in Heritage had made her more of a priority than her parents had her entire childhood. She couldn’t even wrap her mind around that.
She cleared her throat. “Do you know how to make meringue?”
“I know how to follow a recipe.” Piper walked over to the mixer and grabbed the recipe that Devin had printed off. “Why don’t you show me, and Jess can help Greyson with the houses.”
“I’ll help with the meringue.” Jess hurried over. The girl was all confidence except where Greyson was concerned. They might have to talk about that.
Devin had just gotten them started when the door opened again and in walked Janie and Hannah. Hannah clapped her hands together. “Put us to work.”
Devin walked over to where the candy had been left. “We need to open the candy and sort of make organized chaos of it.” Hannah and Janie dug into the bags, and Devin lowered her voice right by Hannah. “Have you heard from Logan?”
Hannah eyed her with a knowing smile. Maybe she hadn’t been casual enough. “Luke’s mom said he called yesterday from Chicago. He was in meetings Monday through Thursday and then tried to fly home yesterday, but he missed his connection. Evidently, his bag with his phone in it was in lost baggage in Chicago for the week. It took more time to find and claim than he had between flights, so they moved him to the first flight this morning. So hopefully, we’ll see him today.”
“Oh, that’s good.” Her voice came out small. He hadn’t had his phone for the week? So he didn’t get any of those messages until last night. The moment of relief was quickly replaced by a sickening feeling in her gut as she thought through her last few texts. He was going to think she’d lost her mind.
She’d be lucky if he didn’t return to his cabin just to get away from her.
“I know this is an odd question.” Janie ripped open a bag of licorice. “But my mom said that the baby Jesus has been missing from their Nativity since the ice-skating party. I was wondering if you had remembered anything—”
“Another one?” Devin pulled out bowls from a box she’d left under the table. “Nate said the one at the church is missing from the foyer.”
“Fallon said the one from the display in the Sugar Shack is gone as well.” Hannah shrugged and poured a bag of M&M’S into a bowl.
“I don’t love that it seems to be following our events around.” Devin didn’t want to think of one of the kids as a thief.
“Do you think it’s a prank?” Janie’s voice was hopeful.
“If it is, hopefully they will all show up at once.” Hannah pulled open another bag of candy.
Devin handed Hannah another bowl, then returned to her seat across from Greyson. The guy was a pro at this. He’d already done six, and they all seemed sturdier than the ones she’d assembled. “One of the families mentioned theirs was missing the day that I dropped off the invitation bags, but I stopped at about twenty houses. I can’t remember who it was.”
“Hopefully the baby Jesus from the live Nativity stays put on Wednesday.”
“How’s that coming along?” Hannah asked and tore open another bag.
“MaryLynn thinks I should cancel it. She feels the liability is too high with live animals. But I met the animals. They’re so sweet. And there’s something that I just can’t put my finger on that I can’t let go. But I have to make a decision by Monday night.”
Before Hannah could respond, another text came in. Devin grabbed her phone, but it was the Wagners. All five of their kids had come down with a stomach bug and wouldn’t be here. She dropped her candy bag and did a quick count of the houses. “Might as well stop with that one, Greyson. This will be enough.”
“What about all those?” He motioned over walls and roof pieces.
“Thirteen kids canceled in the last ten minutes. I’ll have candy for years.” She pushed to a stand. This was not going to help convince the board.
“Can we invite a few of the other local kids?” Greyson pulled out his phone. “Nate said Charis was fussing about not being able to come.”
MaryLynn had said to keep it separate, but the church had donated all the candy, and there was no reason to let the houses go to waste. “Why not?”
“I’ll start calling.” Hannah held up her phone.
“And I’ll keep building houses.” She piped another bead of meringue along the wall’s edge, then held the two pieces together. She had just made another bead when a crisp breeze filled the room as the door whipped open. She glanced over.
Logan?
His hair, which had been a little long, was trimmed up in a way that highlighted his cheekbones and drew attention to his blue eyes. He wore a leather jacket with a red scarf over a gray sweater and designer jeans that probably cost more than anything in her closet. Where had he been? He’d said meetings, but it looked more like he was attending Fashion Week in London.
