A Winter’s Wedding (Christmas Cove #3)

Chapter 25

With the headlights shining across cleared ice, the girls piled out of the van and joined the men by the bonfire. America spotted her dad chatting with Pa, who were about the same age. Coming between them, Leo draped his arms around both older men and caused a riotous laugh. John, Leo’s brother chatted up Cam, who stopped the conversation when his wife, Jenny stumbled down the shore.

“Whoa, Jenny,” Cam said and took her under his arm. Cam kissed her on the lips but pulled back from her just as fast as he had dived in. “Whoa, babe! How much did you drink?”

Jenny held up the nearly empty bottle and giggled.

“All that?” Cam asked, his concerned squinted eyes glinted in the firelight.

America stepped up to save her. “She barely had any. We’ve all been sharing it.”

“Listen to me, Cameron Townsend.” Jenny poked a finger into Cam’s chest, depressing the puffy coat. “I’m not used to it. I only weaned Charlotte a couple weeks ago. And it’s a party. What’s a girl supposed to do?”

“She’s got a fair point, Cam,” America said and took Jenny’s hand. “I’ll handle this.”

Leo met them and handed Jenny a bottle of water. “Can you believe this?” he whispered to America as he leaned in to peck her cheek.

She shook her head back and forth. “This is wild,” she said as she watched all of her favorite people gathered together in one place. Even though she just wanted to be in bed, the evening was likely to be an unforgettable one.

Thandie, always the director, stood on a wooden bench made out of cut tree stumps and wooden planks, and clapped her hands to get their attention. “We’re all here tonight to celebrate these two gorgeous humans on the eve of their wedding. I think I can speak for all of us here when I say that we want nothing more than for you two to have a wonderful life together. We love you.”

As the group clapped and cheered, Leo pulled America into his chest. With an arm behind her back, he dipped her low and pressed his lips to hers. She loved the overly dramatic show of their affection and wondered just how much he had had to drink since being kidnapped. She, however, did not mind the feel of his pillowy mouth pressing into hers, tipsy or not.

“Alright. Alright, you two. Enough of the lovey-dovey stuff,” Thandie said.

Leo finished kissing her properly and came up for air, righting America and balancing her with a hand on the small of her back. “If it wasn’t for a bonfire like this one, I don’t know if any of us would be here celebrating tonight,” Leo said and moved his thumb along her spine.

The memory of the Bonfire of the Fears flooded America’s mind. Her heart warmed as she realized just how correct Leo was. They had written their fears on scraps of paper and thrown in them into the flames with the hope of being released from whatever held them back. “Good thing we’re such bad shots or I don’t know if we would have ever told each other the truth.”

“That I want to spend the rest of my life with you?” Leo said and rubbed the tip of his nose against hers.

“I guess we have this bonfire to thank too,” Thandie said, stealing their attention back to herself. Little glowing embers fell from the sky around her and the fire acted like a spotlight on her tan skin. From behind Thandie, Grant leaned in and nudged his elbow into the side of her leg. She smiled broadly, her lips framing enviable pretty teeth, before hardening her features at him. “Enough of this happy talk. This isn’t a time for peace. It’s time for battle!” She growled the last word and caused them all to chuckle.

“Is that so?” Grant hopped up onto the bench beside Thandie and bumped her off with his hip. “This bachelor and bachelorette party isn’t your traditional event.”

“There’s no strippers,” Thandie teased. “Sorry, boys.”

“And there’s no relaxing spa treatments. Sorry, ladies.” Grant ran his hand down his face and took the smug look with it. “Here’s the deal. Boys against girls. Five-minute periods. No goalies. No checking. No penalty shots. In the case of a tie, which there won’t be because?—”

Thandie pulled on Grant’s waistband from behind and took his place on the stump. “Because the girls are gonna win. We’ll have a shoot-out. Everyone clear?”

“But the guys have one more person than the girls,” America said and counted the teams out loud with her fingers to make sure. “Me, Poppy, Carol, Thandie, Jenny, and Mom. Leo, Grant, Cam, John, Pa, Dad, and Alfonso.”

“Alfonso no skate.” The animated chef held his hands up beside his face and wiggled his fingers. “Shake my money makers, no?”

Everyone laughed along with the young Italian who had come to work at The Foundry a year ago. Vivian had befriended the man during a trip to northern Italy the previous Christmas. When Leo decided to transform the old lake houses into an upscale retreat, Alfonso was at the top of his mind to join the team. America was glad to see him embracing new experiences, but the hockey game would be better with even teams.

“Maybe Alfonso could be the ref?” she suggested.

“Great idea,” Grant said and tossed a glowing, chartreuse hockey puck in Alfonso’s direction. “Nice catch. When we’re ready to start, just drop that thing on the ice between the centers and then get the heck out of the way as fast as you can.”

