Page 77 of Silver Hills' Christmas Miracle

“You like?” Melanie fluffed up her hair as she turned around to give me a full view of her dress, then came toward me and caught my outstretched hand.

“Yes! You look so good!”

“Agreed.” Rook smiled, keeping one hand on my waist. “It’s good to see you, Melanie.”

“You too.” She beamed. “Wow, don’t you scrub up well? The both of you… I don’t know who I’m more jealous of!”

Laughing, I pulled her into a hug and kissed her cheek. The warm scents of cinnamon and chocolate filled my nose, and I moaned softly.

“Is that your perfume or the cooking?”

“I can’t tell.” Melanie puffed out her cheeks. “You know, when I agreed to do this, I didn’t fully understand how much food we would need to feed the entire town!”

“I didn’t expect to see this many people.” I chuckled. “We’ve had to get security to close the road so that people can use it as parking spaces.”

“It turns out that once everyone heard the highway construction had been closed down, permanently, they were all suddenly in the Christmas spirit,” Rook replied. “Can’t say I blame them.”

“He couldn’t have waited until after the ball?” Melanie groaned dramatically. “If I have to make another ham and cheese puff, I might just quit.”

“Leave it to your team.” I squeezed her hands affectionately. “I’m so glad you’re here.”

“Me too.” Melanie beamed, then her face crumpled. “Are you okay? The two of you? After what happened, I was so worried that something?—”

“Don’t you worry.” I stepped closer to her, giving her the strongest smile I could. “As far as I’m concerned, I’m alive because of you. If you hadn’t called Rook, then I don’t even want to think about what could have happened, so thank you.”

“Let that be a lesson.” Melanie scoffed softly as tears sparkled against her dark lashes. “Don’t stand me up on a dinner date.”

We laughed and fell into a tight hug that Rook joined, and peace soaked into my soul. Anton was in jail. The love of my life and my best friend were right here with me, and finally, it had snowed.

This was the best Christmas ever.

“Oh, one more thing,” I realized as we broke apart, and Melanie hurriedly wiped away her tears.

“Oh?”

“Are you interested in being an auntie?” I asked.

Melanie’s head snapped up and her eyes widened. “What?”

“I think you’d make a good auntie,” Rook agreed.

“An auntie? What? What are you—oh, my God, Kitty are you…?” She looked down at my tummy, then back to my eyes. “Are you pregnant?”

“Yes.” I laughed, then I squealed as she swept me up into a hug.

“Oh, my God, this is amazing!” Melanie cried. “Congratulations! You’re going to be a mom! Oh, my God, I am going to be the coolest aunt there ever was!”

Laughing, I managed to glance at Rook as Melanie squeezed the life out of me. Then she broke away and threw herself at Rook to give him the same treatment. It was less effective, given his bulk, but it was heartfelt all the same.

“Congratulations!” She hugged him tight.

“Thank you.” Rook grinned and pink warmed his cheeks. “And thank you for everything.”

“Everything?” Melanie stepped back, sniffling and adjusting her dress.

“You were there for me, even when you didn’t know me. You can try and say that’s your job as a bar owner, but you really had my back and I appreciate it.” Rook grasped her upper arm and lightly squeezed. “Truly.”

“Oh, you guys!” Melanie looked upward to try and stop more tears from falling. “I can’t take this!”

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