With the fatigue in his eyes and the heavy scruff, she’d guess he’d driven straight here, but honestly, the facial hair could be a part of the new look, because, dang, he was working it.
When his eyes found hers, some of the tension seemed to fade from him. That was until he took in Greyson sitting across from her.
She stood and walked a few steps closer. She hated the uncertainty that filled his eyes. “Hi.”
“Hi.” His voice was rough, like he’d been up all night. “Do you have a second to talk? Or we can wait until—”
“You know what?” Hannah was suddenly next to her, taking the meringue bag out of Devin’s hand. “We got this covered. Why don’t you two take a drive?”
Letting them help was one thing, but abandoning them to do it all on her own was too much. “I can’t leave. My boss would—”
“It doesn’t start for another hour and forty minutes.” Hannah looked at Logan. “Can you have her back by then?”
He nodded.
“Perfect.” Jess appeared with Devin’s coat. “We know what we’re doing and can handle it.”
Devin’s pulled it on. “But there’s way too much—”
“We’ll be fine.” Piper passed over her mittens and purse. They were right. They could, and if her superpower was being a fire starter, maybe she needed to trust the fire tenders in her life more.
Finally, with a nod, she walked out the door with Logan.
He led her to his Bronco but stopped with his hand on the passenger’s side door. “If you’d rather stay, we can talk another time.”
Well, she had said she’d give anything to talk to him. Right now, that meant trusting others to handle getting the event rolling. She could only hope this conversation went the way she wanted.
Logan had literally spent the entire flight and drive home going over what he wanted to say, and yet words seemed to escape him again. With the missed flight, the soonest they could get him to Grand Rapids had been eight this morning.
He’d been tempted to rent a car and drive the last stretch, but the rental car desk informed him that he wouldn’t be able to drop off the car in Grand Rapids until the desk opened there at eight, anyway. Just ten minutes before his flight landed. So, he’d had an entire twelve hours to listen to Devin’s fifteen messages over and over and call himself all kinds of stupid. If he hadn’t completely messed this up already, it would be a miracle.
The image of Greyson sitting across from her, smiling at her, when he’d arrived at the community center burned through him. But what did he expect? Devin was amazing, and he couldn’t believe she had remained single this long.
He turned off South Scenic Drive onto the two-track dirt road that was barely wider than his Bronco. The trees brushed against the windows, and Devin shot him a look as she gripped the armrest a little tighter.
This was definitely not a road for a two-wheel drive car, but it also wasn’t the worst he’d driven on. That was part of the reason he owned a Bronco. When they broke free of the trees, Lake Michigan stretched out in front of them in an endless expanse of soft blue. If he didn’t know that the temperature had to be close to freezing, it might look tempting as it sparkled in the sunlight. He angled the Bronco toward the rocky overlook and away from the snow-covered dunes. He might have four-wheel drive, but he wasn’t stupid.
He took it out of gear and pulled the e-brake but kept the engine idling for warmth. He’d run out of time to get the perfect words out, so now he just had to say something. “I’m sorry I didn’t talk to you before I left. And I’m sorry—”
“Why didn’t you?” Devin kept her eyes straight ahead.
“First, I hadn’t planned on leaving. That was all thrown at me the moment I walked in the door. But then Liam…” He took a deep breath and let it out. “I guess that sums it up. Then Liam. I love my brother. He’s just…”
“Something between a shooting star and a hurricane.”
“Yup.” Logan released a small laugh. “And with him not around, you were looking at me for the first time. It was everything I wanted, then he was back and—”
“You thought I would just fall at his feet?” There was hostility to her words. He had definitely sold her short.
“He told me you had a date, and it seemed to confirm—”
“Confirm what?”
“That you really wanted him. Not me. ” The words ripped something from him, putting his greatest insecurity on display.
She stared out the side window for a moment, taking deep, controlled breaths. Then met his eyes again. “I don’t want him. I made that clear the night we put names on the stockings.”
She wanted him. Not Liam. Him. “I know. I’m sorry, but you weren’t yourself the day he showed up. All nervous, excited chatter, not looking me in the eye. The only thing I could think of was that it was Liam.”
