The Gift of Christmas Magic: A Peppermint Hollow Christmas Romance by Rachael Eliker

Author:Rachael Eliker [Eliker, Rachael]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: BHF Creative Works
Published: 2023-10-20T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twelve

Sterling

Thanksgiving could not be over fast enough.

Months before Darby arrived at Peppermint Hollow Ranch, Sterling had agreed to his mother’s supplication to come home for a week to celebrate Thanksgiving as a complete family. All his brothers were going to be there, and she had pointed out every time he called it’d been a while since he’d visited. It was true. He’d avoided returning home too often. It had been easier to avoid than confront. The sadness that inevitably lodged in his stomach was horrible.

This trip had been different. He had come to terms with the trajectory of his life, and where he had landed. Darby had brought hope and happiness and love as welcome as a brilliant dawn after a long, frosty night. There were such things as second chances, and if Sterling hadn’t fully appreciated what it was to love a woman when he was younger, he valued it all the more with experience under his belt.

Though he enjoyed spending the holiday with his family and having a break from the usual, grueling ranching routine, he was eager to get back to Peppermint Hollow. His arms belonged around Darby, and every embrace she gifted him completed him.

Maverick interrupted his reverie from his spot in the driver’s seat. “How was your trip?”

“Good. It was nice to see my family. Everyone’s doing really well. Happy. Healthy. Mom still cooks an entire feast, though she keeps dropping hints she wants her sons to get married so she’ll have more help in the kitchen.”

Maverick’s eyebrows shot up, nearly disappearing under his black Stetson. “How many brothers do you have, and none of you help your momma with the cooking? It’s not the eighteen-hundreds, you know. Men can help in the kitchen.”

Maverick’s sharp reproval made Sterling laugh. “We try to help. Most of my brothers are useless, though. Can barely slice an apple without losing a finger. It’s just not their thing.”

“What about you?”

“We had pumpkin pie, thanks to me.” His laugh made Maverick swivel his head and look at him with a curious expression. “I may have accidentally added too much nutmeg, so nobody wanted to eat it though. The crust might’ve been a bit too toasty, too.”

Maverick scoffed. “Really? You went and ruined a staple of Thanksgiving?”

“In defense, the recipe card was barely readable. It’s my great-grandmother’s recipe, and she wrote in that scrawling cursive that’s impossible to make out.”

“Likely story. You were probably daydreaming.” Irritated, Maverick ran a hand down his scruffy face. “You’ve been doing that a lot lately. Too much.”

The rebuke wasn’t unexpected. Maverick had been dropping hints for a while that Sterling was slacking. Truth be told, his great-grandmother’s writing was a cursory excuse for why he ruined the pumpkin pie. Darby had been on his mind the whole time he fumbled through baking the doomed pie. He realized he didn’t even know her favorite pie, and had intended on remedying that as soon as he got back.

“Hey, I appreciate you picking me up from the

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