Libby held his gaze for a long moment and then slipped her little hand into his and stood. Melody didn’t realize she’d been holding her breath until it released on a sigh of relief.
Her heart expanded as she saw Jake and her daughter venture out onto the ice hand in hand. She’d not only grieved her own loss of Seth as a husband, but also grieved for Libby no longer having a daddy or a strong male presence in her life.
Melody knew the statistics of the failure of young girls to thrive without a positive male role model in their lives, and seeing the happiness on Libby’s face as she skated with Jake she was grateful for his presence as a neighbor...as a friend...and she was beginning to hope as something much more.
As Jake and Libby skated, several women who had children taking lessons at her studio stopped by to say hello to Melody. She chatted with people, cuddled under the blanket Jake had provided, and raised her hand to wave at the couple on the ice who held her heart.
After twenty minutes or so, Libby was on the other side of the pond with friends and Jake was skating back toward Melody and the bench. “She’s a natural,” he said, sitting down next to her. “By the time she met up with her friends, she was pretty much skating without me.”
“Thanks for helping her over her stage fright,” Melody replied. “Are you warm enough? I’ll be glad to share the blanket.”
He blew on his bare hands. “Thanks, I’d welcome it. I forgot to bring my gloves.”
She moved closer to him and arranged the blanket over the two of them, then grabbed one of his hands and grasped it firmly in her gloved hands. “Silly man to forget your gloves,” she said teasingly.
“Smart woman to share the blanket,” he replied with a twinkle in his eyes.
She settled against the back of the bench, acutely aware of every place their bodies touched beneath the blanket. Although she hadn’t been overly warm before, with his thigh and hip against hers, a flaming heat burned inside her.
He finally pulled his hand from hers and for a few minutes they watched the skaters on the ice. Melody kept an eye on her daughter, who had found Megan, and the two were on the ice together, barely moving around the edges of the pond.
“Tell me about your husband,” he said. “I’ve told you a little about Stacy, but you haven’t told me much about the man you were married to.”
She gazed at him and then looked back at the skaters. “Seth and I were high school sweethearts. We started going steady in seventh grade and never dated others. I had just graduated from college when my parents were killed in a small plane crash while they were on vacation. Seth was my rock through that horrible time, and after I’d grieved, he asked me to marry him.”
“So you were young when you married.”
“I suppose in this day and age twenty-two is considered young, but I didn’t feel young. I had no desire to sow any wild oats. All I really wanted was to be a wife and eventually a mother and own a dance studio.”
“It was a happy marriage?”
She paused a moment before replying, thinking back over her marriage. “Yes, for the most part it was a happy one. We only had one topic that we fought about. Seth was a rodeo cowboy. He rode bulls and broncs. I hated it. He followed the circuit so he was gone a lot and I was always afraid.” She shrugged. “And then my worst fear came true. He was at a rodeo riding a bronc and fell. The horse’s hooves came down on his head and he died instantly.”
“I’m sorry,” Jake replied, and the emotion behind the words let her know he wasn’t just saying an empty platitude.
“I tell myself that at least he died loving what he did. Seth lived for those adrenaline-filled moments on the back of a wild beast. I’ll always have a special place in my heart for Seth, but life goes on.”
For the next few minutes the two of them sat silently, watching the skaters. It was a comfortable silence. Melody was not warmed just by the blanket, but also by the very presence of the man seated next to her and her daughter’s laughter drifting across the pond.
She wanted to take this moment and wrap a bright red ribbon around it, top it with a sprig of mistletoe and hold it in her heart. It was a wonderful new memory that she would carry with her from this day forward.
Her gaze lingered on Libby and she frowned. “I’m a little bit worried about this Santa secret thing that Libby has,” she said. She turned and looked at Jake. “I’ve bought her nearly everything she asked for, but I don’t have any idea what special gift she’s expecting from Santa.”
“She hasn’t given you any clues?”
“None, and trust me, I’ve tried to get her to tell me. I just wish I knew so that I could see if I could get it for her. I don’t want her to lose her innocent belief and trust in Santa.”
“And what is it you want for Christmas, Melody?” Jake asked, his eyes glittering more silver than gray in the twilight of approaching night. She loved the way her name sounded falling from his lips.
She smiled and snuggled a little closer to him. “I already have what I wanted—happiness. Oh, I bought myself a bottle of perfume and a new sweater to wrap and put under the tree so that Libby wouldn’t think that Santa forgot me, but all I hoped for this Christmas was peace and happiness, and I’ve already found that here in Mistletoe.”
With you, she wanted to add. She wanted to tell him that he had become part of her happiness equation, but he hadn’t even kissed her yet. He might never kiss her the way she wanted him to, she told herself, although she was certain she’d seen desire for her in his eyes more than once.
It was after eight when they finally left the pond and headed back home. Jake was unusually quiet on the way to her house. Melody chalked it up to tiredness. He’d skated several more times throughout the evening and had also helped Bob carry more cookies and drinks from the house to the pond. Libby was quiet as well, obviously happy and exhausted.
They arrived at the house and Melody thanked him for yet another wonderful day. Libby got out of the backseat and ran to the front door to await Melody.
“I’m cooking a big roast and potatoes tomorrow,” she said, and unbuckled her seat belt. “Why don’t you come to dinner? I’d love to cook a nice meal for you.”
“Thanks for the offer,” he replied, a distance she’d never seen before in his eyes. “But I’ve got a lot of chores to take care of around the ranch, so I have to say no.”
“Oh, of course.” Melody’s heart plummeted, both with disappointment and with guilt. “We’ve been taking up too much of your time.”
“By my choice,” he said.
Melody opened the car door and stepped out. “The dinner invitation is a standing one. Just let me know when you’re available.”
He nodded. She began to walk toward the house but stopped as he rolled down the window and called out her name. “I hope you and Libby have a merry Christmas.”
Before she could reply he rolled up the window and drove away. She hurried toward the front porch where Libby waited for her to unlock the door. Her mind whirled with his words...words that indicated he didn’t intend to see or talk to them again before Christmas.
She unlocked the front door and Libby ran down the hall to her bedroom to get out of her extra clothes, while Melody closed the door and sank down on the sofa, Jake’s parting words still playing in her mind.
She hadn’t realized until now that the picture she’d had of Christmas Eve had been the three of them decorating the tree together. In her visions of the holiday, it had been three at the table eating a Christmas Day feast.
It felt as if something had ended before it really had a chance to