RaeAnne Thayne – A Mistletoe Vow: A Cold Creek Christmas Story / Falling for Mr December / A Husband for the Holidays (страница 17)

“I guess I didn’t expect them all to be so...jacked up.” Hope couldn’t seem to take her gaze away from the younger children, who were now hopping around the room like bunny rabbits.

“You obviously don’t have children,” Faith said.

“Or work in a children’s library,” Celeste added.

“All kids act as if they’re on crack cocaine the whole week before Christmas,” Faith continued. “How could you not know that?”

“Okay, okay. Lesson learned. Now we just have to do our best to whip them into shape. We can do this, right?”

At the note of desperation in Hope’s voice, Celeste forced a confident smile. “Sure we can.”

Though she had her own doubts, she wouldn’t voice them to Hope. She was too grateful for her sister for bringing light and joy back to the ranch.

After Travis’s death in a ranching accident, Celeste, Mary and Faith had decided to close The Christmas Ranch, which had been losing money steadily for years. It had seemed the logical course of action. The Star N had been all but bankrupt and the Christmas side of things had been steadily losing money for years.

The plan had been to focus on the cattle side of the Star N, until Hope came back from years of traveling. She put her considerable energy and enthusiasm to work and single-handedly brought back the holiday attraction.

Part of that success had come because of the Sparkle books, which still managed to astonish Celeste.

She would always be deeply grateful to Hope for reminding them all of the joy and wonder of the season. Helping her with this Christmas program was a small way to repay her for all her hard work on behalf of the family.

“We’ve got this,” she said to her sisters with a firm smile that contained far more assurance than she really felt.

She stepped forward and started to clap her hands to gather the children around when the door opened and a couple of newcomers came in. She turned with a smile to welcome them and felt an actual physical jolt when she saw Flynn and Olivia.

Despite his agreement the night before, she had been certain Flynn would end up not bringing Olivia. She had seen the clear reluctance in his eyes and knew he worried the girl wasn’t ready for this sort of public appearance.

She was thrilled for Olivia’s sake that he had changed his mind, even if it meant she would have to do her best to ignore her own reaction to him—and even though she wouldn’t have been nearly as exhausted today if not for him.

Her night had been restless. She couldn’t seem to shake the memory of that moment when he had kissed her cheek—the warmth of his mouth, the brush of his evening shadow against her skin, the delicious, outdoorsy scent of him.

She shivered now in remembered reaction.

“Are you cold?” Faith asked in a low voice.

No. Exactly the opposite. “I’m fine.” The lie rolled out far more easily than she would have expected. She had never been very good at stretching the truth.

“That must be Flynn,” Hope said in an undertone, following her gaze to the newcomers. “Wow. He’s really filled out since he was a teenager. Where’s a nice lawn to be mowed when we need it?”

Faith laughed aloud, something she did very rarely these days. She had become so much more sober since Travis died.

“Good luck with that, finding a patch of bare lawn in Idaho in December,” Faith said. “Too bad you can’t talk him into shoveling snow without his shirt.”

That was an image Celeste didn’t need to add to the others in her head. She felt herself color, then immediately regretted the reaction when her sisters both looked between her and Flynn with renewed interest. Drat. They were both entirely too perceptive. The last thing she needed was for either Hope or Faith to get any matchmaking ideas where Flynn was concerned.

She quickly left her annoying sisters and moved forward to greet the newcomers.

Olivia looked nervous, half hiding behind her father. She visibly relaxed when Celeste approached.

“Hi, Celeste.”

“It’s my favorite just-turned-seven-year-old. Hi.”

“It’s noisy in here,” Olivia informed her in an accusing sort of voice, as if it was Celeste’s fault all the children were so wild.

“I know. Sorry about that. We’re just about to get started. Once we focus everybody’s attention, things will calm down. How are you today?”

Olivia smiled a little. “Okay, I guess. My dad didn’t want to bring me, but I asked him and asked him until he finally said yes.”

