Miracles in the Making Read online

  Just when she thought she had drifted over the edge, Noel brushed by the partially closed door at her back and skimmed the tile to stop by her side. “Anything I can help you with, darling?”

  Candy’s jaw tightened and her teeth ground together. Through the small space that remained, she grated the words, “You could give me my space. Can’t you see that’s what I want?” The room spun so she clutched the counter in a tight grip and fought for her balance.

  Noel’s hand slapped at his side. “How on Earth can I know your desires when you don’t know what they are?” The harsh question rolled off his tongue, layered times over with bitterness and bewilderment.

  Candy knew his words carried a point, but before she could start to the prod, Noel spun around and stalked from the room. She heard the door slam long before she had any urge to budge and still Candy remained frozen in place. By the time the urge to move scraped at her raw nerves minutes had drifted by and the provoked man had no doubt gained terrible ground.

  Her numb fingers slipped from the granite and Candy plopped onto the floor. Now she’d gone and done it again—she had the man of her dreams but rather than hold him, she’d pushed him away. Fear, terrible ice scratching fear, once again this had been the cause, but there was no use in moping. Candy shook off the thought. The fact was there was nothing left that she could do to alter the situation now. She slammed her fist into the ground. Leaping to her feet, she strode for her closet. Two hours and close to twenty dresses later, she descended the stairs in a red polyester pant suit with matching black shirt and heels. It was one of her top four favorite outfits and always worked to make her look good. That in itself freshened her mood, if perhaps only a little.

  She decided to pay her siblings a call. Yes, at times, her siblings could be dramatic, but the last thing she wanted right now was to feel alone. If that meant indulging in commotion and theatrics, right this second, she’d happily do exactly that and twice as much.

  Her mind made up, Candy started from the apartment, on her way down the dimly lit street. A chilly breeze swept the evening air and clouds were already beginning to gather. The view suitably reflected her feelings and the coolness pinched her already taut heart. Forcing these trivial observations aside, she ascended to her sister’s front door.

  She barely finished her first mild knock when the portal soared open and she went sailing in. Winter may have toiled around them, but as always, Marie Frost bloomed like a fresh spring flower.

  “Surprise, surprise, didn’t expect to see you. Why I was sure you were busy enjoying that handsome stranger you found! How you did is a wonder all its own. The man was a contender to Alexander…” She paused, her eyes roving the area. Leveling her gaze on her sister as she rambled about, Marie looked first to one side then to another.

  “Speaking of which…” she began, using a little more care.”Where is the handsome prince who came with you the last time?”

  Candy responded with an inquiring stare. “Finally noticed, did you? Are you positive you want to hear that disastrous story?”

  No longer bursting with exhilarated animation, Marie reigned in her restlessness, becoming more thoughtful. “Yes,” she agreed, with a slow nod. “In fact, I’d be sorrier if you chose to do otherwise. I notice you’ve come alone tonight.”

  Flopping down on the arm of the sofa behind her, she beckoned Candy to pick out a seat of her own. More concerned with her stresses then with her chair, Candy sank to the cushion at her sibling’s direct right. She began talking again as soon as she sank. “I imagine you can guess. Noel and I quarreled, hence the reason I’m by myself tonight.”

  Marie patiently waited, motioning with one hand for her to go on. Though this struck Candy as odd, she picked through the thoughts racing faster then she could handle, searching for what to explain first.

  “You’ll be pleased to hear, I slept with the man.” Her cheeks turned rosy and her entire form warmed. The memory alone caused her to shy.

  When Marie saw this, she patted her arm. Candy noticed Marie was a much different person than usual—not wild and melodramatic, but gentle and unusually understanding. Grateful for the blessed change Candy resumed her tale with one hand squeezed tightly closed. “You heard me,” she stated. “We shared a bed. That was all good in itself, but I’m sure you won’t be surprised, the following morning I told him to leave.” Her eyes squeezed shut and she grasped at her seat. “I don’t have any idea what I was doing. I didn’t know then and I know even less now. All I can say is I was terrified. Marie, I feel so stupid.”