“Now that that’s settled. Let’s get to the good stuff,” Poppy said. “What do the girls get when we win?” and America admired her confidence in the girls’ abilities.

“The stakes. I almost forgot,” Thandie said. “The losers will be on Bingo’s stable duty for the next month, and the winners, the girls obviously?—”

“The winners will win bragging rights and the pool,” Grant finished her sentence.

“What’s the pool?” Leo said.

Grant grabbed an old rusty coffee can from beside the fire and held it up. “Everyone get whatever cash you have on you right now and shove it in here. Winners take all!”

“I have all the equipment laid out over there,” Thandie pointed to a pile of skates and sticks stuck into the piled-up snow. “Let’s go to war, people!”

The men and women separated as they grabbed their gear, and there was no fraternizing with the enemy. America was surprised to see Carol lacing up her skates in one fluid motion like a pro. Poppy needed help with hers, and Jenny was kind enough to assist.

“I’ve never played hockey before,” Vivian said to Carol, who sat on either side of America.

“But you’ve skated before,” America said.

Thandie leaned over from further down the bench. “I’ve gotten a ton of time on this ice over the last few weeks with the guests. I mean, how cool was it that we got to have a Christmas Eve skate this year?”

“I can’t believe all that water level stayed through the summer and fall,” Carol said. “It hasn’t been like this in a really long time.”

“Do you think we’ll have the lake full for the summer again?” Jenny said. “The water activities will bring a lot more people to town.”

The whole town had felt the stress since the dam blew out and the lake dried up, but these past few months had brought a renewed outlook to the Cove. In the year since the neighboring city, Elizabethtown, had incorporated Christmas Cove, it wasn’t much more than a name and a feeling. But with the population doubling since then, they would have the opportunity for a voting member of the council, and perhaps an alderman in coming years. Things were definitely improving all around town, including Leo’s strained relationship with his brother.

Across the ice, Leo sat next to John. They were laughing about something—she wished she could hear what was so humorous—but it was nice to see them getting along. America finished wrapping her laces and grabbed a stick from where they had been stabbed into mounded snow around the makeshift rink space. In the same snow heap, someone had nestled a keg and a couple bottles of unopened booze.

Grant half-buried the coffee can and stood like a club bouncer at the entrance to the cleared ice. “Cough it up,” Grant said and folded his arms in front of his chest.

America dug in her coat pocket and flashed a crisp twenty-dollar bill in front of Grant’s face.

“Is that all? These stakes are no joke,” he teased, and she swiped her fingers over the paper revealing two more bills.

“Is this better?” She crammed the money into the can and snapped her fingers in a taunting way. Pushing him aside and gliding across the ice, she knew this hockey game was going to be worth staying up for. Taking a turn around the makeshift rink, she found her comfort stride as the others did the same. Everyone was finding their legs, except Poppy who was struggling to stay up on her feet at the entrance.

America skated over to her, but John got to Poppy first. He reached down to help her, but she dismissed his hand. Instead, she dug in her blade edge and pushed him away. “Accept no mercy. Give no quarter,” she yelled a war cry which elicited an echo of female shouts. Hockey game or not, it was no surprise for Poppy to react to John in that way. She had been holding a grudge against the mayor of Elizabethtown for over a year. Poppy was a loyal friend, and there was no way she was going to forgive John for what he did to Leo, until Leo was ready to forgive him first.

Concerned for his safety, America put herself between John and Poppy before her loyalty turned violent. “Save it for the game,” she said and helped Poppy, who was showing off just how much of a city girl she really was. “The trick is to keep your weight centered over the blade. Not too far forward or too far back. Then use the edge to press into the ice and you’ll go forward.”

Poppy turned and shot eyeball fingers at John, threatening him that she was keeping her eyes on him. “I just can’t with that man.”

“You know Leo and John have actually been getting along much better,” America said as she continued to defuse the situation.

“I don’t know how you can forgive him after he tried to tank Christmas Cove last year.” Following America’s directions, Poppy moved ahead as well. “What if I have to stop?”

“Aim your toes inward toward each other.” America demonstrated. “I really don’t think he’s a bad guy. I just think they misjudged one another and made poor choices with their behavior. We all do that sometimes.”

Poppy came to a stop like America explained to her and raised her right brow. “You’re saying I should take him off my hit list?” Poppy grinned and took off across the rink. “And what about turning?” she yelled from the far side of the ice.

“All you need to do is lean the way you want to go and turn your toes slightly in that same direction,” America cupped her hands around her mouth and yelled back. “Try it.”

