On Christmas Hill (6 page)

“
I think he did a lovely
job.” I smiled at Jilly and then Taylor. I was starting to put the
pieces together about their little family.

“
Where are you two headed?”
Taylor looked at Nate, obviously wanting to not talk about his
handiwork.

“
Mattie’s and then to the
hardware store. Tree fell on the fence in the back of the
property.” Nate shook his head.

“
Would you like to come with
us? Grab some food?” I asked Taylor. The poor man looked
exhausted.

“
Thank you, but we already
had lunch.” Taylor smiled and it transformed his face. He was
handsome and I found myself wondering why he was raising his
children by himself. A man that looked like that and was obviously
a devoted father shouldn’t be on the market for very long. “And we
still have several stops to make.”

“
Aw, Dad!” Matt grabbed his
free hand. “Can’t we eat again?”

“
Another time, Matt. We need
to go get some food for the new puppies and make it home before
they destroy the house.” A little bit of the frazzled look came
back into his eyes and I felt sorry for him. It was obvious he was
trying to do everything he could to make those kids
happy.

“
Next time, buddy.” Nate
knelt down and clucked Matt’s chin. “Why don’t you come see the
reindeer on tomorrow? Give them some treats after a long night of
work and eat some dinner.”

The kids jumped up and down while
Taylor looked relieved. His smile was grateful as they
left.

“
I hope you don’t mind me
inviting them.” Nate frowned. “They usually come for dinner, but I
should have asked.”

“
That sounds nice,
actually.” It had been a while since I had spent Christmas around
children. “Should we buy some groceries?”

“
I suppose if I’m going to
cook we might need to buy something or there won’t be anything to
eat at our place.” Nate’s eyes sparkled as he looked at me. There
was something there in his eyes and his words. It took me a minute
to understand why my heart was beating faster. Our
place.

“
Unless you all want to be
sick on Christmas that might be a good idea.”

Chapter Six

The food at Mattie’s was delicious and
I didn’t want to leave. Holiday music played in the back ground and
there was a general sense of happiness you only experienced around
the holidays. I was actually surprised so many people were working
on Christmas Eve, but Nate seemed to think it was all normal. Maybe
it was because it was a tourist town.

Mattie came right out of the back to
say hello to Nate and then made a fuss over me. People had stared
and smiled when they heard I was Gertie’s niece. It was weird, like
being famous. They even brought a plate for Remy and he had made
quick work of the food.

“
Did people treat Gertie
like this?” I leaned over the table and whispered to Nate. “People
are staring at me.”

“
Not so much. They all knew
Gertie. They’re just excited to meet the new resident of Christmas
Hill.”

“
Do they—do they know?” I
lowered my voice even more.

“
Know what?” Nate’s smile
grew as he leaned forward some more.

“
About Santa Claus. About my
family being related to Santa.”

“
Oh, that’s a not so well
kept secret. More of a legend up here, really.” Nate patted my hand
that was holding my coffee cup. “You’re the only one that seems to
have trouble believing it.”

I looked around the room and my eyes
met those of several children grinning shyly at me. I wiggled my
fingers in a small wave and watched as they giggled. Nate sipped
his coffee, his eyes on me the whole time.

“
They say children are the
ones that see the truth. Somewhere when we hit adulthood, we lose
the ability to believe. But it’s different here in Silver
Town.”

“
What makes it
different?”

“
Christmas Hill.” Nate sat
his cup down. “Your family makes it different.”

“
Nate,” I sighed. I set my
coffee cup down, too. “It’s just so much to accept.”

“
You’ve seen it already,
Molly. The dog door? The mistletoe?”

Heat crept up my neck as I remembered
being pressed against him in the barn, the mistletoe sparkling
above our heads. There were the boots, too, with my initials in
gold thread. I shifted my feet under the table. Had they been there
the whole time? Or the mistletoe? But the dog door had disappeared
and the mistletoe grew while I watched. I looked at my hands
curiously. Was there magic in my family?

“
It’s there, Molly.” Warm
fingers wrapped around my empty hand. “The magic of Christmas Hill,
of Christmas, lives in your family.”

“
How do I just take over? I
know nothing about this part of my family.” I felt my eyebrows pull
together. “You say to trust things will take care of themselves,
but I’m a planner. That’s near impossible for me.”

“
You won’t be alone. The
whole town will be here to help you learn the ropes.”

“
What about you?” I
swallowed and met his eyes. “Are you planning on sticking around
Christmas Hill?”

Nate’s eyes grew serious. “Let’s go. I
want to show you something.”

My heart sunk a little when he didn’t
answer and I tried to not be disappointed. We’d had one kiss, it
wasn’t like it had been a declaration of love. He was free to go
when or wherever he wanted.

“
Sure.” I stood up and
pulled my hat and coat back on.

People smiled at us as we paid the
bill. Mattie came out with a covered dish and handed it to me,
kissing my cheek and welcoming me to the town. It was like being
welcomed home.

Outside, Nate led me to the hardware
store where we grabbed the supplies he needed for the fence. It was
a small building with wooden floors that gave the place a real Mom
and Pop feel. The little man that owned the place talked with Nate
for a few minutes, asking about the reindeer. When he realized I
was Gertie’s niece, he walked around the corner and hugged me until
I looked at Nate for help.

