Yuletide Bride Read online

  “What’s one of those?” a familiar voice asked.

  “Grandma,” James said happily. “It’s great to see you.” James put his arms around her in a hug, and turned for the door.

  “What’s one of those?” his grandmother asked again.

  “Oh, there’s a woman over there. She’s putting makeup on in her car.”

  Ava chuckled. “Oh, Jimmy, she’s probably just primping in case she meets a handsome man here.”

  James laughed. “Who is she going to meet here? No, don’t tell me, Grandma… Mr. Berrit?”

  Ava laughed. Mr. Berrit was starting to lose his faculties, on the onset of dementia, and he liked to take his teeth out and make them talk to people. He was hilarious, but it was quite obvious he wasn’t all there. “Oh, Jimmy, I meant you.”

  “Yeah, well…” Jimmy said, as he looked back at the car. The woman looked directly at him. He put his hand up and waved. She turned her head to the side to see who he waved to. He just kept his eyes forward and winked. “What the hell, right? It’s not as though I will ever see her again.”

  Ava laughed as he escorted her inside.

  ****

  Mary sat in her car and watched the older woman and the good-looking younger male by the door. They were hugging, just before the man turned around and looked her way. She didn’t want to presume he looked at her, but when she turned her head, it was confirmation enough. She was the only person outside.

  He was gorgeous. His brown hair brushed the top part of his collar, he dressed great, and when he turned, she saw an even nicer ass. She couldn’t believe that he just stared at her. She couldn’t tell, because she was a distance away, but it looked as though he winked at her. Winked. It was just the thing to make her heart beat like a drum. She had an interview to do. Mary shook her head, and thought about just skipping the interview and going back to her apartment to read a raunchy book. Maybe even eat some Ben & Jerry’s.

  Mary out of her car and walked to the door. When she reached the reception desk inside, she gave the woman her name, and wrote her name on a sign-in sheet of paper. Mary followed the nurse, struck by how homey the place looked, like a picture right out of a Better Homes and Gardens magazine. She smiled as they walked by some beautiful artwork on the walls and then again when she saw that a young couple brought their child to visit. The kid giggled as she sat on an elderly woman’s lap, and smiled at her.

  Mary followed the nurse into a formal dining room. The room suddenly felt too small. The man from outside, the one who winked at her, sat at the table with Ava and John Rochester. Mary’s face flushed as she looked at the man. He coughed, and then she heard Ava speak. “Mary, it’s so nice to meet you. This is my grandson, James. James Rochester the second.”

  James Rochester the second. Even his name was sexy. Holy cow, Batman! “Hi, James, nice to meet you. Nice to meet you as well, Mr. and Mrs. Rochester.” Mary forced a smile. She felt embarrassed that she’d been caught staring earlier, and then again just now. She couldn’t help herself. She couldn’t think of a time when she liked looking at a man so much. .

  John cleared his throat.

  “So, Mary, are you married?”

  Red. Yep. She was really red now. “No, sir, I’m not married.”

  “Well, isn’t that interesting,” John said quietly, nudging Mary under the table by accident. Mary moved her foot and John’s face reddened. “Sorry about that, Mary. I had a little Charlie horse.”

  “Yeah, no problem,” she said. She looked over her right shoulder, pretending that she saw someone she knew. She waved and an odd old man waved his teeth at her! What the hell?

  She turned her head, and the expression on her face must have been funny because Ava and James shared a laugh. “Sorry, Mary, it’s just that…never mind.”

  “Yes, that’s okay. Anyway, I hope you don’t mind, but I would like to record our conversation so I can play it back later when I write the article.”

  John looked at Ava for confirmation, and Ava nodded. “We don’t mind,” he said and reached for his wife’s hand.

  “Okay, can you tell me how you two met?”

  John smiled and began.

  “It was 1938, and I was - seventeen-years-old. I had the most amazing family. My mother and father were alive and raised six of us—three boys and three girls. I am the only one of the sons left. My three sisters all live in Montana now—. I am the eldest of all the children, twenty years older than my youngest sister Susan. Ava and I, met through my middle sister, Catherine. Catherine was five years old at the time and needed someone to walk her home from school. Ava lived right down the block from us. Her mother and my mother were good friends. I didn’t know much about Ava— only what I had heard from our mothers—but enough. One night, my mother and father went out with her parents and made Ava and me, in charge all of the kids.” John looked at Ava and smiled.

  “Well, one thing led to another and Ava and I started dating. I loved her from the start. She, well, just look at her,” John said.

  Mary couldn’t help herself, she smiled. So did James.

  “She’s very beautiful, Granddad,” James said. “Then what happened? You put your name on the paper and so did she?”

  “You very well know what happened, Jimmy!” Ava exclaimed then looked at Mary. “He knows this story like the…well, he knows this story.”

  Mary didn’t think it was possible, but she felt her face heat up once more. “Then what?”

  “Well, then my father ordered—us to stop seeing each other.”

  “Wait. What? Why?” Mary asked.

  “Well, we were just in high school, and my father was very protective of me. I was an only child, and he and my mother worried about John. He had a big family.”

