Love Finds You at Home for Christmas (33 page)

Sophie interrupted him. “Are you hungry?”

Jon brightened. “Starving.”

“I've got pumpkin cheesecake for you.” She held his gaze just a moment, blue eyes blazing, while the other car honked.

“That sounds great,” Jon said, and for a moment he looked down at her lips. Then he seemed to get an idea. “Follow me back to the cabin?” He jumped back in his Jeep, and she turned around at the end of the bridge and followed him home.

* * * * *

They took their seats on the deck, as they had the first night Jon brought Sophie to his house. He was the first to speak.

“Sophie, I am sorry about that picture.” He ran his fingers through his hair. “I know what it looks like, but it wasn't that—they asked me to speak to their book club and totally staged that picture. I have no idea why, except to stir up trouble.” He sighed. “Jade and Misti, you know how they are.”

“Yes, I do. But I think it was pretty gullible of you to get into that situation.” Sophie's nostrils flared. He could sense her anger, and it was legitimate, if a little bit funny to him.

“Point well made.” He risked a grin.

“And you've given me the silent treatment. After kissing me, no less.”

“I am so sorry.” Jon became serious again. “I was wrong. The truth is that I was jealous. I thought you might be with your ex-husband, thought he might beg you back…. I thought too much about all of it and let my mind run wild without talking to you. I was prideful. It was stupid. Please forgive me.”

“I
was
with Stephen.”

Jon's heart sank in his chest.

“But we were putting his father to rest. And while my marriage was awful, my father-in-law was wonderful. I needed to be there.”

Jon wondered if she noticed his sigh of relief.

“The cool thing is”—Sophie's voice softened—“I was able to also put my marriage to rest. Once and for all.” She reached out and touched Jon's hair at the temple. “I feel so free now. No strings attached.” She smiled and stroked his cheek.

Her touch was soothing and electric at the same time. Jon leaned over, cupping her face, and kissed her. She leaned in and kissed him back, more passionately than before.

Chapter Twenty-Three

.................................

“Do you still love Christmas?” Jon asked later as they sat on his deck, snuggling under a blanket to keep out the cold.

His question seemed so random to Sophie, and she laughed. “What?”

“Do you still love Christmas? You used to get really geeked about decorating and everything. Made me get a tree for my dorm room. Remember?”

“I could never forget that.”

“Well? Do you still get into all of that?”

Sophie thought about it, and she realized that over the past few years she'd not cared near as much about Christmas, with her marriage falling apart and then her father's death. With a deep sense of joy, the present came back to her, and the thought of her new life warmed her. “

I could get into it again,” she said, smiling.

“Let's go get a Christmas tree!” Jon rose from his chair and held out his hand to her.

“Really? You're serious?”

“Yes! My place is full of them.”

Jon grabbed his handsaw, a hammer and nails, and a couple of boards from the garage and hopped into the Jeep with Sophie. He drove them down the driveway and then veered off across the pasture, slowing down so as not to jar them too much. They entered a woodsy area that opened up into a cedar grove. Jon got out, and as always, walked around to open her door.

“Pick any you want!”

They walked around. He watched her as she sized up each tree.

She stopped in front of one that was about nine feet tall. “This one seems the right height, and I love all of its berries.”

Jon sawed it down for her and loaded it into the back of the Jeep, tying it in. The top hung out the back over the seat, but they didn't have far to go.

Back at the Harbor House, Jon worked on making a stand out of the boards while Sophie fixed them hot chocolate. She emerged from the kitchen with two steaming mugs topped with whipped cream and cinnamon and found him stringing lights on the tree. He had placed it in the center of the picture window that looked out from the dining room. It was perfect.

“I'll go get the ornaments!” Sophie set down the mugs on a table and ran to hunt for the box. She remembered seeing it when she unpacked, and she found it stashed underneath the staircase in a small storage area.

As she unwrapped each ornament, she told Jon the stories behind them, and he listened attentively. Most of them were heirlooms, which her parents divided between Sophie and Tom when they each married. They sparkled and shone as she hung them on the branches of the cedar.

Sophie smiled as she fingered a few of them. There was the gingerbread girl her mother had made out of felt and sequins when she was ten. Tom had the gingerbread boy on his and Madeline's tree. And Raggedy Ann—he had Raggedy Andy—and the funny soldier whose legs danced and kicked when you pulled his string. Each held a special memory, and Sophie swallowed a lump in her throat as she imagined her father's voice reading the Christmas story from the Bible. It had been a family tradition of theirs every Christmas Eve.

Her favorite ornament was a red glass ball that had been in their family since the forties. Sophie purposely hung it front and center, and now it sparkled in the lights. The ball had belonged to her grandmother, Ruby, and had been a gift from Sophie's grandpa, Cliff, before they married. She plucked off the metal topper to reveal the ball's hollow center, and Jon thought it wildly romantic that Cliff had declared his love to Ruby with a note hidden in that secret compartment.

“That story needs to be in a book someday,” Jon said, turning the ornament over in his hand to examine it before he handed it to Sophie to place on the tree.

* * * * *

“Thank you, Jon, for the tree, and for this whole evening.” Sophie stood by the door of the back stoop.

“Thank you for forgiving me for being a jerk.”

“Um, I've known jerks, and you're not one.” Her eyes twinkled. “I'm glad we talked finally.”

“Me too.”

He trailed his fingers down her arm, ending with her hand, and raised it to his lips. “Good night, my friend.”

“Friend?” A playful smile crossed her face.

“Well, whatever you are.”

