The Best Christmas Ever. Stella Bagwell

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      At the mention of the collies, Benjamin forgot about the tractor and began to talk about his last visit with Jake and Leo. Allison did her best to watch the heavy traffic and converse with her son at the same time. All the while she wondered what Ella and S.T.’s other son was like.

      She’d heard different members of the Gallagher family mention him from time to time. She knew he was around twenty-four years old and had been serving in the military for the past six years. Ella had told her he was tall and handsome, but didn’t every mother think her son was handsome? she asked herself, her eyes automatically filling with pride as she looked at Benjamin.

      Thankfully, her son looked like her and not like the father who’d abandoned them long before Benjamin had been born. Larry didn’t deserve to have a child resemble him. The only thing he deserved was to be treated in the same unpardonable way he’d treated her.

      A few minutes later, she and Benjamin arrived at the old farmhouse. She quickly gave him a graham cracker to snack on while she rummaged through her closet for something to wear.

      Most of her clothes were left over from her college days. All of them were well-worn, so there was no danger in her overdressing, she thought drearily.

      Allison had gotten one year of higher education behind her before she’d met Benjamin’s father, Larry. For a short time she’d allowed herself to be drawn in by his slick charms, his vows of love and the plans he had for their future. Their future.

      She gave a deprecating snort at the idea. The only plan Larry had really had was to get her into his bed.

      Up until a few months ago Allison had lived in Monroe, Louisiana. She’d been born there and had grown up there, but the place held nothing for her now. Her mother had died a long time ago. After his wife’s death Clifford Lee had never cared much what happened to his daughter. Now that Allison had Benjamin, Clifford Lee had completely turned his back on her and his grandson.

      She’d learned a hard lesson about men and responsibilities when Larry had walked out on her. But she’d learned an even harder one, she supposed, when her father had discarded her like an old rug he’d grown tired of stepping on. She could still remember him calling her a worthless embarrassment and that he wanted her out of his house and out of his life. He wasn’t about to let her stick him with raising another kid.

      Allison had been three months pregnant at the time and nearing the end of her sophomore spring semester at Northeast Louisiana University. She’d had no alternative but to move out of the house and drop the last of her classes. Up until Benjamin had been born, she’d worked as a bookkeeper for a lumber company. But after that she’d found it nearly impossible to pay her rent and have enough left from her paycheck to care for her son and herself. If it hadn’t been for her Grandmother Lee, Allison didn’t know where she would have been living now, or how she would have been surviving. The older woman had convinced her to come to Arkansas and live in her house. The place was old and a bit run-down, but at least it would take away the added burden of paying rent.

      The past three years had been difficult ones for Allison, but since she’d moved to Arkansas in May things were slowly improving. She had a better job, a house to live in, and for the first time since her mother had died, she had a real family—her son and her grandmother.

      The three of them would more than likely be the only family she would ever have. But that was just the way Allison wanted it. In her dictionary, the definition of man was trouble. And she didn’t want trouble entering her life or her family’s ever again.

      * * *

      “Oh my, that’s really going to look pretty, girls,” Ella said appreciatively, eyeing the long dining table. “Especially when we get the wedding cake and serving dishes on it.”

      Kathleen had covered the dark aged wood with a white lace tablecloth and Olivia had put together two flower arrangements of white and red poinsettias to flank the cake. Now the three women were standing back, admiring the effect of their handiwork.

      “I think we need candles,” Olivia said, just as Sam and Nick walked into the room.

      The two brothers exchanged grins. “Does this woman of yours have eating or romancing on her mind?” Nick teased.

      With a wicked smile on his face, Sam went to

      Olivia and slipped an arm around her waist. “Both, I hope,” he said.

      Kathleen continued to study the table with a critical eye. “You’re right, Olivia. Candles would make it perfect.”

      “There’s some in the kitchen pantry,” Ella said. “And I think I can find a pair of silver holders in the buffet. They’re probably tarnished, but we can clean them tonight with the rest of the silverware.”

      Earlier that afternoon, Nick had changed out of his military khaki. Now he looped his thumbs into the pockets of his blue jeans and rocked back on the heels of his cowboy boots as he eyed the elaborate table. “I thought this was just going to be a simple wedding. Am I really worth all of this?”

      Sam groaned, and Kathleen said, “We didn’t even know if you were actually going to be here or not.”

      Nick looked offended. “Sam knew I’d be here even if the rest of you didn’t think so. Isn’t that right, Sam?”

      Sam snorted. “I knew if you didn’t show up, you’d better have a hell of an excuse.”

      Nick laughed at his brother’s stern warning. Sam had always been the serious one. Even back when they’d been teenagers, it had been a major effort just to make him laugh. There’d been a time when Nick had wished his older brother would lighten up. But now that they’d grown older, Nick knew he wouldn’t want his brother Sam any other way.

      “Sam! Do you always talk to your brother like this?” Olivia asked, amazed.

      Nick laughed. So did Ella as she came back into the room carrying two white candles. “Olivia, from the time Nick was old enough to walk, Sam has ordered him around and threatened him to within an inch of his life when he wouldn’t obey. Nick’s used to it.”

      “Never did mind you very much either, did I, big brother?” he asked with a playful poke at Sam’s rib cage.

      Sam gave him a dour look, but then his lips twitched with something close to a grin. “You want Allison to see you with a bloody nose?”

      Nick cocked a brow at him, then touched the bridge of his nose. “I’d hate for you to have to get married with two black eyes. Olivia might want to postpone the honeymoon.”

      Sam laughed, then pressed a kiss against the curve of Olivia’s cheek. “A couple of black eyes couldn’t keep us apart, could they, honey?”

      “Nothing could ever keep us apart,” Olivia murmured.

      Nick watched Olivia look adoringly at his brother and wondered what it would feel like to be loved like that. He’d never seen such love on anyone’s face before and he felt a stab of jealousy in spite of himself.

      “By the way, Mom,” Kathleen said, glancing at her wristwatch, “is there anything I need to do in the kitchen before Allison arrives?”

      “No. The sandwiches and snacks are all ready.”

      “What СКАЧАТЬ