Kaitlyn sat in front of the Christmas tree, watching the lights wink at her. The inn had only three couples tonight. All of them had joined Kaitlyn and her parents earlier this evening for the Christmas Eve service at the community church. At this hour, the guests had retreated to their rooms, leaving her to enjoy a private nightcap. She was grateful for the solitude because tomorrow she needed to wake early and make a breakfast worthy of Christmas Day. Gina and Nettie were coming to help, of course. Paris would be there too. It was going to be a full, wonderful day. She wouldn’t even have time to think about Mitch.
Hopefully.
A mournful sigh burrowed in her chest, close to her heart. This time next year she probably wouldn’t even remember what he looked like. How he smelled. The way his voice took on a deep timbre in the bedroom when he curled in behind her, wrapping her in his arms and making her feel like there was no safer place in the world.
Kaitlyn lifted her glass of red wine and took a healthy gulp. Appropriate for her current mood, it tasted bittersweet on her tongue. She tried to steer her thoughts to something happy, and the name of the child she’d chosen off the Angel Tree at Silver Lake came to mind. Kaitlyn imagined the little girl joyfully opening her new doll and all the accessories she’d picked out. The Angel Tree was a tradition Kaitlyn wanted to participate in every year. Giving to someone else was the very heart of Christmas.
She finished off the last sip of her wine and decided one more glass might be nice. After that, she’d turn in.
As she headed toward the kitchen, Kaitlyn grabbed a fire poker and moved the logs around to keep the flames burning in the fireplace. It’d begun to snow a few hours ago. When she awoke tomorrow, the ground would be a soft blanket of white. It would be a magical white Christmas. Her first in Sweetwater Springs, but not her last.
Something scratched at the front door. Kaitlyn whirled, nearly dropping her wineglass. It was just the winter storm, she decided. Then the scratching sound came again. She stuck her wineglass on the mantel and tightened her hold on the fire poker. Her heart thrummed like a drummer boy nestled inside her chest. She was being silly. She wasn’t alone at the B&B. No one would be foolish enough to break in.
The doorknob turned.
Kaitlyn swallowed. Potential guests would knock. The only person who wouldn’t knock wouldn’t be coming back.
The door opened, and Kaitlyn gasped as a pale-colored puppy with a large red bow around its neck barreled through the entryway toward her. She immediately put the fire poker down and dropped to her knees to pet its soft fur. “Aren’t you the cutest thing?” she said, laughing as it climbed onto her lap and proceeded to lick her cheek. “Where did you come from?”
As if on cue, she heard the front door close and Mitch entered the room.
“What are you doing here?” she asked.
He was dressed in a heavy coat dusted with fresh snow. His beard was also dusted and sparkling with soft white flakes. “This little guy has nowhere to go,” he said, gesturing to the squirming puppy in her arms. “He was hoping you’d have room for him at the inn.”
Kaitlyn’s mouth dropped open. She hadn’t even considered getting a pet.
“His name is Mr. Darcy,” Mitch added.
“Well, how can I say no to that? That’s perfect.” She looked up and connected eyes with Mitch. Big mistake.
“Merry Christmas, Kaitlyn,” he said quietly.
Tears threatened at the base of her throat. She held Mr. Darcy tightly against her suddenly aching chest and stood to face him. “Thank you. If that’s all, I was just about to head to bed. Tomorrow will be a busy day here.” Busier with Mr. Darcy running around, but she didn’t mind that. What she did mind was Mitch standing there and looking at her that way.
“I have something else for you.” He held out a thick orange manila envelope.
She placed Mr. Darcy on the floor and took the envelope with shaky hands. She knew exactly what this was.
“I stopped by Mr. Garrison’s after my shift,” he said.
“Great.” She swallowed thickly. “Thank you. I’ll go to the bank after Christmas and start the process of taking out a loan to pay you.”
“No need for that. I’m not selling my half of the bed and breakfast to you anymore.”
Kaitlyn whipped her head up. “What?”
“I know.” He held up a hand to fend off any arguments she was about to fire back at him. “We had an agreement but I’m backing out of it.”
“You want to keep the B and B?” Her mouth fell open.
“No. I’m not keeping my half either. I’m giving it to someone. It’s a Christmas gift of sorts.”
“A Christmas gift?” she repeated. This had all come down to Mitch giving his half of the inn away as a present?
Kaitlyn opened the envelope hurriedly. She didn’t want another partner. If it wasn’t going to be Mitch, she’d rather go into debt and buy him out. She yanked the documents out and read, her eyes tearing up when she saw the name printed on the bold line. “I can’t believe this.”
Somehow Mitch was standing even closer to her now. “I hope you’re not disappointed.”
She shook her head. “This is…” Kaitlyn was desperately trying not to cry.
Don’t cry. Don’t cry.
“I am doing my very best to hate you right now, and you’re making it nearly impossible.” She blinked back her tears and looked at the name of her new business partner again. Gina Hargrove. “She’s going to be so happy, Mitch. You are a really good son.”
A good man too, she thought. The kind of man she wished she could have as her own. He was strong, hardworking, thoughtful, and one of the most giving people she’d ever met. He’d give the clothes off his back to someone in the middle of that mounting winter storm outside if it was asked of him.
The only thing he wouldn’t give fully, unconditionally, was his heart to her. Maybe that’s why he’d brought her a puppy tonight. It was her consolation prize for falling in love with him.
He took a step toward her. “There is one stipulation in that contract.”
Kaitlyn couldn’t even see the fine print anymore. Her eyes were so blurred with tears. “There’s always a stipulation,” she said on a small, humorless laugh.
“Now that I don’t own the inn anymore, I kind of don’t have a place to stay either.”
She hugged the manila envelope against her chest, pressing it against her rapidly beating heart. “Well, I’m sure you’ll find something when you get to Virginia.”
“That’s the thing. I’m not going to Virginia anymore. I thought I’d stay and help Alex keep the streets of Sweetwater Springs safe from women wielding fire pokers.”
“Really? That’s great, Mitch.” For him and Gina, and the town. But what about her? Could she really see him and not be with him? Would she be able to move on from what they’d had together if she were constantly running into him at the grocery store or coffee shop?
A million thoughts were swirling around in her head like wind-battered snowflakes on their downward spiral toward the ground.
“I also thought I’d stay on the small chance that you ever forgave me for being such a fool.”
She cocked her head to the side. “Christmas is a time for miracles, I guess.”
He grinned. “And love. It’s also a time for love.”
Everything inside her froze. Every muscle, every breath.
“I love you, Kaitlyn,” he said in a low, gruff voice. “I’m in love with you.”
Tears swam in her eyes now, too many to hold back. They streamed off her cheeks faster than she could wipe them away with her shaking hands. “I love you back.”
“Well, that is a miracle.” He reached inside his coat pocket and pulled out a piece of mistletoe.
“From the Merry Mountain Farms,” she said, looking up into his eyes. She loved those eyes. Loved this man.
“I wanted to use this on you so badly that night it made my head spin.”
She lifted his arm to hold the sprig over her head. “So kiss me now.”
Dutifully, as always, he bent and brushed his lips to hers as Mr. Darcy circled them and woofed excitedly at their feet. Pulling away, she met Mitch’s gaze, and her heart answered with love. He was her home. And there was no place she’d rather be than with him for the holidays.