A Family For Christmas (Hearts In Georgia; Harmony Cove) Read online

  A Family for Christmas

  Hearts in Georgia

  Marian Wilson

  Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  More Stories You’ll Love

  Love Light Faith

  Thank You!

  Text Copyright © 2018 by Marian Wilson

  All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictionally. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or to actual events or locales is entirely coincidental.

  First printing, 2018

  Publisher

  Love Light Faith, LLC

  400 NW 7th Avenue, Unit 825

  Fort Lauderdale, FL 33311

  1

  “Those boxes belong in the living room. And the ones marked with the green tape go in the kitchen,” Lysander Wright said, wiping his forehead with an old, grey shirt he’d pulled from his suitcase just a minute before. It was not doing a whole lot to combat the sweat. The humidity was high, even for the second week of October, but he had to keep reminding himself that he was in eastern Georgia now, not back in Seattle where it was probably fifty degrees and raining.

  He ran his fingers through his dark blonde hair, which was getting a little too long for his liking. He’d have to remember to find the time to get it cut before he went back to work.

  “Careful, that has my daughter’s doll collection in it,” Lysander said, stepping in front of one of the movers he’d hired to help them unpack their U-haul. He took the pink storage bin off the stack that was being loaded onto the rolling dolly and turned to carry it himself. He shook his head as he stepped into the kitchen through the garage. He’d hired these guys to make his life easier, not more stressful.

  “Daddy, Daddy!” came a small voice from the living room.

  Lysander looked up and saw a pair of blonde pigtails flying behind the smiling seven-year-old girl running at him. He grinned, opening his arms as she jumped at him. He twirled her around and around in the middle of the kitchen before plopping her back down on her bright blue sneakers.

  “Daddy, did you see me swinging?” she asked, her blue eyes widening as she gazed up at him.

  He frowned, ruffling her hair. “No, sweetie, I’m sorry. I’m trying to help these men get our truck all unpacked so we can really move in.”

  The girl deflated a little, her pigtails swinging as she shook her head. Lysander realized they were a little off kilter, one sitting higher than the other behind her head. No matter how many times he practiced, he wasn’t sure he’d ever get the hair thing down. Then the girl brightened.

  “I really love our new swing set, Daddy,” she said.

  “I’m glad to hear it,” he said. “Now, you run along. And tell your brother that he shouldn’t be swinging upside down from those monkey bars.” He winked at her. “I may not see everything, but I see enough.”

  She snickered and turned around, dashing out of the house back into the backyard.

  Lysander stared out the window at his children playing together, their golden retriever chasing his son around the base of the slide. He stood there for a few minutes, hands on his hips, watching as they had already started to adjust to their new life.

  I thought they’d have been devastated, he thought. But they seem to be handling it better than I am.

  “Mr. Wright?” came a voice at the door. Lysander turned around and saw one of the movers with a clipboard in his hands. “Need your signature,” the man said, his dark mustache twitching as he spoke.

  Lysander’s eyes narrowed. “That was fast,” he said. “Your guys are done already?”

  “No, but they should be within the hour,” said the man, standing aside as two of the workers carried in his antique desk.

  Lysander stepped aside, too, sighing. “I appreciate that you want to get paid, but I will sign whatever you need me to sign after I know everything is in this house and undamaged. That’s what I agreed to in the first place.”

  The man gave him a curious look but shrugged and turned back out into the garage.

  Lysander pinched the bridge of his nose. He knew that his tendency to let the lawyer in him out made him unlikeable to some, but at least he never let anybody walk over him.

  Just then, his cell phone started to ring. He pulled it out of his pocket, expecting to see his parents or his brother calling. Instead, he was surprised to see a local Georgia number. He quickly answered. “Hello? Lysander Wright speaking.”

  “Hi, Lysander. It’s Martin Donnell,” said the man on the other end.

  “Oh, Mr. Donnell,” Lysander said, a flicker of nervousness running through him. “Nice to hear from you.”

  “Likewise,” Mr. Donnell said. “I hope your move has been going well?”

  “As well as it can,” Lysander answered, watching as two more movers carried in the mattress to his son’s bed. He eyed their shoes, seeing how filthy they were. With an internal sigh, he realized he’d have to hire a cleaning team to come through after all. “You know how these things are.”

  “Indeed I do. Moved here from Virginia myself about twenty years ago. Started the firm about five years later,” Mr. Donnell said. “Speaking of the firm, I hate to ask you this while you’re knee deep in boxes, but would you by any chance have any time to come into the office later this week?”

  Lysander pinched the bridge of his nose yet again. He really didn’t see how he’d be able to find the time. The kids weren’t starting school until the following Monday, and even then, they were only going to be in school for two and a half days, since there were some sort of teacher-in-service days. But this was the law firm that had paid for him to come all the way out here, had hired him on merit alone, and agreed to pay him twenty-five percent more than his firm back in Seattle had.