  Mary looked at John and then focused back on Ava. “So, you stopped dating…when? After high school, or before?”

  “Well, it was one Friday night. We had a dance at the school, and John and I decided to go together. He bought me a beautiful flower to wear pinned to my dress, and we danced all night. When I came home, I’ll never forget what happened. I told my father that I loved John more than anything and would one day marry him. The next day, my father pulled me out of school and we moved across the state. It wasn’t until 1940, that I moved back, and went to the Christmas festival.”

  Mary leaned forward, then focused on John. “Did you know she came home, John?”

  John didn’t seem to understand where she was headed with the question.

  “No, I didn’t. My sister Mary Beth took me to the festival with her. I’d just come home on leave from the military. I actually just got there when Mary’s name was picked from the jar. I was so surprised to see her again, that I nearly fainted. There she was, the woman that I’d loved for so long, standing up on stage for the whole world to see, and she was going to be wed to someone else. My heart clattered in my chest. I prayed for the first time in my life that day. I prayed for Mary. And when the fellow’s name was picked from the jar, and it was mine, I practically ran up to the stage. I kissed her full on the lips in front of God and everyone. I told her then that I would never let anyone come between us again, and I didn’t. She and I wed that evening.”

  Mary looked at James and shook her head. He seemed to be studying her intently, waiting for to respond. He probably thought she would swoon. “So, what you’re saying is, you didn’t know, and Ava, you came back just in time for the festival?”

  Ava looked at Mary curiously before she answered. “I sure did, Mary. I came home just in time for the event, put in my ticket, and waited for fate to run its course.”

  “Really? Did you know that your name was going to be picked?”

  Mary waited, and Ava looked upset. James turned to her and whispered close to her ear. “What are you insuating?”

  “Well, come on…”

  “You’ve upset her, can’t you see that?”

  “Jimmy, I think I want to lie down for a while, if that’s okay, Ms. Mary?”


  Mary nodded her agreement and looked over to John. John seemed just as shaken as Ava. He watched her with interest, and then focused back on Mary. “Thank you for visiting with us, Mary. It was very nice to meet you.”

  “It was nice to meet you, too,” Mary said. James walked toward the door with his grandmother on his arm and looked back, mouthing his retort, “Don’t leave.”

  Mary grimaced and sat at the table. A waiter placed a plate of turkey and mashed potatoes was placed in front of her, and the man with the teeth came over and asked her if she had any floss.

  ****

  James walked into the dining room and watched as Mary poked at the turkey with her fork. He shook his head, walked over to her and took a seat. This time, in front of her where he could see her eyes. “Did you have fun?”

  Startled, Mary looked up from her plate at James. “What?”

  “Did you enjoy poking fun at my grandmother?” His voice seemed on edge and he knew that Mary could tell he wasn’t happy with her. And by the looks of her, she didn’t look all that happy herself.

  “I’m sorry about that, James. It’s just that I—”

  “This isn’t investigative journalism, Mary. This is an article about the Christmas Festival! Why would you do that? She’s ninety-one years old!”

  Mary swallowed. “I know, and I’m sorry. I just…I just got excited that’s all.”

  James took a deep breath. “About what?”

  “Huh?”

  “What did you get excited about?”

  “Well, I’ve been trying to prove that the whole festival isn’t on the up and up. People call it fate and destiny. And people like me, well, we know it’s not true.”

  James couldn’t help but look at her. She acted as though she was old and done with the whole romance thing, but James saw the way she reacted to the story of their meeting, and she was far from unaffected. “Who says it isn’t fate?”James argued.

  Mary snorted. “Who says? Nobody in this town. Apparently, I am the only one in this town who knows this is a sham, other than your grandmother, and James Tomlin.”

  James reached over and put his hand on hers. Mary gasped and looked down. James knew why…he could feel electricity in their touch. He didn’t move his hand. “You don’t believe in love, Mary?”

  Mary was looking into his eyes when her phone rang. Cursing silently, she looked down at the Caller ID. “Sorry, I have to take this.” She removed her hand from his and pulled the phone up to her ear. “This is Mary.”

  ****

  “Mary, this is your mother.”

  “I know, Mom,” she said, and rolled her eyes.

  “Mary, I’ve been thinking…you should put your name in that jar. I know you are dead against it, but my friend Frieda from the hair salon, told me that while she was drinking tea this morning she saw a wreath in the tea leaves, and she got to thinking of Christmas, and every time she thinks of Christmas she thinks of the baby Jesus…”

  Mary couldn’t believe she’d interrupted holding hands with Mr. Gorgeous to listen to this. “And?”

  “Well,” her mother continued, “when she thinks of the baby Jesus, she of course thinks of Jesus’s mother, Mary.”

  “And this means…what?” Mary asked.

  “Well, it means that you should enter your name into that damn jar. You can’t not see it, Mary. Frieda said—”

  “I know, Mother,” Mary said looking from James to the ceiling. “Frieda had some tea, looked at the leaves, saw the baby Jesus and now all of a sudden I am the Yuletide Bride. Is that about right?”

  James looked up into her eyes and grinned. Mary rolled her eyes and put her finger to her head, twirling it in a motion, to indicate that her mother could be a candidate for the loony bin.

