His Christmas Bride by Dana Corbit

Author:Dana Corbit
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Steeple Hill
Published: 2009-06-15T00:00:00+00:00

Until Dylan started laughing, Jenna was worried that she’d brought up a topic that was even more off-limits than she’d guessed. But he’d invited her into this story when he’d asked her to come along to his mom’s house, and she couldn’t help being curious.

“You sure know how to phrase a question,” he said as his laugh tapered off. “My family and Christmas. Let’s just say that Hollywood doesn’t make warm Christmas specials about Warren-family Christmases.”

He seemed to be waiting for her to contradict him, but she’d seen enough now to know that all had not been perfect over the Warren-family holidays. She settled with her back against the car door and waited for him to fill in the blanks. She might know some of this already if she’d only been listening years ago, but there was nothing she could do about that. She was listening now, and now was what mattered.

“Christmas was always a frantic holiday at our house, long before my…father left.”

The catch in his voice made Jenna long to reach out to touch him, but she wasn’t sure how that gesture would be received, so she clasped her hands in her lap. “Why do you think that is?” she prompted when his pause lingered.

“Mom was always making up for the fact that Dad—my father was never involved in any of it. He never came to our Christmas pageants at church, never had time to look at our Christmas lists. He would show up to watch us open presents, but he always had the TV on.”

She didn’t miss that Dylan was uncomfortable referring to Elliot Warren as Dad. He had every right to his anger at the man who’d deserted his family. She was furious on Dylan’s behalf.

“Your dad sounds so different from the man I knew when our families went on vacations together,” she said. “He seemed pleasant.”

Dylan shrugged. “He was different at home. Mom must have believed that if she filled every holiday minute with frantic, festive activities, my brothers and I wouldn’t notice he was missing. So each year she added more activities, and the holiday seemed more desolate.”

“That must have been strange,” she said, “feeling lonely and alone in a frenzy of activity and people.”

He nodded. “The Christmas celebration was just a symbol of bigger problems.”

“You know how jealous I used to be of all your family Christmas traditions?” she said, shaking her head. “As often as we moved, we barely had any traditions at all. You guys had all these amazing events, and I wanted that.”

“That coveting thing is in the Ten Commandments, you know. Thou shalt not covet they neighbor’s house. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s Christmas celebrations,” he said in a solemn voice. He tried to keep a straight face, but then he started chuckling. Jenna couldn’t help laughing with him.

“We’re even, then, because I used to envy your family,” Dylan said.

“You’re serious? Even with all the moves? How could anyone envy that?”

“You took everything important with you each time you moved.

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