  “Sure, Mr. Donnell, I’ll see what I can do,” Lysander said. “You wouldn’t mind me bringing my kids to show them around, would you?”

  “Of course not,” said Mr. Donnell. “I’d love to meet them.”

  “Great,” Lysander replied, mopping his face again with the shirt hanging over his shoulder. “I’ll see you on Friday morning then. I’ll let you know exactly when so we can make sure to come when you don’t have clients.”

  “I’m free ‘til noon,” said Mr. Donnell. “Talk to you then.”

  “Thanks again, Mr. Donnell. Goodbye.” Lysander sighed heavily, staring down at his phone. A new town, a new job… It was all starting to hit him at once.

  He headed back outside to stand at the moving truck, grabbing boxes and dining room chairs, carting them inside, where he knew he’d inevitably move them three or four more times before they were unpacked.

  It was almost four o’clock in the afternoon before Lysander could even see the back of the truck. He knew he’d packed it only a few days before, but how in the world had he and the kids accumulated so much stuff over the years? At least he’d been able to find a nice, big house in a quiet neighborhood with a big, fenced-in backyard. Those were the most important
things to him.

  He stood in the driveway, waiting for a chance to get to the truck; the workers were wheeling the couch out, finally. He looked forward to vegging on it that night with the kids. Maybe he’d order a pizza.

  ”You must be our new neighbors!”

  Lysander turned and saw a couple standing on the path leading up to the front door, which was propped open for the movers. They stepped out of the way as the workers pushed and pulled the couch along the brick pavers.

  They were older, probably around his parents’ age. Mid-sixties, maybe a little younger. The woman was petite, with short hair and glasses, and she was holding a plate stacked high with cookies. The man beside her was about as tall as Lysander, who was easily over six feet. He had a broad chest and looked like he must have been in a field where he’d done a lot of physical labor. Maybe a carpenter or a construction worker of some sort.

  “Yes, I am,” Lysander said, turning to them. “And you must be…”

  “Your next-door neighbors,” the woman offered kindly. She held out the plate of cookies. “Charlie said he spoke to the realtor a few days ago, and we heard you would be moving in today. So we prepared a little something to welcome you to our little corner of Harmony Cove.”

  “Um… thank you,” Lysander said, taking the plate from her. She beamed at him.

  “So, where you from, son?” the man asked.

  “Seattle,” Lysander answered, catching one of the workers nearly dropping a box out of the corner of his eye. “Hey, careful with those,” he said, frowning at them.

  The worker nodded in apology and carefully carried the box off the truck.

  “Seattle, huh?” the man repeated. “Never been there myself. Cold this time of year, isn’t it?”

  “Yeah,” Lysander said. “Listen, I’m sorry, but I really should be getting these boxes—”

  “Daddy,” came his son’s voice. “Who’s this?”

  He turned to see his son’s freckled face peering up at him, their golden retriever close at his heels. Lysander brushed his son’s dirty blonde hair from his face and smiled down at him. “These are our new neighbors. Um… I’m sorry, I didn’t get your names.”

  The woman grinned up at her husband. “Jan and Charlie O’Neill. Pleased to meet you.”

  “I’m George,” Lysander’s son said, bending down to pet the dog. “And this is Sawyer, our dog, like from Tom Sawyer.”

  “What a wonderful name,” Charlie said.

  “My sister Lily named him,” George said with a nod. “She’s out back playing on the slide.”

  “Do you have any other siblings?” Jan asked him.

  George shook his head. “Nope.”

  “We have a dog, too, you know,” Charlie said.

  “You do?” George asked, his eyes widening. “What kind?”

  “A Scottish terrier,” said Jan with a smile. “His name is Walter.”

  “Wow!” George cried. “We should get them together sometime to play—”

  “Yes, yes, that would be fun,” Lysander interjected, patting George on the shoulder. “Well, I am very sorry, but we have to get this all unpacked before it gets dark. It was very nice to meet you, and thank you for the cookies—”

  “Cookies?” George grabbed onto Lysander’s arm and tugged it down to peer at the plate. “Wait, I want one!”

  “We didn’t get your name, though,” Charlie said kindly.

  “Oh, I’m sorry. Lysander. Lysander Wright.” He held out his hand for Charlie to shake, who jovially accepted.

  “Yes, dear, we should let him get back to it,” Jan said, laying her hand gently on her husband’s forearm.

  “Anything I can help with?” Charlie asked. “I may not be as young as I once was, but I can still carry some things.”

  “No, that’s all right,” Lysander assured him. “Thank you for the offer, but that’s what I’m paying these guys to do.” He glanced over his shoulder at the men who were moving the boxes around. He sighed. “At least, that’s what I thought I was paying them for. Had a few too many close calls with breakable items.”

  Charlie nodded. “Well, if you need anything else done, like getting some paintings hung or some furniture put back together, I can offer my services. I did home construction for thirty-five years, and I still volunteer whenever I have the time.”