Chapter Twenty-Four

.................................

Harbor House Café was closed for Christmas Eve, but Sophie worked as hard as ever in the kitchen that day. She'd only recently finished the last batch of molasses cookies and gotten herself cleaned up. She glanced down at her watch, surveying the dining room, and smoothed her champagne-colored dress. Then she adjusted her string of pearls. Everyone who mattered most to her in the world would come together tonight around her table. She wanted everything to be perfect.

The table, covered in Italian lace she'd brought back from her travels, was set with China and silver. The lights of the chandelier above it were turned down low. It was laden with all of her family's favorite foods—candied sweet potatoes, homemade yeast rolls dripping with butter, warm wilted greens, cranberry salad, and Silver Queen corn she'd frozen from Tom's garden. The turkey waited in the warm oven for Tom to carve, and their mother was bringing the dressing.

The nine-foot cedar, which she and Jon picked out of his woods, stood proudly in front of her picture window adjacent to the table. Its scent filled the room, and it glowed with all colors of lights and assorted ornaments. Sophie sighed with contentment, remembering the night that she and Jon decorated the tree.

The door jingled and Sophie's mother came in with Granny, who hugged Sophie and greeted her in a funny Irish brogue. “Merry Christmas, me darling!” She kissed Sophie on both cheeks.

Sophie was so happy to have them home. She took their coats, hanging them on the hooks inside the door. They were soon followed by Tom, who ushered in Madeline and a very tiny baby Stone, who was covered in wrappings. Sophie took him immediately and began peeling them back.

“Here's my baby—on his very first outing! You're at Aunt Sophie's house!” She kissed his little face and nuzzled his cheek.

“He recognizes your voice, that's for sure.” Madeline handed Tom her coat. “Look at how he turns his eyes toward the sound!”

Tom and their mom went to the kitchen while the others moved into the parlor. Granny, Madeline, and Sophie were admiring the tree when the door jingled again. Sophie answered it with baby Stone in her arms.

“Ho ho ho!” Jon stepped in. There were snowflakes in his dark hair.

“Hey!” Sophie laughed, hugging the baby to her and reaching up to dust them with one hand.

“Here's the little man I've been hearing about!” Jon closed the door behind him and bent down to see the baby. “Wow.” Looking up at Sophie, he said “wow” again, and then he kissed her.

The evening was everything Sophie had hoped it would be. Everyone loved the food, and Jon fit with her family as he always had, ever since second grade. He asked Granny all about Ireland, talked easily with her mother, and was obviously smitten with baby Stone, which pleased Madeline immensely. It was nice—and important, Sophie thought—to see Tom enjoy the presence of another man in her life.

After Tom read the Christmas story from the Bible, they prayed together. Granny and baby Stone were obviously tired from the festivities, and while Madeline and Mom were reluctant to leave dirty dishes, Jon assured them he would help.

“I've heard he's actually good at dishes,” Tom said good-naturedly as he gathered their things.

* * * * *

The kitchen clean, Sophie suggested she and Jon sit upstairs in her comfortable little den, but he wanted to go back to the parlor.

“Let's go sit by the tree just a minute,” he said. “After all, it's Christmas Eve.”

They pulled up dining chairs and gazed together at the tree. Sophie turned on some quiet holiday music. The picture window was frosted and served as the perfect frame for their masterpiece.

“Tell me again about this ornament.” Jon pointed to the red ball, and Sophie plucked it from the tree.

“It's cool, isn't it?” Sophie cupped it in her hands. “Like our family, it has been through a lot, but it's never been broken. I hope I never break it!” She reached up to place it back on the tree.

Jon stopped her. “Where's the note?”

“What note? You mean the one that my grandpa put inside it?”

“Yes. The one declaring his love.”

“I don't know what happened to it. I'm sure Granny has it somewhere.”

“Could it still be in there?” Jon's eyes glittered.

“Surely not. I mean, no. Don't you remember when I took the topper off a few weeks ago and showed you the inside?”

He nodded.

Sophie held the ornament up to the light. “That's weird, though. Look! There does seem to be something inside it.” She took off the topper, just as she had before, but this time there was a note inside. Her heart skipped a beat.

She turned the ball upside-down, and a tiny scroll fell into her palm. She handed the ornament to Jon and unfolded the scroll.

Sophie gasped.

Jon looked at her, eyes shining.

She pulled him into her arms and kissed him, knowing she was home.

Sophie's Pumpkin Cheesecake with Molasses Cookie Crust

.................................

1-1/2 cups Ruby's Chewy Molasses Cookies
*
, crushed (see
page 160
for recipe)

3/4 cup ground pecans

3 tablespoons brown sugar

6 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

24 ounces cream cheese, softened

1 cup brown sugar

1-1/2 cups pumpkin

1/2 cup heavy cream

1/3 cup maple syrup

1 tablespoon vanilla

3/4 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon allspice

4 eggs

Candied pecans and whipped cream, to serve

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Grease and flour a 9-inch springform pan. Combine first four ingredients with a fork. Press onto bottom and two inches up the sides of the pan to form a crust. Beat cream cheese and brown sugar till light and fluffy, then stir in pumpkin, heavy cream, maple syrup, vanilla, cinnamon, and allspice. Beat in eggs one at a time, mixing until smooth. Pour batter into crust and bake in a water bath for 90 minutes or until center is set. Allow to cool for 30 minutes, then refrigerate overnight. Garnish the top of the cake with whole candied pecans. Serve with whipped cream.

*
Can use crushed gingersnaps in place of molasses cookies.

About the Author

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