“The children are going to be so delighted when they get these dolls.” Miss Sadie beamed.
“They look like new,” her friend Violet agreed.
Patsy dressed a colonial-era doll in a blue smock and white apron that had been washed, stitched and pressed to perfection. “And none of the dolls that were donated are currently available in the stores, so they’ll be all the more special,” she noted.
“You ladies have done a wonderful job,” Noelle said, handing the quartet of Santa’s helpers at Laramie Gardens Home for Seniors yet another group of baby dolls needing to be put back together. She put the gift-ready dolls in cardboard boxes brought in to transport them, then cast a glance at her son. Mikey was playing in a nearby corner of the activity room.
“Speaking of wonderful…” Marcia said slyly, looking Noelle up and down. “You’ve got quite a glow going in your cheeks.”
Noelle flushed despite herself.
“Must be the brisk air outside,” Patsy teased.
“Your eyes have been sparkling with excitement and happiness all morning,” Marcia observed.
Noelle felt marvelous. It apparently showed. And why not, since she and Kevin had made hot, wonderful love before falling asleep the night before, and again just before dawn? Knowing there were other reasons for her happiness, too, she smiled. “I’m eager to go to the Blue Santa party this afternoon.”
“We are, too,” Violet exclaimed, handing over yet another perfectly attired doll.
Marcia worked a comb through another doll’s hair. “I heard you were at Sam and Kate McCabe’s last night for their annual tamale-making party.”
Something else that had been done for a good cause. “And there are going to be plenty of tamales at the Blue Santa party this evening,” Noelle said. “So be sure you ladies all get a taste when you go through the buffet line, because they are absolutely delicious.”
“You’ve been seeing a lot of Deputy Detective Kevin McCabe,” Patsy mentioned.
Seeing Noelle’s surprised reaction, Violet shrugged. “It’s all over town. Kevin hardly ever dates. So the fact he’s so smitten with you…. well, let’s just say it’s news.”
Too much so. Noelle wasn’t used to having her private life dissected for public consumption. She cast a look at Miss Sadie, wondering what her reaction would be.
The genteel old woman regarded Noelle with kindness. “You know, dear, I had always hoped that you and my nephew would someday tie the knot.”
Patsy secured a cap on a doll’s head. “Dash is handsome.”
“And so successful and nice,” Violet added.
Marcia nodded. “We all saw him on the news last night, talking about the trial he just won.”
“Did he call you, dear?” Miss Sadie asked.
He had. Unfortunately, Noelle had had her cell phone turned off, and she hadn’t checked her messages until this morning. “We’ve been playing phone tag. I know I’ll see him at the Blue Santa party this afternoon. I’ll congratulate him then.”
“So you’re dating him, too?” Marcia asked, obviously trying to make sense of Noelle’s social life.
“Dash and I are friends,” Noelle replied carefully.
“Very good friends,” Miss Sadie corrected. “He’s known Noelle for eight years now and has escorted her to many a social event.”
“As a friend,” Noelle repeated.
“Friendship is the start of many an enduring marriage,” Miss Sadie countered.
“That’s true,” Marcia agreed. “My late husband and I started out that way.”
Violet sighed, a wistful expression crossing her face. “Not me. With Hank and I, it was lust at first sight.” She laughed, along with the other ladies.
Now that, Noelle thought, sounded like her and Kevin.
“I was first drawn to Sanford’s big, lively family,” Patsy confessed. “They were such a loving, happy bunch.”
Noelle couldn’t help but admit she had loved being with the McCabes the evening before, feeling so welcome and included.
“I loved the security and kindness my Alfred provided,” Miss Sadie stated. “Sort of like what Dash gives you, Noelle.” She winked.
“Now, Sadie, stop matchmaking!” Marcia clucked.
“Can you blame me?” Miss Sadie looked at Noelle and defended her actions stalwartly. “I see how Dash lights up whenever he’s around you and Mikey.”
Noelle didn’t want to hurt the older lady’s feelings. “Mikey and I enjoy spending time with him, too.”
Looking pleased, Miss Sadie continued pleading her case. “I know you and Dash started out as friends, Noelle, but you shouldn’t let that discourage you from trying for something more.”
“Miss Sadie!” she scolded.
“There’s a closeness between you and Dash—an emotional intimacy—that I never saw between you and Michael all the years you were married.”
Kevin walked in and knelt to give Mikey a hug. It was clear from the carefully neutral expression on his face that he had overheard at least part of what had been said. To his credit, he acted as if he hadn’t. “How’s it coming, ladies?” He gazed at the hardworking quartet. “Are the dolls ready for transport to the center?”
“Five more minutes and they will be,” Violet promised. “But you could start taking the ones in boxes out now.”
Noelle stood. “If you ladies will keep an eye on Mikey for me, I’ll give Deputy McCabe a hand.”
“Go ahead, dear,” Violet said.
“Mikey…” Noelle waited until her son turned and gave her his full attention. “Mommy is going to carry these out to the car. I’ll be right back.”
He bobbed his head up and down. “Okay.” Then he went back to playing.
Noelle and Kevin headed out. “Seems like I interrupted something,” he murmured as they left the building and stepped into the brisk December air.