  “Thank you very much; I’ll keep that in mind,” Lysander said. “Well, have a good evening,” he told the couple.

  “You as well,” Jan replied as she and Charlie turned and walked back across the lawn toward their house. “Don’t be a stranger!”

  “Wow, they were really nice, weren’t they, Dad?” George asked, looking up at Lysander as they walked back into the garage together.

  “Yeah, they were,” Lysander said. “Maybe a little pushy, but nice enough.” He glanced down at the cookies, realizing they were sugar cookies cut out like leaves and decorated with autumn colored frosting. Nice and thoughtful.

  Feeling a little guilty about how short he’d been with them, he called Lily inside so that she and George could sample the cookies. And after the long day they’d had, he thought he deserved one, too.

  2

  “Yes, I know, but this is something we’ve talked about more than once,” the young woman sitting beside the window said, running her fingers through her tangled, auburn hair. She was turned away from the rest of the café where she was trying to enjoy a quiet, relaxing lunch with her friend, who’d come in from out of town, but the phone call had interrupted her.

  “Come on, Grace, it’s not that big of a deal,” said the man on the other end of the phone. “It’s not like you don’t have all the time in the world, anyway.”

  Grace took a deep, steadying breath, closing her eyes. “Just because I work from home doesn’t mean that I don’t work, Aaron. You know that.”

  “I know, I know, I’m just teasing you,” Aaron said. “Sheesh, you need to loosen up. Didn’t you have lunch with your friend or whatever?”

  Grace glanced across the table at the young woman sitting opposite her. She was busy reading something on her phone, her fingers twirling around a strand of her ginger hair, but she looked up when she felt Grace’s eyes on her. She smiled and wiggled her fingers at her in a little wave. “Yes, and I’m here with her right now.”

  “Then you should be happier, hon,” Aaron said. “No one likes a sourpuss as company.”

  “Aaron, stop changing the subject,” Grace chided, drumming her recently manicured fingernails on the painted circular table. Her coffee was no longer steaming. The fact that she’d been arguing with him for that long irked her. “You promised that you’d help me move that shelf tonight.”

  “Yeah, I know, but I already told you, Josh got these tickets last minute, and I really wanna go—”

  “You can go to a basketball game whenever you want,” Grace said. “Your dad has season tickets.”

  “Yeah, but not this close to the court, hon,” Aaron said. “Come on, I’ll help you move that shelf and your desk on Saturday, okay?”

  Grace scratched at the end of her nose. “Where have I heard this before?”

  “What do you mean?” Aaron asked.

  Grace mouthed an apology to her friend, who shrugged and went back to reading on her phone. “You told me that you would help me move this shelf on Sunday and then asked me to reschedule it last minute. I did, knowing that you probably had a good reason… even though you never really told me what was so important that you bailed on me, again…”

  “Oh, I didn’t? I’m sorry. I just needed to help Adam fix his car. His oil was leaking, and I knew a guy that was good at that stuff, so I—”

  “Wait a second,” she interrupted him, a burning in her cheeks. “You wouldn’t help me, but you wanted to help Adam?”

  “Come on, hon, don’t be like that,” he said. “It was the only time he was free. I knew that I could come over any day after work this week to help you.”

  “That’s… not the point,” Gr
ace mumbled.

  “It’s okay, I’ll definitely be there Saturday,” Aaron promised. “Then we can go and have a nice dinner out together.”

  “Because a date after getting all sweaty is a great idea,” Grace said. She sighed. “I’m sorry. All right, let’s plan on that.”

  “Great! It’s a date,” Aaron said. She could hear the smile in his voice, and some of her anger fizzled out.

  “Please, let’s keep this one this time,” Grace pleaded. “I really don’t want to have to rearrange my schedule again, okay? And I really need this to get done sooner than later.”

  “Yeah, yeah, sure, hon,” Aaron said. “Hey, I gotta run. And you have a lunch date to get back to. I’ll talk to you later, all right?”

  “All right,” Grace said. “Love you.”

  “You too,” Aaron said, and he hung up.

  Grace lowered her phone, seeing the finished time blinking on the screen of her phone. “Oh, gosh, I’m sorry, Nora! I didn’t realize I’d been arguing with him for almost a half an hour.”

  “Don’t sweat it,” Nora said, waving dismissively.

  “You don’t make it to Harmony Cove very often,” Grace pointed out. “The least I can do is make sure that your visits aren’t just a huge waste of time.”

  “They’re never a waste of time,” Nora replied, her eyes narrowing. “But do you know what I think is a giant waste of time?”

  “What?” Grace lifted her cappuccino off its matching saucer. She didn’t even bother blowing on it; the foam had mostly collapsed, and she knew it was probably closer to room temperature than hot at this point.

  “Your relationship with Aaron Stoddard,” Nora answered, folding her arms.