“I’m so glad,” she said.

She shifted her gaze finally to Flynn and found him watching her with an unreadable look. She was suddenly aware that she must look tousled and harried. She had come straight from work, stopping at home only long enough to let Linus out and yank her hair up into a messy bun. She wore jeans and her favorite baggy sweater, and she was pretty sure her makeup had worn off hours ago.

For just a moment, she wished she could be beautiful and sophisticated instead of what she was—boring.

“Hi,” she said to him. To her dismay, her voice sounded breathless and nervous. “I wasn’t sure you would come.”

“Apparently my daughter is relentless. Kind of like someone else I know.”

She had to smile at the slightly disgruntled note in his voice.

“This will be fun. You’ll see. We’re going to practice until about six thirty. If you have shopping to do or want to go back to work on your grandmother’s house, you’re welcome to return for her then. Actually, I could even drop her off. It’s not far.”

He looked around at the chaos of the jacked-up children and then back at his nervous daughter.

“I believe I’ll stay, if you don’t mind.”

What if she did mind? What if the idea of him watching her for the next two hours made her more nervous than a turkey at Thanksgiving?

She didn’t know what else she could do but nod. “Sure. Of course. There are sofas over by the fireplace where you can make yourself comfortable. If you’d rather be closer to the action here, feel free to bring over a chair.”

“Thanks.”

He then proceeded to take neither of those suggestions. Instead, he leaned against the wall, crossed his arms over his chest and turned his full attention in her direction.

“Right.” She swallowed and glanced at her watch. They should have started practicing five minutes ago.

She clapped her hands loudly and firmly three times to grab everyone’s attention and said in her most firm librarian voice. “By the count of ten, I need everybody to gather around me and freeze in your best Christmas statue pose. Ready? One. Two. Three...”

By the time she hit four, all thirty children—thirty-one now, including Olivia—had made their way to her and adopted various positions. Destry Bowman, one of the older girls, was stretched out on the floor pretending to be asleep. Cute little Jolie Wheeler looked as if she was trying to do a figure eight on skates. Her niece, Louisa, appeared to be reaching on tiptoes for something, and it took Celeste a moment before she realized she was trying to put ornaments on an invisible Christmas tree.

Olivia looked uncertain, standing nervously with her hands clasped in front of her.

Celeste gave her a reassuring smile and then turned her attention to the other children.

“Perfect. Statues, you can all relax now and sit down.”

The children complied instantly and she smiled. They might be a wild bunch but she loved them all. Each was someone whose name she knew, either from being neighbors and friends with their parents or from church or her work at the library.

“Thank you! This is going to be great fun, you’ll see. The senior citizens and your families are going to love it, trust me, and you’ll have fun, too. Are you all ready to put together a great show for your families?”

“Yes!” they shouted as one.

“Let’s get to it, then.”

* * *

He never would have predicted it when he walked into chaos, but somehow the ragtag collection of hyperactive children had calmed down considerably and were working hard together.

Celeste had organized the children into small groups of five or six and assigned one older child to teach them the song or dance they were to perform. She in turn moved between the groups offering words of advice or encouragement, working on a lyric here or a dance move there.

He found it charming to watch, especially seeing her lose her natural reserve with the children.

Was that why she had become a children’s librarian, because she was more comfortable interacting with them? He was curious—but then he was curious about everything that had to do with Celeste Nichols.

Naturally, he kept a careful eye on his daughter, but she seemed to have relaxed considerably since they’d walked in. Just now she was talking and—yes!—even laughing with three children he’d heard call Celeste their aunt, a couple of boys about her age and a girl who appeared to be a few years older.

Had Celeste said something to them, somehow encouraged them to be especially welcoming to Olivia? He wouldn’t have been surprised, but maybe they were as naturally compassionate and caring as their aunt. Whatever the reason, the children seemed to have gone out of their way to show kindness and help her feel more comfortable, which went a long way toward alleviating his own concerns.