Twelve Days of Christmas

  “Cain.”

  “I’m a stronger man than this.”

  “Really?” She knew it was his pride talking and didn’t take offense.

  “You made me weak.”

  “Is that a good thing or is it bad?”

  “Depends. In this instance I’d say it’s to be expected, seeing how you have completely won me over.”

  “What you don’t seem to understand, Cain Maddox, is that I’m equally under your spell. Everything you’ve said is happening to me, too. I’ve been an emotional mess ever since that reporter showed. I couldn’t bear the thought of hurting you, because when you hurt I hurt.”

  The elevator doors opened and they made their way down the corridor until they found Bernie’s room number. He looked to be sleeping when they entered, but he must have heard them because he opened his eyes. For a long moment he stared at them as if he wasn’t sure he recognized who they were. Then a huge grin spread across his face.

  “I see you two have settled matters.”

  “We did,” Julia said, her arms wrapped around Cain’s waist and his around hers. Cain looked down on her, his eyes warm and loving.

  “Good thing,” Bernie murmured.

  “It’s a very good thing,” Julia agreed.

  “Then get busy, you two. I’d like to live long enough to hold a great grandchild or two.”

  “Gramps, hold up, you’re moving way too fast,” Cain warned.

  “I’m not getting any younger, you know. Get a move on.”

  Cain grinned and looked at Julia. “You gonna blog about this, too?”

  “Absolutely.”

  He chuckled, and turning her in his arms, he kissed her as if she was his last meal, and she returned his kiss as if he was hers.

  Julia’s Blog

  TWELVE DAYS OF CHRISTMAS

  December 25

  Christmas Wishes Coming True

  * * *

  * * *

  Merry Christmas! Again. I actually thought yesterday was the end of the experiment. But I was wrong.

  There is an epilogue to my story.

  It all started with Ebenezer’s grandfather and ended with me in Ebenezer’s arms.

  Yes, my friends, I’m in love.

  Impossible, you say. No one falls in love in twelve days. But we did. I mentioned just yesterday how being kind changed me. Unexpectedly, it opened up my heart to the very person I thought was a grouch. Kindness showed me there was far more to this man than meets the eye.

  It opened up Ebenezer’s heart, too. He saw me as an annoyance, but after only a few days his opinion changed.

  If kindness can alter two people’s attitudes toward each other, just imagine what it could do to change our world, one relationship at a time.

  I want to thank you, too, for your encouragement and support through this journey. I’ve appreciated your comments and suggestions. I’ve learned a lot from you and taken your advice to heart.

  I’m going to continue with my blog and with the kindness project.

  Ebenezer has said he’d like to join me; we’re going to work together.

  So once again, my friends, Merry Christmas.

  “God bless us every one.”

  And yes, I’m quoting Tiny Tim, but still, it seems rather fitting, don’t you think?

  CHRISTMAS

  Bernie sat in the living room of Julia and Cain’s small house, sniffing appreciatively toward the kitchen. Julia had just finished basting the turkey while Cain put the finishing touches on the table setting. Schroeder and the Irish setter puppy Cain got Julia for Christmas were snuggled up against Bernie’s feet. A puppy Julia had christened Blossom.

  She’d been working her dream job at Harvestware for almost a year now. She loved every minute and was able to telecommute three days a week, which made getting the puppy possible. She’d married Cain in June after a whirlwind courtship. Everything had fallen into place like easy-fitting puzzle pieces after she’d started the kindness experiment. She’d fallen in love with Cain, met Bernie, was hired for her dream job, and married Cain, and just a month ago they’d purchased their first home with a fenced yard for the puppy.

  Cain stepped up behind her and wound his arms around her waist and nuzzled her neck. “Merry Christmas, Mrs. Maddox.”

  Julia turned and looped her arms around his neck. “Back at you, Mr. Maddox.” As long as she lived, she would never tire of the comfort of being in her husband’s arms.

  “You two getting all lovey-dovey on me again?” Bernie called out from the other room. He sat in front of the television, sorting through a stack of holiday movies, choosing the one they would watch while their dinner finished cooking. “I still don’t have any news about that great-grandchild. In my day me and your grandmother got right down to business. What’s the holdup with you two?”

  “Gramps, we’ve barely been married six months. Give us time.”

  “You get a puppy but want to wait on a baby?” Bernie shook his head. “You sure you know what you’re doing, boy?”

  Julia laughed. “He knows, Bernie, trust me, he knows. Give us at least a year, okay?”

  Cain’s grandfather relaxed against the sofa back. “I suppose I can wait that long. Now are we gonna watch a Christmas movie like we started to last year?”

  “Which one did you choose?” Cain asked.

  Bernie handed him the DVD.

  “The Bishop’s Wife?” Cain groaned. “Again?”

  “You love that movie as much as I do,” Julia reminded him.

  “What I love is having you cuddle up against me and seeing how happy it makes you.”