  Inching along the edge of the couch, Marie wrapped her arms around Candy’s shoulders. “I won’t say what you did was impressive but I’ll admit, had you asked me some time ago, I would have predicted it. For goodness sake, for years you’ve made more than clear your opinions of love, or more correctly what will happen because of it.”

  As she listened to this, Candy’s eyes fluttered open. “What on Earth am I supposed to do? I don’t even know where the man’s at right now.”

  Marie held her hands up. “You could always place an ad in the paper,” she suggested with the first real hint of glee, the light faded as soon as it lit. “More to the point, you’d best hope for a miracle. On a good note, you picked a good season to pray for such—what with Christmas coming up on us so soon.”

  Candy offered the first glimmer of a smile to brush across her lips. “I’ve got to be crazy.”

  “Why’s that?”

  “Marie,” she admitted, internally reprimanding herself, “I think I’m in love with the man, and not for a second did I see it coming.”

  This time Marie’s black curls danced as she laughed. “The way you look at that man, why I could have told you that if you’d asked!”

  As she heard her sister’s laughter chime through the room, Candy drew back, unamused. “Thanks a lot. I feel so much more intelligent now. Your kind consideration aside, what’s your opinion on what I should do?”

  “Like I said before, wait for a miracle.” Giving her sister one more pat on the back, Marie rose to her feet. Leaving Candy to muse over the concept, she poured them each a glass of red wine.

  Chapter Six

  Halfway across the city, Noel perched on an old iron bench, located near the entrance to Douglas Park. All around him, trees towered high in the sky and small puddles cut their paths through the grass. One foot arched across the bench, he allowed the other to linger casually over the side while he took in the gorgeous view all around him.

  Ashamed with what he’d gotten himself into, Noel pressed his face in his palms. How have I allowed it to happen? So fast, for that matter, at all? The questions rolled in his head, burning a vicious path. It told him what could happen, if you didn’t show enough care. Why, he’d come here to prove he was worthy, that he could do the tasks he was given. Instead, he headed straight for disaster, hardly stopping to think twice on the matter. His superiors were correct. They knew he wasn’t prepared. Now he understood those orders, he originally considered so cruel, better. Even if he were to stay, to choose this girl who took over his mind—who knew how long he could remain by her?

  Far above, the trees seemed to whisper some strange allay against his pains. The owls billowed out their songs, adding character to the night. It was as though they suggested he go to her; but Noel knew this was an illusion. That was the last thing he needed to do. Leaping up from the bench, the once-angel started to wander.

  Over the course of the next three hours he roamed throughout the park, not entirely sure where he was going, only where he would not return. More than once he prayed for assistance—some sign of what he should do. Yet, no matter how desperately he pleaded, the answer he received was always the same. A person can make or destroy their life with a single choice.

  Frustrated with his lack of understanding, Noel forced his emotions aside and set off in search of an an
swer. At times, an image would flash in his head—a girl with thick, silky hair, and curves so exquisite, she could have been a classical work of art. When these visions haunted him, Noel would shove them aside, furious with himself with the vision alone. Noel found himself at the end of the park, his feet hitting the rim of the pavement. To his right, an old woman stumbled forward with a tin cup stretched out in her hand. To anyone willing to look, she begged for a contribution. Sad for the aging drifter, Noel jabbed his left hand into his pocket and scraped at the jingling coins. Scooping out the coins and a few dollars, he dropped them into the cup, offering a genial smile to go with his gift. “A Merry Christmas to you madam,” he kindly said to the woman.

  “To you as well. Thank you. Thank you!” He heard at his back. Already well on his way, he paused and switched directions.

  It felt good, knowing he made someone happy. If only Candy felt the same. Four days to go until Christmas Eve and he had gained no ground. No matter how hard he drove himself to do otherwise; he could focus on only one thing. Defeat stared him in the face, yet he could find no way around it. Not so long ago, he promised to succeed at those tasks he was given, to give prove that he could.