“And not a moment too soon,” Noelle declared. They crossed the parking lot, side by side.
He gave her a quick look as they reached his SUV. “Miss Sadie lobbying for a romance between you and Dash?”
“As always. Unfortunately, she also heard I’ve been seeing quite a lot of you.”
“Yeah.” Kevin nodded. “It’s all over town.”
Noelle noticed his look of smug male satisfaction. “I wonder how that happened,” she said dryly.
He pulled his ear in mock thoughtfulness. “I might have mentioned it a time or two.”
“And people might have noticed my car parked at your house all night the past two evenings,” she mentioned. In Houston, it wouldn’t have mattered. The people in her town home complex were too busy and preoccupied with their own lives to monitor the comings and goings of their neighbors. Here in Laramie, who was doting on whom was as newsworthy a topic as the results of the last election.
“There’s a cure for that,” he countered.
“Put both vehicles in the garage?” Noelle guessed.
He shook his head, looked deep into her eyes. “You could end all the speculation by marrying me,” he said.
Noelle blinked, sure she hadn’t heard right. She drew in a quick, bolstering breath, not sure from his expression whether this was his way of laughing off the gossip, or he was sincerely testing the waters. “Tell me that’s not a proposal,” she said casually, watching him shift his load to one arm and lift the rear door.
Kevin set the box of baby dolls inside the cargo area, then relieved her of the one she was carrying. “Well, I’m not exactly down on one knee,” he drawled, turning to face her once again, “but the sentiment behind the statement is as real as the snow that will fall tonight.”
Noelle looked at the wintry cloud cover overhead. She hadn’t heard anything about snow in the forecast—the overnight low was slated to be thirty-four degrees. But Kevin had promised snow more than a week ago. Frustrated and confused, she focused on his handsome features once again. “What does that mean?”
“It means,” Kevin explained with a calm, determined look that set her heart racing, “that if and when you decide you ever want to get married again, Dash Nelson isn’t your only option.”
“SO WHAT’S GOING ON with you?” Dash asked Noelle as the Blue Santa party got under way in the Laramie Community Center.
I am still reeling, Noelle thought, from my quasi proposal from Kevin McCabe.
Who knew what would have happened had they had the opportunity to continue their discussion? But Rio Vasquez had driven up and interrupted them just then. Dolls had to be transported. Noelle had to take Mikey back to Kevin’s for a nap, prior to the event. And now that she was at the community center, with Mikey safely ensconced in the glass-walled nursery with the other toddlers at the party, she was too busy transferring baby dolls and brand-new tea sets into the pink gift sacks the female children were going to be taking home with them. Dash was pairing up the refurbished toy vehicles and new child-size tool benches with blue gift sacks.
She glanced through the doorway of “Santa’s Workshop” to the center of the large party room, where Miss Sadie was sitting in her wheelchair, holding court. Flanking her were Violet, Patsy, Marcia and others from the seniors’ residence. “What do you mean?” Noelle asked Dash.
“You didn’t return my phone calls last night,” he replied.
She flushed, guilty as charged. “I’m sorry. I didn’t get your messages until this morning.”
He positioned himself so Noelle had no choice but to look at him. “Anything I should know about?”
She wanted to tell him how she felt about Kevin. However, she knew now wasn’t the time or the place.
“Look,” Dash continued, frankly apologetic, “I know I’ve been busy with that trial…”
“I’ve been busy, too,” Noelle admitted.
A strained silence fell between them. Years of emotional intimacy made it easy for Noelle to see Dash’s hurt and bewilderment. He knew something fundamental had changed between them, but wasn’t sure why. He frowned. “I heard you’ve been spending a lot of time with Kevin McCabe.”
Noelle drew a bolstering breath. “He’s a good man. I’ve come to…like him very much.”
The glint of speculation in Dash’s eyes was quickly replaced by regret. “How much have you told him?”
“Nothing yet,” she admitted.
Dash studied her a long moment, before surmising unhappily, “But you’re thinking about it.”
Noelle nodded. She moved closer, her voice dropping confidentially. “I’m tired of hiding, Dash, of constantly having to withhold information and measure what I say.” It was impossible to get really close to anyone—except Dash—the way things stood. She’d thought running from her past, pretending it had never happened, was the way to a secure and happy future for herself and her son. She saw now all it had done was put her in another prison, this one of her own making.
Dash studied her. “You feel you could trust him to keep your secret?”
It was certainly a leap of faith. But then that was what Christmas was all about. “Yes.”
“But you’re afraid.”
Trust Dash to see the chinks in her armor and call her on them. Noelle’s hands shook as she tied a ribbon on a gift bag. “He’s a law enforcement officer.” Who had already had his own professional reputation damaged once, by becoming involved with a woman who had a criminal past.
Dash returned to his chore, too. “McCabe might understand.”
Noelle hoped he would. “But he might not.” If he didn’t, she knew their relationship would be over. She didn’t want to risk it. Not this close to Christmas. Not when she had promised herself and Mikey a holiday full of love and happiness.
Dash clamped a steadying hand on her shoulder. “I did.”