  Julia smiled up at her husband, her eyes full of promise. “I know how to make you happy, too, you know.”

  He grinned. “I do, and it doesn’t have anything to do with movies.”

  The doorbell rang in short, impatient bursts.

  Cain cast a questioning glance at Julia, who shrugged. She had no idea who it could be.

  Breaking away from her, Cain answered the front door. Julia recognized the woman who stood on the other side as their next-door neighbor. They’d met only once briefly, and she hadn’t seemed overly friendly.

  “Mrs. Quincy, is everything all right?” Cain asked. “Do you need anything?”

  “I most certainly do,” she said with a huff. “A section of my fence is down and I want to know what you did.”

  “I did?” Cain asked, clearly taken back by the question.

  “Well, I didn’t knock it over, so it must have been you.”

  “I can assure you I didn’t.”

  “Don’t care if you did or not, you need to fix it.” With that she gave a snort and stomped away.

  “Well, that old biddy,” Bernie flared as Cain closed the door. “She’s got her nerve.”

  Frankly, Julia agreed, and then reconsidered her attitude. “I wonder if Mrs. Quincy has any family,” she said.

  Cain turned to face her, his look stern. “Julia?”

  “Yes, love,” she replied innocently.

  “I know that look,” he muttered.

  “What look?” Bernie demanded. “What are you two talking about?”

  “Mrs. Quincy,” Cain explained.

  “That woman who looks like she’s been sucking lemons half her life?” Bernie asked. “The one who came to your front door just now?”

  “The very one,” Julia said, catching Cain’s eye. “Seems to me she could use a little kindness.”

  A slow grin came over Cain. “You might be right about that.”

  Bernie slapped the sofa, tilted back his head, and rolled his eyes. “Oh, for the love of heaven, not again.”

  “Not to worry,” Julia said, wrapping her arms around her husband’s waist. “I have no intention of blogging about it.”

  “Don’t be hasty,” Cain said, grinning.

  “Why don’t we invite Mrs. Quincy over for Christmas dinner?” Julia suggested. “That would be a good place to start, wouldn’t it?”

  “It would.”
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  Cain kissed the tip of her nose, grabbed his jacket, and hurried toward the front door after Mrs. Quincy.

  Blossom started after Cain, and Julia captured her Christmas puppy just before she flew out the door. Standing in the doorway, she watched her husband approach the older woman and saw the look of surprise that came over the older woman’s face.

  Mrs. Quincy hesitated and then nodded.

  Yes, this was going to be an extra-special Christmas with a puppy, a surly neighbor, and an extra dash of love.

  In memory of

  Cindy Thoma DeBerry,

  with love to her husband

  and children

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  Silver Linings

  Love Letters

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  CHRISTMAS BOOKS

  Twelve Days of Christmas

  Dashing Through the Snow

  Mr. Miracle

  Starry Night

  Angels at the Table

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  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  DEBBIE MACOMBER, the author of Twelve Days of Christmas, Sweet Tomorrows, A Girl’s Guide to Moving On, Last One Home, Silver Linings, Love Letters, Mr. Miracle, Blossom Street Brides, and Rose Harbor in Bloom, is a leading voice in women’s fiction. Ten of her novels have reached #1 on the New York Times bestseller lists, and five of her beloved Christmas novels have been hit movies on the Hallmark Channel, including Mrs. Miracle and Mr. Miracle. Hallmark Channel also produced the original series Debbie Macomber’s Cedar Cove, based on Macomber’s Cedar Cove books. She has more than 200 million copies of her books in print worldwide.

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  “What? Are you kidding?” Ashley Davison couldn’t believe what she was hearing. The reservation clerk for Highland Airlines glanced up nervously. “I’m sorry, but I can’t sell you a ticket to Seattle. If you’d kindly step aside and wait a few minutes—”

  “Can’t or won’t?” Ashley cut in, growing more frustrated and worried by the minute. She drew in a deep breath in an effort to control her patience. The woman behind the desk, whose name tag identified her as Stephanie, was clearly having a bad day. Getting upset with her, Ashley realized, wasn’t going to help the situation. She made a determined effort to lower her voice and remain cool-headed.

  “I…I can’t. I’m sorry…”

  Ashley refused to take no for an answer. Surprising her mother by flying home for Christmas was too important.

  “I understand getting a ticket to Seattle four days before Christmas is pushing my luck,” she said, doing her best to appear calm and composed. “If I’d been able to book a seat sooner, I would have. Getting Christmas off from work was a complete surprise. I attend graduate school and I also work at a diner. I hated to miss the holidays with my mother, but I didn’t have any choice. She’s a widow and my brother lives in Texas and can’t get home for Christmas, so there’s only me.” Perhaps if the reservation clerk knew her story, she might reconsider the can’t sell you a ticket part of this discussion.

  “Then my boss decided to close the diner between Christmas and New Year’s for renovations after the refrigeration unit broke, and then he thought he may as well get a new deep fryer, too, so it just made sense to close down. All this happened at the very last minute, and because he felt so bad he gave me a Christmas bonus so I could fly home.”