  So, what was destined to happen if he kept on at the pace he was going? What would be the result? His superiors had assured him, long before he departed, the consequences would not be pleasant. Logic battled emotion. He fought to see some sense in it all. For two hours this struggle continued, without concession or understanding. Left drained of all vitality, Noel crouched to his knees.

  Overtaken by cold desolation, he traced blank shapes in the stars. Had he known that the woman who contrived the heart of this battle sat, reticent and alone, staring at those very stars, perhaps this exhausting inner fight would have resolved much sooner. As it was, he waited with no decision completely certain. Over time, Noel observed, more than my immortality has faded, along with it the powers that coincided have disappeared as well. This included that special vision which allowed him to observe from afar. For the first time he understood what it was to be mortal and all the troubles that went with it.

  Chapter Seven

  Laid out across the padded seat offsetting the lovely antiqued window at the face of her apartment, Candy pulled her gaze from the little diamonds flashing in the sky to observe the sparse assortment of vibrant decorations lining her living room walls. Any other year, this time of the season, you could find her parading from place to place, reveling in one celebration or another. Today it just didn’t seem worth it; the pleasure had somehow faded away. Perhaps the parties this year weren’t as vivacious or perhaps the dynamic had somehow changed. Perhaps if I stopped to think it over I might figure it out. But no, She decided with a shake of her head, right now it just isn’t worth it. Her days she spent at her shop, serving the customers who flooded in. She spent her nights at home, watching her fire and reading or talking with her cat. For a while, this worked out perfectly, saving her exhaustion or pain. No one around her was bothered, leaving her to do as she would.

  On the day just prior to Christmas Eve, however, all of this changed. Curled up near her fire with a book cupped in one hand and Pan held with the other, she was lost in the story before her when she heard a knock on her front door.

  “Come in, come in please,” Candy absently called to the visitor, too lost in her story to bother looking up.

  Marie and Lacy rushed through the doorway, leaving the portal to swing. “So, you are alive. That’s good news, I’ll say,” Lacy said as she strolled forward, nearing where her sister rested.

  Candy arched one brow, her book frozen in her hand. “That’s good news?”

  Both of her siblings halted. The concern flashed in each woman’s shaky smile. “I’d sure like to think so.” Marie clasped her hat. Sweeping the piece to one side, she motioned for Lacy to join them.

  The other girl complied, never bothering with much hesitation. Surrounded on each side by one of her sisters, Candy saw little room for escape. She felt trapped; at the same time, as she felt comforted. Giving in to the puzzling contradiction, she eased against the cushion that lined the curving pane and allowed the nerves she hadn’t realized were tight to slacken.

  “I miss him,” she admitted. “It was all right before, for hell’s sake,—for so long it felt normal. The quiet I mean. For all that time, my Peter was company enough. I didn’t realize what I was missing, but now I’ve had a taste. It’s more like poison!”

  Lacy inched a little closer. “Not so much. Maybe it feels that way because you no longer hold it. If you were to see him, wouldn’t you be happy?”

  “I think she would. Why, when they were together, that’s the happiest I’ve seen our sis.” Marie put in, one hand linked to her outer hip. She wasn’t about to be budged.

  Candy’s head drooped forward; with no real path before her, she stared at the ground. “If you two believe, for even a minute, any chance exists that I will ever see the man again, you’re downright crazy! Tell me how that is supposed to happen? I don’t have the first notion where he is and I will readily bet you, he won’t come to see me!”

  Marie left her arm to fall. “Here I always marked you as the most optimistic of the lot of us.”

  “Pretty easy to pull off when you’re not the one in love. Don’t you know there was a reason I steered clear of the fix for all these years? It served me in no way the first time and hasn’t done much better now.”

  “That’s because you won’t let it,” Lacy pointed out with one slim elbow curving around Candy’s shoulder.