While trying it, she turned right into John’s arms. Even from where America balanced across the rink, a visible blush warmed Poppy’s cheeks and John looked like he had never held a beautiful woman in his arms before. In the light from the van’s headlamps and the bonfire, his face looked ghostly. He bumbled through asking her if she was alright. Poppy shoved him, though he didn’t budge, and as a result, pushed herself backwards into the snowbank.

He stood over her, hands on his hips, and laughed. “Do you want my help now?”

“Haven’t you done enough around here?” she said. “I will never want you to do anything for me, Mister Mayor Thorpe.” As if her words weren’t message enough, she threw a snowball at his chest, and it broke into a cloud of tiny crystals.

“What do you think about that?” Leo said as he came up behind America.

“I didn’t know you were there.” She leaned into him for a kiss, and he dodged her advance nearly causing her to pitch forward over her toe pick.

“Enemies, remember.”

“I recall,” America said with disappointment dripping off her pouting lips. “As for John? He angered the wrong woman last year. It’s a surprise she hasn’t socked him sooner.” America chuckled as the two rivals carried on their snowball fight at the other end like they were the only ones there.

“I’m exhausted,” Leo said and pulled America to where the drinks were cooling in the snow. Taking the spout, he poured Pa’s beer into two disposable red cups. “Try it. Pa said it’s one of his best.”

“You know I don’t like beer,” America said and sniffed the liquid.

“You’ll like this one.”

America brought the rim of the cup up to her mouth and tilted the cup just enough to let the beer hit her lips. It tasted nothing like the other beers she had tried, but Pa had a way of never giving up on a lost cause. In this case the lost cause was getting America to like a beer. Tomorrow, she hoped Pa wouldn’t give up on his other lost cause, Carol.

“It tastes like apples. Or is that…” she swished some around her tongue, “Figs?”

“So, do you like it?” Leo said with smiling eyes in hopes that this new flavor might be the one to crack the code.

“It’s the best one I’ve tried,” she said generously, but his face deflated. “I’m sorry. I just don’t like the way beer tastes like swamp water, even if it is fig-flavored swamp water.”

“And how much swamp water have you tried?” Leo said with a tone smacking of incredulity.

America skated away. “I’ll never tell.” She realized her response left the door open for him to assume she had tried a lot of swamp water over the years, which came with a certain ick-factor, but this was war, and she had already entertained the man long enough.

On one side of the rink, Carol and America’s mom had patted down and created a makeshift bench area where the women amassed like soldiers ready for battle. America placed her cup in the snow and sat to retighten her laces. “That’s Pa’s beer if any of you want to try it.”

Carol reached across in front of America and took the red cup. “I’ll take it. After all, I might need to get used to being his permanent taste-tester,” she said under her breath where only America could hear.

Or so she likely thought.

“Why?” Thandie asked and appeared from behind Carol’s shoulder. “Why are you going to his permanent taste tester?”

“I don’t know what I’m saying. Silly old brain,” Carol said and sipped the beer.

“Is there something going on between the two of you?” Thandie egged her on.

“Something,” Carol said while America played dumb, adding only a shrug.

Jenny skated towards the group and did a pretty spin with her arms over her head like a ballerina and her foot cocked out to one side. She spun faster and faster, eventually coming to a stop and doubling over with her hands resting on her knees. “I haven’t done that in years.”

“If this was a figure skating competition and not a hockey game, I’d say we would win,” Vivian said and put her arm around Jenny. “But we had better get this game going. Someone’s going to have to clean out Bingo’s stall in the morning, and it’s not going to be me.”

“Come on girls,” Thandie said. “Huddle up.” They gathered in a circle. “I have a plan. It’s a bad one, but it might just work.”

“I don’t want to clean Bingo’s stall, either. Whatever your plan is, I’m in,” Carol said, and the others nodded along.

“As far as I see it, we’re evenly matched, and I don’t mean by our hockey skills. But look, I have Grant, Jenny has Cam, America has Leo, Vivian, you have Paul. Carol? You can take on Pa. And Poppy, do you think you can take John out?”

“It would be my pleasure,” Poppy said with a smirk and squinted eyes that should have terrified any man. “What do you have in mind?”

“Well, this might sound controversial, but bear with me.” Thandie leaned in and giggled her words. “I say we use what the good lord gave us and distract them as much as possible from their goal. Then, if you see an opening, any shot, you take it.”

“Oh, I got this,” Jenny said. “Cam can’t take his eyes off me lately. This will be a breeze. Just a little hair flip, and smoldering eyes and he won’t know which way he’s heading.”

“To the bedroom, probably,” Carol joked.

“Carol!” America scolded.

“What?” She looked as innocent as a jackal. “I know things.”

“So, we all know what to do?” Thandie said and put her hand in the center of the space between them. “On three, ladies?”

“One.”

“Two.”

“Three.”