When we were finally able to extricate
ourselves from the shop, we dropped off the supplies at the truck
and made a mad dash into the grocery store to grab food for
Christmas dinner. I’d been worried about bringing Remy but Nate
assured me it would be fine. As we stood in line, Nate ran off for
something. He came back holding a package of hotdogs over his head
in victory.

“
Almost forgot!”

He set the packages on the belt and I
felt my heart melt a little. Standing on my tiptoes I grabbed the
collar of his shirt and pulled his head down to mine. I meant for
it to be a sweet kiss, but Nate had other plans. Pulling me against
him, his lips teased mine open and I lost track of things like,
time and location. When the clerk cleared her throat to get our
attention, I realized that we had given everyone quite a
show.

“
I will have to stock up on
hot dogs if that’s your response to them.” Nate laughed.

Someone behind us whistled and I fought
the urge to hide my face Nate’s shirt. The clerk was smiling as she
rang up our items and I bit my lips in embarrassment. As we left
the store, I even heard someone sigh and whisper.

“
Ready to go back?” Nate
pulled me under his arm as we walked back to the truck. “Or do you
have anything else you need to get while we’re in town?”

“
No, I’ve got everything.” I
had grabbed the things I’d needed in the grocery store. “I want to
make sure none of the reindeer hurt themselves. They have a big
night tonight.”

“
Good plan.” He looked up at
the sky and frowned. “Looks like more snow soon.”

When we got back to the long drive way
for Christmas Hill, Nate pulled over just outside of the gate. We
hadn’t talked much, but I’d caught Nate looking at me from time to
time. I watched him curiously as he walked around the truck and
pulled open my door. He took my hand and helped me out of the
truck.

“
What are we
doing?”

“
I told you I had something
to show you.” Nate smiled and pulled me off the driveway. We walked
for a few minutes, deeper into the woods. It was beautiful, the
snow pristine and glistening. After a while the trees started to
thin a little. “When I was seventeen, I ran away from my foster
home. The family was… not so great and I knew they were counting
down the days until the State stopped sending my check and they
could kick me out.”

“
Nate,” I said his name
quietly. No one deserved to be treated that way.

“
I’m not telling you to make
you feel bad for me, but so you’ll understand. Here we are.” He
lifted a low hanging branch out of my way. “I came to Silver Town
on accident. I’d hitch-hiked with a trucker carrying Christmas
decorations.” He snorted. “It was Christmas Eve and there were
people everywhere. Last minute shoppers, families out spending time
together, Christmas lights, and carolers. Real-life
carolers.”

“
I don’t think I’ve ever
seen real-life carolers.” I squeezed his fingers, my heart hurting
for the younger him.

“
Don’t let anyone hear you
say that, or they’ll be up here serenading you before you can
blink.” Nate smiled at me. He pulled me up onto a large rock that
was in the clearing. “When I was running, I worried cops might be
looking for me, so stayed off the roads as much as possible. I
didn’t know where I was going or what I was going to do. I was just
going.”

He looked out over the trees and I
realized you could see the lights of Silver Town in the distance.
Turning around I looked at the clearing. When my eyes landed on the
roof of Aunt Gertie’s house, I stopped. The snow sparkled along the
edges and there seemed to be a soft glow coming from that
direction. Almost like the Aurora Borealis.

“
You see it, don’t you?”
Nate’s voice was quiet. “I saw it that night. I’d walked along the
edge of the woods and would hide when I saw a car coming. At one
point I fell down into a ravine. I got lost and found this little
clearing. I thought I was going to have to spend the night out here
in the snow.”

My eyes left the soft glow coming from
Christmas Hill and found Nate’s. My heart ached for the young man
with no family. Despite what was obviously a hard childhood, he was
obviously a man with a large heart.

“
Something drew me up there
to Gertie’s house. I just knew I would be safe there.” Nate starred
off in the distance, lost in his memories. “Gertie was feeding the
reindeer when she saw me, getting their harnesses out, and setting
things up for that night. She just started telling me what to do.”
He laughed. “And I did it. Set my bag down and grabbed a pail of
feed. When we were done she told me to come inside and get some
food. I never left. Years later, after learning more about the
magic of this place, Gertie told me she had asked for a
family—someone to share Christmas Hill with. Christmas Hill granted
her wish. That’s part of the magic, it gives you what you
need.”

Hoping down from the stone, he moved in
front of me so we were almost eye level. “You asked if I would stay
and help with Christmas Hill.”

I nodded my head. For some reason, the
thought of doing it, staying, seemed real at the thought of having
Nate with me.

“
Christmas Hill is my home.
But I wanted more than that, Molly. I asked for you.”

“
But… Christmas Hill would
have come to me no matter what. It doesn’t mean Christmas Hill sent
me.” His words bounced around in my head. He wanted me? Asked for
me?

He must’ve seen the questions in my
eyes, because he cupped my cheek and smiled. “I knew you were going
to inherit but I didn’t know you were the answer to my Christmas
wish. It could have been a friend you brought with you, someone
that broke down in the driveway, or a friend’s distance cousin that
came for dinner. But it wasn’t any of those people. It’s you. You,
Molly. I knew it the moment I saw you with Comet.”

“
I…” Looking at him, I was
lost for words. “Me?”

“
You.” Nate smiled. “I’m not
asking for anything other than a chance to prove it to
you.”