  The fire rising inside of Candy weakened. Once again, her temper ebbed. Looking over to Lacy, she responded with a ghost of a smile—the first in quite some time. “Thanks.”

  “No cost.” Lacy’s crystal blue eyes glimmered. “As for that dilemma you find to attractive.” She looked over to Marie. “Given a little help, I bet we could resolve that. Marie, what are you thinking?”

  Linking hands with her younger sister at the base of Candy’s neck, each girl searched her face for some hint of her opinion.

  Her breathing came in gusts—heavy and distressed—and she gazed up at the ceiling. “It’s all one big mess. I’ve been this route before and it didn’t work out that time. I have no reason to think it will now. I won’t try to deny it. He was an incredible man, always stopping to help one person or another. I don’t honestly know how I could have doubted such a selfless person. Still, it’s over. I did that. I just don’t see the chance.”

  Marie and Lacy shared a glance. They didn’t need to voice their thoughts. Each one knew the other well enough. Their thoughts glistened in their eyes. Marie and Lacy nodded. Candy huffed out a sigh and combed her fingers through her hair. She warned both girls, “Just stay out of trouble and, as God as my witness, keep me out of it will you?”

  Lacy rolled her shoulders. “Hard to do completely, seeing as you’re the bigger part of the design.”

  “You could make it a point to try.” Candy pushed away, perching at the very edge of the padded seat.

  Lacy replied with a wispy beam, “All right, all right, don’t go getting your feathers in a knot.”

  Candy jumped to fire back but, before she could find her voice, Marie lifted her small hand. Taking the chance while she still had it, she explained to her sister, “The reason we came here in the first place, aside from assuring ourselves that you were not dead, is the two of us wonder if you intend to join us for Christmas at the family lodge. You never did say one way or the other. I can’t see anything to stop you at this point. Well?”

  The atmosphere thickened, the pleasure they had shared only moment before dissolving away fast, but Candy did not respond. The idea fluttered in her head, just out of her grasp. The minutes passed before them, not helping the tension of the mood. At last, she slumped her shoulders. Her gaze drifted between the other two girls. “That would be very nice.” />
  Startled by her voice, Marie and Lacy jerked. Lacy was first to speak. “Did I hear correctly—you agreed to come along?”

  Slowly a cheerful smile swept Candy’s soft pink lips, chasing away what had been a disappointed line. “Marie,” she told her sister. “You were right to point it out. There’s not much else I could be doing. I dare admit that I might enjoy myself. The mountains are so beautiful this time of year, the snow so white and frothy; it’s like a faerie paradise.” Her eyes grew dark and dreamy, and color warmed her cheeks. The stiffness that previously ensnared her from her fingers down, finally crumbled, replaced by the vivacious beauty that was normally so much a part of her.

  “Now, that’s more like it.” Lacy returned the smile, rising to her feet. “Marie, what do you say? I think it’s safe for us to go.”

  Marie slid from position, pausing in the act to give Candy a tight hug. “You used to believe in Christmas miracles,” she warned.

  “Once I also believed in Santa.” Candy laughed a little as she said it, stripping the sharp edge from her words. “Thank you,” she added. “I needed that more than I understood.”

  Exchanging embraces and “I love you’s”, Candy watched as her sisters started on their way.

  “What comes next?” she wondered, speaking aloud to the empty room. “Is it so much to ask?” Not sure whether she wanted to hear the answer, she settled by the window and allowed her eyes to gradually drift closed.

  * * * *

  She dreamed of a charming prince with eyes like wild ocean waves and filled with lively vigor. His lips, full and sexy, begged to be kissed. At one corner they quirked up the slightest bit, just enough to whisper of a charming smile. The night, overcast by a heavy clouds, created an extra layer of darkness and disguised the glitter of the stars.

  Together they stood before a pond, listening as the fish brought motion to the surface. He offered his hand, drawing her against him. The feel of his skin smooth against her own was enough to make a tear slide down her cheek. As quickly as it emerged, it all was gone.