A West Ranch Christmas: A Sweet Holiday Romance (A West Brothers Romance Book 6) by Kathy Fawcett

Author:Kathy Fawcett [Fawcett, Kathy]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2021-11-15T05:00:00+00:00

Chapter 26

“Good old West Gorge, Wyoming. It hasn’t changed a bit, has it?”

Darlene Shire looked around her parents’ barren living room as she perched on the hard floor of the Craftsman bungalow. The trademark built-in book cases sat empty and gleaming, and the oak pillars that divided the living room from the dining room shone with polished wood grain. Ancient oak details also defined other features of the one-of-a-kind home—such as a trayed ceiling, paneled walls and thick window casements.

Snow beat against the lead glass transoms and rattled the tight little house, causing the fireplace flames to flicker as wind traveled down the stone chimney. As she looked up, the lit mission-style light fixtures dimmed momentarily, and Darlene held her breath. Being home was depressing enough with the power on; if it went out altogether, she might get the excuse she’d been looking for to avoid her sister’s wedding.

The movers had already packed up the boxes of books, china, and linens, along with the heirloom furniture pieces, and sent them ahead to the Shire’s new detached condo in Florida. The beds and a few last boxes would be picked up by the town’s charity store after the Shire’s left the house to the new owner.

Two days before the wedding, the family’s final lunch together in the Shire house consisted of a few pizzas and sodas as they perched on flattened cardboard. The fireplace kept the room as cozy as possible while Darlene sat with her parents, her twin sister Daisy, and Rowdy West—who looked disturbingly like her former beau, Gunnar.

In fact, Darlene thought, as she nibbled and gazed over her pizza at the couple, the two could pass as the actors hired to play herself and Gunnar in her made-for-TV biography; titled, no doubt, So Many Regrets: The Darlene Shire Story. The story of a girl who nearly married into local royalty, only to throw it all away for a career in journalism, then wound up selling shoes in a California strip mall.

Darlene wished she could go back and marry into the wealthy West family, who would have been glad to see her divorce Gunnar, and take her hefty settlement with her as she left town.

Her life would be much different, she knew, if only she’d been a little more patient. By the time she figured out her mistake and came back to accept Gunnar’s lukewarm proposal, that wily doctor had locked him up tight in the hospital and convinced him he loved her instead.

She thought for sure the marriage would crumble in the first few years; so much so that she searched online almost weekly for Gunnar West Divorce—only to get photos of he and his wife, Kat, cozying up to each other at charity events, hospital galas and fundraising dinners. They looked somewhat happy, Darlene grudgingly observed, noting that Kat West had a growing collection of diamonds and other jewels.

“Actually, the little town has changed a lot,” Bud Shire contradicted his daughter. “The new Arts and Culture Center is wonderful, and we have a brand new cancer center in town—all thanks to the West family.

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