A Timeless Christmas by Alexis Stanton

Author:Alexis Stanton
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Hallmark Publishing
Published: 2020-08-14T20:06:44+00:00

Chapter Ten

Charles braced himself as he climbed the steps to the Turners’ home. He wasn’t entirely certain what it was he was bracing himself for, but it was a challenge not to put up the instinctive protective barriers he’d carried with him for nearly eighteen years.

Even so, those barriers wobbled when presented with Megan’s generous heart and her genuine love of the season. Would it be the same with her family, or would he feel pushed further away?

She gave him a wink as she knocked on the front door. His stuttering pulse calmed, and he found himself winking back. He never winked! And yet, here he was, performing the silly but charming gesture.

The door opened, and Charles found himself presented with the spectacle of Greg and Sharon Turner wearing gaily-patterned sweaters and two of the most absurd hats he’d ever seen. Greg’s was a woman’s enormous sun hat, complete with gigantic silk flowers, while Sharon wore a rubber bathing cap that buckled beneath her chin.

“Merry Christmas!” the Turners cried in unison.

Before either Megan or Charles could speak, they thrust a hat into their daughter’s hands and one into Charles’s.

He held it out for inspection. It looked to be a Renaissance-era courtier’s cap, complete with an extravagant feather plume.

“Oh, I didn’t mention,” Megan said, setting a red firefighter’s helmet on her head. “It’s a Turner tradition to wear a silly hat at our Christmas party.”

“This certainly is silly.” He tapped the feather on his cap, making it bob.

“Nobody sets foot inside without putting on a hat,” Greg said cheerfully.

Charles drew in a breath.

To heck with it. Dignity is overrated, anyway.

He set the hat on his head, and Sharon clapped.

“Perfect!” Megan’s mother said. “You look like a poet, ready to compose a verse in praise of your lady fair.”

Charles’s gaze immediately went to Megan, who was too busy fussing with her father’s floppy hat to notice. Just as quickly as he looked at her, Charles glanced away.

What was that about?

Megan was not his lady fair. She’d been nothing but kind to him, and he wouldn’t repay that kindness with unwanted feelings. And there was Eliza to consider. He had to return to her, to the future they were meant to have together.

But he caught Sharon gazing at him with speculation, as if he’d given away an important secret.

“Now that you’re suitably attired,” Greg announced, “come on in.”

Charles trailed after Megan as she stepped into the house. She hadn’t gone very far before she was embraced by her brother—wearing what appeared to be a multicolored cap topped with a propeller—and her brother’s wife, who wore a bright yellow helmet of unknown design.

“Glad you could make it to the madness,” Nathan said to Charles when he released his sister from their hug.

“I wouldn’t dream of missing it,” Charles said—and he wasn’t lying.

Within minutes of being amidst the Turners, he felt welcome and comfortable. Whether that was their doing alone, or in some way Megan’s accomplishment, he wasn’t certain.

There were other people gathered in the

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