Page 1 of Promise Me This Christmas
Chapter One
Friday, December 19
The two hoursin the day while her son, Robin, napped was precious time to Amy Arden.He was such a busy little boy now that he was walking, it was hard to find the time to concentrate on her work and the special touches that went into running a bed and breakfast during the holiday season.
For instance, she couldn’t remember the last time she’d updated the Bramble House Instagram account.And with only one week until Christmas she still hadn’t finished the last touches on her decorating.At least this morning, while out on a walk with Robin, she’d picked up the fresh mistletoe she’d ordered from the florist shop on Main Street.Now she finally had a chance to arrange it in a decorative ball and tie it with red ribbon, being careful not to prick her fingers on the thorns in the process.
From out the kitchen window she could see fat snowflakes softly twirling in a slow dance to the ground.Instrumental carols played quietly from the speakers her husband, Chet, had installed last month, but otherwise the house was quiet.Her cook, Jo O’Neil, whose morning shift started early, had gone home, and Ella, along with their new hire, Shelley Wheeler, were upstairs folding towels, and would soon leave as well.
All of the guests were out enjoying seasonal fun in the small Western town of Marietta, Montana, except for elderly Ethel Carrillo, who was in the library, settled with a good mystery novel.It was perfect weather for the week before Christmas, the B & B was fully booked, and all her decorating—after she hung this mistletoe—was finally done.
Amy should have felt at peace.Instead, prickles of anxiety, as relentless as the snowflakes outside, were spoiling her usual holiday cheer.Her worry sprang from nothing major; it was more a collection of little nagging irritants.Like her half brother Carson deciding to spend Christmas with them instead of with his parents and brothers on the Whispering Pines Ranch.
When Carson had first asked to book one of their rooms for the holidays, she’d been excited.She’d given him the Twins’ Retreat over the garage, no charge of course—he was family.She’d only found her father and discovered she had three half brothers after moving to Montana three years ago.This had seemed like a great opportunity to get to know her oldest brother, Carson, better—and for him to bond with his nephew as well.
But Carson had seemed distracted when he’d arrived last night, and she hadn’t seen him at all since breakfast.She was beginning to suspect he had another reason for being in Marietta this Christmas—something he was keeping secret.
In fact, there was something a little “off” about all the guests who’d booked in for the Countdown to Christmas package this year.
Gibson Adlington, a fiftyish-year-old man in the Copper room, almost never smiled.She feared he was going to be one of those impossible-to-please kinds of guests.And the older couple in the Henry and May Bell room were giving off weird vibes too, especially the wife, whose enthusiastic praise for their room, the Christmas decorations, and this morning’s breakfast had felt overdone and insincere.
Then there was Ethel Carrillo’s granddaughter, Larkin.A journalist from Denver, she’d taken an extended holiday to be with her grandmother, who was recovering after surgery to repair a broken hip.Like all the other guests, they were booked to stay through to Christmas morning, at which time Ethel was supposed to move back to her home, here in Marietta, while Larkin would presumably return home to Denver.
Ethel was a peach, but her granddaughter seemed on edge.This morning after seating her grandmother at the breakfast table, Larkin had disappeared, which Amy found strange.Wasn’t she here to spend time with her grandmother?And yet she’d abandoned her on the very first morning.
Thumps, and then the sound of a shovel scraping over stone, drew Amy’s attention to the patio doors.Her husband was out there, clearing the snow from their back entrance.Chet cut a fine figure in his tan cowboy hat and the sheepskin coat she’d bought him last Christmas.When he noticed her looking out at him, he tossed a snowball in her direction, which splatted onto the window and then disintegrated.He made another pass with the shovel, then opened the door.She heard him knock the snow from his boots before stepping inside.
“Man, that snow is pretty but there’s so much of it!And it’s still coming.In another couple hours all the sidewalks will need clearing again.”
“Thank you for staying on top of it.”Robert, their hired handyman, usually came with his electric snow blower early in the morning.But on extra-snowy days like today, that wasn’t enough.The last thing Amy and Chet wanted was for one of their guests to slip and fall.
Chet put away his outdoors things then came to the table where she was working and circled his arms around her waist.“Mm, you’re nice and warm.”
Her heart still tumbled whenever he touched her.Or smiled at her.Or said her name in that certain tone of his.She turned to give him a proper kiss.“Robin is napping.I could warm you up properly.”
“Really?”He looked hopeful but cautious.Her husband knew her well.And he understood that if she didn’t attack her to-do list now, she wouldn’t get another chance until tomorrow.
“Maybe after we hang the mistletoe?And water the Christmas trees?”It was tradition to put up four trees in Bramble House, each with ornaments following a specific theme: literary for the library, naturally; Montana for the tree in the foyer; Bramble family miniatures for the sitting room; and copper and mining for the dining room.For trees this year they’d selected short-needled fir, cut fresh with a permit on National Forest land, and they were all soaking up water like crazy.
“Oh, and there are some bills I have to pay today,” she suddenly remembered.
Chet gave the end of her ponytail a soft tug.“That’s okay, babe.You’re worth waiting for.How is the new hire working out?”
Shelley Wheeler had contacted Amy a week ago.A recent high school graduate, Shelley worked evening shifts at the May Bell Care Home but was looking for some daytime hours for extra holiday money.Amy and Chet knew their small staff could use the help and that evening they’d gone over the numbers to see if they could afford her.When they decided they could, Amy had phoned the administrator at the care home, who had given Shelley a thumbs-up recommendation.
“Shelley’s been great so far,” Amy said.“Always willing to help with whatever needs doing, and she’s got a nice, cheerful attitude.Both Jo and Ella like her.”
“Awesome.Now how about I get the stepladder and meet you and the mistletoe at the front door?”
Hanging a ball of fresh mistletoe was one of their many holiday traditions, and as Chet looped the red ribbon over the hook he’d installed for this purpose, Amy stood back and admired the effect.
“You trying to guess who’s going to fall in love and steal a kiss under the mistletoe this Christmas?”Chet teased.
“Guilty as charged.”Amy didn’t know if it was something about this house, or the charming town of Marietta, but it did seem that new romance often bloomed under this roof.It had happened for her and Chet, as well as their good friends Oliver and Gemma, who now lived just a few blocks away.Even the week when Robin had been born, so stressful, yet ultimately joyful for her and Chet, had seen another of their guests, librarian Mackenzie Sifton, find love with Chet’s business partner at the rodeo school, Craig Denton.
“I’m not holding out hope for this batch of guests though.”She’d already confided her reservations about their guests to Chet.In the past they’d been so lucky, booking low-maintenance folk who added joy to the season.But this year… She was bracing for something.She just didn’t quite know what.
“Don’t give up on them yet.Maybe they’ll surprise you.”Chet gave the ball of mistletoe a twirl.“How does it look?”
