Caleb grinned and pocketed the ring box. “Thanks, Jeremiah. I’m sure we will.”
“You want me to hold the rest in the back?”
The small stack of toys and writing paper with real lead pencils sat near his arm. He’d already ordered Amanda a new dress and with all this plus him marrying Diana, the girl was going to have the best Christmas of her young life. “If you don’t mind,” he said, answering Jeremiah’s question. “Amanda has a knack for finding things she’s not supposed to and I know she’d find those before the sun went down tonight.”
Jeremiah put the things in a small crate and wrote his name on a piece of paper and laid it inside with them. He said his goodbyes then headed to Flint Carroll’s house to ask him to perform the wedding ceremony for him and Diana.
Angel Creek’s resident preacher talked about everything from horses to Indians and wedding vows, asking if he had anything he wanted to add to them. He did, but he couldn’t put what he wanted to say into words yet. He’d give Diana his vows after they said the customary ones.
With all the errands he'd run, he was now late for work and hurried across town, stopping to tip his hat at a group of ladies as they crossed his path. Today, their smiles made his heart feel lighter. Or maybe it was just this time of year. Every window he saw was decorated with pine bows and ribbons. Everyone he passed seemed happier, and the sidewalks were filled with children running here and there. It was always like this in December and with the snow piling up, it was hard to not get excited about Christmas.
Willie was knee high in horse dung when he entered the livery stable. He straightened and lifted one eyebrow when he saw him. “What are you grinning about?”
“Am I?” Caleb said.
Willie laughed. “You look like you just stole everything in widow Lawrence’s pie safe without getting caught.”
Caleb chuckled. “Nothing like that.” He headed across the barn to look in on the sick mare they were nursing back to health. “How is she doing?”
“As well as she was yesterday and stop stalling. Tell me what’s got you in such a good mood.”
Caleb stuck his hand in his trouser pocket and wrapped his fingers around the ring box. “I’m getting married.”
“Well, that’s no secret. That girl of yours has told anyone who would listen she’s getting a new Ma.”
“I know. I’ve never seen her so excited.” He shut the stall door and grabbed one of the shovels from the wall. “Diana and I are getting married Christmas Day. She doesn’t want to wait until the new year. She’s agreed to marry me now.”
Willie propped his arm on the handle of the pitchfork he was holding. “You in love with her?”
Was he?
His friend laughed. “That look on your face is all the answer I need, Caleb.”
They went to work and as usual, Willie started in on a story, this one he’d heard from Phillip Gregory. Apparently Matthew Bailey wasn’t the only one having to worry about Indians. Phillip had seen them, too.
It was hard to concentrate on what he was saying, though. He kept thinking of Diana. Just the thought of her put a smile on his face.
Willie’s question popped back into his mind. Did he love Diana? Had he known her long enough to be in love with her? What he felt was—intense—but was it love?
He loved to see her smile, especially when it was directed at him. And he loved how she treated his mother and Amanda. She was kind and seemed innocent about so many things and the tears she shed when he asked her to marry him made him want to grab her and give her another heated kiss like the one they’d shared on the bridge.
But despite all the pleasant feelings he had for her, that persistent voice in the back of his head was still questioning the inconsistencies with what she’d written in her letter. He’d thought more than once that she didn’t look twenty-seven as she’d said she was. She looked much younger. Acted like it too in many ways and he had to wonder if she’d lied about that as well.
He knew his feelings for her were blinding him to the fact that the woman living in his house was nothing like the one written on those pages. He should be more concerned about that, shouldn’t he?
Yes. Yes, he should, but—he wasn’t.
Diana wasn’t tall or have dull brown hair as she claimed to have and she could barely cook but she was beautiful and made him feel alive. His pulse danced under his skin when she walked into the room and doing nothing more than holding her hand pleased him.
Did he love her?
Maybe.
Probably.
He straightened and lifted his hat, pushing his hair back before settling it on his head again. Diana Hale was still a mystery to him in a lot of ways but he had the rest of their lives to find out every single detail about her and he could hardly wait.
Chapter 12
Christmas in the orphanage had consisted of an enormous meal, Midnight Mass, and if they were lucky, a stocking full of nuts and fruit.
The two years she’d lived on the streets, it had been spent looking into windows at happy families as they laughed and opened presents and sang songs by roaring fires. She’d always longed for those things. Had gone to bed envious—and nearly frozen on many occasions—and even though she’d dreamed of having all those things some day, she never truly thought she would.
But now she did.
Caleb handed her another ribbon and held the chair she was standing on as she hung it on the tree. She reached as high as she could, stretching up on her toes, and wobbled when her heels hit the chair again. Caleb steadied her with a hand on her waist, another on her hip.
“Don’t fall.”
“You’ll catch me if I do, won’t you?”
The smile he gave her said he would. He helped her down, his hands lingering at her waist longer than was proper with his mother and daughter in the room but they weren’t paying any attention to them. They were busy stringing berries together for the Christmas tree.
The tree had been another first for her. They’d bundled up and headed into the woods the day before so Amanda could pick the perfect tree. Caleb had cut it and they dragged it home with snow falling the entire time. It had been a perfect day. This was perfect.
The past week had been the best in her life. She’d never felt so loved and wanted and she’d laughed until her stomach hurt.
She’d also experienced more of those toe-curling kisses Caleb gave her at every opportunity … in the hallway when they had a moment of privacy, in the kitchen while Agatha and Amanda sat in the main room, and as inexperienced as she had been that first night on the bridge when she’d kissed him, she knew exactly what she was doing now and lived for the moment her kisses made him moan and pull away while fighting for breath.
“When is it going to stop snowing?”
Amanda was staring out the window, a disgruntled expression on her face. The snow had been falling for days and a full-blown storm was brewing. They were supposed to all go to the town Christmas party later that evening but it didn’t look as if anyone would be able to make it.
The snow outside had covered the town in a thick blanket of white. Would they be able to make it to the Church in the deep snowdrifts? The doubt she felt must have shown on her face. Caleb cupped her chin in his hand and turned her head so she’d look at him. “What’s wrong?”