  “I’m so sorry…” Stephanie said again, looking nervous. “If you’d kindly move aside and wait a few minutes—”

  “I haven’t seen my mother since last August,” Ashley continued, refusing to give up easily. “I wanted to surprise her. It would mean the world to both of us to be together over the holidays. Would you please look again? I’ll take any seat, any time of the day or night.”

  Stephanie didn’t so much as glance down at her computer screen with even a pretense of trying to accommodate her. “I can’t…I wish I could, but I can’t.”

  Ashley couldn’t help but wonder what was up with this can’t business. That made it all the more nonsensical.

  “You can’t,” she repeated. “There must be more of an explanation than that. It just doesn’t make sense.”

  The reservation clerk frowned. Her eyes roamed about the area as if she was looking for someone. That, too, was irritating. It was as if she was seeking a replacement or someone to rescue her.

  “I believe you have your answer,” the man behind her in line said impatiently. He shifted from one foot to the other, letting Ashley know he didn’t appreciate her arguing with the clerk.

  Ashley whirled around and confronted him face-to-face. “In case anyone forgot to mention it, this is Christmas. How about a little peace on Earth and goodwill toward men? Be patient. I’ll be finished as soon as possible and then you can talk to Stephanie, but for now it’s my turn.”

  In response, he rolled his eyes.

  Ashley returned her attention to the woman at the counter. “If you can’t find me a seat on a plane to Seattle, I’d be willing to fly standby.”

  Stephanie shook her head.

  “All the flights to Seattle are already booked?” The man next in line blurted out the question.

  Stephanie’s eyes widened as if she, too, was surprised he’d jumped into their conversation. “I…didn’t say that. I’ll speak to you directly in just a moment,” she said.

  “Excuse me?” Ashley flared, forgetting her resolve to remain calm and collected. This was too much. With her hands on her hips, she stared down at the other woman. “This is discrimination. Just because he’s a man and good-looking you can dredge up a seat for him, but not for me?” This was gender discrimination. Where was a television crew when you needed one? This would make a juicy piece for the six-o’clock news.

  Seeing that the line was getting long and the Grinch behind her wasn’t the only one with a short fuse, Ashley decided to drop the entire matter.

  “Okay, fine, have it your way, but I think this is just plain wrong.” With that, she grabbed hold of her suitcase, and with all the dignity she could muster started to walk away, feeling more stressed with each step.

  “Miss, miss,” the airline employee called after her. “If you’d kindly wait a few minutes, I’m sure we could resolve this.”

  “No way,” Ashley refused. “As you’ve repeatedly said, you can’t sell me a ticket.” With that, she headed out of the airport with her dignity in shreds.

  Ashley hadn’t expected it would be easy to catch a last-minute flight. She’d already tried to find an available seat online, without luck. For reasons she couldn’t understand, she kept getting booted off the website. That was the reason she’d decided to come directly to the airport and try her chances there.

  Naturally, flying home was her first option. But other modes of transportation were also possibilities. She could always try the bus or travel by train, if there was even one scheduled. The most expedient way to make the trip would be to drive. Unfortunately, her fifteen-year-old hand-me-down car wasn’t in the best of shape and she was afraid of it breaking down along the way. To top it off, snow was predicted. Under normal circumstances, snow close to Christmas would be ide
al but not in an aging vehicle. If she could afford…

  Ashley stopped mid-step. Why hadn’t she thought of this earlier? She could always rent a car! The solution was right in front of her, the answer obvious. She should have thought about it long before now. And, really, there was no better place to rent a car than in an airport.

  Perfect.

  Reversing direction, Ashley headed toward the car rental agencies, traveling down the escalator, rolling her suitcase behind her. When she reached the rental area, all of the agencies displayed signs that stated all their cars had been rented. All but one. Ashley made her way to that counter.

  The longer she waited in line, the more she fumed about the airline clerk who’d insisted she couldn’t sell her a seat. The nerve. And then to basically reassure the man in line behind her that there were seats available. That was discrimination of the worst kind, even if the guy was eye candy. Stephanie was clearly looking to do him a favor, which served only to irritate Ashley further. Truth be told, she’d noticed him, too. Hard not to, really. He was tall and stood with military precision, his dark appearance lean and strong. She suspected he was either military or former military. He gave that impression.

  The line for the car rental agency slowly crept forward. As luck would have it, the very man who’d been so annoying at the airline counter came to stand behind her again.

  It gave Ashley satisfaction to see he hadn’t been any more successful with Stephanie in obtaining a seat than she had.

  “So Stephanie couldn’t sell you a seat, either,” she said, trying hard not to gloat.

  “All she had available was standby,” he grumbled, fingering his cell.

  Ashley would have gladly accepted a chance for a standby flight. It wouldn’t have mattered how long she had to wait. “Not good enough for you, I suppose.”