  “Yes, that’s right,” her mother confirmed.

  “Sounds great. I’ll get right on that.”

  “I’m serious, Mary,” her mother said.

  “Mom, when you go to the salon next, do you think you could ask her if she see’s any children in my future?”

  “Well, I guess I could, dear. I’m so happy that you are going to put your name in that jar.”

  “Yeah, me, too, Mom.”

  After she hung up the phone, James watched her curiously for a few minutes before he said, “So, you are going to enter your name, huh?”

  “No, that was just for my mother’s benefit.”

  “Really? You mean that you don’t believe in the magic?” James asked, and smiled at the face she was giving him. It was somewhere between a pucker, and a frown. He laughed.

  “What?”

  “Your face just now.”

  “Aw, thanks,” she muttered miserably.

  “No, it’s cute.”

  “It is?” she asked, surprised.

  “Don’t get too excited about it, though, Mary. You aren’t putting your name in the jar.”

  “What does that have to do with anything?” she asked, not understanding the significance.

  “Well, it means don’t read anything into me thinking you are cute, I could be married twenty days from now. My name will be in that jar.”

  Mary’s confusion ebbed, and for some reason her heart felt like it stopped beating. James Rochester the Second believed in fate, and she didn’t.

  Chapter Three

  Mary couldn’t stop thinking about James. It wasn’t her fault. The guy was a walking sex symbol. Everything about him screamed, love me, lick me, want me. She couldn’t help it, she wanted to do all three of those things.

  She walked to her refrigerator, pulled out a carafe of orange juice and a carton of eggs. Just as she opened the container, her phone rang.

  Mary didn’t recognize the phone number so she waited for it to go to voicemail. When she heard the beep that indicated a message, she opened up her phone and pushed the green button. And then something odd happened. James called, and he left a message.

  “This is James,” he said, when she called him back.

  “Hi, James,” she said, trying not to sound too excited. “I just got your voicemail.”

  “Yeah,” he said. She could hear the smile in his voice and she sighed. “I thought maybe we could go out to dinner tonight.”

  Oh my God. “Yes, that would be good. I am actually pretty hungry—.”

  “Yeah, me, too. After my lecture to you this afternoon, I had to go back to work and sit in on proceedings until just now.”

  “Proceedings?”

  “I’m a divorce lawyer,” James said.

  Mary snorted. “Ah.”

  “So,” he said, laughing as she held out the h. “What’s your address?”

  “For what?”

  “I’m going to pick you up.”

  “P–pick me up?”

  “Well, isn’t that what men do when they take a lady out on a date?”

  Mary’s heart fluttered in her chest. That’s exactly what men did. “Yes.”

  “Well?”

  “It’s 555 Hartford Court Road.”

  “That wasn’t so hard, was it?”

  You have no idea. “Not at all.”

  “I’ll see you in twenty minutes.”

  And before she could argue that she needed more time, he hung up.

  Exactly twenty minutes later, Mary heard a knock at her door. Before she answered it, however, she looked into the mirror in the entryway. She took a deep breath, and then looked into the peep hole. The man was a god. She thanked God, once again, and opened the door.

  “Hi,” James said, leaned in and gave her a peck on the cheek. Her skin burned from the contact. She reached up to touch her face and he leaned in, “You smell nice,” he said.

  “Uh, thanks,” she replied, and stepped back farther into the room. “Would you like a cup of coffee or something?”

  James looked as though he might take her up on it, but he must have changed his mind. “How about we get going, and then later if you feel like having a cup, I’ll come up.” James’s eyes twinkled on the last part of h
is sentence and he held out his hand. “Come on, I know a great place on the lower east side.”

  Mary nodded.

  Forty minutes later they sat in a booth at one of the smallest restaurants she’d ever been in. “Delgrassios.”

  “This place has the best manicotti that I have ever tasted. You will love it,” James said, looking at the menu. “I used to come here all of the time.”

  “Used to?”

  “Oh, I forgot that you’re a reporter,” James said, smiling. “I used to come here a lot, but then I made partner at the law firm, and can barely find time to eat, let alone go out for pleasure.” He looked at Mary, and then looked up to where their waitress waited at the foot of the table.

  “Why, is that James Rochester?” the woman asked in mock shock.

  James laughed. “Jessie.” He stood up and crushed the woman in an embrace.

  Mary guessed the waitress must be a little older than her. She was tall, with beautiful reddish-brown hair and a nice face.

  “Jessie, this is Mary,” James said, gesturing to her. Jessie looked down and smiled.

  “Very nice to meet you, Mary,” she said, shaking her head at James.

  “I certainly can’t believe that you are here. I haven’t seen you in ages. How are your parents? ”

  “Good, good. Mom’s busy decorating the new place, and Dad stays busy teeing up.”

  Mary watched them carry on their conversation. She felt like a third wheel. James must have noticed because his face flushed.

  “Mary, I’m sorry. Where are my manners? My parents retired a few years ago, and now they live in the Hamptons. My mom spends all of dad’s retirement, and my dad spends his time ignoring her and playing golf.”