Chapter 9

CHAPTER 9

Molly had always loved Christmas at her parents’ house. She’d grown up here. There were memories in every corner. The ornaments on the tree and many of the decorations on tables and shelves had been displayed for Christmas all during her childhood and into adulthood. She didn’t miss her Knoxville apartment at all. This was home, even if she did have to sleep next to a treadmill.

“Why didn’t you ever tell me that Ben Crusher played baseball?” Molly asked. “You knew, right?” She placed three Christmas angels on the bookshelf in the living room, while her mother rearranged ornaments on the tree. They had to be just right .

“You don’t like baseball, and you haven’t seen Benjy since he was a kid. I guess I didn’t think you’d care.”

Would she have cared, before she’d seen him again? Hard to say.

“No one calls him Benjy anymore.”

Her mother made a disgusted huffing noise. “He’ll always be Benjy to me.”

A week ago she would’ve said the same.

A timer in the kitchen sounded, and her mom scurried in that direction.

The smell of baking cookies filled the air, and in this house Christmas music played all day and into the night. No news here, no television. Just music.

The warm memories, her parents’ laughter, the sound of her dad singing along badly to Perry Como, it all should’ve cheered her up, but it didn’t.

Her sisters would be here in a few days. Before they arrived Molly was going to have to put on her happy face and pretend that all was well in big sister’s world, even though nothing was right. Nothing .

Why had she run away? Seeing Ben dance with his ex, listening to Rosie — who apologized and then hinted that Molly was nothing more than a substitute for Ben’s ex-wife — had been foolish. Not her first foolish move ever, not even the first this week, but still… why ?

She removed the Ms. Tinsel ornament from its box and let it hang from one finger. Half an ornament. Half a heart. Was that all she was, all she’d ever be? Half a heart?

“No,” she whispered as she searched for the right spot on the Christmas tree for her half-heart. The ornament had to hang properly without displacing any of the old ones. “There has to be more.” She found an empty space and carefully hung the ornament.

The pretty blue-green swirled. A trick of the twinkle lights, she supposed. Molly reached out and ran one finger across the smooth surface. Hadn’t Ms. Tinsel said something about a wish? Shoot, had she wasted her wish on a clean gas station restroom? Maybe. Maybe not.

“I wish to be brave,” she whispered. “I wish to be fearless, at least when it comes to love. If I ever get another chance, if I feel that way again, I won’t run. I won’t hide. I wish…” she stopped, wondering where she’d go next.

The doorbell rang. Molly turned her back on the tree, yelled out, “I’ll get it,” and said a little prayer that it wasn’t carolers. She was in no mood. It was probably just another package delivery. Her mother had discovered the joys of online shopping, and embraced it. Her dad had embraced ordering from his favorite restaurants and having the food delivered. It was almost too easy.

She opened the door, prepared for anything. Carolers. Dinner. A tired delivery person with a stack of brown boxes.

Ben.

Okay, so she wasn’t prepared for anything.

She closed the door in his face.

“Come on, Molly,” he said through the closed door. “Let me in.”

She started to shout a hearty no , but hadn’t she just wished to be brave? A fearless woman wouldn’t close the door on the man who’d worked his way into her heart in a matter of days. No matter how scary that was.

Molly took a deep breath and opened the door.

“You left without a word,” he said.

“The wedding was over.”

“I texted you a hundred times.”

“I’m aware.”

“Did you block my number?”

“I should have. What does it matter? You eventually gave up.”

He looked wonderful, handsome, tempting, as he said, “I didn’t give up. I just quit texting.”

Her heart reacted to that statement. He hadn’t given up.

“Can I come in? It’s cold out here.”

She stepped back, making room for him to come inside. “I’d think a man who lives in Boston would be able to stand a little Alabama chill.”

“I’m only there during the season, not in the dead of winter, which isn’t important to this conversation. Why did you leave without talking to me?”

Brave. Fearless. No more hiding . “I don’t want to be a substitute for the wife who left you. I don’t want you to look at me and see her, and don’t tell me that’s not what happened. I saw her. Except for the boobs and the extra makeup, we could be sisters.”

He smiled. “Is that what you think?”

“What else am I supposed to think?”

“You have it so wrong, you have no idea.”

“Well, why don’t you tell me.” She tried not to snap, she did, but he’d put her on defensive with that smile.

Ben put his arms around her and kissed her briefly. In the middle of the kiss her mom walked into the room. Being a smart woman she just said, “Oh, never mind,” and returned to the kitchen, calling out as she disappeared, “I thought it was for me but apparently not.”