“I know that.” Noelle let herself lean into his warm, fraternal touch. “And I appreciate it.” Dash and Miss Sadie were still the closest thing to family she and Mikey had.
“But?”
Fear spread through her. “I’m not sure I want to ask Kevin—or anyone else—to do what you have done for me.” Maybe Kevin never had to know. Maybe she could just let the hurtful part of her past finally be over.
Dash let her go, stepped back. “I’ve never minded keeping your confidence,” he stated honestly.
“I know that.” Noelle looked at him gratefully. “I also know it’s not fair to saddle anyone else with the repercussions of my troubles. But maybe it’s time I followed your initial advice to me and just came clean.”
He looked at her sternly. “If you had done that years ago, it would be one thing. But you chose not to. There could be career repercussions. Even social ones. Miss Sadie will understand, of course. She has always loved you and Mikey, even without knowing the particulars of just how you and I came to know each other. But as far as other members of Houston society—I can’t predict how they would react.”
Not necessarily well, Noelle knew. She shrugged, asserting stubbornly, “If they hold my past against me, maybe they aren’t worth knowing and doing business with, anyway.”
Dash nodded, willing to leave the decision up to her, as usual. “Just know that I am here for you, always,” he said.
Noelle knew that. The question was, would Kevin McCabe feel the same way, should the truth be told?
KEVIN WAS NEARLY to the administrative office to change clothes, when the cell phone at his waist began to vibrate. Recognizing the Houston number on the display panel, he picked up. “McCabe here.”
“Hi, Kevin. It’s Alicia Allen. It took some doing—I had to go back quite a number of years—but I finally got the information on Noelle Kringle you wanted.”
Which meant, Kevin thought, that whatever it was Noelle was hiding had happened a long time ago. “I don’t think I want to see it,” he said.
The truth was, he already knew everything he needed to about Noelle. She was a kind, warm, loving woman. A great mother. And a spectacular event planner. She still had trouble letting people close to her, but he felt with time he could change that. She’d already allowed him into her heart and her bed. It wouldn’t be long before they’d be integral parts of one another’s life. What they had found was simply too good to give up or sacrifice on the altar of any past mistakes.
“Too late,” Alicia replied, efficient as ever. “It’s already on its way to you, air express. The envelope will be delivered to your doorstep sometime tomorrow.”
Ah, well, he’d pitch it then. “What do I owe you?”
Alicia laughed. “A favor next time I need one.”
“You got it.” Kevin wished his friend a merry Christmas and hung up. Anxious to get on with the surprise he’d been promising, Kevin changed into the red velvet costume and white beard, then slipped out the back door of the community center. Director-actor Beau Chamberlain, a legendary Laramie resident, stood waiting for him in the vehicle-filled parking lot. Deputies had already cordoned off the front. Two large machines were placed on either side of the entrance, along with an old-fashioned sleigh with hidden wheels, drawn by a team of horses wearing fake reindeer antlers.
“You ready for some winter magic?” Beau asked.
When Kevin nodded, Beau gave the signal. “Snow” began pouring out of the sprinklers overhead.
“WOW,” MIKEY SAID, over and over, as he palmed the fat wet flakes falling out of the darkened night sky, courtesy of the local movie studio. He stuck his face in it, then reared back, grinning. “Snow,” he said, amazed.
All the children at the party were enthralled by the surprise precipitation Kevin had arranged. Their parents were all grinning as Santa, aka Kevin McCabe, walked through the group, ho-ho-hoing and passing out presents to each of the kids. Noelle couldn’t take her eyes off him. When a group of carolers approached and the sounds of music filled the air, the evening became even more perfect.
Half an hour later, when the precipitation finally stopped and “Santa” drove off in his sleigh, Noelle and Mikey went back inside to gather their belongings. Dash moved to her side. He regarded her confidently. “I’m going to take Miss Sadie to the nursing home, then I’ll meet you at Blackberry Hill.”
“Actually…” Noelle hesitated, sorry she hadn’t made her plans clear to him sooner. “Mikey and I aren’t going back to Blackberry Hill this evening. But we’ll be there first thing tomorrow morning, to oversee the preparations for the surprise party tomorrow evening.”
Disappointment gleamed in Dash’s eyes. “I guess I don’t have to ask where you’ll be.”
“You can reach me on my cell if you need me.”
He clamped his lips together. “Look, I know it’s none of my business,” he began.
Noelle cuddled Mikey closer and looked at Dash over the top of his head. “Then maybe you shouldn’t say it,” she warned.
“I guess you’re right.” The presumption in Dash’s voice faded. “Here and now isn’t the place. But tomorrow night, before Miss Sadie and the other guests arrive for the party, you and I do need to talk about all that’s at stake.”
And the fact, Noelle added silently to herself, that I have fallen head over heels in love with Kevin McCabe.
“In the meantime, please, for all our sakes, don’t get caught up in the festive mood of the holidays and do anything rash,” Dash cautioned softly.
“Like want something reckless and wonderful for myself?” Noelle guessed at the direction the conversation was going.
“Exactly.”
She sighed, her glance turning to the handsome detective striding toward her. It was too late for that. Way too late.