“You danced with her, you smiled, you looked so damn happy ,” Molly said without moving out of Ben’s embrace.

“All true.”

“How can I not think…”

“When I was dancing with Kayla the truth hit me. That’s why I smiled. I was so relieved. I swear, it was as if the weight of the world was lifted from my shoulders.” He moved in even closer, placed the tip of his nose against hers. “You’re not a substitution for my ex, she was a pale substitution for you . I never saw it, not until that moment. It’s you, Molly. It’s always been you. I’ve been in love with you since I was twelve years old. That sounds weird.”

“It does,” she agreed with a smile.

“Maybe we should keep that to ourselves.”

“Sure.”

All those times she’d believed she’d found love, only to have it evaporate, had she been looking for Ben? Waiting for him to come back into her life?

“I bolted from the wedding four days ago. What took you so long?”

“I had to go see my Granny.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out a worn velvet box. Inside sat an old fashioned diamond ring in yellow gold. It was beautiful. “It never occurred to me to give this ring to anyone else. It was always meant for you. I love you.”

She took his face in her hands and kissed him, deeply this time, completely and with her whole heart. It was too fast, but, “I love you, too.”

He slipped the ring on her finger.

She held Ben’s hand and led him into the living room. “Now comes the hard part. We have to explain this to my parents. Oh, what about yours? They’ll be shocked.”

“No, they won’t. I told them where I was headed and that I wouldn’t take no for an answer.”

“Don’t be a stalker,” she teased. “I’ll have to start calling you Rosie.”

He stopped in his tracks, there by the tree. She tugged, trying to lead him into the kitchen, but he was an immovable object.

“Cold feet already?” She looked back at him. Unsmiling, he stared at the tree. Not just at the tree, at her half-heart. Did he actually pale a little? “Are you okay?”

“Wait right here,” he said, releasing her hand and bolting for the front door.

Not a good sign. Was he having second thoughts already? That thought came and went quickly. No. No second thoughts, no running away. This was the real love she’d been dreaming of and searching for. No cold feet allowed.

Ben was back a minute later, a white box Molly recognized too well in his hand. “This has been in my glove compartment for more than two weeks. I kept meaning to do something with it, but then I’d forget it was there.” He opened the box and gently lifted the other half of her ornament. A half-heart with blue and green swirls that seemed to come even more alive as he placed it on the tree next to hers.

“A older hippie woman in an Airstream, brightly colored clothes, white hair…” Molly began.

“She was dressed all in white when I met her, but yeah. Otherwise that sounds right. Ms. Tinsel. The Tinsel Trailer.”

“I thought it was a taco truck,” Molly said, and then she laughed a little, thinking about that unexpected detour and the way she’d misread the sign.

Ben didn’t laugh. “She told me the rest of my life was in the hands of the woman who possessed the other half of this heart, that if I found and claimed her I’d be the luckiest man on the planet. I thought it was a sales pitch but she was nice and I figured she needed the money if she was hawking Christmas ornaments in a gas station parking lot.”

She could see it in her mind. Ben stopping at her gas station, or another one somewhere else along the road. Ms. Tinsel, waiting. Waiting for Ben just as she’d waited for her.

“This isn’t happening too fast,” Molly said. “We’re actually a little tardy.”

Ben put his arm around her, and together they watched the two sides of the heart swirl and dance until all movement stopped. The halves hung perfectly aligned, side by side and yet still one.

“Remember how you told me there was no Santa?” Ben whispered.

“I thought we weren’t going to talk about that.”

“Yeah, but… Now I wonder if maybe you’re the one who was wrong.”

She should laugh, but she didn’t. Ms. Tinsel wasn’t Santa, that wasn’t possible, but the white haired lady definitely possessed some kind of holiday magic. Why question it?

“What did you wish for?” she asked. “Let me guess. A World Series ring. Broken home run records.”

“She did say something about a wish,” Ben said, as if he’d forgotten.

“I know, another ridiculous sports car.”

“Molly Blake, you think so little of me.”

She smiled. “I was teasing, and you know it. Sounds to me like you have a wish left. Maybe two, or three. I don’t know exactly how it works, I didn’t think to ask, but…”

He kissed her to stop the rambling, which suited her just fine. She would never get tired of kissing this man.

When he took his lips from hers he answered. “There’s only one thing in this world I want. Molly, I wish for you.”

Wishes do come true…